Additional evidence to United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Please note, that as the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland has duties and powers to engage fully with the CRC review, and given the scale of demands on our existing capacity, the Commission has elected to welcome and endorse the Report of the Children’s Commissioners of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which highli. [...] We are however also pleased to submit brief additional evidence on the implementation of the Convention in Scotland, and would like to draw the Committee’s attention to five key areas which fall within the responsibility of the Scottish Government and legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament: • The ongoing delay to the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and outs. [...] The Commission welcomed the announcement of a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic and has called for a human rights based approach to be taken in conducting the inquiry58. [...] Children’s rights groups have highlighted the impacts that concern about the climate is causing for the mental health of children and young people and many have been campaigning for climate planning to include the perspective of children and young people in accordance with Article 12 of the Convention.103 Many groups, including the Commission, have welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment to. [...] Children and young people have regularly been at the forefront of climate action in Scotland, including participation in climate strikes and protest at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.110 [Ends] 1 The Bill aims to incorporate the UNCRC into Scots law to the maximum extent of the Scottish Parliament’s powers.