Commission unveils human rights initiatives in tackling poverty
Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights is helping people who are experiencing poor housing, poverty and discriminatory access to health services, a new report by the Scottish Human Rights Commission has revealed.
Launched three years ago to mark International Human Rights Day (10 December), the Action Plan has produced a series of case studies profiling how communities in Scotland are using human rights to tackle disadvantage, along with a short film.
The case studies feature:
- A group of people living in mostly council-owned properties in Leith, Edinburgh, who are using human rights to tackle poor housing conditions including damp, mould, infestations of vermin and disrepair. After residents presented their findings to councillors and council officers at a public meeting, the council agreed to meet the residents and develop a plan for improvements, which residents will monitor. The Commission has also provided human rights training to council officers in human rights.
- Another group who have experienced poverty, who are working together to raise awareness of the human rights affected by poverty and to advocate for better policies. The group is challenging the Scottish Government on its recent social security consultation, which did not refer to the right to social security set out in international human rights law, arguing that human rights should be at the heart of the new system, embedded in its principles and outcomes.
- A project that enabled people who had experienced various health inequalities to understand and tell policy makers about how their right to health was not being met, and how to change this, including through better communication and provision of advocacy, training of staff in the issues involved, and funding for support groups. It worked with two groups, one of homeless people and one of women refugees and asylum seekers, all of whom had experienced a range of issues from their health being at risk due to poverty to discrimination because of who they were.
Judith Robertson, chair of the Commission, commented: “When talking of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 68 years ago this weekend, Eleanor Roosevelt stressed that human rights must have meaning in the ‘small places, close to home’.
“These projects show how the work taking place through SNAP – Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights – is taking international human rights standards and supporting people to apply them in their everyday lives, realising the right to housing, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health.”
Heather, one of the Edinburgh residents involved in the housing initiative, added: “Understanding our human rights has given us a strength to carry on. We believe now that we really can make a difference – not just for ourselves but for our entire community.”