Equality and human rights mainstreaming: children's right and wellbeing impact assessment

Analysis of Evidence

The evidence gathered suggests that the Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy will have a significant positive impact on children's rights and wellbeing in Scotland:

1. Non-discrimination (Article 2): The Strategy's focus on eliminating discrimination will help to benefit children from all backgrounds, particularly those with protected characteristics. Census 2022 data shows that 4% of Scotland's population belongs to minority ethnic groups, highlighting the importance of this aspect.
2. Best interests of the child (Article 3): By embedding equality and human rights considerations across all government functions, the Strategy helps to ensure that children's best interests are more consistently considered in policy-making and service delivery.
3. Respect for the views of the child (Article 12): The Strategy's emphasis on stakeholder engagement provides an opportunity to strengthen children's participation in decision-making processes.
4. Freedom from violence and exploitation (Articles 19, 34, 36): The Strategy's focus on human rights will strengthen protections for children against all forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation.
5. Children with disabilities (Article 23): Feedback from Disabled Persons' Organisations highlights ongoing barriers for disabled children. The Strategy's focus on accessibility and inclusion should help address these issues, benefiting the significant number of disabled children in Scotland.
6. Right to health (Article 24): By addressing health inequalities and promoting equal access to health services, the Strategy will contribute to children's right to the highest attainable standard of health.
7. Right to an adequate standard of living (Article 27): By aiming to address systemic inequalities, the Strategy will contribute to improving living standards for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
8. Right to education and goals of education (Articles 28 and 29): By promoting equality in public services, the Strategy should help to support equal access to education. This is particularly important for children from disadvantaged backgrounds or with additional support needs.
9. Children from minority groups (Article 30): The Strategy's aim to protect and promote the rights of minority groups will benefit the 4% of children from minority ethnic backgrounds, as well as children from religious minorities.
10. Right to leisure, play and culture (Article 31): The Strategy's holistic approach to equality and inclusion is likely to promote better access to play, recreational, and cultural activities for all children.

The evidence also suggests areas where the Strategy could be strengthened:

1. Direct engagement with children: The lack of direct consultation with children and young people is a gap that needs to be addressed to ensure the Strategy fully reflects their needs and perspectives. Plans to fill that gap are described above.
2. Intersectional approach: While the Strategy considers various protected characteristics, there's a need for more intersectional analysis to understand how multiple factors interact to affect children's experiences.
3. Specific groups: More detailed consideration may be needed for how the Strategy will impact specific groups of vulnerable children, such as those in care or refugee children.

For points 2 and 3, we will explore how the planned actions against equality outcome 1 (equality evidence) can be focussed on the needs to children and young people. The equality outcomes for the 2025 to 2029 reporting period can be accessed here.

What changes (if any) have been made to the proposal as a result of this assessment?

Based on this assessment, the following changes have been made to the Strategy:

1. The publication will include an easy read version of the Strategy to make it more accessible to children and young people, as well as summary documents.

2. Opportunities to engage with children and young people are intended to be explored as part of future development and review processes, particularly where actions may have direct or indirect impacts on their rights and wellbeing.

3. Throughout the process we have engaged with relevant Scottish Government teams who have knowledge of policies that relate to children and young people. We have also engaged with stakeholders who represent children’s interests, including the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Children’s and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.