Alison Blaiklock: Be ashamed of the way we treat kids

Unicef's latest research has found that New Zealand is yet again near the bottom of the league of industrialised countries in caring for children.

Last week's report on child poverty in rich nations ranked New Zealand fourth from the bottom. The country that did best was Denmark, where the proportion of children living in poverty is one-seventh of what it is in New Zealand.

Previous Unicef studies over the past few years have reported that compared with similar countries, New Zealand has high rates of child deaths, injuries, child abuse, youth suicide, and young mothers, big gaps between rich and poor, low rates of older teenagers in education and wide disparities in levels of educational achievement.

Last year the Human Rights Commission stocktake of human rights found that the biggest human rights problems in New Zealand were child poverty and child abuse.

These are serious charges. The rights of our most vulnerable children are lost in the adult-centred society we have created. The great paradox is that most families give priority to the best interests of their children, but we do not do that as a society.

Why is this? One reason is the low status and invisibility of children. Children have long been largely unseen in Government policy and decision-making. This is what happened during the rapid restructuring of the economy and the state in the 1980s and 1990s.

Children bore the brunt - but successive governments were slow to monitor what was happening to children and slow to respond to protect them.

Four out of 11 New Zealanders are not old enough to vote, and politicians are more interested in the demands of adult voters than the needs of children who cannot vote. This has translated into much more effort over the past decade sorting out national superannuation (which also requires substantial Government support) than child poverty.

The experiences of many children are different from the experiences of many adults. An example is the changing ethnic makeup of our society. A much higher proportion of children than adults belong to Maori, Pacific and Asian ethnic groups.

In the 2001 census one in seven New Zealanders identified with Maori and almost a quarter of those under 18 years identified as Maori. The proportion of children who are Maori, Pacific Island and Asian is increasing and in five years half of all children under 5 will be able to identify with an ethnic group other than European. So, many children live outside the dominant culture.

Attitudes towards children are changing throughout the world. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has spearheaded the growing movement for and with children and young people. The convention recognises that children and young people are not just future adults in the making. It says they have human rights, including rights to special care and protection because they are young.

New Zealand ratified the convention in 1993. Some adults seem to be afraid that recognising that children have human rights will mean fewer rights for adults and parents. In fact, the convention places serious obligations on New Zealand to support parents because of the enormous responsibility they have in caring for children.

The problems of children are urgent because of their special vulnerability and the importance of the first years of life in building their entire future. Children who are hungry, cold, ill and frightened need help now.

In the long term there are strong associations between what happens in the early years of life and the results in educational achievement, health, social behaviour and contributions to society and the economy in later life. Investing in children is prudent for the economy and all of us.

There are solutions to child poverty, as the experience of the Nordic countries and, more recently, Britain shows. Ending child poverty requires specific poverty-reduction targets and timelines and the giving priority to children in the Budget.

The Government has acknowledged that child poverty exists and is a serious problem. The Working for Families package will reduce the number of children in poverty. But it will only be brought in over the next four years.

Children whose parents are not in paid work have been largely overlooked. This is unfair and unwise. These children are among the poorest, most marginalised and most in need of urgent help. They are being discriminated against on the basis of their family's source of income, over which they have no control.

We can reverse our other poor statistics. In 2003 the international expert group of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child audited how New Zealand treated children and young people and made comprehensive and sensible recommendations. It is going to take a lot of resources, hard work and courage - but we can make this a great country in which to grow up.

There is growing political pressure from adult voters to give priority to children and young people. New Zealanders have an inherent sense of fairness and want to live in a country in which every child counts and where each child gets a great start in life.

It's election year. Let's commit to vote in the best interests of children and young people.

* Alison Blaiklock chairs Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa. A doctor who has specialised in youth health, she was the lead author of a Unicef report on what happened to New Zealand children during the economic restructuring.