Importance of Human Rights: UK Support for the ECHR

November 2025

Nigel Farage’s proposal for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights was defeated on 29 October by 154 votes to 96, a majority of 58. The vote was largely symbolic: a ten-minute bill without government backing is often used simply to air an issue. The Liberal Democrats led the opposition to the bill, a number of Conservatives joined Reform UK in supporting it and many Labour backbenchers chose not to abstain but voted against it, fearing that were it to pass even symbolically, it would send a negative message to European allies.

The position of the Government remains that while it may pursue some changes to the interpretation of the Convention it would under no circumstances seek to abolish it.

75th Anniversary

A statement of support for the ECHR was signed by almost 300 organisations to mark the 75th anniversary of the Convention. Organised by Liberty, the statement highlighted the many ways the Convention has helped ordinary people from victims of sexual violence to LGBT+ service personnel, public interest journalists to mental health patients and victims of grave miscarriages of justice, as with the Hillsborough and Windrush cases.

It calls on the government to make the positive case for the UK’s human rights protections and claims that the way the Convention has been scapegoated in recent years has had devastating real world consequences.

Meanwhile a survey for Amnesty by the widely respected agency Savanta concluded that more than 8 in 10 UK adults say that human rights protections are as important – or more important – today than when the ECHR was created after the Second World War. When asked which rights matter most to them, UK adults chose: the right to a fair trial (42%); the right to life (41%); the right to privacy, family life and respect for your home (40%).

Support for staying in the ECHR is almost twice as high as support for leaving. 48% want the UK to remain part of the ECHR. Only 26% want to leave.

People believe rights should be universal, permanent, and protected from political interference: 87% agree that rights and laws must apply equally to everyone, 85% agree we need a legal safety net to hold the Government accountable in cases like the infected blood scandal and Grenfell and 78% agree rights should be permanent, not something the Government of the day can reduce.

Respondents were shown a list of major UK scandals or institutional failings and asked which made them feel the importance of strong legal protections and accountability. The top five were:

Grenfell Tower – 46%; Hillsborough disaster and cover up – 42%; Infected blood scandal & the COVID inquiry – 37%; The murder of Sarah Everard – 36%; Windrush scandal – 29%.

ECHR and Immigration

In response to critics attributing the real problems of the UK’s immigration system to the ECHR, the Good Law Project set out some basic facts about the Convention, namely that it does not provide a right for people to enter or remain in a country of which they are not a national; that the Court rarely rules against the UK on immigration issues at all – since 1980 only on 13 of the 29 cases concerning either deportation or extradition. And while the Human Rights Act of 1998 incorporating ECHR rights into UK law makes it unnecessary to go to Strasbourg, successful claims to stay in the UK are rare. Last year out of a total inward immigration of 948,000 only 3,790 cases related to the Human Rights Act were won at immigration tribunals.

Protect the Protest: Palestine Action and Judicial Review

Amnesty and Liberty will be making the case to lift the ban on the proscribed activist group Palestine Action in the Judicial Review scheduled for 25 – 27 November.

Defend Our Juries are urging the police not to bow to pressure from the Government but to allow the

peaceful protests organised throughout November at the continuing crisis in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. They say that police are struggling to enforce the law in the face of peaceful protesters, many of them elderly. Some police forces are refusing outright to make arrests. International and national human rights groups, politicians and United Nations representatives have condemned both the ban and the subsequent attacks on civil liberties. Unions are declaring that they will not recognise the ban, with over 2,100 now arrested under ‘terror charges’ related to this peaceful sign-holding campaign.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty’s Director, criticised the Home Secretary for statements “that create a chilling effect by dissuading people from exercising their fundamental right to peaceful protest. At any time, any interference with freedom of expression must be strictly necessary, proportionate and in full accordance with the law.”

In a further incident of Transnational repression Sheffield Hallam University terminated a staff member’s project about Uyghur forced labour after Chinese security officers interrogated a staff member in Beijing and a Chinese company named in the report filed a defamation lawsuit in the UK. The university retracted the ban but only after Professor Laura Murphy, specialising in human rights and modern slavery, began legal action against it for violating her academic freedom.

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November 12, 2025 0

The Chilling Impact of UK Policing on Civil Liberties

Update on current issues in the UK

September 2025

Much of our coverage of human rights issues on this site features overseas countries and indeed there is a lot to write about. The latest edition of the Amnesty magazine (Autumn 2025, Issue 226) has a feature on the rise and arguably increasing number of authoritarian leaders for whom human rights are things to be suppressed by all means possible. The list includes Javier Milei of Argentina; Narendra Modi with his draconian anti-terrorism law used to target activists, journalists, students, protesters and others.

Vladimir Putin needs no introduction nor does Xi Jinping who enacts repressive laws, persecutes Uyghurs and the repression of Tibetan culture continue unabated. Others include Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi who is busy wooing anyone who’ll listen while engaged in suppression of any dissent and who has executed record numbers in 2024. Victor Orban who has increasingly targeted civil society while remaining a member of the EU. Netanyahu in Israel is well known and presiding over genocide in Gaza and intensifying violence and apartheid in the West Bank. He bans foreign journalists and the UN from entering Gaza.

‘Chilling effect’

But there are worries in the UK with more and more laws being passed to inhibit protests and empower the police to arrest or interdict such protests and those attending them. Palestine Action has been much in the news and the organisation was declared a terrorist group by the previous Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper. A high court judge has ruled that the co-founder of PA can bring an unprecedented legal challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision. Mr Justice Chamberlain said the proscription order against the group risked ‘considerable harm to the public interest’ because of the ‘chilling effect’ on legitimate political speech.

At the recent rally on 6th September in London organised by Defend our Juries, police arrested nearly 900 people many of whom were carrying Palestine Action placards. A 3 day hearing starts in November and it will be the first time an appeal is allowed against a ‘terrorist’ organisation. The court has given permission for both Amnesty and Liberty to intervene in the hearing.

Human Rights Watch: World Report

HRW’s World Report amplifies the above comments in its section on the UK. Laws criminalising protest undermine democratic rights they note. They remain on the statute book and the Labour government shows no sign of repealing them. The 2023 Public Order Act, the 2020 Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act also remain on the statute book both of which increased police powers and act to limit free speech.

There are comments about the increasing disparity in wealth in the UK. On immigration and asylum it notes the failure to provide safe routes and how politicians and some media outlets have contributed to a hostile environment towards ethnic and racial minorities.

Policing

Since 2002, the police have had an increasing presence in schools under the Safer Schools Partnership programme. Liberty has found no evidence that this police presence has made them safer and that there is no reliable evidence that such presence reduces crime or violence. One problem is that police are mandated to report crime in schools even it may be inappropriate in the circumstances. Lack of funding for mental health leads police to step into roles unrelated to policing it notes One of their recommendations is that police a more supportive roles in PSHE activities. See the report for more details.

It cannot be argued that the UK is anywhere near the situation in some of the countries briefly mentioned above. Journalists are not murdered as in Russia, opposition politicians are not imprisoned for no reason which happens in Saudi, there are no second class citizens as in Israel. However, the slow drip of legislation and increasing police powers, widening use of facial recognition even in peaceful protests, a legal system largely the preserve of the very rich and elements of our media all too happy to laud clampdowns and arrests of those they don’t like are matters of increasing concern. We shall continue to highlight these issues in our posts.

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September 12, 2025 0

Group’s reports

Good attendance at vigil

December 2025 UPDATED A good attendance at the 106th vigil in Salisbury with around 40 of us there. We were joined by some by some passers-by which is always encouraging. News about Gaza has been eclipsed by the continuing war in Ukraine and the appalling attack on Jews on Bondi Beach killing 15 people on…

by welland2 December 15, 2025December 15, 2025

UK Human Rights Report: Current Threats and Government Actions

Monthly report on human rights in the UK December 2025 Amnesty has for many years, focused its efforts on human rights issues overseas. Recent actions by governments of both persuasions have meant a greater focus on the threats to rights here in the UK. Only this very week, the prime minister and other ministers are…

by welland2 December 11, 2025

April 10, 2025 0

Somalia – a forgotten conflict

Terrible abuses take place in Somalia with little attention paid by the media

March 2025

The news is filled with the terrible events in Gaza and the resumption of bombing there, the war in Ukraine which, following President Trump’s activities and support for Russia, shows no sign of an equitable or fair resolution, and a possible resumption of hostilities in Lebanon means other conflicts receive little attention. This is true of Somalia on the horn of Africa where corruption and lawlessness are rife.

At South West conference in Exeter of Amnesty groups organised by the City’s Amnesty group, we heard first hand from a Somalian human rights defender Abdalle Mumin (pictured). Entitled Human Rights in Somalia: the Struggle of Defenders in a Dangerous Environment, he gave a detailed description of the severe problems being experienced in that country but which remain largely unreported. His descriptions of being held in an underground cell was chilling.

He explained the power set up in the country which provides valuable background to understanding the politics of repression. There are three centres of power: 1. Al-Shebaab a terrorist organisation with close links to Al-Qaeda 2. the government and 3. the clans of which there seem to be three. All are male dominated and the role of women in the political process is much reduced he said.

Corruption is rife and there is no independent judiciary. Women who are not wanted for some reason or complain too much can be murdered with impunity as there are no investigations carried out. Femicide is frequently practised. There is considerable sexual and gender based violence. The corruption starts with the business of getting into government for which a bribe of around $1m dollars is required. This has to be paid back of course which is done by purloining food aid and selling it off, accepting bribes for favours, money laundering and rewarding friends and family.

‘Terrorism and corruption are like brother and sister‘

This corrupt state of affairs can be kept going because attempts to publish stories is difficult. Many journalists are murdered: 85 in the period 1991 – 2024. There is also straightforward intimidation of news outlets by all the parties with many being closed. There are heavy restriction on human rights groups. This has now become the standard playbook for authoritarian and dictatorial regimes.

Foreign interventions he described as ‘confused’. Much aid in recent times is tied to resource extraction and there is an emphasis on security over human rights. Different agencies have different agendas making offering concerted help difficult.

There has been a huge displacement of population with around 2.9m affected. 80% of children do not receive an education and girls none at all in the rural areas because of the influence of Al-Shabaab.

Altogether a grim tale and finding hope is difficult. The problem in Somalia and in much of sub-Saharan Africa is the battle for resources. Countries desperate for minerals, oil and rare earth metals are concerned only to extract what they can and they show little regard for human rights. Their activities fuel the corruption since mining is impossible without the say so and bribes of one or all the various powers in the country. Abdalle Mumin himself was some kind of inspiration however. Despite the difficulties and the risks he faces – which include death from people unconstrained by law or justice – he was both inspiring and uplifting not to say humbling. Amnesty members present in Exeter were grateful for his talk.

March 23, 2025 1

Cricket and Afghanistan women

Do cricketing authorities have any moral compass at all?

January 2025

For women, life under the Taliban is like living in a prison. Even prisons have windows but the latest edict from the Taliban is that no new buildings can have a window through which a woman can be seen. Existing buildings must have such windows blocked up or screened off. The reason is “seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts”. Thus spoke Hibatullah Akhundzada, leader of the Taliban.

This is just the latest draconian measure. Women have no rights to free movement, education or work. Outside they must be completely covered over. Protections for girls and women subject to domestic abuse have been demolished. There has been a surge of forced marriages for girls and women. A full report, published by Amnesty called Death in Slow Motion reveals the full horrific nature of life for women, if ‘life’ be the correct word to use, in Afghanistan.

Enter cricket and the question of whether England should play Afghanistan: men, of course, because women are not allowed to play cricket or anything else, and members of the nascent women’s cricket team fled the country. This brings up the familiar question of whether we should engage in sporting activities with countries that have little concept of, or adherence to, human rights. We have discussed Saudi Arabia’s huge investment in sport and the recent disgraceful decision to award them the football (soccer, US) World Cup.

Bizarrely the Guardian reports (7 January) the England and Wales Cricket Board are refusing to schedule games against Afghanistan out of concern for a deterioration of basic human rights for women in the country. They are however, along with Australia, happy to play them in next month’s Champions Trophy. They are quoted as saying that they do not think a ban would make much difference to the ruling party there and that a unilateral decision would be less effective than a unified one by the International Cricket Council.

What should be the response for sporting bodies to taking part in sports with regimes who do not observe human rights for all or part of their citizenry? Does playing sport offer hope as the ECB argue? Or does continuing to play sport bolster the regimes and enables them to bask in the publicity while doing nothing to improve rights? Indeed, does sport actually make matters worse? During the communist era, East Germany and USSR for example, used sport to promote the idea of a healthy and successful society. The Saudi regime is investing billions in its sporting activities simply to promote the country to the world. We call it ‘sportswashing’. This enables regimes to sanitise their image knowing that the excitement of sport will give them massive uncritical coverage.

Will playing cricket against Afghanistan offer hope in the country? It might provide some amusement to Afghan men to watch their team, but the women? On the one hand it might put a spotlight on the country and its appalling treatment of women (good). On the other, it offers some favourable publicity to the regime and demonstrates to Afghanis that when money is on offer, the West very quickly loses its moral scruples (bad).

Meanwhile, a group of politicians led by Tonia Antiniazzi (Lab), has written to the ECB expressing their deep concern. The ECB’s responses can be seen in this BBC Sport report. Neither local MPs, John Glen nor Danny Kruger have signed the letter.

Sources: ECB, The Guardian, Amnesty International, BBC

Peter Curbishley

January 7, 2025 0

Illegal police surveillance of journalists

Tribunal finds that police illegally spied on journalists

December 2024

Viewers of news programmes last evening (17 December) will have noticed journalists and David Davies MP standing outside the Royal Courts of Justice holding Amnesty signs saying ‘Journalism is not a Crime’. This was as a result of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruling that both the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Metropolitan Police had acted unlawfully by spying on journalists during the Troubles*.

Journalism is an important part of our society and is sometimes the only means we have of getting some glimpse of the truth. Police actions in spying on journalists is to be deprecated. Two journalists, Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey produced a film called No Stone Unturned which documented the alleged collusion between the Police and the suspected murderers in the massacre which took place in Loughinisland in 1994. Six Catholic men were shot dead in the UVF attack, which was later found to involve collusion. In making enquiries to the PSNI this set off the surveillance operation in a bid to find the sources the journalists had relied on. It seemed relatively easy for the police at the time to acquire these orders.

‘Landmark case for press freedom‘ – Amnesty

Responding to a judgment from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) which today ruled that the police acted unlawfully and breached the human rights of Northern Ireland journalists, Amnesty declared it a ‘landmark case for press freedom’.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which is the only British court with statutory powers to investigate secret police surveillance, ruled that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan Police Service unlawfully spied on the journalists in a bid to uncover their sources.

At the conclusion of a five-year investigation, the Tribunal found that the PSNI had repeatedly acted unlawfully, in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. The unlawful behaviour reached all the way to the top of the PSNI with the then Chief Constable Sir George Hamilton being found by the Tribunal to have acted unlawfully by failing to “consider whether there was an overriding public interest justifying an interference with the integrity of a journalistic source” when he authorised a spying operation against an official at the Office of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland.

There are increasing concerns about police and security service surveillance, which is becoming easier with new technology. Software can be placed on phones to intercept messages, whether the phone is switched on or not.

Sources: Amnesty International; Irish Times; Irish News; The Guardian

*The ‘Troubles’ were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe. (Wikipedia)

UN report on Gaza

UN rapporteur’s report deeply shocking

December 2024

Amnesty International hosted a webinar on 3 December in which the UN Rapporteur on the occupied Palestine territories Francesca Albanese, discussed her report on the area. The report sets out in excruciating detail the extent of destruction in both Gaza and the West Bank and concludes that the extent and comprehensive nature of the destruction amounts to genocide. Parts of the report are distressing to read and anyone accessing it should be aware of the distress it might cause.

The prevailing narrative that much of the Western media have followed, directly or implicitly, is that the current conflict in Gaza is a direct response to the attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023. The IDF is engaged in defensive actions to locate and destroy Hamas operatives and the tunnel network from which they operate. The destruction of hospitals, schools and a host of other buildings is because these buildings are being used by Hamas as covers for their terrorist activities. The thousands of Gazans killed is because they are being used as human shields by Hamas. Little evidence has been provided of this. Thus Israel is acting in a reasonable way to protect its territorial integrity against a ruthless terrorist organisation bent on destroying the state. This is the narrative that Israel has deployed with considerable success. Many believe that if the remaining hostages were released, hostilities would cease and Gaza could return to some kind of normality.

The UN report debunks this narrative comprehensively. It reveals that there are solid grounds for believing that Israel’s intention, as revealed in a leaked Ministry of Intelligence concept paper in October 2023, was to drive all the Gazans out of the territory into the Sinai desert.

There has always been an intention for a Greater Israel (Eretz Yisrael). It is indeed ironic that one of the criticisms of Hamas contained in the disputed phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ to mean driving all the Jews out of Israel from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean, is precisely what Israel is trying to do to the Palestinians.

Descriptions of how Palestinians have been treated are horrific. Around 13,000 thousand children and 700 babies have died many shot in the head or torso (paragraph 14). There have been systematic attacks on food supplies and agriculture which ‘indicate an intent to destroy its population through starvation’ (20). 83% of food aid has been prevented from reaching Gaza.

Unreported, and truly shocking, is the network of Israeli torture camps where thousands have been detained in appalling conditions and many just ‘disappeared’. Many are bound to beds, blindfolded and in nappies (diapers), denied medical treatment, starved, subject to severe beatings, electrocution, and sexual assaults by both humans and animals (22).

West Bank

Violence in the West Bank has increased markedly. Israeli soldiers have carried out over 5,500 raids and conducted over 1,000 attacks. Children have been killed with 169 shot in the head or torso (27). Settler numbers have increased from 256,400 to 714,600 post the Oslo Accords. There has been a campaign of mass arrests and 9,400 are currently detained.

One of the most telling statements in the report is: The cultivation of a political doctrine that frames Palestinian assertions of self-determination as a security threat to Israel has served to legitimize permanent occupation. The deliberate dehumanization of the Palestinians has accompanied systematic ethnic purges from the period 1947–1949 to today. Ideological hatred of Palestinians as such has pervaded segments of society and the Israeli State apparatus (57).

Albanese in her talk said that land is central to Palestinian identity. It is being systematically being removed from them. The central issue is colonialism she says and Britain played a key part in this. She makes the point that Palestinians had nothing to do with the Holocaust but are today suffering from its aftermath.

Journalists are not allowed into Gaza and the UN rapporteur was not allowed in either.

Israel has successfully persuaded Western leaders and much of the media that their actions are somehow a response to violence. They have also been successful in selling the idea that it all started with the attacks of October 7th. Western leaders have gone along with this narrative, giving Israel support both diplomatic and military, enabling them to continue and now intensify their activities in Gaza and the West Bank. In reality, there has long been a plan to create a Greater Israel and finally to dispose of the Palestinian population by a combination of violence, destruction, starvation and genocide. Critics are demonised as ‘anti Israel’ or ‘anti-Semitic’ which has served them well to silence or inhibit them.

In an interesting discussion on YouTube the point was made by one speaker that the word ‘context’ is banned by some media organisations. Guidance to New York Times journalists shows the extent of censorship when it comes to the coverage with a wide range of words they are discouraged from using.

Gaza has exposed multiple weaknesses in the world order. History will judge our leaders harshly for their supine approach to Israel and their pusillanimous support for the Palestinians.

The Vigil will be held on Saturday at 5pm in the Market Square in Salisbury and lasts 30 minutes. Please join us.

Piece edited after posting.

December 4, 2024 1

Report critical of human rights

Report published by Policy Exchange claiming the HRA has curtailed the rights of Parliament

November 2024

Slightly amended 13 November

An article appeared in the Daily Mail on 11 November under the headline ‘Rights Act ‘curtailed power of Parliament ”. It said ’eminent lawyers have compiled a dossier of 25 cases where the Human Rights Act was applied and have shown how its use removed power from Parliament’. It continued that ‘power once held in Westminster is increasingly being transferred to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg’ and quotes the example of the government’s wish to deport ‘illegal’ immigrants to Rwanda which was frustrated at the last minute by the Court.

The Mail did not tell its readers however, who produced this report and a reference does not appear in the online version either. It was in fact written by the Policy Exchange and published on 11th. The organisation promotes itself ‘as an educational charity [and] our mission is to develop and promote new policy ideas which deliver better public services, a stronger society and a more dynamic economy‘.

The problem is that the Exchange is an opaque organisation and does not reveal who funds it, does not reveal funding on its website nor tells us the amounts given by funders. Open Democracy is very critical about the secretiveness of this organisation, its ‘dark money’ and its influence in government both with the Conservatives and now, it alleges, Labour.

It was revealed by Rishi Sunak who admitted that Policy Exchange received funding from US oil giant ExxonMobil who helped the government write its draconian anti-protest laws. It serves as confirmation by the then prime minister of Open Democracy’s revelations that last year’s controversial policing bill, which became the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act, may have originated in a briefing from Policy Exchange. The organisation has form therefore in being hostile to rights and protests. It is curious that the Daily Mail, in the vanguard in promoting parliamentary sovereignty and a powerful force in the Brexit debate, failed to mention the influence of American money believed to be behind several of this and other think tanks. Quite where is this ‘sovereignty’ they are keen on?

The limited information provided to Daily Mail readers meant they are unaware of who funds these reports or the motives of the assumed funders (if indeed ExxonMobil are one of the funders). The report’s arguments are thin and present the reader with the notion that human rights were amply protected by our common law and there is no need for this ‘foreign’ court. Were that so and the victims of Hillsborough for example might disagree having been let down by the courts, the police and elements of the media in their search for justice. They finally achieved justice partly with the aid of the Human Rights Act so despised by the Mail. There are many victims of injustice who have found our institutions to be less than favourable to their interests – the Post Office scandal anyone?

November 12, 2024 1

Tag: “Human rights”

Importance of Human Rights: UK Support for the ECHR