Our Rights Stories

In this mini series, guests from our Barings Residential event held in Glasgow engaged with us to share their reflections on the question of 'Social Justice Battles'. You will hear reflections from a combination of lawyers, activist and academics across the sector in the UK on the social justice battles that they've participated in and continue to engage with. Our guests leave us with some hopeful and enlightening reflections to ponder. This podcast series was co-produced with staff from JustRight Scotland and made possible by funding from The Baring Residential.

In this mini series, guests from our Barings Residential event held in Glasgow engaged with us to share their reflections on the question of 'Funding of Residentials'. Our guests highlight the impact of being able to attend residentials and the importance of having a space to foster connection building and creativity. You will hear reflections from a combination of lawyers, activist and academics across the sector in the UK. This podcast series was co-produced with staff from JustRight Scotland and made possible by funding from The Baring Residential.

In this mini series, guests from our Barings Residential event held in Glasgow engaged with us to share their reflections on the question of 'Barriers'. How these barriers that our guests' clients and service users experience impact their access to their rights. You will hear reflections from a combination of lawyers, activist and academics across the sector in the UK. This podcast series was co-produced with staff from JustRight Scotland and made possible by funding from The Baring Residential.

In this episode, we explore the barriers African migrants face in the UK workforce, particularly the disconnect between their educational qualifications and the limited opportunities available to them. Our guest Esther from JustCitizens and Adeniyi from African Connect share personal insights on the struggles highly skilled individuals, including those with PhDs, face when they are pushed into the care sector as the "easy way out" of the system. We also discuss the broader issues of education, mental health, and employment within racialised communities in Scotland. Tune in to hear how we can change the narrative and create a more inclusive system together.

Today’s episode is our insightful conversation with Satwat Rehman, CEO of One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS), a leading charity working with single-parent families in Scotland. While speaking with Satwat, we learned more about: Visit the OPFS website to read their latest news: Changing Lives, Challenging Poverty - One Parent Families Scotland.

This is part 2 of our conversation with Jean Demars, Director of the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC). This episode features the kind of services the team is delivering with a focus on their current projects and campaigns, and their approach when taking part in public inquiries including Undercover Policing Inquiry. Jean is also focusing on their Gypsy and Traveller Legal Advice project and he depicts the structural inequalities these communities are facing across the UK and England, through extensive data analysis. Jean talks about laws and examples from PILC’s work in England and Wales and the laws in Scotland are often different. However, through our work with Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland we also see that these communities often face similar issues and barriers to justice. At JustRight Scotland we are working alongside these communities to defend and extend their rights across Scotland. The term ‘Gypsies and Travellers’ is used throughout this episode as it is the term used by PILC in their work. In Scotland the term 'Gypsy/Travellers' is often used to refer to distinct groups – such as Roma, Romany Gypsies, Scottish and Irish Travellers. To learn about the amazing work that PILC are doing in the UK and how impactful it’s on their communities, you can website videos Newsletter

Today, we talk with Jean Demars, Director of the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), about: To learn more about their recent cases, upcoming initiatives, and their grassroots approach, where 'Without relationships with groups, we don't exist,' listen to our podcast! Visit their website for more details: Public Interest Law Centre • Public Law • Human Rights • Legal Action (pilc.org.uk)

Today’s episode is a part two of our special conversation with Kairos Women+, a community-led women’s space for all women and non-binary people across Renfrewshire and beyond. While speaking with Katy Wilson-Scott, senior coordinator, and Abril Flores Rojo, project worker, about their incredible projects, we found out more about: Scottish Women’s Rights Centre Visit Kairos Women+’s website to read their latest news: Kairos Women+ – Renfrewshire's community-led women's space—collaboratively creating opportunities for women via workshops, events and courses.

Today’s episode is a part one of a special conversation with Kairos Women+, a community-led women’s space for all women and non-binary people across Renfrewshire and beyond. We talk about their collaborative, intersectional and innovative participatory approach. What does it mean? We speak with Katy Wilson-Scott, senior coordinator, and Abril Flores Rojo, project worker, who highlight: Want to find out more? Visit Kairos Women+’s website and explore their latest resources: Kairos Women+ – Renfrewshire's community-led women's space—collaboratively creating opportunities for women via workshops, events and courses.

Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a set of universal, indivisible and inalienable rights, recognizing the equal dignity and worth of every person. Listen to our special episode to learn more and download our resources below: Partner organisations: Human Rights Consortium Scotland – Civil society network to protect human rights in Scotland (hrcscotland.org) Making Rights Real – Using rights to improve communities Our Team - The PILS Project (pilsni.org) Our team: Our Team - JustRight Scotland Our centres: What we do - JustRight Scotland Our landmark legal case who changed the law for migrant students in Scotland now accessing free education: Access to Higher Education for migrant students is now a real right (justrightscotland.org.uk) Our work on Access to Justice: Access to Justice - JustRight Scotland Our campaign on the Scottish Human Rights Bill: Scotland’s Human Rights Bill: the right to an effective remedy is essential to the new framework - JustRight Scotland How you can support our work to defend and extend people’s rights: Donate - JustRight Scotland

As part of our #16 Days of Activism campaign against Gender-Based Violence, we continue our conversation with staff members from the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC), Nicola Mooney, Advocacy Worker, and Constance Trepanier, Legal Caseworker. In this episode we highlight which kinds of resources the SWRC has produced and produces to support survivors of gender-based violence and how important it is to train solicitors, police officers, and support workers on how to have a trauma informed approach when liaising with victims/survivors. We also speak about our dedicated weekly immigration advice surgery, staffed by solicitors from our Scottish Refugee & Migrant Centre in collaboration with the team at the SWRC, to provide a holistic service when survivors call for information. Lastly, we talk about the training the SWRC provides on topics such as sexual harassment, gender-based violence and domestic abuse; and we point out that all the work the SWRC does is informed by lived experience panels, which are part of current strategy the centre is working on. You can find out more about the services and resources provided by the SWRC on their website: Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk) Training’s details are available here: Training | Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk) More information on the immigration advice surgery here: Advice surgeries | Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk)

What are the root causes of gender-based violence? And what’s the difference between economic and financial abuse? Today’s episode is a special one, because we talked about the calls to action of the #16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence and how organisations, institutions and individuals play a key role in ending violence against women and girls. We speak with our Senior Associate Solicitor at the Scottish Women’s rights Centre (SWRC) Lyndsay Monaghan and Jenn Glinski, researcher and expert on domestic abuse with unique expertise in economic abuse and banking. We highlight how violence against women CAN and MUST be prevented through - investing in organisations which provide services for women survivors of gender-based violence; - committing to structural reform of our legal aid system to address systemic barriers women face to accessing justice - increase awareness of all forms of gender-based violence including coercive control and economic abuse Want to find out more? Visit our SWRC’s website and explore the latest resources: Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk) https://www.scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk/resources/Economic-Abuse-final.pdf https://www.jennglinskiconsulting.com/postseparation

This episode features our trainee solicitor Eilidh, who speaks about her experience as a trainee at JustRight Scotland through the Justice First Fellowship scheme delivered by The Legal Education Foundation. Eilidh has been working across all our legal centres learning more about legal processes and procedures, court cases and legal surgeries. She also developed new skills and worked on different projects including her latest work on the Incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into the Scottish law. Want to learn more? Read our resources: UNCRC Implementation Fund - JRSKnowhow https://uncrc.scot/ Make Human Rights Justice a Reality report https://www.justrightscotland.org.uk/2022/08/my-first-6-months-as-legal-trainee-and-justice-first-fellow/ We are also recruiting for a new Trainee Solicitor (Justice First Fellowship). You can apply here: Work with Us - JustRight Scotland

This is part 2 of our Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre (SATEC) episode of the Our Rights Stories podcast created and developed by the JustRight Scotland team. This episode features the kind of services the team is delivering with a focus on their current projects and their holistic and trauma-informed approach. To learn about the amazing work that Anushya, Eeman and Antonia are doing in Scotland and how impactful it’s on their clients, you can also visit our website: Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre - JustRight Scotland

Today we talk with Maria McCloskey, PILS Director, and Emma Cassidy, Senior Engagement Lead at PILS about what PILS is and what the team does, how the staff members take on new projects and develop them to help and support communities across Northern Ireland, how important strategic cases are as they impact not just one person but a number of people in our society and how the UK Government’s hostile environment policies are negatively affecting people and above all, children, in Northern Ireland. The team also speaks about their latest projects including their recent podcast To Be Fair NI (shout out to this amazing new series!) and their upcoming toolkit for public interest litigation. To learn more about their recent cases, find out more about their next steps and listen to the PILS podcast, visit their website: PILS Project - Public Interest Litigation Support Northern Ireland (pilsni.org)

In this latest episode - created and developed by the JustRight Scotland team, we are focusing on digital learning, how to set up personalised training and how transformative and impactful learning can be. We talk with Laura and Ricarda about the role of our social enterprise JRS Knowhow, the work the team is doing to improve people's understanding of rights and equalities across Scotland and to help organisations better understand what this approach means for their day-to-day job, and why it is so important across sectors and communities in Scotland. Our digital consultancy specialises in learning and social justice and the team has recently launched their online Craftivism Origami Box which you can check out here: https://jrsknowhow.org/shop/ Want to learn more about their other innovative projects? Click the below links: https://jrsknowhow.org/https://www.accessnow.org/guide/digital-id-toolkit/https://mailchi.mp/jrsknowhow/equalities-and-human-rights-for-digitalhttp://eepurl.com/iB897o

This episode features our Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre (SATEC) which is the only specialist legal project in Scotland that provides direct legal advice and representation to child and adult survivors of trafficking and exploitation in Scotland regardless of nationality, gender, type of exploitation and geographical location. We talk with the team about their work, their current projects, their holistic and trauma-informed approach to help and support survivors of trafficking and exploitation. We hear more about their casework and their hopes for the future – you can find out more about it on our next episode so don’t miss it! Listen now to learn about the incredible work that Eeman and Antonia are doing in Scotland, why their services are so important and how they have a life-changing impact on each client they work with. Stay tuned for Part 2 - coming soon! Useful links: Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre - JustRight Scotland Legal Factsheets - JustRight Scotland

Every year the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC) welcomes students from the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic as interns. All of them work alongside our legal team, they improve their knowledge of the wider organisation by taking part in weekly meetings, events and activities and they gain new experience into the legal sector. Maya joined the SWRC on a placement over the summer and she is still a volunteer at our Scottish Women’s Rights Centre. In this episode, we talk about her experience as intern first and as a volunteer after, her hopes and dreams for the future and the impact this opportunity is having on her studies and careers. Our Scottish Women's Rights Centre is a unique collaborative project between us, Rape Crisis Scotland and University of Strathclyde Law Clinic. They provide free legal information, advice, representation and advocacy support to self-identifying women in Scotland affected by violence and abuse. The SWRC’s services include legal and advocacy helplines, legal advice surgeries, advocacy support and legal representation. The team also produces accessible information regarding women’s rights and guides on women’s rights. You can read their latest blog about voyeurism and upskirting here: Voyeurism and upskirting: what are they and what are your rights? | News/Blog | Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk) Download their guidance here: Legal guide cover template.docx (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk) Read Maya’s blog post is available here: Insight series – Part 4: a JustRight Intern - JustRight Scotland To find out more about our SWRC and their latest vacancies, please visit their website: Vacancies | Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk)

This is part 3 of our Scotland’s Human Rights Bill series of the Our Rights Stories podcast created and developed by the JustRight Scotland team. In this episode, we keep talking about the current consultation, what are some of the gaps, how this impacts policy and what human rights incorporation means for people in Scotland and our justice system. We analyse the accessibility level of this consultation, how our JustCitizens members have reacted to these proposals and what's missing. We also focus on some next steps which can follow this consultation process, and talk about our hopes for the future, including why the right to an effective remedy has to be included in this Bill framework. For more information, check out our website here: Scotland’s Human Rights Bill: the right to an effective remedy is essential to the new framework - JustRight Scotland Read our response to the consultation here: 23.10.09-updated-A-Human-Rights-Bill-for-Scotland-JRS-Response-.pdf (justrightscotland.org.uk)

This is part 2 of our Scotland’s Human Rights Bill episode of the Our Rights Stories podcast created and developed by the JustRight Scotland team. This episode continues to look at the Scottish Government’s consultation proposals for a Human Rights Bill published on 15th June which will close on 5 October 2023. We are focusing on this topic as part of our Scottish campaign which aims to call for the right to an effective remedy – one that is accessible, affordable, timely and effective – to be included in the Bill as a substantive right, with a duty to comply. That was omitted from the Consultation proposals. Inclusion of this right in the framework Human Rights Bill will ensure it is part of national law and can be used to drive positive change, in the same way as the other substantive rights. For more information, check out our website: Scotland’s Human Rights Bill: the right to an effective remedy is essential to the new framework - JustRight Scotland