Document for consideration
At the Public Inquiry
- 2nd October 2007


The UK youth parliament are instructed by all the youth currently resident at Dale Farm.

We are informed by the youth that there will be a public Inquiry, about the proposal, by The Local Authority to evict them and their community from their homes.

We have been asked by the youth to make a statement on their behalf to put before those chairing the Public Inquiry. This includes the relevant issues of English Law currently in place to protect the welfare of Children in a situation such as theirs.

We ask that those chairing the Public Enquiry should read this statement and, in reaching a decision, ensure that the Government legislation and guidance, to protect children is adhered to.

Removal of Local Authorities’ statutory duty to provide travellers sites.
Before the enactment of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJPOA), local authorities had a statutory duty to provide caravan sites for Gypsies and Travellers under the Caravan Sites Act 1968.

However, the CJPOA removed that duty and gave local authorities the power to evict Gypsies and Travellers from unauthorised sites.

The current Government policy towards Gypsies’ and Travellers’ caravan sites contained in the Circular 1/94 Gypsy Sites and Planning (Circular 1/94), which favours private over public site provision.

Gypsies and Travellers have been ‘encouraged’ to purchase land themselves and apply to legitimise their own sites through the planning system.

We are informed that attempts have been made by travellers at Dale Farm site to follow the policy of purchasing land, due to there being no suitable Local Authority sites in the area.

The House of Commons’ Select Committee on the Housing Bill 2004 recommended that the situation was unsatisfactory and that only the re-introduction of a statutory duty on local authorities to provide authorised camping sites would remedy it.

We are instructed that the children and young people at Dale Farm have nowhere else to go if they are evicted from Dale Farm. The travellers wish to stay together as a community. They do not own enough land and the Local Authority has no authorised sites large enough to take the community. There needs assement did not even include the residents of dale farm, therefore will be presenting an inaccurate need for plots and pitches for gypsy and travellers in this area,
They did include a caravan site which we know have evidence of this being used by the local authority as there homeless housing site, and no gypsy or travellers live on this site at all.

Specific Government Legislation and guidance for the protection of children.

The under lying philosophy in legislation and guidance relating to children is that the Welfare of a Child should have paramount consideration.

The Childrens Act 1989 states:
1 Welfare of the child
(1) When a court determines any question with respect to—
(a) the upbringing of a child; or
(b) the administration of a child’s property or the application of any income arising from it,
the child’s welfare shall be the court’s paramount consideration.
(2) In any proceedings in which any question with respect to the upbringing of a child arises, the court shall have regard to the general principle that any delay in determining the question is likely to prejudice the welfare of the child.
(3) In the circumstances mentioned in subsection (4), a court shall have regard in particular to—
(a) the ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned (considered in the light of his age and understanding);
(b) his physical, emotional and educational needs;
(c) the likely effect on him of any change in his circumstances;
(d) his age, sex, background and any characteristics of his which the court considers relevant;
(e) any harm which he has suffered or is at risk of suffering;
(f) how capable each of his parents, and any other person in relation to whom the court considers the question to be relevant, is of meeting his needs;
(g) the range of powers available to the court under this Act in the proceedings in question.

The eviction of the youth and babies from their home, would result in them being detached from their supportive community and would have a severely detrimental effect on their welfare.
We also believe that their residence anywhere other then with each other, or within their traveller community, would place them at risk of harm from others who do not respect or understand their way of life.

Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 covers Provision of services for children in need, their families and others stating
(1) It shall be the general duty of every local authority (in addition to the other duties imposed on them by this Part)—
(a) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need; and
(b) so far as is consistent with that duty, to promote the upbringing of such children by their families,
by providing a range and level of services appropriate to those children’s needs.
The youth and children, do not feel that their welfare would be safeguarded or promoted by eviction . It is evident that evicting them from their home, family and community would not enable the local authority to ensure, they are brought up by their immediate and extended families and their extended family. They have never been informed of any plans , by the Local Authority that would enable their family to stay together after eviction.
The youth and children on dale farm, like many travellers, fear after eviction being placed in a house, and in a community which does not understand their values and beliefs and is therefore unable to provide them with the support they need.
We have been told by other travellers at the site that there are many instances of severe self harm when travellers have been placed in a house away from their community.

Under the Childrens Act 1989 a definition of a Child in need is given in section 10 it states

(10) For the purposes of this Part a child shall be taken to be in need if—
(a) he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority under this Part;
(b) his health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services; or
(c) he is disabled,
and “family”, in relation to such a child, includes any person who has parental responsibility for the child and any other person with whom he has been living.
(11) For the purposes of this Part, a child is disabled if he is blind, deaf or dumb or suffers from mental disorder of any kind or is substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity or such other disability as may be prescribed; and in this Part—
• “development” means physical, intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development; and
• “health” means physical or mental health.
As mentioned above Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 covers Provision of services for children in need, their families and others stating
(1) It shall be the general duty of every local authority (in addition to the other duties imposed on them by this Part)—
(a) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need; and
(b) so far as is consistent with that duty, to promote the upbringing of such children by their families

they also have the protection of the

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
International disability rights and the UN Convention
The United Nations (UN) has set up an international human rights convention on the rights of disabled people.
The UK was actively involved in setting up the convention and the Government believes it will play an important part in protecting and promoting disabled people's
What the convention will do for disabled people
A human rights convention is a piece of international law, which sets out the duty of countries to protect human rights. It is legally binding for any country that agrees to commit to it.
The UN Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides a recognised international standard for disabled people's human rights in one document. This will help the international community to put pressure on countries whose work on disability rights could be improved.
Countries that formally sign up to the convention will also have to report regularly to the UN about the steps they're taking to protect and promote disabled people's rights.
In December 2006, the draft text of the convention was formally adopted by the General Assembly at the United Nations. The convention formally opened for signature and ratification on 30 March 2007. On that day, over 80 countries signed the convention, the UK being among the first.
Signature denotes the intention to proceed to ratification in due course. At that point, the convention becomes binding.
The full text of the convention can be viewed on the UN 'Enable' website. The site provides detailed information on the UN's work on disability rights.
(p) Concerned about the difficult conditions faced by persons with disabilities who are subject to multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination on the basis of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic, indigenous or social origin, property, birth, age or other status,
r) Recognizing that children with disabilities should have full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children, and recalling obligations to that end undertaken by States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
(x) Convinced that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State, and that persons with disabilities and their family members should receive the necessary protection and assistance to enable families to contribute towards the full and equal enjoyment of the rights of persons with disabilities,
Article 2
Definitions
Discrimination on the basis of disability” means any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of disability which has the purpose or effect of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. It includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation
Article 3
General principles
(h) Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities
Article 4
General obligations
(c) To take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes; you have not highlighted that anyone on this site are disabled or even have a disability,
(d) To refrain from engaging in any act or practice that is inconsistent with the present Convention and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with the present Convention;.
2. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, each State Party undertakes to take measures to the maximum of its available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international cooperation, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of these rights, without prejudice to those obligations contained in the present Convention that are immediately applicable according to international law.
Article 7
Children with disabilities
2. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, their views being given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children, and to be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right.

all the youth and children, have been psychological been affected by the horrific death of two young girls parents, on the site, their parents’ were also aunty and uncle to many of the children in question at this appeal.
They are already on medication and receiving mental health support.
Also to highlight that 2 young youth are blind and at no time have to local authority ever taken the disabled act into account when looking at these planning applications, just to say they now they are blind is not enough and must then look at there duty under the disability act, to which no evidence can be found to say the local authority have ever done.
Also mental heath of these youth also fall under the mental heath act and again at not time have the local authority ever displayed or taken this into account which makes there final decision unlawful,

We should be considered as children in need under the Children Act Section 17 (1) (a) & (b) & 10 (c) should be fully adhered to by the Local Authority.

We emphasise that all the youth and children of dale farm, feel any move from their community would have detrimental effects on their already fragile wellbeing, causing their welfare to be negatively effected.

Connecting with communities: improving communications in local government
In October 2006 the Government published the Local Government White Paper, Strong and Prosperous Communities. The White Paper set out proposals aimed at supporting local government to deliver more responsive services, extend choice and control, empower individuals and community groups, as well strengthening the role citizens and communities play in shaping the places they live. To assist local government in delivering this new agenda a commitment was made to re-launch the Connecting with Communities resource. The re-launch took place in December 2006.
It appears that the traveller community are not being empowered or given the chance to shape the place they live in line with the above white paper.
circular 1/06 planning for gypsy and travellers
There shall be no more than [x] caravans”
Setting a maximum number as a blanket policy is arbitrary.
Any maximum should be reached through planning conditions but should be
Related to circumstances of the specific size and location of the site and the
Surrounding population size and density.
“Applications from gypsies and travellers with no local connection will not normally
Be allowed”
Gypsies and travellers are by their very nature nomadic and so will not always
Have local connections. Planning authorities have to determine applications for
Development from anyone who submits them.
As the businesses which gypsies and travellers have traditionally engaged decline,
the new trades and businesses they take up often necessitate new locations.
“The site does not impact on any area with natural/wildlife interest”
All development by its very nature will have some impact on wildlife. The criteria
should be more tightly, but reasonably, defined.
“The site shall not encroach into the countryside”
This is unrealistic. Such policies have been used to thwart site provision.
51. Alterations to the Green Belt boundary can be used in exceptional circumstances for
housing and other types of development inappropriate for the Green Belt. Such
alterations have often been used in cases where a local authority’s area contains a high
proportion of Green Belt land and no other suitable sites outside the Green Belt exist.
Such an exceptional limited alteration to the defined Green Belt boundary (which
might be to accommodate a site inset within the Green Belt) could be considered to
meet a specific, identified need for a gypsy and traveller site in the same way such an
alteration could be used for any other type of development. Such a proposal should be
brought forward through the plan-making process. Where land is removed from the
Green Belt in this way, it should be specifically allocated in a DPD as a gypsy and
Traveller site only. There is never an easy answer when looking at greenbelt but it can be done and has been done
As evidence show that crays hill and Basildon are primarily all greenbelt,
Basildon and Essex council should have brought forward proposals, to identify areas for gypsy and traveller sites, and we have not seen any evidence to show this was ever considered by the local authority; therefore, greenbelt should not be so heavily relied upon to make a refusal of this application.
Planning for Gypsies and Travellers
RTPI Good Practice Note 4
Part C: Accommodation and Site Delivery
5.2 Responding to Racially Motivated Views
Development management planners are often under pressure to consider
Racially motivated and discriminatory views and representations relating to
Gypsy and Traveller communities. The incidence and adverse effects of such
representations have not necessarily received the systematic attention of those
working to eliminate discrimination. There are still circumstances where
politicians, practitioners and members of the public apparently consider openly
biased, discriminatory and unfounded remarks about Gypsies or Travellers as
individuals or communities to be somehow legitimate or acceptable, in
circumstances where similar remarks made about other black or ethnic minority
communities would be immediately recognised as discriminatory and
unacceptable.
Development management planners should always be aware that:
• Representations motivated by generic and negative perceptions of race,
ethnicity or culture are discriminatory and are not material planning
considerations;
• If they are considered as part of a planning decision, they can make the
decision unsound and subject to judicial review;
• They can make the decision open to be overturned at appeal;
• They can provide a foundation for complaint and action e.g. under Section
19A of the Race Relations Act 1976 which applies directly to planning
authorities and functions; and
• Planning authorities have a duty to actively seek to eliminate unlawful
discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations.
To date this local authority has not shown that they can adhere to there racial discrimination policies, allowing there members of there council to take petitions against this site, and then allowing them to part of the decision making process to evict, this site, there is a conflict of interest in all aspects of this diction, local authorities have a duty by law to eliminate discrimination, but from the evidence received they have played a bigger part in creating racial discrimination and racial haltered towards the dale farm residence which is unlawful.
Every Child Matters
Every Child Matters: Change for Children is a new approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to age 19.
The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:
• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well-being
This means that the organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups - should be teaming up sharing information and working together, to protect children and young people from harm and help them achieve what they want in life.
The guidance states that Children and young people should have a say about issues that affect them as individuals and collectively.
We contend that all local agencies should ensure that any proposed plans for eviction of children from Dale Farm is considered in line with this document in order to ensure that the childrens Welfare is protected.

United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child
Article 8
1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

• Article 12 refers to children's rights to express their own opinions and to have them taken into account in any matter affecting them
Article 16 – states that children should be protected from attacks against their way of life.

Article 20 states that Children have a right to be looked after by people who respect their religion and culture.
Article 23
1. States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child's active participation in the community.
2. States Parties recognize the right of the disabled child to special care and shall encourage and ensure the extension, subject to available resources, to the eligible child and those responsible for his or her care, of assistance for which application is made and which is appropriate to the child's condition and to the circumstances of the parents or others caring for the child. 3. Recognizing the special needs of a disabled child, assistance extended in accordance with paragraph 2 of the present article shall be provided free of charge, whenever possible, taking into account the financial resources of the parents or others caring for the child, and shall be designed to ensure that the disabled child has effective access to and receives education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child's achieving the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural and spiritual development
4. States Parties shall promote, in the spirit of international cooperation, the exchange of appropriate information in the field of preventive health care and of medical, psychological and functional treatment of disabled children, including dissemination of and access to information concerning methods of rehabilitation, education and vocational services, with the aim of enabling States Parties to improve their capabilities and skills and to widen their experience in these areas. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.
Article 24
1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
2. States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures:
(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;
(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health care;
(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution;
(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;
(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents;
(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family planning education and services.
3. States Parties shall take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.
4. States Parties undertake to promote and encourage international co-operation with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the right recognized in the present article. In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing countries.
Article 27
1. States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
2. The parent(s) or others responsible for the child have the primary responsibility to secure, within their abilities and financial capacities, the conditions of living necessary for the child's development.
3. States Parties, in accordance with national conditions and within their means, shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to implement this right and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.
• Articles 28 and 29 (the right to education),
Article 30
In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.

Article 31 (the right to participate in leisure, cultural and artistic activities),

Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised ethnic groups for the purposes of the Race Relations Act (1976), as they are identified as having a shared culture, language and beliefs.

I contend that as such, traveller children should have the right to be brought up within a community that respects their cultural beliefs and not in communities that make attacks upon our way of life.



Human Rights Act 1998
PART II THE FIRST PROTOCOL
ARTICLE 2 RIGHT TO EDUCATION
No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.
Article 8 Right to respect for private and family life states:

1 Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

ARTICLE 14 PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION
The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

All youth and children of dale farm feel that their family life is under threat if they are evicted from Dale Farm. The local authority in taking this action, is acting in breach all the above policies and articles, and I on behalf of the youth and children, and if forced too move we will have no choice but to Apply to.


The Registrar
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex
France
Fax: 00 33 3 88 41 27 30

On which we have been advised under the UN convention of the rights of the child does not need to be heard in the UK before making an application against a local authority or governing bodies. All court proceedings will be carried out in Strasburg with a human rights barrister for the UN convention of the rights of the child, against the local authority in which the application is made against.

We feel the only way to deal with these applications affectively and within the law is to hand it back to the local authority, who as to date failed to comply with the law, and ask them to gather new planning applications and allow the local authority to under take the planning law and within the law, to correct there unlawful acts of discrimination, and the acts of racial hatred and to correct there wrong doings on these youth and young children.
I would like to highlight that there are no illegal sites, until all legal arguments have been exhusted, this is not just for gypsy and travellers, this is for every residence of the British Isles, to safeguard our liberty and freedom.
This site is retrospective and therefore it is not breaking any law.
So please can you not allow any comments to this kind at this appeal, as this will also be against the article’s above.




Yours sincerely

Blue Jones
UK youth parliament Kent
President of youth division