Children's rights

Our vision is a Scotland where children’s rights are part of everyday life. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is the most widely ratified human rights treaty worldwide. Among the rights included in the UNCRC are the rights to education, health, play, fair treatment, protection from exploitation and the right to be heard.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 directly incorporates the UNCRC into devolved domestic law in Scotland within the limits of devolved competence.

Children, young people, and their representatives can use the courts to enforce the rights in the act. The act also:

makes it unlawful for public authorities to act incompatibly with the UNCRC requirements as defined in the act
places a duty on Scottish Ministers to develop a Children’s Rights Scheme which sets out how they will meet their duties in the act and give further and better effect to the rights of children
places a duty on Scottish Ministers to prepare a Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) for all bills, certain regulations and strategic decisions affecting children
places a duty for listed authorities to report on their progress and future plans
gives the Children's Commissioner and Scottish Human Rights Commission powers to bring proceedings where they consider a public authority has acted (or proposes to act) in a way which is unlawful under the act

Supporting public services

We're helping public authorities implement children's rights by providing:

statutory guidance to support the implementation and operation of their duties under Part 2 (the compatibility duty) and Part 3 (the reporting duty) of the UNCRC Act
the Children’s rights skills and knowledge framework
non-statutory guidance on taking a children’s human rights approach
participation guidance
a guide for the public sector in Scotland
the UNCRC implementation framework
a Children's Rights Knowledge Hub (users can sign up for free)

We also fund UNCRC implementation projects with the Improvement Service to support local authorities and NHS Education for Scotland to support health boards.

Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA)

The CRWIA helps identify how policies will affect children's rights and wellbeing. Since July 2024, Scottish Ministers must prepare CRWIAs for all bills, certain regulations and strategic decisions affecting children.

While there is no duty to so, public bodies can use our CRWIA templates and guidance for their own assessments.

Children’s participation

Under Article 12 of the UNCRC, every child has the right to be heard in matters affecting them. The annual cabinet meeting with children and young people is one way we ensure Scotland's children and young people help shape decisions made by the Scottish Government.

Monitoring progress

Our progress is monitored internationally by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The UK was examined in May 2023, resulting in about 200 recommendations.

Public authorities listed in section 19 of the UNCRC Act must report on their work to implement children's rights. The first reports under the UNCRC Act are due as soon as practicable after 31 March 2026.

Contact

For UNCRC Implementation Programme enquiries, please get in touch at UNCRCIncorporation@gov.scot

Children in employment and performances

We have:

For specific enquires regarding the employment of children or participation with children and young people please get in touch at: ChildrensRightsandParticipation@gov.scot

Information