Progressing the human rights of children in Scotland: update report 2021-2024

Ministerial Foreword

As Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, I am delighted to share this report which provides an update on Scottish Government’s actions to support and promote the rights of children over the last three years.

In our 2021-2024 Action Plan - Progressing the human rights of children in Scotland, the Scottish Government shared a vision of a Scotland where children’s rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled.

The Action Plan set out a number of priorities:

• to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to the maximum extent possible as soon as practicable;
• to enable all children in Scotland to be aware of and understand their rights;
• to ensure all children in Scotland experience public services consistently upholding their rights; and
• to bring about a fundamental shift in culture about children’s rights.

Those priorities were informed by views that children and young people shared during the 2019 consultation on the proposed United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (the “UNCRC Bill”). When Royal Assent for the Bill could not be achieved due to a referral to the Supreme Court, and while the Bill was amended, the Scottish Government continued to focus on embedding children’s rights into practice.

The contributions of children and young people have been key to: the reconsidered UNCRC Bill finally receiving Royal Assent in January 2024; the progress that we have made in laying the groundwork for the commencement of the duties; and in progressing other priority issues detailed in our initial response to the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations in March.

The UNICEF UK representative on our UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board told the Board in September that no other country in the world had done more to embed children’s rights than Scotland. We should all be proud of what we have collectively achieved.

The commencement of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 (the “UNCRC Act”) and the work outlined in this report are significant achievements. However, the journey does not end here.

There is still more we can and should do to support UNCRC implementation in Scotland and ensure that our children and young people – particularly those whose rights are most at risk – benefit from extended protection of their rights, both now and in the future, and that they are supported to realise their full potential.

We will continue to build on this solid foundation through new commitments that will be set out in the Children’s Rights Scheme mandated by the UNCRC Act. That Scheme will set out the arrangements that the Scottish Ministers have made, or propose to make, to comply with their obligations under the section 6 compatibility duty in the UNCRC Act and to secure better or further effect of the rights of children. Engagement on this is currently underway with our key stakeholders in the children’s rights sector and with children and young people. I look forward to sharing that with Parliament early next year.

In the meantime, I would like to thank Scotland’s children and young people for their hard work and dedication, along with our public authorities, civil society, communities, schools, and parents and carers, who all play an equally critical role in helping children understand and experience their human rights.