Academic literature on the topic 'Competing human rights'

Claims that genital autonomy should be considered a human right call into question medically unnecessary genital alterations, including genital cutting of both boy and girl children, the forced or coerced circumcision of adults, and surgical alterations performed on the genitals of intersex children prior to the age of consent. To date, global norms suggest only a narrow applicability of any right to genital autonomy. International organizations, states, and non-governmental organizations increasingly condemn genital cutting of girls and women but generally tolerate both the genital cutting of boys and men and the surgical alteration of the genitals of intersex children. In examining assertions that genital autonomy should be considered a human right, the article considers competing rights claims, including religious and cultural rights, parental rights, and contending perspectives on health rights. Ultimately, this article highlights the limitations of international human rights law as a tool for promoting a right to genital autonomy.

This paper evaluates the impact of competing “democratic” discourses on human rights protection in Southeast Asia. The authors identify three key discourses emanating from a set of national governmental policies, advocacy positions promoted by both global and local civil society and international standards and procedures adopted by members of inter-governmental organisations. These discourses, the authors argue, are collectively shaping the emerging ASEAN inter-governmental human rights regime. The political impact of these competing “democratic” discourses and their complex interactions bring a cultural dimension to regional human rights. The authors argue that observers seeking to understand the emergence of norms, the establishment of institutions and their capacity to collectively protect regional human rights, need to understand these competing discourses.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to engender new thinking regarding the intersection between universal human rights and development, and associated programmes. This leads to three subsidiary objectives: demonstrating the mutually reinforcing relationship between human rights and development; considering the practical divide between having and exercising a right; understanding the impact of non-state actors; and emphasising the ways in which state capacity and social capabilities need to be enhanced to both transform the consideration of human rights into a meaningful development catalyst and treat development as a significant contributor to human rights endeavours. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins by exploring the historical and contemporary understanding of the relationship between development and human rights – arguing for the increasing recognition of their mutually reinforcing relationship. The second section analyses the controversy regarding the existence of genuine “universal” human rights; followed by considering whether human rights are mere aspirations or genuine rights – exposing the difficulty of monitoring, evaluating, and enforcing adherence to human rights mandates, particularly given the growth of non-state actors, such as multinational corporations (MNCs)/transnational corporations (TNCs). The paper closes with a call to strengthen social capabilities and state capacities to consolidate the union between development and human rights. Findings Credence is broadly given to the moral argument for including human rights within a development framework. However, the economic argument remains largely neglected and certainly under-emphasized. Human rights and development should not be viewed or pursued as separate ends in themselves – competing objectives for separate organisations or programmes – but as mutually reinforcing. Both drive the same goal: the inclusive, equitable and qualitative development of human well-being. Further, to transform human rights into meaningful development catalysts one needs to be able to “exercise” the given rights – which in turn calls for strengthening social capabilities and state capacities. Originality/value Unlike some previous works, this paper does not prescribe a particular remedy. Rather, accepting the intangibility of human rights and the associated large degree of subjectivity, it provokes the reader to move beyond the strictures of conventional theories and frameworks. For example, the difference between “having” and “exercising” a right – a stark feature of actual practice has frequently been omitted from theoretical discussion. Likewise, the role of non-state actors, such as MNCs and TNCs, and the way in which their power can impede or support development goals and human rights is a relatively new point of discussion demanding further exploration.

There has been much recent debate about women's rights and their relation to human rights. Debates about domestic violence in Vanuatu are situated in this global frame but also in a regional and historical context dominated by the relation between kastom (tradition) and Christianity. This article depicts the dynamics of a conference on Violence and the Family in Vanuatu held in Port Vila in 1994, in terms of the competing claims of universal human rights and cultural relativism. The allegedly western character of human rights which focus on the individual and civil and political rights is often contrasted with the non-western stress on collectivities and the rights to economic development and self-determination. These sorts of ideological oppositions in international politics reverberate in domestic politics as well, and especially in those which situate women and men as subjects in conflict, as they are in many domestic disputes.

Vagueness and inconsistency in policy formulation represent an underlying factor for the longstanding weakness and ineffectiveness of EU human rights action towards the Mediterranean neighbourhood. This article aims to shed light on the causes of such flaws in policy-making and grasp their consequences on EU approaches on the matter, focusing on the competing preferences vis-a-vis the role and scope of human rights held by the key actors who have affected the direction of EU Mediterranean policy over time. The article argues that the roots of human rights inconsistency therein lie in the EU’s protracted incapability to coherently conciliate such competing views despite opportunities to do so emerging periodically throughout the last thirty years of Euro-Mediterranean relations. EU Mediterranean policy, EU foreign policy analysis, human rights, political conditionality, Barcelona Process, European Neighbourhood Policy, civil society organizations

La vie privée est une notion jurisprudentielle, consacrée récemment par le législateur. Pourtant, elle n’est pas clairement définie. Elle s’inscrit dans un contexte éminemment variable. Par conséquent, son domaine et son régime juridique sont complexes à déterminer. Cependant, des notions telles que l’intimité, l’identité et la personnalité permettent de mieux cerner le concept de vie privée.L’évolution de la société et l’accroissement des nouvelles technologies ont des incidences sur la vie privée. Mise en péril, celle-ci doit être mieux protégée. Les juridictions françaises et la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme tentent de répondre à cette nécessité.Si la vie privée fait l’objet d’un droit au respect, son contentieux ne se cantonne pas seulement à un aspect défensif. Elle participe à l’épanouissement personnel de l’individu.Néanmoins, la protection de la vie privée est relative dans la mesure où elle se heurte à des intérêts antagonistes, tels que l’intérêt général et divers intérêts particuliers.Cette étude apportera des réponses sur la manière dont la vie privée est appréhendée par le droit
Privacy is a jurisprudential notion, recently established by the legislator. Nevertheless, it’s not yet clearly defined. Privacy lies within an utterly variable context. Consequently, its domain and legal system are difficult to determine. However, notions such as intimacy, identity and personality help apprehending the concept of privacy.The evolution of society and the spreading of new technologies have impacts on privacy. Jeopardized, it has to be better protected. French courts and European Court of Human Rights are attempting at this necessity.If privacy is subjected to a right of respect, its dispute isn’t limited to defense. Privacy also contributes to personal development.Yet, right of privacy is relative insofar as it draws antagonist interests, such as general interest and various particular interests.This study contributes to apprehending privacy with regard to the Law

AbstractThis chapter will provide an overview on several aspects of the gender perspective in Human Rights Law. The chapter will therefore look at the civil and political rights from a gender perspective, as well as social, economic and cultural rights of women, non-binary and LGBTIQA+ persons. The aim is to increase the students’ awareness for the gender perspective in international human rights protection, by providing an overview of currently discussed issues in this area. Such issues include the prohibition of gender-based violence, contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons, the freedom of religion, the right to private life, access to justice for women, women’s (political) empowerment, the prohibition of economic and social discrimination, and women’s right to education.

AbstractWhen examining bioethics and the Holocaust, the role of physicians is often shocking. As a society, we expect more of physicians. Learning about physician participation in the atrocities of the Holocaust prompts many questions: How did caregivers and healers become killers? How did physicians end up so intimately involved in war time atrocities? But the involvement of physicians in war atrocities is not unique to the Holocaust. Throughout history, medical professionals operating together with and in the name of the governing power and particularly the military, have played key roles in genocides, wars, and human rights violations. This chapter will explore the ethics of physician participation in war. We focus on the foundational and recurring issue known as “the problem of dual- loyalty”—the ethical tension of a single moral agent with two competing interests or sets of moral obligations. The underlying assumptions of this debate will be explored to examine how both the professions of medicine and the military involve a set of professional moral obligations that sometimes conflicts.

AbstractThis chapter explains the development of international and European law from a gender perspective and describes how the process from a gender-neutral to a gender-sensitive approach was developed.Since 1945 and the adoption of the UN Charter, the idea of achieving greater gender equality was merged into many international documents, including the first catalog of women’s rights—Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. Many principal and subsidiary bodies were established, contributing to the elimination of gender discrimination and to awareness-raising on some critical issues which were an impediment to achieving gender equality. Twenty years ago, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted, due to a global effort to establish a platform as a foundation to national and international policies to ensure greater protection of women and girls, during and after, armed conflicts. International Humanitarian Law, enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, also has rules that specifically seek to protect women during armed conflicts. Also, International Criminal Law has been developed to recognize extreme forms of sexual violence as international crimes.On the European level, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, several international conventions were adopted to achieve gender equality. One of the main instruments, the European Convention on Human Rights, provides broad protection from discrimination based on gender, established in a comprehensive jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. The EU has a set of primary and secondary sources on anti-discrimination, which provides comprehensive protection from gender discrimination and serves as an inspiring model to States candidates and other European countries.

AbstractThe Travaux Préparatoires insist upon the close nexus between Articles 9, 10, and 11 along with the several other provisions of the UNCRC that protect the close bond between child and parent. This chapter analyses the content of Article 9 in relation to the general principles of Child rights, related provisions in other international human rights treaties and materials, and sets out four main attributes of the right, as a child, to not be separated from one’s parents against one’s will. These four attributes are: (1) no separation from parents unless necessary for the child’s best interests; (2) no separation from one’s parents without due process before competent authorities; (3) the right to maintain relations and personal contact with both parents, if separated; and (4) the right to be informed of the whereabouts of one’s parent or child, if detained.

The paper examines the issue arising when delivering healthcare in the modern information society. Throughout the past decade, the Internet has seen a significant rise of the "Web 2.0" trend, which carried on its wings a health industry trend often referred to as "Health 2.0" or "Medicine 2.0". More recently, we have also witnessed the crowning of concepts such as Health Social Media, eHealth and mHealth. European Union as well as the national states develop strategies implementing new technologies for personal and medical data sharing, including the prescription of medicals as well as their validation through websites. Healthcare data privacy and security is one of the top challenges, healthcare providers face. The huge amount of data the medical care generates holds potential for researchers, providers, pharmaceutical companies as well as for doctors, who can use it to improve care or find new treatments and insights into disease. The key issue to examine is how to balance the competing interests of privacy and data-sharing and not exclude the patient as a holder and owner of the information. The paper addresses the issue of privacy protection in digitized healthcare, using the analysis of the legislation and case-law of the Czech Republic, stressing the demands for human rights and privacy protection of a member state of the European Union. The paper introduces several proposals for providers on how to re-design digital healthcare with respect to laws and patients´ rights. The paper concludes that even modern and digitized medicine is based not only on evidence and modern technologies but also on human interaction and face-to-face approach and trust between the doctor and patient.

The paper analyses the influence that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the functioning of the European asylum system. The analysis is divided into three parts and addresses problematic issues associated with different stages of the pandemic. In the first part of the paper, the author outlines the asylum practices of EU Member States in the initial stage of the Covid-19 pandemic during which the pandemic was perceived as a state of emergency. By exploring the legal possibilities to derogate both from the EU asylum rules and international human rights standards, the author offers conclusions as regards limits of derogations and the legality of Member States’ practices, especially their failure to differentiate between rules that are susceptive of being derogated in emergency situations and those that are not. The second part of the paper analyses the current phase of the pandemic in which it is perceived as a 'new normal' and focuses on making the EU asylum system immune to Covid-19 influence to the greatest extent possible and in line with relevant EU and human rights rules. The author insists on the vulnerability as an inherent feature of persons in need of international protection and researches upon the relationship between the two competing interests involved – protection of asylum seekers and ensuring public health as a legitimate reason for restricting certain asylum seekers’ rights. The final part of the paper analyses the prospects of the future EU asylum system, as announced by the New Pact on Migration and Asylum in September 2020, to adapt to the exigencies of both the current Covid-19 crisis and pandemics that are yet to come. With an exclusive focus on referral to Covid-19 and provisions relevant for the current and future pandemics, the author criticizes several solutions included in the instruments that make up the Pact. It is concluded that the Pact failed to offer solutions for problems experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic and that, under the pretext of public health, it prioritizes the interests of Member States over the interests of applicants for international protection.

The current stage of development of the world economy emphasizes knowledge, in the sense of the use of modern technologies and artificial intelligence, which should support sustainable development and increase the quality of life on earth. However, both the local and the global economy “suffer” as a result of the fact that financial interests from the micro to the macro level still prevail, and in this context a number of problems, such as pollution, individual health, lack of energy and other resources, wars etc., are still a harsh reality which, unfortunately, we still have to face today, and all this can only lead to the violation of fundamental human rights and, ultimately, to the degradation of life on Earth. The aim of this article is to capture the main negative aspects of the current stage of socio-economic development, both locally and internationally, generated by the ongoing struggle for supremacy. The research method is non-participatory observation. The source of information is literature, databases provided by national and international organizations and media resources. The results of the research are intended to be a warning signal and a mobilizing force for all national and, above all, international competent bodies, but also for the entire population in general, from all categories of specialists to the last citizen of this globe, with the aim of preventing or even eliminating the problems of the current stage of development, before it is too late.

Abstract The Indonesian government has a goal to reduce 834 million-tons CO2e emissions by 2030 with 314 million-tons CO2e portion coming from the energy sector. A significant contribution is required from all aspects of the energy sector, including Directional-Drilling (DD) & Measurement/Logging-While-Drilling (M/LWD) activity which traditionally deploys human resources for field execution. With the government’s increased hydrocarbon lifting target, an innovative approach is needed to keep the field carbon footprint low while still maintaining DD-M/LWD operational excellence. Performance-Live is a digitally collaborative service that enables live remote-control of wellsite operations to optimize task distribution between the well site and town thus boosting operational efficiency. As a solid foundation to execute these remote operations, highly skilled Performance-Live Engineers (PLE) are centralized in a Performance-Live Center, monitoring several rigs in parallel, while multiskilled DD-M/LWD Cross Trained (DDX) who are fully competent to handle both competencies are staffed at the well site. This collaboration can be seamlessly achievable by leveraging elevated digital peripheral systems such as advanced, automated internet technology and support centralized in the main Java island to enable robust connectivity. Flexible strategies for remote-operations implementation play a significant role in sustainability. In one of the land projects in Indonesia started from Q3 2020 until Q4 2021, 31 wells are drilled successfully using the Performance-Live service. This reduced headcount from 4 personnel to 3 personnel on board (POB) resulting estimated total of 3.52 metric tons of CO2 emission reduction. Another offshore pilot project in Indonesia for the one-month trial duration in 2021 with the same strategy resulted in the reduction of estimated 0.20 metric tons of CO2 emission. In one of the special projects in the same offshore area, an innovative open-hole drilling using Hydraulic Workover Unit (HWU) is implemented using Performance-Live and combined cabin container unit for DD-M/LWD-Mud Logging as full team collaboration. During this 5-months project, this single combined cabin unit enabled 4 field personnel reductions resulting estimated 4.01 metric tons of CO2 emission reduction. The continuity of this service in Indonesia can be potentially developed by further reduction from 3 to 2 POB (2x DDX with 2x PLE) which may result in double of the CO2 emission reduction, and a pre-prepared BHA model which will minimize POB rig days to reduce further estimated of 18% CO2 emission. This paper presents how the Performance-Live Remote-Operation model contributes to long-term sustainability goals, quantifies the amount of carbon footprint reduction, and speeds up the race toward net zero emissions future accomplishment in Indonesia. This paper will also present strategies for building a digital ecosystem for remote-operations implementation, challenges encountered, and optimization opportunities. DD-M/LWD remote-operations implementation in Indonesia has thus far been successful and will continue expanding to align with the government’s net-zero goal.

"This work includes talking about the crime of Camp Speicher, in which 1,700 students of the Iraqi army of the Sheea creed were killed by the gangs of the terrorist organization ISIS, with the aim of eliminating the members of this sect because of the misleading ideology carried by those gangs. On 6-12-2014, Iraqi soldiers at Camp Speicher (Speicher Air Base) in Tikrit were subjected to murder and enforced disappearance by terrorist organizations because of their affiliation to the Sheea creed. This crime was among a series of brutal crimes for the genocide of Sheeas in Iraq. This is similar to what happened in the Badoush prison crime in the province of Mosul, which the Iraqi Parliament considered it as a crime of genocide, in which these gangs executed about (400) members of the prison inmates of the Sheea component. After ISIS took control of the city of Tikrit in Iraq, and one day after they took control of the city of Mosul, they captured (2000-2200) soldiers and led them to the presidential palaces in Tikrit, and they shot them there and in other areas and buried some of them alive. This disaster had a negative impact on the families of the victims of the Speicher where they went out in demonstrations demanded that the leaders who handed over the victims of Speicher to ISIS must be prosecuted, and in one of the demonstrations they managed to enter Parliament and demanded that the leaders who handed over Speicher to ISIS be held accountable. After that, many demonstrations took place by the families of the victims, some of which led to the closure of a bridge in Baghdad a few times Protesting the government's delay in clarifying the fate of their children or taking quick measures. The Iraqi parliament and government recently considered the Speicher incident “genocide” in reference to the premeditated murder of Badoush Prison inmates in Nineveh Governorate and the unarmed Speicher military base, the premeditated murder of members of the Albu Nimr, Jabour, al-Lahib, and al-Ubaid tribes, and the killing and displacement of civilians from Kurds, Christians, Yazidis and Shabaks in Sahel Nineveh, Sinjar, deliberate killing and displacement of Turkmens in Tal Afar and Bashir. This decision paves the way for obtaining international recognition from it as a ""genocide"" as stipulated in the Contract of the United Nations in 1948, and Iraq signed it in the fifties of the last century. This study attempts to explain the Al-Ikhnasas Court in looking into the crimes of genocide committed by ISIS against the bereaved students of the Air Force Base (Speicher) due to what this issue raised from the national and international public opinion, especially after the involvement of the Iraqi army leaders in this massacre, according to what witnesses reported in that area and what was reported by soldiers who survived the incident, in addition to the involvement of some members of the Sunni tribes in these crimes with the terrorist organization ISIS. The importance of this study lies in the following aspects: - That ISIS elements were tried according to Anti-Terrorism Law No. 13 of 2005, and from our point of view that the aforementioned law is vague and broader than it should be, and it applies to serious and simple crimes from murder to crimes of sabotage, and the list of crimes punishable by the death penalty according to the aforementioned law is a long list and spacious. - The Iraqi government has embarked on an attempt to develop a legal framework to prosecute ISIS elements, and its mission focused on understanding the procedures and results drawn from those judicial efforts, and its mission also focused on showing the efforts taken by the Iraqi government to address violations in the field of the right to life, including those committed by affiliated forces government as well as other international and domestic actors. The International Criminal Court is specialized in considering specific crimes under Article (5) of its Statute, which are war crimes, aggression and crimes against humanity, which necessitates the adaptation of Speicher's crime within any of the mentioned types of crimes. The assumption of the International Criminal Court in relation to the Speicher crime, includes several positive matters and results at the same time a set of negatives, which must be presented to those positives and negatives in order to give preference between them and the choice of authorizing the court to consider the crime or not. The terrorist organization ISIS has committed serious systematic violations, including war crimes and others, and perhaps those that are not under its control, and that none of these crimes can be addressed within the anti-terrorism law, which cannot address human rights violations. The international community has recognized the heinous violations committed by ISIS against the citizens of Iraq by adopting Resolution (2370) in September of 2017, issued by the Security Council, which authorizes the Security Council to appoint an investigation team to support local efforts to hold ISIS elements accountable by collecting and preserving evidence in Iraq, which can rise to a high level, and it was committed by the elements of the organization. It considers that the decision constitutes a burden and an obligation on Iraq to investigate all allegations of violations committed by government forces for the purpose of holding them accountable, as well as requiring the establishment of special courts and trained judges in relation to ISIS crimes to deal with them. Terrorism is a global curse that has recently spread horizontally to all countries of the world and its effects have been concentrated vertically in some countries, and no one denies that the parties to this phenomenon are increasing (perpetrators and victims) and the United Nations in particular and the international community in general has not succeeded in reducing it despite the fact that the resolutions of the UN Security Council It is increasing, but the proportionality is absent between these decisions and the practical reality. The phenomenon of terrorism is spreading rapidly, and the perpetrators of terrorist acts are on the rise, corresponding to an increase in the victims of terrorism. Also, the circumstances and events that Iraq is going through, especially after 2003, put it at the forefront of countries which suffers from terrorism that has killed the people, using methods and forms that were not previously known and brutal and bloody cruel. ) for the year 2005, and since terrorism was not limited to Iraq, but included many countries, and was not specific to a place or time, nor was it recent in terms of composition. In addition, the aforementioned law cannot be aware of all violations of international and humanitarian law, as we mentioned previously, which requires the necessity of referring the criminals to a competent court. The Court conducts its rule under Article (13) of its Statute when referred to it by a state party to the same system or by the Security Council or when the Public Prosecutor conducts the investigation on his own, and then how does the Court take its measures regarding the aforementioned crime if we take a look Considering that the State of Iraq is not a member of the Statute of the Court. The rule of the court is free from the death penalty, which makes the idea of authorizing the court to consider the crime rejected by most Iraqis, especially the families of the victims. What are the negative aspects of the Iraqi national judiciary’s view of the Speicher crime, and how can it be avoided if the International Criminal Court plays this role? What are the guarantees provided by the court in the event that it proceeds with its procedures regarding this crime? The research on this subject is according to the appropriate method, which is the analytical and comparative method, which works on studying and comparing topics by analyzing ideas and jurisprudential rulings, and the positions of the governments of countries and the United Nations, as well as the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, and comparing arbitration between Iraqi courts. And the international courts regarding the trial of the perpetrators of the Speicher base crime, and then come up with a set of conclusions and recommendations."

Why research Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Scotland? Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology sheds light on the first colonisation and subsequent early inhabitation of Scotland. It is a growing and exciting field where increasing Scottish evidence has been given wider significance in the context of European prehistory. It extends over a long period, which saw great changes, including substantial environmental transformations, and the impact of, and societal response to, climate change. The period as a whole provides the foundation for the human occupation of Scotland and is crucial for understanding prehistoric society, both for Scotland and across North-West Europe. Within the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods there are considerable opportunities for pioneering research. Individual projects can still have a substantial impact and there remain opportunities for pioneering discoveries including cemeteries, domestic and other structures, stratified sites, and for exploring the huge evidential potential of water-logged and underwater sites. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology also stimulates and draws upon exciting multi-disciplinary collaborations. Panel Task and Remit The panel remit was to review critically the current state of knowledge and consider promising areas of future research into the earliest prehistory of Scotland. This was undertaken with a view to improved understanding of all aspects of the colonization and inhabitation of the country by peoples practising a wholly hunter-fisher-gatherer way of life prior to the advent of farming. In so doing, it was recognised as particularly important that both environmental data (including vegetation, fauna, sea level, and landscape work) and cultural change during this period be evaluated. The resultant report, outlines the different areas of research in which archaeologists interested in early prehistory work, and highlights the research topics to which they aspire. The report is structured by theme: history of investigation; reconstruction of the environment; the nature of the archaeological record; methodologies for recreating the past; and finally, the lifestyles of past people – the latter representing both a statement of current knowledge and the ultimate aim for archaeologists; the goal of all the former sections. The document is reinforced by material on-line which provides further detail and resources. The Palaeolithic and Mesolithic panel report of ScARF is intended as a resource to be utilised, built upon, and kept updated, hopefully by those it has helped inspire and inform as well as those who follow in their footsteps. Future Research The main recommendations of the panel report can be summarized under four key headings:  Visibility: Due to the considerable length of time over which sites were formed, and the predominant mobility of the population, early prehistoric remains are to be found right across the landscape, although they often survive as ephemeral traces and in low densities. Therefore, all archaeological work should take into account the expectation of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic ScARF Panel Report iv encountering early prehistoric remains. This applies equally to both commercial and research archaeology, and to amateur activity which often makes the initial discovery. This should not be seen as an obstacle, but as a benefit, and not finding such remains should be cause for question. There is no doubt that important evidence of these periods remains unrecognised in private, public, and commercial collections and there is a strong need for backlog evaluation, proper curation and analysis. The inadequate representation of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic information in existing national and local databases must be addressed.  Collaboration: Multi-disciplinary, collaborative, and cross- sector approaches must be encouraged – site prospection, prediction, recognition, and contextualisation are key areas to this end. Reconstructing past environments and their chronological frameworks, and exploring submerged and buried landscapes offer existing examples of fruitful, cross-disciplinary work. Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology has an important place within Quaternary science and the potential for deeply buried remains means that geoarchaeology should have a prominent role.  Innovation: Research-led projects are currently making a substantial impact across all aspects of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic archaeology; a funding policy that acknowledges risk and promotes the innovation that these periods demand should be encouraged. The exploration of lesser known areas, work on different types of site, new approaches to artefacts, and the application of novel methodologies should all be promoted when engaging with the challenges of early prehistory.  Tackling the ‘big questions’: Archaeologists should engage with the big questions of earliest prehistory in Scotland, including the colonisation of new land, how lifestyles in past societies were organized, the effects of and the responses to environmental change, and the transitions to new modes of life. This should be done through a holistic view of the available data, encompassing all the complexities of interpretation and developing competing and testable models. Scottish data can be used to address many of the currently topical research topics in archaeology, and will provide a springboard to a better understanding of early prehistoric life in Scotland and beyond.