Nearly 300 organisations have joined together to express support for European Convention on Human Rights, in a letter coordinated by Liberty. Signatories included senior representatives of the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches, alongside leading human rights organisations such as Amnesty, Shelter, Mind, and Friends of the Earth.
The letter marked the 75th anniversary of the creation of the ECHR on 4th November 1950, by calling on the UK Government to defend human rights amidst calls to drop the Convention. Following the Second World War and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the ECHR was influenced by British lawyers and signed by the UK in 1951. It is enforced by the European Court of Human Rights, and seeks to protect:
- the right to life
- the right to free elections
- the right to a fair trial
- freedom of expression
- freedom of thought, conscience and religion
- freedom from torture
- freedom from discrimination.
In recent months, a number of politicians in Britain have suggested that the UK should withdraw from the ECHR and replace it with a more selective British Bill of Rights.
Explaining why the URC chose to sign the letter, Roo Stewart, URC Head of Public Issues and JPIT member, said, “There is a dreadful history of abuses when governments around the world have exercised autonomy over what they consider to constitute human rights. By ensuring that the UK continues to be subject to international standards set outside of government policy and political convenience, with the consensus of careful consideration from multiple countries, the inhabitants of the United Kingdom can expect to live in continued freedom and safety.”
The letter highlights the dangers of misinformation and scaremongering, pointing out that “leaving the ECHR would not solve policy problems like the backlog of asylum cases, or people risking their lives through Channel crossings, but would bring about years of legal uncertainty, undermine our international position, and cause harm to the rights of both migrants in the UK and our wider communities.” It calls on politicians to “end the escalating, irresponsible rhetoric targeting migrant and minoritised communities, which has devastating real-world consequences for people who are often already made vulnerable by wider social and economic marginalisation and stigmatisation.”
While there have been debates within Christianity about the language and framework of human rights, Churches have historically drawn on the Christian understanding that all humans are created in the image of God as a basis on which to support the pursuit of human rights. A 1985 Methodist Conference report on the subject concluded that “Human rights treaties and machinery merely seek to entrench [biblical] values in a form which those deprived of their human dignity can depend upon to produce something nearer the biblical idea of justice,” and encouraged Christians to mobilise the community in contributing to the pursuit of human rights.
The Baptist Union, Methodist, and United Reformed Church signatures on this letter represent a living out of this mandate to uphold human dignity and uphold principles of justice and equality in law at a time when such important values are coming under increased attack.
Write to your MP today to back the ECHR and defend our human rights (Amnesty) – Defend our Human Rights – Tell Your MP to Back the ECHR
Read the full letter and list of signatories – https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/almost-300-organisations-express-support-for-echr-on-75th-anniversar