Vast majority of young people are treated fairly, finds rights director

The overwhelming majority of young people feel they are treated fairly, but children perceived to be “different” think they are most likely to be receive unfair treatment, according to a report by the children’s rights director for England.

In 2007, a Unicef study rated the UK bottom in the world for child wellbeing.

But Roger Morgan’s Fairness and Unfairness report has found that children believe the way they are treated is improving.

The report showed 96 per cent of children said they were treated fairly by adults running the activities they attend and 94 per cent felt the same about doctors and health workers.

Education staff and adults looking after children also rated well, with 88 per cent of children saying school and college staff acted fairly towards them and 85 per cent of children saying the adults looking after them were fair more often than not.

Children did not report being treated better by their friends than by other children generally. But 82 per cent still thought their friends treated them well.

A common example of when children believe they are given unfair treatment is when they are wrongly blamed for something.

One young person cited in the report said: “I was blamed for something I didn’t do and I had to suffer the consequences.”

Children believe the general public is the least fair to them. They also said that children seen as “different”, such as those who misbehave and children from a different race or culture, are most likely to be treated unfairly.

Morgan said that children and young people feel more angry and upset about the issue of being treated unfairly than any other area he has consulted on in his nine years as children’s rights director for England.

“Children have a very keen sense of what is fair and unfair,” he explained. “For professionals there are really two messages that stand out. One is the importance of explaining why people are treated differently, where justifiable.

“The other is this message about difference. We know that children who are perceived to be different are more likely to be bullied. Now we know they are also more likely to be treated unfairly.”