The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 1809 contributions
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
Thank you for joining us this morning.
We had conversations with the previous panel of stakeholders about the difference that human rights legislation can make to communities and to individuals. I am interested in your views on the difference that a bill in this space—human rights incorporation into Scots law—will make to people’s lives. I suppose that part of the question is to ask where—within the current landscape of policy design, legislation and all of that—you see gaps or failures of the system to deal with issues that people have around realising their rights. Alan Miller, I will start with you.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
May I unpick that a little bit and maybe broaden it out? You are saying that without accountability people would not have the legal right to health, which seems like a pretty stark statement. We are in the 21st century in a country that says that it takes the human rights of its citizens and all who live here seriously, so where are the gaps in the legislative landscape or the policy landscape? Are they around accountability? Are they around implementation? Are they around design? How have we got things so wrong for the people whom the charter that you have spoken of is designed to help, and for other people including disabled people, people of colour and other groups of people whose rights have not been realised?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
That is helpful. Katie, can I come to you?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
Thank you.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
Thank you. I turn to John Wilkes. What difference do you think that such a bill could or should make to Scotland?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
Do you want to say anything more about the powers, or should I move seamlessly on to Angela O’Hagan?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
Thank you—that was helpful.
I turn to Angela O’Hagan. Given where the SHRC has been over the past several years, not only in the bill process but in the work that you have undertaken to focus on areas of failure, which I suppose is what we are talking about, what difference would the bill have made? Why were so many hopes pinned on it?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
I could go on, but I probably should not do so. I simply want to highlight what you said about the fact that all of us in this place are guarantors of everybody’s human rights. I do not think that all 129 of us think of ourselves in that way, and maybe we need to.
10:30Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
That is really helpful.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Maggie Chapman
Presiding Officer,
“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects. It can destroy people, it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit and mind.”
Those are the powerful words of Olympic champion Imane Khelif, who faced unprecedented levels of abuse, vitriol and harassment just for being excellent at what she does.
I cannot celebrate the motion that is before us or the debate. Both this motion and Tess White’s previous one on the same subject echo the most toxic narratives, with elements of them unfounded in fact, discriminatory in effect and deeply damaging to both trans and cisgender women and girls in sport and in our communities. I strongly commend the briefing from LEAP Sports Scotland for its excellent analysis of the true position, and I thank Karen Adam for her spirited and principled amendment to Tess White’s previous motion. That amendment rightly calls out the “torrent of misogynistic abuse” faced by two Olympic boxers, who, incidentally, are both cis women and women of colour. It identifies the political motivations of the attacks on them and calls on parliamentarians and others to counter the disinformation that threatens the safety of female athletes and, I would add, of women everywhere.
That is why I am here this afternoon. There are people watching this debate and people who will hear it reported who are understandably afraid: transgender people, non-binary people, intersex people and women who do not conform to conventional Euro-centric or white assumptions of body shape, demeanour or dress—people who fear that they will be next to face exclusion, rejection, excoriation and hate. To those people—our friends and neighbours—I say, as I have done before, that, like Karen Adam, I stand here with you and for you in solidarity and commitment for as long as it takes for this poison to be washed from our politics, our media and our life.
If Tess White had ended her motion with the first clause, we could all have agreed very clearly. There are serious and multiple barriers to women’s and girls’ safe and fair participation in sport, as has been highlighted by the briefing from LEAP Sports Scotland. There are Governments, federations and broadcasting authorities that deliberately ban, suppress, downgrade or obscure women’s sport. There are coaches and managers who bully and abuse, including widespread sexual abuse. There are men who rape children and go on to represent their countries at the highest level. Tess White’s motion makes no mention of the Olympic beach volleyball player who did just that. Why is there no fuss made of a convicted rapist participating at the Olympics? I wonder.
There are playing fields sold off by state schools. There are swimming pools emptied and unused for want of essential repair. There is—as we have debated here before—a huge chasm, especially for women and girls, where safe, accessible public transport and provision for active travel ought to be.
All those obstacles are substantial and significant, and I hope that we get the opportunity to debate all of them. The participation of transgender women in sport—as in culture and the arts, voluntary work, public life or business—is no barrier to others.
It is deeply sad that narratives such as those contained in the motion are used to spread anxiety and hostility, to build barriers where none is needed, and to cause the deepest pain to those already bearing heavy burdens.
From a toddler’s first wobbly kick of the family football to an Olympic podium, sport can be, for millions of women and girls, a source of health, wellbeing, friendship, self-esteem and sheer joy. We can all share that, no matter our body type, our culture, the colour of our skin or the precise details of our biological make-up.
In this chamber and beyond, we can be proud to celebrate diversity, to recognise the labour of achievement, and to stand resolute with all who need our solidarity.
16:56