Human Rights Law

It's high time we made good on this important Human Rights Law

by Hyo Eun Shin from the CAS Strong Communities team.

This article was first published in The Herald on 23rd May 2026.

Fifty years ago this week, on 20th May 1976, the United Kingdom ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This landmark human rights treaty recognised what is essential for everyone to live well: a safe home, food and water, education and fair work, healthcare and social security support when we need it. 

By accepting a legal obligation to uphold these everyday rights, the government of the time looked beyond electoral cycles and laid an important foundation for a more just and peaceful society for generations to come.  

However, a crucial next step is still missing to this day. Though ratification made ICESCR binding on the UK in international law, it needed to be written into our own legal systems through legislation before it could actually be enforceable. And this never happened. It’s high time it did. 

Properly incorporating ICESCR into our domestic law would fundamentally transform people’s relationship with government and public authorities and ensure that anyone can actually enforce these rights in our courts. This month’s election presents a new opportunity to do that in Scotland. 

And it badly needs to happen. Every day Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs) across Scotland support people who cannot rely on these basic rights and are experiencing devastating harm as a result: families in unaffordable and unsafe housing, neighbours forced to go hungry, people who cannot access the care and support they need. 

CABs are strongholds of local connection and solidarity, empowering individuals to claim their rights and campaigning for solutions to structural failures that we can only address together. But it would be so much easier if these rights were legally enforceable. 

The new Parliament needs to incorporate ICESCR, so that all levels and branches of government - from ministers to local authority staff, from police to courts, from care homes to schools - are fulfilling their legal duty to progressively realise these essentials with us and for us. So that we can count on decision-makers to uphold everyone’s dignity and – crucially - so that we can hold them to account where they fall short.

Fifty years after ratification, we cannot wait any longer for this step. Citizens Advice Scotland supports the Scottish Government’s renewed commitment to introduce a Human Rights Bill which includes these rights. And we stand ready to actively assist in developing such a bill.  

This week we also joined forces with a broad coalition of organisations across the UK in a joint civil society letter to the Secretary of State for Justice, David Lammy. Coordinated by the organisation Just Fair, we are calling on the UK Government to commit to a clear and time-bound process to bring these rights home into UK law and policy. 

While policy areas such as education, health and housing are devolved to Scotland, UK-wide legislation would help avoid limitations arising from the complex constitutional setup between Holyrood and Westminster and strengthen these everyday rights for everyone across the UK.    

Both governments must act now so we can fortify the foundations of a good life for all of us now and into the future. Five decades is surely long enough to wait.