Overview Of The Most Significant Policies Regarding The Human Right

Everyone have Human rights and they are in place from the beginning of time but in the recent years Human rights are much more define and talked about than in past. Human rights are in place for every one regardless of individual’s age, race, sex, language, religion and colour. Magna Carta in 1215 strengthened the concept and importance of human rights. Magna Carta became the base of human rights and then in 1689 bills of rights England was passed, followed by the great revolution in 1688.

According to Calpham, Human rights gathered more important after the Second World War, particularly after the United Nation Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The Universal Declaration of Human rights which UN adopted on 10th December 1948 computes some of these basic rights of man. These basic rights are, rights to live, liberty and security, freedom of speech. Freedom of movement. The second types of the rights are economic and social rights, which are right to work, right to rest and leisure, right to education, equal pay for equal work, rights to live with dignity and right to equality.

Government have embedded different legislation, polices and framework documents for different areas of our daily life. For example, Practitioners working in early years and childcare setting have their professional obligation to abide these legislations, polices and framework, which are there to make that setting secure and nurturing for children. All these legislations, polices and framework comes from the Human rights, which then leads the children to become responsible citizens, active learners, effective contributors and confident individuals. Following is a timeline showing the significant developments in the Human Right.

1. Children and young people (Scotland) Act 2014 was released to stress Scottish government’s aim to make Scotland best place to grow up. This Act allows parents and guardians to ask the commissioner to enquire if their child’s rights have not been respected. According to the CYP Scotland a child may have a named person and they will then investigate about what support is in place for that child and what additional support can be in place to have better outcomes for that child. That name person may also have to share this information with other agencies in order to provide the accurate support for that child. Different agencies work together to create a Childs Support Plan. The idea of different agencies working together is that the child have only one detailed plan which provides all the information rather than have separate plans.

This Act increased the amount of childcare that was provided to 3 years old and to some 2 years old, which benefitted many families and included the vulnerable under 3 but some people also debate that every child should be included not just the vulnerable ones. All children in P1 to P3 are offered free school meals, which means young children would be offered a healthy meal at lunch time and supported families with tight budget. Allowing a named person to make decisions would benefit the child but it can also lead to professional stress if that named person have a huge number of children to be looked after. As a document Children and young people (Scotland) Act 2014 can be difficult for parents and carers to access and understand. Government should design a shorter copy and highlight the main outcomes of the document in easy to read format. As this Act will only succeed its purpose of serving the people, if people are aware of it and can understand it fully.

2. GIRFEC (getting it right for every child) is a national approach to support the wellbeing of children by offering them help at the right time by the right people. It is included in legislation (children and young people Scotland Act 2014). GIRFEC aim is to put the child at the centre and all the agencies that are available to support work in collaboration.

It provides children and young people freedom to made decisions for themselves, listen to their views and at time support individuals to express their views. It provides parents and carers support like named person, child’s wellbeing and individual support plan. GIRFEC helps parents to understand which agencies would be involved most in supporting their child. GIRFEC documents provided by the government are easy to understand and serve the purpose.

3. Equality Act 2010, protects people from discrimination both in the society and workplace. This law makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone on the basis of their age, sex, religion, background, mental or physical abilities. Equality Act 2010 in itself is a great document and can raise the standard of a workplace very high if it is implemented correctly. As many of other legislations and government documents, Equality Act 2010 document could be more helpful if this is available in a simple, easy to read format. There is a need to educate people more about this law so that they can understand how this law protects them and what support is available if they feel that their right of Equality has not been respected.