A Rights-Based Approach to addressing Food Poverty among Children

Speech by the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, at the Healthy Food for All Towards a National Response to Food Poverty for Children and Young People in Ireland National Conference

It is a pleasure for me to attend this important Conference dedicated to considering a National response to the important issue of food poverty among children and young people living in Ireland. I would like to thank Mary Van Lieshout and all at Healthy Food for All for the kind invitation to address you this morning.

In February of this year I was very privileged to have been appointed Ombudsman for Children. As many of you will be aware, the Office was established in 2004 under the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002. The Act provides for my independence in fulfilling my overall statutory mandate to promote and monitor the rights and welfare of children up to the age of 18 living in Ireland.

My corresponding statutory functions encompass the traditional role of an Ombudsman to protect the rights of individuals or groups by independently and impartially investigating complaints made about public bodies. Since its establishment, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office has dealt with over 10,000 complaints made by, or on behalf of, children in relation to the administrative actions, or inactions, of public bodies, which have had, or may have had, an adverse effect on the child or children concerned.

However, the Ombudsman for Children Act also invests my Office with a set of additional statutory functions, which are broadly concerned with promoting children’s rights and welfare. Among my Office’s positive obligations in this regard are:

• to encourage public bodies to develop policies, practices and procedures, which are designed to promote children’s rights and welfare;
• to advise any Minister of Government on matters relating to the rights and welfare of children, including relevant developments in legislation and public policy;
• to consult with children and to highlight issues relating to their rights and welfare that are of concern to children themselves.

The relationship between this function and the Office’s statutory function to investigate complaints is complementary – they inform and support each other. Indeed, there is no question that having these dual functions strengthens the capacity of my Office to work effectively for, and with, children. During the last ten years, the OCO has taken a versatile approach to engaging the complementary relationship between these two functions.

By way of example, the 2002 Act provides that, when investigating complaints, the Office must have regard to the best interests of the child concerned and in so far as practicable, give due consideration to the child’s wishes. As such, the Act places two fundamental children’s rights principles at the heart of the OCO’s approach to handling complaints. However, when investigating complaints, we do not investigate whether or not children’s rights have been, or may have been, infringed.

In light of this, the Office has engaged its complementary functions under Section 7 of the 2002 Act to undertake a children’s rights analysis of a reflective sample of our investigations. Conducted by Professor Ursula Kilkelly (2011), this analysis of public administrative processes affecting children and investigated by the OCO found evidence of:

• policy implementation dominating over the rights and interests of individual children;
• deficits in awareness as regards the impact of decision-making on children and how quickly harm can be done to children;
• failures to rigorously apply the best interests principle;
• failures to ensure children’s voices are heard and their views appropriately considered;
• lack of awareness of children’s rights as recognised by international instruments;
• an absence of child impact analyses or mechanisms to review policy; and
• a need for children’s rights training for relevant public bodies.

I bring this specific example to your attention because the policies, procedures and administrative practices employed by public bodies, together with the broader culture of public administration, necessarily give shape to the State’s engagement with issues affecting children, including the issue of food poverty. Effective adoption of a rights-based approach to addressing these issues will require, among other things, the deficits such as those I have just highlighted are addressed.

Since its establishment, the OCO has had occasion through its complaints-handling work to engage with several elements of the complex, multi-dimensional problem that is child poverty in Ireland. We have considered various components of family support. We have examined issues relating to homelessness and housing, including provision and supports for young people who become homeless on their own, as well as for children whose families have become homeless and we’ve also examined difficulties experienced by children and their families accessing suitable social housing. We have seen how poverty can curtail children’s opportunity to develop and fulfil their potential in and through education. Equally, we have seen how poverty can impact on children’s access to the health services they need and when they need them. I have no doubt that food poverty is among the significant challenges faced by children and families we have engaged with over the years. However, it is other manifestations of child poverty, such as those I have just mentioned, which have been to the fore of complaints to my Office.

It will surprise no one present here today that baseline research conducted for the OCO identified children living in poverty as one of several groups who face multiple barriers to the realisation of their rights. Through cases we have considered, we have seen and heard what this means for individual children, young people and their families in the context of their daily lives. Over the period since the UN Committee last examined Ireland’s progress with fulfilling its commitments under the UNCRC, the proportion of children living in consistent poverty has increased from 6.8% (2008) to 11.7% (2013). This means that, according to the most recent available data, some 137,000 children are living in consistent poverty.  The Department of Children and Youth Affairs’ national policy framework for children and young people, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, contains a national child-specific target to lift over 70,000 children out of consistent poverty by 2020, a reduction of at least two-thirds on the 2011 level.  However, the Government’s most recent report on the progress made to achieve the national social target for poverty reduction noted that the increase in the number of children living in consistent poverty between 2011 and 2013 meant that at least 101,000 children would have to be lifted out of poverty to meet the target population in 2020.  As the number of children living in poverty increased further in 2013, the Government must revise its child-specific target to take account of this reality.

Moreover, the target set out in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures – a reduction of at least two thirds on the 2011 level – envisages that as many as 37,000 children could be left living in consistent poverty by 2020.  During 2015, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child will commence its examination of Ireland’s progress with implementing its commitments under the UNCRC since 2006. Among the recommendations that my Office will be making in our alternative report to the Committee is that the State should revise its target in respect of child poverty.

Against this backdrop, I would like to turn now to one of the questions that today’s conference will explore: what are the elements of a rights-based approach to food poverty among children and young people in Ireland? I hope it may prove helpful to your discussions today if I focus the remainder of my address on recalling several core components of a rights-based approach, before making some concluding comments.

Ratified by Ireland in 1992, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) provides a useful reference point for identifying key elements of a rights-based approach to addressing food poverty among children:

1. The Convention identifies children as rights-holders and the State as the main duty bearer as regards progressing the protection and fulfilment of children’s rights under the Convention. In defining this relationship between children and the State, the Convention indicates that a rights-based approach will recognise the State’s role in vindicating children’s rights and consider how the State might fulfil this role effectively.
2. Article 27 of the UNCRC recognises “the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.”  This Article places a positive duty on States to “take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this right and to provide “in case of need … material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.”  As such, nutrition is named explicitly in the Convention and identified both as a core component of children’s right to an adequate standard of living and as a vital condition for children’s development. In accordance with how social and economic rights are conceived within international standards, Article 27 also envisages the progressive realisation of children’s right to an adequate standard of living, requiring States to implement this right “in accordance with national conditions and within their means.” I will return to this point again. 
3. The reference to “nutrition” under Article 27 recalls the right to “adequate food” noted under Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  The General Comment on the right to adequate food issued by that Committee in 1999 affirms that this right is “indivisibly linked to the inherent dignity of the human person” and defines the core content of the right to adequate food supplies as implying “the availability of food in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals” and “the accessibility of such food in ways that are sustainable.” As such, a rights-based approach to food poverty will recognise provision of adequate nutrition in terms of upholding human dignity and, in seeking to provide for adequate nutrition, will consider the issues of affordability, availability and accessibility.

In line with this, I was recently very honoured to be invited to participate in a symposium as part of the “Presidents Initiative on Ethics in our Society” and at it President Higgins highlighted that “the poor very clearly pay the price of an economic crisis, NOT through share price collapses BUT rather in the value and quality of their life existence” and he went on to emphasise that the right to Nutrition, on a global level, needs to look at both malnutrition AND obesity so that our children are no longer hampered by either concern. This is extremely important in today’s Ireland because obesity in children and adults is not just a sign of excess – as is stated on the Healthy Food for All website “Low-income households spend a relatively higher share of their income on food, however, despite this, they consume a less nutritionally-balanced diet and suffer from higher rates of diet-related chronic diseases”. Therefore food poverty is not just the absence of food but often the absence of the correct form of food and as President Higgins highlighted, MUST be seen as an ethical consideration, for this and all countries.

1. A rights-based approach to addressing food poverty among children must necessarily engage with and respect the principle of non-discrimination. Equally, it will uphold the two other general principles of the Convention. The first concerns the right of every child to have their best interests treated as a primary consideration in all actions concerning them, including actions taken by social welfare institutions, administrative authorities and legislative bodies (Article 3). The second concerns children’s right to express their views on all matters affecting them and to have their views taken into account (Article 12).
2. In view of the latter principle, it strikes me that an important question to consider is: how can the views of children and young people be sought and integrated in a meaningful and effective way into the elaboration of a rights-based approach to food poverty among children and young people in Ireland? As an Office, we have had the opportunity to hear and learn from the perspectives and experiences of many children and young people, including children and young people in very challenging circumstances. I have no doubt that the process of articulating an effective response to food poverty among children will benefit from direct engagement with children and young people. Perhaps there may be an opportunity during today’s conference to explore how this might be achieved.
3. Children’s rights, as articulated in and through the UNCRC, are to be understood as indivisible and interdependent. Taking the example of nutrition, it is clear why this is so. The absence of adequate nutrition – food poverty – has consequences as regards children’s realisation and enjoyment of their other rights. As we know, it impacts negatively, for example, on children’s health; on children’s capacity to learn and participate fully in education; and on children’s enjoyment of play. As a psychologist, I previously worked providing therapy to children and families affected by abuse and we would always monitor the energy levels of children before, during and after therapy. As a result of this focus we would regularly provide toast or popcorn or a drink to certain children who we knew were missing out on appropriate nutrition and this added enormously to their ability to benefit from the therapy. Therefore, I wish to suggest that a further important component of a rights-based approach to addressing food poverty among children is a recognition of the interdependence of children’s rights.

To conclude, I would like to bring to your attention a number of points that my Office will be highlighting in our alternative report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. While broad in scope, I hope that they may be germane to today’s deliberations on fashioning a national response to food poverty among children:

1. As you know, the UNCRC has not been incorporated fully into Irish law. Better Outcomes, Brighter Futurescontains a positive commitment to ensure that Ireland’s laws, policies and practice are compliant with the principles and provisions of the UNCRC and its Optional Protocols. However, the policy framework does not contain concrete commitments that would secure greater alignment between Irish legislation and the Convention. Specifically, there is no commitment to incorporate the Convention into domestic law, nor is there a commitment to carry out a sectoral audit examining the extent to which legislation that affects children’s enjoyment of their rights in different domains currently complies with the Convention’s obligations. Of particular importance from my perspective as Ombudsman for Children is the need to place a legal obligation on public bodies to respect the principles of the Convention in any relevant administrative proceedings or decision-making processes. There are areas of good practice within the public service, but progress to date has been too uneven across that sector to rely on a commitment alone to reflect the principles of the Convention in relevant policy, practice or guidance documents: a clear statutory obligation is required. Correspondingly, my Office is recommending that the State should:
   • carry out an audit examining the extent to which legislation affecting children’s enjoyment of their rights, in different domains, currently complies with its obligations under the Convention;
   • proceed with whatever steps are necessary to incorporate the Convention fully into Irish law; and
   • introduce specific legal provisions to ensure that its obligations under the UNCRC are respected in the context of administrative proceedings and decision-making processes.
2. I noted earlier that Article 27 of the UNCRC envisages the progressive realisation by State Parties of children’s right to an adequate standard of living. A December 2014 report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – Towards Better Investment in the Rights of the Child – recalls that the UNCRC imposes an immediate obligation on States to take targeted measures to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full realisation of economic, social and cultural rights.  This report further notes that in times of financial austerity, any proposed policy change or adjustment must be:
   • temporary, covering only the period of crisis;
   • proportionate, in that the adoption of any other policy, or a failure to act, would be more detrimental to children’s rights;
   • non-discriminatory, in the sense of taking all possible measures to support social transfers and mitigate inequalities that can grow in times of crisis; and 
   • ensure that the rights of disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups are not disproportionately affected.

The State must ensure that the steps it takes to counteract the impact of the recession and indeed improve on the situation that obtained prior to the economic crisis are driven by the Convention.

This is not simply a question of laudable or prudent social policy; it is a matter of international legal obligation.

Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures commits the Government to exploring the development of cross-Government estimates for expenditure on children and young people – and I welcome that commitment. As noted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in his report, no Government can claim to be fulfilling children’s rights to the maximum extent of its available resources unless it is able to identify the proportion of its budgets allocated to children, both directly and indirectly.  This does not imply that there should be a separate budget for children, but rather that budgets should be presented in such a way that specific allocations to children can be identified.  In its report to the UN Committee, I will be recommending accordingly that:

• the State should proceed with the development of cross-Government estimates for expenditure on children and young people without delay.
  • For the last number of years, the Department of Social Protection has published integrated social impact assessments of the annual Budget.  The Government has further committed itself to carrying out a social impact assessment of the main social welfare and tax measures for 2016 and subsequent years before the publishing of Budgets.  These are positive developments, however, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called for States to undertake pre and post child impact assessments and evaluations of budget and fiscal processes so that the likely impact of decisions on children’s rights may be understood, together with how far the best interests of the child has been a primary consideration in decision-making. This requires the State to expand the current framework for integrated social impact assessments to encompass a fuller form of analysis, which will be rooted in the Convention and examines the impact of fiscal and budgetary decisions on children’s enjoyment of their rights. Accordingly, my Office will be recommending that:

• The State should expand the current framework for integrated social impact assessments in order to ensure that fiscal and budgetary decisions are subject to children’s rights impact assessments and evaluations, in accordance with the State’s obligations under the Convention.

Finally, in 2014 the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that

1. 1. almost 10% of the Ireland’s population did not have enough money for food.
   2. One in five children goes to school or to bed hungry because there is not enough food in the home.
   3. One in six children does not have breakfast on weekdays.

Much remains to be achieved as regards addressing food poverty among children in Ireland and ensuring that all children can enjoy their right to nutrition and, with that, more fully enjoy their other rights. The commitments in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures to addressing food poverty are welcome. With some preliminary signs of economic recovery in view, we must ensure that effective, sustained focus is given to this vital issue for children and I commend Healthy Food for All for bringing us all together today to do just that.

Thank you for your attention.

ENDS

• 16 April 2015
• Type: Speech