ICESCR at 50 - Progress in Scotland made or much more to do?

ICESCR at 50 - Progress in Scotland made or much more to do?

The following piece was written by Charlie McMillan (Director) for Just Fair to mark the 50th annivesary of the UK’s ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is a United Nations covenant that protects fundamental day-to-day rights for everyone. The Covenant covers the minimum standards we all need to live with freedom, respect and dignity.

It was ratified by the UK in 1976. As with all UN covenants, responsibility for compliance in the UK sits not only with the Westminster Government but also with devolved jurisdictions. Despite this, Scotland, like other parts of the UK, faces increasing levels of poverty, discrimination and marginalisation. It also appears to struggle to ensure that public bodies (the wider group of duty bearers) are focused and resourced to deliver real and lasting change.

All too often, awareness and understanding of ICESCR is limited to a few, rather than being mainstreamed and embedded across Scottish public bodies. Even where awareness is more prominent, barriers are frequently highlighted- often financial and policy challenges-which means ICESCR compliance is seen as an add-on: a “good to do”, but rarely (if ever) central to the task of improving the lives of everyone in the country.

In Scotland, civil society is often the lone voice in the wilderness, arguing that incorporation of ICESCR would lead to real and lasting improvements in quality of life for everyone. A few years ago, we thought we were on the verge of progress when the Scottish Government committed to delivering a Human Rights Bill for Scotland. The proposed Bill would take a maximalist approach to incorporation and include many different international human rights treaties.

Disappointingly, the Bill was not delivered, with the decision not to proceed announced in September 2024. We are now waiting to see if the Bill will once again become part of the Programme for Government. Despite this disappointment—or perhaps because of it—civil society in Scotland redoubled its efforts to ensure that the 2025 ICESCR review undertaken by the UN was relevant, wide-reaching and impactful.

The Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS) submitted a comprehensive joint report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) as part of the review. Co-designed and endorsed by more than 70 Scottish civil society organisations, the report aimed to provide the Committee with robust, factual and comprehensive evidence of the successes, challenges and priorities facing people in Scotland in relation to economic, social and cultural rights.

Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS) made a submission which covered a wide range of critical issues, including:

• Poverty and inequality – We urged immediate action from both the Scottish and UK Governments to tackle rising child poverty, housing affordability issues, and the harmful impact of policies such as the two-child limit and benefit cap.
• Healthcare for all – The report called for systemic improvements in healthcare, focusing on mental health services, maternity care, and comprehensive support for those experiencing long COVID.
• Environmental justice – Emphasising the right to a healthy environment, we advocated for legal measures to ensure all communities—particularly marginalised groups—have access to clean air, green spaces and sustainable futures.
• Strengthening human rights laws – The report proposed legal solutions to address the legislative restrictions imposed by the Scotland Act 1998, including options that could restore Scotland’s legislative autonomy on human rights matters.

HRCS attended the CESCR evidence session in Geneva and took part in informal discussions with Committee Members, but we didn’t stop there. Since publication of the Concluding observations, we have:

• Provided an analysis of the 96 multi-layered concluding observations, which form the Committee’s recommendations for action.
• Provided a briefing and gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Equality, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.
• Held a number of webinars for our members on the concluding observations and the need for action.

All this work was done in partnership with our members, wider civil society, and key stakeholders. It also led to lobbying the then Minister for Equalities to provide an action plan in response to the Concluding observations. This took some discussion, but we were pleased to see the high-level action plan published in December 2025. Then, in March 2026, the Scottish Government published Scotland’s Human Rights Tracker, with phase one focusing on the ICESCR concluding observations. We now have clarity on the actions needed, and a means to monitor delivery and hold duty bearers to account. But will it happen?

Like all documents - and, indeed, like ICESCR itself - its value will only be felt when the actions it proposes are understood, prioritised and delivered by duty bearers. So, we wait, again, 50 years into this potentially transformational journey, to find out whether the newly elected Scottish Government will recommit to the ICESCR Action Plan, the Human Rights Tracker and our much-needed Human Rights Bill. Progress made, perhaps, but so much more still to do.

By Charlie McMillan, Director of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland