Both Nigel Farage and the Tories under Kemi Badenoch have been adamant that they will leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But the ECHR is not an instrument of foreign interference that enables migration. In fact, Britain itself played a key role in drafting the ECHR following World War II.

Rights: protected

The ECHR is additionally brought into UK domestic law through the Human Rights Act. But the ECHR is important because if a citizen’s case fails at home, they can be heard at the international court. It gives additional protection to our human rights. Although, the UK Supreme Court still has the final say.

The rights the ECHR protects include a fair trial, freedom from discrimination, torture, and slavery, along with freedom of religion, thought, and the right to privacy.

Tory leader Badenoch defended her plan to leave the ECHR by saying:

Canada’s not in the ECHR. They’re not a pariah. Neither is Australia, neither is the US or New Zealand. We need to stop using these silly arguments to stop us from doing the right thing.

But of course, Canada, Australia, the US and New Zealand are not actually in Europe.

Also, Badenoch has made clear that she would go further than leaving the ECHR, claiming a need to “rewire the whole system”. This is worrying from a party that the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) said committed “grave” and “systematic” violations of the human rights of disabled people while in power.

More issues

Leaving the ECHR would also breach the Good Friday Agreement, a peace agreement between the UK and the North of Ireland. It would also mean repealing the Human Rights Act, which brings ECHR law into UK domestic law. And it would breach the Brexit deal, which commits the UK to the ECHR.

It was also the ECHR that offered to help the victims of Hillsborough, after UK state law failed. Other cases have protected journalist’s sources and transgender rights.

Featured image via the Canary

By James Wright

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