Rights Empowered: Children's Access to Justice Project

Clan Childlaw and Together are working on a three-year project, funded through the Human Rights Fund, to both support Together’s members to use informal means to challenge decision making that threatens children's rights and establish a new collaborative model to use strategic litigation to address systemic UNCRC rights breaches in Scotland.  The work aims to maximise the impact of incorporation of the UNCRC in the lives of all children in Scotland. 

This work will further develop both organisations’ legacies of working to achieve incorporation of the UNCRC and forging the establishment of children’s rights strategic litigation to advance law and policy in Scotland. We are excited to have this opportunity to work together to empower the children’s rights sector to drive systemic change and ensure children’s rights make a positive difference in their lives. 

Why is Rights Empowered needed?  

This project was developed in light of increased demand from Together’s membership. Incorporation of the UNCRC alone does not guarantee that all children’s rights will be respected, protected, and fulfilled. Currently many children and young people in Scotland experience their rights being disregarded, with little recourse to justice. While individual legal representation can address specific cases, systemic change requires a broader, more strategic approach, that many Together members lack the legal expertise or capacity to pursue.  

 How will Rights Empowered make a change?  

Rights Empowered will, therefore, utilise Clan’s years of legal expertise and Together’s expert knowledge of implementing international human rights frameworks to build capacity across Scotland's children's sector to effectively use the law to advance children's rights, empowering Together’s members to utilise legal avenues to uphold and progress children's rights. By fostering collaboration and dialogue, we’ll seek to identify strategic cases where legal action—either by Clan Childlaw or Together members—may be necessary to challenge incompatibilities in legislation, policy, or practice that violate children's rights. In addition to this, we will support the Together staff team in building charities’ capacity to use the informal aspects of the law, such as drafting letters and navigating complaints mechanisms. This approach will empower organisations to advocate effectively for children's rights at every level, from grassroots advocacy to strategic litigation.  

To ensure widespread understanding and engagement, we’ll also work to raise awareness of what UNCRC-related court decisions means for children’s rights in Scotland, helping charities understand what each decision means for the use of rights and what children can expect from duty bearers, thereby enhancing their ability to hold decision-makers to account.  

Through this work, we aim to create a more legally empowered children's sector, capable of using the law to secure systemic change and ensure that the rights of all children and young people in Scotland are upheld. 

Beyond the project’s lifespan, the skills and knowledge gained will continue to be applied by Together’s alliance of children’s charities, sustaining advocacy efforts and legal interventions. This will embed a culture that recognises children as rights holders and sees the UNCRC as a practical tool for improving children’s lives. The sustained legal presence will further ensure that decisionmakers remain vigilant, prioritising children’s rights to avoid legal repercussions, and as such fostering long-term, systemic change. 

Blog Updates

•  Baseline Survey - As the foundation of the project, Clan Childlaw and Together prepared a baseline survey for Together members to provide a point-in-time reference of how Together members are currently using and understanding the law to achieve children’s rights outcomes. This blog highlights the asks and what we learnt.

For enquiries about the project, email us at RightsEmpowered@clanchildlaw.org.