Together members welcome a Bill to incorporate UNCRC

Date: 4th September 2020
Category: Incorporation

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Together and 50 member organisations sent a joint letter to MSPs to celebrate the introduction of the UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Bill on 2^nd September 2020.

The letter highlighted that the introduction of a Bill marks the culmination of over 10 years of campaigning by children, young people and wider civil society. It is a significant step towards ensuring all children and young people in Scotland have their human rights respected, protected and fulfilled. 

The Bill aims to ensure:

• Children’s rights are respected and protected in the law in Scotland.
• Public authorities are legally required to respect and protect children’s rights in all the work that they do.

To do this, the Bill says that:

• Public authorities must not act in a way that’s incompatible with the UNCRC requirements. 
• Courts will have powers to decide if legislation is compatible with the UNCRC requirements.
• Scottish Government can change laws to make sure they are compatible with the UNCRC requirements
• The Children and Young People’s Commissioner in Scotland would have power to take legal action if children’s rights under the UNCRC are breached.
• Scottish Government must publish a Children’s Rights Scheme to show how they are meeting UNCRC requirements and explain their future plans for children’s rights.
• Scottish Government must review how the Scheme is working every year.
• Other public authorities mentioned in the Bill must report every three years on what they have done to meet the UNCRC requirements.
• Together will prepare a more detailed briefing relating to the Bill for members very soon and will also hold a members webinar (date still tbc).

Read the letter to MSPs here.

Find out more about the UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Bill here.