A HEALTH campaign group has teamed up with Scotland’s commissioner for children and young people to back calls for children to grow up free from tobacco smoke.

Ash Scotland and Bruce Adamson believe children have the right to play, learn and socialise in smoke-free spaces, not just because of the immediate impact on their health but because it also means they are less likely to take up the habit.

Around two-and-a-half years ago the campaign group launched its Charter for a Tobacco-Free Generation, setting out six key principles that will help ensure the next generation grow up without the health problems and financial costs caused by smoking. More than 170 organisations have since pledged to take action.

Now Adamson has been named as a champion for the third principle, which states that “all children should play, learn and socialise in places that are free from tobacco”.

He said: “There is a momentum in Scotland to ensure that the next generation will be the first to grow up without any pressure or expectation that they will take up smoking. In 2016 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended – with reference to the right of the child to rest, leisure, play – that we need to ensure access to safe, inclusive, smoke-free places for play.

“The charter is an important tool that the whole of civic Scotland can use to help change our smoking culture and help put smoking out of sight and out of mind, for our children’s future health. I am proud to support this initiative.”

He added: “This cuts right to the heart of children’s rights to play, to learn, to socialise and Scotland’s Charter for a Tobacco-free Generation is a really powerful instrument, a very powerful tool, because of its link to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

In 2006, Scotland became the first part of the UK to introduce a smoking ban in enclosed public spaces and a full ban on the display of tobacco products in shops was implemented in 2015.

Last year it fought off a legal challenge from the tobacco industry to introduce a measure that now sees all cigarettes and rolling tobacco sold in dull, green packaging carrying graphic warnings about the health impacts of smoking.

Now Ash Scotland believes that Adamson can help by campaigning for further measures that will eventually lead to Scotland becoming a smoke-free nation.

“Bruce is a committed and effective advocate of children’s rights,” said Sheila Duffy, chief executive of Ash Scotland. I am delighted to welcome him as our first Charter Champion.”

She added: “We want the choice to grow up and remain smoke-free in Scotland to be a natural one, and smoke-free environments are part of helping Scotland to achieve this.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to protecting young people from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke, and our target to halve the proportion of children exposed in the home to six per cent by 2020 was achieved five years early.

“The smoking in cars ban builds on this progress and NHS Scotland services continues to offer free, local support to help people to quit smoking. We will continue to explore other ways to support our ambition of creating a tobacco-free generation by 2034.”