Wales 'failing to turn human rights rhetoric into reality'

HUMAN rights in Wales are too often "promises rather than protections", leaving vulnerable people dependent on goodwill rather than legal guarantees, a Senedd member has warned.

- ELLA GROVES

Sioned Williams, who chairs the Senedd's cross-party group on human rights, said disabled people, refugees and children are being let down by a system that fails to protect their rights.

She warned a report's "sobering" findings showed a gap between the Welsh Government's ambition and the reality for people facing poverty, discrimination and barriers to justice.

Plaid Cymru's shadow social justice secretary said the cross-party group's report revealed a Wales where human rights are too often aspirations rather than guarantees.

She told the Senedd: "Rights that cannot be claimed are not rights at all. They are hopes. They are dependent on political goodwill, on policy discretion, on the priorities of the day."