Developing a Bill of Rights for the UK
View the Bill of Rights Report
View the Bill of Rights Seminar Report
The Equality and Human Rights Commission recently commissioned research to identify and explore best practice processes for creating a Bill of Rights for the UK. The research was conducted by the Human Rights and Social Justice Research Institute (HRSJ at London Metropolitan University and Global Partners and Associates
The Commission’s principles were the starting points for this research project which:
- analysed evidence drawn from related domestic and international experiences
- elaborated upon the Commission’s principles underpinning the development of a Bill of Rights, and
- drew up recommendations for how a future UK Government should proceed with the development of a Bill of Rights, regardless of which political party is in power.
The research comprised:
A comprehensive review of literature, both published and unpublished, on bills of rights processes and analogous processes in the UK and internationally.
- Around 40 semi-structured interviews with key figures who have studied and/or been involved in (i) processes to create bills of rights or similar documents in the UK and internationally or (ii) deliberative and participatory processes undertaken for other purposes that might hold relevant lessons for a UK Bill of Rights process. This includes the voluntary and community sector and other civil society organisations to ensure both a ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top down’ perspective.
- A seminar on 1 December 2009 was held under the Chatham House rule, that brought together a range of experts and stakeholders for constructive dialogue on best practice processes for creating a UK Bill of Rights. View the Bill of Rights Seminar Report.
The research team have produced a detailed written report “Developing a Bill of Rights for the UK” which integrates evidence from the different aspects of the research. The report was launched at a debate hosted by the EHRC with the three political parties on the future of human rights legislation in Britain, where The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for Justice, Dominic Grieve MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and David Howarth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice set out their parties positions and answered questions from human rights experts.
View the video footage of the debate hosted by the EHRC: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/human-rights-debate/
For further information contact:
Aruna Dudhia, HRSJ
a.dudhia@londonmet.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7133 5095
