Next month the UK Government is expected to publish its Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy
Here's what our Government Relations Manager is hoping the Prime Minister will deliver...
What can the Prime Minister learn from Whitney Houston?
By Emma Reece, Unicef UK Government Relations Manager
Whitney Houston once sang – “I believe that children are our future”. While I don’t anticipate the Prime Minister will stand in front of the despatch box in sequins and break into song when he sets out the much-awaited Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy next month (I have been wrong before), I am hoping he will set out how his Government will strengthen its development and diplomacy capabilities to meet the rights of children around the world. He has the power to transform their futures – and Whitney Houston was right, children are our future.
The Integrated Review
The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy was announced in the 2019 Queen’s Speech and set to cover “all aspects of international policy from defence to diplomacy to development”. In November, the Prime Minister indicated that the review would conclude early in 2021. Last week, in responding to the debate brought forward by the Rt Hon. Tobias Ellwood MP and John Spellar MP on the publication of the review, the Minister of State, Rt Hon. James Cleverly MP, indicated that the review would be published in March.
The delay is understandable. The Government have had a lot of pressing issues to tackle, and the world has changed significantly since the Review was announced. Coronavirus has turned our lives upside down, particularly the lives of children who have seen their schools shut, routine medical services disrupted and parents stressed due to financial pressures of the pandemic. In short, Covid-19 has presented the biggest threat to child rights in a lifetime. The Government can’t wait a minute longer in getting this review concluded, and it must ensure children are at the heart of it.
The Integrated Review was billed as “the most radical assessment of our place in the world since the end of the Cold War, covering all aspects of international policy”. Although I am all for a radical rethink, the Government must ensure it doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, both literally and figuratively speaking. It is all too easy to design foreign, security, defence and development policy from the perspective of adults for the future prosperity of current adults. The real challenge here is to ensure children’s rights and views are considered, embedded and upheld – something even more pressing as children bear the brunt of the impacts of the pandemic.
For children in almost every country in the world, during the biggest emergency for children since World War Two, the future looks bleak. We know that children are unsure of what the future holds, when they will see their friends and when they can go back to school. What can the UK Government do about that? They can put time, energy and investment behind meeting children’s rights by embedding its commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in all it does.
Five ways the UK Government can deliver a better world for every child through the Integrated Review:
- Put children and their rights front and centre of the Review, outlining how the UK will meet its commitments under the UNCRC particularly through its development and diplomatic policies;
- Prioritise funding for maternal and child health programming, ensuring resilient health and education systems;
- Establish a child rights hub in the FCDO to ensure children’s rights are embedded across all policies and programming;
- Recognise the transformative impact UK Aid has in building a better world for children by ensuring a commitment to return to the 0.7% commitment on GNI no later than 2022;
- Actively seeking and empowering children and young people’s voices, including at the upcoming G7, COP26 and the Global Partnership for Education Summit.
Now is the time to reimagine an outward looking Britain which looks after children and their future once and for all – and the Integrated Review can help with that. When better to focus on the future than this moment in time – as the world stands on a precipice with a once in a lifetime chance to commit to the future.
Right now, millions of vaccines are being delivered against all odds, schools are rolling out innovative ways to reach and teach children at home and working life is being revaluated to deliver more family friendly policies post-pandemic. The Integrated Review might not sound exciting, but it can provide the framework to support all of the above to continue and crucially it can commit to ensuring every child can survive and thrive and seize the future they deserve.
The UK must lead the way and build the potential of future generations by cementing its commitment to fulfilling their rights in the upcoming Integrated Review. Only then will I know that we’re living up to our promise to future generations.
Beyond the Review, 2021 presents the UK with a number of landmark opportunities on the world stage where this Government can build on the potential of its diplomatic and development capabilities and bring world leaders along with them. The UK must put children, their rights, and voices at the heart of the G7, COP26 and Global Partnership for Education Summit to ensure all policies, investments and infrastructure supports a better tomorrow.
