Protecting children’s rights in law
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland has written to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging him to give children in Scotland stronger legal protections.
Commissioner Nicola Killean’s letter welcomes the Prime Minister to his new role and asks him to consider a change to the Scotland Act 1998 to deliver “your commitment to find practical measures of empowering people through devolution”.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act gives children, families, and people acting on their behalf a way to challenge public bodies when children’s rights have not been respected. It can help improve laws, policies and the way public services work.
Our office has already used the Act to hold public bodies, including the Scottish Government, to account. This has included work relating to eviction proceedings, children’s access to justice, the prosecution of children, and the restraint of vulnerable young people in mental health settings.
But the protections in the UNCRC Act do not apply when Scottish public bodies are acting under laws passed by the UK Parliament, meaning children cannot always use the Act to protect their rights.
The Commissioner wants the Prime Minster to amend the Scotland Act, saying it wouldn’t require new primary legislation at Westminster, and wouldn’t have wider constitutional implications.
Ms Killean wrote: “It would substantially benefit Scotland’s children by improving their right to legal protection and to remedy for injustice. It would shift power into the hands of those who need it the most. You will know from your own experience of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign how important that can be.”
The Commissioner has offered to meet the Prime Minister, UK Government ministers or officials to discuss the proposal further.