SCVO Response - European and External Relations Committee's Human Rights Inquiry

Introduction

SCVO welcomes the opportunity to respond to this important inquiry by the European and External Relations Committee. Our comments will focus on the operation of the Human Rights Act (HRA) and the proposed British Bill of Rights. It will also examine the need for more positive conversations about, and a better general understanding of, what human rights are and how they are protected by the HRA. With respect to the breadth of the Committee’s inquiry, in this instance SCVO does not feel qualified to speak to matters of sovereignty, constitution and the operation of Scots Law. Our remarks, therefore, respond primarily to questions 1, 2 and 4.

Human Rights in Scotland

Since its inception the Scottish Parliament has been a strong advocate for the Human Rights Act, which is understandable given that it is at the heart of Scottish legislation. Scotland’s National Action Plan on Human Rights (SNAP), is the first National Action Plan for human rights in any part of the UK. The vision is for everyone in Scotland to be able to live with dignity and respect, and the action plan has strong buy-in from Scotland’s third sector. Interestingly, while human rights are seemingly a contentious issue in England, they do not appear to be viewed so negatively in Scotland and the other devolved nations. Indeed, when The Commission into a Bill of Rights undertook its work in 2012 it noted that: ‘There was little, if any, criticism of the Strasbourg Court, of the European label of the Convention, or of human rights generally in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.’ Within Scotland’s third sector there is strong support for the Human Rights Act. In 2014, when repeal of the Act was first mooted, there was such strength of feeling, that a number of respondents to SCVO’s Smith Commission consultation questioned whether equalities and human rights responsibilities could be fully devolved the Scottish Parliament. Since then the sector has continued to debate the issue of human rights and earlier this year SCVO held a roundtable with third sector colleagues to discuss the potential repeal of the HRA. The roundtable also discussed the need for the sector to be proactive in promoting the benefits of the HRA and how we can take a rights-based approach to services in Scotland. The issue has also recently been discussed by a number of networks convened by SCVO including the Intermediaries Network and SCVO's Policy Committee.

What is the Purpose of the HRA?

The European Convention is a historic codification of people’s rights, which the United Kingdom has always been supportive of. Indeed, the UK was one of the first members of the Council of Europe to ratify the Convention back in 1951. The HRA brought into European Convention into UK law, so people could have their case heard in a UK court, giving them direct access to justice and avoiding the often costly and lengthy wait for a Strasbourg hearing. The Act also places duties on public bodies, making it unlawful for them to act contrary to the HRA, ensuring their accountability and that of government. For many the Act is the last bastion of defence – the only way in which they feel able to secure access to some of what, to the rest of us, are the basic freedoms and maintain their dignity. The HRA then has two purposes: to protect our fundamental human rights as outlined by the Convention and to ensure cases can be brought to UK courts.

What are Human Rights and Views of the Human Rights Act

Each individual by virtue of their birth has fundamental rights regardless of any other circumstance. No one ‘deserves’ or ‘earns’ the protections that the HRA offers. Human rights are universal absolutes regardless of behaviour or legal status. There are no eligibility criteria for human rights. Moreover, as Aiden Collins from HIV Scotland wrote in a blog for SCVO earlier this year: ‘Human rights are more than abstract concepts. They play a role in everyday situations and many of the decisions that people make. They can be used to bring about real improvements to people’s lives and to ensure the delivery of better services to the public.  In particular, the Human Rights Act means that we can defend our rights in the UK courts and that public organisations have legal obligations to treat everyone with fairness, dignity and respect.’ However, SCVO considers that the rights and freedoms under the European Convention and how these are protected by the HRA are not widely understood, even in Scotland where the prevailing attitude is more positive. For example, the HRA is often presented to be about enabling dangerous foreign criminals to use spurious arguments about ‘their rights’ in order to prevent their deportation, as opposed to it defending important freedoms such as thought, conscience and religion and the prohibition of slavery and forced labour. We feel there is a need to challenge common misconceptions and popular myths about the Act. Often is it portrayed as something that ‘meddles’ with our lives, rather than ensuring our continued right to fundamentals such as the right to participate in free elections and the right to a fair trial. We feel, sadly, that in the media the HRA is most commonly mentioned in relation to those high-profile instances that are unpopular and controversial like the case of Abu Hamza. There are few high-profile positive stories about how the HRA has changed people’s lives, such as those on the website http://rightsinfo.org/. Right Info aims to bring: 'human rights to life using beautiful infographics, stories and social media.' The stories presented on the website not only demonstrate the impact the HRA has had on individual circumstances but how rulings under the Act have benefited us all, such as ensuring the right to privacy extends to the workplace. In 2012 the aforementioned Commission of a British Bill of Rights warned that there was a ‘lack of ownership’ of the HRA and the European system it’s connected to by people in the UK. Therefore, it is clear that we need to have a more positive, empowering, debate about human rights in order that people do feel connected to the Act and understand how they and others can benefit from it. As mentioned previously, there is little promotion of the huge positive impact the HRA has had upon individuals and families across the UK and the injustices that people and groups have been protected from. SCVO welcomes, therefore, campaigns such as Act for the Act which highlights people who have brought legal challenges under the HRA. The need for such an awareness raising campaign was discussed at SCVO’s human rights roundtable earlier this year.

A British Bill of Rights

SCVO does not support the repeal of the HRA followed by the implementation of a British Bill of Rights. SCVO questions the motivations of the current UK government in seeking to repeal the HRA and replacing it with a British Bill of Rights. According to the Conservative Party’s ‘Protecting Human Rights in the UK’ document, a British Bill of Rights would: ‘Break the formal link between the British Courts and the European Court of Human Rights.’ We are concerned this drive for a British Bill is motivated more by a sense of antipathy towards Europe and decisions made by the courts there, rather than ensuring people continue to have their rights protected and are able to challenge decisions. This approach also infers that there is something wrong with the current HRA. However, it is arguable that there is nothing wrong with the Act only with how, in certain instances, it has been interpreted by the UK judiciary and how the Convention has been understood at the European level. SCVO holds that any new legislation on rights must maintain the UK’s commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights and the fundamental freedoms it promotes. This means that any new legislation on human rights must build on the HRA and not seek to replace it, with the exception of strengthening or clarifying existing provisions. In addition, we have serious concerns about any form of conditionality appearing in human rights legislation. Human rights are fundamental, not dependent upon one’s contribution to the United Kingdom. Therefore the stated intention in the Conservative Party’s document that they will ‘limit the use of human rights laws to the most serious cases’ is of concern. The purported aim is to prevent trivial cases from coming to court. We would argue that no matters concerning human rights are trivial. No matter how unpalatable it can sometimes be – everyone has human rights and must have access to justice in securing them. We also have serious concerns over any attempt to fast-track such legislation. Any bills which seek to amend or enhance Human Rights legislation are of such importance that they must be subject to full parliamentary scrutiny.

Human Rights in Practice – A Rights-Based Approach

While the repeal of the HRA is considered to be a retrograde step, there are conversations happening about how we take human rights forward in Scotland. For SCVO part of this is how we can create that positive attitude to the HRA and progress towards the aims of SNAP.  SNAP is about making human rights meaningful to each of us. How Scotland’s third sector can contribute to this is something SCVO is reflecting upon. While it is imperative to ensure that those fundamentals codified in the European Convention are protected, in practice, there is more to human rights than just these. SCVO believes the next step for human rights in Scotland is how we embed a rights-based approach to public services. This feeds into the SNAP idea that human rights ought to be in our homes, schools and workplaces. A rights-based approach is something the Scottish Government could take leadership on as Self-Directed Support and the integration of health and social care progress, or when it comes to designing new social security powers. The government could offer support to public organisations providing services to understand what is meant by a rights-based approach and what this means in practice for them and those they support. Part of the rights-based approach is ensuring people participate in decisions which affect their lives. While the Scottish Government has made commitments to Participatory Budgeting, how can we ensure increased opportunities for people to participate?

Conclusion

SCVO is strongly against any move that would weaken human rights protections in Scotland. This includes the repeal of the HRA and its replacement with a British Bill of Rights, which we consider to be a retrograde step. The HRA is an empowering, not constraining, piece of legislation that challenges against discrimination and protects us all. SCVO firmly believes there is no case for repeal of the HRA. Problems surrounding the Act such as its interpretation, its representation in the media and the need for greater public awareness of what the HRA actually does, are not solved by its repeal. The current debate around the HRA is overwhelmingly negative. We need to extol the benefits of the HRA. Often it is portrayed as an imposition but the HRA protects us in ways we do not realise. Fortunately for many of us, the mere presence of the Act ensures our continued right to those most essential of things. Yet, there are those in our society, in particular groups such as those with disabilities, for whom the HRA is absolutely crucial to their daily quality of life. On the one hand, human rights are easy. They are fundamental rights to which every person is entitled and the HRA serves to protect those rights. On the other hand questions about human rights – especially when we are balancing up one individuals’/groups’ rights with another - are often difficult, controversial and can prove unpopular. Nevertheless, it is vital that we ensure everyone’s rights are protected and that access to justice, a right in of itself, is both timely and affordable.

Contact

Ruchir Shah Policy Manager 0131 474 6158 Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh EH3 6BB Web: www.scvo.scot

About Us

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the national body representing the third sector. There are over 45,000 voluntary organisations in Scotland involving around 138,000 paid staff and approximately 1.3 million volunteers. The sector manages an income of £4.9 billion. SCVO works in partnership with the third sector in Scotland to advance our shared values and interests. We have over 1,600 members who range from individuals and grassroots groups, to Scotland-wide organisations and intermediary bodies. As the only inclusive representative umbrella organisation for the sector SCVO:

• has the largest Scotland-wide membership from the sector – our 1,600 members include charities, community groups, social enterprises and voluntary organisations of all shapes and sizes
• our governance and membership structures are democratic and accountable - with an elected board and policy committee from the sector, we are managed by the sector, for the sector
• brings together organisations and networks connecting across the whole of Scotland

SCVO works to support people to take voluntary action to help themselves and others, and to bring about social change.  Further details about SCVO can be found at www.scvo.scot.