What we did

This project examined denial of the rights to cultural recognition of Scotland’s Gypsy Travellers as a human rights issue. It looks at the impact of the experiment on the community, past and present. Our project was informed by an independently commissioned research report and an expert legal... testimony. Our report, "No man's land": a human rights assessment of the Tinker Experiment, draws... international human rights laws and frameworks. Throughout this project, the SHRC was committed to ensuring Monday 26 January 2026

European Group meets in Belfast - UN Treaty Bodies

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has today hosted a crucial session of European National Human Rights Institutions in Belfast. The Scottish Human Rights Commission currently chairs... future." Chair of the European Group of National Human Rights Institutions Professor Alan Miller added... Nations High Commissioner's Report on the Strengthening of the Human Rights Treaty Body System. Senior... of a country's human rights situation and sets targeted recommendations for improvement. It also raises Sunday 19 June 2016

Commission calls for 'due regard duty' to advance right to social security

The Scottish Human Rights Commission, with the support of a range of leading civil society... to the right to social security as outlined in international human rights law when implementing... and realising human rights. We look forward to the Committee’s debate and hope that Scotland’s parliamentarians will take the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to progressing human rights.” ENDS... see Ministers placed under a duty to have ‘due regard’ to the international human right to social Wednesday 31 January 2018

SOTN Intro text

Our State of the Nation reports aim to support the Scottish Parliament and other public bodies to understand and meet their obligations under human rights law. At the national level, monitoring is essential to progress recommendations, decisions and judgments from accountability bodies that need to be addressed by the Scottish Government, Parliament and other public sector bodies. We hope that these reports will also be useful to civil society, human rights defenders and rights holders Tuesday 02 December 2025

Impact Assessment

Human Rights Impact Assessment Equality and human rights impact assessments (EQHRIAs) are an important mechanism for enabling equality and human rights considerations to be embedded into the policies.... In an environment where there are financial constraints, a human rights framework can provide objective... for the progressive realisation of rights. The adoption of a human rights based approach can set legal... and decision making. The Commission recommends approaches to human rights impact assessment Thursday 20 October 2016