Taskforce set up to introduce new human rights law in Scotland amid civil liberties fears
Scotland is to enshrine a new human rights framework in statute to guard against civil liberties being lost or diminished under Brexit, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The proposals are at the heart of a report published by the First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership and has been welcomed by campaigners.
The group, set up to ensure Brexit does not lead to an erosion of human rights in Scotland, wants the new law to include rights already provided by the Human Rights Act and additional economic, socialandculturalrightsfrom United Nations treaties.
Ms Sturgeon told a conference on human rights at Holyrood yesterday: “I share the ambition in this report that Scotland should introduce a human rights statutory framework and I support their recommendation that this should be done through public engagement, working across the public sector, civic society and parliament.
“As a first step, I will establish a national taskforce, early in 2019, to progress these plans.”
She added: “I do want to confirm immediately that I endorse the report’s overall vision of a new human rights framework for Scotland with a new act of Parliament at its very heart.”
A national mechanism for monitoring, reporting and implementation of human rights is among the key recommendations of the report, along with developing human rights indicators for the national performance framework and setting up the taskforce.
The group also recommends developing a written constitution including a bill of Rights for Scotland in the event of Scottish independence.
Group chairman Professor Alan Miller said: “There is an urgent need of human rights leadership in today’s world, 0 Nicola Sturgeon endorses the report’s overall vision
so we were delighted that the First Minister asked us for recommendations on how Scotland can lead by example.
“The leadership steps that Scotland needs to take are clear. The internationally recognised human rights belong to everyone in Scotland and must be put into our law.
“As, importantly, they must then be put into everyday practice. In this way people are empowered to lead lives of human dignity, to have a sense of self-worth.”
Scottishhumanrightscommission chairwoman Judith Robertson said the decision is an “important milestone”.
She said: “Seventy years ago, in 1948, the drafters of the Universal Declaration could never have imagined some of the challenges and changes we now face globally - climate change, the pace of technological change, globalisation and privatisation. Some challenges, sadly, would be all too familiar - the demonisation of people perceived to be “other”, extremism, the pursuit of narrow self- interest, poverty and inequality.
“We must now face these and other challenges head on. We must show collective leadership. I would like to close by quoting one of the contributors to a series of short films the Commission has made to mark today’s anniversaries. Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care put it well when he said ‘Human rights, at their best, hold a mirror in front of us of a world and a humanity which we need to become and which we grow into.’ We look forward to growing into that world together.”
John Wilkes, Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) head of Scotland welcomed the development.
“If this is taken forward it will place Scotland at the front of other UK countries in developing a progressive, rights-based society,” he said.
“We support the full incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law.
“This proposed Act of Parliament will for the first time clearly set out the roles and responsibilities of the Scottish state in relation to a wide range of rights and social issues such as children’s, women’s and disabled people’s rights.
“Importantly, it will give citizens a clearer mechanism for resolving problems where individual rights conflict”.
Friends of the Earth Scotland welcomed the provision in the report which called for a right to a “healthy and safe environment” and called for this to be treated as a priority.
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Head of Campaigns Mary Church said: “The right to a healthy and safe environment, and the UN framework principles that elaborate it, underpin all other human rights. In the current context of increasingly urgent environmental problems like climate change and biodiversity collapse it is more important than ever that these rights are understood, incorporated into our laws and robustly upheld.
“We note that Scottish Ministers must move to comply with their obligations under the UN Aarhus Convention on access to justice in environmental cases in order to deliver the right to a healthy and safe environment. The Scottish Government has a long history of foot-dragging on fully implementing the rights established by the Convention, which requires that individuals, communities and NGOS have affordable access to the courts to challenge decision making that adversely impacts on the environment.”