Fourth UN 'A Status' award for Scottish Human Rights Commission

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has achieved the top grade of international accreditation at the United Nations as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) for the fourth time.

This award of 'A Status' from the Global Alliance of NHRIs and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recognises the SHRC’s independence, authority, and broad statutory mandate to promote and protect human rights. The SHRC is one of over 100 National Human Rights Institutions around the globe.

The decision was made by a Committee of National Human Rights Institutions from around the world, following an extensive review of the SHRC and its work in Scotland over the last five years. This review took place against a set of detailed standards endorsed by the United Nations in 1993, known as the Paris Principles.

The Committee’s accreditation report recommends reaccreditation and acknowledges the SHRC’s efforts to promote and protect human rights in Scotland. It also makes the following recommendations to strengthen the powers of Scotland's Human Rights Watchdog:

  • Stronger powers in the SHRC’s legislation to include a more explicit and stronger protection mandate, including the power to raise human rights cases through the courts in the public interest, remove the current restrictions on providing advice to individuals, compel information from public bodies, and conduct unannounced visits to places of detention
  • The law should require that the SHRC’s reports are debated and considered by the Scottish Parliament
  • Dedicated resources for the SHRC’s roles in both the UK National Preventive Mechanism (UK NPM) to monitor ill treatment in places of detention, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) monitoring mechanism, reflecting the breadth of the SHRC's responsibilities
  • Full-time decision-making members and formal appointment processes with the selection and appointment process for Commission members to be enshrined in law to ensure transparency, diversity and broad public participation

‘A moment to act for Scotland’

Welcoming the news, Professor Angela O’Hagan, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said:

“We are delighted and honoured to receive A Status accreditation from the Global Alliance for Human Rights for the fourth time. This demonstrates the continued confidence of the international human rights system in the SHRC’s independence and the vital role we play in Scotland.

"But accreditation alone is not enough. Across Scotland people’s human rights are not being realised in their everyday lives, and we see that in our work.

"Reaccreditation strengthens the case for the Scottish Parliament to build the stronger human rights legal framework that people in Scotland need, and to ensure has the SHRC all the powers it needs to protect human rights in Scotland.”

You can read the recommendations in full on the NHRI Accreditation Database Archive. 

ENDS

For media enquiries please email media@scottishhumanrights.com.

Notes to Editors:

  • The SHRC’s full duties and powers are set out in the Scottish Commission for Human Rights Act 2006.
  • The accreditation process is carried out by the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA), which is part of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
  • The accreditation process assesses compliance with the Paris Principles.
  • As an A Status NHRI, the SHRC is the only Scottish organisation that can make direct contributions to the UN Human Rights Council on human rights issues.