Scotland as a human rights leader (2026 Manifesto)

Incorporate Human Rights

• Pass a Scottish Human Rights Bill that incorporates a range of international human rights and accountability directly into Scots law.
• Maximise the capacity for incorporating human rights in Scotland, following the Supreme Court ruling on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Incorporation Act.
• Enhance the powers of the Scottish Human Rights Commission and ensure it has adequate and sustainable resources.

During the 2021-2026 term of parliament, the Scottish Government and civil society worked hard to develop a Scottish Human Rights Bill. Following the prior incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), this would have incorporated further treaties into Scots law: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD); the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). It would also have incorporated the right to a health environment.

The ALLIANCE, our members and partners across civil society are deeply disappointed that the Bill has not yet been introduced. This was a missed opportunity to improve accountability and actionability for rights in Scotland, and to act on the evidence and experience shared by so many rights holders, human rights defenders, and organisations. Incorporation should make it easier for duty bearers to plan for and fulfil their obligations, and for people to access justice and receive redress when their rights have been breached. The next Scottish Government must prioritise passing a Human Rights Bill, taking a maximalist approach to incorporation within the constraints of the devolution settlement.

Those constraints have been tightened by what legal expert Professor Aileen McHarg describes as the “incoherent” and “unexpected” judgement of the UK Supreme Court in relation to the UNCRC Incorporation Act. This judgement has complicated the devolved incorporation of human rights in a way that cannot have been intended when the Scotland Act was originally drafted. The next Scottish Government must work with the UK government to amend the Scotland Act and remove these unintended and unworkable limitations. It should also consider alternative solutions to widen the scope of incorporation, like consolidating and re-enacting pre-devolution legislation.

The Bill should also consider the role of the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC), Scotland’s National Human Rights Institution (NHRI). The ALLIANCE have repeatedly called for the SHRC’s powers to be expanded, including the right to raise proceedings in their own name. In addition, growing demand for group or theme specific Commissioners is understandable given persistent service failures, but the Scottish Parliament considers this growth unsustainable. The SHRC could potentially meet these demands if structured and resourced accordingly. The next Scottish Government must ensure the SHRC has the powers, funding and capacity to meaningfully fulfil its role as an NHRI.

Act, Monitor and Report on Human Rights

• Prioritise implementation of Scotland’s second National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP 2).
• Proactively respond to UN human rights recommendations through appropriate action planning and resource allocation.
• Ensure that robust, disaggregated equality and human rights data is systematically gathered, analysed, and used to inform decision making.
• Improve human rights monitoring and reporting, underpinned by a national human rights tracker tool that includes data from a range of sources.

Transparency and accountability are essential to the full realisation of human rights. Governments at all levels must clearly set out what actions they will take to meet their human rights obligations, and how those outcomes will be measured and monitored. At the same time, a recurring issue that the ALLIANCE and many of our members and other third sector organisations encounter is lack of accessible and comprehensive data. How and what data is gathered is essential to understanding whether and how governments are delivering on their obligations.

Scotland’s second National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP 2) was published in March 2023. Intended to run until 2030, it sets out the actions needed to help build “a Scotland where everyone can live with human dignity.” As yet, however, the Scottish Government has not shared a clear plan or outlined how it will progress relevant SNAP 2 actions. The next Scottish Government must prioritise the implementation of SNAP 2 and ensure adequate resources are invested in the delivery of each action. 

The UK and Scotland are party to UN oversight processes in respect of human rights, like Universal Periodic Reviews and Treaty Bodies (Committees.) These scrutinise the implementation of rights and issue recommendations for further action. In 2025, the ICESCR Committee made several recommendations in devolved areas including mental health, housing and budgeting, and the current Scottish Government have published a high-level action plan in response. The next Scottish Government must prioritise a proactive response to UN human rights recommendations, including specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound action plans and adequate resourcing.

Given the diversity arising from personal characteristics and circumstances, including ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age and income, there must be mechanisms for capturing and learning from differing experiences. To understand whether actions and decisions have been successful, it is essential to know how diverse groups of people have been affected. The next Scottish Government must ensure that robust, disaggregated equality and human rights data is systematically gathered, analysed, and used to inform decision making. This includes data in relation to people’s communication needs, access to and experience of public services, as well as incidence and prevalence figures for long term conditions and diseases like cancer.

Similarly, there is a need for improved human rights monitoring and reporting. The ALLIANCE has welcomed the work underway by the current Scottish Government to design and develop a tracker tool however it must use evidence that is independent and impartial to avoid concerns that public sector duty bearers are ‘marking their own homework’. The next Scottish Government must deliver improvements in human rights monitoring, including through completing the process of delivering a national human rights tracker tool. This tool should include data generated by a range of sources with human rights duties and expertise, including the public and third sectors.

Realise the right to health

• Ensure equality and rights are explicitly mainstreamed and embedded within all public services.
• Take action to support a Right to Rehab approach through local and community services.
• Embed a Right to Palliative Care approach across services.

The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, or, for brevity, the right to health, is a key ICESCR right. As the United Nations notes, it is an inclusive right that extends to the social determinants of health as well as timely access to appropriate healthcare. In recent years, the ALLIANCE has focused on how the right to health is understood and realised in Scotland’s health and social care systems. This includes a 10-year partnership with Public Health Scotland and the University of Strathclyde, as well as research that found a lack of understanding of this right amongst the public and workforce.

Work by the ALLIANCE and our members highlights the importance of explicitly mainstreaming human rights throughout service design and delivery, as well as taking a health in all policies approach. When accessing health and social care services, it should be clear to the public what they have a right to expect, and what to do if they are concerned or know that their rights have not been respected. Equally, the workforce should be appropriately educated and trained in human rights based practice. The next Scottish Government must progress equality and human rights mainstreaming and ensure that all public services respect, protect and fulfil the right to health.

An important component of the right to health is that it is to “the highest attainable standard”. This recognises that although the state cannot be responsible for unconditional health,  it is nonetheless obliged to ensure the conditions are in place so that everyone’s right to health is respected, protected and fulfilled. The ALLIANCE are a member of Scotland’s Right to Rehab coalition, which calls for everyone to have access to rehabilitation. The next Scottish Government must take action to support a Right to Rehab approach, ensuring no one is excluded by “no rehab potential” and that their needs are met through appropriate local and community services.

Similarly, the health and wellbeing of people with terminal and life-limiting conditions benefit enormously from access to good quality palliative care. The ALLIANCE have backed calls by our members and partners for a Right to Palliative Care. The next Scottish Government must deliver a Right to Palliative Care approach through developing national standards and increasing the availability of palliative care. It should also ensure palliative care has adequate strategic recognition, alongside education and communications which help to improve support and experiences of serious illness, dying and bereavement.