Human Rights Incorporation in Scotland

In March 2021, the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed a Bill to incorporate the UNCRC children’s rights convention directly into Scots law – a huge step forwards for children & young people.

The Scottish Government has now committed to going further. They will introduce a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland. This Bill will incorporate 4 major United Nations human rights treaties. These treaties are:

• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
• The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

The Bill will also include the right to a healthy environment, as well as rights for older people and LGBTi people.

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Incorporation of International Human Rights Briefing Series

Written By Prof Nicole Busby and Dr Kasey McCall-Smith, these briefings give a helpful outline of content of treaties and rights:

• The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• The UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)
• The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• The Right to Social Security
• The Right to Take Part in Cultural Life
• The Right to Health
• The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

About incorporation

• Official Scottish Government Announcement on their commitment to introduce a new Human Rights Bill.
• Incorporating Human Rights in Scotland– a project from the University of Edinburgh, bringing academic research together with civil society expertise to develop a framework for best practice on incorporation.
• International human rights law – a summary– a basic summary of international human rights law from the University of Edinburgh
• What is incorporation?– a basic summary of incorporation from the University of Edinburgh
• Different models of incorporation– a summary of various models of incorporation from the University of Edinburgh
• Timeline of human rights in Scotland and the United Kingdom– a basic timeline of the development of human rights in Scotland and the UK, from the University of Edinburgh

Incorporating Human Rights in Scotland: EasyRead Resources

• International human rights – a summary– EasyRead version
• What is incorporation?– EasyRead version
• Timeline of human rights in Scotland and the United Kingdom – EasyRead version

The National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership

• The National Taskforce was made up of members of the public sector and civil society. Its role was to establish a statutory framework for the incorporation of many international human rights treaties into domestic law. It published its final recommendations for this new law to the Scottish Government in March 2021.
• The National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership- Overview
• The National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership- Final Report

Reports, Briefings and Blogs

• If not now, when? Social Renewal Advisory Board report: January 2021– a report from the Social Renewal Advisory Board on its proposals for social renewal following the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Incorporating International Human Rights: Putting independent advocacy at the heart of the new human rights statutory framework in Scotland– a briefing from the Consortium and the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance
• features of an Act of Parliament to incorporate international human rights into Scots Law– a briefing by the Civil Society Working Group on Incorporation
• Just Fair celebrates Scotland’s commitment to enshrining economic, social and cultural rights– an article from Just Fair welcoming the Scottish Government’s commitment to a new human rights law
• More rights, better food– a blog from Pete Richie at Nourish Scotland about the potential impact of incorporation on food security
• Incorporating International Human Rights: How the human right to a healthy environment advances the rights of disabled people– a joint briefing from the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland and Inclusion Scotland, September 2021

Infographics

• A summary of international human rights law– infographic on international human rights law, produced by the University of Edinburgh
• What and why of incorporation– infographic explaining the basics of incorporation, produced by the University of Edinburgh
• Different types of incorporation– infographic exploring the different ways in which countries can incorporate international human rights law
• A timeline of human rights in the UK– infographic with a basic timeline of laws which protect human rights in the UK
  

Quick International Case Studies

• Case study- Iceland
• Case study- Norway
• Case study- South Africa
• Case study- Switzerland

Academic Papers

• Incorporating International Human Rights in a Devolved Context– a paper by Dr Kasey McCall-Smith on incorporation of human rights in Scotland
• Incorporating Human Rights in Scotland: Best Practice Framework from International Examples– a paper from the University of Edinburgh which uses international examples to identify a best practice framework for incorporation in Scotland
• Realising international human rights: Scotland on the global stage– a paper by Jo Ferrie, Rebecca Wallace and Elaine Webster on Scotland’s approach to human rights in an international context
  

Videos

• What is incorporation and why does it matter?– a training session given by Dr Kasey McCall-Smith on the basics of human rights incorporation
• Incorporation in context: Lessons from other countries– a training session given by Sofie Quist and Veronica Luhtanen on what Scotland can learn from incorporation in other countries.
• Why do you support human rights incorporation?– Dr Elaine Webster from the University of Strathclyde explains why she supports the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law
• Why do you support human rights incorporation?– Heather Fisken from Inclusion Scotland explains why she supports the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law
• Why do you support human rights incorporation?– Juliet Harris from Together explains why she supports the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law
• Why do you support human rights incorporation?– Clare MacGillivray from Making Rights Real explains why she supports the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law
• Why do you support human rights incorporation?– Vhairi Tollan from Scottish Environment LINK explains why she supports the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law
• Why do you support human rights incorporation?– Mhairi Snowden from the Consortium explains why she supports the incorporation of human rights treaties into Scots law

Podcasts

• Build forward better: why funding human rights matters– a podcast explaining why incorporation of human rights should be a priority for civil society funders.

All Our Rights in Law

• All Our Rights in Law was a public participation programme, set up by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and the Scottish Human Rights Commission in November 2020.
• Its goal was to facilitate discussions around a new human rights law for Scotland, and report to the National Taskforce (see above) on what ordinary people think about human rights incorporation.
• A wide variety of civil society organisations engaged with All Our Rights in Law, and held discussions with rights-holders.
• Click here to find out more about All Our Rights in Law
• Click here to read the final report from the project
• Click here to read the Easy Read report
• Click here to read the 1-page summary
• Click here to read participants’ final messages to the Scottish Government
• Click here to watch a video (with BSL interpretation) on the key findings of All Our Rights in Law