Is there really a human rights crisis in the Highlands?

It’s grim up north in Scotland, we’re told. A mission from Edinburgh has produced a report about the woes of life in the Highlands and Islands, and a demand for measures to deal with them. Problems include a high incidence of poverty; a lack of affordable housing and public transport; long trips to the nearest hospital or surgery; limited social care; cultural desertification; a lack of local places of worship suitable for refugees; limited childcare and access to fresh food; and a good deal besides.

So far, so predictable. But this report comes not from some progressive think-tank, but from an official body, the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC). Its demands for action, moreover, are framed not so much as social policy suggestions as semi-legal claims based on international law and the need to respect human rights. So much so, indeed, that the report is being written up as showing that the Highlands and Islands are undergoing a ‘human rights crisis’.