Meeting of the Parliament 08 December 2020
I, too, thank Ruth Maguire for bringing this important debate to the chamber. Human rights day is a time for both celebration and reflection. During my time in Parliament, I have championed human rights and they have always been at the centre of everything that I do. That is because, when we put human rights at the foundation of our decision making, we all reap the rewards of a more equal society.
Although we celebrate human rights day, we must remember that, for billions of people, human rights are not a given but must be advocated and campaigned for every day. Those rights are not handed to us; we are afforded them only when we fight for them.
On this 70th human rights day, one group of people need us to fight for them and their access to human rights now more than ever. Transgender people across the world, including here in Scotland, face unprecedented levels of discrimination. The fear and hatred that trans people contend with every day just to live as themselves is unacceptable. There are some people who do not believe that the rights to life, privacy, freedom of thought, conscience and religion should be extended to trans people. That is a dangerous thought and one that we must confront. That poisonous bigotry must end.
Health is a human right. Trans people’s health rights are attacked daily across the globe. That is an attack on their human right to health and life. We must condemn it. Healthcare for trans people in Scotland requires more resources and support. The most recent figures show that average waiting times to access a gender identity clinic in some areas were 260 days for adults and 314 days for young people. That is far too long to wait for an initial appointment. Services should be more localised and we need more staff to provide support for those who are working under strained circumstances.
In preparing for our post-Covid world, we must put human rights first. Scotland’s first Covid vaccine was administered today. That shows that, when we work together to find a solution and to put an end to pain and suffering across the globe, we can do anything. There is much more work to do. We face a crisis in jobs, the climate and mental health. Human rights must be at the core of the solutions to those problems.
We should always aim for the next 70 years, looking ahead to the day when someone who may not yet be born stands here to celebrate the 140th human rights day. I hope that they can look back and remark on how the world pulled together and brought us back from the brink. I hope that they will live in a world where human rights and equalities lead the way in everything that we do.
Thursday is human rights day, but we must approach every day as a human rights day.
18:48