A task force aimed at protecting human rights has held its inaugural meeting.
The National Task Force for Human Rights Leadership was set up to consider recommendations in a report by the First Minister’s Advisory Group on Human Rights Leadership.
Its report warned there is “inadequate” practical and legal implementation of human rights legislation, as well as limited everyday accountability.
Social Security and Older People Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville is the co-chair of the group, along with former chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Commission Professor Alan Miller.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Scotland deserves better than this seemingly endless Westminster mess
The wider group is made up of figures from politics, the public sector and third sectors.
After the meeting, Ms Somerville said: “Scotland is a world leader in human rights and I would like to welcome and thank the members of the task force for volunteering to help keep us in that position.
“Respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights is an international obligation at the heart of everything we do.
“Our commitment to fundamental principles of human dignity and equality will now be turned into statutory action that serves every member of our society.”
As part of its remit, the task force will also develop a statutory framework to ensure human rights protections for everyone in Scotland.
READ MORE: Agenda: Hong Kong must commit to backing human rights
Prof Miller added: “There is an urgent need of human rights leadership in today’s world. The leadership steps to be taken in and by Scotland are clear.
“Firstly, internationally recognised human rights belong to everyone in Scotland and must be put into our law.
“Secondly and as importantly, they must then be put into our everyday practice so as to improve people’s lives.
“I look forward to working with my fellow members of the task force and many others to help achieve this ambition and make Scotland a better country in a better world.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel