A UNITED Nations body is expected to confirm today that Scotland’s legal system is breaking international environment and human rights law.

SNP and Greens ministers have been told to bring forward urgent legal reforms including setting up a specialist environmental court for Scotland after the UN issued a warning over the high costs of people being able to take legal action.

The Scottish Government is proposing to introduce a human rights boll which would incorporate into Scots law, a right to healthy environment.

But Equalities Minister Christina McKelvie has warned the legislation will incorporate into Scots law a host of international human rights treaties “as far as possible within devolved competence” after her government lost a key Supreme Court case which found Holyrood has overstepped its devolved authority.

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Today’s expected decision of the UN Economic and Social Council Aarhus Meeting of the Parties, to be issued this afternoon, will confirm a lack of progress in meeting the requirements of the Aarhus Convention, which guarantees everyone in Scotland the right to go to court or an independent body to defend the environment.

It follows a report of the Aarhus meeting of the parties compliance committee earlier this year. The decision will call for reform ‘as a matter of urgency’ with ‘a plan of action, including a time schedule’ to be submitted to it by 2022.

Scotland’s legal system has repeatedly been found in breach of the convention because of the high cost of taking legal action, with judicial reviews often running into the tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Emilia Hanna, advocacy officer for the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, said: “This is the tenth time that the Aarhus Convention’s expert bodies have found that Scotland’s legal system is breaking environmental and human rights law.

“We welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to the human right to a healthy environment, but note that to fulfil this ambition – it must reduce the costs of going to court to protect the environment.”

She added: “With COP26 around the corner and the global spotlight on Scotland, this UN body has said action must now be taken as a matter of urgency.

“We call for judicial expenses to be urgently reduced. We also call for the establishment of an environmental court in Scotland to provide justice for the environment that is affordable, accessible, efficient, and specialised.

“We all deserve to live in a healthy environment and there can be no justice for people or the environment without accountability.”

Mary Church, head of campaigns or Friends of the Earth Scotland, added: “As we face the unprecedented challenges of the climate and nature emergency, it’s more important than ever that people act to protect the environment including going to court where necessary, and they should not have to face impossible costs in doing so.

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“Successive Scottish Governments have neglected the issue of access to justice for the environment.

“The present Government’s pledge to enshrine human rights, including the right to a healthy and safe environment, in Scots law will be meaningless if it is not possible for individuals, communities and NGOs to enforce these rights in court.

“An overhaul of the courts to remove barriers to public interest litigation, and ensure Aarhus Convention-compliant standards of access to justice for the environment, is long overdue. The findings from the UN Meeting of the Parties and the introduction of the new human rights framework must be the impetus for doing so urgently.”

The Aarhus meeting of the parties will endorse a report of its compliance committee which finds that despite changes to the rules on protective expense orders in 2018, Scotland remains in breach of the convention.