Scotland needs an action plan for human rights, because good intentions are not translating into real improvements for vulnerable people, the national rights commissioner has warned.
Alan Miller, chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC), will today set out a process that will lead to recommendations for legal and cultural changes he believes are necessary to make human rights meaningful.
Mr Miller said he would draft a National Action Plan over the next year setting out how to "fill the gaps" in human rights protection.
The plans coincide with the publication of Getting it Right, a report on a three-year project from the SHRC highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of human rights in Scotland.
Mr Miller argued that, while policymakers and legislators have embraced the principle of human rights, these aims are often not evident in the day to day reality of people's lives.
The report highlights a shortage of adequate housing, the gender pay gap, fuel poverty and the rights of victims of crime as areas in which rights do not always translate into reality.
He said: "More needs to be done to ensure human rights are upheld in areas like housing, healthcare, social care, education and in the justice system."
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