What does the Scottish Government need to do on our human rights? In August 2017, the United Nations Committee reviewed how well the UK is preforming on disability rights and how it is meeting its obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Committee set out recommendations for the UK, including Scotland, in their ‘Concluding Observations’ report which was published in October 2017.
On 6 March 2018, Inclusion Scotland and People First Scotland, with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Human Rights Commission held a conference in Edinburgh and Inverness. Over 120 people attended.
You can read the report of the Conference ‘What Next for Scotland?’ It tells us what Deaf and disabled people thought about the UN Committee’s concluding observations and about what needs to happen in Scotland so that we can enjoy our rights.
The report is a resource for Deaf and disabled people and their Disabled Peoples Organisations (DPOs). It can be used to help achieve improvements in disability rights and to monitor how well the Scottish Government is responding to the UN Committee’s concluding observations. The Scottish Government will receive a copy of the report.
It is available below in plain English, an Easy Read summary and in British Sign Language (BSL) video format.
Plain English UNCRPD conference report 2018
Easy Read UNCRPD conference report 2018
You can read the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations on the UN CRPD website. You can read a report about the Concluding Observations that explains what the Governments have been asked to do on the Commission’s website.
Joint Letter to Christina McKelvie MSP, Minister for Older People and Equalities, 29 August 2018
Inclusion Scotland, along with People First Scotland, the Equality Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Human Rights Commission, wrote to the Minister to send her a copy of the Report. The letter tells her that we were disappointed that no-one from Scottish Government came to the Conference. We hope that they will use the report to plan what work they will do towards our human rights.