Anne's human rights experiences under ICESCR

What we've learned about human rights is absolutely fascinating. We were using some of them, but there were other ones we'd never heard of and that actually applied to us. Like when we saw the one about food: fresh, affordable food. We don't have a supermarket in Castlemilk, so that was our first target. You're going to fight for your rights. We took it to the UN in Geneva.

When I came to Castlemilk in ’79, you had every kind of shop: butchers, bakers, the lot. I'd say about eight out of ten people in Castlemilk go on about shopping. We need somewhere that you can get fresh fruit and veg. The nearest supermarkets, you need to get a taxi and that’s 12 to 14 pounds. It's adding on to your grocery bill and it's expensive enough.

Mental health issues are really high, especially in these estates, because there's no work, there's nothing. If you want to go anywhere it costs money. By the time they pay their rent, their gas and electricity - which has gone up again - they've got nothing left over.

Castlemilk Health Centre has 11,000 patients, and there's only six doctors practising. You can't get an appointment down there. I've lost about three friends to cancer in the last two years. One of them waited two years to get a scan, by the time she had a scan they said she had three months to live. She only lived for three weeks.

Castlemilk has always been famous for the community spirit. I've got a friend; she runs a wee hub they call it "Souper-heroes". For the last three years, she's been down at the shopping centre handing out bags of vegetables to make soup. It doesn't cost you a penny and you can get soup or a main meal, biscuits. It's mobbed.

But people are doing it themselves, they have to. It takes it out of you sometimes, but as long as you're achieving something, that's the main thing.

This is an excerpt from the SHRC's State of the Nation 2025 report on economic, social and cultural rights in Scotland. . Four people from across Scotland have shared their stories in this report, the stories show how all human rights are indivisible and interdependent. ESC rights touch on every part of our daily lives and often have an impact on one another, in ways that the experiences of Anne, Shamus, Derek and Nada show us.