Scottish Parliament must not lose focus
THE disintegration of the Bute House Agreement and resignation of the First Minister have been the main focus for many, but the last week also saw the passing of the Rwanda Act.
Without question one of the most shameful acts of any parliament in the history of these islands, it was a new low in this UK Government’s seemingly never-ending quest to violate the rights of people it calculates it can make political capital from attacking.
It is a piece of legislation that represents an attack on the fundamental role of the court system: to look at evidence, decide on facts, and then apply the law.
Yet it is perfectly in keeping with the UK Government’s track record on human rights.
This is a point that Amnesty
International’s annual global report on human rights, published last week, makes clear. It found that, in the last year, the UK Government “continued to pursue a policy agenda that breached its international human rights commitments and curtailed human rights protections”.
The Rwanda Act, then, was no aberration. Just the latest disgrace in a series.
Where the UK Government have pursued an agenda in recent years that has sought to hollow out human rights protections, the Scottish Government have stood in stark contrast, with the incorporation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child into Scots law, along with well-advanced plans to bring forward a landmark Human Rights Bill this year.
This bill, which will incorporate four more UN human rights treaties into Scots law, has – if designed, planned, implemented and resourced to the fullest and strongest extent – the potential to transform lives.
Through placing everyday rights, such as the right to housing, the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to social security, into Scots law, the bill could play a key role in bringing about a radical acceleration toward the more socially, environmentally and economically just Scotland that we all want to see.
If the Scottish Government gets the legislation right – by making it as strong as possible and ensuring that it contains measures to allow people to seek remedy when their rights are violated – it could help to fundamentally transform the balance of power between people and decision-makers.
Empowering both people and communities across the country, it is a bill that could mark out Scotland’s position as a genuine world leader on human rights. But that trajectory is not guaranteed.
Amid the ongoing and everchanging political machinations at Holyrood, there is a natural uncertainty about what the Scottish Government, whatever new shape it takes and whoever leads it, will prioritise in the coming months.
What is essential if we truly want a just Scotland where everyone can live with dignity is that the Human Rights Bill, and human rights more broadly, continue to be at the core of the Government’s political and legislative agenda.
We should not presume that this is a given, and we know that there are many who would gladly encourage the kind of sorry race to the bottom on rights that we have