It would be nice to put in context what we do and where we are coming from with the Brexit debate. I thank the committee for giving the third generation project the opportunity to contribute to the evidence that is being presented today. We are an independent think tank based at the University of St Andrews. We aim to further human rights institutions and cultures, so we welcome the work of the committee, especially your consideration of the impact of Brexit on human rights. That is an area where we think that there needs to be a whole lot more discussion.
We are looking at Brexit and human rights from a wide international, UK and Scottish perspective. We are looking specifically at how individual and collective human rights are understood in Scotland and around the world, and at how those understandings are adapting to the current political landscape, given that there is a lot of on-going upheaval.
Today, I will focus on the collective rights implications of Brexit. Before I go on, I should clarify that, when I differentiate between individual and collective rights, I am really referring to the fact that there are three dimensions of human rights. The first dimension is civil and political; the second is economic and structural; and the third concerns rights that are held by certain marginalised or minority groups, and rights that are held by all of us who access collective commons such as water, food and our environment. There is a direct crossover between what we are looking at in our work on marginalising minority groups and the work that Craig Wilson is doing.
The committee has seen our submission; I will focus on the human rights implications of climate change. It is important to look at that area, because it is fair to say that it has received scant attention so far in Brexit discussions. For example, there was no mention of climate change or the phrase “human rights” in the letter that triggered Brexit.
In the UK, environmental policy is closely linked to EU policy, and Brexit will therefore affect almost every part of the UK’s environmental policy. In any case, that policy has been heavily influenced by Europe. Brexit will require that measures that are already in place are safeguarded under the great repeal bill, but that will aim only to preserve the status quo when in fact much more is needed.
There are some opportunities too. It is important to think about opportunities from Brexit because, given that it is happening, we have to think about how we work within it. Scotland already has a strong focus on environmental policy, and a lot of effort has been put into securing its resources, but we are not protected from the wider geography of climate change. Being a member of the European Union gave the UK a place at the table in environmental negotiations, and it will no longer have that place.
It is important to be clear that there are human rights implications of environmental policy in the Scottish context as well as in the UK and international contexts. One example is geopolitical instability. Climate change can be referred to as a threat multiplier because it creates instability and worsens it where it already exists. Another example is displacement. Large numbers of people are already being displaced as a result of climate change, and it is estimated that the impact of that displacement will far exceed the impact of the current refugee crisis.
We are also thinking about how climate change has an impact on food security and water rights. It might seem as if all those things are happening very much elsewhere, but it is important for us to consider what addressing those issues head-on would mean in terms of job creation and the possibilities for increased research and innovation. At the third generation project, we are thinking not only about those human rights concerns around climate change, but about what the opportunities are.