Hansard

I thank Ruth Maguire for creating an opportunity for us to formally recognise the anniversary of an important and historic event: the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I know that she has constantly and continually used her role in the Scottish Parliament to promote the furthering of human rights, so I appreciate the subject being brought to the forefront of business in the Scottish Parliament today.

This Thursday will mark 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. That may seem like a long time, and the ideas underpinning human rights may seem quite obvious now, but we must remember that they grew out of the most tumultuous period in human history. The impression of the weightiness and security of the idea of human rights is evidence of the conceptual success of the declaration.

Appeals to human rights are embedded across societies, and citizens now expect that making an appeal to human rights as a way of explaining an injustice is an effective way in which they can make positive change happen. I have personally seen that approach work effectively in the field of nuclear disarmament. One of the reasons why it is so effective is that human rights are built from a true conception of morality and ethics.

The truth underpinning human rights is that people are born with inherent value, and there is nothing that can add to or be stripped from that inherent value. If someone is born with certain wealth or status, with a certain ethnicity or gender or with a disability, none of those things makes them more or less valuable, and that never changes. That is the fundamental ethic of human rights, and it is fully true. Human rights afford freedom of thought and belief—that is, the opposite of control, repression and subjugation. They are the lifting up of the subjugated and a calling to accountability for those people or states that would curb those fundamental freedoms and that personhood.

Human rights were born in the aftermath of the Holocaust, the fall of empire, the nationalisation of states and the formation of the United Nations. There was a collective effort by people around the world to promote the plight of the marginalised and those without a voice. Human rights recognise personhood and provide room for our concept of personal liberty. They underpin the values that are important across the banner of Scottish politics—all our Scottish politics.

However, while the concept of human rights may proliferate in our society, those rights are not yet accepted globally. That is why we have to fight to protect human rights and shore up the integrity of the thought system behind them. Freedom of thought, freedom of speech and personal liberty are paramount in a system of thought that means that individuals are valued, no matter what their creed.

Scotland is a place of refuge for many who have fled repression or come to live in security without fear of conflict and war and the consequent persecution of their families on the basis of ethnicity or faith. I am proud to live in such a country and to represent some of its people.

We must continue to fight for human rights both in and outwith Scotland. That means addressing continued inequalities, the main one of which is poverty. In practice, that means reducing child poverty, fuel poverty and the attainment gap, and building good-quality homes that are genuinely affordable. It also means protecting free intellectual thought, discussion and debate, because that fundamental principle is the cornerstone that upholds all our human rights.