Scotland: a nation failing its children

SCOTTISH children are being denied the right to play by a society which increasingly treats them with fear and suspicion, a hard-hitting report to the United Nations will claim this week.

Many adults are afraid to have contact with children for fear of facing abuse allegations, youngsters are demonised and driven away from open areas, and parents over-protect their offspring, says the study.

Kathleen Marshall, Scotland's children's commissioner, will officially unveil her findings to the UN tomorrow, as part of a UK-wide review of how the nation is safeguarding the rights of youngsters.

Marshall is also expected to complain in her report that too many Scottish children live in poverty, and many are denied decent health care.

And while many of the serious problems she highlights are common to the UK, Marshall is also believed to identify a number of major Scottish issues, including the fact that too many youngsters are tried in adult courts.

Last night, children's groups welcomed Marshall's report and agreed that many adults in Scotland have a poor attitude towards children and that the country is under-investing in youngsters' futures.

Marshall's report is understood to highlight:

• Adults who are so afraid of being accused of harming or neglecting children that they do not volunteer to work with them, leaving youngsters bored and harming their development;

• Children often having difficulty accessing everyday services such as shops and buses, because they are treated with fear and mistrust by the adults who operate them;

• A lack of leisure facilities and play areas in Scotland, forcing youths to hang around in large groups doing nothing, which leads to them being viewed with fear and suspicion by adults;

• Overly cautious parents being less likely to allow their children to take part in organised leisure activities as they fear they will be injured or put at risk;

• Antisocial behaviour orders disproportionately used against children, and high-pitched alarms, which only young people can hear, being used to drive them away from outside shops;

• Scottish children are increasingly likely to self-harm, particularly girls; and

• Twenty-two children under 15 were detained in Scottish prisons in 2006-2007, while Scottish fiscals regularly try 16 and 17-year-olds in adult courts, unlike in the rest of the UK, and against international best practice.

Marshall's report will be considered by the UN in the autumn when it reviews children's quality of life in Scotland.

Unlike the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN's Rights of the Child are not enshrined in domestic UK or Scottish law, which means the Scottish Government would not face a penalty if it is found to have breached it in any way.

However, if the UN finds Scotland is failing children, it will provide a list of areas that need improvement and a deadline for them to be made.

Murdo Fraser, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said: "I met Kathleen Marshall a couple of months ago and discussed with her the difficulty a lot of groups are having – even the Scouts and Girl Guides – in recruiting adult volunteers.

"While it is entirely understandable that we need to put regulations in place to protect children from predators, there's a sense bureaucracy and red tape have actually put a lot of people off coming forward."

Tom Roberts, spokesman for the charity Children 1st, said: "We can be guilty of having a poor attitude toward young people in Scotland. We do not provide adequate facilities in our communities but complain when young people congregate on street corners.

"Most young people want to spend their time positively but opportunities are limited by availability or cost." Between 11,000 and 12,000 children run away from home every year.

The Aberlour Child Care Trust believes this is symptomatic of the problems many youngsters face growing up in Scotland.

Addie Stevenson, chief executive of the charity, said: "This should be an incentive for Scotland to do better for our children. To make a real difference we need to tackle the underlying causes of these damning statistics.

"We need to think about poverty, social exclusion and the lack of opportunity for many of our citizens."

Research published by the commissioner last year, revealed that 48% of adults said the fear of being accused of harming a young person would prevent them taking on a role which would put them in contact with children. A spokesman for Children's minister Adam Ingram said: "We support the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provisions and have been actively considering what steps we can take to ensure better implementation in Scotland.

"These reports highlight a number of important issues which can help us build on the work already being done."