New tools to help improve rights-based policy and practice

The resources come from a partnership between the ALLIANCE, Public Health Scotland, and the University of Strathclyde.

Since 2015, the ALLIANCE, Public Health Scotland, and the University of Strathclyde have worked together as the Health and Human Rights Partnership (HHRP), an exemplar collaboration that seeks to promote participation and co-production in health and human rights, including peer research.

This year, we have worked together on three new pieces work, all designed to help tackle health inequalities and improve rights-based policy and practice, particularly in health, public health, and social care.

The three resources published today are:

Commissioning Peer Research to Support Human Rights in Practice: Guidance for Duty Bearers

This has been developed to support duty bearers to use existing peer research in their decision-making, and to guide them through the process of commissioning new peer research. The guidance can be read as a whole, or by relevant sections. It provides:

• General information about peer research, how it connects to human rights and duty bearers.
• A summary of three completed peer research projects, their findings, recommendations, and key emergent themes to inform action.
• Practical checklists to support the design, delivery and commissioning of peer research.

We would encourage all bodies providing public services to undertake peer research, and use this guidance to help inform decision-making and promote rights.

Access the peer research guidance

Exploring the alignment of public health and human rights legal duties in Scotland

This briefing paper is intended to inform implementation planning for the Scottish Human Rights Bill. It provides an example of mapping areas of alignment, and potential divergence, between existing public health duties and the proposed legal duties under the Bill as these duties are currently understood.

The paper is designed for senior leaders in public health and health and social care in Scotland. It can support strategic decision making by helping leaders identify where existing duties may already align with proposed human rights obligations, and where further action – like policy review, training or the development of implementation tools – may be needed to prepare for the Scottish Human Rights Bill.

Read the briefing paper

Health and human rights: Rights-based decision-making in healthcare settings

Delivering an action in SNAP 2 (Scotland’s second National Human Rights Action Plan), this preliminary mapping exercise identifies real world examples of rights-based decision making in healthcare settings.

It also contains a Rights Based Decision Making Flowchart (and guidance), which demonstrates how a human rights-based approach to decision making can be implemented in practice. This new tool is designed to help decision makers consider how policies or decisions can positively promote rights, not just limit them. It can be used in conjunction with Integrated Impact Assessments (IIA) and Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments (EQHRIA) as part of a wider approach to mainstreaming.

Read the mapping report and access the flowchart toolkit

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