Trans children have rights under international and domestic law, and we can be more assertive both in calling attention to rights violations, and in demanding institutions uphold these rights in policy and practice.

This accountability should be more robust in Scotland, who in 2024 brought the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) properly into domestic law.

When the Scottish Government embedded the UNCRC into Scottish law, it made a commitment to children across Scotland: that child rights matter; that decision-makers will be held accountable for upholding the rights of all children.

When it comes to trans children, that promise has fallen short – trans children are seeing their rights eroded and ignored, in healthcare, education and wider society.

Scottish school are institutions with a legal duty to uphold trans children’s UNCRC rights, yet we are now seeing Government policy advising schools to segregate, humiliate and harm trans pupils. This approach is incompatible with Scottish UNCRC commitments, severely threatening trans children’s safety, well-being and access to education, and placing schools and educational policy makers in violation of their legal responsibilities.

In healthcare we are seeing trans children’s right to safe and equal access to health eroded by policy across Scotland. Scottish children’s trans healthcare policy is not meeting its legal obligations under the UNCRC.

I call on Scottish MPs and MSPs, the Scottish Children’s Commissioner, and all who care about child welfare, to uphold their UNCRC responsibilities, speaking out on current injustices, protecting and upholding trans children’s rights under international and domestic law.

I call on everyone engaging in working with or shaping policy towards trans children to explicitly recognise their legal obligation to trans children. Under UNCRC there is a legal responsibility to listen to trans children, explicitly and directly, in a meaningful way, where trans children’s voices, experiences and priorities meaningfully shape Scottish policy.

The incorporation of the UNCRC into Scottish law is having consequences across Scotland, shaping the way in which institutional policy is defined and evaluated. Trans children need to be part of this process.

We need to hear two statements significantly more often across Scotland: “what does this mean for trans children in Scotland?” and “is this compliant with our obligations to trans children under the UNCRC?”. The first question explicitly recognises the existence of trans children; the second explicitly recognises their rights under the crc. Both questions can only be responded to through close and trustworthy collaboration with trans children, centring their voices and perspectives, and ensuring such voices and perspectives meaningfully shape policy and practice.

For more on trans children’s rights under the UNCRC, see this peer reviewed article, in the leading International Journal of Child Rights, jointly authored with Dr Ruth Pearce from the University of Glasgow.

These UNCRC rights and obligations are relevant in all countries across the world, apart from in the USA (the only country not to have signed up to the UNCRC).

Across the whole world we need to see Governments, policy makers, and individual institutions, from schools to councils to healthcare bodies, recognise trans children’s rights, uphold trans children’s rights, and be accountable where these rights are violated.