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The ALLIANCE responds to the Human Rights Bill Consultation

  • Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 5th October 2023
A line of placards with the title reading 'Human Rights'

ALLIANCE have published their response to the proposed Human Rights Bill for Scotland

The response sets out the ALLIANCE’s views on the proposed Human Rights Bill for Scotland.

In June, the Scottish Government published its consultation on proposals for a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland. The proposed bill plans to enshrine international human rights, including the right to health and an adequate standard of living, into Scots law.

The bill looks to reduce inequality and would place a broader range of human rights at the centre of how Scotland’s frontline public services are delivered. Enshrining rights in law also aims to empower individuals to understand and claim them, and to ensure there is more effective monitoring and accountability when things go wrong.

The Human Rights Bill proposes to incorporate four UN human rights treaties into Scots law:

  • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ISESCR)
  • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
  • Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

The ALLIANCE response recognises that incorporation is a challenging endeavour. However, it is imperative that the legislation gives the maximum possible effect to people’s human rights. This means ensuring that the Bill includes a duty to comply with as many of the rights as possible – including substantive rights in CEDAW, CERD and CRPD – as well as robust measures on access to justice, participation, implementation, scrutiny, and accountability.

The response also highlights the challenges of the consultation process, including the timescale over summer, and a lack of detail.

The ALLIANCE have also backed the response from the Human Rights Budget Working Group on the Human Rights Bill for Scotland. The response, linked below, sets out that although improvement has been made in terms of regard to human rights budgeting, however, more can be done within this bill to improve and strengthen human rights budgeting.

Read the full response below.

Resources:

ALLIANCE Human Rights Bill Consultation Response
Download PDF Document (531 KB)
ALLIANCE Human Rights Bill Consultation Response
Download Word Document (262 KB)
Download all document resources
Human Rights Bill for Scotland HRBWG
Download Word Document (322 KB)
Human Rights Bill for Scotland HRBWG
Download PDF Document (711 KB)
Download all document resources

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