Employment, Race and the Referendum
10th March 2014, Senate Room, University of Glasgow
BEMIS Scotland and partners, the Scottish Refugee Council and STUC (One Workplace Equal Rights), are pleased to announce the latest in an annual series of conferences focused on employment.
The conference will seek to generate informed debate regarding employment and race equality in relation to the independence referendum, and what the Scottish Government's White Paper on independence proposes.
A preliminary programme is included below. If you would like to register to attend this conference, please fill in this registration form, or email events@bemis.org.uk, and give your name, organisation, and any dietary, access or other requirements.
Further reading:
- MEMO+ Summaries of 'Scotland's Future'
- Read SRC's response to 'Scotland's Future'
- Read STUC's response to 'Scotland's Future'
Programme:
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12:15 |
Registration (with lunch and tea and coffee) |
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13:00 |
Setting the Scene: |
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13:30 |
Opening Address: Question and Answer session |
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14:00 |
Presentations from the Yes Scotland and Better Together campaigns |
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14:30 |
Panel Questions: |
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15:00 |
Closing statements from Yes Scotland and Better Together campaigns |
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15:30 |
Evaluation/Poll and Closing Remarks from Rami Ousta |
Human Rights and Scotland's Constitutional Future
This event will comprise of two workshops, the first of which will take place in Edinburgh on 18th March and the second in Glasgow on 1st May. The events have been organised collaboratively by The Scottish Constitutional Futures Forum, the Human Rights Consortium Scotland, the Glasgow Human Rights Network, and the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network and is supported by the Thomas Paine Initiative.
'Human Rights and Scotland's Constitutional Future: Where we are now? Human Rights and the Independence Debate'
Monday 18th March 2013, 10.15am - 3.45pm
Scottish Parliament Building, Edinburgh
This is the first of two seminars that aim to examine how the independence debate and the question-mark it has placed over Scotland's constitutional future influence human rights protections, by creating a dialogue between academics, practitioners, and civil society.
More specifically, this seminar will evaluate the uncertain world of human rights protection across the UK as a whole, learning from the difficulty of implementing new rights provisions in Northern Ireland, in particular. Human Rights in Scotland will be considered in the light of recent developments, with a mapping of the rights implications of different possible constitutional outcomes: the status quo of devolution (that is capable of on-going development); increased devolution; and independence. The purpose of this seminar will be to provide information on key legal issues, to place human rights in Scotland within a broader UK and international perspective, and to draw upon the experience of, and feedback from, participants to inform the second seminar which will take place in May 2013. Please find the programme attached.
This is an invitation only event. If you would like to attend, please register to receive an invitation for the Scottish Parliament at the link below. Please note that the number of places for the event is limited and they will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis:
http://scffevent.eventbrite.com/#
Due to venue specifications, this event will require the submission of a guest list with the names of all those who have registered, and you will be asked to present your invitation on arrival. We would be very grateful if you could inform us if you have registered and will not be able to attend, or if someone else from your organisation can attend in your place, as numbers are limited and we want to facilitate the largest attendance possible. If you need to contact us or require any additional information, please email law.events@ed.ac.uk with 'Human Rights and Scotland's Constitutional Future' in the subject-matter line.
This seminar will be followed by the Ruth Adler Human Rights Lecture, 'Using comparative constitutionalism in human rights discourse: Ireland's past and Scotland's future', given by Professor Christopher McCrudden (Queen's University Belfast) on the same date (Playfair Library, Old College, 6pm), to which you are also invited. Please email law.events@ed.ac.uk with 'Adler lecture' in the subject-matter line if you would like to attend.
'The Human Rights Question: What sort of Scotland, and what sort of future?'
Wednesday 1st May 2013, 10.00am - 4.00pm
Glasgow City Chambers
How do the independence debate, and the question-mark it has placed over Scotland’s constitutional future, influence human rights protections? Will the debate provide opportunities to further promote and protect human rights, will it provide new threats to human rights, or is it largely an irrelevance or even a distraction from the day-to-day work of those organisations who work for the rights of particular constituencies?
This seminar will examine how those involved in civil society groups are working to promote and protect rights, and consider the extent to which the referendum context affects this work. The seminar will consider questions such as: whether groups conceive of, and articulate their work in human rights terms, or in other terms? To what extent are human rights issues seen as important to the constitutional debate? Are human rights particularly served by one constitutional future or another? How might human rights be useful to articulating a vision of the future that might inform constitutional development in Scotland, whether through an on-going development of devolution, or an alternative constitutional future?
Please see The Human Rights Question Draft Agenda for more details.
To register, please visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5386404882.
More information on this event will be supplied as it becomes available.
Towards a Written Scottish Constitution
Organized by Dr. Mark McNaught under the auspices of the Constitutional Commission and the Chaire MADP, research centre at Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques Paris
Saturday 16th March 2013, Paris, France
In the wake of the adoption of the Edinburgh Accords on October 15, 2012, Scottish independence has become a real possibility after over 300 years of being part of the United Kingdom. The constitutional implications both of independence and remaining within the UK are manifold. If the Scots vote ‘yes’ to independence in Autumn 2014, what will this mean constitutionally? Will they adopt a written constitution? What will be the relationship with the UK? Will they automatically be able to continue their adhesion to Europe? In event of a ‘no’ vote, Davis Cameron’s coalition government has offered vague assurances that more powers would be devolved after the referendum. What would be those powers be? Could Scotland adopt a written constitution while remaining within the UK to reinforce and consolidate these as-yet-specified powers? If Scotland remains within the UK in 2015, and the UK votes in a proposed referendum after 2015 to withdraw from the EU, even if a majority of Scots vote to stay within the EU, will Scotland be required to withdraw from the EU?
If you are interested in attending, please contact Dr. Mark McNaught markmcnaught@yahoo.com
Constitutional Change and Human Rights
Date: Monday 10 December 2012
Time: 1pm - 4.30pm
Venue: Scottish Trades Union Congress, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow G3 6NG
A Human Rights Consortium Scotland Meeting to celebrate International Human Rights Day
The current arrangements for human rights protection in Scotland will be discussed and participants will be invited to consider future opportunities given the debate on constitutional reform. For example do we want to promote a ‘rights respecting’ culture in Scotland and how can we better mainstream human rights across our public sector?
Speakers have been invited to contribute to the debate on:
- possible implications for human rights protection in Scotland of constitutional change: independence
- possible implications for human rights protection in Scotland of constitutional change: enhanced devolution
- possible implications for human rights protection in Scotland if there is no major change in Scotland’s governance e.g. opportunities for human rights development under the constitutional status quo.
The audience will also be invited to participate in the discussion and by answering some specific questions that will inform two seminars on human rights themes promoted jointly by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS), Glasgow Human Rights Network (GHRN) and Scottish Constitutional Futures Forum (SCFF) with the support of funding from the Atlantic Philanthropy/ Thomas Paine Initiative.
Please sign up for attendance, places are limited, at this URL: http://eepurl.com/rybMD
Agenda
1-1.45 Networking lunch - provided by Thompsons Solicitors
1.45 Chair’s introduction and setting the scene
1.55 Speaker from Better Together
2.10 Speaker from Yes Campaign
2.25 Speaker on ‘Current human rights protection’
2.40 Debate
3.30 Seeking the audience’s views –questions considered in small groups
4.15 Report back and
4.30 Close