United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - concluding observations 2023: SG initial response - child-friendly version

General Principles

What we are doing to help children from all backgrounds to experience their rights and have their views heard.

The UN said…

Children should not be treated badly because of their differences.

Scottish Government said…

The Scottish Government wants to be a good example for other countries. We are making a plan for the Anti-Racism Observatory of Scotland (AROS).

Our Plan: The Anti-Racism Observatory

The Anti-Racism Observatory is a group of people who will look at how racism affects different groups of people in Scotland.

They will help us make sure that people who make decisions know about anti-racism so they can make decisions that are fair to all.

What's next?

We plan on setting up AROS in 2024 so that it can start its work on anti-racism soon.

The UN said…

Children should be able to report crimes that have been committed against them

because of their differences.

Scottish Government said…

We want everyone to live without hate or prejudice.

The Hate Crime Strategy

To help make this happen, we made a plan called the Hate Crime Strategy which was published in March 2023. The plan will also help support the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which will become law in 2024.

What's next?

In 2024, the Scottish Government will keep looking at what it can do to make sure all children and young people are treated fairly. In November 2023, we published the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan. This plan explains our work to tackle hate crime for the next two years. This includes activity to support victims of hate crime, and to help us to understand why hate crime happens and what this looks like in Scotland. It also includes activity to make sure our communities are inclusive and safe.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 will also become law in early 2024.