Issue 44 February 2009 - Consultation on the Draft Strategic Plan of the Scottish Human Rights Commission

This is a critical time for the newly formed Scottish Human Rights Commission ("SHRC"). Now with eight members of staff, and recruiting for two more, the Commission "went live" on December 10, 2008, the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The team is fully focused on creating a human rights culture in Scotland, and the hard work has begun on that ambition. Between January and March 2009 we will be consulting on our draft Strategic Plan, and as a Commission we are travelling from Lerwick to Dumfries, Glenrothes to Greenock, and Stornoway to Aberdeen to gather advice, ideas and opinions on what our priorities should be for the next few years. As well as face-to-face meetings, the consultation is welcoming written responses, which is online at http:/ /www.scottisbbumanrights.com [Accessed January 28,2009]. Amongst the scores of people that have given up their time to meet and discuss their views with us so far are heads of education, police officers, older people and equality experts, as well as religious representatives, colleagues from other Commissions, young people and, vitally, the general public in Scotland.  

Why consult? The Scottish social and political landscape seems crowded at times with public consultations, aimed at giving stakeholders and the public "their say" in forming policy and improving services. Consultation is not a public vote, it is a qualitative exercise, seeking evidence to help deliver the most effective and efficient strategy. In addition, there are significant practical benefits to carrying out consultation as a formal exercise. In putting our preliminary plans to new audiences we are gaining public scrutiny, extracting views from interested parties, and giving those who may be affected by our plans the opportunity to express their opinions. Our approach has been to draft a Strategic Plan which contains over 20 questions themed on four strategic goals aimed at producing considered and helpful input and solutions. From the start, meeting stakeholders face-to-face has been a priority, in addition to gathering written responses. The Commission from the outset in this exercise has placed value on increasing trust and engagement with communities of practice in Scotland, improving our understanding of policy areas and implementation methods and addressing risk where possible.  

This consultation has been an essential component for the start up of the Commission for several reasons. First, we've recognised early that with finite resources and no appetite to reinvent the wheel we must utilise the expertise and experience already present in Scotland. We are lucky that there is a wide community who have experience of bringing human rights into their organisations and who have produced strong results from their investment, making a start to creating a human rights culture in Scotland. This inclusive process is important so as not to replicate work already out there, and gives our budding Commission the chance to learn from on-the-ground experience. Secondly, while there are pockets of good practice already out there, at the other end of the spectrum there are organisations with little or no experience of making human rights a working part of their strategy, policies and practice. Others have a desire to create a human rights culture internally but need tools to deliver meaningful and enduring change. This is our first opportunity to hear what they need, fleshing out the most helpful ways of delivering human rights training and education, and to hear what the potential difficulties are in delivering a rights-based approach on the ground and in the field. Thirdly, the consultation is a first chance for the Commission to introduce ourselves to communities of practice, and geographic communities outside the Central Belt. We are a Commission for Scotland, not just the thoroughfare of Glasgow and Edinburgh. There has been huge value for us in these connections.  

The responses to the consultation will be absorbed into a Strategic Plan which will be presented to the Scottish Parliament this summer, and will form the backbone of the work plan of the Commission for the next few years. We would welcome your contributions to this endeavor and hope you are able to join in with this process and help us to form the best Commission we can for Scotland.  

There are four goals outlined in the Strategic Plan. The first goal is, "Creating a Human Rights Culture in Scotland". Amongst the duties and powers afforded to the Commission there is a general duty to promote human rights-promoting awareness, understanding and respect for human rights, with particular regard to the most marginalised people in Scotland. To this end the Commission can publish information, provide advice or guidance, conduct research, and provide education and training. Our work so far in this area has included participating in events and conferences, planning a media and cultural engagement strategy, and taking advice on human rights education and training provision in Scotland. We have been lucky in receiving invitations to speak at a wide range of varied events from organisations such as the National Union of Journalists, cultural events and arts festivals. Overall, the communications and outreach strategy seeks to deliver awareness, training and education which will inspire, enable and empower people in Scotland to claim and defend their human rights. Human rights can and should play a positive role in people's everyday lives, and we will be working with the media in Scotland to further their understanding of human rights as well. The Commission should be an enabler of creating and sustaining a human rights culture, and we want to establish strong partnerships to help us spread the message effectively.  

The consultation asks for advice on the core of this process-who should we deliver training and education to, and how? What tools would be most effective in delivering change, and which are already out there waiting to be utilised? Where is good practice taking place at the moment? And how within the population can we raise awareness, understanding and respect for human rights with finite resources?  

The second goal aims to, "Integrate Human Rights into the Governance of Scotland". This goal focuses the Commission on developing and sharing the "know-how", guidelines and tools to enable bodies to integrate human rights into their day-to-day practices and behaviour. The Commission has the power to monitor law, policies and practices, recommending change where appropriate, and endows the power to intervene in civil legal proceedings, conduct legal inquiries and enter places of detention.  

Later this year we will publish three pieces of scoping work already carried out in this area-the conditions of older persons and particularly of those in residential care, the experience of the users of mental health services, and the Scottish Government's proposal for an Acknowledgement and Accountability Forum for adult survivors of childhood abuse. The Commission is also carrying out an evaluation of the experience, outcomes and benefits of a rights-based approach pilot scheme which has run for several years within an important Scottish public body in the health sector. Other projects include carrying out a major national mapping project, to be completed in late 2010. This will establish for the first time the extent to which the public in Scotland can realise their rights, identifying the gaps and good practice in the realisation of human rights in Scotland, which in turn gives the Commission a solid evidence base to outline a national action for human rights for Scotland. We plan to share the outcomes of the national mapping programme with the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Government and civic society, and it will allow us to engage with the United Nations ("UN") Universal Periodic Review process, examining whether state action is compliant with their obligations. The Commission will devise human rights impact assessments and other tools for different organisations (public, private or voluntary) to use a rights based approach effectively.  

The consultation asks for feedback on which sectors and concerns are currently inadequately addressed, how to maximise participation in the mapping project, and how we can measure the extent to which people can exercise their rights in Scotland at the moment. On this point through the consultation process we hope to gain insights into the human rights landscape in Scotland as it stands today. 

The third strategic goal for the Commission is "Implementing Effective Internal Governance". The Commission is a recipient of the public purse and must be accountable. Without an effective strategy in this area we would be unable to lead by example in taking a rights-based approach in our organisation and our work, which is a key ambition. We want to ensure that our work is transparent, and that as an organisation we are responsible, accountable and accessible. In keeping with the Paris Principles (international guidelines for effective national human rights institutions) we are, of course, independent, however we have a clear duty to the Scottish Parliament-and to the taxpayer-to ensure that our governance arrangements provide clear accountability, both in terms of providing best value for the public resources it uses, and in terms of ensuring that the Parliament is able to monitor SHRC's exercise of its powers.  

So far we have made good progress on this goal, but through the consultation we are seeking more feedback and advice. The Commission has adopted The Nolan Committee's Seven Principles of Public Life to guide our work, by co-locating in Glasgow with the GB Equality and Human Rights Commission, and staff have been trained on freedom of information legislation and procedures. SHRC is developing best practice in line with the Good Governance Standard for Public Services, crucial for our internal governance structures, and externally, we have been building relationships with Parliament and Parliamentary Officeholders. Throughout the consultation we will be asking other organisations to share their expertise as we develop further structures and policies to ensure transparency and accountability. We also propose to enter into Memoranda of Understanding, e.g. with the EHRC, as appropriate, and are open to creating specialist advisory panels as required.  

Our last strategic goal is to "Meet International Responsibilities". The Commission will seek formal recognition as a national human rights institution, and will participate and co-operate with other institutes and international bodies. So far the SHRC has participated in the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights ("ICC"), and the Commission has been elected to the inaugural Chair of the newly formed network of UK and Irish Commissions, and as representative of the European group of National Human Rights Institutes on two ICC steering committees: human rights and climate change, and on human rights and the business sector.  

Over time we plan to devise a strategy for international engagement which we will use to build relationships, share knowledge and best practice, and actively participate and co-operate with international, regional and other UK institutions. Later this year we will apply for formal recognition by the ICC as a NHRI. We also expect to become part of the national monitoring mechanism of the UN Convention for the Prevention of Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Punishment and Treatment, and the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This will help ensure that the rights under these Conventions are realised by everyone in Scotland. One further example of engaging internationally at an early stage was for the Commission to issue a statement on the Gaza conflict in January 2009 calling for an immediate cease fire and respect of human rights in the face of fear and violence, which was circulated to other NHRI's and offering solidarity with our sister organisation in Palestine. The consultation asks for feedback on other ways to effectively engage, participate and co-operate with international, regional and UK institutions, and what else we can do to meet our international responsibilities.  

Of the events we have held to date, the feedback has been hugely useful and very wide ranging. Some participants are hugely experienced in applying a human rights culture and have already made gains in their organisations, others have no base knowledge of human rights at all and are curious about what potential benefits a human rights based approach could bring for their staff, their service users and how it could build capacity internally. Individual feedback has covered complex questions such as how a human rights based approach would work in practice with people with mental health issues in police custody, how Muslim women can approach human rights in Scotland, and given us knowledge of the priority various local authorities place on establishing a human rights culture. Some issues which, at first explanation, seem localised-traveller communities, young people being targeted with Mosquito devices, a lack of resources for mobility access, interest groups seeking action over community involvement in housing and planning--dearly have national implications, and each meeting has provided a wealth of data and leads for us to follow. Our international role and responsibilities have also generated discussion about Scotland's place in the global human rights landscape, and our role in raising awareness of international human rights obligations in Scotland.  

One interesting early theme from the feedback has been advice on how to manage our finite resources carefully and get the best value possible for the public purse. Our budget equates to a spend of 20p per person in Scotland per year, and consultation feedback consistently stressed the need to develop a Strategic Plan which balances ambition with what can be delivered, placing an emphasis on working with others and building relationships over time. The staff of the Commission bring together professional experience from a range of fields-public policy, NGOs, academic research, equal opportunities, the legal profession, and journalism-and each consultation meeting thus far has shown us that that expertise can be added to by using the networks already out there to deliver our aims. Technology and building online resources have also been noted as an important possible avenue to follow in terms of providing good value for money and a "bank" of resources which could be utilised.  

Throughout the consultation process the Commission has been clear that human rights have to become more understandable and applicable through awareness raising and advocacy, and that we are open to all suggestions and advice to help us achieve our ambition. Finding the best user-friendly ways and means will be crucial in establishing a human rights based approach throughout organisations, and giving them meaning and longevity. Our raison d'etre is to promote and protect human rights in Scotland, and this consultation will form the base of our work for several years to come. We would welcome your involvement and feedback in that process.

Respond online at http://www.scottishhumanrights.com [Accessed January 28, 2009].