The Scottish Government has launched a consultation on the most important thing Scotland can do to protect children’s human rights: incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Incorporation of the UNCRC will make many of the protections contained within the Convention accessible to Scotland’s children and young people for the first time.
It will also provide specific legal protections of children’s rights in Scotland. As those currently granted by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be lost when the UK leaves the European Union, there is a need for urgency for incorporation to take place.
“Vital that consultation results in tangible and concrete changes”
Bruce Adamson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner said that incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most important thing that Scotland can do to protect children’s human rights.
“Full and direct incorporation of the UNCRC will mean that those in power can be held to account to ensure children have what they need to thrive including good quality healthcare, housing, education, nutritious food and a clean environment.
The Government has committed to make this a reality for children in Scotland in this parliamentary session and by November 2019, the 30th anniversary of the UNCRC, the Scottish Government’s own proposed Bill must be before the Parliament to ensure that happens.
Last year a group of international experts presented a draft bill to the Deputy First Minister and the Minister for Children and Young People to inform this process of legislative change in Scotland.
“It is vital that this consultation quickly results in tangible and concrete changes to Scots law to fully incorporate UNCRC in its entirety and ensure that children’s human rights are realised in Scotland.”