Today the British Humanist Association (BHA) joins 164 other charities and civil rights groups in calling on the Prime Minister, Theresa May, to abandon her plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a new British Bill of Rights.
The letter, organised by the British Institute of Human Rights and first published today for International Human Rights Day, states:
‘The Human Rights Act is something to cherish. It helps those delivering frontline services to make difficult ethical decisions and enables families to hold those in powerful positions to account. It is key to defending our free press and to protecting our democracy. It is the Bill of Rights we already have.
‘This year, huge uncertainty and upheaval began that will continue for years to come. It is not the time to add to the legal confusion, to risk further division or signal that the UK wants to walk away from international standards. Now is the time to champion, at home and abroad, the protection of hard-won human rights. For everyone.’
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson, who co-signed the letter, also commented:
‘The Human Rights Act brings together in one place, and in law, a long tradition of British civil liberties activism and helps to uphold, in this country, the equal dignity of every living person. 68 years on from the original creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our society again faces many of the fears and conflicts which defined that profoundly destructive period in human history. Then as now, it is essential for all people of goodwill to defend those basic rights that all of us share simply by virtue of being human.’
Notes
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.
For further information or comment, please contact Pavan Dhaliwal on pavan@humanists.uk or 07738 435059.