Labour MSP Rhoda Grant appears to have secured from the SNP government a pledge for a full debate on the damning report into “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” in the Highlands and Islands.
Yesterday, MSPs debated the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s (SHRC) investigation that found “there is not a single human right that meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law”.
First published last November, the SHRC report found “Critical issues include an apparent failure to meet the most basic international obligations related to the right to health, the right to housing and the right to food.”
Now Mrs Grant’s Members’ Business debate was able to highlight some of the issues that locals have been aware of for years yet no solutions have been forthcoming.
That is despite multiple campaigns and media coverage of the issues range to varying degrees across reserved and devolved matters at the Scottish or UK government level as well as involving NHS Highland and Highlands Council.
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant.
MSPs raised questions over the cause of the many of those problems that included centralisation and political failings which were seen as being at the heart of the problems described – Mrs Grant agreed centralisation was a key issue.
She said: “In the past decade or so, our human rights have been eroded: we need food banks, there is a housing crisis and our national health service is at breaking point. Nowhere has that been felt more keenly than in the Highlands and Islands.
“Centralisation of services has led to poorer outcomes, even fewer houses being built and greater difficulty in accessing health services. All of that leads to depopulation.
“Citizens know that, so the Scottish Human Rights Commission findings were not a surprise. However, to be consulted and have their concerns validated is a significant step forward for my constituents.
“Across all the rights that the report examined: [quoting the report] ‘there is not a single human right that meets all the conditions of adequacy under international law. This means that there are significant failures in how policies and services are being designed and … delivered.’”
She continued: “Too often, service design focuses on urban areas and fails to address the unique needs of rural communities. However, when services are designed to meet the needs of rural areas, they work effectively in all settings, regardless of whether they are in an urban area or a rural area”.
MSP Emma Roddick. Picture: James MacKenzie.
The SNP Highland MSP Emma Roddick appeared to recognise the fundamental political failure to recognise that what works in urban areas does not work in rural ones, which perhaps stems from centralisation.
She said: “Although I strongly believe that organisations that seek to represent the views of all Scotland must come to the Highlands and Islands, that is not usually what happens, so it was very welcome to see such thorough and interested engagement across the region ahead of the debate”.
Ms Roddick said: “Although homelessness exists across Scotland, it does so differently in different communities. In Skye, we are more likely to see young people being homeless at home, whereas, in Inverness, people might be stuck for long periods in unsuitable accommodation.
“If people in rural and island communities know that no social housing is available anywhere near them, they might not register as homeless, because they believe that there is no point.
“All that hidden homelessness deserves full attention”.
She added: “The fact that the report highlights rights holders raising their inability to access support services, such as addictions services, tells me that people are living that nightmare right now”.
Caithness General Hospital.
Liberal Democrat Shetland SMP Beatrice Wishart highlighted how “the report notes that there is particular concern about the provision of maternity and gynaecology services in Caithness and Sutherland, which is an issue that my MP colleague Jamie Stone has long been campaigning on.
“Since maternity provision in Wick was downgraded, more than 14,000 patients a year have had to travel to Inverness, and no risk assessments on patient safety are carried out. Women who were surveyed reported feeling unsafe and terrified by the journey and by the possibility of giving birth en route.
“Due to delays in accessing the hospital in emergencies, some women have been left with loss of fertility. The situation is unsustainable and is putting patients at risk. I urge the Scottish Government to review the maternity model for the north of Scotland.
“Patients across the Highlands and Islands incur substantial costs in accessing healthcare. As the report states, reimbursement ‘rarely covers the actual costs of travel and … accommodation’”.
Greens MSP Arian Burgess said: “It is shameful that our people’s survival and dignity are being threatened by government inaction. Since being elected, my priorities have been to maintain and sustain rural and island populations, to support communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to help them to participate in restoring nature.
“Food and housing are key to those aims, yet a lack of Government priority and action means that Scotland is failing to meet even its most basic international obligations.
“On food, the report says that high prices and poverty are depriving a significant number of people of sufficient food. Even physically accessing affordable nutrition is a challenge, with bad weather, creaking infrastructure and overtourism depriving entire communities of fresh food.
She added: “Basically, people are being left to fend for themselves, with little to no support from the government”.