Spotlight project: Access to Justice for everyone

This article by Eleanor Deeming Johnstone, Legal Officer at the Scottish Human Rights Commission, explains why new human rights laws must have teeth if they’re going to work for everyone in Scotland... out of your pores…”*  In recent years, the language of human rights has become commonplace in Scottish public life. Those with the responsibilities to uphold our human rights – from Scottish ministers... of putting human rights at the centre of what they do. This is, of course, positive and should Sunday 24 September 2023

Letter to Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Letter to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). This letter provides an initial input to support the development of the List of Themes ahead of the UK’s examination at the 113th Session in August 2024. Monday 13 May 2024

Commission welcomes report on Prisoners (Control of Release) Bill

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has welcomed the human rights concerns raised in the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee’s Stage 1 report on the Prisoners (Control of Release) (Scotland) Bill. Professor Alan Miller, Chair of the Commission, said: “We are pleased to see the Committee has... Government revisit the Bill’s human rights impact statement, following our evidence..., the Commission submitted written evidence and oral evidence explaining the human rights implications of the bill Monday 13 June 2016

Recommendations made on financial redress for survivors of historic abuse

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has published its submission to the Scottish Government’s consultation on a financial redress scheme for survivors of historic child abuse. Read the full... that government adopts a much more explicit human rights based approach to the scheme’s purpose, principles... historic abuse as a human rights violation. Eligibility criteria for the scheme should be developed...; the human rights framework can help to assess where the balance lies between the right to peaceful Tuesday 26 November 2019

Commission commends bold vision and calls to action from Social Renewal Advisory Board

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has warmly welcomed the vision and calls to action set out in If not, now, when?, the report published today by the Social Renewal Advisory Board. Human rights are at the heart of the Board’s vision for a more equal, just and progressive Scotland... 11, which calls for the incorporation of international human rights instruments into Scots law... the COVID-19 pandemic. "Human rights, protected in law and made real in practice, are central to achieving Thursday 21 January 2021