Housing Rights and COVID-19
In recent months the Scottish Human Rights Commission has been working hard to highlight areas of human rights concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to constructively engage with how rights can inform Scotland’s recovery in the months ahead. Human rights law provides both a set of agreed standards and a way to orientate law and policy making in complex and challenging times like these.

Here are some of our key COVID-19 policy briefings:
Care Homes and Human Rights
Prisons and Human Rights
Police use of temporary powers
The Right to Food
The Right to Housing
The Right to Social Security
Evidence to Scottish Government’s Advisory Group on Economic Recovery
Evidence submitted to the Scottish Parliament Inquiry into COVID-19 and Human Rights

We are also finalising a monitoring report on social care, human rights and COVID-19, which we will publish in the coming weeks.

Looking ahead, the Commission has called for and welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to a human rights based approach to a public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, including what happened in care homes.

We are also calling on the Scottish Government to take a rights-based approach as we plan for economic recovery and social renewal. This should include pressing ahead with incorporating economic, social, cultural and environmental rights into Scotland’s laws so that we have a robust framework for the future. The work of the National Taskforce for Human Rights Leadership is crucial to this. The continued development and implementation of Scotland’s National Action Plan for Human Rights will also be key to ensuring that people’s rights are realised in practice, particularly when it comes to addressing inequalities of access to rights that COVID-19 has highlighted.

You can find out more about our COVID-19 work on our website or by emailing us at [email protected].

Scottish Human Rights Commission
August 2020