Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2024
I am not sure whether Mr Cole-Hamilton can read my speech from where he is sitting, but the next page is on next steps, so I will go on to talk about some of that. I did not have in my speech the particular issue that he highlights, but he will be aware that the Scottish Government is committed to reviewing that area, and we will keep him updated on the process.
I will turn to the next steps. The organisations that are disappointed that the bill is not coming forward have rightly challenged us to do more in the time that we have remaining in the current session of Parliament. It is important that, despite the bill not going forward, we can still take action in a number of areas, in particular in relation to protecting economic and social rights.
In my portfolio, for example, we have developed interventions such as the Scottish child payment and our social security system and, should the budget pass, we will move forward with the effective scrapping of the two-child cap. We can continue that work at a policy level, but it is important that we continue to do everything that we can in the months that we have left in the current session, and I believe that there is a lot that we can do together.
I hope that my remarks have set out not only the international context for the importance of human rights, but the important domestic context. We must continue to challenge ourselves as a Parliament—as we certainly do as a Government—on how we go further and ensure that we develop the human rights framework, in the Scottish Parliament and in Scotland, for which people have long campaigned, as they are quite right to do.
I move,
That the Parliament recognises 10 December 2024 as Human Rights Day; supports this year’s theme of “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now”; agrees that human rights present a route to a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable world; recognises that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Council of Europe, and supports its vital mission to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe; celebrates important steps to advance rights in Scotland, including the commencement of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024; commends the role of human rights organisations, human rights defenders and wider civil society in driving change and challenging everyone to do better, and reaffirms its own commitment to strengthen, respect, protect and fulfil human rights through both practical action and future legislation.