On the 4^th of September First Minister John Swinney announced his Programme for Government(PfG) 2024-2025. This outlines the current government’s plans for this parliamentary session on the run up to the next Scottish General Election expected to take place in May 2026. Prior to the launch of the PfG, it is important to take into consideration that the Scottish Government reversed many notable commitments and announced £500million of cuts. For example, free bus travel for those who are seeking asylum was scrapped, peak train fares reintroduced and means-tested winter fuel payment introduced. The disappointing decision of the Scottish Government to omit Scotland’s Human Rights Bill might not have been all that surprising but it is unfortunately all but one broken promise of a long list.  Promises and commitments that aimed to better protect all over our human rights, and create an opportunity to truly improve the lives of some of the most marginalised communities in our country.

At the beginning of March, we delivered our human rights and recruitment training to 25 participants ranging from a multitude of public bodies and third sector organisations. The aim of this training was for participants to understand that human rights and recruitment aren’t far removed from each other and viewing employability and recruitment processes with a human rights view is a key part of making rights real for everyone, especially for those whose rights are most at risk.

In December 2022, the Scottish Government published an anti-racist employment strategy as a response to the former EHRCJ’s inquiry on Race Equality, Employment and Skills (2019/20). in 2020. As a contributor to the strategy and witnessing the elaborate and deep probing conversations on how this should be delivered, it has been a pleasure to support an anti-racist strategy which reflects on the present day institutionalised racism within  sectors. Although the Minister acknowledged that radical action is required to address these long-standing societal issues, the questions remains: who is responsible for making it happen and where are the gaps?  

There are claims made sometimes that social justice issues have ‘gone too far’. An example is that some schools are encouraging the use of phrases such as “Happy Holidays!” instead of “Merry Christmas” to pupils to ensure their language is inclusive of all children during the ‘winter’ holidays. But does discouraging the mention of a Christian celebration, mean that students feel less excluded if they do not celebrate the holiday. Or are we unfairly disparaging a joyous time of year for many Christians? 

In the year 2022, CEMVO Scotland believes that society has accepted the argument that a democracy which is representative of the nation we live in is a good thing. We no longer subscribe to the idea that politics should be a career for the elite and those with aspirations to rub shoulders with the rich white men traditionally found in those circles.

In the year 2022, CEMVO Scotland believes that society has accepted the argument that a democracy which is representative of the nation we live in is a good thing. We no longer subscribe to the idea that politics should be a career for the elite and those with aspirations to rub shoulders with the rich white men traditionally found in those circles.

The UK Government Human Rights Act Reform Consultation, published by the Ministry of Justice, was open to public consultation from December 2021 to March 2022. The public consultation paper was over one hundred pages long and included the UK Government’s views on the history of human rights, the laws (both internationally and domestically) and then it outlined their reasons for reform. 

We have seen the term ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ more frequently in the Scottish policy landscape than in previous years. The tragic and unfortunate murder of George Floyd, which sparked a global BLM movement has shone a torch to the systemic inequalities faced by people of colour in the 21st Century. This evidence from COVID-19 statistics cemented what minority ethnics have complained about for so long – there is institutional and systemic racism in Scotland.