Is this evidence that IDS actually has no grasp of his duties under national and internal law, conventions and treaties?

On 29th January 2012 Andrew Marr interviewed Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH:

” Because the principle behind all of our reforms – CMEC, the cap, universal credit – they have one principle which I am determined to see through, which is to get people who have fallen into benefits to get a sense of responsibility about what they do and to recognise they should always be striving to change their lives so that they actually contribute rather than take. And the cap lies behind this. The reason why I wouldn’t take child benefit out is first of all the level of the cap would rise in terms of salary to £40,000 or even £50,000, which would be ludicrous. And the second thing is this: you cannot go on, as we’ve been doing, detaching children from their parents. We keep speaking as though children are somehow there and what their parents do has no bearing. We have to show the parents that what you do, what choices you make in life have an effect on your children. You want to make positive choices, so that your children get positive outcomes “

Advice to the Government

“Children are rights-holders, and their rights are independent of those of their parents or carers. This principle is enshrined in domestic legislation, international human rights law and international treaties which the UK has signed-up to, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). As a result, children’s rights must be taken into account in the drafting of all legislation that affects them. Article 4 of the UNCRC states that the Government must take “all appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures” to ensure the realisation of rights protected under the UNCRC, and must also apply “the maximum extent of their available resources” to this purpose.

“We believe the UK Government should respect its obligations under the UNCRC and recommend that the government reconsider the planned cap on benefit payments because of the pernicious impact it will have on families.”

Maggie Atkinson – Children’s Commissioner for England

Patricia Lewsley-Mooney – Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People

Tam Baillie – Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People

Keith Towler – Children’s Commissioner for Wales

http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/press_release/content_461

UN Convention on the Right of the Child
Article 2

1. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.

2. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child’s parents, legal guardians, or family members.

Article 26

1. States Parties shall recognize for every child the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realization of this right in accordance with their national law.

2. The benefits should, where appropriate, be granted, taking into account the resources and the circumstances of the child and persons having responsibility for the maintenance of the child, as well as any other consideration relevant to an application for benefits made by or on behalf of the child.

Take your pick out of lies being printed in the national press about this ad hoc data release by the DWP:-
http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/esa_ibr_outcom...

IDS claims a 30% increase in DLA claims, to justify his "reforms"

This figure was proved to be wrong in the "Responsible Reform" Report (akaSpartacus Report) sent to every MP in the country.This showed the real increase was 13% due to learning disabilities, mental health and demographic factors. Dame Anne Begg has already publicly approved the report and has warned IDS and Grayling for misusing statistics.

Christine Odone today warns that IDS must not give in to "disability bullies"!!!

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/cristinaodone/100157702/iain-duncan-sm...

She claims the disabled are a "powerful and extremist lobby"!! This when no media ever reports what is being done to the disabled, the fear, the deaths or the suicides. Nor does this article mention the assessments will be done by the likes of SERCO and G4S, not medical specialists. Its another ESA waiting to happen.
The raft PIP criteria are so stringent that even severely disabled people will not qualify.

This assault yet again through the media on the disabled by conveying incorrect and inflammatory material MUST be put before the Leveson Inquiry. It is impossible to believe he has turned down submissions from disability groups, yet will hear evidence from "feminists" about page 3 pictures and from the transgender/gay community about bias towards them in the media. he is still claiming that people can self claim DLA without medical evidence, examination or tribunals in many cases. The public are being brainwashed. so many of the comments in the main article simply repeat comments that have been fed to the press before and the public now repeats them as fact.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9263453/500000-to-lose-disa...

Scottish GPs have also voted to abolish the WCA assessment and the rest are expected/hoped to follow suit at the LMC in Liverpool on May 23rd. Yet still IDS has claimed that 80% are fit to work. When will Leveson stop thinking Government collusion with the media is confined to Murdoch titles and look at the misinformation funnellled through the Daily Telegraph, Mail and Express?
Disabled hate rime has risen by 75% in past year (lost link) but here Scope reports a 50% increase in 2011

http://www.disabilityhatecrime.org.uk/index.php/component/content/articl...

Disability websites and forums are full of terrible experiences of seriously ill people at the hands of ATOS and the fear of what will happen under the new PIP criteria, where even bathing and showering will no longer qualify for assistance.
This government and its Ministers MUST be held to account. It is a shame on this country that disabled groups are having to write to and appear in person at the United Nations council for the Protection of Rights of Persons with disabilities to ask for protection from this government.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/uk-is-breaching-human-right...

The public must be made aware of the new criteria for PIP to see that it is not fraud that is being targeted but the very definition of disability has been changed.

The govt is once again mis-representing the situation on disability benefits. They admit that the change from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments will mean 500,000 disabled people are no longer able to claim financial assistance BUT instead of presenting this (correctly) as "we are changing the definition of who counts as disabled or not" they are trying to imply that those 500,000 disabled people are claiming fraudulently at the moment. Yet the govt's own fraud figures show that only a tiny percentage of disability claimants are fraudulent. Even the phone line which was set up to allow people to report disability benefit fraud has apparently only produced a tiny number of fraudulent claims - but the investigation the false claims is enormously stressful for genuine claimants. The other thing the govt are doing is claiming most DLA claimants have never been medically assessed - which is misleading since they will have been assessed by NHS doctors, but the DWP may have accepted that medical evidence without arranging their own assessment. Oh and that reminds me of a last point: they claim the new PIP assessments will be conducted by "medical experts" but in fact those "experts" are NOT expert in the conditions which the applicant is claiming benefit for (they may never have heard of that condition before!). The only thing the assessors will be "expert" in is assessment - mostly they seem to be retired GPs and nurses and suchlike looking to supplement their own incomes.

Just one example:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9263453/500000-to-lose-disa...