Charity calls for urgent action to protect children in housing emergency

A new international charter of children’s rights can protect young Scots at risk in the country’s housing emergency, according to a leading charity.

Aberlour Children’s Charity said the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) will compel urgent action to deliver safe and stable accommodation for all Scots children.

Chief executive SallyAnn Kelly OBE welcomed the implementation of UNCRC in Scotland on Tuesday 16th July and said it gives every young Scot the right to a secure childhood.

SallyAnn warned too many children are living in uncertain and unsafe homes, a national emergency detailed by a landmark series in The Herald, and said the crisis is inflicting escalating damage on their health, education and life chances. She applauds the work of homeless charities like Shelter Scotland which has found that 10,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.

Kelly said: “There is no doubt the lives and futures of our children are being undermined by unsuitable accommodation.

“As Scotland’s housing emergency worsens so does the impact on our children.

“Issues like dampness, cramped living spaces and unsafe fixtures and fittings risk their physical health.

“Meanwhile, they share the stress and anxiety of their parents living in precarious short-term accommodation not knowing where they will be living next week or the week after that.

“That stress and instability affects their mental health and impacts every aspect of their lives at home, at school, and sabotages their futures.”

Aberlour, Scotland’s biggest children’s charity, has helped campaign for the introduction of UNCRC in Scotland,
the first of the UK nations to legislate for its adoption.

Its 54 articles deliver wide-ranging rights to education, health care and lives free of neglect, abuse and exploitation. Article 27 guarantees every child “an adequate standard of living” including food, clothing and housing.

Kelly said the international legally binding agreement will place new responsibilities on public bodies and third sector organisations and, taken together, every child, in every postcode, has the right to live free of poverty.

Today, one in four young Scots are growing up in poverty – one in three across the UK – with research exposing an escalating impact on their physical and mental health, education attainment and life chances.

Kelly said: “The UNCRC means every public body and third sector organisation whose work involves the welfare of children must ensure we are meeting these new legal responsibilities.

“Its introduction in Scotland gives new legal duties and impetus for practical and effective measures to combat child poverty and the housing crisis.

“No child chooses to grow up in poverty but it is a political choice to make ending poverty a priority.”

This article was written for The Herald and published on Tuesday 16th July 2024.