Children's rights: rhetoric and reality.

The article explores the deficit in effective implementation of children's rights in Great Britain. It is noted that although the region ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991, its articles are not incorporated into domestic law and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is powerless to enforce recommendations or act on offensive breaches. Research conducted by the authors indicates that children and young people in Northern Ireland have no knowledge of the CRC or independent human rights institutions.