Parliament to nominate new Children’s Commissioner for Scotland

The Scottish Parliament will next week be invited to nominate Bruce Adamson to Her Majesty the Queen for appointment as the new Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland.

The Commissioner’s general duty is to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people in Scotland.

Mr Adamson is set to succeed Tam Baillie who leaves the position on 17 May 2017.  A motion to agree Mr Adamson’s appointment will be considered by the Parliament on Tuesday 14 March.

This position is a full-time, single term appointment for six years and attracts a salary of £70,000. The appointment follows an open recruitment process.

Bruce Adamson (pictured) is a lawyer who has over 20 years of experience in children’s rights. Originally from New Zealand where he practised in the family and criminal courts, he moved to Scotland in 2002.

A Member of the Children’s Panel for 13 years, he has worked directly with vulnerable children and their families, listening to their experiences, and making decisions about their safety and wellbeing.

Mr Adamson has been on advisory boards for a number of public authorities and civil society organisations and is a former Chair of the Scottish Child Law Centre. As legal officer at the Scottish Human Rights Commission he has been central to the development of law, policy and practice covering the broad spectrum of children’s rights.  

He currently represents the Commission on the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism under the Convention Against Torture and has extensive experience inspecting places of detention in Scotland and other countries.  

In 2013 he was the United Nations Representative for the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, representing institutions from over 100 countries to improve human rights in Scotland and across the world.

Mr Adamson has acted as an international expert for the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCE. Working in emerging democracies in the Western Balkans and Ukraine he has helped to improve the situation for children in some of the most challenging situations in Europe.

He has also been a member of a number of international projects, including one on the reform of the European Court of Human Rights, and another on increasing the ability of national parliaments to act has human rights guarantors.

Further information on the work of the Commissioner can be found at: http://www.cypcs.org.uk/