By Katie Hall

On 16 July 2024, the Scottish Parliament brought into force the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 – giving the rights contained in the UNCRC legal effect in domestic Scots law for the first time. It was a historic moment, years in the making – and one with real consequences for children, families, and public bodies across Scotland. 

But what does incorporation actually mean, and what difference has it made – or might it make – to the lives of children and young people in Scotland? This is the first in a series of blog posts looking at the 2024 Act, the first cases brought under it, and their impact on children in Scotland. 

What is the UNCRC? 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international treaty agreed in 1989 which sets out the fundamental rights of every child. Containing 54 articles, it covers a wide range of children’s rights, from protection against violence and exploitation to rights to play, culture, and privacy. It includes the right to life, health, and education, the right to be heard, to have their identity respected, and to have their best interests treated as a primary consideration in decisions that affect them. 196 countries have signed up to it, making it the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history – including the United Kingdom, which ratified it in 1991. 

Making Rights Accessible  

For people who want to take action when their rights aren’t upheld, international law can be far removed. Countries deal with the relationship between international treaties and domestic law in different ways. In some states, ratifying an international treaty is enough to make its provisions directly enforceable in national courts. In others – including in Scotland and the UK – there is a separation between international and domestic law. An Act of Parliament is required to bring international treaties, including the UNCRC, into domestic law – and to give people a route to court if their rights are breached. 

This distinction matters a great deal in practice. Before the 2024 Act, the UNCRC was something Scottish courts could consider and refer to, but it was not law that individuals could directly rely on to challenge decisions. For example, a child placed in unsuitable care accommodation could not walk into a Scottish court and argue their UNCRC rights had been violated – even if they clearly had been. In effect, there was a gap between the rights the UK has committed to, and the rights children could enforce in Scotland. The 2024 Act should close that gap – at least within the limits of devolved power. 

What the 2024 Act Does 

The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 makes children’s rights directly enforceable in Scots law. In doing so, it provides a set of legal tools that children, families, and their advocates can use to hold public bodies to account when children’s rights are not respected.  

Section 6 of the Act requires public authorities – including local councils, government bodies, courts, and tribunals – to act in a way that is compatible with the rights of the UNCRC when exercising a “relevant function” (broadly, this means a function within Scottish devolved competence). If a public authority fails to do so, individuals have the right to bring legal proceedings or to rely on UNCRC rights as a defence (under Section 7 of the Act). 

The Act also places requirements on Scottish courts to interpret Scottish legislation, wherever possible, in a way that is compatible with the UNCRC (Section 24). If the Courts cannot interpret legislation in this way, they have new powers to strike down Acts of the Scottish Parliament (Section 25). This is arguably the most powerful provision in the Act – and one with no equivalent in human rights law in England and Wales. It means that if the Scottish Parliament itself passes a law that cannot be made compatible with children’s rights, a court can remove it from the statute book entirely. 

But the reach of these tools has limits. How and when the 2024 Act can be applied has crucial bearing on its effectiveness – and the question of devolution is front and centre to this. Under devolution, the Scottish Parliament has powers over areas like health, housing, and justice, but Westminster retains control over others, like social security and immigration. However, the boundaries and limits of devolution are not always clear. In 2021, contesting these boundaries, the UK Government referred the legislation in Bill for; which had been passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament; to the UK Supreme Court; arguing that several provisions exceeded what the Scottish Parliament was able to do within the scope of devolution.

The Supreme Court partially upheld the challenge, ruling that the Scottish Parliament could not legislate in ways that affected how Acts of the UK Parliament were interpreted or applied. The revised Bill was again passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament – but the result of the UK Government’s intervention is an Act which applies to public bodies in Scotland only when they are acting under devolved powers. It does not cover powers governed by Westminster-passed legislation.  

This is a meaningful limitation, as some of the most important legislation affecting children in Scotland – including large parts of education law – has its roots in UK Acts. Navigating which decisions are and are not covered by the UNCRC Act, and for which of their functions public bodies are bound, has already become one of the defining features of early litigation under the Act.  

Why the First Cases Matter 

The Act did not emerge from nowhere. For over a decade, children, young people, and civil society organisations campaigned for incorporation – including the members of the Children’s Parliament, Together Scotland’s coalition of children’s charities, and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland.  

Any new law is only as strong as the courts’ willingness and ability to apply it. The cases now working their way through the courts are, in a sense, the next chapter of that campaign; testing whether the rights fought for will have teeth and make a real difference for the lives of children in Scotland. These early cases are particularly significant in answering questions around scope, interpretation, and effect.  

This includes questions like: 

• Which public bodies are bound by the Act, and for which functions? 

• How can children and their families use the Act – and who can raise UNCRC arguments, and in what kinds of proceedings? 

• How does the UNCRC sit alongside existing Scottish and UK legislation? 

Cases decided in 2025 and 2026 have already spanned criminal prosecution, housing and eviction, and children’s hearings. Each one matters not only for the individual children involved, but because the precedents being set will determine the scope of the Act – and therefore the extent to which it can improve access to rights, and access to redress when those rights are not upheld, for all children in Scotland. 

This is the first in a series of blogs looking at three of those early cases, and considering what might be next for children’s rights litigation in Scotland. 

Further Reading: 

• Together Scotland: Incorporation of the UNCRC – an overview of the campaign to bring the Act into law, including children and young people’s voices on why it matters 

• Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland: Incorporation – the Commissioner’s explanation of the Act and its significance 

• Brodies: Scotland’s Reform of Children’s Rights – a legal overview of the Act and the road to its enactment 

• Human Rights Consortium Scotland: Reset Devolution – on the limitations the Supreme Court ruling placed on the Act’s scope, and the case for amending how devolution works 

• Clan Childlaw: Update on the UNCRC Bill – an accessible explanation of the Supreme Court challenge and how the Bill was revised 

• Enquire: Children’s Rights at the Heart of Law – reflection on what the Act means for disabled and neurodivergent children