News

The commissioner for children and young people in Northern Ireland has applied for a judicial review because he doesn’t believe young people were properly consulted over proposals to introduce antisocial behaviour orders.

The commissioner, Nigel Williams, is unhappy with the amount of time that the Northern Ireland Office gave for young people to be consulted on the proposed legislation to introduce Asbos.

The consultation was extended by just one week to accomplish this.

Williams believes that the government may be in breach of article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires countries to involve children in decisions that affect their lives.

Linda Kerr, head of law and complaints for the commissioner, said that the views of children and young people had not been fully taken into consideration.

"If children as young as 10 are expected to understand an antisocial behaviour order they should also be consulted about their introduction. There was an opportunity here to not only consult children and young people on antisocial behaviour but also to undertake a programme of exploring why it takes place and asking children and young people to identify ways of combating it," she said.

She added that there was concern over how little the draft legislation took account of concerns that Asbos will be counter-productive in tackling antisocial behaviour.

Judicial review application papers have been lodged with the High Court.