By Leah Gunn Barrett

I’ve just sent this letter to the 3 main unionist papers here in Scotland as well as to The National. I hope at least one picks it up but I’m not holding my breath.It’s vital that each and every one of us contacts as many friends, colleagues and family members as we can and urge them to sign this petition. We the Scottish People must demand from our elected representatives our international human rights.Westminster will do everything in its power to deny us our direct political rights and our right to self-determination, both of which are in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). We cannot and will not allow Holyrood to deny them to us, as well. A petition (PE2135) has just been published on the Scottish Parliament website, calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure, before the next Holyrood election, that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is given full legal effect in the devolved law-making process. It is open for signing now. Respect Scottish Sovereignty (RSS), the grassroots group behind the petition, believes Direct Democracy provides the only tools by which to achieve Scotland’s stated constitutional goal of Popular Sovereignty. RSS seeks to convince MSPs to legislate in favour of internationally recognised Political Rights, ratified by the UK in 1976 but never implemented in Scots law. Without direct political rights, popular sovereignty is completely meaningless because the People have no power with which to hold government to account. In a month, ScotGov must publish an official response on Parliament’s petition website and send it to RSS for comment. The parliamentary research centre, SPICe, will publish a briefing on the Holyrood website. Once received, the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee (CPPPC) will consider the Petition, the Scottish Government response and the SPICe briefing, and agree on further action. The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has criticised the UK since 2008 for failing to enact ICCPR and the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) stated in 2020 that “The Scotland Act 1998, which established the Scottish Parliament, requires both the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government to observe and implement all of the UK’s international human rights obligations.” Both organisations repeated their criticisms in early 2024. At the SNP conference First Minister Swinney said, “I have complete faith in the people of Scotland to take the right decisions about their future. If we give them the tools, they can build whatever country they want.” Give us the tools, First Minister.