Progressing the human rights of children in Scotland: report 2018 to 2021 - easy read

Our Action Plan 2018-21: What Have We Been Doing?

Our last Action Plan said we would:

• Make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child the law in Scotland
• Make sure children know about and understand their rights, and that adults do too.
• Look at how we involve children in our work so they can help to make decisions
• Look at how useful the Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment was in protecting children's rights.

Action 1: What have we done to make the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child the law in Scotland

The Scottish Government is committed to making the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child the law in Scotland. This is called incorporation. Incorporation will mean children's human rights are protected by law.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (the Bill) was introduced to the Scottish Parliament and was passed on 16th March 2021. This was a great day of celebration.

The Scottish Parliament has limited powers. This means that some laws can only be made by the UK Parliament. If the Scottish Parliament looks to go over its powers, it can be challenged.

The UK Government thought that some parts of the Bill could not be decided by the Scottish Parliament. They asked the UK Supreme Court to look at this.

The UK Supreme Court decided that some parts of the Bill went over the powers of the Scottish Parliament.

There are still several ways we can incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into law in Scotland.

We are now looking at the best way for the Scottish Parliament to go forward.

Action 2: What have we done to make sure children know about and understand children's rights?

We have worked with Young Scot, Children in Scotland, and young people to create an information resource. This is called #ActivateYourRights.

#ActivateYourRights helps children and young people to find out about their rights. It helps them know what the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child means. It lets them know what to do if they feel their rights are not respected.

The #ActivateYourRights resources were published in September 2020. You can take a look at them on the Young Scot website

We held 5 Rights Cafe events in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Stirling and Dundee. 180 children, young people and adults attended. We discussed what else we needed to do to make sure everyone knows about and understands children's rights.

We have also worked with Education Scotland and YouthLink Scotland to help test training for adults working with children and young people to know more about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Action 3: What have we done to look at how we involve children, so they can help to make decisions

We want to make sure all children and young people in Scotland can get involved and share their views when decisions are made that affect them.

We have held meetings of the Scottish Cabinet with children and young people. This is to make sure that children's voices are heard at the highest level of Government.

Children and young people have also been involved in First Minister's Question Times, government meetings, panels, discussion groups and taken part in surveys.

In March 2020, we published guidance to help organisations involve children and young people in decision-making. You can see this guidance here.

Action 4: What have we done to look at how useful the Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment) was in protecting rights?

We have encouraged decision-makers to use the Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment. This helps them understand how their choices affect children's rights and wellbeing.

We have also made sure the Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment is useful. We have made some changes to it so it helps decision-makers.