Scottish Human Rights

Responding to the UK Government’s announcement today that it plans to replace the Human Rights Act, five leading Scottish human rights organisations have released a joint statement calling the proposals “unnecessary, regressive and...

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) that will begin in Glasgow this weekend (Sunday 31 October), Amnesty International UK has urged police to ensure the right to peaceful protest is protected. Naomi McAuliffe, Director of...

As MSPs prepare to debate the Scottish Government's proposed vaccination Certification Scheme on Thursday afternoon Amnesty have published a briefing setting out our concerns with the policy. Amnesty urges the Scottish Government to...

Amnesty has told the Scottish Government it must be prepared to speak up for Zambians’ rights to vote peacefully as the country prepares to elect its next President. On Thursday the country will go to the polls amidst a climate of fear...

As the Scottish Parliament prepares to debate all three stages of a new Coronavirus Bill just 3 days after its introduction, Amnesty has briefed MSPs. The Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Bill amends prior Coronavirus acts...

As the Scottish Parliament continues a series of debates on Covid-19 his week Amnesty briefed MSPs on why Scotland needs a human rights based recovery. - There is a growing body of evidence that serious human rights breaches are likely...

New research from the Amnesty and our partners at the Human Rights Consortium Scotland has found there is little evidence that the human rights of Scottish citizens were taken into consideration as major public service redesigns took...

As Scotland heads to the polls to elect its next Parliament - at Amnesty Scotland we’ve been analysing how manifestos measure up on human rights. In December 2020 we met with representatives from the main parties to discuss our policy...

Ahead of the Scottish parliamentary elections on May 6th, Amnesty Scotland has set out the commitments we asked for from parties to ensure Session 6 of the Scottish Parliament is truly transformational in creating a nation where human...

Amnesty Scotland has been engaging with several political parties about our priorities for the next Parliament ahead of the Scottish elections next month. We would like to invite you to join us for a live-streamed candidate hustings...

Amnesty joins with charities and organisations across Scotland to write a joint letter to the First Minister asking for a timeline and framework for a COVID Public Inquiry.

This is a guest blog by our Scotland Speaker Coordinator, Alex Mackenzie Recently, more than any other time, I have felt deflated by the reporting on the climate crisis. The UN warned of a “ bleak ” future as the carbon emissions gap...

The Imprisoned Writers Series at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Since 1997, Amnesty International in Scotland has shared the voices of writers whose human rights have been compromised - because they have been imprisoned...

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ( UNCRC ) sets out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children (defined as under 18 year olds) and is a particularly important piece of international...

Since 1997, Amnesty International in Scotland has shared the voices of writers whose human rights have been compromised - because they have been imprisoned, exiled or executed for exercising their freedom of expression; because they...

Imprisoned Writers: Women Speaking Up The readings today are from women who have experienced or witnessed sexual abuse, women who have spoken out and spoken up in an attempt to re-claim the narrative around violent abuse of women and...

Imprisoned Writers: When the Situation is Desperate - Curated by Scottish PEN ‘The situation is desperate’. These are the last words the world saw written by Maltese investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia , published the...

Imprisoned Writers: In a Desperate Situation - Curated by Scottish PEN The title of today’s session takes its inspiration from the last line of Daphne Caruana Galizia's final blogpost , published the day she was killed. Every day...

Imprisoned Writers: Autocratic for the People In 2018, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights turned 70. And yet, it is abundantly clear that none of us can take any of our human rights for granted. We certainly cannot take for...