 Rymes i chi'n ei wneud i chi'n gweithio'n gweithio'r prosyfodol, ac mae'r ffordd i gweithio eu bod ei ysgolwg yn ei ddweud ei fod y mirth tyfnol, ac mae'r gwaith geithreitio. Nelson Mandela wedi swydd i ddim ni i ddarparu weithio'n gweithreitio i gweithreitio eich gweithreitio. Mae gyfawr o'r gweithreitio fel gweithreitio, ac yn yr hyn yn gwneud, Kingdom or not is the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following the horrific acts of inhumanity during the Second World War, this milestone document set out to achieve a common standard for all people and all countries to ensure our fundamental human rights are universally protected. However, this is not the only anniversary that we are acknowledging today. This year, 2018, is the 20th anniversary of the Declaration of human rights defenders and I'm pleased to say we'll be hearing today from some human rights defenders on the work they are doing. The Human Rights Act 1998 which brings articles of the European Convention on human rights into UK law. The Scotland Act 1998 particularly important for this establishment as well as being the act which established the Scottish Parliament. The Scotland Act 1998 ensures that any bills we pass are compatible with ECHR and EU law. Finally, 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, a Scottish Parliament-supported body, which was established a decade ago on 10 December 2008 and we'll hear shortly of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. 2018 is also the year of young people and I'm pleased to say there will be plenty of young voices being heard throughout the event today. There are many reasons to mark this day in Parliament. First of all, it's your Parliament and the democratic heart of Scotland. Also for the last 18 months there has been a particular focus on human rights in the Scottish Parliament. This increased activity began with the report from the Presiding Officer's Commission on Parliamentary Reform in June 2017. The commission received submissions from the Scottish Human Rights Commission and civic society groups calling for the Parliament to have a strengthened role in the promotion and protection of human rights in Scotland and to become a guarantor of human rights. Recognising the importance and complexity of the involved issues, the Peers Commission recommended that the Qualities and Human Rights Committee consider these issues as part of its inquiry work. The committee undertook this inquiry into human rights and the Scottish Parliament and the report that came out of this inquiry was published very recently on 26 November. I'm sure the convener of the committee who's here will speak more about the recommendations shortly. Throughout the inquiry several new relationships were forged by the committee with the United Nations and the European Human Rights Institutions. I'm pleased to say that we will also hear this morning video contributions from those bodies. I understand the committee also listened to a number of people through its focus groups individuals and those who provided advocacy services for people trying to access their rights. It's great to see many of the participants here today. We welcome you and encourage you to continue your involvement with this Parliament. For almost two decades the Scottish Parliament has demonstrated its commitment to human rights, a commitment that was written in our founding principles. Over the years we've also seen the creation of the Children's Commissioner and the Scottish Human Rights Commission. More recently the Parliament added human rights to the remit of the Equalities Committee. Recent parliamentary activity on human rights includes a Scottish Government debate on human rights defenders on 26 September and a visit from the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in November. The purpose of this event today is to look at what progress has been made in Scotland to promote and protect human rights. Today human rights will as rightly take over this Parliament. We'll be hearing from Ruth Maguire MSP, convener of Equalities and Human Rights Committee on its recent report into human rights and the Scottish Parliament. Judith Robertson, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, Bianca Jagger, founder, president and chief executive of the Bianca Jagger human rights foundation, Goodwill Ambassador for the Council of Europe, senior fellow, centre for international governance innovation and a member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA. Members of the Children's Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament and human rights put children and young people and defending human rights. Young people from Oban High School and High School High School will be reading poems that they wrote for the day, and not last or least, the right honourable Nicola Sturgeon MSP, First Minister of Scotland. Now, since there's a lot to get to, I'll conclude my remarks by once again welcoming you all to this very special event by asking those of you joining online to be part of the conversation too by using the hashtag, I hope I get the strikes, I don't know how to do it, hashtag rights takeover, I think that's how you say it, on Twitter. I hope you all find this stop provoking on an enjoyable day and I thank you very much for coming. I'd like to invite Ruth Maguire, convener of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee to open this morning's event. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm grateful to you for hosting this event, which I know will be a lively and interesting day full of discussion and debate. Today is an opportunity to celebrate the rights work taking place in Scotland, a day to celebrate all your efforts as human rights defenders. Whatever walk of life we come from, whatever daily challenges we face, we can make a difference by being human rights champions, whether that is in our place of work, study, community or online, we can make a difference. The 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a call to commit to speaking out and standing up for the human rights of others. We are asked as individuals, by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to pledge, I will respect your rights regardless of who you are. I will uphold your rights even when I disagree with you. When anyone's human rights are denied, everyone's rights are undermined, so I will stand up. I will raise my voice, I will take action, I will use my rights to stand up for your rights. As the closest representatives of the people, parliamentarians have an added responsibility. We must use our position to champion meaningful human rights change. Scotland still faces challenges. We have an obligation to ensure that people's rights are protected and fulfilled and to ensure an end to discrimination. The Equalities and Human Rights Committee conducted an inquiry into how the Scottish Parliament could strengthen its approach to human rights and become a guarantor of human rights. Our recent report, Getting Rights Right, is the culmination of nearly two years of exploration, research, speaking and listening to a diverse range of people. The committee heard from many people, including those who have suffered from mental health issues, academics, international experts and primary school human rights defenders. Before I say a little about our recommendation, I would like to express the committee's sincere and heartfelt thanks to those who shared their life experience with us. Your personal stories demonstrate why a greater focus on human rights is needed. It is essential that the Parliament continues to look at ways to strengthen its human rights role, and we could not do that without all of you. We have been open-minded in our approach and willing to learn. Our report sets out that learning is in the form of a road map to guide the Parliament in the coming decade. Achieving the goals that we have set out will make it easier to identify when people's rights are being violated, where there is a deterioration of rights and, really importantly, where there are opportunities to advance human rights. As well as becoming a global leader, the Parliament will become a vital role model to other public bodies, helping to drive forward a culture of change that gives human rights a greater priority. We hope that everyone will have increased confidence in dealing with human rights issues, and individuals will feel more able to raise their human rights concerns. With everyone's help, we can build a greater awareness of human rights across Scotland and the positive impact that human rights can have on all our lives. As Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland put so beautifully in their submission to us, human rights remind us that we are working with people and their lives, not just a condition, not a policy, not a statistic, not a problem to be solved. They matter because they protect us from the worst that we can do to one another and highlight the joy and positive impact that we can have. Human rights illuminate the respect and humanity that we can show each other. The committee has made 40 detailed recommendations that seek to put human rights at the heart of what we do by looking at promoting and protecting human rights when we deal with legislation, ensuring that international human rights obligations are implemented, ensuring adequate funding for the effective protection of human rights through our Parliament budget process, scrutinising the Government's performance of its human rights obligations and raising awareness of human rights issues in Scotland. On the last of those points, I hope that those following on social media today and those in the public gallery will help to spread the word that we must make human rights a reality for everyone. I would like to focus on a couple of key areas of our inquiry that we consider of the greatest potential to bring about change over the short term. Most of our attention has been on the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act, rightly so, because the Scotland Act which establishes the Parliament ensures that any legislation must be compatible with the convention, as well as EU law. Should Scotland be taken out of the EU, we will lose some European protections. Many of our recommendations therefore unite around making better use of the international rights framework and how we deal with legislation. Showing leadership in human rights, being a champion for human rights, is a key theme in our report, particularly when focusing on our international obligations. The universal periodic review and the other international treaty monitoring processes are a framework that the Parliament can harness to show where Scotland can do better. As a committee, we have committed to engaging more directly with the United Nations, ensuring our reports are made available to them and speaking with UN special rapporteurs and UN committees. We will also ensure regular parliamentary debates are held to support wider parliamentary discussion about our human rights progress. The committee has called on the Scottish Government and other public sector funders to provide resources to civic society organisations so that they can engage with the United Nations treaty monitoring process to improve accountability. We also recommend that an online Scottish public resource should be created where we can all track Scotland's progress against its human rights obligations. We look forward to working with the Scottish Government and the Scottish Human Rights Commission on that initiative. A core function of our Parliament is to scrutinise legislation. Our recommendations would increase the availability of human rights information through the provision of a human rights memorandum. That will assist members and the public in understanding human rights implications of any piece of legislation and, importantly, where there are opportunities to advance human rights. We have also asked that the human rights are flagged when we come to amend a bill. Those recommendations, coupled with increased training on human rights for members and further work on what human rights-based approach to scrutiny will look like in practice, will help to further cement human rights principles in the Parliament. I see that I am running out of time, so let me just conclude quickly by thanking you all for coming along. I hope that you have a very enjoyable day and that you continue to share your passion for human rights with us for a long time. Thank you. I will now hear from Judith Robertson, chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, with previous leadership roles, including programme director of CME and head of Oxfam in Scotland. Judith has had a long-standing involvement in social justice campaigning and advocating for the rights of many disadvantaged groups. Judith Robertson, please. It is a great honour and privilege to be here today, so thank you very much for the invitation. Today, as we have heard, is undoubtedly a very significant day for human rights all around the world. Countries are marking the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, the bedrock of the global system for the protection of rights. Here in the UK, we also marked the 20th anniversary of the Human Rights Act and the Scotland Act, which together embed rights into our laws and public institutions. Today, as we have heard, we also marked the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, of which I am the chair. Established by this Parliament as an independent body, charged with promoting and protecting human rights for everyone in Scotland and to be a bridge between the international protection, international system of rights protections and Scotland. Today, it is a time to mark and celebrate progress, a time to remind ourselves of the importance of the rights that we all have by virtue of our equal status and equal worth as human beings. Rights enshrined in law to ensure that we can all live free from oppression in all its forms, free to live dignified lives where we can all flourish and fulfil our potential, both individually and collectively. It is also a time to recognise the progress that we have made in securing people's rights by sharing ideas, challenging decisions, scrutinising and revisiting laws and policies, and by working together on solutions to improve people's lives. Over the past 70 years, progress has undeniably been made locally, nationally and globally to cement rights into the fabric of our societies and world order. Infrastructures have been built up at the United Nations in regional courts, such as the European Court of Human Rights, in the development of national laws and Bill of Rights in national human rights institutions and civil society, all acting as human rights defenders. However, we must not forget that people here in Scotland and around the world continue to experience human rights violations on a daily basis. We still face grave challenges. After a decade of work, it is clear to us at the commission that too often people's rights are not fully realised in everyday life in Scotland, parents choosing between heating their homes or feeding their children, people unable to access mental health services when they need them most, disabled people still facing barriers to accessing basic services, violence against women and girls, too many people unable to access advice or representation when things go wrong. Those and many more challenges have been accompanied in the UK and indeed beyond internationally with a worryingly negative rhetoric around rights. Too many states are failing to acknowledge and uphold their international legal obligations to respect, protect and fulfil people's rights, first set out in the Universal Declaration 70 years ago today. Too many states are forgetting the lessons of history and turning their backs on the international rule of law and collective action to respond to global issues. In Scotland in 2018, the situation is somewhat different. When I work with our sister national human rights institutions around the world, I am reminded that we are fortunate indeed to have a Government and a Parliament in Scotland who consider rights as core business. Increasingly, we have seen human rights being used to frame policies, strategies and outcomes within government and a range of public bodies. Rights are becoming better understood as more than a compliance duty but as a useful practical framework for addressing issues such as climate change, poverty and inequalities. We have an equality in human rights committee with a vision and a plan to realise this Parliament's role as a guarantor of human rights. Our First Minister has sought out the independent advice of an expert group on the steps needed for human rights leadership on economic, social and environmental rights in the context of Brexit. However, my key message to all of us today is this. Human rights are first and foremost for people, not Governments. Where there are rights, there are corresponding obligations, and for those obligations, there must be accountability. Human rights law developed as a way of holding states to account for their responsibilities, to ensure that we all have the freedoms and conditions that we need to be human and to thrive. Rights can give people power to people's claims to be treated with fairness and dignity. It can be transformative when Governments and public bodies explicitly recognise people's rights and their own legal obligations to respect, protect and fulfil them. For example, recognising social security as a human right removes paternalistic or philanthropic connotations and stigma. However, if advancing human rights stays predominantly within the domain of those with power and policy makers, there is a danger that people become detached from them. We need to firmly root rights where they belong, with people themselves. Theirs to own and claim. Theirs to seek redress and remedy for when things go wrong. So we look ahead to the next chapter in Scotland's human rights journey. We face a twofold challenge. First, to make sure that people know, understand and value their human rights. To get to a place where rights are truly owned in people's hearts and minds as belonging to everyone. And where rights are claimed with confidence by people across the country, in their communities, in care homes, in prisons, hospitals and workplaces. And second, to sharpen the hard edge of accountability for all rights, so that rights are real in practice for people. Going beyond the reuse of rights as a guiding principle or as a general approach to making laws and policies. Establishing a broader set of concrete legal standards, building on those that already exist, that people can use to hold government and public bodies to account. Enabling human rights to do what they are meant to do. Balancing power between people and the state in all its forms. This morning, the First Minister formally received the recommendations of our advisory group on human rights leadership, which are made in this vein. They are significant and bold. Our hope as a commission is that we can all unite behind a vision of a Scotland with a full range of rights. Civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental are embedded in our culture and our laws. This will mean working together, all of us. For example, through Scotland's national action plan for human rights, to maintain a healthy balance across society of putting rights into practice, promoting their value for everyone and securing accountability when they are not realised. Today, we come together here in Scotland's Parliament to reflect on progress made and the distance still to travel in Scotland's human rights journey. Seventy years ago, in 1948, the drafters of the Universal Declaration could never have imagined some of the challenges and changes that we now face globally. Climate change, the pace of technological change, globalisation and privatisation. Some challenges, however, would be all too familiar. The demonisation of people perceived to be other, extremism, the pursuit of narrow self-interest, poverty and inequality. We must now face these and other challenges head on. We must show collective leadership. I would like to quote close by quoting one of the contributors to a series of short films that the commission has made to mark today's anniversaries. Dr Donald MacAskill, whom you will be hearing from later, chief executive of Scottish Care put it well when he said, human rights at their best hold a mirror in front of us to a world and a humanity which we need to become and which we grow into. We look forward to growing into that world together. Before we move on to a couple of videos, can I also welcome Christina McKelvie, who was the former convener of the Equalities Committee that started that inquiry and has now been promoted rightfully, I would say, to be a minister responsible for equalities and older people encompassing human rights. Welcome to Ms McKelvie. We just give her a little welcome. Now we have a couple of videos to show. The first one is from Michelle Bachelet, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, followed by one from Dunia Milatiovic, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. So we'll show those videos just now, please. Let's hope technology works. Seventy years ago, upon the ashes of countries devastated by war, the Holocaust and economic depression, war leaders devised a plan. The universal declaration of human rights was conceived as a detailed map to guide the world's people out of conflict and suffering and ensure that relations within societies and between states could be sustainable and peaceful. The declaration inspired liberation movements and led to better access to justice, social protection, economic opportunities and political participation. Wherever respect for its commitment has been present, the dignity of millions have been uplifted, suffering prevented and the foundations led for a more just world. We need to keep pushing forward. People are increasingly fearful of the great changes our world is experiencing and it is precisely at times of turmoil and uncertainty that the universal declaration of human rights can guide us step by step. It likes the path. We need more respect, greater justice. We need to uphold human equality and dignity and we can achieve this. All of us, wherever we are, can make a difference by standing up for everyone's human rights. Presiding officer, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry I cannot be with you today but I welcome the opportunity to address you on the occasion of this commemorative event for the 17th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights. The declaration is founded on a simple yet crucial principle. We are all born free and equal in dignity and rights. For over 70 years, the principles stemming from the vision have transformed the lives of millions and continue to give hope to countless more. Yet today we are at the crossroads. The very values we stand for are under attack. Populism, nationalism and far-right ideologies are gaining ground across Europe and around the world. We see rapidly evolving restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly with journalists, human rights defenders and academics killed and imprisoned and civil society organizations smeared and prosecuted. We see hatred and intolerance. Many people in Europe continue to face marginalization and violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Isylum seekers trying to find a safe heaven in Europe are turned away, left without rescue or beaten up. Our societies are breeding divisive levels of inequality, fear and polarization, moving us away from equality, freedom and dignity for all. In that context we must stand firm to achieve the vision of the declaration. We need governments to be strong advocates for human rights in Europe. In that respect, Scotland can take great pride in being a leading force in Europe, protecting and promoting human rights. It has, for example, a government that has incorporated human rights in its national performance framework, a national action plan on human rights frequently cited as a good example, including by my office, a parliament that closely scrutinizes human rights issues with an active and impressive equality and human rights committee, a strong national human rights institution in the Scottish Human Rights Commission and other bodies like the Children and Young Persons Commissioner. And not in the least, it has a vibrant civil society, many of them present today, committed to improving the lives of those around them. At the same time we should remain alert. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, human rights are made real in the small places at home. This means standing up for the single mother living in poverty, for the disabled child who is unable to attend a mainstream school, for the recent graduate who faces discrimination in the labour market because of his gypsy travellers heritage, or the young person who is afraid that she will be put in immigration detention because she lacks documents. There are your neighbors, friends, classmates, they may be you, simply one of us. We must make human rights a reality for every person. This requires passing on to future generation the values of tolerance and human rights, so that these are taken forward. Not simply to comply with international treaties, nor because it enhances a country's reputation internationally. But first and foremost, because doing so has direct and meaningful impact on the everyday lives of ordinary people and helps to build societies where every person can thrive. I wish you a fruitful meeting. It is now my great pleasure to invite Bianca Jagger. Ms Jagger has committed her life to defending human rights, civil liberties, peace, justice and environmental protection throughout the world. She campaigns to end capital punishment and violence against women and girls and advocates for the rights of indigenous peoples and future generations. Bianca Jagger is founder, president and chief executive of the Bianca Jagger human rights foundation, which she established in 2005 to be a force for change and a voice for the most vulnerable. Born in Managua and Nicaragua in 1950, Bianca Jagger left her native country to study political science in Paris with a scholarship from the French Government. She is council of Europe's goodwill ambassador, a member of the executive director's leadership council for Amnesty International USA, IUCN Bond Challenge ambassador and senior fellow centre for international governance innovation. Ms Jagger is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the right livelihood award 2004, also known as the alternative Nobel prize. She has won many other awards for her human rights, humanitarian and environmental work, and has received four doctorates from universities around the world. She also tweets in four languages. I learned that today. That's a biggie. Anyway, Ms Jagger, I invite you to speak to us please. I can't tell you what a pleasure and a privilege it is for me to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Dear First Minister, Member of Parliament, distinguished members of NGOs, ladies, gentlemen, good morning. The 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reason to feel proud and happy for all of those throughout the world who have been human rights defenders. It is for me a great pleasure to be here in the Parliament of Scotland and to see that they are trying to make rights right. To see a Parliament that wants to be a guarantor of human right. Humans rights are under siege throughout the world. And as you heard, I was born in Nicaragua. I am a Nicaraguan and a British citizen. Certainly human rights are under threat in the country where I was born in Nicaragua, where there is more than 600 prisoners, political prisoners who are mostly innocent. And today in Nicaragua there are six of my friends, students who are being tried under false accusation for terrorism. Nothing could be further from the truth. I want to say that humans rights are not only under siege in the developed world and far away. As a British citizen, I feel that Brexit can be a threat to our human rights. And for that reason, I thank the recommendations that have been put forward today for considering and looking into what the effect that Brexit could have in all human right and in new human right here in Scotland. I was born in Nicaragua and my mother was my inspiration. She taught me the importance of human right, the importance of democracy, the importance of the environment and of the rainforest. And it was through her that I learned what I know today. But it is Eleanor Roosevelt who has been my role model. And her example, and let's not forget that if we had the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it's because of this great woman who fought for it at a time when women were relegated to play second roles. That doesn't mean that women are allowed to play equal roles in today's society. I can tell you that as a human right defender that I encounter that all the time. But of course we are privileged. There are other women that have it more difficult than we do. And that is one of the reasons why, as a human right defender, I have fought for the rights of women, for the rights for us to achieve gender equality, for achieve equal pay. But as well I campaigned for the most vulnerable. I campaigned for indigenous people, for women, for children, for prisoners on death row. So please, let's not take human rights for granted. Our human rights are too under siege. And today we are at a crossroad where we must make sure that those rights will not suffer if Brexit is imposed on those of us who feel that we want to remain part of Europe. I don't know if I'm supposed to be telling you that, but I, as a Nicaraguan and as a British citizen, I value being part of Europe. And I value everything that Europe brought to us. And let's not forget it. Let's continue to struggle. And for all the young people who are here, I want to say, please continue to make human right an important part of your life. It is critical for your future that we, adults and human right defender, continue to defend your rights. Less done for human right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Inspirational stuff as usual. Can I call on, I'd like to welcome Hannah, who is a member of the Children's Parliament, and Ryan McShane, a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, followed by the First Minister of Scotland, the right hon. Nicola Sturgeon MSP. Hannah is 12, a member of the Children's Parliament, a human rights defender. She recently represented Scotland at the United Nations and co-moderated a side event at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child during its day of general discussion. Ryan is 16 and represents who cares Scotland in the Scottish Youth Parliament. He is also convener of the Sport and Leisure Committee. Hannah and Ryan, please, if you come to my phone. It's not a duet. Yes, right. Who's going first? Who's going first? Right, Ryan. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to start today by thanking my fellow pupils of St Ambrose High School from Coatbridge who continue to support me in the work that I do. That's nearing off every day. I'm sure that everybody in the chamber in Parliament today will welcome them to this very special day for us to celebrate it in the gallery. As the Deputy Presiding Officer said, I'm 16, I'm care experienced and I'm part of a movement, and I'm a human rights defender. I'm proud of that. I'm here today and my role as a member of and convener of the Scottish Youth Parliament or at the Scottish Youth Parliament representing who cares Scotland. Human rights belong to everyone, but also children and young people have additional rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UNCRC, if it aged 18 or under. Rights bring about a culture where human beings are treated with dignity and respect, but they need to be protected in a binding, not guiding, way by duty bearers for this to be a reality. Human rights on me are more often violated and respected in society. That's why I'm a human rights defender, because my constituents and friends have their basic human rights denied every day and this cannot continue to happen if Scotland is truly going to be the best place to grow up. Defending human rights means taking actions small or big to stand up and promote or defend human rights, such as challenging unfair treatment or discrimination and campaigning in your local community. I used to think of this as being a privilege, but actually I have the right to defend my rights and to hold our decision makers to account and to be safe while doing so. I learned this as part of the Scottish delegation supported by the Children and Young People's Commissioner that went to the United Nations in September. This was truly life-changing for me and a humbling experience. It made me sad that I'd shared the experience of trauma and poverty with those who are living in Syria in the middle of a war zone. Speaking at the UN, I learned to talk about trauma from my own experience, because from the day I went into foster care and having been in and out of the care system since I was born, I moved at least 15 times and these are places that every time I was supposed to call home, that truly is sad. At the UN, I wanted to highlight my belief that care experiential people should have the chance at hiring a second family, like I've had through my foster cares whom I'm proud to call after seven and a half years, my parents, as well as the chance to experience love. The care system should be the end of the hard part when the trauma abuse and neglect are over. My new mum and dad showered me with love, but I will no longer stand to be the exception to the rule. The preamble to the UNCRC states that with all rights inside properly respected, protected and fulfilled, we should all grow up in an atmosphere of love, happiness and understanding. People in power have a duty to make sure that this is a reality for children and young people. From Coatbridge to Geneva, I feel listened to. Here today, I feel listened to. The opportunity to protect love by safeguarding children and young people's rights when making policies and ensuring recourse if our rights are denied is right here right now. All of us at the Scottish Youth Parliament and at Hooker Scotland were thrilled to hear the commitment and the programme for government for the principles of the UNCRC to be incorporated into the Scottish domestic law. We now want to see that happen without any delay. The opportunity ahead of you, First Minister, is to become the ultimate human rights defender by incorporating the UNCRC fully into the Scottish law in this parliamentary term. That would mean the world to me from the heart. Now I will hand you over to Hannah, who will tell you more about the experience at the UN and her amazing work. Some adults think that children who are part of the Children's Parliament are already full of confidence when they begin. However, this cannot be further from the truth. My experience is quite typical of many other children at the Children's Parliament. When I was asked to join the Streetshead project, I still cannot even remember why I said yes. I was lacking so much confidence and I was not joining anything. I had experience being bullied and found it hard to make new friendships. Because Cameron in my classes said yes, I thought I would give it a try. From all the support that I got from the other MCPs and all the other adults involved, I have achieved many more things than I thought I could. The Cabinet meeting, the United Nations and being part of the Global Children's Advisory team, which planned for this year's date of general discussion in Geneva. Cameron and I were the only two children from the UK to be part of this team. It was an amazing journey that thankfully we are still on. One of the highlights for me has been the workshop programme. I co-run two workshops, one in my old primary school windgill and the other in bimbicula primary. We help children understanding the impact that rights can make upon our lives and that they are important because they help us to keep safe, healthy and happy and to grow as human beings. We then asked children to tell us what rights they felt were most important to them now. I enjoyed seeing how much children enjoyed learning from other children and I felt both responsible and proud. One little girl was so excited that I was her teacher that every time she saw me over the summer she used to do a handstand for me. That succeeded and so we realised that I really want to become a teacher when I'm older. After the workshops, 12 of us created five giant shields based on the workshops' information and drawings. We took the shields to the UN along with our own individual shields. We definitely made a wave on flour. We then will be giving tours of our shields at lunchtime and hope to see you all there. My individual shield was all about girls having equal rights to boys but looking back now I wish I'd done it more about equal rights because let's face it, both boys and girls are discriminated against because of stereotyping. I don't want to give anything away but this could possibly be a new children's parliamentary project I've already started working on. My journey so far has been amazing and I'd like to see more children have the same opportunities as we've had. We just need adults to believe in us and give us opportunities to help make Scotland a great country to grow up in. That to you, Ryan. We are now delighted to invite the First Minister of Scotland, the right honourable Nicola Sturgeon, to speak. The First Minister will present to us the views of the Scottish Government. Lastly, the wonderful. Thank you to all of the speakers who have already made their contributions this morning but I hope you will understand that I want to make a special mention of Ryan and Hannah. As you've just heard, Ryan and Hannah do so much fantastic work here at home. They have both represented Scotland on the world stage. To both of you, let me say from the heart, you are a credit to your generation and you are an absolute credit to this country. Thank you for all that you do. It's such a huge pleasure and privilege for me to be here today and it's fantastic to be joined by so many people here in the chamber of Scotland's national parliament for what is a very significant gathering. Any human rights day is extremely important but, obviously, this year's human rights day is especially notable. As we've heard already this morning, this year we are marking several important anniversaries. At the 20th anniversary of the Human Rights Act and, of course, the Scotland Act that established this parliament and embedded human rights at its heart and the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. Important though, those anniversaries are most historic of all is the anniversary of the signing of the UN Declaration of Human Rights exactly seven years ago today. That declaration was signed in Paris and it expresses better, I think, than any other document before or since that post-war yearning for a better world. The UN Declaration was born out of the horrors of the first half of last century and it was based on a universal belief that the world's future should be better than its past. That is a belief that we should hold on to, celebrate and cherish just as much today as the founders of the UN Declaration did 70 years ago. Today's human rights day also, of course, has a crucial modern significance. As Bianca Jagger and Judith Robertson have already reflected upon, around the world today there are many, too many alarming signs that, in some countries, some people are forgetting, perhaps deliberately, the lessons of the last century. Because of that, we risk going backwards rather than forwards in our approach to human rights. We must all of us collectively on this human rights day resolve that we are not prepared to be bystanders and allow that to happen. Of course, here in the UK, Brexit also poses a risk to human rights protections. The theme of today, this year's human rights day, stand up for human rights, is both an important one and an extremely timely one. As First Minister of Scotland, I am determined that the Scottish Government will be recognised internationally as a Government that does stand up for human rights. Because of that, today's human rights day, in addition to its international and UK-wide relevance, has a very specific importance for Scotland as well. The Scottish Government right now is considering three closely interrelated issues. Two weeks ago, we received the very valuable report of the Equality and Human Rights Committee that contains important recommendations for government, for this Parliament and for the Scottish Human Rights Commission. We have also confirmed that, next year 2019, we will take the next step towards incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law, something that I feel very passionate about. Let me assure you, Ryan, that I am very committed to. Earlier today, I received the final report of my advisory group on human rights leadership. I do not have time to comment in detail on all those matters, although, later on in my remarks, I will say a bit more about the advisory group's report. However, I want to stress that all three of these areas of work will be taken forward in parallel. They will follow different timetables, but all of them will lead to action as quickly as is reasonably possible. All of them, in different ways, will contribute to one of our key ambitions for Scotland. We want Scotland to be a country where human rights are not just respected in theory, but where they make an important and a positive difference to people's everyday lives. We also want Scotland, as a result of that, to be recognised as an international leader in human rights. Of course, in doing that, we are already starting from a strong position. In 2006, this Parliament legislated to create the Scottish Human Rights Commission. 2013 saw the launch of the Scottish Government's first national action plan for human rights. Our national performance framework now specifically includes the protection of human rights as one of our 11 key national outcomes. Because of all of that, human rights approaches are already influencing our implementation of policy. Whether that is the design of care standards for older people's homes or the implementation of our new social security system. In fact, this year's Social Security Act, like several other recent pieces of legislation, refers explicitly to the UN treaties. Our international development strategy also has human rights at its core. Our projects help to promote gender equality, create strong civil institutions and provide access to education, energy and clean water. Of course, we have instituted a human rights defender fellowship. That enables human rights defenders from elsewhere in the world—people who are so often operating in highly stressful and dangerous environments—to spend three months here with us in Scotland. That time allows them to rest and recharge and also to develop new skills and new contacts. It is a further way in which we are trying to promote human rights overseas, as well as enhancing human rights here at home. In all of this, there is perhaps one key point that I would draw out. Human rights obligations are not and should never be seen as optional for Governments. That much, I hope, is self-evident, but neither should human rights ever be seen as a burden on Government. Human rights are a help to Government. They help us to develop better policies and, perhaps even more importantly, they help us to deliver and implement those policies more effectively. After all, when you start off in the policy-making process by thinking about the dignity and the rights of every individual, that has an impact. Your policy-making is then immediately grounded in the experiences of people rather than in the expedience of Government, and that almost inevitably will lead to better outcomes. Although it is still early days, I believe that the contrast between our development of a new social security system for Scotland and, for example, the roll-out of universal credit at a UK level will in time be seen as a case study of that approach of putting human rights at the heart of policy from the very outset. For all of these reasons, I have been determined to ensure that the Scottish Government acts to further enhance human rights, which is why, earlier this year, I established an advisory group on human rights leadership, chaired by Professor Alan Miller. I asked for the advice of that advisory group on three very closely related issues. First, I want to make sure that, as far as possible, we do not allow Brexit, if it happens, to cause any harm to human rights in Scotland. Secondly, I want Scotland to remain in step with any future advances in EU human rights, and finally, I ask the group for recommendations to ensure that Scotland is and can be seen to be an international leader in respecting and enhancing human rights. As we have heard, the advisory group published its final report earlier this morning, and I want to take the opportunity to sincerely thank Professor Miller and all of the group members for the outstanding job that they have done in producing an excellent report. The report is clearly, as I expected, a detailed, challenging and ambitious document. It will be of huge value as we look to show leadership for the future, and, importantly, that will be the case regardless of Scotland's future constitutional status. That report will be debated here in our Parliament and will be considered by this committee. The Scottish Government, of course, will provide a formal response in due course, so I will not pre-empt all of that today. However, I want to confirm immediately that I endorse the report's overall vision of a new human rights framework for Scotland with a new act of Parliament at its very heart. I can confirm that I will establish a national task force, as the report recommends that I do, to carry that work forward in 2019 and beyond. The task force will play a crucial role in ensuring that there is wide-ranging public participation, as the recommendations of the report are considered and implemented. As Judith MacDonald said earlier, and it is a key point, human rights do not belong to Governments or to policy makers. Human rights belong to people, and it must be the case that we give ownership of this process to people. Let me finally comment on one further point, which I know will be discussed in the weeks and months ahead, but it is, in my view, a fundamental one. A key part of the report's recommendations involves embedding social and economic rights into a statutory framework. It is interesting to look back on this. Seventy years ago, when the UN declaration was under discussion, social and economic rights back then were a source of contention. That is one reason why, while the rights of free speech and religion set out in clauses 1 to 22 subsequently formed the basis of documents such as the European Convention on Human Rights, the social and economic rights set out in later sections were not so fully incorporated. All of us know that economic and social disadvantage limits people's ability to fulfil their potential. We also know, because we are seeing evidence of it around the world, that inequality can foster a sense of resentment and exclusion from society, which then itself can lead to further human rights abuses. In that context, in my view, any Government that claims to be progressive has a duty to think deeply and to act ambitiously on how we give the right to a decent standard of living the same status as rights to free speech, association or religion. Today's report provides a thoughtful and authoritative view on how we can achieve that in Scotland. As a result of that, I believe that it will improve people's lives here in Scotland and help Scotland to demonstrate true international leadership. Both of those aspirations are important. I began my remarks today by reflecting on the signing of the UN declaration. The men and women who drafted that declaration knew, because they had witnessed it for themselves, that human progress is not inevitable and that human rights can never be taken for granted. They always need to be protected, cherished and argued for. As we look around the world right now, there is a genuine danger of those lessons being disregarded. It is more important than ever that countries like Scotland stand up for human rights. By doing so, we can send an important signal to the rest of the world. We can also ensure that human rights make a real and meaningful difference to people's everyday lives. In the words of the charter, we can promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom. My belief is that this conference and today's report will play a part in securing that social progress and achieving those better standards of life. My hope is that, as a result, Scotland will be a beacon for others. For all those reasons, I see today's event as perhaps one of the most significant events that has taken place in this parliamentary chamber. I look forward very much to working with all of you in the months and years to come as we promote human rights here in Scotland and to signal our support for them in every part of our world. Thank you First Minister. I would now like to welcome pupils from Oben High School and Heimland secondary school in Glasgow, who will be reading poems that they have prepared for today. The schools are both participants in Amnesty International's human rights education programme, and they have been invited by Amnesty to share their work on international human rights day. First of all, can I invite Oben High School pupils—well, you are there already—to come forward, please. The pupils have been exploring their rights and responsibilities, and they are working their ways to give back to their community, as well as raising awareness of human rights internationally by hosting an Amnesty International right for rights event at the Hope Kitchen in Oben. They have written their poem in Gaelic and English and will be reciting both versions of Oben High School, please. Round of applause. 2 September 1945, the guns felt silent, but that could not be the end. The Second Law War demanded change, change of mind and change of heart. That change came 70 years ago today. Human rights are universal. Everyone deserves a chance, a chance to be loved and to live without unlawful prosecution, without segregation and division. Our rights cannot be bargain with. We are people, not political toys. Our rights are inalienable. Our rights must be upheld. Our lives must be lived without fear and hatred. We deserve to be free, free to be respected and cared for, regardless of sex, religion or race. So today, 70 years on, in a time where immigrants' rights are uncertain, I ask you to consider, who are you? Are you compassionate and loving or are you vengeful and full of hate? Thank you. Can and pre-shall, corric and pre-shall. Chaiach na Gaelic a coor yr vôc, ond ond dda fielas y hoek. Shais sin a heit cooris, a hoor a can and corric an sy'n bê, ond yn sullyn yn rheolthus. Not till 2005 did the law change. Before, our parents were beating for their words, their thoughts. The right to speak freely to learn. It was to command equal respect with English. Not equal validity. Not parity of esteem. I suppose it was a start. It has allowed me to start by expressing this right, as others throughout the world have thought and will fight to claim their rights. We have travelled far but our journeys just begun. Eternal vigilance must be our guide for injustice is hidden far and wide. We are the future, the hope and the light. We must keep up our guard for the battles not won and the times are still hard. Human rights, so precious. Corric an ddunia. Ho prisio. I was always told that I could be myself, but I can't seem to see identity on the bookshelf. It's not a textbook I can pick up or learn. This seems to be knowledge that I have to earn. But ask yourself this. Is humanity stable? Are we all achieving what we are able? I know this is strange listening to me. A high school student standing tall pretending she's a know-it-all, but just in case I strike a nerve, I remind you all I'm here to serve. Here to deliver words that I've written. Here to enjoy the freedom I've been given. But may I remind you it's not universal. It's not worldwide, not the be all and end all for people not like us, people without their rights, people who die in their desperate fights to live as themselves, to breathe air that is theirs, to wonder what life would be without any cares, to hold on to their voices and use them alone without being told to be quiet, go home. I'd now like to invite Hangland secondary school pupils to come forward. Whilst writing their poem, the pupils have been giving some thought to the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights and how important children's rights are under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The school motto reflects their feelings about human rights around the world, quote, I hope for better things, close quote. Hangland secondary school, please. Everyone, see me, hear me. Let us all say, everyone is unique in their own way. No one should suffer discrimination or exploitation. Everyone has the right to health, happiness and inclusive education. No one should have their rights abused or restricted. They should be upheld, lauded, celebrated. These rights are the foundation of all laws. Speak up, shout out, share the news. Everyone is entitled to respectful views. These rights should guide us, lead us from fear, hardship, oppression, never to bear down on us, like the weight of the world on our shoulder. Everyone, see us, hear us. Let us all say. Respect me, everyone is unique in their own way. No one should experience bullying, suffer, terror or deprivation. We all have the right to freedom in every nation across the world. Individuality is strength, a voice that speaks out for every one of us. Respect this and follow your dreams to wherever they may lead you. Written in hope, not in fear. Born out of sufferings, we won't shed more tears. Set your sights on human rights. Take time to be kind. To know your rights and the declaration sound. In 1948, a promise was made to you, to me, to never fade. With human rights, we should never have to fight. For fairness, kindness and freedom to take flight. These are your rights. Never forget or lose faith in the declaration that binds us in love. Everyone, stand up now, speak up now, make all our voices heard. Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Honesty and integrity must guide your conscience. In every village, every country and every continent. Everyone, stand up, speak up, make all our voices heard. All symbols is born free and equal in dignity and rights. Thank you to both schools. We are now going to take a short cover, please be back here at 11.45. The events personnel at the back, if you get lost or leave a trail of breadcrumbs, whichever you find more suitable. We are going to move on to a panel discussion with the panel of leading human rights advocates and experts. It is my great pleasure to introduce the panel, starting with Amal Azudin. At the age of 15, Amal rose to prominence as a human rights campaigner as part of the Glasgow Girls, campaign against, you will remember this, against dawn-raised detention and deportation by silencing because in Glasgow Amal has an MSc in human rights and international politics from Glasgow University. It is an ambassador for the Scottish Refugee Council. She works as the equality and human rights officer for the Mental Health Welfare Foundation in Scotland. There we are, so welcome her please. Just to see, first test and you are still awake with us. Dr Donald MacAskill, having worked in health and social care sectors, Donald has specialised in learning disability and older people's work in particular issues related to palliative care and individual rights. For 13 years, he ran the quality and human rights consultancy, focusing on adult protection, risk and personalisation. He is now the CEO of Scottish Care, the representative body for the independent social care services in Scotland. In August 2018, he wrote, tech rights, human rights, technology and social care calling for human rights, an ethical based approach to new technologies. Dr Donald MacAskill, he is a wee bit nervous, so be gentle with him, he has told me that. He was even asking for questions in advance. I can sabotage you, Davey. Davey is a Scottish traveller activist and a campaigner for equality and inclusion. He is a member of the Young Gypsy Traveller Assembly and article 12 in Scotland. Davey has spoken regularly around the country about the discrimination faced by the traveller community. He studies social anthropology with international relations at Aberdeen University and works with young travellers to conserve their history and to promote their culture. I am going to see a C Mary P MSP in the audience. Mary P has done a lot of campaigning about justice for travellers in Scotland. Just to say that, Mary, your name is on the wreck, you have done a lot. Give it a wee round of applause, you have done a lot. Dr Sally Witcher, OBE. Sally has a long history of work relating to equality, diversity, poverty, social inclusion and human rights. The latter includes recent activities around the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and is a member of the Scottish national action plan leadership group. She was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to disabled people and is currently the chief executive officer of Inclusion Scotland. Dr Sally Witcher. This is a great opportunity for you to ask questions. I would encourage everyone to participate as fully as possible. Do not let me down. I ask that you keep your questions as brief as possible. I am notorious in the Parliament for being tough on folk that ramble on you know me well. I will take a couple of questions at time, if appropriate, and invite the panel to respond. You may want to direct your question to one particular panel member if you do just say so, but otherwise I will just put it across all the panellists. If you want to ask a question, raise your hand. Once I invited somebody right away, you were quick. You are right in there, I like it. Once invited to speak, you please wait for the red light on the microphone to come on. It would be helpful if you stood up while speaking if that is okay with you. Before making any points, could you please introduce yourself by name and, if relevant, your organisation? There are staff on hand with microphones. There is a gentleman right there at the end of the row. His hand is up. His hand is right up. There you are. There is a gentleman right there with a microphone. Yes, there you go. Stand up please and tell us who you are. My name is Junfei Hu. I'm a Chinese. I come to UK for 15 years. I'm an immigration, but I have problems with the Home Office. The Home Office plans to deport me. I think this is my human rights to stay in this country. I love this country. Thank you very much. Now who would like to answer that? Amar. Thank you for that. I'm sorry to hear about what you're going through. Unfortunately, the asylum system, the way it's designed, it's just not fit for purpose and it causes a lot of mental health problems as well for people. I work with asylum seekers and refugees on a daily basis who are going through similar situations as you. Sadly, because in Scotland we don't have control of immigration, it's really hard to get a lot done. So we're always campaigning for a better, fair and just humane system. I can say to you that I'm an ambassador for the Scottish Refugee Council and they do amazing work, so I'm not sure if you've had any contact with them, if you've done any work with them before. I'm not a refugee. I'll let you come back in. Yes, just speak up. Yes. I'm not a refugee. I'm an immigration. I'm a PhD in the University of Leith. I'm an electronic engineer. The only problem is that I go back to China over six months. They say it's not continuous ten years leave. I think it's a legal issue. I think so, yeah. I don't know if you have a lawyer. Yes, I have a lawyer, but I applied for settlement six years ago, five years ago now. It's still on settlement, and I can't work. I can only do volunteer. I volunteer to a community for four years. I publish a book, Home, Love and Peace. I still believe it. You wanted to make a comment here. Just to say, it's not accidental that today we're reflecting on the 70 years since the declaration was signed in a context where there were hundreds of thousands of individuals wandering Europe with no sense of home, nowhere to call themselves belonging to. The mark of any country, and this is the mark that all of us in Scotland would want to aspire to, is how we welcome those who wish to come and make our society better than it is. For my sector, the social care sector, one of our major concerns at the moment is that we need to continue to be able to welcome the thousands of people from across the world who want to come to Scotland to make this place their home. I have absolute sympathy for your situation. With others, we would like to see in the years that are ahead of us a human rights-based system of migration that enables people to be treated as people and not as statistics. Can I say that there are microphones up in the gallery at all? Is it possible to get a mobile mic up there? I've got somebody who wants to ask a question right behind you, lady, moving along there. No, the far is a chap away up the back, you see? We'll look right to the rescue, to the rescue. Get the climbing gear, that's it. There's one way over, chap away over here, and while we're doing that—is there anybody down here who wants to ask a question? Right, we've got a couple of hands up. I'll take the lady first, then I'll take the gentleman. Hi, my name is Pauline Greger and I'm here from Supporting Borders Additional Needs Group based in the Scottish Borders. I just wanted to ask the panel a question about children with additional support needs and learning about where they stand with the use of restraint and seclusion in education at the moment, because it's a breach of their human rights under article 14 of the UNCR. I'm not allowed to answer that, though I represent the Borders, but I do have answers. I better not do it. Right, who's going to take this about children with additional needs and their human rights? I should declare it an interest in that I am one of the Governors of PAMIS, which is the profound and multiple learning disability charity. I think the way in which we treat our children, particularly those who have chosen or who cannot use the voice and words to communicate, is a fundamental mark of who we are as a society. All of us would challenge in our behaviour if we were not heard, if our voice was not respected, if our wishes were not adhered to, so we have to find a better way, not just for children but for adults who are locked in into their own worlds of frustration and who cannot make their voice heard, and restraint in whatever form is wholly and utterly unacceptable. The whole issue around how we respond to people with additional support needs children in particular, I think, is absolutely fundamental to this whole debate today, because it's about understanding people's equal humanity. It's about understanding that you invest in people when they have additional needs, and that if you invest in them, that you can then reap the benefits, that they can reap the benefits, they can contribute. When it comes to education, mainstreaming and inclusive education is key, but it has to be properly resourced and so often it is not, and that's again where so much, so often falls down. So it requires a fundamental shift in attitude, it requires understanding and listening, as Donald has already said, to the people on the sharp end who have the lived experience because they know best what they need, they know best what barriers they encounter, and they know best what is going to remove those barriers. Whilst we have professionals assessing people, disabled people, children who are disabled people themselves, and whilst those people themselves are not being heard, human rights are not going to be realised, and Scotland will be the poorer for it. It's not just individuals, it's our economy, it's our society, it's our community. I'll take the gentleman up in the gallery after. I'll take you first, please. Ken MacLennan retired, but I think I'm a human rights activist. I'm delighted to hear about the Government's commitment to human rights today. It was really great to hear what was coming from the floor. Sadly, there is clear evidence to show that the compliance with the Equalities and Human Rights legislation is not always happening here in Scotland. Public bodies and regulatory bodies are not always protecting the most vulnerable and most marginalised of our communities. For example, in relation to mental health services and in relation to the treatment of the Scottish Gypsy Traveller community. How do we get our public bodies to comply with the law at all times? Thank you very much. I've heard a lot about your fantastic work as well, so we'll have to catch a word afterwards. Again, I share your frustration. We hear a lot about Scotland being this inclusive, almost egalitarian beacon, but through my own lived experience as a Scottish Traveller and through the lived experience of many others, I know that it isn't actually the case. Indeed, there are human rights breaches on a daily basis towards the community and on-going inequalities and barriers. In trying to answer your question—which I can't answer your question and indeed if I had the answer then I wouldn't be able to say that we're still experiencing inequalities. However, I hope that, going forward, we have seen a renewed commitment from both the Scottish Government and countless NGOs that they're going to start embedding the lived experience of Gypsy Travellers and other marginalised groups in order to put forward better policy, which better reflects that lived experience in order to mitigate the inequalities. I'm hesitantly hopeful that, going forward into 2019 and future years, we won't see as much inequality and barriers towards the Gypsy Traveller community and that we will help to demarginalise it through embodying the lived experience. I realise that that doesn't answer your question but, unfortunately, I don't have an answer to it. You'll never meet a politician who's telling the truth. I'll tell you. Can I take the gentleman up the gallery now, please? Thank you. Hi, my name is Hamid. I'm from Iran. I'm a former political prisoner. I spend days in solitary confinement. I just wanted to ask about a double standard in the European approach about human rights in Middle East. The ISIS has executed more than 5,000 people in the last 50 months, while the Iranian regime has executed more than 3,000 in the same time. I just wanted to ask why the European government don't have the same relation with the ISIS? Why don't they save the ISIS as they are doing for the democracy in Iraq? It's going to tackle that. If you've reduced them all to silence, I don't know what any comments to make. What would you like to see done? A few days ago, the Amnesty International reported about 1988 massacre, which was an execution of 30,000 political prisoners in a few months. While I have been asked from your colleagues to condemn that, to recognize that as a crime against humanity, but it seems that trade relations and GCPOA, the next layer deal, is more important than the human rights. At the risk of speaking on behalf of all the panellists, I don't think that any of us would have difficulty in condemning that barbarity. Seventy years ago, the world was coming out of the horrors of the Holocaust, where millions were not fit because they were Jewish, Gypsy, Traveller, Communist, Christian, homosexual were annihilated. We have seen the same sense of horror in so many places at the hands of ISIS and others. Human rights then, 70 years ago, was about trying to make a world where that degree of barbarity was replaced by people being able to relate to people who they did not necessarily always agree with. We have a constant reminder, I think, that we have a huge distance to go and we must all of us continually condemn barbarity, regardless of whether or not it brings economic discomfort to our nation as a trader or to ourselves as individuals. I think that we would all be with you in that condemnation. I think that you make a very fair point that many of us are often very uncomfortable about trade relations vis-à-vis human rights without going into specifics. I'm not supposed to say anything, but I think that we're all extremely uncomfortable. We would like to see different mores, different morality, perhaps generally from nations across the world, many are at fault. I'm going to take this gentleman here and then I'm going to go online, but I'm coming back down, yes, but I'll take you next and then I'll take you after we've been online and then the gentleman next to you, right? So, Lady and Purple, gentleman next, after I've taken this one, then to the web. Have we got many questions? Oh, great lot of questions. Right, so first of all this gentleman. Thank you very much. My name is Danny Boyle. I work for Beamus Scotland, Beamus at a Race and Quality charity. Just to say thank you very much to everybody who's helped during the conference together. It shows many people quite emotional this morning listening to the different interventions and it's superb to hear the Scottish Government's commitment. So that's the basis of my question to the panel members forecasting into the future. When I read the human rights leadership report this morning, they talked about moving particularly with reference to economic, social and cultural rights, moving from the progressive realisation from the maximum of available resources to a duty to comply to ensure that our rights become substantial and that they are physically experienced by every one of us. So just to ask each of the panel members from the perspective of mental health charity, gypsy traveller, health and social care and people with disabilities what has to happen within that context of a duty to comply within your areas of expertise for is actually to see these rights realised with a particular reference to economic, social and cultural rights. Thank you. Now that's a way to ask the question, but every one of you has got one there, so I'll start at the end first of all with you. Thank you, thank you for that comment and the question. For me working with asylum seekers and refugees, sadly people face a lot of issues and a lot of barriers. I work with somebody who's been seeking asylum for 24 years. Now asylum seekers are not allowed to work and are not allowed to go to university until they receive refugee status, so imagine seeking asylum for that length of time not being able to live your life and that's just one story and I can tell you so many, but as someone who came to the UK as a refugee I've learned so much and I understand what people are going through in terms of seeking asylum and so on and I think what needs to change as I said earlier is a more fair and humane system where people are treated with dignity and respect and also for their rights to be realised because one thing that we hear quite a lot by refugees and asylum seekers is that they don't know what their rights are. So I think more education needs to be in place and I think obviously the kind of struggle for a better and humane system is still on going. In my own world of health and social care we've seen enormous strides in the last 10 years because of this Parliament's legislation around things like self-directed support around mental health care and treatment. So we've got the building blocks of a human rights based system but I know every week I speak to somebody who is being told that they cannot exercise their rights to for instance self-directed support because they're living in the wrong part of the country, they're over a certain age. So their lived experience of people in health and social care is that we are continually some distance short of where we need to be in order to fully realise and I suppose ultimately setting up and the report this morning is a huge step forward but ultimately we will not as a nation progress to where we need to be until every woman and man is able to say that human rights are my concern, that it's not just left to local authorities or health boards or politicians or policy officers but everybody's concern is the ability to exercise rights not for themselves but for the person who cannot speak. So I think we have done a huge amount but the journey ahead is a challenging one because at some point we're going to have to decide making decisions which are unpopular because they're going to have to be about resourcing rights not just talking about rights. Thank you very much Diane for the question. Again cultural rights is something which myself and others advocate for on a daily basis indeed have done for many years. Cultural rights to me as a Scottish traveller are core to some of the things that I'm fighting for actually and one of them is course is our ancient tradition of nomadism and the fact that not just in Scotland but across the UK that's becoming more and more difficult. In England we're now seeing mass injunctions which ban travellers from camping within certain counties and they are spreading which of course is in breach of human rights and freedom to express your culture. So to me it's something really important and it's something which I've tried to dissect many times in order to try and work out why it's happening and how it could be tackled. To me of course nomadism is an ancient part of my culture but it's also an ancient part of Scottish culture. Travellers have been nomadic in this country for at least 900 years and so because of that it isn't just part of my identity as a traveller but it's also a part of everybody's identity as being someone from Scotland or living in Scotland. It's part of what we should see as Scottishness but it currently isn't and it's not just my culture but there's many cultures in different ways of being which currently aren't embodied in what we see as Scottishness. It tends to be tied up within bagpipes and haggis and I think that's a real shame. So I think what I would advocate for is for the education system to start to embed more different ways of being and different ways that people live within Scotland and have lived within Scotland so that young people can grow up within a Scotland which has a much wider sense of Scottishness than what we currently have and I think that that would put us on a right path to change. Sally? Well what has to happen? A lot. First off I think we need to see an fundamental change of attitude towards disabled people and that includes the fact of recognising that we are not just disabled people. We also have a gender, we have a sexual orientation, we have an age, we have many characteristics. Disabled women are more likely to experience domestic violence than non-disabled women. Let's start thinking broadly about who disabled people really are and stop sticking us all in a box. I think it's about non-disabled people not speaking for us because this is about disempowerment. There are many organisations out there long-established charities that are not led by disabled people but they do not hesitate to talk publicly about what our lived experience is. The UN committee very recently published a statement confirming and clarifying that when they talked about engaging the representative organisations of disabled people they meant those led by disabled people. It would be unthinkable in other equality areas for men to be talking about what it's like to the lived experience of women or a white person to talk about what it's like to be black. Bizarrely it seems when it comes to disability that doesn't apply. So it's also about understanding what treating disabled people with dignity and respect actually means. What it doesn't means is positioning us as inspiring, as awfully tragic but awfully brave because that distance turns us into objects of pity. There's nothing dignified or respectful about that whatsoever. Our role is not to make other people feel better about their lives. That's not why we're here. We're not here as a tool to make non-disabled people feel better about themselves. Sometimes that does feel how we are positioned and it's just not acceptable. Bering in mind of course that so much discrimination against disabled people is not deliberate. People don't think they're being unconstructive or challenging or in any way negative when they approach us in those sorts of ways. They don't deliberately set out, I sometimes wonder though, to build buildings that wheelchair users can't get into. So it's about the value of the lived experience and really listening to us and it's about equality across Scotland because I think one of the issues for disabled people trying to access services is that there are huge issues in the remote rural parts of Scotland. We need to think about it in geographical terms too. So it's about really understanding our equal humanity. It's about rethinking what we mean by normal because it's normal to be different. And finally it is about what happens in the small places and I think it's about when people such as myself, visibly disabled people, can confidently leave the house in securing the knowledge that we're not going to get patronised a person who I encounter is not going to ignore me completely and speak to my PA, that the taxi driver isn't going to start a conversation along the lines of so what's your problem then to which my answer generally is well right now it's you actually. But it's that kind of thing. It's those sorts of day to day knocks. You know sometimes disabled people are thought of as weak and vulnerable. I can tell you we have to be as tough as old boots to deal with those sorts of knocks. So those are some of the things that are going to have to change if we're really going to deliver on human rights for disabled people. Thank you, thank you. Now I believe we've got comments and questions for the panel online. I'm getting technical here, it's quite exciting for me. Does it come up on the screen? Sorry? You're just going to read them out? I'm not very technical. I was expecting things and screens. Well there we are. You're going to read them out. Could we have some questions then please? Sure. So we've had loads of questions coming in on the Scottish Parliament social media channels using the hashtag writes takeover. So thank you to everybody that has contributed so far. Here's one from Lorraine on Twitter on the topic of nursing. Why don't the new education standards for nursing qualification include and embed a rights-based approach and learning about ageing? There's some more questions I'll just throw out. Give us a couple for learning about ageing. The other hot topic of course. I don't mean because it's old. He's younger than me so I can say that. Brexit is coming up quite a lot. I'll sort of summarise a couple of points. So if Brexit goes ahead, how will this affect my German girlfriend living and working in the UK? How will Scotland ensure our continued commitment to human rights post-Brexit? That's from Hazel King on Facebook. What will happen with our human rights if we leave the European Union? That's Lynn Finlayson on Facebook and lastly just a comment from Neil on Facebook saying, Brexit puts in jeopardy UK citizens protection from the critically important European charter of fundamental rights, including chapter one on dignity. So Brexit and with training of the nursing profession at large about how older people are treated and so on. Who's taking what? You're going to take the one in ageing, aren't you? There we are. I gave you the build-up, right? On you go. The new nursing standards are created by a body called the Nursing and Midwifery Council. I think a number of us in presenting evidence to their development said that we needed to prioritise human rights. In Scotland, we've gone a long way to establish a set of standards in health and social care, which are embedding human rights at the heart. It's a pity that's not happened. However, I think, and I would never speak on behalf of the nursing profession, but anybody who knows good care, good nursing, recognises that that can only be delivered from a rights-based perspective. It would be good specifically to see a greater emphasis on ageing. I've got a concern that, increasingly, we are becoming a more ageist and a more age discriminatory society. If I can tie that with Brexit, I find it unacceptable. I was with people who came from diverse perspectives around the Brexit discussion and debate last week at a conference, but who described themselves as old. I think that it's unacceptable that we fall back into easy stereotypes, saying that people, because they are of a certain age, said this, believe that, consider and want one area and one view. We have to be very careful that, as we move through very challenging times around Brexit, we don't fall foul of easy stereotypes, which would actually have more destruction than we can possibly imagine even Brexit might have. Therefore, we have to be inclusive, and human rights is a vehicle for enabling that, both in terms of nursing practice but also in terms of our response around Brexit. Do you want to say that you are nodding there? I just to the question regarding Brexit and the worry post-Brexit for that individual. I am also in the capacity of acting chairman of Romano Love in Glasgow, and we support the Roma community. Brexit, again, is something that the Roma community is very worried about, with deportations on-going as well. It is something that I share from that regard. For me, I think that the Scottish Government needs to take a very firm stance. It has taken an ambiguous stance so far in saying that it would support post-Brexit communities, but it needs to be very firm. It needs to stand up and commit and ensure that it will support those communities post-Brexit to avoid further marginalisation and further division in society. Currently, there is not enough security around the Scottish Government's position right now. There is not enough security for those people who come March and they don't know whether they are going to be here or not, so I share that frustration. I think that we need action from the Government. I saw the minister taking notes there. He nodded at me. Do you wish to make a comment? I think that the implications of Brexit are going to have very significant implications, not just for disabled people but for a wide range of people in terms of loss of rights. However, there will be both direct and indirect implications. For example, in the social care field and the health field, there are going to be real workforce implications because we rely on people to come in and be part of the social care and healthcare workforce. I think that really what is fundamental here is that we have lost sight of why international bodies, whether it is human rights bodies or European Union, are so incredibly important when it comes to holding Governments to account because if competitive edge is to be based on things like throwing out workers' rights and equality rights about reducing food standards and climate standards, then I for one have no problem with limiting sovereignty because I think the whole ethos, the whole point of human rights, where it came from was about protecting individuals from the damage that states can do to their own citizens. That's where it came from. And just looking around us now, we can see it so starkly in the implications of our universal credit and so on. And it's tough, it's really difficult for individuals to hold Governments to account. Even where the law is there and you have meaningful rights, Governments don't have to take, in fact we've seen the UK Government, totally ignore the findings of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. They condemned them for systematic violations, grave and systematic violations of disabled people's human rights. They condemned them for creating a human catastrophe to precisely no effect whatsoever. So we need powerful institutions and we need those at international level because individuals to protect themselves against some of the damage that Governments can do requires that. And that is the sort of thing that we start to risk losing when we start dismantling these European and international structures. And I don't know that people understand that and they don't know that they understand where human rights came from and why, therefore, it is so significant if we start losing the protections we have. The protections are not great, the protections need to be made much stronger, but we have a lot to lose here. Thank you. I'm going to take two people to be waiting patiently to ask questions from the floor then I'll come back. Have you still got some more on your whizzy thing, right? It's a technical term, the whizzy thing. Could I ask you, please, Lady in the purple and then the gentleman to your left after that? Just one after the other, ask your questions. Hi, my name's Beverly and I'm here today because I think of myself as an activist for human rights and this came about because I was actually a patient in a psychiatric hospital and I was actually had psychological abuse from members of staff. Now I'm actually finding it very difficult A to be believed and B to get any justice to take this matter forward. I've tried many avenues and I always end up getting the door slammed in the face and I think it's appalling as we hear today it particularly pertains to marginalised groups where we're rights, where human rights are never adhered to. I'm so glad to be here today to celebrate this wonderful glorious day but particularly of the chance to see. I think it's shocking in the 21st century that patients with mental health or any vulnerable patients or anybody is in receipt of abuse when you're supposed to be looked after. I spent nearly 30 years as a nurse myself, I worked on coronary care and then intensive care and when I became ill I have been appalled at the treatment that I have received and worse so because of the stigma, the stigma of the people that are working in mental health services it's worse than the general public and it needs to be, there needs to be an investigation into mental health services in Scotland and in the UK because I know I'm not the only one that's been in receipt of abuse. Thank you very much and the gentlemen will have comments on that panel thank you. Hello my name is Sandy Taylor I am the Scottish representative for the national Federation of the Blind of the UK and also a member of Inclusion Scotland by the way. I recall the equality minister in her previous role championed the rights of travelling people and I followed that quite a lot. I would like to ask the Scottish Government to appoint a champion for disabled people to uphold their rights. I refer in particular to shared space schemes in towns which exclude many hundreds of elderly and disabled people and I come from Kirkintillach for those who don't know shared spaces where they remove or reduce the height of kerbs take away controlled crossings and traffic lights and make towns like Kirkintillach a no-go area for disabled people. Also in the UK government have called a halt to all new shared space schemes in England sadly the Scottish government haven't done the same in Scotland which means that these schemes are still going ahead all over the country a scheme proposed for Inverness for instance. In Glasgow cycle lanes are being put in alongside pavements with no proper segregation between the two and blind and disabled people have to cross cycle lanes to get to and from bus stops. A champion for disabled people would be a big step forward. Thank you very much. There's nobody from the government on the panel but I know that the government's represented here so obviously listening. Can I ask him members who want to comment on any of these points or like take more questions from the web? Yes, Ali. Yes, of course. Yes, absolutely. I would say that we do need a champion for disabled people but it needs to be somebody who's got some power to make things happen because that isn't always the case with champions but even more importantly than having a champion for disabled people I think it's about understanding that everybody and particularly disabled people themselves need to become champions every time as a disabled person somebody you encounter negative attitudes you encounter things like the shared space scheme which you very rightly highlight. Is it pretty obvious isn't it that that's going to be a problem? How come it's still happening? I really wish I knew the answer to that but if we as disabled people challenge injustice, challenge discrimination, challenge the abuse of our human rights every time it happens then gradually you start chipping away but we can't do it on our own that's why everybody needs to be becoming aware of this becoming aware of questioning the point about institutions disabled people as much as possible should not be in institutions same with older people I would suggest because once you're in institutions that's a closed environment and the risks are self-evident so I think you raise an incredibly important point and that's why independent living is so important it's about people having choice and control and the support that they need to live their own lives as they wish where they want to so yes very important points. Amal because the mental health issues research. Thank you so much for sharing that and I know so many people who have experienced exactly what you're saying and one example I can give is from a woman who's an asylum seeker and she went to her doctor her GP and she had explained that she was suffering from depression and she really wanted support and this one comes from a particular faith and the doctor also happened to share the same faith and he basically said to her well if your faith was strong enough you wouldn't be suffering from depression and she was so scared to do anything about that because she thought it was going to backfire on her so as you said the stigma on mental health is is so extreme and so many people are so scared to do anything about it and I I don't think we we hold staff accountable for mistreating people so thank you so much for sharing what you said because I know so many people doing continue the fight thank you. I'm just going to take a few more comments from our webby thingy people. I'm aware we're just about out of time so I'll just leave it to one question this time. What is being done to prevent violations of article 3 which is about prohibiting torture of the European Convention on Human Rights in prisons? Are we talking UK prisons or prisons internationally or? They're specified UK. In UK prisons. Do you want to comment on that? I'm not in a position to comment on that explicitly but I can say in terms of torture I think people need to reframe what they perceive when they first hear the word torture and actually it happens almost on a daily basis and it actually happens in Scotland as well. I mentioned the work that myself and others do supporting the Roma community and there is some anecdotal evidence which would tend to support building up a torture towards Roma people within Scotland and again we're working to put that across to the Government and we hope that the Government would take a firm stance on that but I do think that it's valuable to reframe how we initially perceived torture. I'll take it because we're running out of time. I'll just take a quick comment from everybody in that running right along so do you want to go first on all then? I attended a phenomenal seminar recently on degrading treatment at Strathclyde University and that made me as an individual rethink what I meant by degrading treatment and I think we have to see ourselves each one as capable of treating another in a manner which limits their dignity which removes their individuality and then we begin to reorientate ourselves so is the way in which we treat the homeless degrading is the way in which we treat older individuals who are not adequately supported living their lives with dementia is that degrading is the way in which we treat individuals whose first language is not English and somehow or other limit their opportunity and so it was for me culturally it was fantastic to hear Gaelic spoken here in this human rights debate because I belong to a family where just one generation ago the speaking of Gaelic by my mother resulted in her ostracism and her discipline because she used a language which didn't fit in so degrading needs to be yes understood in its high level in terms of article three but we also need to think about what does degrading mean for ordinary citizens and then we might get closer to understanding what human rights means for them I'll come to you Sally then I'll finish off with you and I'll Sally in many ways I don't have much to add I agree that it is about totally rethinking what we mean by degrading treatment what dignity and respect really mean and also the extent to which people and we've already highlighted issues within institutions we've already talked about the importance of people being able to speak for themselves about people to say what people being ignored people refusing to make eye contact denying effectively denying your existence and talking to the people with you there's so much about this and this isn't to trivialize it because the impact can be very significant and it can be long standing in terms of people's erosion of confidence in terms of their absorbing really negative attitudes and blaming themselves for their own situation and so there's a great deal that we need to do to rethink what this really means and to be alert to where this is happening in the many many different ways in which it can find expression when I hear the word degrading I think about all the people who are sent to detention centres all over the UK who are basically detained indefinitely so there's no time limit for asylum seekers who are being sent to detention centres and when I think of that I think you know the kind of lack of human rights and you know human rights violations that are being cost and it's almost as if asylum seekers are not people and they don't you know human rights don't you know don't fall for them kind of thing and it's really shocking that it's still happening and a lot needs to be done as human beings I believe that we have a role and responsibility and a duty to stand up for what's right and I also believe that it's our character that defines that's not where we come from or what you know gender we are and so on and so forth we're all human at the end of the day well I know there's lots of other questions perhaps to ask but we've run out of time but I have to thank you all for your questions online and here in the chamber about I'd like you most of all to thank our panelists for for answering your questions if you'd show you thanks them I hope you've enjoyed yourself this morning and I know you're off to do various things this afternoon various workshops that have been planned so off you go now have a nice wee break and enjoy your afternoon thank you all very much