Promoting dialogue about human rights and law reform

Are you a Scottish human rights lawyer or NGO whose expertise could benefit another country?  Are you a human rights or legal practitioner based outside of the UK interested in sharing experiences with counterparts in Scotland?

We provide forums for dialogue and networking that often result in longer term partnerships.

Promoting Scottish governance and human rights worldwide

Read the speech by leading Scottish human rights lawyer Professor Alan Miller at our Promoting Scotland Worldwide lecture series.

Study tours in human rights and law

We work with our international offices to arrange study tours for law professionals from overseas who are interested in learning about the Scottish experience of:

			law reform
			legislating in a devolved country
			compliance with human rights in law enforcement
			implementing international human rights standards into domestic law.

Examples include:

			supporting the Chinese Ministry of Justice in incorporating human rights into their domestic law
			organising an annual legal study tour for a Japanese trainee judge.

If you are based in Scotland and are interested in meeting future study tour participants e-mail Lucy.Young@britishcouncil.org or telephone +44 (0)131 524 5700.

Study tours to Scotland are initiated by our overseas offices.

Capacity building and training

We arrange human rights and legal training and capacity building for individuals and organisations overseas.

Read about the experience of a Scottish human rights lawyer, Professor Alan Miller, who set up a human rights centre in Sudan.

Read about a group of Hungarian Judges who came to Scotland to shadow Scottish Judges and Sheriffs.

If you are based in the UK and have legal expertise that could benefit another country email govscotland@britishcouncil.org or telephone +44 (0)131 524 5751.  

Capacity building projects are initiated by our overseas offices.

Why promote Scottish law and human rights?

Scotland has maintained its own legal system since the Act of Union in 1707, which united Scotland, England and Wales to form the United Kingdom.  Scots law has origins in Roman law, whereas England uses a common law approach. Countries with similar legal systems have used the Scottish system as a model for law reform.

The combination of the Scotland Act, which established the Scottish Parliament, and the Human Rights Act have created a legal environment in which all law made in Scotland must comply with internationally agreed human rights standards.