Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry – Human Rights

The Commission is the National Human Rights Institution for Scotland and is independent of the Scottish Government and Parliament in the exercise of its functions. [...] In terms of access to justice, the proposals would add hurdles to accessing justice, compounding existing barriers related to the complexity of law and procedure, the cost of securing legal advice and the lack of legal aid. [...] They also tend to adopt an ‘inquisitorial’ approach to adjudication, investigating the matter brought to their attention, rather than following the adversarial approach typically applied in courts, where the burden is much more squarely on the party pursuing the claim, in terms of evidencing the breach and presenting the legal basis for their claim. [...] Where the recommendation is not complied with the ombudsperson tends to be given the power to refer the matter to parliament in order that it can scrutinise the government and hold them to account, as is the case for SPSO. [...] 6 Conclusion Designing an effective human rights ombudsperson would require first mapping and measuring the extent to which existing routes to justice comply with the AATE framework, taking account of differences between devolved nations, identifying the particular shortcomings and then assessing the extent to which the creation of a human rights ombudsperson would remedy those gaps.