Annual Report 2024-25: Reflecting on a year of progress

We are pleased to share our Annual Report 2024-25, which highlights a year of significant developments in the promotion and protection of the human rights of babies, children and young people across Scotland.

Introducing our annual report, our Chair, Susan Hunter, says:

“This year has felt like a turning point for children’s rights in Scotland. With the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 finally coming into force in July, Together has moved from years of campaigning to the practical work of making rights a reality.”

[Image description: a screenshot of annual report. An icon with train tracks and Rights Express train].

Annual Report 2024-25

Research launch: Access to Justice for Babies and Young Children Across 12 Jurisdictions Report

In partnership with the University of Edinburgh’s LLM in Human Rights Law, we are launching a timely report to showcase ongoing efforts to ensure that children’s rights are meaningfully realised in Scotland. It follows the work of Together’s “Tiny Rights Detectives” project, which explored how the youngest children experience and understand their rights.

The investigation highlighted serious gaps in access to justice for babies and young children, sparking the need for a deeper exploration of international practices. A key learning from this work is that babies and young children are largely invisible when it comes to access to justice mechanisms. Despite being rights-holders from birth under the UNCRC, their needs are often excluded from mainstream justice discussions, making this invisibility a central finding of the report.

Children's Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework

We're delighted that the Children's Rights Skills and Knowledge Framework is now available.

The Framework provides access to resources and training on children’s rights and on taking a children’s human rights approach.

The resources can be used across a wide range of sectors, giving users an enhanced understanding of how they can respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights.  

[Image description: The project logo of a child underneath a rainbow that says 'Happy, Healthy, Safe']

https://www.togetherscotland.org.uk/framework/

Get involved!

If you're passionate about children's rights in Scotland, there are a number of ways you can get involved in the work of Together:

Become a Together member
Sign up to our e-newsletter
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Donate to Together

[Image description: three children on the floor writing on a piece of paper. One child written fully "My Rights" in capital letters. Surrounding them is ABC blocks and stationery.]

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Latest News & Events

General Comment No. 27 (2025) on economic, social and cultural rights and the environmental dimension of sustainable development

20th October 2025 — General Comments
General Comment No. 27 (2025) on economic, social and cultural rights and the environmental dimension of sustainable development

Overall, the Comment positions environmental protection not as optional, but as a core obligation under international human rights law. It stresses that environmental harms, such as climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, are already undermining ESC rights, especially for marginalised and vulnerable communities. States are reminded of their legal duty to prevent and respond to environmental damage, ensure access to justice and remedies, and protect people now and in the future. It calls for action on intergenerational equity, urging governments to adopt long-term, rights-based approaches to sustainable development. States must also fulfil their international and extraterritorial obligations, particularly in the context of global climate impacts and cross-border environmental harm. The private sector, too, is to be held accountable. Businesses are expected to respect ESC rights, conduct environmental due diligence, and provide remedy where harm occurs. They recognise that children are particularly affected by environmental harms, especially those that are already affected by poverty, displacement and social exclusion. States are reminded that they should find measures that are both child-sensitive and in the best interest of the child. Section 79 furthermore explicitly states that “Children’s right to be heard and to participate must be respected throughout all relevant processes. States parties should also recognize and protect child rights defenders and establish safe and effective mechanisms for their participation in environmental and climate action.” The General Comment No 27 gives a comprehensive overview of risks that already exist and need to be taken into consideration when discussing environmental harm and human rights and calls for action to protect the rights of every person.

20th October 2025 — Access to appropriate information

Protecting Children Online Without Silencing Them

Eurochild has compiled recommendations as to how to appropriately keep children safe online. In the face of ongoing concerns about children’s safety online, some member states of the European Union are seeking to adopt legislation that would effectively ban children and young people under the age of 15 or 16 from the internet. Eurochild’s suggestions are all based on the understanding, that while children and young people need protection, this cannot mean that they are excluded from the online world entirely. Taking access to the internet would also mean to take crucial ways to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, information, education and participation away.

20th October 2025 — Children of prisoners

Families Outside Documentary

Families Outside has launched a documentary where they give a brief overview of their work and the support that they are able to give to families affected by imprisonment. The documentary is telling the real stories of people that have received support by Families Outside. It shows the materials and dedication that is given to each and every member of an affected family, whether they are a partner, sibling, child or parent of an incarcerated person.

20th October 2025 — Child poverty

Minimum Income Guarantee

The Poverty Alliance highlights the Minimum Income Guarantee as possible solution against poverty in Scotland. In the light of the ongoing cost of living crisis, many households struggle with living in a secure, warm home and being able to feed themselves at the same time. With a minimum income, it should be made possible for every person in Scotland to have a solid foundation. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child identifies poverty as one of the main causes of infant and child death in the UK. To address this, it is essential that households across the country can live above the poverty line. The Scottish Government has committed to implement targeted policies and programmes to support disadvantaged children and tackle child poverty. A Minimum Income Guarantee may support reaching those goals and be a step towards fewer children living in poverty.

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