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The Tories want to do away with our human rights…
The Conservatives have pledged to repeal the Human Rights Act and make it impossible for Britain to stay in the European Convention on Human Rights. But these are our human rights. They help protect the rape victims who rely on human rights to get justice, the elderly people suffering abuse in care, vulnerable children, and many others. Here you can see who will lose out if our human rights framework is dismantled and the stories that show human rights belong to us all.
What people are saying about our campaign…
Ed Miliband
Leader of the Labour Party
“I welcome the launch of this campaign from the Labour Campaign for Human Rights. Human rights are an essential tool for protecting people from abuse of power. They have made a huge difference to people’s lives in the UK and across the world.”
Jimmy Wales
Founder of Wikipedia, free speech activist
“The conflict between state surveillance and online privacy is fast becoming the new frontier in the struggle for human rights. As the founder of Wikipedia, I know how important it is to maintain a free and open internet where people can browse and communicate without fear of intrusive surveillance. The Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights are proving vital for protecting our digital rights. Even now, a case has been brought under the Convention to challenge mass surveillance by GCHQ. All political parties must unite in defending Britain’s human rights framework.”
Patrick Stewart
Actor and human rights campaigner
“Vulnerable women seeking refuge from domestic violence or trying to find the courage to report sexual abuse will be among the first to lose out from the proposed dismantling of our human rights framework. The Human Rights Act has been used to ensure women fleeing abuse can have access to accommodation to keep them and their children safe. It has been used to ensure police properly investigate cases of rape. Undermining these protections is a senseless attack on people who need help.”
Sadiq Khan
Shadow Justice Secretary
“As we prepare to celebrate 800 years since the Magna Carta, we are reminded of our country’s long and proud history of advancing human rights. Everything from trial by jury and habeas corpus, to the very idea of the rule of law, are British traditions. And it was us who helped construct a system of international law, including the European Convention on Human Rights, to try and spare future generations the horror of conflict, totalitarianism, and genocide following World War 2. Now, after so much progress, the Tories are trying to take us backwards by dismantling our human rights framework. The Labour Party is committed to defending the traditions and values, embodied in the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights, that make this country great. I am very pleased to support LCHR’s campaign.”
Joan Bakewell
Peer, journalist and former UK government tsar for the elderly
“Older people rely on human rights legislation to keep themselves safe from abuse in care homes, prevent separation from their spouses in the care system, and ensure they are treated with dignity in hospital. Human rights ensure abuses of power and negligence can be challenged and those responsible held to account. We must urgently defend our human rights laws to make sure the elderly are not left without these important protections.”
Harriet Wistrich
Lawyer representing two victims of a serial rapist
“I represent two women who were raped by a serial sex offender but whose cases weren’t properly investigated by the police. We used the Human Rights Act to challenge the police’s failure and get justice. Without human rights, people like the women I represent wouldn’t have anything to fall back on if their cases aren’t investigated.”
Jacqueline and Jayson Carmichael
Used the Human Rights Act to challenge the bedroom tax
“Jacqueline has spina bifida, which prevents us from sharing a bedroom. Because she has to sleep in a second bedroom in our home, we were penalised under the bedroom tax. But we used the Human Rights Act to overturn the decision and ensure we’re exempt due to Jacqueline’s disability. Our case shows why human rights are so important and why the Human Rights Act must be protected. We hope the Human Rights Act continues to protect us against the bedroom tax.”
Purna Sen
Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Affairs at LSE and former Head of Human Rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat
“I’ve worked to improve human rights standards across the world, and I’ve seen the damaging impact on people’s lives when a country’s human rights framework isn’t strong enough to protect them. We must defend the Human Rights Act and European Convention on Human Rights to make sure British people will always have the protections they need, and to build solid foundations when we advocate rights in the rest of the world.”
Billy Hayes
General Secretary of the Communication Workers' Union
“Not only are working people strongest when speaking with a single voice, they are strongest when their human rights are rooted in a sound legal framework. Supporting human rights ensures workers can make use of their right to organise and protect their wages and working conditions. We must stop the Tories’ plan to do away with our human rights protections.”
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
“The UK was one of the earliest signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and played a key role in the drafting of the document. Over the last fifty years, the ECHR has proved its worth, protecting and promoting rights for people across 47 countries in Europe, including the UK. The case law of the court has contributed to ending commonplace torture in custody, in moving towards equal treatment for women and for lesbian and gay people, ending corporal punishment in schools, and in upholding the freedom of the media. The UK Human Rights Act (HRA) has made it easier for those living in the UK to secure these rights directly through UK courts. The rights in question are ones long valued in this country, such as the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, free speech and peaceful protest, equal rights under the law, the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial.”
Amnesty International UK
Amnesty International UK
“We all have human rights – such rights are universal, enshrined in international law and often the result of people standing together to demand freedom and justice. The UK Human Rights Act allows people in the UK to access these rights, providing protection and access to justice for all, regardless of race, gender or social class.”
Liberty
Liberty
“We believe in fundamental rights and freedoms – shared values that protect every member of the human family and the society we seek to build together. In the UK the Human Rights Act protects us all – old and young, rich and poor, you and me. It is especially important for vulnerable people but you never know when you might need to use the protection of the Human Rights Act.”