Human Rights Day – equality act and human rights

What are Human Rights?

According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission ‘human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death’.  They protect us in many areas of day-to-day life, including:

• the right to have and express your own opinions
• the right to an education 
• the right to a private and family life
• the right not to be mistreated or wrongly punished by the state

Human Rights in the UK?

In the UK, our human rights are listed in the Human Rights Act (1998), this act incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).  However, as we leave the European Union in less than one month, there is still uncertainty around our human rights in the UK and what might come afterwards if the Government decide to change the Human Rights Act.

With this uncertainty, the Equality Act may help us out.  This Act was passed in 2010 and offered extra protections to people who have ‘protected characteristics’, these are: age, race, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, religion, disability, and sexual orientation.

The Act protects people with these characteristics from discrimination and prejudice in society as a whole, but also specifically within the workplace, at school or in learning environments, etc.  The Equality Act also helped to simplify 116 other pieces of legislation as well as incorporating the human rights principles and made it easier to access and understand by those it aims to protects and their allies.

What does the LGBT+ Group say about Human Rights?

While we, as a society, have made good progress in recognising and protecting human rights, there is always a chance that we could lose some of those rights.  With the revelation that we don’t actually know what will happen to Human Rights in the UK after Brexit, we hope the UK Government will see these rights as sacred and essential to our continued growth as a society. 

We believe everyone should have a safe place in the world and know that they are protected from harm.  When you are part of a minority, it can be hard to feel completely secure within your rights, Human Rights in the UK and across the world gives us the voice and protections needed to thrive and be the best we can be

Our second blog highlights that very point as we share the story of one Asylum Seeker currently living in Glasgow.

To find out more about Human Rights in the UK and Brexit, here are a few articles we found interesting:

• Human Rights Watch - https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/11/uks-bid-brexit-all-costs-will-damage-human-rights
• The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/07/boris-johnson-set-to-make-compromise-on-human-rights-act-eu-sources
• Equality Act - https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act

Reference

Equality and Human Rights Commission

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights/what-are-human-rights

House of Commons Library

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-might-brexit-affect-human-rights-in-the-uk/