COVID-19 Child Rights Impact Assessment draws from briefings and experiences of Together members

Date: 22nd July 2020
Category: Child rights impact assessments

---

The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland has published an independent Children’s Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) on the response to COVID-19 in Scotland.  Undertaken by the Observatory of Children’s Human Rights Scotland, of which Together is a founder member, the CRIA provides a thorough analysis of how emergency laws and policies around the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the human rights of children and young people in Scotland.  It draws heavily from briefings and resources – as well as the views and experiences of children and young people - provided by Together members and collated on our extensive COVID-19 resource webpages.

The CRIA was commissioned by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland to:

• Observe and document children and young people’s human rights issues in relation to legislation and policy, during the pandemic response, as they apply to children and young people in Scotland.
• Anticipate issues and identify opportunities to embed children and young people’s human rights in ongoing developments in regard to developing law and policy.
• Learn from the above, in terms of negative and positive implications for children and young people’s human rights during crisis situations.

The CRIA specifically examines the impact of Scottish Government’s decisions on: physical health, mental health, education, poverty, food, digital access, play, child protection and domestic abuse, children with disabilities and additional support needs, children in detention and safe care centres.  It is mapped against the 11 key areas that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child highlighted as being of priority to governments in their response to COVID-19.  Importantly, it highlights how the pandemic has revealed and further entrenched existing inequalities and makes key high-level recommendations, including emphasising the need to ensure the UNCRC is incorporated into Scots law.  It also provides valuable information and detailed evidence for decision makers, parliamentarians, civil society and human rights defenders to engage with.

Read the CRIA here.

Read the child friendly version of the CRIA here.