New report calls for action on Scottish Gypsy / Traveller rights

This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 6th May 2026

A new report has set out how Scottish Gypsy / Travellers continue to face racial discrimination and unequal access across housing, health, and education.

Published by the University of Glasgow and Making Rights Real, the research focuses on how specific measures could help ensure these communities have their rights upheld, and how duty bearers can be held accountable to give effect to these legal rights.

Scottish Gypsy / Travellers are a recognised ethnic group protected under the Equality Act. However, the report outlines the evidence around a lack of awareness of this status from some public bodies and generally "a lack of understanding of the communities’ lived experience".

The report includes a number of recommendations targeting specific aspects of legislation including the implementation of the Scottish Gypsy / Traveller Accommodation Fund, the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, and the incorporation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Lorraine Barrie from Making Rights Real said: "There is much for duty bearers and National Human Rights Institutions to act upon here, and we call upon them to take proactive steps immediately."