Rights questions and answers

A:

Access to water is a human right. It’s essential to a child’s right to health, and to fully realising their right to education.

In 2019 the Children’s Future Food Inquiry report identified access to free drinking water in schools as a key issue which disproportionately impacts children experiencing poverty and food insecurity. 

Education authorities in Scotland are required to provide drinking water to children in schools. This duty is set out in Regulation 7 of The Nutritional Requirements for Food and Drink in Schools (Scotland) Regulations 2020.

This is still the law during the coronavirus pandemic.

No emergency law or policy has changed this.

No guidance has been issued at a national level which would prevent water being provided to children in school for health reasons.

It is important that access to drinking water is provided safely and education authorities should support schools to do this.

If you’re not being allowed access to fresh water at your school – or if you know of a child or young person who’s being denied it – you should contact the head teacher in the first instance and draw their attention to the regulations and to this statement.

If necessary you can ask the head teacher to seek advice from the education authority, who should support them to ensure that drinking water can be provided within the school in a way that protects the rights to health of children and staff. 

The Commissioner’s office has written to the Scottish Government asking them to provide clarity to schools on this matter.

Young Scot has information about what to do if your rights aren't respected at school or college.
A:

The rights in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) are indivisible because they can’t be separated from each other.

They shouldn’t be placed in an order so one’s more important than another, because they’re all part of a single broad structure that’s essential to human dignity.

A:

Something is inalienable when it can’t be taken away from you and when you can’t give it away.

This is true of human rights. You can’t lose them because of something you’ve done, and you can’t choose to give them up.

A:

As children grow older, they become more able to understand their lives and make decisions that affect them. This happens gradually, and it doesn’t happen at the same speed for everyone— it depends on things like a child’s experiences, education and maturity.

A child’s ability – or capacity – to make a reasoned decision will depend on the decision being made.

Evolving capacities is a term used to refer to the increasing ability to make reasoned decisions in different parts of a child’s life.

What does the UNCRC say about evolving capacities?

Article 5 of the UNCRC says that the direction and guidance parents give their children should reflect the evolving capacities of each child. When a child is younger, they will need more protection, as they may be more likely to make choices without considering or understanding the consequences. But as a child gets older, this will slowly become less true.

Evolving capacities are also important to Article 12 of the UNCRC.

All children have the right to have their view heard and for it to be taken seriously. But the weight their view is given is dependent on their evolving capacities― the extent to which they can understand the issue and the possible outcomes of a decision.   

The concept of evolving capacities should never be used to dismiss a child’s view. The child’s view needs to be taken seriously whenever it’s heard as it can change what an adult considers to be in a child’s best interests, by giving them a better idea of what’s important to the child and what they consider distressing.

A:

Judicial and administrative proceedings are two different ways in which legal decisions are made.

Judicial proceedings are legal processes where a judge makes a decision around what should happen. Court cases are a form of judicial proceeding, and so are tribunals like children’s hearings.

Administrative proceedings are legal processes that don’t involve a judge. Usually, they’re carried out by a government body.

A:

Adults in power often make decisions that affect people― such as laws and policies. When they do this, they don’t always think about the impact these decisions will have on children and young people.

A Children’s Rights Impact Assessment, or CRIA,is a way to include children and young people in a decision. It looks at the ways the decision might affect the rights of children and young people― both positively and negatively.

By doing this, it means people know what the effect of the decision on children and young people is likely to be.

A:

A human rights guarantor is something or someone that acts to make sure human rights promises are kept by a State.

The Scottish Parliament is able to act as a human rights guarantor by:

  • making sure human rights are properly included in the laws it scrutinises, and
  • holding duty bearers to account so that they keep their human rights promises.
A:

The Council of Europe has an important role in protecting the human rights of hundreds of millions of people, including children and young people. But a lot of those people don’t really know what it is.

It often gets confused with the European Union, but it’s a completely different institution. 46 States across Europe are Member States of the Council of Europe, including States inside and outside of the EU.

The UK, which Scotland is a part of, is a Member State of the Council of Europe. This means it follows the European Convention on Human Rights. This is a law that enshrines certain rights and freedoms in all 46 Member States, including the UK. It applies to everyone in these States, including children and young people.

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When people create services for you to use they often assume that everyone has access to the internet all the time. If someone doesn’t, they may find it more difficult – or even impossible – to access a service, and when that happens we say they are digitally excluded. For example, a child without home internet access would be digitally excluded if they were asked to research a topic online.

Two common ways in which Scotland’s children and young people are digitally excluded are:

  • because of the cost of internet and devices used to access the internet
  • because of the poor availability of broadband in many rural parts of the country, especially in the Highlands and Islands.
A:

If you have a complaint about the police you can contact Police Scotland online, by post, by telephone, or in person at a police station. Information about how to make a complaint can be found here.

If your complaint is about a senior police officer you can make a complaint to the Scottish Police Authority.

If you are not happy with the response to a complaint, you can ask the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (PIRC) to review the way your complaint was handled.

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Parenting Across Scotland, Action for Children and Children1st all offer support services for families, as well as advice and support for parents and children online. Parenting Across Scotland also has a very useful directory of helplines.

Parent Club, supported by the Scottish Government, provides helpful information on children’s rights and how parents, carers and family members can be involved. You can read their case studies to see how the UNCRC can help children and parents deal with different situations.

One Parent Families Scotland focuses on advice and information for single parents.

Turn2Us gives information about benefits, grants and support services for families suffering financial hardship. 

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