On 16 July 2024 Scotland incorporated the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots Law, within the limits of devolution.
Our report, titled ‘It’s not just their job, it’s our whole lives’, outlines how the rights of children and young people from armed forces families are affected across the three categories of protection, provision, and participation.
The most important part is the shared experiences of the children and young people and what they have said is needed to promote their rights. With them, we have made recommendations for decision makers at all levels of governments.
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Protection rights ensure children are protected from actions that threaten their dignity, their survival, or their development.”
The four guiding principles underpin each and all the specific rights outlined in the UNCRC.
All rights within the UNCRC should be interpreted through this lens.
We have worked directly with young people from armed forces families to create composite stories that reflect their collective experiences.
These stories have been brought beautifully to life by Rubie McNeill.
Watch our animation about what it’s like to be in an Army family below.
Accessibility help: If you would like the information in this document in a different format, please email us: admin@forceschildrenscotland.org.uk
Protection rights ensure children are protected from actions that threaten their dignity, their survival, or their development.”
These rights include Article 9 – to not be separated from their parents, Article 3 – for all decisions made about them to have their best interests as a primary consideration, Article 2 – non-discrimination, and Article 16 – to be protected from arbitrary or unlawful interference with their privacy, family home or correspondence and.
Children and young people from armed forces communicaties often face barriers to their protection rights due to their parent’s service.
The UNCRC present the basic standards which countries must meet to ensure children have access to the services, skills, and resources they need for their survival and development to their full potential. These rights include Article 18 – assistance for parents to fulfil their parenting responsibilities, including access to childcare and family support, Article 28 and 29 – access to education which develops the whole child to their fullest potential, Article 24 – access to highest attainable standard of health, and Article 27 – the right to a standard of living adequate for their development, including the housing they need, all of which have been raised as challenges by children and young people from armed forces and veteran families.
Children and young people have rights to participation through Articles 12, 13, 17, 15 and 31 which enshrine their entitlement to have their views heard and taken seriously, to access information, to have freedom of association and access to play, rest and culture. Key to the right to participation is access to justice when rights are breached. For this to happen children and adults must know all children’s rights in accordance with Article 42.
Children and young people from forces families feel unheard by decision makers due to the scale of state-led decision-making that determines so much of their childhood.
We have worked directly with young people from armed forces families to create composite stories that reflect their collective experiences.
These stories have been brought beautifully to life by Rubie McNeill.
Watch our animation about what it’s like to be in an Navy family below.
Accessibility help: If you would like the information in this document in a different format, please email us: admin@forceschildrenscotland.org.uk
Scottish Government
From ensuring armed forces and veteran families are actively included in family support initiatives, collecting data on children and young people’s educational attainment and destinations, to ensuring consistent good quality childcare is available for all service families across Scotland, and much more.
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Local Authority
From working with children and educators to co-produce innovative whole school approaches, promotion of children rights across services and workforces, to ensuring child-friendly complaint procedures are in place in all services that impact the lives of forces children and young people, as well as their families across Scotland.
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UK Government | Ministry of Defence
From ensuring Children Rights Impact Assessments are completed for policies that affect children, commissioning research to understand the impact of service-related life on children, to improving the quality of Service Family Accommodation, and ensuring the voice of armed forces communities are heard in future policymaking.
Contact usWe have worked directly with young people from armed forces families to create composite stories that reflect their collective experiences.
These stories have been brought beautifully to life by Rubie McNeill.
Watch our animation about what it’s like to be in an RAF family below.
Accessibility help: If you would like the information in this document in a different format, please email us: admin@forceschildrenscotland.org.uk
We would like to thank the children and young people of Leuchars Primary School, Firrhill High School, Colinton Primary School, Queen Victoria School, Scots Corner Youth Group, and the young people who joined us online for contributing to the Human Rights Bill consultation.
We would also like to thank the eight young people who attended our Rights Residential and subsequent online sessions and gave us great insight into their lives and experience of human rights.
This report has had input from over one hundred and sixty children and young people between the ages of 8-19 years old across multiple areas in Scotland.
We have worked directly with young people from armed forces families to create composite stories that reflect their collective experiences.
These stories have been brought beautifully to life by Rubie McNeill.
Watch our animation about what it’s like to be in a veteran family.
Accessibility help: If you would like the information in this document in a different format, please email us: admin@forceschildrenscotland.org.uk