The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) have long championed incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots Law. We strongly welcomed the passing of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 by the Scottish Parliament in December 2023 and have been busy preparing for the first stage of the Act coming into force on 16th July 2024.
Ahead of this implementation, the Scottish Government consulted on Statutory Guidance Part 2 and 3, section 18, of the Act. We were very pleased to have had this opportunity to offer our thoughts on the statutory guidance set out for public bodies and others with legal obligations under the Act.
CYCJ response
What comes across strongly in our consultation response is the need for a more coherent structure throughout the guidance, with a greater emphasis on making it accessible. The guidance contains a lot of legal phraseology but the people interpreting this won’t be specialists in those areas.
In our response, we highlighted our intention to write our own version of materials and provide support for professionals using this guidance and working with children in conflict with the law. We have requested to work with the Scottish Government Children’s Rights Unit to do this.