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Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2013

10 Dec 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Human Rights

Johnstone, Alex Con North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

It should be made clear that in what has been an interesting if short debate we will not have time to raise a number of points. Nevertheless, as John Finnie pointed out, too many of us are willing to talk about human rights as a series of absolutes while failing to understand the complexities of how individuals’ rights interact with each other. It is, for example, legitimate to ask how we reconcile the absolute rights of a victim with those of an assailant, and the fact is that we need to work very hard on human rights to ensure that we achieve some equality and justice.

However, the usual prejudiced view that the Conservative Party does not support human rights has been aired in this debate. In fact, that could not be further from the truth. I am pleased to tell the chamber that in the new year the Conservatives will publish a document setting out exactly how they will replace the Human Rights Act 1998, which was introduced by Labour, and later in the year the party will publish a draft bill containing the legal detail of exactly how those changes will take effect. Therefore, it is not correct to say that the Conservatives want to scrap the 1998 act; instead, my party—correctly, in my view—is looking at reforming legislation to focus human rights on those who deserve and require protection. Indeed, members who have spoken in the debate have dealt at some length with the areas in which protection is required.

Jenny Marra has thrown some elements of the Parliament into confusion with her amendment, which, although out of place in the broader context, addresses a key subject that, I believe, the Equal Opportunities Committee will examine again as part of its current work programme. Ms Marra herself mentioned a recent journalistic inquiry that brought to light a risk that attitudes towards female genital mutilation in Scotland might be causing the crime to become more common here. However, as members have pointed out, a similar priority could be given to a whole list of other areas including human trafficking, domestic abuse and the series of mental health issues that Alison McInnes highlighted in her speech.

I as a Conservative and my Conservative group in the Parliament give our full commitment to furthering the aims and objectives of human rights legislation as implemented in Scotland. Where we might differ from the Government is in our belief that such advances can be taken forward under the UK as a strong and robust political unit and I see no advantage to their being taken forward in an independent Scotland on its own.

At decision time, we will support the Government in the publication of the document and the broad principles that lie behind it. To be honest, I do not know whether we will be able to vote for Jenny Marra’s amendment but I certainly hope that the Parliament and its committees will be able to take forward the issue and reach some conclusion on it and that we can debate it in greater detail at some later point.

15:23

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Meeting of the Parliament 10 December 2013

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