All human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. 

Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action

National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership

The Commission was a member of the National Taskforce on Human Rights Leadership, which published its report of recommendations for a new human rights framework for Scotland in March 2021.

The Taskforce process led to a significant commitment from the government to incorporate a range of important international human rights treaties fully and directly into Scots law.

The Commission believes this will give Scotland a human rights law which reflects many of the real challenges facing people in areas such as health and social care, housing, food and social security. It will also provide specific, tailored, protections for many of the people in society most likely to experience rights violations and inequality. 

All Our Rights in Law

The Commission worked with the Human Rights Consortium Scotland to gather views from people and communities across Scotland about how a new human rights law should work. 

That evidence was shared with the National Taskforce on Human Rights Leadership and published in a separate report: Find out more about All Our Rights in Law.

Strengthening Human Rights Law

Our Work to Strengthen Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Commission has worked for many years to secure stronger legal protection for economic, social and cultural rights, and to raise awareness of what these rights include. 

In 2015, we hosted a national conference entitled “Putting the Justice into Social Justice” with the First Minister of Scotland as a guest speaker. This conference shared international experiences of incorporating economic, social and cultural rights into law. 

In 2018, we organised a high-level seminar on “Incorporation and Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” with guest speaker, Virginia Bras Gomez, Chair of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

We have also hosted a series of workshops on the right to health, social security and housing, and published research on models of incorporation for Scotland.

The Commission has committed to progressing understanding and strengthening legal protection of economic, social and cultural rights in its Strategic Plan 2020-2024