27 April 2023
Why has Scotland given children the strongest rights in the UK?
Alma- Constance and Lucinda ask Bruce Adamson, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.
He tells us:
· How he works with his team to promote and safeguard the rights of everyone in Scotland up to the age of 18.
· About the three laws he wanted to change to raise the age of criminal responsibility, stop the physical punishment of children and how he brought the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scottish law.
· How he works with children’s panels who asked him to work on poverty, mental health and climate change.
· How children can become a human rights defenders.
Bruce says that when he was 10 years old, he was living on a farm in New Zealand and loved sports. He was inspired by his mother who worked as a mental health nurse to help her community and when he was older, he became a lawyer and a human rights advocate.
References and Resources
Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland @CYPCS
@bruce_adamson
https://www.cypcs.org.uk/rights/uncrc/
https://www.cypcs.org.uk/positions/age-of-criminal-responsibility/
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