"Enhancing respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights to achieve an adequate standard of living for all."

Overview

There is limited understanding of human rights as a lens through which to view the problems of poverty and inadequate living standards. This means that the starting point for work in this area is to raise awareness of human rights, what they mean when it comes to poverty and how they can be used to effect change in people's lives.

What SNAP aims to achieve

  • Taking a human rights based approach to eradicating poverty, tackling austerity and welfare reform.

  • Ensuring human rights are taken account of in budget decisions and that people with direct experience of poverty are involved in shaping budget and other decisions that affect them.

  • Addressing inequalities in access to services for people living in rural areas.

  • Improving transport in rural areas and for disabled people.

  • Increasing the provision of culturally appropriate accommodation for Scottish Gypsy/Traveller communities.

  • Reviewing the use of land as a resource for realising a range of human rights.

  • Tackling gender inequality in employment including the gender pay gap and lack of child care.

  • Tackling a range of inequalities in education.

  • Tackling low pay and issues related to in-work poverty.

Progress and future plans

In its first year, the Action Group on an Adequate Standard of Living focused on developing ideas and content for an Innovation Forum to explore the benefits of human rights based approaches to understanding and tackling poverty. This Innovation Forum took place on 10 December 2014 to mark SNAP's first anniversary and International Human Rights Day. People with experience of living in poverty joined people working for government and public bodies, charities and community groups and people with experience of using human rights to tackle poverty in other countries, to share experiences, ideas and suggestions for action.

Films and a report from the day are available.

Work is now taking place to follow up onthe priorities for action identifed by those who took part in the Forum.

  • A Reference Group of people with experience of poverty has been established to make sure that work taking place through SNAP reflects and addresses the priorities of people with experience of the issues involved.

  • The Scottish Human Rights Commission has commissioned a series of papers on the relationship between human rights and social justice, to be published in autumn/winter 2015. These will explore what a human rights based approach to poverty looks like in practice, models for using human rights in budget analysis and budgeting and options for realising economic, social and cultural rights.

  • A partnership between the Edinburgh Tenants Federation, the Participation in the Practice of Rights Project and the Action Group will use learning from the Seven Towers estate in Belfast to take a human rights based approach to tackling substandard housing.

Future plans are being developed for 2016 and beyond.