Statement from BIHR in response to the lecture given by Nick Herbert MP on 24 November 2008

The British Institute of Human Rights is calling for a cross-party commitment to maintain existing vital protections guaranteed by the Human Rights Act and the strengthening of a culture of respect for human rights for all people in the UK.

The Human Rights Act guarantees the human rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights by making them enforceable in our courts and placing a duty on public bodies to respect those rights. We welcome Nick Herbert's reiteration of the Conservative Party's commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Conservatives propose to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. Whilst BIHR welcomes all opportunities to hold a national conversation about human rights, we strongly oppose any proposals under which human rights would no longer be directly enforceable in UK courts. This would undermine a fundamental principle of human rights, which is to protect all people from an overweening and arbitrary state, particularly the vulnerable.

It is not acceptable that vulnerable people are treated in appalling ways which could breach their human rights, such as older people being strapped to chairs or CCTV cameras being placed in the bedroom of a couple with learning disabilities. These types of poor treatment and abuse can be addressed, without needing to go to court, under the duty on public bodies to respect human rights. This duty is a crucial element of the Human Rights Act. Mounting evidence indicates that public bodies are increasingly using the duty, and human rights framework, as valuable tools to deliver better quality and more accountable public services for all.

Any replacement of the Human Rights Act must retain mechanisms to hold public authorities - which act on behalf of the State - to account, and to promote a culture of human rights, based on dignity, respect, fairness, equality and autonomy.

Human rights apply to all people everywhere. The British Institute of Human Rights fully supports action to end human rights abuses across the world. As part of this it is vital that human rights are well understood and respected in the UK.

As Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the original drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights wrote "where after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home; in the everyday world of human beings. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."