Scottish Parliament recognises child rights and welfare concerns over armed forces activities in schools

Quakers in Scotland and ForcesWatch have welcomed the recommendations made in a report from the Scottish Parliament about armed forces activities in schools. After two years of deliberation of the petition calling for greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation around armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, MSPs have published a report this morning.

Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee have made a number of recommendations that recognise concerns of the petitioners and supporters of the petition, including child rights organisations.

These include commissioning a Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment around appropriateness of content and balance, both within presentations made by the armed forces and within the wider curriculum. They indicated that the CRWIA should consider the issue of consultation with parents.

The Committee also recommended that careers information provided to young people should reflect the challenges and risks involved in an armed forces career, so that they are fully informed.

In a bid to enable better scrutiny of the activities, the Committee recommended that data about the visits should be made publicly available by the Ministry of Defence.

The MoD and the armed forces gave oral evidence to the Committee in which they stated that their engagement with young people in schools had 'matured' since 2014. The petitioners contested this and a number of points made in the evidence and requested further information.

New data published in 2017 shows a continuing high level of visits to schools, with some schools visited repeatedly, and most visits for careers purposes.

The report reflects difference of opinion around whether armed forces activities in schools are about recruitment or raising awareness. The Committee was not able to conclude that 'such activities constitute an explicit act of recruitment' but they did state that the activities include the promotion of careers in the armed forces and 'form part of the recruitment journey'.

In 2015, the Welsh Assembly accepted recommendations for guidance around armed forces careers activities in schools which reflected the 'unique nature' of their careers.

Emma Sangster of ForcesWatch stated that, "We are very pleased that the Committee has recognised the underlying concerns of this petition and assessed it in terms of children's rights, in line with the Scottish government's established practice.

"We hope that the assessment will also consider some points of particular concern, such as visits to primary and special schools, and take a detailed look at the materials and activities across the range of armed forces visits to schools.

"There is clearly a strong recruitment aspect to military visits in schools across Scotland. The Committee itself has noted this, saying visits 'form part of the recruitment journey'. We are pleased that it has been recognised and call for greater oversight of recruitment in schools."

Mairi Campbell-Jack, Scottish Parliamentary Engagement Officer for Quakers in Britain, said: "Quakers are led by their beliefs to be concerned about the increasing militarisation of society and our education system.

"We are delighted that the committee has recognised our concerns and welcome the call for the Scottish Government to undertake a Child Rights Impact Assessment which we urge the Scottish Government to undertake. We would like to thank the Committee and its staff, who worked for a long time in consideration of this issue."

Juliet Harris of Together: Scottish Alliance on Child Rights, said: "The UN has repeatedly raised concerns at the age at which children are recruited to the armed service across the UK, and that children from vulnerable groups are disproportionately represented among new recruits.

"We welcome the call from the Public Petitions Committee for the Scottish Government to carry out a child rights impact assessment on military visits to schools and hope that this is the first step towards the UK meeting its wider obligations to children's human rights."

The report is available at: https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/Committees/Report/PPC/2018/6/4/PE1603--Ensuring-greater-scrutiny--guidance-and-consultation-on-armed-forces-visits-to-schools-in-Scotland#Introduction

See also: ICN 27 November 2016 - Peace groups voice concern as British Army increases recruitment of under-age soldiers www.indcatholicnews.com/news/31428