NI human rights quango: ‘Parents’ religious beliefs barrier to sex ed in schools’

The parental ‘right of withdrawal’ from classes on abortion is an unhelpful ‘barrier’ to the delivery of sex education, Northern Ireland’s human rights chief has claimed.

Alyson Kilpatrick, Chief Commissioner to the publicly-funded Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), told MLAs that a child’s right to this teaching should override the parent’s right to have their religious or philosophical views respected.

Under Westminster-imposed changes to Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE), all post-primary children should learn about contraception and abortion. However, parents and carers may request their child be withdrawn from all or part of a school’s teaching on these controversial issues.

‘Myths’

Last month, Kilpatrick informed the Stormont Education Committee Enquiry into RSE that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had already “noted with concern the barriers to sexual education including parental exemptions”.

While she accepted that it was difficult to square the human rights of children and parents in this particular area, she believed “the child’s right to education trumps the parent’s right to respect”.

In her presentation, Kilpatrick highlighted the legal position adopted in Wales, where there is a blanket ban on parents taking children out of Relationships and Sexuality classes.

Although lacking any specific data, the Chief Commissioner claimed that “myths and misconceptions” may be behind some parents deciding to withdraw children from classes on contraception and abortion.

Parental rights

David Brooks, DUP MLA for East Belfast, argued the dispute appeared to be more about “empowering the state to impart its view” on contraception and abortion, rather than “about the rights of the child”.

Referring to an NIHRC report on the issue, the findings of which were presented to the Education Committee, Brooks expressed disappointment that its language was “fairly negative” in tone when discussing “faith ethics”.

The new guidelines state that 11 to 14-year-olds should receive “age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate education” on contraception and abortion.

In a consultation by the Department of Education on the teaching of these subjects in school, 74 per cent of parents indicated that their rights “should take precedence”.