Summary – A Human Rights Bill for Scotland: Discussion Paper

4. Work to date

In 2018 human rights experts in Scotland formed an Advisory Group on Human Rights, to explore how Scotland could better protect and promote human rights, as the UK prepared to exit the European Union. The Advisory Group's report called for an Act of the Scottish Parliament to create a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland, and the creation of a special Taskforce to set out in more detail what the new Bill should deliver.

This National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership was formed in 2019. It included human rights academics and human rights experts from civil society. The Taskforce met with lots of different groups with an interest in human rights and published its recommendations in 2021, which were accepted by the Scottish Government. Using these recommendations and following the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary elections, the Scottish Government developed plans for the Human Rights Bill and set these out in a public consultation in 2023. Since then, the Scottish Government has taken on board the feedback from the consultation and undertaken further engagement with stakeholders to further develop the proposals.

The Human Rights Bill is intended to be introduced in the next parliamentary session, subject to the outcome of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. This provides an opportunity in advance of Bill introduction to further test and refine proposals to ensure they are as robust as possible and can be implemented by public bodies effectively. In particular, the Scottish Government wants to use the remainder of the current parliamentary session to engage with the UK Government on the Bill, including in relation to the effect of the judgment by the UK Supreme Court on the then UNCRC Bill in 2021. This includes exploring with the UK Government the ways in which the current extent of the powers of the Scottish Parliament to make laws may limit how new human rights duties could apply in Scotland.