Human Rights Legislative Options Working Group meeting: 7 April 2025

• Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) / Cardiff University Wales Governance Centre
• Disability Wales
• Victoria Vasey (VV), Women’s Equality Network (WEN) Wales
• Cardiff University
• Tai Pawb
• Swansea University 
• Contractor
• Bangor University

Welsh Government officials

• Head of strategic equality Human Rights and delivery planning
• Deputy Director, Equality and Human Rights
• Head of Human Rights
• Senior policy manager Human Rights
• Policy manager Human Rights officer

Apologies

• Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Independent member

Welcome

The Chair welcomed members, noting the previous minutes had not been approved and proposed to review them together with the current meeting minutes for written approval. A welcome was extended to the new Head of the Welsh Government Human Rights Branch, who provided an overview of their background in research and social care.

Recap of actions and work since the last meeting

The Chair gave an update on work that has taken place since the last meeting including:

• A response to the Equality and Social Justice Committee’s letter was issued. The response will be circulated to members for discussion at the next LOWG meeting.
• Discussion on the progress of various work pieces and the need for feedback from the group.
• A project plan has been developed collaboratively and submitted in advance of the deadline for the 2025 to 2026 Welsh Government budget.
• The group was informed about a section in the project plan document regarding advisory groups. Feedback was requested from LOWG members if they have any information on advisory group contacts.

Action point: The previous two LOWG meeting minutes to be reviewed and circulated for written approval.

Action point: The response letter to the Equality and Social Justice Committee to be circulated to members for discussion at the next meeting.

Action point: All members to provide feedback on the project and forward work plan.

Template and analysis:

An update was provided on work relating to the template and project plan, including the application of the template to Article 10 of CEDAW, including the following:

• Final part 1 and part 2 templates applied to Article 10 of CEDAW and circulated. Part 1 covers the essence of the right, Wales' competence to incorporate it through devolved legislation, and implementation possibilities. It informs part 2 of key requirements.
• Part 3 is being considered focusing on the route to incorporation, its necessities, and additional benefits.
• Adding a concluding paragraph to part 1 was suggested to summarise the template's application to the article, along with reflective summaries.

An explanation was provided on how information has been set out in the spreadsheet for the part 2 template. This included:

• Concluding observations from CEDAW 2019.
• Supporting points from NHRI reports and other Welsh specific information.
• Committee recommendations.
• Progress evidence looking at how the WG have taken the recommendations forward.
• Analysis from the EHRC human rights tracker.
• Identifying frameworks that could be used to address areas of deficit. Members were asked to provide comment on any interim steps, changes or adjustments that need to be made to the template.
• Consideration is being given to ways to simplify the information in the template and improve the usability of the document.
• Question was raised regarding the role of socioeconomic rights and separating the equalities dimension of the article. Referenced was made to article 10 of CEDAW, which involves the right to education, explaining that it could fall under socioeconomic rights. They would refer to ICESCR for the basis of the underlying right and then examine the equality aspect.
• This work is complex and needs careful evaluation. Clarifying rights in the equality framework may require differentiating it from a rights framework for incorporation.

Action Point: Progress to continue according to the project plan.

• The group was informed that WG is in the final stages of funding the work for the rest of 2025 to 2026.
• Consideration is being given to allocating part of the budget to enlist assistance. Moving forward, the possibility of involving LOWG members with relevant expertise will be investigated.
• The timeline indicates the next financial year, referring to the end of December 2025. 
• Focus is being given to rights within Welsh Government competence. This will be kept under active review, with updates to be reported back to the Group on the rights under analysis.
• It was agreed that having a LOWG meeting every two months would be useful.
• Capacity issues concerning the draft disability rights action plan and upcoming consultations were noted. 
• The group agreed to wait until part 3 is clearer before sharing information with stakeholders, being careful about the amount of detail provided.

Action Point: Secretariat to liaise with the Chair to determine dates for future meetings to take place every 2 months going forward.