Category: Scotland

The Ruth Adler Human Rights Lecture 2023 – Ms Mama Fatima Singhateh

Child participation, Children's Rights, Human rights, Incorporation, International Law, Sale and sexual exploitation, Scotland, Sexual Violence, UK, UNCRC

 

On 14 March 2023, the Global Justice Academy hosted the Ruth Adler Human Rights Lecture by  Ms Mama Fatima Singhateh, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children. Focussed on the importance of child participation, she talked about her functions as Special Rapporteur, the human rights law regulating the principle of participation, the importance of applying this principle and the challenges and opportunities it faces. The connection between Ms Singhateh’s work as Special Rapporteur and focus on children’s participation is highly relevant here in Scotland in light of the role of child participation envisioned in the pending UNCRC Incorporation legislation and the Committee on the Rights of the Child’s most recent Concluding Observations on the UK’s implementation of the UNCRC.Ms Mama Fatima Singhateh is being presented by Dr Kasey McCall-Smith, Director of the GJA.

The Special Rapporteur began by explaining her functions: In annual reports to the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly on thematic studies, she addresses thematic issues such as the sexual exploitation of children online, sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism, including in the context of major sports events; the sale and sexual exploitation of children through prostitution and child trafficking; and sale of children for illegal adoption, transfer of organs, child marriage and forced labour. Furthermore, she analyses the root causes of the sale and sexual exploitation of children, identifies new patterns of the phenomena, exchanges good practices to combat this scourge, promote measures to prevent it, and make recommendations for the rehabilitation of child victims and survivors of sale and sexual exploitation, primarily targeted towards Governments, UN bodies, the business sector and non-governmental organisations. In addition to the annual reports, the Special Rapporteur undertakes country visits, sends out communications to States and other stakeholders on individual cases of reported violations and concerns of a broader nature, engages in awareness-raising and advocacy to promote and protect children’s rights, provides advice for technical cooperation, and contributes to the development of international human rights standard. In exercising these functions, the Special Rapporteur prioritises access to child-friendly spaces. Furthermore, she dialogues with children and hears their thoughts on the issues her mandate addresses.

Then, the Special Rapporteur turned to the issue of child participation and the human rights law regulating the topic. Children’s participation is a principle emanating from Article 12 of the UNCRC on the right to be heard. Even though the UNCRC does not expressly use the term’ child participation’, she affirmed that ‘the term has evolved and is now widely used to describe ongoing processes, which include information-sharing and dialogue between children and adults based on mutual respect, and in which children can learn how their views and those of adults are taken into account and shape the outcome of such processes.’  The Special Rapporteur also referred to the UNCRC, in general terms, as the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. She recognised that children’s lives had been transformed by the UNCRC but affirmed that ‘there is, however, more work to be done to better promote and protect the rights of all children’. Finally, she made a particular reference to the UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Bill: While celebrating Scotland’s bold step in fully incorporating the UNCRC into Scottish legislation, she noted that the Scottish government must ensure that it follows through by reintroducing revised legislation so that effective implementation can begin.

When referring to the importance and application of child participation, the Special Rapporteur reminded the audience of the extent of article 12 of the UNCRC: ‘Children have a right to participate in any decision-making process affecting them as well as influence decisions taken on their behalf’. She affirmed that participation helps children develop confidence in their worldviews and value. Additionally, she recalled practical approaches that have created positive changes in ways of working with children, such as using child-friendly spaces and forums and including them in public policy development and monitoring.

End FGM

Scottish Women’s Right Centre

A concrete example helped the audience to clearly understand Ms. Singhateh’s argument. The case was about role that children participation played in work carried out by an NGO against female genital mutilation (FGM). She explained that this secret practice was part of an initiation rite in a particular country. From focus groups with girls between 12 to 18 years old, the NGO learned about FMG and the rejection and embarrassment that it caused among them. With the active involvement of children, the NGO proposed restructuring the rite towards an ‘initiation without mutilation’. This turned into a successful campaign that produced a change in the places where it intervened and that was replicated in other communities. The lesson the Special Rapporteur takes from this example is ‘that deliberate and strategic actions to facilitate and create a conducive environment for children to participate in decisions about their lives can make a great difference in how the world perceives, protect, and promote their rights’.

In the last part of her lecture, the Special Rapporteur addressed the challenges and opportunities to child participation. By taking the audience through real-life stories she learned from survivors during her country visits, she highlighted the importance of raising awareness of the different manifestations of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. She also referred to the government’s responsibility to design child protection policies that provide education and awareness raising, as well as ensure children have access to professionals where they can speak freely on any issue happening to them at home. In addition, she highlighted the need to provide professionals with skills and tools to effectively communicate with children, especially victims and survivors who have suffered abuse. Ms Mama Fatima Singhateh with Dr Kasey McCall-Smith and students from human rights the legal clinic

The Special Rapporteur also recommended involving children as trainers and facilitators of child participation and explained how they could participate at international-level gatherings designed for children and adults. Ms Singhateh concluded her lecture by ’emphasising the need to provide children with the opportunity to be heard, influence decision-making and achieve change’.

In line with the practical approach that Ms Singhateh gives to her mandate, she also accompanied the director of the GJA, Dr Kasey McCall-Smith, to a session of the human rights clinic. Students working on issues relating to the prohibition against torture and child rights budgeting were able to share their work with her and receive her questions and comments.

Ms Singhateh’s mandate as Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children was extended for another three years. We look forward to reading more about her innovative efforts on enhancing children participation in her endeavours on promoting and advancing their human rights.

 

 

Valentina Rioseco Vallejos

This post was written by Valentina Rioseco Vallejos. Valentina is a Chilean lawyer who holds an LLM in Human Rights from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently studying a PhD in Law, focused on incorporating a human rights approach to irregular migration. Valentina is a Research Assistant for the Global Justice Academy.

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Comparing Police Discipline in the US and the UK: Lessons for American Law Enforcement – Part 2

Labour rights, Police and Policing, Scotland, UK, US Politics, USA

This is Part 2 of a two-part blog post by Prof. Paul Clark comparing police discipline in the US and the UK. It identifies aspects of the UK approach to police discipline that could have a positive impact on the discipline process in the US.

Paul F. Clark is Professor and former Director, School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State University in the United States.  His research has focused on employment relations, labor unions, and the globalization of labor markets.  His current focus is on police unions and police disciplinary processes in the UK and the US.  He has authored or edited six books and his research has appeared in the leading scholarly journals in industrial and labor relations, applied psychology, and international labor issues.  He has served as a visiting professor at universities in Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand and is currently President-elect of the U.S.-based Labor and Employment Relations Association.

 

A preliminary examination of the UK police complaint and discipline processes indicates that these processes differ significantly from, and work more effectively than, those in the US.  This suggests that there may be elements of the British system of police discipline that could be adapted and adopted by American law enforcement.

One of the key differences between police discipline processes in the UK and the US that could have a positive impact on the US process is the UK’s emphasis on learning versus punishment.  In 2020, an in-depth analysis of the police discipline and complaint process in England and Wales led to major reforms.  One of the significant changes made was to establish “a culture of learning” as a key part of the discipline process. Toward this end, police supervisors are directed to divert incidents that do not constitute misconduct into either “an unsatisfactory performance procedure” or “a reflective practice review,” both of which help police officers learn from their mistakes and remain on the force.

The emphasis on learning and correcting behavior that UK law enforcement has adopted in recent years is an approach that American police unions and police departments, should consider.  In the long run, working to create a culture of learning in US police forces would have many benefits.

Photo bt King’s Church International on Unsplash

Another mechanism that US law enforcement should consider to build public confidence is independent oversight boards.  These agencies play a much bigger role in policing in the UK than in the US.  In England and Wales, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) oversees complaints about police misconduct.  The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner plays this role in Scotland and the Office of Ombudsmen does so in Northern Ireland.  These processes are clearly works in progress and they receive mixed reviews from police federations, and sometimes from the public, but to ensure that police do not investigate police behind closed doors, these agencies are necessary.

There has been a movement in recent years in the US to establish such bodies.  However, only about ten percent of police forces have done so and they are mostly in urban areas with large police forces.  And their performance has been mixed.  Still, independent oversight of police forces appears to be a necessity if public confidence in police is to be increased.

US law enforcement also needs to adopt a national database to identify police officers who have been fired for misconduct or incompetence, like the ones that exists in the UK.  Currently, in the US only a handful of states keep such a list.  Unfortunately, in many states officers fired by one police department are regularly hired by police forces within that state or in other states. A national list would identify officers fired for cause across the country.  Any officer appearing on this list would be banned from being hired by any other police force.

Finally, the extremely decentralized nature of the American law enforcement system means that police disciplinary systems are established by each separate police force.  In the UK, the police disciplinary processes are national in scope.  This means that there is one disciplinary process that covers all police in England and Wales, one that covers all police in Scotland, and one that covers police in Northern Ireland.  These national processes bring consistency to police discipline in each country.

With 18,000 police forces in the US (compared to only 43 in England and Wales, and one each in Scotland and Northern Ireland), there are essentially 18,000 different discipline processes.  This is highly problematic.  It means that reforms to the police discipline system in the US cannot be implemented on a national basis.  However, individual states do have the authority to order changes for the police forces in their state.  The widespread reform of police discipline processes in the US would most effectively be accomplished on a state-by-state basis.  Establishing a consistent police discipline process across all fifty states is unrealistic. Yet, it might be possible to get a significant number of states to adopt such a process.  This would be an important step towards improving the effectiveness of American police discipline processes.

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Human Insecurity: Food Insecurity in the UK during COVID-19

Covid-19, food, food security, ICCPR, ICESCR, Immigration, Inequalities, Pandemic, Refugees, right to food, Scotland

Photo to the authorThis is the second blog in a series written by LLM students on the Human (In)Security course at Edinburgh Law School. The series celebrates the top five blogs selected in a class competition. This blog is by Leah Cowling. Leah did her undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Politics at Edinburgh before starting the LLM in Human Rights. She is currently working on a project to complete settled status applications for EEA nationals living in Scotland. You can follow Leah on Twitter @_leahcowling.

 

No One Should Go Hungry Because of Their Immigration Status: Food insecurity in the UK during COVID-19

It wasn’t long into the UK’s first lockdown that the promise of the COVID-19 pandemic as a great leveller began to ring hollow. It is now clear that the effects of the pandemic have been experienced asymmetrically across the globe – demonstrating that COVID-19 does discriminate, in that it exacerbates existing inequalities.

Described as the best vaccine against chaos, food takes on a central role in times of crisis. During this pandemic, food has been revealed to be the lynchpin upon which other rights depend. Footballer Marcus Rashford’s successful campaign to force government U-turns on the decision to halt free school meals highlighted one aspect of this interdependency; without nutritious food, children cannot exercise their right to education.

COVID-19 has also demonstrated that the distribution of food is microcosmic of larger structural, political, social and economic inequalities – as the wealthy stockpiled pasta, foodbank use skyrocketed, with the independent food bank charity IFAN reporting a staggering in use.

While headlines were dominated by Rashford’s campaign to reinstate free school meals, the situation of food insecurity within migrant communities during COVID-19 often appeared to be an afterthought. Following the threat of a legal challenge, the free school meals policy was partially extended in April 2020 to some individuals without formal immigration status and subject to No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) conditions, on the grounds that ‘no child should go hungry because of the immigration status of their parents’. No doubt a welcome challenge, this statement stops short of the universal acknowledgment that no one should go hungry because of their immigration status.

Graphic of shopping bags.

Statistics from the Trussell Trust. Illustration by Issey Medd

Underreported is the experience of food insecurity by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the UK whose access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food has been threatened by the existence of the work ban and inadequate state support. For many, the closures of community centres, charities, churches and support groups due to lockdown restrictions represented the severing of a crucial lifeline. Reports from March 2020 suggested that approximately 1 million undocumented migrants were plunged into severe food insecurity, with many forced to access food banks.

Numerous volunteer-run, grassroots migrant support groups, such as the Unity Centre in Glasgow, responded to the increased need with deliveries of essential food and medicine. This support was given to all those in need, including to those isolating in cramped asylum accommodation with young children. This community-led response is emblematic of a larger problem, in which support from the third sector allows the government to evade accountability for failing to protect fundamental rights.

The legal basis of the right to food

The right to food is a clearly defined legal right, articulated in a number of international human rights instruments, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) – both of which the UK is a signatory to. The right to food obliges governments to enact laws which respect, protect and fulfil the right to food, to ensure that all people are able to feed themselves in dignity. Crucially, the right to food is universal, applying to all individuals within a state’s borders, regardless of immigration status, and without any form of discrimination.

Scales with food on either side demonstrating inequality in food.

Illustration by Issey Medd

In its 2016 report on the UK, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) which monitors the implementation of ICESCR, noted its concern about the lack of adequate measures ‘to address the increasing levels of food insecurity […] and the lack of adequate measures to reduce the reliance on food banks.’ Notably, while commenting on the inadequate protection of the right to health among migrant populations, the report fails to comment specifically on the food insecurity experienced by migrants. This omission reflects a trend in which the issue of food insecurity in migrant communities is overlooked.

Considering possible solutions

Clearly, increased foodbank capacity is not a solution to rising food insecurity amongst migrant populations. Foodbank use represents the tip of the food insecurity iceberg; a symptom of pervasive structural barriers to the ability to access food in dignity. As such, we should not confuse food charity with the right to food.

Statistics demonstrating the difference between food buying power on Universal Credite and Asylum Seekers SupportIn recognition of this, foodbank charity Trussell Trust recommended a £20 uplift to Universal Credit payments, which is expected to be extended in the March 2021 budget. While the £20 uplift has reduced the reliance on foodbanks for many, this policy continues to exclude those who are unable to access Universal Credit on account of their immigration status.

A possible legal route is through incorporation of the right to food in UK law – advocated for by civil society groups, such as Sustain, Nourish Scotland and the Scottish Food Coalition. It is argued that explicit recognition of the right to food at the domestic level would help individuals articulate demands on the government, and create more legal avenues to challenge government policy.

Incorporation of the right to food in Scotland appears increasingly likely with its proposed Good Food Nation Bill. It is encouraging to see explicit recognition of those who were ‘already food insecure before the crisis hit, including many refugees and asylum seekers who have no recourse to public funds’, but the Bill must be supplemented with specific and detailed analysis of nutritional vulnerabilities experienced by migrants in Scotland.

Looking forward

An important step towards food security following the effects of COVID-19, the incorporation of the right to food in Scotland offers an opportunity to embed the right to food within in a broader rights-based framework.

However, full realisation of the right to food will require appreciation of the linkages between hostile environment policies and food insecurity, as well as the multiple layers of discrimination faced by migrants in the UK. This must include calls for the removal of the NRPF immigration condition, and for increased asylum support payments in line with Universal Credit.

An integrated, person-centred, rights-based approach to food security in a post COVID-19 landscape will require commitment to the uncontroversial statement that no one should go hungry because of their immigration status.

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Strengthening the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill

Children's Rights, Devolution, Human rights, Incorporation, Scotland, Uncategorized

This post is 2 of 2 by Dr Kasey McCall-Smith examining the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. This post highlights how stronger interpretive tools could strengthen the Bill and deliver a brighter future for children in Scotland. Dr McCall-Smith serves on the Expert Advisory Group on UNCRC Incorporation convened by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and the Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights (Together). @KMSonIntlLaw

 

In a previous post I presented some of the key triumphs of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill (Incorporation Bill) that is currently before Scottish Parliament. This post suggests some ways in which the current Bill could be strengthened in terms of the interpretation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) rights incorporated through Schedule 1 of the Bill. Expanding the interpretive scope further would better support the progressive realisation of children’s rights, shore up protection for children with intersectional vulnerabilities and ensure that Scotland becomes ‘the best place in the world to grow up’.

Match the Interpretive Tools Available to the Courts With Those of Scottish Ministers

One of the clearest ways in which the Scottish Parliament could strengthen the Incorporation Bill is to further enhance the interpretive tools available to courts when determining a question in connection with the UNCRC. At present, section 4 of the Bill outlines the ‘things’ that courts or tribunals ‘may take into account’ as: (1) the preamble of the UNCRC; (2) the articles directly incorporated through Schedule 1 of the Bill; and (3) provisions of the UNCRC and the articles that are not included in Schedule 1. The glaring gap is the failure to include the interpretive opinions or instruments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that oversees the international implementation of the Convention. These opinions/instruments include Concluding Observations on UK periodic reports, Final Views (on individual communications), General Comments and reports on general discussion days – in which the UK and Scotland have actively participated in both government and civil society capacities. Including these as interpretive reference tools is important in order to keep on top of international developments in children’s rights, progressively realise UNCRC rights and to ensure that interpretations in Scotland track the specific advice of the CRC in terms of its engagement with the collective UK and broader international community. Notably, if the UK were to ratify the Third Optional Protocol on an Individual Communications Procedure (addressed in s5), that process would generate further instructive opinions on the implementation of children’s rights in the UK that should, arguably, be a strong push factor for the UK.

The omission in section 4 of the Bill is intentional considering that Part 3 of the Bill brings these instruments in for the purposes of Scottish Ministers making, amending and remaking a Children’s Rights Scheme that will document the arrangements put in place to fulfil their duties outlined in the Bill. Section 12(2)(a) details that

(2)  In preparing the proposal, the Scottish Ministers—

 

(a) must have regard to

 

(i)  any report of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child under paragraph 5 of article 44 of the Convention that the Scottish Ministers consider to be relevant, and

 

(ii)  any other reports, suggestions, general recommendations or other documents issued by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child relating to the implementation of the Convention, the first optional protocol or the second optional protocol by the United Kingdom that the Scottish Ministers consider to be relevant, …

Though UNCRC Article 44(5) only make specific reference to the periodic reporting process, further practices, such as issuing general comments and holding days of discussion, has become a regular practice of the CRC and a key way in which the Committee can assess the most current information on children’s rights implementation. Section 12(2)(a)(ii) appears to accommodate the variable modalities of interpretation generated by the Committee but the granular reference to suggestions or general recommendations under UNCRC Article 45(d) implies that the same tools of interpretation are not available to the courts. The variable reference to the use of treaty body jurisprudence as an interpretive tool is further complicated in that General Comments are specified as a tool when reviewing a Children’s Rights Scheme in section 13(2) of the Bill but not expressly included when developing the Scheme under section 12.

While not viewed as binding by most States, the products of the treaty bodies are extremely important resources for interpreting children’s rights and UK courts have increasingly made reference to them when determining legal questions relating to children. Furthermore, general international law recognizes the role of the treaty bodies as the ultimate interpreters of their respective treaties. Clarifying that the treaty body jurisprudence should be included in the judiciary’s interpretation toolkit would help encourage culture change and reinforce the value of international human rights interpretation. Even if under Scots law the judiciary has the power to take anything it deems appropriate into account, if we are going to entrench the UNCRC in Scotland, there must be a tether to the jurisprudence of the CRC Committee.

Maximizing the Availability of Interpretive Tools

To be even more effective, the interpretive tools should be expanded to include relevant resources from other treaty bodies, such as the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that oversees the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In cases where interference with children’s rights involves the intersection of various identities, cross-referencing across the treaties is the best way to ensure the highest attention to the individual’s needs. The recent experience of the right to education during the Covid-19 pandemic illustrates the value in maximizing the sources available in the interpretive toolkit.

During the UK lockdown one of the most common complaints was the breach of the right to education for children. Children with disabilities or socio-economic vulnerabilities or both were particularly impacted by the closure of the schools. While the Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued guidance on implementing the right to education (now rather dated), both the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee on Racial Discrimination have provided far greater guidance in how to address the right to education for children that often suffer inequality due to their intersectional identities. To construct a minimum core to the right to education and offer guidance on how to deliver that under normal and extraordinary circumstances, such as those created during the pandemic, it is incumbent on decision makers to canvass the wide range of materials that are available. This does not mean that they must follow the treaty body interpretations to the letter. However, opening up the possible tools to which decision-makers may avail themselves is a clear step forward toward a holistic, human rights based approach to interpreting children’s rights.

Make it Stronger to Make Rights Real

The consistent political rhetoric about adopting the ‘gold standard’ children’s rights through incorporation of the UNCRC is not just about putting the static articles of a 30 year-old treaty into Scots law. It is about recognizing the dynamism and evolution in children’s rights and their capacity to exercise them in the pursuit of creating a stronger, more inclusive society. Effective implementation will require the synthesis of a broad range of law and policy that responds to lived experience. The interpretive tools offered by the UN human rights treaty bodies provides an easy starting point for decision-makers. Explicit reference to these tools across all interpreters of children’s rights under the proposed UNCRC Incorporation Bill would go a long way in ensuring that we make children’s rights real in Scotland.

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The Added Benefit of Incorporating ICERD in Scotland

Human rights, Incorporation, Inequalities, race, Scotland

The global events occurring in the spring and summer of 2020 have ushered issues of racial discrimination and inequity into the foreground of social discourse. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted historically marginalised populations and highlighted pre-existing inequalities, Scotland is no exception. The subsequent murder of George Floyd by police in the United States ignited a Black Lives Matter movement around the world. If Scotland wishes to be a global leader in human rights, they must start by ensuring that any future rights incorporation will benefit everyone equally, regardless of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin. An effective incorporation of the rights and obligations the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) would be a firm step in this direction. This blog examines why a thorough incorporation of ICERD into domestic law is a necessary next step for Scotland in eliminating racial discrimination.

Access to Remedy:

ICERD demands effective remedies for Convention breaches. While the Equality Act 2010 is meant to provide this access to remedy, there are a number of factors which inhibit its effectiveness in addressing racial discrimination. To begin, the Act and its related Public Sector Equality Duties (PSEDs) in Scotland have a heavy bend towards gender-based discrimination. This focus is then reflected in the respective success rates of gender-based discrimination claims in comparison to racial-discrimination claims.

There are also a number of barriers which might prevent historically marginalised demographics from accessing justice. Such barriers might be economic, meaning not only that they cannot afford litigation, but also that they might not be able to get the time off of work to attend hearings. Depending on the demographic, these barriers might also include language and literacy. Additionally, those who have experienced an intersectional form of discrimination must choose to file under one category or both. This is problematic as intersectional discrimination is not merely additive. Instead, the forms of discrimination endured are distinct from those experienced by an individual who has only one such identity. For example, a woman of colour will experience discrimination that is distinct from the discrimination experienced by white women or by men of colour.

The underlying objective of ICERD is that access to, and quality of rights protections must be equal for everyone regardless of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin. ICERD and the corresponding work of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) together address many of the aforementioned barriers. Due to the broad nature of the Convention’s articles there is likely to be debate surrounding enforceability, particularly with relation to economic, social and cultural rights. But much work has been done on the ways in which a balance might be struck which acknowledges resource realities while also reaping the many benefits of adequately protecting these rights. Further concerns about an unmanageable number of cases has been addressed through the suggestion of using test cases to manage consistent or common rights violations.

Mandated Adherence by Public Actors: While access to remedy has a key role in effective human rights protection, in an ideal world litigation would not be necessary as public and private actors would not be engaging in discriminatory behaviour. By incorporating human rights into domestic law, the government would signal to public and private actors that Scotland is moving towards increased accountability for actions which directly, or indirectly amount to racial discrimination.

Incorporation as a Public Commitment:

Committing to the incorporation of a human rights treaty, particularly an incorporation which is both full and direct, demonstrates a firm commitment to the rights and obligations contained in that treaty. The Scottish commitment to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has demonstrated the potential for such a commitment. It has generated widespread engagement with civil society, academics, public officials, and even the private sector.This demonstrates substantial potential for incorporation to be utilised as an awareness raising tool which might initiate the decisive societal shift that the Scottish government has acknowledged as necessary to achieve racial equity. Such commitment to incorporating human rights treaties through various methods also substantiates the Scottish Government’s asserted objective to be a global leader in human rights.

Taking a Holistic Approach to Tackling Racial Discrimination:

Although the Scottish Race and Equality Framework and Action Plan also acknowledge the need for these actions, as policy the Framework is subject to changes in politics. Alternatively, incorporation would cement these rights and obligations into law which contributes to sustainable change by mandating adherence. For example, in Colombia which has incorporated human rights through its constitution, the compliance mechanism for human rights violations enables courts to order public authorities to uphold their obligations. Yet, even changes to the law cannot achieve sustainable change on their own.

Scotland’s Public Sector Equality Duties (PSEDs) demonstrate the potential to use legislation to ensure that public institutions are considering the potential discriminatory effects of their actions. But these duties also provide an excellent example of the fact that effectively addressing inequity requires the combined efforts of law, policy, and practice. For example, understanding racial discrimination requires gathering accurate, up to date and disaggregated data to inform solutions. Ensuring the sustainability of rights protections requires training public officials and law enforcement agencies. Effective engagement with historically marginalised communities requires establishing a relationship of trust, for which a key component is acknowledgement of the wrongs committed against that group in the past. Although an incorporation of ICERD would focus on the legal aspect, it has the potential to also serve as a catalyst which ignites the needed corresponding changes to both policy and practice.

Incorporating ICERD would require a thorough re-examination of racial discrimination and inequality in all areas of Scottish life. Through a societal review with such depth and breadth as would be required by a genuine incorporation of ICERD, Scotland might begin to identify and eradicate an issue as deeply entrenched and systemic as racial discrimination.

 

This post is by Emma Sullivan who is currently reading the LLM in Human Rights at Edinburgh Law School. She is a US qualified lawyer.

 

Incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots Law: What, How and Why?

Children's Rights, Human rights, Incorporation, Scotland

This post by Dr Kasey McCall-Smith looks at the  recent Scottish Government consultation on incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law. It introduces basic incorporation concepts and the draft Children’s Rights (Scotland) Bill submitted to the Government by the Expert Advisory Committee on UNCRC Incorporation convened by the CYCPS and Together, of which Dr McCall-Smith is a member. This discussion is a starting point to an ESRC Impact Acceleration grant project entitled ‘Incorporating Human Rights in Scotland’ which runs September 2019 – March 2020. 

Incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots Law: What, How and Why?

For many years, Scotland has worked to secure a strong law and policy foundation for the protection of children’s rights. These efforts, while commendable, have created a patchwork system of protections for children and equally inconsistent opportunities for children in Scotland to exercise rights that the majority of adults hold most dear, such as the freedom of expression, freedom from assault and participation in decision-making processes. International children’s rights practice confirms that the first step in securing the broad range of rights for children is through the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Across 54 articles the UNCRC protects civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, encourages a holistic approach to addressing issues that affect children and seeks to offer balance when children’s rights at odds with other rights holders, such as parents or guardians.

As a party to the UNCRC since 1991 the UK has a legal obligation to ensure that all domestic legislation is compatible with the international agreement yet the UK has done little to collectively make children’s rights a priority through legislation. Thus, devolved UK nations, including Scotland and Wales, have individually made political and legal commitments to further entrench children’s rights in line with the UNCRC. To this end, earlier this year, the First Minister pledged to incorporate the UNCRC into Scots law. This pledge set in motion variable activities across government, Scottish Parliament and civil society to determine what this means and how best this is to be achieved in Scotland. A key problem is that very few law and policy makers have ever had the opportunity to go through the technicalities of incorporating a piece of international law – a human rights treaty – into national law.

A Consultation Paper seeking comment by the public was released by the Scottish Government in May 2019 as a prelude to UNCRC incorporation. The following examines some of the consultation’s subject matter.

What is incorporation?

A simple explanation of incorporation in the context of a human rights treaty such as the UNCRC is that it is a narrow conception of human rights implementation, which ensures direct application and enforceability of the rights in national law. ‘Direct application’ means that the UNCRC provisions are capable of being invoked in national courts and must be applied by government institutions. ‘Enforceability’ generally refers to the availability of institutions, such as courts or other administrative agencies, and procedures to provide a remedy for the breach of a right.

The consultation paper correctly notes that there is no single method of implementation, however implementation and incorporation are two different legal concepts that should be clarified. The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) has often reiterated that direct incorporation is the first step toward effective implementation while implementation represents the collective legal, policy and social initiatives that support the realisation of a right. Incorporation is effectively the entry point to realising children’s rights.

How do we achieve incorporation?

Incorporation can be achieved through a variety of methods. The options include direct incorporation, indirect incorporation (what the Government has incorrectly termed ‘transposition’) and piecemeal/sectoral incorporation as well as a host of options in between. Scotland has followed a piecemeal/sectoral approach thus far.

Direct incorporation is a term that has long been used in the UK and internationally to identify legislative practice of taking a piece of international law – in this case the UNCRC – and transposing it, or embedding it, directly into UK law using the verbatim language of the treaty, much like the Human Rights Act 1998 model did with the European Convention on Human Rights. It has many advantages as it ensures the rights remain comparable to those in the UNCRC rather than an alternative version, such as the option suggested in the Scottish Government’s consultation.

Indirect incorporation means that the treaty is either incorporated by another constitutional convention or that it is incorporated in some way that does not equate to direct incorporation. There are many variables in this option and the Scottish Government has identified this as ‘transposition’, which demonstrates the confusion around incorporation as it uses the word ‘transposition’ incorrectly. Transposition is not an appropriate word if talking about ‘redefining’ an international convention. This takes away an anchor to the language of the UNCRC that has been interpreted by the CRC Committee as well as across the 196 countries that are party to the treaty.

Piecemeal or Sectoral incorporation is the practice where different rights of the convention are incorporated into legislation that is sector specific, such as disabilities or criminal justice legislation. While effective in many instances, this approach results in large gaps in children’s rights protection.

The draft Children’s Rights (Scotland) Bill follows a direct incorporation model much like the HRA 1998 but going further to expand on important aspects that are necessary to fully protect children’s rights. The three part draft bill was developed by an advisory committee of experts on both children’s rights, constitutional law and international law. The advisory committee was convened by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland (CYCPS) and Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights).

Part I clarifies that the bill is about wholesale, direct incorporation. It sets out a clear framework of rights against which the relevant government authorities and the Scottish Parliament can check themselves to ensure that they have considered the wide range of children’s rights that could be impacted by government action, law or policy. It ensures that children’s rights are considered at the earliest stage of law and policy development.

It includes all articles of the UNCRC and the articles of the Optional Protocols to which the UK is party. Notably, if the UK ratifies further optional protocols, these could be added by order of the Scottish Ministers. The draft bill clarifies the relevant duty-bearing authorities, including Scottish Parliament, Scottish Ministers, any authority exercising functions in areas of law or policy devolved to Scotland and all Scottish public authorities.

Part I fulfils the Scottish Government’s political commitment to incorporate the UNCRC in Scotland in a proactive manner, rather than ad hoc or ill-defined rights that have no resonance with well-established jurisprudence. Notably, it highlights the many sources of interpretation sources available to interpret the UNCRC that already exist.

Part II delivers the real teeth of the bill, which makes it unlawful for relevant authorities to act incompatibly with the Convention or optional protocols. This is the reactive section of the bill, which complements the proactive approach described below and follows the Human Rights Act model. It requires all bills to include a statement of compatibility with the UNCRC, building on the existing CRWIA system, which while a strong commitment under the 2014 Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, has proven inconsistent in practice. It also includes enforcement through the legal system, including redress and remedies, and strike down powers for inconsistent legislation. Crucially, it recognises the standing of children and a range of further stakeholders in terms of judicial review, which is important in terms of public interest litigation that could aid in pre-empting harm. There is widespread acknowledgement that unless there is a remedy, there is no right. International practice has confirmed that simply because remedies exist, litigation floodgates will not be opened. In line with the proactive and reactive strategy behind the draft bill, litigation is a last resort but is absolutely necessary to make rights real for children and young people. Simply because rights will be reinforced by the bill and remedies will now be clearly available, it does not mean that children will be lining up to litigate. The point of the combined proactive and reactive strategy is that all relevant government authorities will think through the impact on children before missteps are taken.

Part III is the proactive section of the draft bill. It places a due regard duty on all relevant authorities providing the opportunity to ensure children’s rights are protected from the birth of a new law or policy. But as Welsh practice has demonstrated, due regard alone is not enough. It is simply one piece of the puzzle. Thus the draft bill enhances the due regard duty by requiring a Children’s Rights Scheme that requires child involvement in the development of new law and policy and requires consultation with the CYCPS – why would government and parliament ignore advice from the expert on children’s rights? The draft bill reflects international practice in some of the strongest children’s rights forward jurisdictions.

The draft bill also requires reports on compliance with the due regard duty to be laid before the Scottish Parliament every three years and that reporting is delivered in an accessible, child-friendly version. Without self-reflection and children’s participation, Scotland cannot be the best place for children to grow up.

Why incorporate the UNCRC?

As has been consistently advocated by the CYCPS, Together and the expert advisory group that has been working with the them for many months, full and direct incorporation is the preferred model for fully realising children’s rights in Scotland. The UNCRC framework is a trusted reference point, it has an established, identifiable body of interpretive jurisprudence not only in the UK but across the world, and gives extensive consideration to the basic needs of children across mainstream rights platforms as well as those children’s rights that are marginalised for any number of reasons. To be clear, the UNCRC is a floor, not a ceiling, and the language used in the Convention confirms that governments must do more than pay lip-service to the Convention if they are to fully deliver a legal landscape that promotes, protects and fulfils children’s rights and an environment where ALL children thrive.

The First Minister has claimed she would like Scotland to meet ‘the UN’s gold standard on children’s rights.’ Full and direct incorporation of the UNCRC is the most appropriate way to ensure that Scotland achieves this goal.

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Incarceration in Scotland: a system with positive evolutions in need of a generalisation of its good practices

Crime and Criminal Law, incarceration, Inequalities, Innovative Initiative Fund, Law and Legal, Punishment, Scotland, UK, United Kingdom

In this guest post, Coline Constantin reflects on the recent seminar that tackled issues around incarceration in Scotland. Coline is reading for an LLM in Human Rights at Edinburgh Law School, and applied for funding for this event from the Global Justice and Global Development Academies’ Innovative Initiative Fund.

Scotland has the second highest imprisonment rate in Europe. Although English headlines for issues of overcrowding, under staffing, rising rates of self-harming cases do not find an echo north of the border, the statistic still makes it worth taking a closer look at its system. On Thursday 26 April, an engaged audience gathered at the University of Edinburgh to hear more about the positive developments and challenges of the Scottish system of detention.

Three panellists from different fields of expertise and different view angles on the Scottish situation were invited to cover topics from policy-making, to the implementation and analysis of these policies. Professor Richard Sparks, Convenor of Howard League Scotland and criminologist specialised on the different systems of detention in the UK, took us through his analysis of the particularities of the Scottish case within the UK and European context. Tom Halpin, Chief Executive of Sacro and prominent figure in the reduction of inequalities in the Scottish criminal justice system, gave us a sense of the work that is being done with communities and specific groups of people with convictions to go towards better mentoring and guidance throughout the process. Pete White, Chief Executive of Positive Prisons? Positive Future and fascinating storyteller, treated the audience with a story of his personal experience from his time inside and the aftermath of this life-changing event.

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Postgraduate Gender Research Network of Scotland Launches

Gender, Scotland, Students participate!, Women

setting-up-tweetThe Global Justice Academy is delighted to support the launch on the Postgraduate Gender Research Network of Scotland (PGRNS). This guest post by co-organiser, Rhian Sutton, reflects on the launch event which took place in October, and plans for the Network over the coming months – including how you can get involved. Rhian is reading for a PhD in History at the University of Edinburgh.

The Postgraduate Gender Research Network of Scotland (PGRNS) was formed in August, 2016. PGRNS aims to provide a platform on which postgraduates engaged in researching gender across Scotland can share their work, advertise events, workshops, and conferences, as well as learn about calls for papers and funding opportunities. Our goal is to facilitate discussion among researchers with common interests across both universities and disciplines in order to allow students to engage with people and ideas that they would not usually encounter through the course of their study.  Ultimately, the network hopes to assist postgraduate students in enriching their research through the discovery of, and engagement with, new perspectives of gender research.

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An Urban Justice Project: Winchburgh Futures (January-May 2016)

environment, Housing, Local-Global Connections, Regeneration, Scotland, Urban Justice, Urbanization

Global Justice Academy Co-Director, Dr Tahl Kaminer, reflects on the Winchburgh Futures project that ran in ESALA at the beginning of this year.

An ESALA (Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) team studied (2016) the current urban development around Winchburgh, West Lothian, in which a ring of 2000 or more housing units and a medium-scale town centre are being developed around an existing mining village of 2000 residents. The team responded to local residents’ request for support and advice regarding concerns for community cohesion and quality of development.

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COP 21: the Global Challenge of Climate Change

energy, environment, Scotland, Student Ambassadors, sustainability, UN

Lauren Donnelly is reading for an LLM in Human Rights at Edinburgh Law School. In her role as a Global Justice Academy Student Ambassador, Lauren reflects on discussions raised from the Paris talks on climate change, including what Scotland can do.

On Saturday the 19th of March, the UN House Scotland held, “Climate Change: Global Challenges, Local Solutions Conference” to explore the impact of the much publicised 2015 Paris Climate Change agreement. The event consisted of two panel discussions, the first which examined from an international perspective and the second which explored the Scottish response, to the various challenges faced in achieving the goals set out in this agreement.

COP 21The opening address of conference was delivered by Tom Ballantine, the Chair of Stop Climate Change Scotland. The opening address paved the way for what was to be an inspiring and enlightened discussion throughout the afternoon. The presentation outlined briefly why climate change matters, the broader effects of climate change and climate change after the Paris agreement. It highlighted that climate change has been discussed since the nineteenth century, stressing that despite the fact that the developing world is contributing the least to climate change, these countries are most likely to suffer the impact of global warming. Expanding on this point, the presentation outlined that if we do not act urgently we can expect to see: coastal flooding and displaced people due to land loss; reduced yields of major crops; human insecurity; and mass poverty.

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