A group of almost 300 organisations – PAS included – have called on those in power to stop scapegoating human rights. 

The call, organised by Liberty, falls on the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Human Rights Act (HRA) and exposes the way human rights and the Convention have been used as a political scapegoat over recent years.

Both the ECHR and HRA have come under increasing fire from leading politicians and media organisations recently. This has often been based on myths, over-simplifications, inaccuracies, and scaremongering – particularly around migration. The group maintains that leaving the ECHR would not solve policy problems like the backlog of asylum cases, or people risking their lives through Channel crossings, but would bring about years of legal uncertainty, undermine the UK’s international position, and cause harm to the rights of both migrants in the UK and our wider communities.

The group calls on the Government to make the positive case for the UK’s human rights protections, highlighting the many ways the convention has helped ordinary people since it was opened for signature in November 1950 – from victims of sexual violence to LGBT+ service personnel, public interest journalists to mental health patients and victims of serious injustice (from Hillsborough to Windrush).

Sam Grant, Liberty director of external relations, said:

“There are people in powerful positions who want us to believe that we would be better off without the ECHR – don’t believe them. For decades our human rights laws have underpinned all of our daily lives by giving us the ability to speak freely, love who we want, and live in peace. These rights were hard-won and we must not allow governments now or in the future to take them away.”

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