Today the UK Supreme Court ruled that 4 aspects of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill are out with the competence of the Scottish Parliament. This means the Bill must go back to the Scottish Parliament to be amended. Happily, the Court were clear that giving effect to international human rights treaties is very much within the Scottish Parliament’s remit, the issues identified were related to devolution.
Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA) have signed, along with 64 other organisations, a letter, coordinated by Together, asking the Scottish Government to work at speed to address the Court’s concerns and to take the necessary steps to allow the Scottish Parliament to reconsider the Bill and move to implementation as soon as possible.
Together, who has led on work around incorporation of the UNCRC, has now produced a short blog article summarising the background to the case, what the judges said and what could happen next. Together highlights that ‘the vast majority of work needed to progress UNCRC implementation can and must continue whilst these technical issues are addressed.’
SIAA call on the Scottish Government to progress UNCRC implementation programme whilst technical issues around the Bill are resolved. Children and young people cannot wait any longer for their rights to be realised.
As members of Together, will continue to work in partnership with colleagues across civil society towards implementation and led our expertise around independent advocacy and how this supports children and young people’s access to justice and right to participate.
Further reading
- Read the full Supreme Court judgment
- Read the statement from Deputy First Minister John Swinney on the ruling
- Human Rights Consortium Scotland have published a new in-depth paper around devolution and human rights from Dr Katie Boyle & Prof Nicole Busby
