In November 2022, we submitted our joint report to the with the Children’s Commissioners from Wales and Northern Ireland.
In our “report card” to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – the three Commissioners have highlighted areas of children’s rights that they are worried about – including poverty, mental health, and proposed changes to the Human Rights Act by the UK Government.
The UK Government has a duty to tell the Committee what they are doing to make children’s rights a reality. As part of that reporting process, the Commissioners tell the UN what they think governments are doing well, and what needs to be done better.
Since the last report in 2016, some progress has been made, but there are lots of outstanding issues across a broad range of rights.
Children and young people’s views must be central to decisions affecting them, and the Commissioners have also submitted a report of children’s voices and experiences.
Children and young people have shared many concerns about their rights, with poverty and mental health being a shared concern from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Poverty affects every aspect of a child’s life.
Children experiencing poverty face barriers others do not consider, such as travel costs to and from education.
A Young Adviser from Scotland said:
“If you grow up in a deprived area and don’t have access to money, you won’t be able to afford fares for transport or access job opportunities or opportunities as a whole.”
Commissioner Bruce Adamson: “Scotland is still failing on many of the issues raised when we last reported six years ago, and for many children, life in that time has got much worse. Alongside the failures on poverty and mental health, we still imprison children, and our age of criminal responsibility is just 12; two years below the international minimal standard. What does this say about the how we value children? The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to protect, respect and fulfil children’s rights.”
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