This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Bill to safeguard Scottish human rights
10/10/2005
Scotland is to get an independent human rights commissioner.
The Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill, published today, will establish an independent Commissioner to promote awareness, understanding of and respect for human rights in Scotland.
A key element of the Commissioner's role will be the ability to conduct inquiries into the policies or practices of Scottish public authorities in relation to human rights. The Commissioner will be able to conduct inquiries in public, and reports of these inquiries will be published and laid before the Scottish Parliament.
The Commissioner's duties will include:
- Promotion, education and awareness-raising on human rights issues;
- Providing guidance to public authorities;
- General monitoring and reporting in relation to human rights law and practice; and
- Investigating and reporting on generic or sectoral human rights issues.
Deputy Education Minister Robert Brown said:
"I am delighted to launch the Bill to establish the Human Rights Commissioner. With the focus being very clearly targeted towards standard setting and improving public practice, the establishment of the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights fulfils our commitment to fostering a greater awareness and understanding of human rights throughout Scotland.
"Our communities deserve not only to directly benefit from, but also to have confidence in, policies and practices which are sensitive to human rights and comply with these issues.
"This Bill will allow people to gain a better understanding of how human rights can benefit them individually and collectively, while helping and empowering them to assert those rights much more effectively.
"In addition, the Commissioner will help make sure that public authorities respect human rights. This will be done not only through monitoring and reporting on compliance but by improving authorities' awareness of human rights requirements and providing advice on how these might best be met."
A commitment to introduce this Bill was included in the Partnership Agreement.
The Bill was drafted following analysis of responses to consultations in 2001 and 2003. An analysis of the responses to the second consultation was published in 2004.
The Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights (SCHR) will be accountable to the Parliament. In particular, the SCHR will submit to the Parliament annual reports, reports of inquiries and any other reports that the SCHR may produce.
The SCHR's remit will cover all international human rights instruments that the UK has ratified, although he or she will be required to have particular regard to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the SCHR will deal only with human rights issues relating to devolved matters. Human rights issues relating to reserved matters will be the responsibility of the new Great Britain Commission for Equality and Human Rights, which is to be established by the Equality Bill presently before the Westminster Parliament. The SCHR and the GB Commission will be expected to enter into a memorandum of understanding setting out how they will co-operate on matters of mutual interest, and the SCHR will also be expected to work closely with other relevant bodies.
The office of the SCHR will comprise one Commissioner and up to two Deputies with associated staff. The Executive will provide an extra £1m per year to the Parliament from 2006-07 to cover the SCHR's costs.