Fraz Wahlah, of 1st Citizen Lawyer, alongside Liberty, and Amnesty International, has signed a joint statement reaffirming support for the UK’s human rights protections and calling on political leaders to stop scapegoating the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The statement, coordinated by Liberty, marks the 75th anniversary of the ECHR, a landmark international treaty established after the Second World War to protect fundamental rights and freedoms. It ran in the The Independnet Newspaper yesterday highlighting that the ECHR and the Human Rights Act (HRA) have been unfairly politicised in recent years, with “devastating real-world consequences”.
Among the 292 signatories are leading charities and campaign groups such as Amnesty International UK, Shelter, Mind, Parkinson’s UK, and Ben & Jerry’s.
The groups highlight how the ECHR has protected ordinary people for decades, including those seeking justice after major public scandals, including Hillsborough and Windrush.
They are urging the Government to defend and strengthen the UK’s human rights framework, rather than undermine it – pointing out that the Conservative Party’s predecessors were architects of the Human Rights Act.
Quotes from Signatories
Fraz Wahlah, Director, 1st Citizen Lawyer, said:
“A society that turns its back on human rights is not progressing – it is devolving. Scapegoating the principles that safeguard dignity, equality, and justice takes us back to the stone age of fear and division. True progress is measured by how fiercely we defend the rights of every person, not by how easily we discard them.”
Sam Grant, Liberty’s Director of External Relations, said:
“There are people in powerful positions who want us to believe that we would be better off without the ECHR – don’t believe them. For decades, our human rights laws have underpinned our daily lives, giving us the freedom to speak out, love who we want, and live in peace. These rights were hard-won, and we must not allow any government to take them away.”
Full Statement
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is fundamental to our democracy. It empowers ordinary people of all backgrounds to hold the state and public bodies to account. In an increasingly unstable world – marked by political polarisation, authoritarianism, environmental crises, and technological disruption – these protections are more essential than ever to safeguard the dignity of all.
Born from the horrors of World War II, and with the UK playing a leading role in its creation, the ECHR set out minimum human rights standards for European governments to uphold. It has strengthened respect for human rights across Europe – no member state has used the death penalty for 25 years – and fostered cooperation on shared challenges such as crime and human trafficking.
Read more on Liberty’s website.
