23
PROFILE: NICE TO MEET YOU Professor Alan Miller Professor of Practice, Human Rights Law
Hello, Alan! You were appointed as a Professor of Practice in the Law School in August this year, but I believe you’re not new to Strathclyde. Can you tell us about your previous experience here? Hi. I go back some way at Strathclyde! After graduating from elsewhere, I travelled and lived abroad for almost 10 years. On my return in the 1980s, I still needed to pass tax and accountancy before I could get a legal practising certificate. Strathclyde was the only institution which recognised that I couldn’t attend the regular day classes due to work commitments and so arranged evening classes for me. I had little money, couldn’t afford to replace a faulty starter motor and so I could also kick start my old car on the hilly streets of the campus and make it home to Ayrshire afterwards! Later, I was invited to become a Visiting Professor. This was at the time of the introduction of the Scotland Act and the Human Rights Act over 20 years ago now and I had gone on to practice law, become President of the Glasgow Bar Association and head a human rights NGO. I have taught at undergraduate level and then on the LLM Human Rights ever since. This is why my heart belongs to Strathclyde at the centre of Glasgow, which is the most humane and humorous city I have experienced from much travel around the world! How did you come to work in the field of human rights? Oh, it has been a long and winding road! As a child of the 1960s and then becoming a law student, I was disappointed that the teaching seemed to be about “small” things and I was more interested in the “big” things that were happening in the world. So I took off into the world, the “university of life” as it was referred to then, and soon I wanted to be part of changing that world and that led me towards human rights. Once back in Scotland I ran a legal aid practice in Castlemilk in the 80s and 90s, then a consultancy in international human rights law, before becoming elected by the Scottish Parliament in 2007 as the founding Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission. From there I became elected as the Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions and then became Special Envoy of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and began working with the UN in advocacy and capacity-building. I have now recently been appointed by the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, as the Independent Co-Chair of the National Task Force for Human Rights Leadership to help lead a participative process to prepare a Bill to establish a new human rights framework for
Scotland, including internationally recognised human rights from the UN human rights treaties. So, as I say, quite a long and winding road! What do you hope to achieve in your new role as Professor of Practice? Well, I hope quite a lot! For sure, to work more closely with colleagues like Dr Elaine Webster and others to help develop the Centre for the Study of Human Rights law into a centre of excellence nationally and internationally. More than that would hopefully be to contribute to multi-disciplinary cooperation across the university in helping it further develop as a leader in the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals. This where it is at for any university wanting to demonstrate leadership in addressing today’s global challenges, particularly climate change. What are you currently working on alongside your new role? As I mentioned above, I have been appointed by the First Minister as Independent Co-Chair of the National Task Force for Human Rights Leadership. So, this means helping lead a participative process in the preparation of a Bill introducing a new human rights framework for Scotland. Its aim is to improve people’s lives and support the international rules-based order which is under real pressure in these times. What inspires you? People of all kinds whom I have met around the world - their common humanity and dignity, resilience, aspirations and humour born from surviving adversity. Looking ahead 5-10 years, what are your hopes for human rights practice in Scotland? Well, it is probably more than hope! Human rights practice in Scotland will become more about what it means to be human. I have seen in my life real changes happen throughout Scotland’s human rights journey. Yesterday, the public discourse was about quite nebulous “civil liberties”, today it is about “human rights”, although only mainly civil and political rights, tomorrow it will be about the full range of internationally recognised modern human rights – not only civil and political at present like fair trial and privacy rights, but economic, social, cultural and environmental like the rights to an adequate standard of living, to housing, food, health, education, way of life and, increasingly urgently, a healthy environment. In other words, what is needed to live a life of human dignity. Can you tell us about a recent book you’ve read that had an impact on you? It has been a joy to read a newly published book written by a colleague and personal friend, Constitution Street by Jemma Neville. And as since the festive season is upon is the final question is, what do you hope Santa will bring you? Well, I hope that I have dropped enough hints already within the family – a pop up table tennis table! All work and no play is not good for anyone!
The HaSS Research & Impact Bulletin [ People & Society - Winter 2019, Issue No.5 ]
