The ALLIANCE gives evidence to Equalities Committee on economic, social and cultural rights

The ALLIANCE and its members highlight key actions needed to ensure rights realisation in Scotland.

Economic, social and cultural rights are our everyday rights. They protect the basic necessities of our lives, and everyone in Scotland is entitled to those rights, which need to be respected, protected and fulfilled by the state.

In January 2025, the ALLIANCE submitted a ‘parallel’ report to the UN Committee responsible for overseeing the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The UN Committee also heard from many other UK-based third sector organisations, including some ALLIANCE members. After examining the UK and Scotland’s reports, members of the UN Committee raised issues concerning the lack of progress towards incorporating these rights and tackling inequalities.

Following our submission, the ALLIANCE’s Director of Policy, Research and Impact, Lucy Mulvagh, gave evidence on the issues raised to the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice (EQHRCJ) Committee.

A lot of the issues raised are well known and not new. What is less clear is the action that will be taken to address the issues so that people no longer experience violations of their everyday rights.

For the ALLIANCE, it is important not just to incorporate the rights within the international treaty into Scots’ law, but to ensure there are robust processes that give effect to the rights and the important principles that underpin them.

Looked at through a human rights lens, we witness issues with all the main elements of the right to health. For example, there is not enough availability of and access to healthcare services; quality can be a postcode lottery; and the timeliness of services can be problematic. Some people are still not fully involved in participating in decision making about their health and other aspects of their lives. When people experience problems there are gaps in accountability and redress if trying to claim their rights.

A significant challenge to progressing human rights in Scotland occurred when the disappointing decision was made by the Scottish Government to push back the introduction of the proposed Human Rights Bill. We’ve also recently seen delays to the Mental Health Reform programme, the Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill, and reform of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act. Decision making like this reflects the implementation gaps between the rhetoric of rights, putting them into practice, and people’s ability to claim their rights every day.

Whilst Scotland has witnessed some positive steps in other areas, like social security, in practice, there still remain issues with people being able to claim what they’re fully entitled to. For example, there is evidence that unpaid carers and disabled people are underclaiming social security benefits, and that social security payments overall are not adequate for people to fully enjoy their right to an adequate standard of living. This is illustrated further by the benefits changes announced in the UK Government’s Spring Statement. Such changes will cause real hardship and confusion, putting the values of the Scottish system at risk.

The ALLIANCE’s parallel report to the UN Committee also noted the persistent gaps in intersectional equality and human rights data and where more robust data is needed. For data to be gathered and utilised effectively, there must be a baseline developed to enable Scotland to track our progressive improvement.

Following our evidence session, the ALLIANCE wrote a joint letter with Making Rights Real and the Human Rights Consortium Scotland, to the EHRCJ Committee. Our letter notes that while we welcomed the opportunity to highlight the issues discussed, and positive next steps that could be made, we believe that the Programme for Government (PfG) could have gone much further in committing the Scottish Government to working on a wide range of human rights-based policy areas. We also called upon the EQHRCJ Committee to consider further how it can hold the Scottish Government to account for delivery on human rights to ensure that there are no further delays to rights realisation in Scotland.

It is now less than one year until the next Scottish Parliament election, which could be one of the most important since devolution. Human rights, including those detailed in ICESCR and the UN Committee’s recommendations, should be made central to the creation of a modern, progressive democracy.

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