Amidst Brexit, we must fight for human rights - and entrench them further, argues Mhairi Snowden
Unless you own a crystal ball, you could not have predicted where we are today in the depths of Brexit.
The consequences of Brexit are so far reaching that even the most canny of commentators cannot get a full grasp of what will happen in two years time.
Already, the ripple effects are being seen in mentions suddenly of Gibraltar, of constitutional shake-ups, of fresh arguments for independence referendums, and tensions across the water in Northern Ireland.
In the midst of all of this, civil society is concerned, very concerned, about what the consequences will be for disadvantaged individuals and communities in Scotland.
The EU, whilst maybe not being the most dynamic body, did drive progress on many areas of legal rights.
Let’s take UN rights and fully incorporate them into Scots law
Mhairi Snowden
Many third sector organisations have also benefited from or rely on EU funding, whether directly or through research funding in universities. Much of the third sector workforce are also from elsewhere in the EU.
So if we end up out of the EU, where does this leave rights for people in Scotland? We are not talking here about rights merely in theory.
Instead, we are talking about how we relate to each other, about every person having the same freedoms and access to the same basic provision that makes life live-able.
In Scotland, this must mean that we start by saying there should be no regression on rights.
The great repeal bill should keep our rights as they are, and in the longer term there should not be any celebration for rights nay-sayers.
The European Convention on Human Rights and Human Rights Act must stay, and our rights in law should be safeguarded.
Lost funding must be replaced, organisations must be able to maintain international links that bring so much to our work in Scotland and EU nationals must have security. Civil society has a big task ahead to make sure that this is the case.
But now is the time for Scotland to go further. Let’s take UN rights and fully incorporate them into Scots law. Children’s rights, economic and social rights, disabled people’s rights – let’s make them fully ours.
And let’s not stop at legal rights – let’s make them part of how we run our services and institutions.
A rights-based way of operating is a very practical way of making sure that we prioritise and organise provision so that all of us have what we need to live and are treated fairly.
Granted this is not straightforward because this is not about tickboxes. Instead it is about everyday life – about elderly couples able to live together; about Muslim children being free from bullying; about healthcare being equally accessible to all; about vulnerable children able to live with their families.
In the midst of all this Brexiting uncertainty, we can say with clarity that Scotland and Scots will be better off if we press on with making rights real for all and if we continue to maintain an outward looking perspective on our work here in Scotland.
Mhairi Snowden is the coordinator of the Human Rights Consortium Scotland.
