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Speech made by Mr Nigel Williams, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People to the Forum on Child Poverty, Tuesday 6th December 2005
What sort of Christmas are you looking forward to? A big meal with the extended family? Lots of presents under the tree? Playing games around a roaring fire? New clothes to wear to Church on Christmas morning? Lots of cards and letters to read from friends and family? A warm feeling because of the charity donations you have made?
I think that pretty much describes my expectations of Christmas. But that is not what children living in poverty in Ireland, north and south will expect. In an arresting piece of research done by Marina Monteith and Eithne McLauglin from Queens? University for Save the Children, they describe the things that children in poverty are lacking.
For the 32,000 children in severe poverty they are much more likely than other children to miss out on celebrations; more likely to miss out on a nutritious meal each day; more likely to not have new clothes and have to make do with second hand clothes; more likely to have their electricity cut off; more likely that they will not have friends round to their house; and much more likely that their parents will be in debt.
Of course, most parents will work hard to shield their children from the impact of poverty, especially at Christmas? but if you aren?t employed, or if you are a lone parent, or have a disabled child, then circumstances just catch up with you. And January can become a very long month, with parents struggling to ensure their children have a nutritious meal each day.
This for me is what child poverty is about. It is about individual families, individual children, and our response should be about changing their lives so that they enjoy far more of the essentials than they currently do.
A huge amount of debate has gone into defining poverty and childhood poverty; and we bandy around terms like targeting social need and social exclusion (Northern Ireland has TSN and new TSN, which when I first came back after years in London, totally perplexed me ? I thought it sounded like a trendy sports car). We have policies, strategies, initiatives and forums.
Now, don?t get me wrong ? I would be the first to call for a coherent strategy in Northern Ireland addressing childhood poverty and based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But in the middle of all the debate, I want us to remember that this is about individual children and making their lives better.
When I was appointed with a remit that covered all issues affecting children and young people, I felt I needed some guide to identify the issues which I should focus on. I therefore commissioned a major piece of research which compared Northern Ireland against the international standard of the UNCRC. So the researchers took each article of the convention, that is each promise that our Governments have made to children and considered the position of Northern Ireland?s children against that.
There are a number of relevant promises in the Convention, but one stands out in this area. Article 27 says that ?every child has the right to a standard of living that is adequate for the child?s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development?.
So our government has pledged that children should not be in such poverty that their overall development as a child is impacted in a detrimental way. And of course that is the point ? poverty is grim, depressing, and unfair. But for children, it is their development into adults healthy in mind and body that is so at risk.
Back to the big research project. When they looked at the UNCRC standard, the researchers said that poverty in Northern Ireland should be a priority for the Commissioner. They also pointed out some very important links between poverty and other issues affecting children and young people:
? the link between poverty and health;
? the link between poverty and children and young people?s self esteem;
? rural poverty and isolation
? the link between poverty and poor sexual health and teenage pregnancy
? the lack of services and environmental problems in deprived areas.
Since I have been appointed I have been strongly advocating for much better services for children and young people. I have been especially concerned about how we can best help those children in poverty.
I have undertaken research and looked at how we can improve services for disabled children. I have challenged government about the quality of early years services ? a crucial area to counteract childhood poverty. I have called for a more coherent approach based on children?s rights and including the contribution of all those who provide childcare and early years education.
There have been some exciting developments in early years in Great Britain in recent years with the development of the Sure Start programme for families in deprived neighbourhoods, the development of childrens? centres, extended schools, and affordable childcare. Northern Ireland lags behind, and I have been pushing for the best of these policies to be adopted.
We should not underestimate the importance of childcare ? especially for lone parents, or poor two parent families ? who are wanting to get into or stay in the labour market.
I mentioned earlier the need for a strategy. Let me mention some key foundations for such an anti poverty strategy:
? it must have a focus on children, as if we address childhood poverty we will eliminate much of the worse impact of poverty;
? it should have a basis in children rights ? not on some arbitrary assessment of need;
? it should be co-ordinated with the children?s strategy
? it should be developed with the help and input of children and young people
? it must contain simple measurable indicators against which it can be monitored.
This is not an unrealistic request. I urge Government to get on with the task of addressing childhood poverty. There is much work to do.
But what is the church?s role in all of this? Is this just a matter for government?
I have always believed that a primary task of the church ? and I say this not as an external critic but as a member ? is to reach out to and stand up for the poor and the oppressed. I have the practical experience of having lived in Peckham in inner London for 13 years before moving back to Northern Ireland. I was a local Councillor there for four years, and the exciting thing for me was that it was the church in all its guises which was leading the way in tackling poverty and unemployment.
Too many of those who are poor in Northern Ireland do not have friends to stand up for them. I think of migrant worker families dependent on the whim of a gangmaster. What about lone parents and those struggling with family breakdown. The stigma of divorce is still so great within the church that we can fail to help those who are suffering, especially children. And then there are traveller families, and families who have a child with a severe disability. The first thing the church can do is to be ACCEPTING of each of these groups, of each individual child.
Don?t underestimate the value of this. Too many children in particular are stigmatized, simply because they do not have what others have. Surely in the church, these families can be, welcomed, accepted and valued.
The second challenge for the church is LOBBYING - the church should add its voice to prevent the poor being discriminated against. The church should call for the government to develop the strategic approach we need. I was very pleased to see the church leaders in England recently raising the issue of how asylum seekers are treated, and the abject poverty they can find themselves in.
I think the church can also MODEL SERVICES for the poor. Throughout history the church has led in providing for those who are poor. This has been done through providing housing and shelter; working with orphans and the destitute; running soup kitchens; helping the disabled; and of course a huge commitment to alleviating poverty around the world.
Have you noticed what the initial letters of my three key areas spell out ? ALMS ? that is the old fashioned word for the Church?s giving to the poor. The actual means of reaching the poor and the priorities may have changed. But the need is just as great.
Perhaps today we need to see more churches offering their premises to develop childcare facilities and children?s centres; we need more rich churches in the suburbs partnering with their brothers and sisters in the inner city to provide help to the poor; we need more employment projects; we need more help for the learning disabled and the mentally ill.
The church and its members have some very valuable assets ? money, property, people and motivation. Combined with the genuine love that comes from true spirituality, then the church has a most important contribution to make.
Are you up for it? The children from both north and south Ireland will benefit if you are.