NEWS & EVENTS
Incorporation of the UNCRC – Updates! Back in March 2021, we said
There was a new UNCRC Children’s Rights Bill going through the Scottish parliament. This Bill would make sure that Scotland holds up and respects the rights of children in Scotland, and that those rights would become protected by Scottish law. This process is called ‘incorporation’ - when a country decides to make international human rights part of its own law. This UNCRC Bill includes protecting the right for children to have a say in what happens in their life, education, healthcare and many more rights.
What’s happened since then?
The Scottish Parliament have passed the UNCRC Bill, HOORAY! On the 16th of March when the Bill was being talked about in Parliament, there was a vote taken to pass or deny the Bill. All parties voted unanimously to pass the Bill. WOO! However, in June, the UK government challenged the new law. This was done as there were concerns that four parts of the Bill are laws which Scotland doesn’t have the necessary powers to put in place. So, the Bill was taken to the UK Supreme Court for judges to decide if that was the case or not. The Supreme Court could decide if there are areas of the Bill outside of Scotland’s powers and send it back to be amended, or they could say it was completely within Scotland’s powers and give it the greenlight to go ahead.
The latest update
The latest update happened on the 6th of October; the Supreme Court announced that they found four parts
of the Bill that go beyond the Scottish Parliament’s powers. This is down to a technical issue in constitutional law rather than an issue with the intention of the Bill to protect children’s rights. This means the Bill will go back to Scottish Parliament to have those 4 areas fixed, so that they stay within the Scottish Parliament’s powers. The technical issue is that areas of the bill fall under Constitutional law, only the UK government can pass new laws on this. Making it outside of Scotland’s devolved powers. The UK government have added that: “Protecting vulnerable children
and protecting children’s rights is a priority”.
Moving forward into the future
Now that the judges have made their decision and have sent the Bill back to Scottish Parliament. 65 organisations, including Who Cares? Scotland, have written to the Deputy First Minister of Scotland and the Minister for Children and Young People. They are asking the Scottish Government to quickly address and fix the concerns raised by the court. There is now a delay in the Bill being added into Scottish law while Scottish Parliament rework parts, however this doesn’t mean it’s the end of the journey. The journey to having UNCRC Children’s Rights be part of Scottish law will continue, and many organisations are still preparing and adapting to accept the UNCRC Children’s Rights in Scottish law.
All information on the Bill and details can be found on: www.togetherscotland.org.uk/ 11
