Positions on issues that are affecting children’s human rights in Scotland.
Our position on the human rights issues involved in requiring young people to wear face coverings at school.
The full reopening of schools needs to be proportionate in human rights terms in the same way that their closure was.
This is a summary of issues Scottish Government has an obligation to consider when making that proportionate decision.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill passed unanimously in the Scottish Parliament in March 2021, meaning the UNCRC will become a part of Scots law.
Growing up in poverty is the biggest human rights issue facing children in Scotland.
Access to food is a basic human right, but one that isn’t met for all Scotland’s children and young people.
Across the UK, people are being pushed into food insecurity— where they don’t have consistent access to sufficient affordable, nutritious food.
While legislation has passed that will raise Scotland's Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility from 8 to 12, this is still below the minimum acceptable standard of 14.
Our office has been working on the rights of children who experience domestic abuse for a number of years.
Selling and using mosquito devices is a breach of international human rights law, and for over 15 years our office has been calling for them to be banned.
Equal protection from assault is something our office has been calling for since 2004, and we’re delighted it's now the law in Scotland.
All children should be able to be in contact with their brothers and sisters— their siblings. But in Scotland this often doesn't happen when children are in care or in adoptive or permanent fostering.