Child-Friendly Version
In just 9 days’ time, the United Nations will review how well Scotland is doing in making sure that children’s and young people’s rights are respected, asset out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (known as the ‘UNCRC’). A group of children and young people from Scotland, called #TeamScotlandUN, will go to the UN in Geneva to share their thoughts and experiences.
The UN will look at how Scotland has improved since 2016 when they last made over 150 recommendations about things that needed to be improved for children and young people, like stopping child poverty, and providing better support for disabled children and their families. This UN review is a chance to see if Scotland has done enough to fix the UN’s last recommendations and to find out more about new problems that children and young people are experiencing.
One thing that’s important to the children and young people in #TeamScotlandUN is to make sure that children’s rights are protected in law in Scotland. This is called ‘incorporation’ and means that Scottish Government – as well as teachers, social workers, and the police – all have to make sure that everything they do respects children’s rights. #TeamScotlandUN wrote a letter to the new First Minister, Humza Yousef, asking him to make sure this happens.
Some good things have happened since the last review in 2016, like a new law that makes sure children have the same protection from being hurt as adults do. But there are also new problems like COVID-19 and the ‘cost-of-living crisis’ which means important things like food and heating are becoming more expensive. It’s really important that Scotland makes sure that children’s rights are protected by the law so that things can keep getting better for all children and young people across the country.
If you want to learn more about the UN review, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, or check out our blog for daily updates. Stay tuned for our next #TimeForUNCRC article tomorrow!
Make sure you keep up to date with our daily blogposts to learn more about the review and to keep up to date on how it goes by following us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram or directly on our blog.
Stay tuned for our next article coming out at 8:00am tomorrow!
Want to find out more?
Together (Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights) 