SCOTLAND’S National Action Plan for Human Rights (Snap) is helping people to tackle issues such as poor housing, poverty and barriers to health services, according to a new report.
It came as the Scottish Human Rights Commission launched a series of case studies to mark Snap’s third anniversary and International Human Rights Day on Saturday.
The case studies feature one group of people living in mostly council-owned properties in Leith, who are using human rights to tackle poor housing conditions including damp, mould, infestations of vermin and disrepair.
Based on a model used in Belfast, residents worked with researchers to design and deliver a survey to more than 180 households, to find out the problems people were facing.
The survey revealed that tenants felt responses from the City of Edinburgh Council to maintenance requests were often slow or incomplete, and despite local authority plans to invest in regenerating the buildings, they had been given limited opportunities to contribute to the process.
They then used the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to identify problems that could be tackled with the backing of human rights standards, and presented their findings to councillors and council officers in June.
The council then met the residents and developed a plan for improvements, which will be reviewed by residents next year.
Heather, one of the Edinburgh residents involved, said: “Understanding our human rights has given us a strength to carry on. We believe now that we really can make a difference – not just for ourselves but for our entire community.”
A second group who have been through the grind of poverty are working together to raise awareness of the human rights it affects, and pushing for better policies. Most recently, the group has given its views to the Scottish Government on the new social security powers that are being devolved.
The third initiative involved two groups of people who have experienced various health inequalities. The groups comprising homeless people and female refugees and asylum seekers had first-hand experience of the health risks of poverty and of facing discrimination because of who they were.
The health of homeless people is often worse than most other people in society and they are also less likely to be able to make use of services such as GPs. The health of asylum seekers and refugees is affected by uncertainty, isolation and the trauma of what they have been through, said Snap.
Following interviews and focus groups, a list of common barriers was identified and from this various changes were suggested that could make a difference to their lives. They included clearer language and communications and the provision of advocates to help them understand and act upon their rights.
Peer researchers said the group gained confidence and skills from taking part and learned a lot from listening to the people who spoke to them.
Commission chairwoman Judith Robertson said: “When talking of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 68 years ago this weekend, Eleanor Roosevelt stressed that human rights must have meaning in the ‘small places, close to home’.
“These projects show how the work taking place through Snap is taking international human rights standards and supporting people to apply them in their everyday lives – realising the right to housing, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to health.”
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