Scottish Human Rights

The debate on violence against women at the Scottish TUC annual congress in Inverness was remarkable. Not because it featured two strong composites, each committing the labour movement in Scotland to firm action against discrimination...

To the SNP Spring Conference, where a motion on Tasers awaits the attention of delegates. For those of you who have never typed "taser abuse" into Youtube these are pistol-shaped electro-shock weapons. They fire two metal probes that...

This week we were firmly ensconced on traditional Amnesty territory, with the launch of our annual report on the use of the death penalty around the world. This event often throws up some of the more ghastly cases that Amnesty deals...

Written by Katrin Jonsdottir, from Iceland, who is spending three months in the Edinburgh office: If I was a Chinese citizen living in China I would not have the opportunity to publish this blog today. The Chinese authorities do not...

Our Education Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, will soon have reason to be thankful for the human rights she enjoys in this country. Tomorrow she is leaving for China , leading a Scottish Government delegation “to strengthen our engagement...

This week I joined a delegation of MSPs and organisations on a march from the Scottish Parliament to the Indian Consulate in Edinburgh. At only two miles it was a small gesture of solidarity with survivors of the 1984 Bhopal tragedy...

After finishing university I was at a loss at what to do next, eventually I decided that some volunteer work was the way to go and I settled on a project Scotland placement with Amnesty International. My mission if I chose to accept it...

This week saw the launch of Amnesty’s “No Recourse No Safety” report highlighting how the UK Government uses the status of “No Recourse to Public Funds” to deny support and protection to 600 vulnerable women every year. We launched the...

It seemed like a nice way to spend Wednesday lunchtime. Amnesty is supporting the White Ribbon Campaign , an international movement encouraging men to get involved in tackling violence against women. Most men, even the nice ones, tend...

I don’t usually watch First Minister’s Questions. Its not that it isn’t entertaining. Alex Salmond obviously revels in the role and there’s usually at least one laugh-out-loud moment (sometime’s deliberate, often not). My problem is...

To read the papers, or listen to many of our other decision-makers or opinion formers, you would be forgiven for thinking that human rights relate to other people’s problems, generally in a far off place. So here in Scotland, a country...

Friday 11th January 2008 marked the 6th anniversary of the first war on terror detainees being transported to the illegal detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We commemorated that day with a demonstration outside the US Consulate in...

Its been a long time coming. This morning every Scottish newspaper emblazoned its front page with the message Kenny Richey is Coming Home . Its an extraordinary triumph over adversity, but what goes through the mind of a man who has...

So what prospects does 2008 offer for a humble Scottish human rights campaigner? On the one hand I expect well see more of the same in the sense of human rights being dragged through the media as part criminals charter, part distant...

Dr Andrew McLellan, our <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/Prisons/17208" href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/Prisons/17208" _blank"="">Chief Inspector of Prisons, is by all accounts a decent...

One of the most contentious issues in the war on terror has been the extra-legal (is this different to being illegal?) detention of those suspected of involvement in terrorism . You remember all those American cop shows where they read...

So what have human rights got to do with Scotland? With everything being just hunky dory in Alba, surely our main interest in human rights is to put pressure on all those bad guys overseas who really should be more like us? Well...