Protecting Human Rights
Human rights help protect us all and hold power to account.
Whether you are an older couple trying to stay together in care, a crime victim struggling to secure a proper investigation, or simply someone who sees the importance of a free press, human rights give us an important tool to achieve justice.
The European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR') is a set of rules that protects basic rights like the rights to vote, to privacy, and to free speech. Our Parliament wrote these rights into UK law when they passed the Human Rights Act, meaning nearly all cases about these rights are decided by UK courts.
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Driving change
Current and Future Work
We are currently working on four projects to protect and promote human rights.
Why the ECHR is in the national interest:
Following our recent paper on how the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR') has strengthened victims’ rights, we will publish a paper looking at how the ECHR, and membership of the Council of Europe, is in the UK’s national interest.
How the ECHR strengthens rights in health and social care
The following paper in this series will set out how the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR') has improved the rights and protections of people in health and social care settings.
The role of the ECHR in devolution & the Good Friday Agreement
This paper will explain how our human rights framework underpins devolution settlements in the UK and is a key part of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland.
Parliamentary scrutiny
We will continue to scrutinise government legislation and policy to ensure it upholds human rights and is compatible with the UK’s human rights frameworks' obligations.
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