National Care Service: Human Rights and the Charter

3. Human rights responsibilities

Human rights responsibilities are set out in UK law and international law. You can find out more about these rights from the Scottish Human Rights Commission.

Some human rights are already protected by the law in Scotland. This means that public authorities are obliged to protect, respect and fulfil these rights and you may be able to make an application to the courts if you believe these rights have been breached. Some of these human rights are reflected in the Charter by the phrase ‘you have legal rights to’.

These human rights are protected by:

• UK Human Rights Act 1998 which brings rights in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law
• The Scotland Act 1998 which requires the Scottish Parliament to pass laws that are compatible with ECHR rights
• The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 which brings rights in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law

Some human rights are not yet part of the law in Scotland, but they are part of international human rights law. Scotland has a responsibility to protect, respect and fulfil these rights in devolved areas because the UK has signed and agreed to them.

Examples of these international human rights laws are:

• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
• Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

The United Nations monitors Scotland’s progress in meeting these international human rights responsibilities as part of its review of the UK’s overall performance. Information about how the Scottish Government engages in these processes and takes action to strengthen human rights in Scotland is available at https://www.gov.scot/policies/human-rights/.