Developing a framework of children's human rights indicators for Scotland.

Scotland is a global leader is advancing children's human rights, currently poised to directly incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law.

However, for children's human rights to become a reality, a robust framework for children's rights monitoring is needed. This timely research will explore how such a framework can be developed to monitor the implementation of, and breaches to, children's human rights in Scottish public bodies. The PhD project aims to identify the conceptual and methodological requirements for a robust children's right indicator framework in Scotland.

Methods include:

Phase 1: developing a conceptual framework to operationalise children's human rights into rights indicators for public bodies.

Phase 2: using a case study approach to explore the process of implementing a child rights monitoring framework within a public body.

Phase 3: analysing existing quantitative datasets; and new qualitative research with children and key policy and practice colleagues.

The research will make a significant contribution to a growing body of international evidence on the implementation and monitoring of children's human rights. It will also provide a unique opportunity to make real world impact on the incorporation and implementation of the UNCRC in Scotland.

The project is part of the work of the Observatory of Children's Human Rights Scotland, which is a partnership of Scottish organisations which supports implementation of the UNCRC in Scotland. As core members of the Observatory, Together and Childhood & Youth Studies at Moray House School of Education and Sport will oversee this PhD project.