THE use of stop-and-search powers by Police Scotland could be open to challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights, a legal expert has said.
Bruce Adamson, legal officer with the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said the organisation has "real concerns" about the use of non-statutory searches, particularly in relation to the ability of children and vulnerable people to understand and give their consent.
Nearly 85 per cent of the 42,826 consensual stop-and-searches carried out in August and September failed to recover any illegal items, according to data.
Mr Adamson said the policy was at risk of challenge under Article 8 of the convention, which provides a right to respect for private and family life.
He told a cross-party group on children and young people at Holyrood: "The non-statutory element, which makes up a large proportion of the stop-and-searches in Scotland, we're particularly concerned about.
"The issue of legality is the key one. Are we content that the rules around stop-and-search are clear and publicly accessible?
"Bearing in mind that a lot of stop-and-search, particularly in some parts of Scotland like in Glasgow, is of children, and particularly as we know through the (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child that children are to always be seen as having a particular vulnerability, we need to give very careful consideration to whether non-statutory stop-and-search, this voluntary, consensual stop-and-search, really does meet the test of legality.
Pauline McIntyre, policy and parliamentary officer with Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, also expressed "significant concerns".
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