The Scotland Declaration on Human Rights
Many people in Scotland are worried that Brexit might lead to an attack on hard fought for Human Rights.
The EU(withdrawal) Bill removes the EU Charter Of Fundamental Human Rights from UK law. This, according to experts, leaves gaps in UK law in areas such as workers protection, minority rights and personal privacy.
Not only that but there is also a battle over the type of Brexit that will occur taking place at the heart of the Conservative government. One powerful side of that battle seems to favour a bonfire of many of the protections that people have won over the years. Just this week research was published that showed that Conservatives are particularly unsupportive of the concept of Human Rights.
It is with these factors in mind that a new Scottish Declaration on Human Rights has just been published by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO). You can read it below. The group have a website and they are asking for organisations to sign up to show support for the statement. If you run an organisation, big or small, and you care about preserving Human Rights, then sign up here. Or if you are part of an organisation, feel free to persuade the decision makers to sign up.
The Scotland Declaration on Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year – states:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights
Human rights belong to everyone; rich or poor, old or young, whether born in this country or another. We all have rights regardless of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender or belief. We together declare that human rights and equalities must remain at the heart of Scottish society.
We, the undersigned, share profound concerns about the potential loss of equality and rights protections as a consequence of the UK leaving the European Union and about the persistent negative rhetoric around the protection and promotion of rights in the UK.
We want Scotland to be a leader and not a laggard in human rights terms.
We, therefore, call on law and policymakers to take all possible steps to protect our rights and to make Scotland a world leader in both rights protection and implementation.
We believe that the following principles must apply to all decisions that affect human rights:
No going back
Human rights and equalities protections in law, policy and practice must not be reduced or regressed for any individual, group, community or sector of the population.
Progression
Human rights standards should be continually strengthened over time. Scotland must help to shape and adopt the highest international human rights and equalities standards.
Transparency
Any changes to existing rights protections should be undertaken only with a fully transparent consultation process and the appropriate degree of parliamentary scrutiny at all levels.
Participation
The people of Scotland must be engaged in a process of understanding what their rights are, how they are protected and what more can be done to protect their rights. Any significant change in the protection of rights must be based on this meaningful engagement.
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