Our monthly report on human rights in the UK
June 2026
UK Political Prisoners
Research by Queen Mary University of London and the protest group Defend our Juries says that custodial sentences for acts of direct action or civil disobedience were once rare. They are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency in the UK, creating ‘a new breed of political prisoners’ through the systemic incarceration of people acting to prevent climate breakdown and the annihilation of Gaza.
Rules on Transgender
The ECHR has offered clarification on the application of the law on transgender status, confirming that since the legal definition of sex is based on sex at birth, single sex toilets must exclude transgender people for whom the provision of separate facilities is recommended.
Palantir Challenge
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has blocked the use of Palantir platforms for the Metropolitan Police Force. Despite its record for assisting anti-immigration police in the US and aiding Israeli surveillance in Gaza, it is alleged that the police failed seriously to consider any other company for the contract. The lack of process is seriously concerning, since Palantir has been allowed to gain a foothold in public services to the extent that it has now amassed more than 30 contracts with the UK state. Critics also dispute its superior performance.
A cross party group of MPs have now challenged the Government on this. Amnesty and other concerned organisations such as the Good Law Project are coordinating local protests against the use of Palantir in NHS Trusts. see our previous post on this firm and the danger it poses.
Equality Act: Public Sector Equality Duty
Discussion around the murder of Henry Nowak has centred around whether the Public Sector Equality Duty section of the Equality Act 2010 led the police in question to mistakenly prioritise a false allegation of racism over an actual stabbing attack, as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch argued. However, critics say the case was a failure of police procedure rather than a pointer to review the section on institutional guidance on racism. The murder has generated a great deal of political heat.
The Public Sector Equality Duty states that public authorities should ‘advance equality of opportunity between people who share and people who do not share a relevant protected characteristic’. Protected characteristics include age, disability, pregnancy, sex and sexual orientation. Government guidance says the duty should ‘always be applied in a proportionate way’ depending on the circumstances of the case.
The duty was introduced in 2010 as part of the Equality Act which merged previous anti-discrimination laws such as the Equal Pay Act and the Disability Discrimination Act.
Since its introduction, organisations and individuals have been able to take public bodies to court for failing to abide by the duty, for example when councils withdrew library funding, set unequal fees for council funding to private care homes, or when the Home Office had not complied with the duty in relation to how its ‘hostile environment ‘ policies would impact members of the Windrush generation.
While Reform would abolish the entire act, the Conservatives criticise only the public sector section. The Labour Government, however, is promising further anti-discriminatory legislation, a new equality and diversity strategy, with a primary focus on getting working class people joining and progressing in the Civil Service.
Recent posts:
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 