Leaving rights treaty would be a ‘mistake’, says watchdog

Leaving the European human rights treaty to quell rightwing anger over immigration would be a mistake, the new head of the equalities watchdog has said, as she warned against the demonisation of people who migrate to the UK.

- Kevin Rawlinson

Mary-Ann Stephenson, who became the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission on 1 December, said the European convention on human rights (ECHR) was part of a framework that provided rights most people would agree were fundamental. But she said the tone of public conversation on it was often dangerous.

“{I think it’s important that we have honesty in the way we talk about human rights, and that we also have a recognition that the demonisation of migrants - creating this idea that migration causes huge risks for the country - can make the lives not just of migrants to the UK but of ethnic minority UK citizens very difficult.”

Stephenson noted a “real risk of people using, quite often, cases where human rights arguments were made in court but were not successful” when discussing the ECHR.