Support for Human Rights Law Review in Scotland

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Youth for Human Rights launches International Year of Youth

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EDINBURGH—International human rights education group Youth for Human Rights International today announced its support for the Scottish Parliament's review of the law to bring it in line with the European Convention on Human Rights. Lord Carloway, who is leading the review, launched a public consultation last week on what have been called "changes to 'core' parts of the system."

But Gordon Reid, human rights volunteer for the Edinburgh chapter of Youth for Human Rights International, warned that society's undue emphasis on the rights of certain groups, evident in the recent European Court of Human Rights' controversial decision against the British Government on prisoners' voting rights, may be distracting Scotland from the universality of the rights and freedoms in the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"The European Convention is key," said Reid, "but there's a lot more to human rights than arrest and detention. Other human rights issues are closer to home, like bullying in schools."

The youth-centric organisation leads one of the world's largest human rights education programmes, and marked the start of the UN's International Year of Youth with petition signings on Edinburgh's busy Princess Street, calling on the Scottish Parliament to bring the law in line with the 1948 Universal Declaration, as well as making human rights education a permanent part of the school curriculum.

Hundreds of schools across the United Kingdom have now adopted Youth for Human Rights' education resources for teaching human rights to school pupils in both primary and secondary classes. On how young people and the UN Year of Youth are important to human rights in Scotland, Reid went on to say, "The youth are the future and that is where the issues are, that need to be handled to resolve the problems of the world. They can impact what the future holds for many."

The public consultation on the Carloway review runs until Friday 3rd June. For more information visit http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/CarlowayReview.

See also: Youth for Human Rights International; UN International Year of Youth