What’s in the ECHR?

The 16 rights in the UK Human Rights Act come directly from the Articles in the ECHR. These include the right to life, the right to liberty and the right to a fair trial. The Articles are an essential part of the Convention which all Member States have agreed to protect. There are also additional “Protocols” to the Convention that have been developed over time. Member States can pick and choose which of these they want to sign up to. Some of the protocols in the Convention haven’t been ratified (i.e. approved) by the UK, which means people in the UK aren’t protected by them – even though they’ve been ratified in other countries. One example is Protocol 12, which sets out a free-standing right to be from discrimination (unlike the Article 14 right to be free from discrimination, which can only be used in conjunction with another right). The Joint Committee on Human Rights has said the UK should ratify Protocol 12 as it’s one of just eight states that hasn’t.

Our explainer goes into more detail about the specific sections, Articles and Protocols included in the Convention. Find out more on what’s in the European Convention on Human Rights.