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xSuccess for The UNCRC in Scotland project!
Date: 27th July 2016
Category:
Incorporation
Together are delighted to announce that its joint project has been accepted for funding by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute!
Together, in partnership with the Universities of Edinburgh and Stirling, put forward a project bid called 'the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Scotland' in May to the Scottish Universities Insight Institute (SUII). It is likely that the project will take place via four seminars will be held every month from January - April 2017.
Programme summary
How can academia and civil society work in partnership to create a new model of UNCRC implementation? There is no better time to harness the momentum of the child rights movement, to develop innovative partnerships and methods of working to answer this question.
Two developments make this an ideal time for the seminar series. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has recently reviewed the UK's progress in implementing the UNCRC and has issued a series of recommendations (known as Concluding Observations) in June 2016. These recommendations outline what more needs to be done in legislation, policy and practice to ensure the rights of all children are upheld across the UK. Their publication coincides with the commencement of new UNCRC-related duties on Ministers and public bodies through the Children & Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (CYP Act), and a new Scottish Parliament.
Since the Committee last made recommendations in 2008, there have been many positive developments in UNCRC implementation across Scotland. However, both academic research and civil society reports show that children's lived experiences of their rights remains patchy. Many of the Committee's recommendations remain outstanding, including issues around UNCRC incorporation, professional training, the minimum age of criminal responsibility and giving children equal protection from violence.
To achieve this aim, four one-day interdisciplinary and cross-sector seminars will seek to improve the implementation and monitoring of the UNCRC through the development of partnership between universities, NGOs, child law specialists and children and young people. Seminars will examine UNCRC implementation from law, practice and policy perspectives to address cutting edge questions that need academic-civil society partnerships. They will include and embed children's lived experiences of their rights. The series will cumulate with a final action-focussed seminar on new methods of UNCRC monitoring and implementation. Seminars will also capture international academic experience of UNCRC implementation to inform practice and ensure Scotland asserts itself as part of the child rights narrative on the global stage.
Programme planning is still in the early stages, but Together will be in touch with participants in the near future to start co-ordinating this exciting event!