The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
UN tells government to act on children’ s rights
AUN committee has urged the Scottish Government to “expeditiously” make changes to a children’s rights Bill blocked by the UK Government.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill was passed unanimously in 2021, before being found by the UK Supreme Court to legislate outwith the powers of the Scottish Parliament.
The Bill, which can be amended and brought back to the Scottish Parliament, would incorporate the UN treaty into Scots law.
In a report published yesterday, the UN committee on the rights of the child published a report focusing on children’s rights in the UK, and it urged Scottish ministers to bring the legislation back to Holyrood.
While praising its introduction and initial passage, the report recommended the Scottish Government “expeditiously bring forward the amendments necessary to enact the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill in Scotland”.
The Bill has been a running sore for the Scottish Government, with former Scottish children and young people’s commissioner Bruce Adamson repeatedly questioning why the Bill remained in parliamentary limbo two years on.
Speaking earlier this month – before he departed the post – Mr Adamson said he was “hugely concerned”, while Nick Hobbs, the acting commissioner, said: “Governments are accountable for their actions and the process of reporting to the UN provides essential scrutiny.
“The concluding observations are a powerful reminder to the Scottish and UK governments that there is a long way to go to uphold children’s rights here.
“It’s vital that they step up and keep the promises they have made to children under the UNCRC.”
The committee heard evidence at its Geneva base from young Scots, including Daisy Stewart Henderson, a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament.
She said: “I felt that the committee’s questions to the government truly echoed what we as children and young people had told them mattered to us.”
But despite the criticism, the report praised Scotland’s ban on smacking children, which was spearheaded by former Green MSP John Finnie during his time at Holyrood.
Meanwhile, discussing the UK Government’s block on gender reforms in Scotland that would make it easier for transgender people to obtain a gender recognition certificate, the committee urged the whole of the UK to “recognise the right to identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, and put in place measures to ensure that all adolescents enjoy their freedom of expression and respect for their physical and psychological integrity, gender identity and emerging autonomy”.