Foreword
If you work with children or work on their behalf, to ensure they are safe, happy and healthy, then you are promoting and supporting their rights.
Children's rights are relevant to everyone whose work impacts on children - including teachers, social workers, police officers, nurses, judges, town planners, GPs, Directors of local authority services, classroom assistants etc. All of these and more have an interest in ensuring that children are able to fully enjoy their right to play, their right to be healthy and happy, to learn new things and be looked after and nurtured whether they live at home or not. All of these are rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ( UNCRC).
The UNCRC applies to everyone under 18. It is an international law that recognises that all children and young people have rights. There are 42 articles that describe specific rights and 4 of these are described as the underpinning principles of the UNCRC: non-discrimination (article 2); commitment to the best interests of the child (article 3); the right to life, survival and development (article 6); and respect for the views of the child (article 12). We, in the Scottish Government, have made clear our commitment to the UNCRC and to promoting and supporting the rights of all children in Scotland as a key strand of our activity to improve outcomes for all.
On 3 October 2008 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a series of recommendations ('concluding observations') setting out where they believed the UK was falling short of fully implementing the UNCRC. The majority of the recommendations are of relevance to Scotland.
The concluding observations make 142 separate recommendations that cover many aspects of children's lives. The Scottish Government has committed to responding positively to these recommendations and there is already much work ongoing throughout government that addresses the issues raised by the Committee. We recognise that we will not be able to fulfil all the recommendations to their fullest extent immediately but the purpose of this document is to provide a list of priority actions that the Scottish Government will take in the short to medium term.
In recognising that there is still progress to be made, it is important to acknowledge the excellent work that goes on every day in Scotland to promote and support the rights of children. Within families, across all sectors and at all levels of children's services there is a huge amount of commitment and enthusiasm for making sure the best interests of the child are paramount and ensuring the voices of children and young people are heard and taken account of. The outcome of this commitment is that the majority of Scotland's children live happy, healthy lives and are well nurtured and cared for.
Adam Ingram
Minister for Children and Early Years