Briefing to Parliament on Finance and Public Administration 7th Report, 2024: Scotland's Commissioner Landscape: A Strategic Approach

2.3 The SHRC Strategic Plan 2024-28 articulates the Commission's purpose, vision and priorities for the coming period and how it will deliver against its statutory duties under the Scottish Commission for Human Rights Act 2006: SHRC Strategic Plan 2024-28 (scottishhumanrights.com) 2.4 In the pursuit of its mandate to promote the human rights of the people of Scotland, under the 2024-28 Strategic P. [...] 3.4 We therefore welcome the Committee Inquiry recommendations - they present the first opportunity since 2006 for the Scottish Parliament to review the effectiveness of the Commission's mandate to best promote the human rights of everyone in Scotland. [...] 3.7 In light of the delay to the Human Rights Bill, the need for the next phase of the Inquiry process to focus on how the SPCB supported bodies are best equipped collectively to uphold the human rights of the people of Scotland is perhaps more pressing that when the Finance and Public Administration Committee Inquiry began. [...] Whilst the root and branch review of the current system is necessary, the development of plans to improve visibility, accountability and justiciability for the rights of groups most at risk must also continue, and we hope, inform the next phase recommendations. [...] 3.11 We therefore call on the Scottish Parliament to consider this debate in the context of existing human rights challenges in this country, with many people experiencing denials of their basic human rights and dignity every day, and to consider how the review of the office holders, including the Commission as Scotland's National Human Rights Institution, can make a positive contribution to that.