JPTi Submits UN Report on Scotland’s Governance Crisis: From Structural Inequality to Genuine Self-Governance
- Sharof
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
Geneva, 16 July 2025 – Justice pour Tous Internationale (JPTi), in formal collaboration with Liberation Scotland and with the support of the International Probono Legal Services Association (IPLSA), has submitted a detailed report to the United Nations Human Rights Council under Resolution 57/12 on Local Government and Human Rights. Accompanying this submission, JPTi has issued a formal press release, highlighting the urgent need for international scrutiny of Scotland’s structurally imposed governance model within the United Kingdom.
📰 Read the full press release:
📄 Access the full submission to the Human Rights Council:
The report, titled "From Structural Inequality to Genuine Self-Governance: Assessing Scotland’s Governance Crisis under Human Rights Council Resolution 57/12", argues that Scotland’s current devolved arrangements fail to meet the legal and democratic thresholds for genuine local governance as envisaged by international human rights instruments, including the ICCPR and ICESCR.
Drawing on expert legal and economic analysis from Professor Robert Black KC and Professor Alf Baird, the report documents systemic fiscal disempowerment, democratic exclusion, and cultural marginalisation. It contends that these structural conditions reflect internal colonial dynamics and merit formal review under the United Nations decolonisation framework.
📣 The press release and submission call, inter alia, for:
🔹 Affirmation of the right to self-determination as a foundational prerequisite for genuine local governance, particularly where devolved institutions lack constitutional entrenchment, fiscal autonomy, and the ability to implement the sustained democratic will of the people;
🔹 Enhanced integration between the UN human rights system and decolonisation mandates, encouraging synergies between the Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly in addressing overlapping structures of subordination within post-imperial contexts;
🔹 A formal examination by the United Nations of Scotland’s eligibility for recognition as a non-self-governing territory pursuant to General Assembly Resolutions 1514 (XV) and 1541 (XV), in light of the absence of a legal right to constitutional renegotiation or secession, and the consistent democratic expression of a right to determine its political status;
🔹 Corrective action to address Scotland’s exclusion from meaningful SDG realisation, focusing on the need for fiscal decentralisation, enforceable socio-economic rights, and structural reforms that enable autonomous local governance aligned with Human Rights Council Resolution 57/12 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
🔗 OHCHR call for input under Resolution 57/12: https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2025/call-inputs-human-rights-council-resolution-5712-local-government-and-human
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