Dr Claire Methven O'Brien

"Requiring women to expose their naked bodies before members of the opposite sex as a condition of accessing employment is without doubt a breach of privacy, dignity, decency and human rights" I wrote for @HolyroodDaily holyrood.com/comment/view,p…

@_RebeccaMcCurdy @heraldscotland Oh dear Amnesty. Not just peddling positions unsupported by human rights law text or doctrine but smearing women human rights defenders who dare to challenge them. How are the mighty fallen.

Beira's Place, the women's sexual assault support centre founded by JK Rowling, has been labelled an "anti-rights group" by Amnesty International UK, alongside For Women Scotland. Story @heraldscotland 👇 heraldscotland.com/news/26268863.…

@KrisztinaMaria To repeat, the use of female identifiers to refer to male defendants in rape trials is inconsistent with international human rights standards. I wrote about this here: claireob1.substack.com/p/should-judge… The relevant standards apply to Denmark.

In Denmark, a 27-year-old woman is charged with raping a 14-year-old girl. Completed rape. Vaginal, according to the indictment. Stop for a moment! The charge is completed vaginal rape. A person born female cannot commit that. The conclusion draws itself. And the explanation is right there on the accused’s own social media: The person presents as transgender. Yet the indictment uses a female name, and the media reports “a 27-year-old woman.” So a 14-year-old girl, who according to police froze in fear and could not resist, now has to read in the papers that she was raped by a woman. The justice system and the media have one job here: to describe reality. Not the perpetrator’s self-image. When language bends to ideology, the victim pays the price. Again. The case is being handled by the court in Holbæk, Denmark. We are watching.

@realitybasedguy Nope.

@claire_ob1 As you know, “human rights experts” say CEDAW allows or requires self id. Does its own monitoring committee not make that misrepresentation?

Under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention, the systematic collection and use of sex-disaggregated data is not optional but a core State obligation, because discrimination against women cannot be identified, measured or remedied without reliable data distinguishing women and men. CEDAW and the Istanbul are legal agreements already binding on the UK. The Scottish Government intends to incorporate CEDAW into Scottish law during this parliamentary term. The SNP's 2026 manifesto committed to doing so (p32).

Who Owns Scotland? Since September 2022, I have been building an online platform that enables you to find out who owns rural land in Scotland. It is the latest iteration of a project I started over 30 years ago in 1994. Today I am publishing the latest update (June 2026) which contains ownership information on 5025 landholdings covering 5.9 million hectares (14.7 million acres) or over 77% of rural Scotland 1/3

A significant development

I will present my report on violence against #mothers to #HRC62 today starting 16:00 cet. Tune in if available and interested. The press conference is scheduled for the 25th of June at 15:00. Only journalists can participate in the press conference while everyone can follow it on unwebtv as usual!

This is very good, I think dailymail.com/news/article-1…

Wings has been on this story persistently for at least three and a half years. Glad people are finally noticing. wingsoverscotland.com/raise-all-of-t…

@edwardrmgraham @ForWomenScot @claire_ob1 @DailyMail A trans inclusive ban on conversion therapy IS section 28, on steroids. It makes it a criminal offence to say that it is OK to be gay.

International human rights expert and Scottish Human Rights Commission member Dr Claire Methven O'Brien @claire_ob1 on the SNP plan to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ ‘Parents could be guilty of a crime just for querying the feeling of a daughter or son that they were ‘born in the wrong body’. A gently-framed question to your trans-identifying child – ‘Why do you think that, pet?’ for example – would be outlawed as dangerous hate speech.’ ‘You might be considered guilty of conversion practices - in SNP-speak - just for failing to affirm someone else’s belief that they have changed or can change their sex’ dailymail.com/news/article-1…

Thank you @ForWomenScot

dailymail.com/news/article-1… “Its practical implications run counter to advances in equality and safeguarding that are crucial, especially for women and girls, and threaten transparency, good governance and public administration – corrupting, for instance, the reliability of identity documents and crime data.” @claire_ob1 ⬇️

“What defies explanation is why progressive politicians would put their remaining electoral credibility on the line for yet another gender dogma-fuelled diversion that is almost certainly doomed to end in legal defeat. SNP plans to outlaw conversion practices would turn Scotland into a 21st century Stasi state, and they must be dropped.” @claire_ob1 on the madness that is a conversion practices ban ⬇️

Thank you @euanmccolm

'Sorry, Sophie' isn't enough.

The first duty of the state is to preserve life. Everything else flows from this. A state that fails to guarantee the basic physical security of its people is not a rights-respecting state.

Random playground in Denmark. Europe, have we hit rock bottom yet? Getting close?

4 June 2026: Scottish Court finds that failure to provide single sex toilets in schools (both cubicles and washbasins) discriminates against girls on grounds of sex, with reference to - privacy - dignity - safety - health and hygiene - sex-based vulnerability, anatomical and experiential differences as between girls and boys. There should be no mistake about what this judgment shows. Reliance on gender-neutral and unisex toilets in schools subjects girls -- en masse -- to degradation and increased risk of physical harm, on grounds of sex. Besides being unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, this undoubtedly breaches the human rights of girls under the ECHR, UNCRC, CEDAW, and probably also the Istanbul Convention. Governments and public authorities that fail to restore single-sex toilets in schools will, on this basis, be responsible for human rights violations. And those who encourage them will be complicit. scotcourts.gov.uk/media/mv5d53jw…