The proposed repeal of the Human Rights Act would “wind the constitutional clock back to the 1990s” and is “particularly unwise” now because of the actions of Russia in Ukraine, experts have warned. Government plans to replace the legislation with a British Bill of Rights wou
Human Rights
Human rights campaigners have called for the release of lawyer Mohammad Najafi, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018 on multiple convictions for his defence of basic civil and political liberties. Lawyers for Lawyers, an independent and non-political Netherlands-based foundation and the Center
The Welsh and Scottish governments have described the UK government’s plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights as an “ideologically motivated attack on freedoms and liberties”. Ministers have called on the UK government to listen to evidence from civil society an
Amending human rights laws to give priority to domestic law could result in uncertainty, former Supreme Court justice Lord Carnwath has said. An independent review of the Human Rights Act recommended subordinating Strasbourg case law to UK law.
To mark the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is co-hosting a webinar next Monday on the United Nations Guidelines for Lawyers in support of peaceful assemblies. Organised by the IBAHRI, the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP), th
Lithuania has given a Guantanamo Bay detainee €100,000 in compensation after allowing the CIA to torture him at a site near the capital Vilnius. Abu Zubaydah's payout follows a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the country had fallen foul of the European Convention
The Scottish Human Rights Commission has welcomed Lady Poole’s appointment as chair of the Covid inquiry but said the terms of reference do not go far enough to ensure that a human rights-based approach is taken to the inquiry. Much will depend on the approach taken by Lady Poole, it said.
Amnesty International is to close its Hong Kong offices by the end of the year because of China's controversial national security legislation. The human rights organisation said its work had been made "effectively impossible" by the Hong Kong national security law introduced by Beijing last summer i
The Scottish Human Rights Commission called on the Scottish government to set out a full and transparent assessment of the human rights issues engaged by Covid-19 vaccine certification. In its letter, the commission expresses its concern that the Scottish government has mandated Covid vaccination ce
Organisations across Scotland will share £21 million funding over three years to "advance human rights, promote equality and tackle discrimination". A total of 48 organisations – including five human rights organisations – will benefit from the Scottish government's new equality an
New research from Amnesty International UK and the Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS) found evidence that the human rights of people in Scotland were frequently overlooked as major public service redesigns took place during the ‘first wave’ of Covid-19 in 2020. The findings further
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) today issued a set of minimum requirements for conditions of detention in European prisons, concerned by the negative effects of pre-existing austerity measures in certain states, which could be exacerbated by the Covid-19 p
The Council of Europe’s HELP programme (Human rights Education for Legal Professionals) has launched a new online course on the environment and human rights. The six-hour course, which is available free of charge via the HELP online platform, has been developed by experts on the European Conve
The Scottish Human Rights Commission has set out the concerns and obligations that must be considered by the Scottish government in any moves to introduce so-called "vaccine passports". In a new briefing, the commission also makes nine recommendations to the government on how to proceed on Covi
Plans to incorporate human rights treaties into Scots law have been announced by Equalities Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville. Subject to the outcome of May's Holyrood election, a new Human Rights Bill will incorporate four United Nations human rights treaties into Scots law, including legislat