Commission welcomes inaugural meeting of National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership

 The Commission welcomes the inaugural meeting of the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership established by the Scottish Government and looks forward to being an active participant in the process. 

The Taskforce will take forward recommendations made in December 2018 by an independent Advisory Group established by the First Minister, which also included the Commission. These recommendations included bringing forward a new Act of the Scottish Parliament to incorporate economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, as well as other international rights, into Scotland’s laws. They also included a public participation process to inform the development of new legislation.

 Judith Robertson, Chair of the Commission, said:

 “The work of the National Taskforce will play an important role as part of broader efforts taking place to strengthen the laws, policy and practices that affect people’s rights in everyday life in Scotland. New legislation to put a wider range of international human rights directly into Scotland’s laws can and should create an important bedrock of protection for people’s rights.

“However we also know that legislation is not enough to create the culture change needed to make human rights part and parcel of the policies, budgets and day-to-day decisions that affect people’s rights in practice. We welcome therefore the Taskforce remit that promises to listen and learn from people with lived experience of rights violations, a broad range of civil society organisations, and people working at all levels of public services, including through Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights.

“This is a significant opportunity for Scotland to show human rights leadership, and the Commission looks forward to sharing its expertise, analysis and advice as part of this process and beyond, in order to maximise that opportunity.”