1 week Ago By Angela O’Hagan
Taking up my new post as chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission is the job and honour of a lifetime. It’s one that my whole career has led towards. Why? Because there is so much to do.
The multiple inequalities that persist in Scotland and globally; the ongoing failure of public policy and services to ensure that basic rights to housing, food, safety and dignity are met spur me on to secure change. The long-awaited Human Rights Bill for Scotland should have been part of this change, bringing more international human rights treaties into law. However, the First Minister failed to mention the Bill in his recent Programme for Government – and it is clear this no longer a priority for his government.
The long years, decades, of development towards the Bill – the analysis, advocacy, taskforces and panel discussions – have made massive demands on the time and resources of poorly resourced civil society organisations, and the extremely limited resources of the commission. The efforts to strengthen our rights in law have been immense – but now appear to have been thwarted by a failure to act from the Scottish Government. Homeless and hungry Incorporating human rights treaties into Scots law sounds lofty and remote to many people.
But in effect, bringing rights home would have had a direct impact on people’s everyday lives. It would push public authorities to think from the start about service design and delivery, give individuals more effective recourse when their rights are unmet and make public authorities and the Sottish Government more accountable to the people of Scotland. On day one at the commission, walking from one train station to another in Glasgow, I despaired at the state of human rights in Scotland.
People are homeless and hungry across the city centre. At the office, my in-tray is full of our new Spotlight reports on the poor state of rights in places of detention, the degradation of people in ‘care’ institutions and the inadequacies of access to services across the Highlands and Islands. Everyday reality The commission is also preparing for the next round of parliamentary evidence on the National Care Service Bill, highlighting the absence of dignity and autonomy for people trying to use under-resourced social care services.
Human rights are about the everyday realities of our lives – healthcare, housing, support for disabled people, access to justice, dignity in detention, due process in criminal justice, and how public resources are raised (through taxation) and spent on public services. Strengthening human rights in law means a fairer Scotland for all. As I begin this job of a lifetime, I am full of enthusiasm for the ‘fight’, eager to work with public authorities and the many civil society and community organisations driving social change, and committed to the realisation of rights for all.
I end my first fortnight in the role feeling unsettled, but even more determined that we need to re-set the human rights agenda in Scotland. The Scottish Government has broken a fundamental promise. In a week where sweeping public sector funding cuts were announced, it has never been more urgent, and it should not have been abandoned.
The moment to strengthen everyone’s human rights in law in Scotland is now. Professor Angela O’Hagan is the new chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission.
