Chamber and committees

You have clearly outlined the gross failure of society to understand different family models, which we need to think about more widely, and not just in this committee. We also need to think about how to deal with issues of isolation and the on-going mental health impacts on individuals and society, which will affect us for a significant time to come, because I am not sure that we have systems in place to do that. I will leave it there just now, convener, and will come in again later if that is okay.

That was very helpful. Thank you, Margaret.

Does Satwat Rehman want to come in to say a little bit about the women, lone carers and lone families whom she supports, and how they have dealt with some of the intersections—the cross-cutting inequalities—that they face?

That is helpful—thank you, Satwat. Patrycja Kupiec wants to come in next.

Thank you, Margaret—that is really helpful. It is useful that you mentioned the police. We have talked about social services and other support services, but it is important that you brought the police into the discussion. We perhaps need to think about conversations that we can have with the police around cultural understanding and sensitivities, so that their role does not come down to blind enforcement of a policy and there is a sensitive understanding of different situations.

I will leave it there for now.

Thank you for being with us this morning and for your opening statements. You all referred in some way to a point that we have heard before, which is that the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities, whether in gender—because of the patriarchal society—race, age, or ability. I want to unpick the intersections, particularly in relation to carers who are women of colour, ethnic minorities, the issue that Margaret Lance raised around having no recourse to public funds, and how support has been, if not absent, very difficult to access. Will you say a little bit more about the women, carers and others with whom you have direct experience?

I put that to Margaret Lance first. I will then ask Satwat Rehman to come in.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update—[Interruption.]

Will the cabinet secretary outline what more we can do to ensure that those vulnerable people are not further marginalised?

Like other members, I thank Fulton MacGregor for lodging his motion and bringing the debate to the chamber today. Tomorrow is human rights day, and also marks the end of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. I take this opportunity to thank colleagues from all sides of the chamber for their contributions in recent debates on women’s rights during those 16 days.

This year’s human rights day theme relates to equality and article 1 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”

The principles of equality and non-discrimination are at the heart of human rights, but we know only too well that, in Scotland and around the world, people are not all born equal. A baby who is born in Somalia faces an infant mortality rate that is nearly 25 times higher than that for a baby who is born in the United Kingdom. Women are more likely to bear the brunt of global health crises in every aspect of their lives, from employment to access to healthcare. People who are fleeing war and famine are drowning in the English Channel, as we have heard, because of inhumane and uncompassionate approaches to foreign policy. Black people in Scotland are more likely to face discrimination in the workplace and in access to housing. Trans people face exclusion from, and barriers to accessing, vital, life-saving health services.

Inequality is everywhere we look, but none of that is inevitable. The structural inequalities that exist are a product of political and economic choices, and we can make different choices. Putting equalities and human rights at the centre of what we do can help us to identify the different, and better, choices that we can and must make.

The experiences of individuals and communities around the globe, never mind the history of the past century, show us the importance of the centrality of human rights in all that we do. We know that we want a Scotland in which people understand their rights and those of their neighbours; where they feel valued and included; and where they are empowered to claim their own rights and to stand in solidarity, compassion and justice to help others to achieve theirs too. We want Scotland to play a role in ensuring that that vision does not stop at our borders—we must play our role in fighting for equality around the world.

During the coming year, we will see the beginning of the consultation on how to embed those principles in the important work that we will be doing. The human rights bill that we want to bring in will, as far as possible within our devolved competence, incorporate key human rights treaties into Scots law. We have already heard about many of them this afternoon, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, but there is also the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I mention them by name because they are important, and that legislation will be world-breaking when we deliver it.

Beyond those international treaties, we must also ensure that we follow international best practice in including a right to a healthy environment, as Fulton MacGregor mentioned. Equal access to the rights in the bill for all—especially for older people and for LGBTQI+ people—must also be in the bill.

Then we must act. Putting human rights into law is only the start of the work that we must do. We will need decisive, bold action to design and implement the policies, services and institutions that will make those rights a reality—not only for us in Scotland, but further afield too. Our vision, and our imperative for action, is a Scotland that is fairer, more inclusive, more progressive and more equal. It is a Scotland that can also play its part in making the world fairer, more inclusive, more progressive and more equal. That is our work.

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the actions under way to tackle the reported inequalities experienced by ethnic minority communities in the north-east. (S6O-00518)

GREC has recently highlighted significant racial inequalities in the region across housing, health, education, employment, justice and more. For example, ethnic minorities have suffered worse job losses during Covid; Africans have the highest percentage of degree-educated people but the highest unemployment rates; hate crime is up 14.5 per cent in Aberdeen and 23 per cent in Aberdeenshire; and asylum-seeker men who were recently accommodated in an Aberdeen hotel will have minimal support, provided by a private company, with only £8 a week to live on in the initial stage of their application process.