# A focus on human rights Issues around human rights are always key, but the focus in the news on incorporation of the UNCRC, Westminster’s plans to overhaul the Human Rights Act, and SCVO’s appearance in front of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee brought them to the front of my mind last week.  Also coming across my desk last week was the news from my web colleagues that Google’s algorithms have marked a 2016 blog from SCVO’s #RightsApproach campaign as a key resource for the search query “how do we promote and protect human rights and dignity?”.  While it’s brilliant that our resources are being highlighted in this way, the focus on work from five years ago was a bit of a puzzle.  But perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised; human rights are, surely, always a vital issue, and one which is always timely.  It is also an issue which is of key concern to many voluntary organisations across Scotland.  As I highlighted in a [previous blog post](https://scvo.scot/p/39381/2020/07/06/scvos-policy-approach-defining-our-lane-during-coronavirus), as we have moved our policy focus to issues impacting on the sector’s operating environment, SCVO has transitioned out of a number of thematic areas where we used to be active, including human rights, leaving those to the plethora of voluntary organisations with the current expertise to campaign and support on those issues.    In the last couple of weeks, for example, The Poverty Alliance has hosted a conference linking poverty and human rights; the Scottish Campaign on Rights to Social Security has arranged an event on human rights and social security; and Making Rights Real, a grassroots human rights organisation for Scotland, held its first AGM and Gathering.  This is only a tiny sample of the amazing human rights work carried out by voluntary organisations the length and breadth of Scotland.  Of course, SCVO is here to support those organisations and amplify their voices:  * Last week my colleague Paul Bradley highlighted to the  [Equalities, Human Rights and Social Justice Committee](https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/equalities-human-rights-and-civil-justice-committee-october-5-2021) of the Scottish Parliament that for voluntary organisations to play their part in securing human rights across Scotland, they must be securely funded and supported  * Together with the Human Rights Consortium Scotland, we have tried to keep on top of both the practical and the rights implications of Brexit, including most recently contributing to [this joint paper](https://scvo.scot/p/45299/2021/10/05/asking-some-important-questions-a-collation-of-scottish-civil-society-questions-for-uk-and-scottish-governments-after-uk-withdrawal-from-the-european-union) with questions for UK and Scottish Government.  * As part of our conversations with members around the Scottish budget, several members asked us to make reference to points they were raising around the importance of human rights based budgeting, which we were more than happy to do.  I started drafting this blog conscious that anyone coming to SCVO’s website through the Google algorithm wouldn’t find a ‘human rights’ heading under our policy work.  It has been useful to remind myself that human rights are threaded throughout our work, as indeed they are right across the voluntary sector.  At a time when human rights can feel under threat, we need a strong sector to support this vital agenda, and SCVO is here to support that. --- ## About SCVO SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector. Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact. SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector. Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners. Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored learning opportunities. SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience. Discounts and savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org). For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)