TWO Musselburgh residents have been recognised by The Young Women’s Movement, Scotland’s national organisation for young women’s leadership and rights.

Safiyah Pearson, 13, a volunteer with Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights), and Emma Ruse, 26, a theatre producer, have been named in this year’s 30 Under 30 list of young women and girls in Scotland who are “leading change and excelling in their fields”.

Safiyah has been volunteering with Together since the age of 10, but her journey into rights work began when she was eight years old. She has shown a passion for human rights, inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people, Young Carers issues and climate change.

Safiyah was initially involved in Rights Right Now! – exploring how children and young people could influence government as Scotland prepared for the incorporation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law.

When the project finished, Safiyah became one of Together’s first ever Rights Detectives, contributing to the development of a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland. Through this, Safiyah personally carried out investigations with over 100 children in East Lothian to find out about their experiences of their human rights.

Safiyah brings creativity to her role, including building a Minecraft world to show concerns about the impact of climate change. She also worked with another Rights Detective to develop a ‘spider’s web’ analogy for use by Together’s director in an evidence session at Scottish Parliament, which is now widely referred to in government and policy thinking in Scotland, the UK and beyond.

Safiyah is continuing as a Rights Detective to help to develop a new human rights project investigating how babies, early-years children and their grown-ups can raise worries about their human rights. This will influence work in Scotland, as well as informing new guidance on access to justice at a UN level.

She became a young carer in 2022 due to her dad having a brain injury. Safiyah has become an active member of the Young Carers Network through East Lothian Council and is helping to shape policy and practice for young carers in Scotland.

Safiyah is also a member of Children in Scotland’s ‘Changing Our World’ advisory group, which offers perspectives and experiences to Children in Scotland to make its work more relevant to children’s lives.

Emma is co-founder and chief executive of the charity Framework Theatre, described as Scotland’s support organisation for emerging theatre makers.

Framework Theatre was founded in 2018, shifting to become an artist development organisation to provide work to early-career artists in “an open and transparent way”.

Emma is also an independent producer and director who champions underrepresented voices in theatre.

Prior to entering the theatre industry, Emma spent eight years as a member of the National Youth Arts Advisory Group for Scotland – advising on cultural strategy and supporting the distribution of youth arts funding. Emma has spoken or hosted events at each of the last four Edinburgh International Culture Summits. Emma was also a member of Communic18, the steering group for the Year of Young People in 2018 which included delivering a workshop in the European Parliament.

Now in its ninth iteration, the 30 Under 30 campaign seeks to celebrate young women and girls’ impact in Scotland across “a diverse range of experiences”.

Jenni Snell, CEO of The Young Women’s Movement, said: “It’s a privilege to celebrate these inspiring and tenacious young women and girls, who are creating change in their communities, lives and across society in myriad ways.”