Press Releases & Briefings

Alongside Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights), we wrote a letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice asking the Scottish Government to set out a clear timetable for legislative review; to commit to using specific legislative opportunities to expand the scope of the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) Bill; to commit to minimising future Scottish Parliament amendments to UK Acts; to commit to the continuation of the UNCRC Implementation Programme.

Together with other organisations across Scotland, we wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice regarding the progress of reconsideration of the  UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill.
We think it’s a very significant step forwards for human rights in Scotland, and we look forward to the Bill’s commencement, ensuring
that the UNCRC shapes all public decision-making that affects children and their families.

We call upon the Scottish Government to heed the recommendations of the Committee’s report, reaffirm its commitment to take action, and say clearly and publicly what steps it will take to safeguard the human rights of the people attacked by this egregious Act.

Alongside the Refugee Council and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, we signed a joint parliamentary briefing outlining our concerns with the UK Government’s intention to authorise the use of biological methods, including X-ray and MRI scanning, in assessing the age of children seeking asylum.

This briefing is supported by the Refugee and Migrant Children Consortium (RMCC), a coalition of over 80 organisations working together to promote and protect the rights of young refugees and migrants.

Alongside other organisations across UK, we have signed a joint statement addressed to local authorities as this Act will impact them – in terms of local cohesion, local services, support for people facing homelessness, and impacts of exploitation. In many cases, it may also conflict with local authorities’ duty to safeguard and support children in need, children in care, care leavers, and other vulnerable groups across our communities.

Alongside other organisations including Amnesty, End Violence Against Women Coalition, Refugee Council and Women For Refugee Women, we have written to UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, asking him to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to protect LGBTQ+ people and women around the world, following comments by the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, last week.

Read the full letter: Letter-to-Rt-Hon-Rishi-Sunak-PM-FD.pdf (justrightscotland.org.uk)

Read our press release: 246 Human Rights Organisations Urge PM: Respect the Lives of LGBTQ+ and Women Migrants | Stonewall

The charity says that the Secretary of State’s block of an improved gender recognition process achieves nothing other than to “force trans men and women to continue to have to use an intrusive, difficult and expensive process simply to live their lives with the dignity we all deserve.”

Scottish Trans is represented pro bono by our Scottish Just Law Centre. Kay Springham KC and David Hay are instructed as advocates.

Read the full press release here.

Alongside a coalition of 290 organisations representing the human rights, migrants’ rights, refugee and asylum, anti-trafficking, children’s, violence against women and girls, LGBTQI+, disability rights, health, LGBTQI+, housing, racial justice, criminal justice, arts, international development, environment, democracy, pan-equality, faith, access to justice, and other sectors, we condemn the passage of the [Illegal] Migration Act today, and stand in solidarity with all who will be affected.

Together with Scottish Refugee Council, Human Rights Consortium Scotland and Amnesty Scotland, we wrote to Alison Johnstone – Presiding Officer, Scottish Parliament, asking for an explanation re the decision to refuse parliamentary time for a legislative consent vote in the Scottish Parliament.

Together with over 60 organisations working across the UK, we signed this joint briefing to urge Parliamentarians to support the cross-party Lords Amendment on compliance with international obligations and to mitigate the worst effects of this Bill.

Together with UK’s top children’s charities, we signed an open letter to the Prime Minister, calling on the UK Government to scrap plans to lock up refugee children as part of the [Illegal] Migration Bill, as the child detention aspect of the Bill is due to be debated today in the House of Commons.

The 152 signatories to the letter, coordinated by the Together With Refugees campaign coalition, include NSPCC, Save the Children, Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society,  Coram and Children England, as well as the BMA, MSF, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Choose Love, Freedom from Torture, Refugee Council, Safe Passage International, Citizens UK and Plan International UK.

Alongside Scottish Refugee Council and Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, we call on the Scottish Government and public bodies to use their powers and fulfil their human rights obligations to mitigate rights violations in the controversial [Illegal] Migration Bill.

For further information, please refer to:

– The Legal Opinion on the Legal Implications of the Illegal Migration Bill in Scotland instructed by JustRight Scotland, the Scottish Refugee Council and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland in June 2023. The legal opinion was funded by a contribution from the Strategic Legal Fund, managed by the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association.

– A summary of the Legal Opinion on the Legal Implications of the Illegal Migration Bill in Scotland.

– Our Case Studies: Impact of the Illegal Migration Bill in Scotland.

Today, to mark the importance of World Refugee Day, a coalition of human rights organisations planned to drop a 100m banner on Westminster Bridge during a peaceful demonstration calling for ‘compassion not cruelty: refugees welcome’ but they were stopped by the police.

We have signed this letter alongside other organisations across UK asking Parliamentarians to consider the gravity of this issue, to reflect on the personal narratives and factual data provided, and to align with our stance by rejecting Albania’s classification as a ‘safe country’ within the current [Illegal] Migration Bill.

Together with other organisations, we have signed a joint letter asking public authorities in Scotland to take steps to implement international human rights and we highlighted the importance of the second Scotland National Action Plan on Human Rights (SNAP).

Together with other 44 organisation we wrote a letter addressed to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, and to the Minister for Children and Young People & Keeping the Promise, calling on the Scottish Government to take forward the implementation of the UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Bill and the UN Committee’s forthcoming recommendations.

Together with a coalition of 176 civil society organisations representing the human rights, migrant, refugee, asylum, anti-slavery and trafficking, children’s, violence against women and girls, LGBTQI+, disability rights, health, LGBTQI+, housing, racial justice, criminal justice, arts, international development, environment, democracy, pan-equality, faith, access to justice, and other sectors, we have submitted a joint statement ahead of the House of Lords’ debate, calling on Parliamentarians to urge the UK Government to immediately withdraw the [Illegal] Migration Bill.

We have been shortlisted – together with Maryhill Integration Network, in the Community Action category for this year’s Scottish Charity Awards!

In 2022, alongside Maryhill Integration Network (MIN) we highlighted that many students in Scotland were being excluded from accessing higher education due to their immigration status. These students were from families who came to Scotland as refugees, yet despite settling and studying here, were treated the same as international students, subject to much higher fees to further their studies. This unfair system was the focus of the #OurGradesNotVisas campaign which led to changes within Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) regulations allowing more students to access funding and creating more equitable treatment for students in Scotland from refugee backgrounds.

While a judging panel will determine the winners under nine distinct categories, members of the public can have their say by voting for their favourite overall entry in the People’s Choice Award – by visiting scvo.scot/vote – before 5pm on Wednesday 24 May 2023.

Alongside a large coalition of organisations working across human rights, migrant justice, asylum, modern slavery, healthcare and many more civil society sectors in the UK, we have provided our contributions for a single joint briefing on the [Illegal] Migration Bill in view of the House of Lords’ debate on the 10th of May.

Collectively, we oppose the Bill in its entirety. While some of us have proposed specific amendments, our view is that tweaks will not alter the substance of this Bill, nor limit its extremely damaging impacts.

We, therefore, call on Parliament to reject this Bill in its entirety.

British political parties must promise to better protect victims of forced migration and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in their 2024 general election manifestos.

A coalition of organisations and experts working with these vulnerable groups have sent letters to the Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green, Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru parties, to raise concerns about the impact the Illegal Migration Bill will have on victims of SGBV seeking refuge in the UK and calling for parties to commit to protecting survivors in their manifestos.

Alongside other organisations across the sector, we have signed a joint letter calling on the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) to highlight our concerns about the UK Government’s attempts to undermine human rights protections by weakening Section 3 of the Human Rights Act.

Read the full letter here: joint letter.

The JCHR responded to this letter and highlighted two references to Section 3 in its recent work including its call for evidence on the Refugee Ban Bill.

Read the full letter here: JCHR response.
More details are available here.

Together with other organisations across the sector, we signed this letter calling on the UK Government to take forward its responsibility to deliver a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights, protect the Human Rights Act and guarantee full access to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Read the full letter here: Signed letter

Together with other organisations across the sector, we signed this letter calling on the UK Government to act now to stop abuse and exploitation of migrant farm workers.

Read the full letter here: Signed letter

We signed – together with other organisations supporting and representing individuals seeking asylum in the United Kingdom, this joint letter addressed to the Home Secretary which details concerns and recommendations regarding the ‘Asylum Questionnaire’.

Together with other civil society organisations we have have written to SNP leadership candidates calling for action as we approach the second anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill. 

Together with over 100 charities we have written to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for action on children going missing from Home Office hotels at risk of trafficking and exploitation.
We asked to end this practice immediately and to ensure that separated children are cared for and protected as all other children within our legal and well-established child welfare framework.

Read our full letter and our press release.

Together with other Scottish civil society organisations we have written to the Minister for Equalities and Older People, Christina McKelvie MSP, with a number of requests surrounding Scotland’s new Human Rights Bill.

Together with other organisations, we signed a briefing for the parliamentary debate scheduled on 8th December, International Human Rights Day. We urged MSPs to call for the #RightsRemovalBill to be scrapped for good.

We have written, together with Amnesty Scotland and other women’s and human rights organisations, to the UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women and Girls restating our support for Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

On Thursday 10 November member states of the UN Human Rights Council called on the UK Government to take action to better realise rights in the UK during the Universal Periodic Review.
JustRight Scotland, together with other civil society organisations across the UK, has written a joint statement asking the UK Government to accept the recommendations made during the Universal Periodic Review.

Together with Amnesty International Scotland, we submitted a joint briefing to MSPs of the Scottish Parliament, to support the Stage 1 Debate regarding the Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

We hope to see the draft bill progress through the parliamentary process and become legislation as soon as possible.

This proposed Bill would make vital improvements to the current legislation and remove breaches of fundamental human rights experienced by many trans people embedded within the current process.

Read the full briefing here.

The Right to Education is a human right protected by Article 2, Protocol 1 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 14 ECHR prevents the government discriminating against people exercising this right, or any other right for that matter.

However, the Scottish Government’s Students’ Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2007 have been found to violate Article 2 Protocol 1, and Article 14 ECHR. The Court of Session Outer House found that they prevented a category of migrant young people, living lawfully in Scotland since their childhood, from accessing college or university alongside their peers.

The Scottish Government must now take urgent steps to change the law.

Together with Amnesty International Scotland, we wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Shona Robison about reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA). We restated our support for the Scottish Government’s Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. In our analysis, there is no conflict between the rights of trans people and women or any other group in Scotland.

We hope to see the draft bill progress through the parliamentary process and become legislation as soon as possible.
Read the letter here.

Since March our Ukraine Advice Scotland team have answered over 1,800 enquiries by providing legal advice to those who arrived or are due to arrive in Scotland, along with those acting as hosts.  
To find out how service users had found the process of seeking safety in Scotland, over the past two months, our team have conducted a survey to gain valuable insight into the reality faced by those who had contacted UAS. 

This research is available on our website here. 

JustRight Scotland, together with over 70 organisations, has written a joint statement in response to ECPAT UK’s new report Outside the Frame, which gives chilling statistics on how many children arriving in England without a parent or guardian in the last year were denied the urgent care the state owes them.

We ask the UK Government to cease the use of Home Office hotel accommodation and invest in proper care for children, so that local authorities can accept and support every child who arrives on our shores without a parent or guardian, as the law dictates.
We want children in the UK to be seen as children first and foremost and to be protected and cared for safely and without discrimination.

You can read the full statement here.

Today, 125 representatives from across Scotland’s third-sector have united in their condemnation of the UK Government’s Rights Removal Bill.
These organisations have asked the UK Government to reconsider this Bill and instead, consider what can be done to better protect human rights for all in Scotland, and across the UK, in a statement signed by over 100 leading and grassroots women’s, children’s, refugee and trafficking, housing and homelessness and human rights organisations, and to send a clear message that the Human Rights Act must be protected.

You can read the full joint statement here.

The UK Government has introduced a ‘Bill of Rights’ to Parliament that will scrap the Human Rights Act and will diminish human rights protections in law for all of us, and will particularly impact people whose rights are most at risk.

We know that the recent consultation on proposals for this Bill showed huge support for keeping the Human Rights Act, but the UK Government are still pressing ahead with the Bill.

We oppose this Rights Removal Bill and want the UK Government to reconsider.

We are asking civil society organisations from across Scotland to sign this joint statement produced in partnership with Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, Amnesty International, Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights), Making Rights Real, Human Rights Consortium Scotland, Church of Scotland and Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities.

If your organisation is happy to be listed as supporting this joint statement, please email your logo by 5pm Sunday 4th September to our email address: jrfa@justrightscotland.org.uk

Together with Amnesty, the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner, we have written to the Scottish Parliament asking them to hold a formal Inquiry on the impact of the UK Government’s Bill of Rights on devolution and people’s rights in the context of devolution.

You can read the letter by clicking here.

JustRight Scotland have given written evidence to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee of the Scottish Parliament on the crisis in Ukraine on 13 June 2022.

Today, together with over 20 organisations working for equality and human rights in Scotland, we have called for a rethink in Scottish Government plans to change public bodies’ equality obligations.

We – together with other organisations, urge Members of Parliament to vote in favour of Lord Dubs’ amendment to open a new safe route to family reunion for refugees in Europe.

The UK’s current family reunion rules are broken. They are failing some of the most vulnerable refugees. Just this week Safe Passage staff met with an unaccompanied 15-year-old Afghan child, Hakim, who recently fled the Taliban. Alone in a dangerous camp in Dunkirk, Hakim is trying to join his uncle in the UK. He had already tried to cross the Channel three times. The current rules don’t provide a safe route for this child to reunite safely with their family in the UK. In fact, none of the unaccompanied children Safe Passage supported in France in 2021 were able to reunite with family here under the UK’s family reunion rules.

Had Lord Dubs’ amendment been law, Ukrainian children and partners would have faced far fewer challenges in safely and quickly reuniting with family here in the UK. The process for family reunification for Ukrainians has been slow, chaotic and ineffective. It is the same for other refugee families every day. It’s time the Government fixed family reunion for all.

We have signed a joint letter – alongside non-governmental organisations who work to end human trafficking and modern slavery, to declare in solidarity that we condemn the invasion of Ukraine launched by Russia and the impact it is having on the risk of human trafficking in the region. We call to End the Invasion and Protect Civilians from Human Trafficking.

JustRight Scotland, alongside other 26 organisations, have signed this joint briefing addressing Clause 31 of part 2 of the Nationality and Borders Bill which will change the “well-founded fear test” for determining whether someone is a refugee. If changed, the test will result in protection wrongly being denied to people at genuine risk of persecution.

Ahead of the debate in the Scottish Parliament on the Nationality and Borders Bill,  we’ve worked with the Scottish Refugee Council and Rape Crisis Scotland to highlight the particular impact on women and children and survivors of sexual violence.

We strongly urge MSPs to withhold consent for the Nationality and Borders Bill, as the Welsh Senedd has done already.  The Bill represents the most severe assault on refugee rights in decades. Children have not been spared in this assault.  The Bill treats children just as harshly as it does adults.

Court upholds Census guidance allowing trans men and women to self-identify their lived sex.

Scottish Trans, part of LGBTI human rights charity Equality Network, have been given permission to intervene in a legal case which is seeking to overturn guidance planned for the next Scottish Census in March.

A group of social justice lawyers based in Glasgow have successfully secured an important gain for asylum seekers in Scotland – the right to access legal aid for representation in tribunal appeals, where they face eviction from housing that is provided by the Home Office.

Amnesty International, the Human Rights Consortium Scotland and JustRight Scotland have told a Holyrood inquiry that a ‘comprehensive ban’ on ‘conversion therapy’ practices should be brought forward to protect LGBTI+ people in Scotland.

Court rules that Scottish Government acted lawfully in including trans women in an equal opportunities measure to improve women’s representation on public boards.

Today, we held an online event to share the results of a 2-year EU AMIF funded project which has focused on the long-term integration of trafficked women recovering from sexual exploitation as well as empowering survivors of human trafficking to play a leadership and mentoring role in our responses to human trafficking at an operational as well as strategic and policy level in Scotland. 

Scottish Trans (ST), part of the LGBTI human rights charity Equality Network, have been given permission to intervene in a legal case which is seeking to throw out legislation passed two years ago, ensuring greater involvement of women in public life in Scotland. The Scottish Just Law Centre at JustRight Scotland is supporting Scottish Trans to prepare the legal intervention.