The UK’s performance on children’s rights will be scrutinised next spring, and the evidence gathering has begun. The four UK children’s commissioners, representatives of human rights institutions, voluntary agencies – and young people themselves – recently travelled to Geneva to highlight the key questions to ask the UK government.
These sessions are always held behind closed doors, a sobering reminder that to speak of human rights in some countries is extremely dangerous.
The UN committee members had a number of questions for us, particularly from the representatives who visited the UK in October. It allowed us a further opportunity to put young people at the centre of the process, which we started with the October visit to Scotland when we sought input from young people to focus on the issues that mattered to them. In Geneva, we made sure our young delegates had the final slot to put their unique perspective directly to the UN commissioners.
This session has helped define the list of issues for which the UK governments will be held accountable. Some issues apply across all four UK nations, others are specific to individual countries and we face significant challenges to meet our international obligations. In the UK, one child in five lives in poverty, with its corrosive impact on their physical, mental and cognitive development.
In Scotland, high numbers of children live in households affected by alcohol, substance misuse and domestic abuse. We have particular challenges as austerity bites stronger and services struggle to maintain adequate levels of provision. I have spoken out on all of these issues as well as the alarming levels of stop and search driven by Police Scotland, the shameful use of the age of eight for criminal responsibility and the need for better inclusion and participation of children at all levels in Scottish society. All of this was detailed to the committee.
The committee session rightly focused on areas where we need to do better and, as a result, it did not hear much about the measures that give us hope for the future. However, there are activities under way that lay the basis for more positive consideration.
Monitoring government
The most significant changes in Scotland are coming through the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act on measures relating to children’s rights. For the first time, children’s rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is specified in legislation. There is now a need for the Scottish government to pay greater attention to children’s rights and to be held to account for their actions in respect of the UNCRC.
There is a growing recognition that the early years are the most important developmental window of opportunity in a child’s life. It is the time when children’s brains are working fastest, developing at a rate beyond any other period in their lives and their readiness to learn is unsurpassed. In Scotland, we understand the importance of this period and we are improving services to respond to the challenge. This is Scotland’s generational opportunity to improve all children’s lives.
In Geneva, the UK delegation highlighted the fact that while we have made some progress in legislation and provision, we could and should go much further – “enough” is never “good enough” for the sake of our children’s future. The UK commissioners agree that the most pressing issue is child poverty and we hope the UN committee will look for answers on this from the UK and devolved governments, before they appear before the committee next May.
The committee will pose questions directly to government representatives and it will publish its concluding observations. We hope it will hold the UK government to account on its breach of children’s rights as a result of plunging ever more families into a life of poverty; and fervently hope a greater commitment to children through implementation of the UNCRC will result.
Tam Baillie is children's commissioner for Scotland
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