30% of children's needs not being met - Children's Commissioner

Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft is urging the Government to put children front and centre of policy and law-making. Photo / Greg Bowker

The Government should put children at the centre of policy and legislation to help the 30 per cent of children that are not having their needs met, Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft says.

His comments accompany the release of a report by the monitoring group for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Becroft said following the convention, which New Zealand signed in 1993, would lift children out of poverty.

"Seventy per cent of our children do well, and some do outstandingly well. But 20 per cent are struggling, and 10 per cent do as badly, if not worse, than most comparable OECD countries."

The report, called Getting It Right, The Children's Convention in Aotearoa, said that too many children face "unacceptable levels of abuse, neglect, violence and racial bias".

It makes three recommendations, which the Government can put into place immediately:

• Make children's rights and needs are at the centre of policy and legislative reform. Identify where children's rights are not being met, what needs to be done, who will do the work, when it will happen and how the work will be monitored.

• Allocate responsibility and resources to coordinate the implementation of the Children's Convention across government.

• Ensure children and young people's views are taken into consideration in the development of legislation and policies.

Becroft said many Government departments are not even aware of the convention, or openly question its relevance, meaning children lack a voice.

"We are very bad at seeking out their voices, listening to them, factoring them into our decision-making and then reporting back to children the decisions made.

"If the practice was ingrained in government departments and community groups, there would be a significant change in the way policy is created here - for example in areas of education, health and housing, and in the way we respond to child poverty."

Becroft will be start publishing an annual report card, starting in April 2018, on the Government's compliance with the convention.

"The new Government has declared that 'if we put child well-being at the heart of what we do, then the well-being of all New Zealanders will be lifted'.

"We have an opportunity now to cement our approach to child rights."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has already taken on the responsibility for reducing child poverty by making herself the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction. She has said the Government will produce concrete measures to hold itself to account.

Yesterday Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni said she wants to amend the Social Security Act to ensure that welfare is administered through "a child impact lens".

Minister for Children Tracey Martin said at the weekend there should be an independent body to monitor the treatment of children in state care.

The Government has promised to set up an inquiry into the abuse of children in state care, and Martin said the Government should make a formal apology to the victims.