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New Human Rights Bill pledged by Scottish Government

  • Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 12th March 2021

International human rights laws will be incorporated into Scots Law, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRPD).

The National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership have today published their report, calling for a transformational approach to Scotland’s human rights framework (this link will take you away from our website).

Established in October 2019, the Taskforce undertook extensive engagement with the third sector and civic society. The ALLIANCE took part in a number of these engagement meetings, as well as holding our own events to ensure that the voice of lived experience was heard in the process, including our event with All Our Rights in Law in December 2020. We were also pleased to be a member of two subgroups that helped inform the Taskforce, and have been closely collaborating with other members of the Civil Society Working Group on Incorporation.

A total of 30 recommendations are made in the final report, including:

  • Incorporation of multiple human rights conventions
    • Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRPD)
    • Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
    • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
    • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
  • Empowering the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to undertake investigations
  • Requirement to undertake human rights budgeting
  • Carrying out a large scale public awareness campaign for the new framework

These recommendations have been accepted in full by the Scottish Government. They have announced their intention to implement them via a new Human Rights Bill in the next parliament if re-elected (this link will take you away from our website). The ALLIANCE welcome this pledge by the current Scottish Government, and we call on all political parties to make a similar commitment.

Incorporation of the UNCRPD has been a key priority for the ALLIANCE. Alongside Inclusion Scotland we published a report by Dr. Kasey McCall-Smith on the possible routes to incorporation of the UNCRPD in Scotland, and asked other organisations and individuals to support our call for direct incorporation. Additionally, incorporation is a key ask in our “Equally Valued” manifesto for the upcoming election.

Ensuring everyone can access and realise their human rights is vital to the health and wellbeing of both individuals and our society as a whole. Disabled people, people with long term conditions and unpaid carers have too often had difficulty accessing their rights, but a renewed and enhanced framework for upholding those rights will make a substantial difference. Incorporation of the UNCRPD, CEDAW, CERD and ICESCR is therefore a major step towards building a society in which all people are truly equally valued.

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