News and Press

Children’s Commissioner heads to the UN to scrutinise Scotland’s performance on children’s rights

9 Jun 2008

Kathleen Marshall, the Children’s Commissioner for Scotland visits Geneva this week to deliver a hard-hitting report (published in UK on 09.06.08) to the UN on the state of children’s rights across the UK.

Drawn up by the four UK children’s commissioners for the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), the report scrutinises the performance of the UK government as well as that of the Scottish Government and the other devolved administrations.

While some progress has been made since 2002 when the UNCRC last took evidence, there is still much to be done to fully implement children’s rights. In some areas, things have got worse.

The UK Commissioners cite public attitudes towards children and young people that tend to demonise them and aim to exclude them from public spaces through discriminatory practices (such as the “mosquito” device) as examples of things that have got worse.

However, the Commissioners comment that in other areas there has been effective progress. These include

• The establishment of Children’s Commissioners in all four nations
• an increased focus on children and on improving services for children by Government over the last few years
• children and young people being more involved in decision-making

In Scotland, the Commissioners have welcomed

• the children’s hearing system and its focus on the best interests of the child (compared to the juvenile justice systems in England and Wales)
• the fact that Scotland has not used ASBOs on children to the same extent as England and that the Scottish Government is currently reviewing all policy on anti-social behaviour
• aspects of the treatment of asylum seeking children in Scotland, for example granting them access to higher education
• the Scottish Government’s approach to children’s rights: it has a children’s rights team and is developing a strategy to educate children and young people about their rights

Identifying 18 areas of common concern drawn from across the four nations – and publishing more than 100 recommendations for action - the report also looks at specific Scottish concerns. Kathleen Marshall reports that in Scotland

• Too many children aged 16 and 17 are still locked up in prisons
• There is an over-protective attitude towards children that serves to reduce their opportunities for play, leisure, recreation and healthy development. This may be fuelled partly by parental fears and partly by the institutional avoidance of risk and liability: SCCYP’s own research showed that adults fear contact with children and young people, for fear of being accused of harming them.
• Alcohol and drug misuse have serious impact on young consumers and on the children of adult consumers. Scotland’s family support and child protection system is finding it difficult to cope.
• the outcomes for looked- after children and children leaving care are poor, compared to their peers (see SCCYP’s Sweet Sixteen report)
• the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has still not been incorporated into domestic law in Scotland

Across the UK, general areas for concern include:
• There continue to be serious inequalities in health between children from less well off families and more affluent families
• play and its importance in child’s development is not taken seriously enough
• there has been a failure to ban the physical punishment of children and to give parents more support and information on positive methods of discipline

Appointed in 2004 to act as an independent advocate for children and young people in Scotland, championing their cause and protecting their rights, Children’s Commissioner Kathleen Marshall said ahead of her visit to the UN:

“In Scotland we’re getting some things right. Our separate legal system has meant that we’ve been able to develop a different – and better - approach compared to the rest of the UK on some issues such as juvenile justice, through the Children’s Hearing system.

I’m also proud to report on the way that Scottish communities have embraced the asylum seeking families in their midst and campaigned against the forcible removal of families who have lived in Scotland for a significant number of years. The Scottish Government has spoken out against unacceptable methods of forced removal of children and set a lead in allowing asylum seekers access to further or higher education – this is something we’d like to see implemented UK-wide.

While I welcome the Scottish Government’s interest in Children’s Rights Impact Assessments, we recommend that Scotland along with the rest of the UK, now carries out these assessments on all proposed legislation that may affect children and young people.

There are also areas where I have major concerns. In particular, we still lock up too many young people aged 16 and 17 in Scottish prisons.

There is a wide-spread fear of contact with children and young people in Scotland, borne out by our own research, which has created an unhealthy climate that limits opportunities for play and leisure and hampers healthy development.

Scotland’s health record continues to be appalling and although there are now some Government strategies to address this, much remains to be done. Alcohol and drug misuse have a serious impact on young consumers and the children of adult consumers and our family support systems are finding it difficult to cope.

I’m looking forward to travelling to Geneva with my counterparts to discuss the findings of our report and to work with the Scottish Government, local authorities and voluntary organisations in Scotland, to improve outcomes for children and young people.”
-ENDS-

For further information or to arrange an interview with Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, please contact Giselle Dye, Pagoda PR on 0131 556 0770 or Giselle.dye@pagodapr.com mobile 07739 085023

For information on the UK-wide report please contact Denise Malcolm, Senior Communications Officer, 11 MILLION on 05511 437 834/0844 800 9113 or denise.malcolm@11million.org.uk

Notes to editors
1. For a full copy of the four UK children’s commissioners’ report, please log on to www.sccyp.org.uk  
2. Since the UK ratified the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1992, the government has been obliged to submit progress reports to the UN Committee every five years, outlining how the state is fulfilling its commitment to children and young people. This year, for the first time, the four commissioners have joined forces to submit a joint report to the UN Committee on their experiences of monitoring how the state treats children and young people For further information about the reporting process, please visit http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/index.htm
3. Following the pre-sessional hearing in Geneva on 11 June 2008, the Committee will send representatives to the UK to study for themselves the extent to which children’s rights have been implemented. The Committee will then examine a UK government delegation in Geneva in September 2008, before drafting its final report in the autumn. This report will set out the Committee’s assessment of how the UK has implemented the Convention and will make recommendations for future action.