Scottish ministers accused of ‘major retreat’ over upcoming Human Rights Bill

The Scottish Government has been accused of a “major retreat” after ministers abandoned plans to include the right to a healthy environment in its upcoming Human Rights Bill.

First Minister John Swinney committed to introducing such legislation in his Programme for Government earlier this year – with the Bill currently expected in the second year of the five-year Holyrood term.

However, equalities and international development minister Simita Kumar has confirmed it will not include a right to a healthy environment – despite the UN General Assembly stating in 2022 this this was a human right.

With this taking in people’s needs for things such as clean air and a safe and stable climate, campaigners at Oxfam Scotland insisted the move was “part of a broader unravelling of Scotland’s climate credentials”.

Oxfam Scotland’s head, Katherine May, further claimed it showed the Government “appears to be stepping back from the very climate leadership it once championed”.

Ms May also criticised the Scottish Government for announcing the move in the answer to a written parliamentary question which was released on the same day as the UK Government’s Budget.

She stated: “Dropping the right to a healthy environment in a written answer on UK Budget day is a major retreat dressed up as a procedural update.”

That came as Ms Kumar confirmed Scottish ministers “have decided not to include a standalone right to a healthy environment in the future Human Rights Bill”.

She stressed the Government “supports the principle of a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment” adding that ministers “recognise the important role that environmental human rights can play in protecting both people and the environment”.

But she said there was a concern that including a right to a healthy environment “could create uncertainty or unintended delays in decision-making” with Ms Kumar adding this could possibly impact on the “delivery of vital initiatives required to meet Scotland’s net-zero ambitions”.

The minister continued: “Our human rights framework must be clear, coherent and effective in practice.

“Given the developing nature of the right and its interaction with our domestic framework, we do not consider that the necessary level of clarity can be achieved at this time.”

She added the Scottish Government would continue to monitor developments in this area “to ensure that Scotland’s approach is informed by emerging international law and practice”.

But Ms May insisted the move was “part of a broader unravelling of Scotland’s climate credentials”.

She added: “The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore – championing policies that prolong the crisis while abandoning measures designed to tackle it.

“What’s particularly striking is how out of step this is with the Scottish public.

“As we see our streets flood and our national parks on fire, people rightly expect our political leaders to strengthen climate action and environmental protections, not quietly row back on them.

“At the very moment the climate crisis is accelerating, Scotland appears to be stepping back from the very climate leadership it once championed.”

Shivali Fifield, chief officer at the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland, said it is “unbelievable that this decision has been made with no prior consultation with civil society stakeholders”.

She added: “Environmental and human rights organisations as well as legal and academic experts have spent countless hours over the past nine years working with the Government, in good faith, to include the right to a healthy environment in a Scottish Human Rights Bill.

“We know we can make the right work for Scotland within devolved competence and we cannot conceive how we can fulfil full economic, social and cultural rights for all Scots without it.”

Neil Cowan, the Scotland programme director for Amnesty International, described the decision as “dismaying”.

He said: “The Human Rights Bill is a long-awaited opportunity to make rights real for all of us and to help build a more just Scotland, so to have weakened it in this way is deeply disappointing.

“We are clear that there can be no social justice without environmental justice, and we urge the Scottish Government to reconsider.”

Amanda Grimm, of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said: “Backtracking on the right to a healthy environment seems like a clear signal that the Scottish Government is giving up on tackling the climate emergency – despite stating that this is one of its four key priorities for the country.

“It’s particularly disturbing that our leaders have chosen to drop legalising this human right in the same week they green-light a giant new gas-fired power station in Peterhead that will further stoke climate breakdown.

“If Scottish ministers are serious about tackling climate change, they should enshrine the right to a healthy environment and safe climate in this crucial Bill.”