Less than two weeks to speak up for the Human Rights Act!

The attacks on the Human Rights Act from certain political and media quarters is continuing in earnest. With the deadline for submitting evidence to the Government's Commission on a UK Bill of Rights is fast approaching now is the time for us all to speak up for the Human Rights Act! The deadline for submissions is 11 November 2011.

BIHR is worried that the Commission's work will in fact undermine the legal protection of human rights in the UK, bolstering the current frenzy calling for the repeal or replacement of the Human Rights Act. The idea that we should scrap or undermine the Human Rights Act in order to improve the protection of human rights is nonsense. Any system of human rights protection worth its salt will throw up decisions that those in power find unpalatable. This is after all the point of human rights – to protect us all from an arbitrary and over-reaching State. The vital constitutional checks and balances provided by the Human Rights Act and the current denigration of this system by some sections of the media and political classes is no reason to get rid of the Act, if anything it demonstrates all the more reason for standing firm.

BIHR is urging you to join us in speaking up for the Human Rights Act. We have produced the below briefing to help you do just that! You are free to use as much or as little of this briefing as you like, so please cut and paste as you think appropriate. Please also share this briefing with your contacts, networks and members and encourage them to respond to the consultation.

Access BIHR's briefing here!