Humanists UK has joined other civil society organisations, organised by the British Institute of Human Rights, in signing an open letter expressing concern at the UK Government’s refusal to accept more than 100 recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Council in its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights in the United Kingdom.
The UPR is a UN mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights performance of all UN member states. Approximately 42 states are reviewed each year with each state being reviewed at least once every five years. The current review is the third that the UN has carried out of the UK since the UPR was instituted in 2006.
In total, UN members made 229 recommendations, of which the UK Government accepted just 96 or 42 percent. This is a significant decrease from the 2012 UPR when the UK Government accepted 54 percent and trails behind both countries like France and Saudi Arabia who accepted 82 and 66 percent respectively at their last UPRs.
The Government did not accept recommendations to improve access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, and fatal foetal abnormality in Northern Ireland, or end the discrimination against same-sex couples by extending the 2013 Marriage Equality Act to the province. In both cases the Government stated that the issues would continue to be considered by the Northern Ireland Assembly subject to its return.
Humanists UK Director of Public Affairs and Policy Richy Thompson commented, ‘Britain has long claimed to be an international champion of human rights. However, its refusal to accept the majority of recommendations does not compare well with contemporary nations, and even countries known for widespread human rights violations. The Government’s response to the latest UN UPR is indicative of a worrying trend towards the erosion of human rights protections in the UK, particularly ongoing threats to repeal the Human Rights Act and the possible loss of equality protections found in the Great Repeal Bill. At this time civil society organisations, such as Humanists UK, must be vigilant and vocal in holding the Government to account over its obligations to protect human rights.’
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For further comment or information contact Richy Thompson, Director of Public Affairs and Policy at richy@humanists.uk or 020 7324 3072.
Read letter here: https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017-09-18-RTR-Civil-Soc-MOJ-Letter-Sept-2017-updated.pdf
Read more about our campaign work on human rights and equality: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/human-rights-and-equality/
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