 The next item of business is debate on motion 14075, in the name of Christina McKelvie, on supporting and protecting human rights defenders. May I ask those who wish to speak in the debate to press the request to speak buttons, and I call on Christina McKelvie to speak to and move the motion for around nine minutes, please minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. It's with great pleasure that I get to open today's debate, and my new role is minister with responsibility for her. This is a very important debate for our Parliament, and one that we should all be rightly proud of. I'm also very delighted to see former colleagues from the equality and human rights committee participating in this debate, and I look forward to working with the committee in the future. I'm sure that they'll be just as gentle with me as we were with the previous minister. One of the great strengths of the committee, Presiding Officer, was that we shared a common commitment to all of the fundamental principles of democracy, human rights, equality and the rule of law. That is also an attribute of this Parliament as a whole, and again something that we should be proud of. That's important, and it's important because in today's debate we are recognised in the work of those who promote and uphold human rights, often in very different environments to which we operate in, environments in which personal risk is an everyday reality and the consequences of speaking out can quite literally be life threatening. In opening the 39th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council a few weeks ago, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, described human rights as, and I quote, A powerful medicine which heals wounds and develops resilience. It's a striking metaphor made all the more powerful by the personal experience which informs it. Having survived the Pinochet dictatorship, Ms Bachelet went on to become Chilly's Minister for Health and then the first woman president. She understands at first hand the power of human rights as a source of strength and healing, but as members around this chamber are well aware, that progressive, positive view of human rights is not universally shared. In far too many countries around the world, state authorities are more likely to see human rights and those who work to defend them as the problem rather than the cure. The voice of those who speak up for dignity, equality and human rights is not heard in some places as a call to build a better future for us all. Instead, such voices are feared for the challenge they present to vested interests and some corrupt systems. Even in more progressive countries, those who speak truth unto power can sometimes find that the messenger is blamed for the message. Criticism, even constructive criticism can be uncomfortable and unwelcome as politicians, we all know that. Alex Cole-Hamilton is very grateful to the minister for taking intervention. I welcome her to her post. I think that she will represent a human rights defender in this government. As such, what learning has she taken from the missteps by this government over the memorandum of understanding that was signed with the Chinese companies and failed to do due diligence? I think that I might have an offline conversation with Alex Cole-Hamilton on that matter. Today, I want to focus on human rights defenders and the fact that we have now committed to the fellowship year. Maybe that changes the tone slightly of today's debate, so we could have a proper conversation about that another time, hopefully. Verbal attacks may well lay the foundation for physical attacks. State reluctance to hear the truth readily becomes overt state action to close down debate. Far from confronting the reality of abuse, the powerful seek to silence those who draw attention to the failings of state institutions. To understand the scale of the problem, it is enough to let the figures speak for themselves. In 2017, front-line defenders, one of the leading international NGOs working to support human rights defenders globally, reported that 312 human rights defenders were killed across 27 countries. Since 2015, there have been 400 killings and 1,000 to 200 documented attacks on human rights defenders working specifically on business abuses of human rights. It is quite startling. Thousands more activists have been detained on fabricated charges, subjected to lengthy, expensive and unfair legal processes or sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Some cases are high-profile and attract international attention. Myanmar's recent jailing of two rioters' reporters, Wa Loan and Chaw So U, for reporting human rights abuses against the Rohingya people, is a case in point. Hundreds of others pursue their work in much lonelier and sometimes in even more perilous circumstances, and they are all deserving of our support in this Parliament and across Scottish society. We should stand in international solidarity with the work of human rights defenders around the world. This year, we marked the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and also 20 years of the UN Declaration on Human Rights defenders. Both are explicitly inclusive in their approach. The Universal Declaration reminds us that all people are born free and equal in dignity and in rights, and human rights are for all people everywhere all of the time. Anyone who acts to promote or protect human rights is a human rights defender themselves. That is why I am delighted that the new Scottish human rights defender fellowship has been established. The fellowship was born out of a desire to express solidarity with everyone who steps up to that universal responsibility to defend human rights. It reflects a shared commitment not just on the part of this Government but across civil society and Scotland's universities to take action to demonstrate practical support for individual human rights defenders. The purpose of the fellowship is to enable human rights defenders to come to Scotland for a three-month sabbatical between September and December. Once here, they have freedom to continue their work, develop their skills and extend their networks in a place of safety, some may say sanctuary. The University of Dundee is hosting the fellowship, and I would like to thank Kurt Mills, Professor of International Relations and Human Rights at Dundee and Jacqueline Scott, who have both worked tirelessly to make this fellowship a reality. I would also like to thank Amnesty International for the particular contribution that is made as a partner, including through in-country support to the fellows and for legal advice when applying for UK visas. Kezia Dugdale, to the minister, for mentioning the work of Amnesty International. She will know that in today's briefing from Amnesty, she also encouraged her to make sure that the human rights agenda is embedded into the Scottish Government's international development work. She will know that many of the countries that we work with have poor records on LGBT rights. Can she tell us what sort of approach should we take into that when she meets the leaders of countries like Malawi? Christina McKelvie. I thank Kezia Dugdale for that intervention. It is a very, very important intervention. I have actually got around to table a meeting tomorrow with all of the LGBT organisations in Scotland to look at what we are doing here and how we can share that learning and how we can learn from others, but also how we can impress on others the good work that we are doing here, so I would be happy to take forward that issue. Absolutely. Participants in the fellowship are nominated by our four partner NGOs, Amnesty International, Beyond Borders, Frontline Defenders and SKEAF. The high quality of the nominations reflected the long track record of frontline working human rights done by all four partners. That direct experience and expertise has been instrumental in enabling the scheme to be established. That is the first year of the fellowship and we have invited three human rights defenders from three very different countries and with very diverse range of interests. For reasons you will understand, given the risks that some human rights defenders can face, it is important that we respect the privacy of individual participants, not everyone wants or can afford to be a high public profile person. I also want to make clear that the scheme does not criticise specific countries or governments. All nations, including Scotland, have human rights challenges to address and we should take to heart the principle that I have already mentioned that anyone who acts to promote or protect human rights can be a human rights defender. In debating the global challenge, we should recognise that we have human rights defenders here in Scotland. I think that we have just heard some of them in this chamber today and their work is something that we should encourage. Getting back to the fellows, I have already had the opportunity to meet three of this year's fellows, all three of them, and two of them have also met recently with the First Minister. I was deeply moved by their experiences and insights. The account of the work that they do and the challenges that they face has left a deep and lasting impression on me. I know that they have a busy programme at the activity plan and I suspect that we in Scotland will learn just as much from them as they will take from the experience of the fellowship. Our three fellows will return to their home countries at the end of the year to continue their own work. Here in Scotland, the intention is that our own work will also continue and sincerely hope that the fellowship will grow. In addition to the NGO partners who have been central to delivering the fellowship and to Dundee University's role in the institution, I am delighted that representatives from universities of St Andrew's, Edinburgh and Glasgow have also been able to contribute. I would like to take the opportunity presented with a debate today to thank them personally for their invaluable support. I am also delighted to tell you that the scheme has secured support from protectdefenders.eu, the EU's human rights defenders mechanism, which plays an essential role in providing training, support, capacity building and emergency assistance to human rights defenders and has generously contributed match funding to the Scottish Fellowship scheme. In conclusion, I want to formally welcome the three fellows participating in this year's scheme to Scotland. On behalf of the Scottish Parliament, I extend our warmest regards and our deepest respect for your work as human rights defenders. On behalf of us all, I wish our fellows every success as they settle in and enjoy life in Dundee and every success in their return home in December refreshed and equipped to continue their essential work. I move the motion in my name. I call Alexander Stewart. Six minutes, please. Thank you, everybody. First of all, I welcome the minister in her new role. I am delighted to have the opportunity to open on behalf of the Conservatives today on this debate supporting and protecting human rights defenders. Their efforts to defend civic, political, economic, social and cultural rights can make a real difference to the lives of some of the world's most vulnerable people. However, there is no typical human rights defender, as you have already heard. They may be lawyers, politicians, teachers, students, farmers and healthcare workers. The issue that they take on board and tackle may include torture, execution, female gender mutilation or healthcare access. What unites the group of people is the desire to protect and promote human rights and democracy across the globe. Sadly, being a human rights defender is not without its risks far from it. The negative involvement that they have at their work means that they put themselves in danger on a number of occasions. They can be harassed, they can be intimidated, they can be imprisoned, they can be subject to violence and detained. As you have already heard, in 2017 alone, 312 of those brave individuals were killed. A stark reminder of the risks that they take every day. In fact, Amnesty International has hailed human rights defenders as some of the bravest people in the world and I would echo that sentiment. As has already been mentioned, the debate marks the 20th anniversary of United Nations declaration on human rights defenders, which recognises the importance of those individuals and the crucial role that they play in ensuring that UN declaration of human rights is fully recognised. In recognition of the serious attack and issues that human rights defenders face, it is important that the UN member state is the one who ensures that they are protected. Declarations say that they should have the right to defend human rights, to associate freely with others, to document abuse of human rights, to criticise offending governments and bodies and rightly they should have that. On recent years, we have seen individuals who have attacked and been attacked for what they have tried to hold on. It is vitally important that we ensure that they get that means. That means that many human rights defenders, particularly those in countries with poorer human rights records, remain significantly at risk. I would like to take some time this afternoon to highlight the extremely important work that has been happening across the United Kingdom in recent times. We would also like to note that the United Kingdom was one of the very first to adopt a plan with specific commitments to show that human rights defenders should be protected. The national action plan that was adopted in 2013 explicitly increased. The embassies and CHI commissions across the globe were there to support and ensure that business and individuals who were involved in human rights issues were given the opportunity. The protection of human rights defenders remains a priority for the Government and that was reflected and updated in the national plan in 2016. It outlines some of the work carried out by the international service on human rights to deliver a sensitive training advocacy programme for human rights defenders in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil, which was supported by the UK Government. In 2017, the Human Rights and Commonwealth Affairs Committee looked at the rights of humans and worked on what was carrying out throughout the world. To that end, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been collaborating with the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York and run the protected fellowship scheme, which was aimed to support human rights defenders at risk. Over several years through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Magna Cata fund of human rights and democracy in the UK Government has also provided human rights defenders with funds. The funds that they support ensure that both civic society and human rights defenders themselves are given that support. Although there is always work to be done, Government records in supporting human rights defenders politically, organisationally and financially is strong, and I want to recognise that today. I would also like to commend the work of many organisations within our church organisations with open doors release international aid in a church that needs a Christian solidarity workshop, which is looking at what is happening to individuals of a Christian nature and how they are being persecuted with their faith across the world. In addition, I would also like to raise the issue of the increasing intolerance that individuals experience who are Christians and other faiths across the world, who are attacked on a daily basis because of their faith. As we have heard already from the minister, we have seen outstanding work taking place here in Scotland, and I would like to commend and echo that. I would also like to welcome that the lead that is taking place for the Scottish human rights defenders fellowship, which has already been mentioned, is at Dundee University. I commend and congratulate what it has achieved so far, and I look forward to seeing what can be achieved in the future. The collaboration nature of the project brings together Scottish universities, the Scottish Government and the campaign groups that give participation and the real opportunity to meet and learn and fight for these human rights on a daily basis. In conclusion, we and the Scottish Conservatives are very happy to support the Scottish Government's motion before this chamber today, and we look forward to what will be a very focused, exciting, passionate and consensual debate on a vital work carried out by those brave individuals who defend their rights on a day-to-day basis. They take the risks and they should be supported, and I very much support the motion. Daniel Johnson, five minutes please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I too would like to welcome the minister to her position. I would like to make a few remarks about the importance of human rights. Franklin D Roosevelt, speaking in 1941, made what I believe is a groundbreaking and world-changing speech on four freedoms, and the importance and simplicity in the power of the ideas that he set out, I believe, changed the world. He said, In the future days, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in their own way. The third is freedom from want. The fourth is freedom from fear. He went on to say, That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. FDR's words were important because they changed the world. The prevailing view in the age of the great powers was that people were subjects of the state in which they lived and the laws set no matter how diabolical or monstrous those laws were. His idea was that human rights are inherent entitlements, not based on where one was born or what you do, but based on one's existence as a human being. They were developed in response, in part, to the atrocities of war and the Holocaust. Those words, uttered by FDR, led directly to the UN Declaration of Human Rights 70 years ago and on to development of institutions such as the International Criminal Court, which means that today limits are placed on what states can do. There are consequences to those who perpetrate crimes against humanity, even if that system does not work as perfectly as we may wish it to. Human rights have changed the world, but they have also changed our country. There is much that we can be proud of. It was a Labour Government that enshrined the rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law, marking the birth of the Human Rights Act. On a similar basis, we must welcome the commitment of the Scottish Government to bring the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child into Scots law that will be welcome progress in the advance of human rights right here in Scotland. However, if we believe in human rights, then we can never be complacent. We must challenge our Governments and as Parliamentarians we must challenge ourselves and whether we are upholding those principles. As an example, article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to a standard of living that is adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and his family. However, new statistics published yesterday show that almost a fifth of those living in the worst off areas were worried about running out of food. On housing, the most recent statistics show an increase in homelessness and an increase in rough sleeping. It is one thing to deliver human rights in terms of law but it is another to deliver those human rights in terms of practice and that is what we must all strive to uphold. We must challenge and defend human rights, not just because those things are important here in Scotland but because we live in a time when the international rule of law and the international institutions that underpin that rule of law are under attack and under threat. Our powers ignore international institutions and withdraw from international conventions based on the narrow interests of their leaders. Closer to home, dogmatic, Euroscepticism, while currently focused on EU institutions, flirts with quitting the European Council and questions the legitimacy of the European Court of Human Rights. We must be willing to speak up and challenge other nations who seek to undermine the international rule of law and the human rights international institutions that guarantee them. Human rights had to be fought for and we must therefore fight to preserve and to maintain them. Ultimately, we can only have the legitimacy in challenging others in terms of human rights if we are committed to challenging ourselves also. So it is in this context that I welcome this debate to celebrate human rights defenders and their important work around the world. We on the Labour Benchants welcome the fellowship as an important step towards making a contribution to both the effort to advance human rights around the world but also in challenging ourselves to ensure that they are advanced and honoured here in Scotland. So it is right that the motion acknowledges the risks that human rights defenders take. I would also therefore like to acknowledge the partner organisations who have worked with the Scottish Government to make the fellowship possible. Amnesty International, Beyond Borders, Frontline Defenders, Skiath and the universities of Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews. In conclusion, Scottish Labour is very happy to support the motion today because it is vital that we do not just gesture towards human rights but we take practical steps to argue for them and to fight for them. Andy Wightman, four minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you to the minister for bringing this debate to Parliament today and congratulations to the Government and its partners on the important work that they do in this area. As the motion says, the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights and the 20th anniversary of the UN declaration of human rights defenders, those who know me might regard me as a bit of a messy person and I was clearing out my own living room the other day and found a book that was very influential to me. It was a book about the Brazilian rubber-tapper environmentalist and trade unionist Chico Mendes, who also died 20 years ago today. He was not alone, obviously, in the world as someone who cared passionately about the environment and about his people and defending them against the gross human rights violations that took place against him and paid ultimately for that with his life. It is those kind of barbarous acts that drive human rights defenders today to act in defence of human rights. I want to touch on two broad areas that are core to the work of human rights defenders, journalism and indigenous rights. Journalists are at the forefront of recording events and sharing them with the world. Oppression of the press remains a powerful instrument for many regimes throughout the world to deny human rights. The minister mentioned the two Reuters journalists, Waolun and Chosu, who were detained by authorities Maimar for the reporting of the massacre of the Rehinga Muslims by security forces. After a protracted court case, which I think lasted over nine months, they were sentenced to seven years in jail under a colonial regime. In the Mapping Media Freedom report produced by the index on censorship in partnership with the European Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, it found in last year that there were 1,089 reports of limitations to press freedom in Europe and neighbouring countries, with a majority of these violations coming from official or governmental bodies with particular concerns in countries like Russia. The report also found that 220 media workers were arrested or detained, 178 were physically assaulted and 367 experienced incidents such as psychological abuse, sexual harassment, trolling, cyberbullying and defamation. Furthermore, there were 192 cases of criminal charges or civil litigation and 112 legal measures that were raised against journalists in 2017. Having the freedom to openly criticise those in authority to investigate and instigate debate on topics of national, regional or local interest is one of the freedoms that we cherish and enjoy here in Scotland. However, as Daniel Johnson said, it is not something that we can ever take for granted. Certainly, no indigenous communities can take it for granted. I have long been an advocate of promoting transparency in land rights. Regrettably, there are people across the world who are not so fortunate. They are routinely oppressed by governments and corporations who exploit land and natural resources for the sake of turning our environment, water and land into commodities to be sold to the highest bidder. This week, the Global Land Forum is holding its international conference, led by the International Land Coalition in Bandung in Indonesia, to discuss the principles of people-centred land governance. Just yesterday, I was listening to Gillian Caldwell, chief executive officer of Global Witness, providing moving testimony of the human rights abuses occurring in Laos, Nigeria and Cambodia and the work of human rights defenders in those countries. Such threats remain constant. Michael Michelle forced the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders to recognise the significance of work carried out by such people to protect and conserve our fragile environment, particularly in areas of the world where fundamental human rights are routinely disregarded. I welcome the debate. I commend the work of human rights defenders around the world and the efforts that are made here in Scotland to establish the Scottish human rights defenders fellowship. Alex Cole-Hamilton, four minutes please. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start by thanking the Government for bringing this motion to Parliament today and to welcome Christina McKelvie to her role as minister? Christina and I served together on the Equalities and Human Rights Committee for the best part of three years. She is a person with tremendous command of these issues. Although she might have felt my intervention unkind or irreverent in the context of today, I remind her that it is important for human rights defenders, which she is undoubtedly ours within the Scottish Government to always speak truth to power and to ask awkward questions of powerful bodies. I have been involved in human rights all of my life from leading Amnesty International letter writing groups at school and then in this Parliament when I was working for Liberal Democrats at its inception at the start of devolution. I was working in children's rights as a convener of the Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights and I sat on the Scottish national action plan for human rights leadership panel. This has culminated in my role in the Equalities and Human Rights Committee. It is in my DNA, so I am deeply gratified that the Scottish Government has created these fellowships in Dundee. As Amnesty tells us, there is still a toxic and hostile environment for human rights defenders. The world over 300 people have been killed globally in the last year alone. Amnesty has identified the six riskiest professions that you can undertake as a human rights defender. Unsurprisingly, those are the professions that we would always associate as hallmarks of a free and open society. They are labour activists, they are journalists, they are lawyers and judges, LGBTI rights campaigners, indigenous peoples activists and women's rights campaigners. They face imprisonment and, in some cases, summary execution. They deserve our support. There are threats to human rights across our world. Even in societies that we had assumed had cracked the human rights balance and got it right. In Russia we have seen 58 journalists killed since 1992 and gay rights activists persecuted to this day. In China, the meticulous and systematic persecution of the Falun Gong entirely on grounds of religious intolerance. Even in the USA, and I talk about those cultures that we thought were liberal, we see erosion of rights, particularly around LGBT rights issues and the rights of immigrants and refugees. I picked those out because those are countries that we would seek to do business with and are fostering, developing relationships with. We must use that position of power and influence to speak truth to power. We must insist on human rights observance. I admit that I may have been making mischief in my intervention but the point is absolutely accurate. We need to get our own house in order first in terms of challenging ourselves to say, are we doing due diligence on the contracts that we sign on behalf of our people. In terms of making rights real, I am delighted that we will be finally incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. I am still anxious that we will not give our children access to justice in that regard. I do not have a huge amount of time. Daniel Johnson. The report published yesterday by Autistic Society regarding the rights of education for autistic children are important at that point, given the lack of access that many are suffering. Alex Cole-Hamilton. Absolutely. I thank Daniel Johnson for his intervention and the full incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child would address exactly those kind of issues. I also would hope that we recognise the rise of fake news and those news outlets which are constantly apologising for covering up systematic human rights abuses. I call on all parties to follow the Liberal Democrats in our party-wide boycott of outlets which peddle that kind of untruth. In closing, I support those human rights fellowships. They are vital for our own learning and international human rights observance. In June 1966, Bobby Kennedy delivered a speech to human rights defenders in the University of Cape Town at the height of apartheid. When he said, each time someone stands up for an ideal or acts to improve a lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. I thank the Government again for this motion this afternoon. We now move to the open debate and speeches of four minutes, please. Ruth Maguire, followed by Oliver Mundell. 2018 is a year for celebration. It marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, alongside the international human rights treaties, guarantee the enjoyment of all human rights by all people without distinction. This afternoon, the debate is focusing on the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. That declaration emphasises that we all have a role to fulfil as human rights defenders in a global human rights movement. I would like to begin by acknowledging the many hundreds of human rights defenders who peacefully were rallying at Faslane last weekend and thank them for all they do to further the cause of peace and justice. Of course, in some places in the world, human rights defenders face death for standing up for their rights peacefully. Amnesty International estimates that 3,500 people have been murdered for their human rights work over the last 20 years, as an average of 175 people each year. Women who speak up and are seen as a threat to tradition are often targeted and subjected to forms of gender-based violence in addition to the attacks that other defenders may face. That can include sexual violence, stereotype smears and defamation campaigns. Ina Sianawaz was shot dead in Pakistan in February 2017. She worked with Help Age International, an organisation advocating for the rights of older people. She was a professional woman, financially independent and her family's main provider, thus challenging socially accepted norms and gender rules for women in her country. The partnership between the Scottish Government and the University of Dundee to provide the Scottish human rights defender fellowship is a really important undertaking. I wish it every success and thank those campaign groups that support the fellowship. Frontline defenders, Amnesty International, Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund and Beyond Borders Scotland. Scotland has a proud tradition of campaigners from trade unionists and suffrage movements to equality groups fighting for fair treatment of people who can face discrimination, for example because of their race or disability. I'm sure that all Scotland's activists will be enthusiastic and keen to share their experiences. I wish the fellows good luck with their studies and I hope that they return to their countries refreshed after their respite and ready to continue their really important work of progressing human rights in their countries. There is of course work to be done in Scotland too. We face our own challenges, poverty, inequality and Brexit. The Human Rights Act and the Scotland Act share their 20-year anniversary with the declaration on human rights defenders. Those acts are fundamental to ensuring that human rights are placed at the centre of our democracy. This year offers an opportunity for reflection on where Scotland is in promoting and progressing human rights. The Equalities and Human Rights Committee inquiry into human rights in the Scottish Parliament has been looking at how the Parliament enhances its role as a human rights guarantor. The report that should be ready late autumn will set out a range of actions, a road map, if you like, for human rights in our Parliament. If taken, those steps will make the Scottish Parliament a human rights leader of legislators, not just in the UK but an exemplar globally. One of the key objectives for the anniversary of the declaration on human rights defenders is to raise the profile of defenders around the world. I look forward to all the contributions and hope that this debate will go some way to contributing to that aim. Oliver Mundell, followed by Jenny Gilruth. I would like to start by joining colleagues in welcoming the minister to her new role, although I did not serve on the equality and human rights committee with her as long as Alex Cole-Hamilton. I am absolutely sure that if anyone is going to shake things up and take the same passion into government as they have shown on committee, then Christina McKelvie will do that. I am also eagerly anticipating her help and support in ensuring that the committee's recommendations in our forthcoming report are accepted and that that will help. I also warmly welcome the fellowships. I think that it is a very positive move. I slightly disagree with one of the remarks that Alex Cole-Hamilton made where he said that it is important that we get our own house in order first. I get the sentiment behind that remark, but it is important that we do not wait to get everything perfect and just right here in Scotland before we share the considerable expertise that we have developed internationally. It is important for us all, as members of this Parliament, to remember that people have died here in our own country in the United Kingdom over the decades and centuries past to defend human rights. There are many people who still feel persecuted and vulnerable now, but just because we do not take our freedoms for granted does not mean that we cannot get started on helping to build capacity worldwide. It is remembering that, by having fellowships based here in Scotland in Dundee, we are expanding our own expertise and knowledge at the same time. I am conscious of not having made that distinction into the same trap as Alex Cole-Hamilton by being a pest and asking difficult questions, but I want to highlight the same report that Daniel Johnston mentioned, not included, not engaged, not involved. I certainly found it very difficult last night at an event to hear parents who face the prospect of their children not being educated, hearing stories of young people in Scotland being dragged along corridors and locked in padded rooms without windows in place of their education. We have a lot of mechanisms here in Scotland—well-developed, well-trodden pathways to tackle some of those issues. We have children and young people's commissioners. I think that there are many of those issues that could be taken on. I think that it would be wrong when there is an opportunity the day later to highlight some of the issues that parents are facing and the battles that they are undertaking not to bring that up, but I think that those problems are far more complicated. I think that we can have debates like that and take some of the politics and the heat out of the discussions that we are having around human rights. That allows us as a Parliament to really take things forward. I want to finish by paying tribute to human rights defenders worldwide. It is horrifying to think that 300 people have been killed in the last year for just trying to make the world and their community a better place. I think that that number is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg. I think that there will be many more people who have been subject to gruesome abuse and death at the hands of human rights abusers. There will be many more people, even as we speak today, living in fear. We have a duty to do everything that we can to help support those individuals and strengthen the international human rights network. I am pleased to have spoken in today's debate. Jenny Gilruth, followed by Kezia Dugdale. I, too, welcome Christina McKelvie to her new role. In yesterday's news, it was reported that proudness will take place on October 6. That is, of course, news because the very idea that Inverness might host a pride event was recently challenged by a member of the free church to stop it on biblical, religious and moral grounds. The petitioner had managed to amass some 600 signatories, a number that both horrifies and serves us to remind us all that human rights, the freedom of assembly and association, can still be threatened in Scotland in 2018. Perhaps it is a timely reminder for us all. Today's motion calls upon the Parliament to note the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the universal declaration of human rights. Attentive members might also recall that 2018 marks the same special birthday for the largest town in my constituency, Glenorthus. I first met Shantel Mrewe in January this year, while attending a digital stories event run in conjunction with the Scottish Book Trust and supported by the Scottish Government. The event showcased a selection of stories about the people of Glenorthus. We Fifers are not always known for our cheerful disposition, but here with Shantel Mrewe, a former Rwandan refugee, is taking to the stage one dreach January nights in the Rothus halls to tell her tale. Shantel's parents were Tutsis, who fled Rwanda during the massacres of the 1950s. The family came back from exile in Congo in the early 1990s. Shantel lost 27 members of her family in the Rwandan genocide. Her life was constantly under threat from grenades and mines. She nearly lost both of her siblings to malnourishment. When Shantel first arrived in the UK, she had only about £40 to her name. She did not speak any English, and she settled in Glenorthus in 1999 as a refugee. She suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, yet here is what she told us, one cold January nights in Glenorthus. The investment in me by the health service, the countless therapy sessions, social services assistance and the availability of education have all enabled me to grow with human dignity and fulfil my potential. The opportunities offered to me by the people of Fife and their willingness to accept strangers have all been powerful to restore my faith in humanity. For that reason, I will always feel an immense sense of gratitude towards Glenorthus as my home and place of work. Human rights are those that we often take for granted. Freedom from discrimination, freedom from torture, the right to life. Today's motion makes specific mention of the 20th anniversary of human rights defenders, which was officially adopted in a UN charter in 1998. The UN declaration defines a human rights defender as anyone working for the promotion and protection of human rights. The broad definition encompasses professional as well as non-professional human rights workers. In 1998, Shantel Marimi was still in Rwanda. Nearly a million of her fellow citizens have been killed in the genocide. Their right to life had been denied. Shantel Marimi is a human rights defender. Since settling in Scotland, she has completed a degree, brought her own house and raised her family. She regularly sends money home to her parents in Rwanda to support the orphans that they have taken in since the genocide. Shantel has worked as an interpreter locally, translating English into French, Swahili and Rwandan, and today she is employed at Fife Council in Glenorthus. In June, I held an event in Parliament to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Glenorthus, and I was absolutely delighted to welcome Shantel as a guest speaker. Earlier this month, she was recognised as Scottish Women of the Year for her work with the Scottish Rwandan community. She speaks regularly to local schools and students sharing her story. Today's motion speaks of the invaluable work of a number of different organisations in defending and supporting human rights. However, in every community in Scotland, there are individuals such as Shantel who have had their human rights denied. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is often described as a milestone in the history of human rights, but we have moved on since 1948. Indeed, the declaration may have been monumental when it was published 70 years ago, but we should all be asking how its values are upheld today. Whether that is the right of minority groups to protest or the basic right to life, human rights are everyone's business. We must not look the other way. Kezia Dugdale, followed by Gail Ross. I welcome the minister to her place in recognising her long-standing commitment to the agenda. I have heard her give many speeches about human rights and the qualities from the benches up here. Now that she sits at the front, I would like to remind her that with great power comes great responsibility. Where she does not have the powers that she might like, she has a voice. I would encourage her to use that voice with the same tenacity that she has demonstrated before now. Amnesty International, in its briefing, encouraged us to focus on women human rights defenders. That is what I intend to do. It is worth starting with some of those actual rights enshrined in that declaration of human rights defenders. They include the right to be protected, the right to freedom of association, the right to criticise Government bodies and agencies, and to make proposals to improve their functioning, and the right to provide legal assistance or other advice and assistance in the defence of human rights. Those are human rights that are exercised every single day by one particular woman called Pukira Hasisic, who I have had the privilege to meet on a number of occasions. People can read her story in the exhibition space by the MSP's block at the moment. She is a Bosnian citizen. She is from a town called Visigrad. In April 1992, in her town, which was 60 per cent Muslim, there was a knock at the door. When she opened the door, one local police officer for her town, a guy called Milan Lukic, and 12 fellow officers forced their way into her house and raped her daughter. When she tried to stop them from raping her daughter, they raped her. Milan Lukic set up a rape camp in Bosnia, which was used to ethnically cleanse her town, forcing many of the women, in fact all of the Muslim community in that town, to flee and seek refugee status somewhere else, many of them, in bordering Croatia. Pukira has devoted her entire adult life to defending the human rights of her fellow citizens. The first courageous and incredible thing that she did in 1998 was to lead a march and a return back to her hometown after the Bosnian war. She said very clearly when she got there that she had nothing to fear, nothing to feel ashamed of, nothing to be embarrassed about because it was not her that had committed this evil. One of the things that she did when she returned to the house was go around in her car, wind down the window and take photographs of the men that raped her and her neighbours and fellow citizens. She started to build case files about the men who were also in her town who had committed these horrendous war crimes and atrocities. That would eventually lead to the creation of the Association of Women Affected by War, an organisation that she set up and establishes and runs to this very day. One of the things that she did in the early days of setting up that organisation was to chain herself to a building in her hometown where 22 people had been murdered by the Serbian Army. She did so because she knew that the Serbian forces were going to try and demolish that building within that contained the evidence of their crimes. So she changed herself to the front door and then called the world's media and they were unable to knock down that building and the men who did those atrocities were tried. To this day, she lives under the threat of her own life. There are many Serbian people living in her own town who would like her to discontinue the work that she does advancing the rights of women in her country and around the world. She was one of possibly 25 to 50,000 women raped in Bosnia during the Bosnian War and she seeks justice for them every day, collating evidence about the crimes committed against them, not least this document which went to the Hague and saw many of those men convicted of war crimes. It's a great honour that I've had a chance to meet her on several occasions and the last time I saw her was in July when she came to Glasgow Caledonian University to receive her honorary degree. Something I hope that this whole Parliament would recognise and celebrate. On that day, she was asked what her hobbies were. She said that her two favourite things in life were smoking and catching war criminals. I'm sure that we can all collectively agree with at least half of that agenda. Gail Ross, followed by Jamie Greene. I also begin by warmly welcoming the minister to her new post. I am one of the members of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee that she speaks of and I can promise her a very enjoyable experience when she comes back to visit us in the near future. 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the declaration of human rights defenders and the 70th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights. UN Declaration of Human Rights defenders tells us that we all have a role to fulfil as human rights defenders and emphasises that there is a global human rights movement that involves us all. The declaration's full name is the declaration on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms. Perhaps a bit wordy, but it really does encapsulate how important the concept is across our society. I'm sure that everyone in the chamber will be aware that human rights defenders are people who act to promote or protect human rights, but perhaps some of us are unaware that that includes children and young people. Children and young people are working together or on their own the length and breadth of Scotland tackling issues such as bullying, homophobia, sectarianism and disability discrimination. In my own constituency, several schools have developed new equality groups driven by young people who are actively tackling issues in their schools and the ethos is very much about what you do, not about who you are. There are children and young people in Scotland right now who don't even realise that they are human rights defenders and the impact that their contributions will make and is already making to others. I had the honour of officially accepting, along with Jan LeMont, the Children's Commissioner's strategic plan for 2018-20 in the Scottish Parliament earlier this year. That was put together with huge input from children and young people and covers three main topics, to be a successful children and young people's commissioner, to establish a culture of children's human rights and to make sure that children's human rights are at the centre of law, policy and practice. I'd like to place on record my thanks to Bruce Adamson and his inspirational team of young advisers. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all the teachers and staff who give up their valuable time in school to support the young people who are defending human rights. You are not only making a difference to the young defenders, you are also having an impact on those whose rights they are upholding. Children and young people are crucial to the promotion of human rights in Scotland. They are assisting a culture change across Scottish society in powering and educating children to have a compassionate approach to life. Encouraging them to help others to defend those rights is the very place to start to bring down walls that we have built for ourselves, bigotry, religious divides, racism, homophobia and, dare I say it, even political differences. Normalising respect and dedication to human rights for a young age is already empowering adults to see each other from a more human point of view. I am so proud that as a nation and as a Parliament we are actively committing ourselves to this approach and that young people are involved too. Many of our young human rights defenders are off to Geneva this week to discuss human rights and I know that others will join me in wishing them all the best for their trip. This week hosts a massive conference on ACEs in Glasgow. Human rights are violated when a child is subjected to an adverse experience, some of which can affect them for the rest of their lives. What better way of helping our children and young people through an adverse experience than to look at it from a human rights approach? Human rights defenders, be they old or young, wherever they are in the globe, are invaluable and cannot be commended enough. Human rights are for everyone. Jamie Greene, followed by Gillian Martin. First of all, I welcome the minister to her place on the front bench. We do not always see eye to eye politically, I am sure, but I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the minister will be a forthcoming defender of human rights in this Parliament in Scotland in general. I really welcome her prompt engagement, for example with the LGBT community already, and that is to be welcomed. Yesterday, as part of Amnesty International's brave campaign, a mural was unveiled in Kabul to pay tribute to some of the human rights defenders who have lost their lives, in particular a group of 10 journalists who, earlier this year, were killed whilst reporting a bombing. I am sure that members would join me in paying homage to the valiant photographers who paid the ultimate price in reporting from the conflict in Afghanistan. Their story is one of many. My views on schemes such as the UK Government's national action plan and the Scottish Government's human rights defender fellowship are that they are welcome moves, but I caveat it by making a point that it is not always in statutory bodies that we find extraordinary actions. Charities, NGOs, Government agencies and well-organised international action groups are very important, but so too are they often forgotten voices of the individual. When I was in the Equalities and Human Rights Committee in this Parliament, one of the things that struck me the most was this notion that human rights are other people's rights. There was a perception that defenders of human rights lived in war zones. They challenged dictators and they fight against brutal regimes. They fight high-profile campaigns in a high-profile manner. The reality is far from that. I have seen defenders of human rights in Leith in Edinburgh. We met a group of residents who were fighting their local authority for better housing. Why? Because the status quo breached their human rights, the right to basic and adequate housing. Human rights are everyone's rights. I would also like to spend the brief few moments that I have here and it is a shame that we will have a few minutes to talk about the modus operandi of what it means in a modern day to be a human rights defender and how much that has changed, principally through technology. I am quite curious about how tech can be used in helping those who are activists with self-protection and spreading truth, but also in propagating the horrors of the world to the world. Technology can also be the downfall of human rights defenders. It can be used to monitor, trap and, in some cases, capture activists. On the positive side, tech has been used in innovative ways. Some of you may recall that Amnist International launched an app called Panic Button, which ran, I think, for about three or four years. The idea is that it would send out a distress call to people and would enable GPS functions so that they could be tracked—a good use of technology. Unfortunately, that project was shelved due to a lack of funding and resource. I think that is a shame. However, the downside is that technology is being used to expose weaknesses in activism. It can expose people's whereabouts, their identities, their networks. It is also building up mountains of data and evidence against them through leakages, traces, surveillance and, on occasion, results in physical interception. Protection International is an organisation that educates and best practices the protection of human rights defenders. In its manual, it details the ways in which technology can be used to hack, monitor and abuse defenders. Amnist International was also victims of a cyber attack recently, which, unfortunately, led to some of its Saudi Arabian rights activists being compromised through malware, which was disguised as positive communication. In the context of 21st century human rights defence, technology can often be the difference between freedom and capture or, in some cases, life and death. Let's have a debate on praising state-sponsored programmes and initiatives and let's commend new bodies and agencies, but let's also remember that it is in the everyday, you also find the extraordinary. The last of the open debate contributions is from Gillian Martin. I want to welcome my friend Christine McKelvie to her role as minister. She already knows how delighted I am that she's got the role that she was born to do. I'm standing in today for Sandra White in this debate and another human rights defender herself. I know that Sandra would have wanted to speak on a Palestinian example. She was going to speak on Awne Abu-Shamsia from Hebron in Palestine. When I had a quick look at what he was doing, I discovered that Awne's whole family are human rights defenders. Awne falls in the footsteps of his mother Faiza and his father Imad. The family has been documenting and filming human rights abuses in Palestine for many years and bearing witness to them so that we can understand them. I would like to read out some of what Imad has written. This extract of something that he wrote in 2016. Two ambulances rushed to the scene. They offered no assistance to the two critically injured Palestinians. One of them was in fact probably dead at this point and did not even attempt to assess their situation. All their efforts focused on the soldier whose condition is far from critical. At this point, another soldier, an army medic, walked forward a few paces, hefts his rifle and casually shoots the still-moving Palestinian in the head. Nobody present appears to be surprised or disturbed in any way by what they've just seen but I was present and I was disturbed. My name is Imad Abu-Shamsia and I shot the video. The recording of violations like this helped the rest of the world to see what's really going on. Imad initially decided to start filming because his own family was being attacked but as time went on he began to record things as he saw. He also knew that by doing so he was making his family more of a target. He said, as time went on, the attacks against the family got worse. Our daughter Mara had her hair set on fire. Sally, the baby of the family, was stabbed in the hand. There had been attacks against the whole family. About a year ago I woke up after midnight and realised that there was a fire burning outside the house which already reached into one of the rooms. The neighbours rushed to help us put it out and two months after that, by lucky coincidence, I happened to see someone on our roof. He was trying to poison our water tank. The video camera meant that we were able to document these attacks and by this time the whole family had started to film, much as a neighbourhood. The testimony of the Shamsia family is an indication of the danger of those who record and observe and can put themselves in to let the rest of us know what's going on. The bravery in doing so can't be underestimated. In addition to some of the attacks on the family, we mentioned that Auri, his son, another filmmaker, had also been falsely accused of crimes and was in prison. Thankfully, he's now been released. But this was due to him again bearing witness with a camera. Imad said that, as Palestinians, we never feel safe, we have lived all of our lives in a country where we are made to feel that we are all in the wrong place at the wrong time. But whenever there's trouble, people call on us to come round with our cameras. When Faiza stands filming fearlessly in front of a gang of violent settlers it helps to show that we still have our resolve. When you have a camera on your hands, you feel that there's at least something that you can do to take control of a situation in which you can easily feel powerless. I think that the empowerment that these people feel by doing something when they feel that they're up against it is really important. I think that the Shamsaea family embody the most potent power there is, and that's determination. Determination of the face of danger, non-violent involvement, where violence is always all around, and using words and pictures, the most powerful weapon in the defence of human rights. We now move to the closing speeches and I call Mary Fee for four minutes. I, too, begin by welcoming the minister to her new post. I know that the minister will be a vocal and a very determined advocate across all areas of her portfolio. In closing today for Scottish Labour, there is little time for me to cover the excellent contributions from across the chamber. That has been a short but nevertheless a very powerful debate, a debate that shows what human rights means to us as parliamentarians and as free citizens. We are fortunate in Scotland to have a strong and varied number of human rights organisations who campaign and provide advocacy to those who feel oppressed or those who suffer discrimination. This Parliament has shown since its formation in 1999 that we are all human rights defenders. Today, in many countries, there are millions of people without the basic human rights that we expect. Whether that is the right to shelter, the right to food, the right to be gay, the right to be transgender or the right to be political or religious, we in Scotland and in the UK have a role to play in protecting and advocating human rights around the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights must be true to its title and that is to be universal, available to all. It is fantastic that the Scottish human rights defender fellowship is working in partnership with global and with national human rights organisations. We welcome the fellowship and the potential that it has to educate and to liberate people. Albeit with a very small budget, that is money well spent in the battle to promote human rights across the world. Human rights leaders of the past, the giants of history, would be ashamed at the role of some of our world leaders today with respect to human rights. When we see Donald Trump in America, Vladimir Putin in Russia and Sange Sushi in Myanmar, Nicholas Madura in Venezuela and Recep Erdogan in Turkey, attacking the human rights of their own population and the minorities within it, it is more important than ever that we show leadership in human rights. It was a Labour Government who enshrined the rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention of Human Rights with the Human Rights Act 1998. I welcome the progress that has been made by the Scottish Government to safeguard existing human rights. However, as a human rights garden tour, there are areas of policy that fail to protect and deliver the rights that we take for granted. I welcome the First Minister's intention to incorporate the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law. However, cuts to local authorities in education are hampering the rights of the child as we speak now in this chamber. The recent report by the Equalities and Human Rights Committee found that disabled people are being denied their rights to accessible housing due to a severe shortage of accessible homes. Disabled people are being robbed of dignity with the limited access to suitable toilets and I hope that we strengthen rights for disabled people by delivering changing places toilets across the whole of Scotland. We also have a problem of homelessness with the number of rough sleepers increasing for the second year running and we need more social housing. I cannot speak in a debate about human rights and not mention gypsy travellers in Scotland. A group who face obstacles and discrimination, few other minorities across the country face from access to healthcare, to education, to housing and to site access. Finally, I welcome the Scottish human rights defenders fellowship and the potential it has to promote human rights in other parts of the world. The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government have a crucial role as human rights defenders to ensure that cuts to public services that disproportionately impact children, the poorest, the elderly and the disabled do not restrict the freedoms and the rights that have been hard-won over decades. Andy Wills, five minutes please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Like most in the chamber today, I too wish to welcome Christina McKelvie to her new role. I know that she will be determined and full on when it comes to fighting for equality in human rights in her new portfolio. As we have heard from members in the chamber today, it is great to have the opportunity to mark our support for human rights defenders across the globe. Often at a great personal risk to themselves, those are people at the forefront of work to promote human rights and democracy. In many places they are persecuted and present, attacked and even killed because of their work. It is very humbling that we can have a debate where we come together as parliamentarians and recognise the huge sacrifices made by those promoting and protecting the human rights of others. Across the globe, there are people defending basic human rights that we often take for granted. They can address any human rights concern from standing against torture, arbiter detention, FGM, to campaigning for better access to housing, healthcare education, food and water. Described as some of the bravest people in the world, the sense of nature of their work means that human rights defenders and people close to them can be targeted by all kinds of abuse. As we have heard in 2017 alone, over 300 human rights defenders were killed and, concerningly, Amnesty International had noted a recent search in repression and attacks on human rights defenders. Significantly, their repression is enforced not only by individuals but by Governments, security forces, businesses and armed groups, organisations threatened when their authority or reputation is called into question. Human rights defenders can come from all walks of life and may include journalists, teachers, farmers, lawyers and health professionals. We heard Kezia Dugdale speaking extremely passionately about the horrendous crimes committed against women during the Bosnian War and the amazing work that Bikira still continues to do. As part of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee, we carried out an inquiry on how to embed human rights into the Scottish Parliament so that it could be a guarantor of human rights. I found this inquiry extremely enlightening and informative. I met some amazing people who I would certainly call human rights defenders in their community, as Jamie Greene also mentioned. Significantly, 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone document in the history of human rights. Proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris in December 10, 1948, it set out for the first time a common standard of fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Fifty years later, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, a declaration that recognised the importance and legitimacy of defenders and the vital role they play in making the UN Declaration on Human Rights a reality. Although the declaration itself is not legally binding, several states in recent years have adopted laws that explicitly protect human rights defenders and establish their own national protection programmes. In Scotland, I am pleased to see the creation of the Scottish Human Rights Defenders Fellowship, a partnership that will see international human rights campaigners come to Scotland to study at the University of Dundee and build relationships with Scottish human rights and the qualities organisations. I sincerely hope that this initiative succeeds in giving participants the place of safety to harbour the skills and networks that are necessary to continue their work. I was pleased to hear Alexander Stewart speaking in detail on what the UK Government is doing to protect human rights defenders also. Of course, there is always more that we can do. As Daniel Johnson said, we cannot be complacent and other MSPs will also agree. As Oliver Mundell said, we need to look at ourselves, too, when speaking about children with autism and their right to education. I, too, was at the event last night and found it quite extremely unbelievable what children are going through in schools just now. Internationally, it is great to see the joint hosting of a human rights defender's world summit in Paris next month. It is an event that will bring together 150 human rights defenders from around the world to discuss a debate with global leaders from Governments, the United Nations and the private sector. To close today, I would again like to note my gratitude to human rights defenders across the globe. As we go about our daily lives, we should all take a moment to think of those who are putting themselves at great personal risk to protect and promote the rights of others. It would be a minimal sacrifice compared to what those people go through to defend human rights. I, too, wish to wish the 2018 fells every success during their time in Scotland and upon their return home. I call Christina McKelvie to wind up in this debate. Seven minutes, please, minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I thank all the members in the chamber who contributed to the debate today for their kind words to me as well. I believe that, as a band on the committee, we did become the defenders of human rights in this place, but I am sure that, working together, we can make that contribution even more. Jamie Greene reminded us about cybercrime, which is something that we do not think about a lot, but we covered so many issues today that I hope I will get through them all as we go through the summing up. As we have heard, the situation for human rights defenders around the world reminds us that it is unacceptable for any of the rights contained in the declaration to be denied to a person simply because of the country or region that they happen to live in. Daniel Johnson reminded us very early on that not to be complacent at all, to never be complacent. There are potens of FDRs for freedoms, and it reminded me to go back and have a look at them again just to make sure that they are further entrenched in my thinking, too. We heard also the poignant testimony of Imad in Palestine. I have heard Sandra White talk about Imad on many occasions on the attacks on his human rights defender family. We heard about that today, but we also heard about how documentation is incredibly important to human rights defenders. Andy Wightman reminded us today about front-line journalists and the job that they do in ensuring that that documentation is kept. That is why this Government, I believe, is committed to embedding human rights, dignity and quality at the heart of everything that we do and to do so in a way that has a practical, meaningful effect in the lives of the people of Scotland and, hopefully, the international community. That is why we have the fellows here. Is that embedding human rights means not just having the laws—we have heard a lot of today on the statute book—but to take whatever action is necessary to make them real for each and every one of them. I would like to reassure Kezia Dugdale that I will keep my voice raised in this debate when I am in the Government meetings, too. As a Government, we are already taking action across a range of areas to advance gender equality, to promote fair work, to make progress on disabled people's rights and to build a social security system in Scotland that places people at its centre. Our own work to secure legislation on pardons for LGBT men convicted of historic crimes that are no longer a crime was a real high point for me in this chamber where we came together. We faced up to the fact that we did wrong before and we took responsibility for that and we fixed it, so we are all human rights defenders when it comes to that issue, too. As you know, the First Minister has established an independent advisory group to ensure that whatever the outcome of Brexit—I hate to mention it, but we have to—Scotland is able to keep pace with European Union standards and continue to lead on our human rights. Our programme for government commits to responding in full to the advisory group's recommendations and also in incorporating the principles of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, something that I am sure Ruth McWire and Alex Cole-Hamilton will be eagerly awaiting. In recognising the vital role that human rights defenders play across the world, I am heartened by the range of activity that is taking place. Alongside our own fellowship to demonstrate practical support for their work, some great stuff going on, the faculty of advocates in this year has launched the Scottish Bar International Human Rights Award to honour men and women overseas who championed human rights in the most challenging of circumstances. The UN Committee—another thing that I am sure Gail Ross and Alex Cole-Hamilton were interested in—the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is holding a day of general discussion on the themes of children as human rights defenders. Although I mention Gail Ross, I thank her for the work that she has done in bringing adverse childhood experiences to the forefront of this Parliament. It is important work, and we are taking it seriously. I believe that John Swinney was engaging with a conference just today on that very subject. I know that many civil society organisations, including in Scotland, have expressed support for the global community of human rights defenders, and they want that global community to be awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. I am sure that we can support them in that want. A lovely story in its ending from a colleague from Glenrothes, Jenny Gilruth, who told us about Chantel and the work that she does as a human rights defender, not only in the country where she came from but in the country that she now calls her home. What a champion Jenny Gilruth is for Chantel as well, but she reminds us of the genocide in Rwanda only a short time ago and the grand scheme of things not that very long ago when we look at it. It would not be appropriate for me to close the debate and not talk about older people given I am the Minister for Older People and Equalities and Human Rights. This week, 1 October, we celebrate the UN International Day of Older People on 1 October on its 70th birthday. This year's theme is celebrating older human rights champions, and the Scottish Pensioners Forum is holding its annual demonstration to mark older people's day outside Parliament tomorrow, and I will be meeting with some of them to discuss their issues that they have. Returning to the human rights defenders fellowship, I am genuinely excited about the role it can play in helping to develop the skills of individuals who campaign for human rights among some of the most marginalised and disadvantaged people. Alex Zander Stewart raised funding, and funding is always welcome, and the more it comes to the UK Government, the better. That would be really helpful. I put on record again my thanks to Amnesty and Dundee for their support, which has been financial funding too. However, it is potential goals far beyond this chamber, as our fellows share what they learn in Scotland with people they work with at home and at their work takes root in their communities. I believe that we will start to see changes in attitudes and improvement in people's lives through the realisation of basic human rights. In Kezia Dugdale, she asked me to raise my voice, and I have reassured her that I will always raise my voice. Mary Fee reminded me that we have to remember that so-called developed countries can sometimes see an undermining of their rights, and we need to always never be complacent. I also assure Mary Fee in the debate that, as the new chair of the Gypsy Traveller Ministerial Working Group, she can be very much assured that I will be champion in that cause as we go forward in looking for her support to do that. In a way, the fellowship can be a crucial part of Scotland's contribution to global development, and it is a small country that shares its ideals, its experience and its vision to make the world a better place. I believe that Scotland is well placed to do that. Finally, on women's rights, I want to raise a few issues that were brought up in the debate in the quick minute I have got. Amnesty International has highlighted women's human rights defenders face additional attacks because they dare to be women and stand up for rights. Kezia Dugdale gave us a clear insight into the impact of women in Bosnia during the Balkans war, when rape is used as a weapon of war. I hope that, with Bakira's work, we may be seen that diminished, but I really welcome Bakira's work in that. For Kezia, I always raise that in the chamber, which she always does. The Scottish Government's threats are unequivocal. We will not accept it. The Scottish Government's commitment to equality for women and girls is steadfast. It will always remain at the heart of our vision for a fairer and equal Scotland. That is why the First Minister's announcement on tackling period poverty in Malawi is very welcome. Ruth Maguire finally reminded us that we also face our own challenges here and of the work of the equality and human rights committee. I eagerly await the publication of that report and how we can take forward this Parliament to be that human rights defender that we all want to see. I believe, Presiding Officer, that we have had a great debate today. It has been a good outing for me, and I am looking forward to working with everybody. There are so many areas where we can all work together on, but I wish the fellows my best wishes, this Parliament's best wishes and hope that they have a great experience in Scotland. Thank you very much, and that concludes our debate on supporting and protecting human rights defenders. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 14087, in the name of Graeme Dey. On behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme, I call on Graeme Dey to move the motion. Members will recall that the Parliament has agreed to vary the rule on business motions to allow any member to speak on the motion at my discretion. In this case, I call Ross Greer. I do not wish to speak in opposition to the business motion, but to use this new procedure allowing members to comment before it is agreed. Over recent weeks, the Greens have been pressing the Scottish Government to bring a debate on the recent eviction threats against asylum seekers in Glasgow. Members across the Parliament will be aware of the situation and the wave of anger that it has provoked. Hundreds of asylum seekers, many of whom have the very real chance of pursuing an appeal, were faced with the threat of arbitrary evictions and lockouts by the UK Government's private contractor circle. That was not merely the result of a private profit-driven landlord deciding to pursue its own self-interest by kicking vulnerable people out on the street. It was also the result of despicable UK Government approaches to asylum policy, under which destitution is not an unfortunate side effect but a deliberate policy choice. It is worth restating that. That is the deliberate use of destitution as a weapon of public policy. There will be those who remind us that asylum is a reserved issue. That ignores the fact that the cross-party Smith commission called for further work to explore new asylum arrangements in Scotland, something that the UK Government has refused to do. More to the point, it ignores the fact that housing, education, healthcare and other services critical to the wellbeing of asylum seekers are in fact very much devolved. Those are our constituents. Almost every one of us represents asylum seekers, from Balustin to Bute. We have been seeking a debate on the situation and a potential crisis that is still threatened. I know the Government is deeply concerned about the issue and I understand the reasons for not yet setting a date for debate, as there is still some legal uncertainty about legal proceedings. However, it is important that we do not let this slide indefinitely. I hope that the Government can give a commitment tonight that a debate on this very serious situation will be brought forward in the near future and that this Parliament will not allow the prospect of a new crisis of destitution in Scotland to pass unremarked. Can I thank Mr Gray and Mr Harvey for giving us an advance notice of the point that you wished to raise? Call Graham Day to respond on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As Mr Gray is aware, the Scottish Government is, given the range of current concerns around asylum accommodation and dispersal, keen to have a parliamentary debate on asylum. We are aware that the main issue in everyone's minds at the moment is the planned eviction of people at the end of the asylum process from their asylum accommodation in Scotland. As Mr Gray has noted, the matter is the subject of on-going legal proceedings in the court of session and the evictions have been paused depending on the outcome of the court case. However, subject to discussions with you, Presiding Officer, in relation to subjudice considerations around the on-going legal proceedings and, of course, the agreement of the Parliamentary Bureau, we are happy to commit to bringing forward the debate following October recess. The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau 14088 on approval of the debt arrangement scheme in Scotland, amendment regulations 2018. The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau 14089 on approval of the public appointments and public bodies, etc., in order 2018. The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau 14089 on approval of the debt arrangement scheme in Scotland, amendment regulations 2018. The next item of business is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau 14089 on approval of the debt arrangement scheme in Scotland, amendment regulations 2018. The post of a commissioner was initiated by Parliament and is independent of the executive. This independence is a vital check on the executive irrespective of the party in power. The consultation exercise for the advisory committee on distinction awards came up with an industry in results. Of the nine responses, only two supported this move and six were against. That does not strike me, Presiding Officer, as a novel, whelming vote of confidence in the proposal. The issue is not about technical instruments alone. It is about a fundamental separation of powers and checks and balances within our parliamentary system. Can the cabinet secretary confirm two quick points that the new Public Health Scotland body, when it comes into being, will come under the remit of the commissioner and, secondly, that the commissioner shall still have an advisory role over any potential breach of standards by members of either of the public bodies referred to in the instrument? Subject to the cabinet secretary's reply, I am minded to support the SSI. Jeane Freeman, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, to respond on behalf of the Government. I thank Mr Stewart for raising what is an important issue. I put on the record my absolute support and the support of the Government for the very principles that he outlines in terms of the importance of the commissioner for ethical standards in public life and of the separation of powers. I am very content to give Mr Stewart and, indeed, colleagues across the chamber the assurance that the new Public Health Scotland body will be subject to the commissioner and to the commissioner's remit. I hope that the passing of the SSI and the appearance of the new body should be in the existing body. In SACDA, if any issues arise with respect to standards, I would immediately seek the advice of the commissioner and how to deal with that, because the commissioner will still have that role. We would expect both bodies to continue to comply with the principles and standards that the commissioner has rightly set. The question on this motion will be put at decision time. To which we now turn, the first question is that motion 14075, in the name of Christina McKelvie, on supporting and protecting human rights defenders, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. The second question is that motion 14088, in the name of Graham Day, on approval of the debt arrangement scheme, Scotland amendment regulations be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. The last question is that motion 14089, in the name of Graham Day, on approval of the public appointment and public body's order be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. That concludes decision time. We will now move on to members' business in the name of David Stewart on the impact of leaving your atom. We will just take a few moments for members and the minister to change seats.