Human Rights Clinic presents new research to Scottish Government and a range of children’s rights organisations and practitioners

On the 24 June, this year's Human Rights Clinic, in collaboration with Together (Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights) presented the findings of their research which explored how babies and young children access justice. 

The presentation was attended in person and online by approximately 50 representatives from Scottish Government, public bodies and NGOs working on children’s rights. Together used the report to support their consultation response to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s calls for input on the draft of general comment No. 27 on children’s right to access to justice and to an effective remedy.

The presentation was delivered by Maisie Oxlade, Niesje Vanduffle, Amrita Nair and Eline de Sagher, on behalf of the twelve Clinic Club members. 

This year's Clinic members were: Paloma Miarnau Alvarez, Ryan Conover, Eline de Sagher, Nonye Ebili, Kanie Juanroyee, Sophie Michel, Amrita Nair, Maisie Oxlade, Camilla Portinaro, Niesje Vanduffle, Christina Yuen, and Mia Zitzlaff.

Their research explored babies and young children's access to justice across 12 jurisdictions: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, South Africa, and the USA.

The presenters highlighted the strengths of the existing Scottish laws and policies that can support babies and young children and identified ideas for action to enhance the babies and young children’s access to justice. The presenters reinforced that altogether, a holistic approach is the best approach to ensuring babies and young children’s access to justice. 

The students explored the common gaps across jurisdictions, such as the lack of targeted frameworks for babies and young children as well as the lack of practical tools for professionals that engage with this age group. A key finding was that protection through participation, rather than in response to participation, was a stronger approach to ensuring access to justice for babies and young children. 

The report identifies several good practices that could be developed in Scotland, including: integrated ‘one stop shop’ community based centres; localised, culturally sensitive measures; strategic use of existing children’s rights frameworks; development of practical tools to enhance participation of babies and young children; mainstreaming rights through systematic impact assessments and institutional policies; use of special legal representatives or advocates; specific frameworks for at-risk groups; shifting from age-based restrictions to individual capacity assessments; use of child-friendly courts in collaboration with young children experts; and the critical role of child-focused NGOs in running helplines. 

About the Human Rights Clinic

The Human Rights Clinic is one of the ways that LLM students engage with the practitioners and disseminate research as part of the Global Justice Academy’s engagement initiatives to connect academia and the community. The official launch of the report will take place on 22 July 2025.

The Clinic is overseen by Kasey McCall-Smith.