Accountability

We hold government to account for protection of our human rights.

We work together to scrutinise governments’ action or inaction on human rights. We amplify diverse civil society voices and evidence of rights in reality, we insist that government bodies not only talk about human rights, and we call for change. 

International monitoring

The Consortium informs, amplifies and coordinates Scottish civil society’s evidence to UN reviews of the UK’s human rights record.

Holding government to account on economic, social and cultural rights

In 2025, the UK Government will appear before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) to answer questions on the UK’s progress on upholding these rights, and implementing past recommendations from the Committee.

To inform CESCR about what questions to ask, the Consortium coordinated joint written evidence about key rights issues in Scotland.  Some of the big issues we raised included:

• Gender pay gap 
• Racism in employment
• Giving people seeking asylum the right to work
• Calling on the Scottish Government to progress incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots law
• Food insecurity
• Right to social security including two child limit and benefits cap
• Lack of progress to deliver increased affordable homes
• Right to health including implications due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Access to justice and legal aid

Contributors to the joint evidence were: The Poverty Alliance, Who Cares? Scotland, Inclusion Scotland, Clan Childlaw, The ALLIANCE, Article 12, The Food Train, Close the Gap, Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD), Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS), Community Policy Forum, Alcohol Focus Scotland, United Nations Association Scotland, and UN House Scotland.

We also met with CESCR in Geneva to highlight this evidence.

CESCR then published the List of Issues that the UK Government must respond to.

We are looking for your views and expertise!

Now, civil society can provide further evidence to CESCR to inform their questioning of the UK Government, and their recommendations to the UK.

The Consortium are therefore coordinating a joint submission to CESCR, to be submitted by January 2025. 

Scottish civil society organisations are invited to join a Consortium discussion in September 2024 to inform this submission. We can also include evidence sent by email, and are happy to meet individually with organisations. 

Contact lucy@hrcscotland.org for more information.

Holding government to account on civil and political rights

In March 2024, the UN reviewed the UK’s progress on protecting civil and political rights. We coordinated joint written evidence and gave oral evidence in person. Some of the big issues we raised included:

• Scrap the Rwanda Plan and ensure safe routes for refugees
• Review legislation and police oversight to protect the right to protest
• Ensure hate crime against Scottish Gypsy Travellers is properly recorded, investigated and prosecuted
• Human rights issues related to prisons, including reducing deaths in custody, tackling prison overcrowding, and vastly reducing the use of remand

Alongside the Consortium, co-contributors to the evidence were JustRight Scotland, CEMVO Scotland, Age Scotland, The Equality Network, Scottish Youth Parliament, Howard League Scotland, Humanist Society Scotland, Making Rights Real, Inclusion Scotland, Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD).

The UN’s recommendations included many of the issues that we highlighted.  For example, they told the UK government that they should:

• Improve Conditions of Detention: Make prisons better by following global rules, like making sure they’re not too crowded.
• Enhance Access to Justice: Help more people get fair treatment in court, especially those who can’t afford a lawyer.
• Combat Hate Crimes: Work harder to stop hate crimes and train police better to deal with them.
• Legal Gender Recognition Reform: Change the laws so that transgender people can legally change their gender more easily.
• Prevent Deaths in Custody: Try harder to stop people from dying while in custody and investigate these deaths properly.
• Improve Mental Health Services: Improve mental health services and make sure people get help early, without forcing them into treatment they don’t want.
• Holding government to account for their human rights record

In 2022, the Consortium submitted Scotland’s Human Rights Record to the UN Human Rights Council on human rights in Scotland. This evidence was informed by approx. 200 participants from organisations and groups from across Scotland who took part in 10 workshops.

Amplifying our member organisations voice in UN reviews

Find out about the brilliant work of some of our member organisations around other UN rights reviews:

• Children’s rights: Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)
• Women’s rights: Engender
• Rights of people who are Black or from ethnic minorities: CEMVO; CRER; BEMIS
• Disabled people: Inclusion Scotland; Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD)

Are you interested in this area?

If your organisation is involved in UN reviews around human rights in Scotland, we would love to hear all about it. 

Or if your organisation is interested in getting involved, do get in touch. Contact lucy@hrcscotland.org.

Scotland’s National Action Plan on Human Rights (SNAP)

The Consortium helped to develop SNAP2, and is a co-chair of the SNAP Leadership Panel.

SNAP 2 is Scotland’s second national human rights action plan. Its vision is a Scotland where everyone can live with human dignity.

SNAP 2 was published on 30 March 2023 and runs to 2030. It was developed in collaboration with many individuals and organisations. SNAP2 has 54 actions listed under the eight priorities.

The Consortium is one of the co-chairs of the SNAP2 Leadership Panel. Other co-chairs are Nick Bland from Scottish Government and Hussein Patwa, an individual with lived experience of rights violations. 

The SNAP Leadership Panel is working to refine actions and identify timelines and resourcing for phased delivery. The Panel will hold duty bearers to account for implementing SNAP2.

Want to find out more?

To find out more about SNAP2 and the Consortium’s role in this, contact info@hrcscotland.org.