John Cooper on child protection post Baby P
The details of the physical and mental abuse inflicted upon Baby P, who died in Haringey, North London, after suffering months of mistreatment at his family home are a stark reminder of the vulnerability of children at the hands of those who would cause them harm.
Tragedy
It will be for others to decide precisely who is culpable of behaviour which brought about his death and whether any aspect of government or social services are responsible for this tragedy. No doubt, there will be much comment and consideration of criminal and general human rights issues, but in circumstances relating to the mistreatment of children, there are particular standards which the state should implement. Sadly, they receive neither the attention nor the implementation that they deserve.
Rights of the child
I refer to the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child (the UN Convention). Within this document, Articles lay down specifi c requirements of contracting states to provide children with places of safety, proper care and most importantly,
