Lawyer set to become next Children's Commissioner

A New Zealand born lawyer is being proposed for appointment as the next Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland.

The Scottish Parliament will on 14 March be invited to nominate Bruce Adamson to the Queen for appointment to succeed Tam Baillie, who leaves the position on 17 May 2017.

The Commissioner’s general duty is to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people in Scotland. It involves engaging with children and young people; promoting awareness and understanding of their rights; and keeping law, policy and practice relating to the rights of children and young people under review, assessing its adequacy and effectiveness. The Commissioner also promotes and commissions research on matters relating to children and young people’s rights. The position is a full time, single term appointment for six years with a salary of £70,000.  

Mr Adamson practised in the family and criminal courts in New Zealand before moving to Scotland in 2002. A member of the children’s panel for 13 years, he has sat on advisory boards for a number of public authorities and civil society organisations and is a former chair of the Scottish Child Law Centre. Recently, 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.