Abstract
Focused on the UK, this chapter considers the relevance of human rights in relation to children who are deprived of their liberty by the state on ‘welfare’ grounds for their own or others’ protection. Contextualised within an overview of relevant international standards and monitoring processes, the chapter draws on consultation with children in Northern Ireland’s Secure Care Centre to explore significant rights violations. It proposes that children’s rights standards provide a necessary foundation for the development of policies and practices, arguing that critical rights-based interventions should prioritise the principles of ‘protection’ and ‘participation’. Further, that social justice should be achieved through a fundamental shift in the structural relations and determining contexts which marginalise all children but particularly those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable.