Tomorrow, MSPs will hold their final debate and vote on the Children (Withdrawal from Religious Education and UNCRC Compatibility Duty) Bill. As it stands, the Bill still does not guarantee children an independent right to withdraw from religious observance and risks embedding a discriminatory approach into law. Together members are calling on MSPs to change this. 

Article 14 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child protects children’s freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This includes the right to practise a religion or belief - and equally, the right not to. Children are independent rights-holders, and while parents play an important role in guidance, that role must diminish as children’s capacities evolve. 

Our briefing for MSPs highlights the clear imbalance in Part 1 of the Bill. Children who have been withdrawn from religious observance by their parents, but who wish to take part, are given an independent route to opt in. However, children whose parents expect them to participate, but who do not wish to do so themselves, have no equivalent independent right to opt out. This means the law offers stronger protection to children who want to participate in religious observance than to those who do not. In our view, that is discriminatory and incompatible with Article 14 of the UNCRC. 

We are also concerned that Part 1 has been drafted outwith the scope of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024. This limits children’s access to the accountability mechanisms that incorporation was designed to provide and sits uneasily with the Scottish Government’s stated commitment to a maximalist approach to children’s rights. Recent case law, including the UK Supreme Court’s judgment in JR87, has underlined that children’s rights in school settings must be practical and effective - in relation to withdrawal arrangements. Drafting the Bill in this way does not remove legal risk; it is more likely to shift it into challenges under the Human Rights Act. 

Stage 3 is therefore a critical opportunity to address both a substantive rights imbalance and a foreseeable source of legal risk. We call on MSPs to ensure that all children have their rights upheld. 

Read our briefing for MSPs at stage 3.

Find out more about the Bill