As part of the regular Justice Questions session, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and his team of Ministers were questioned by Members of Parliament in the House of Commons on Tuesday 21 January. Issues such as leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement (the GFA, the Northern Ireland peace agreement), and victims’ rights were raised.
The Good Friday Agreement
Alistair Carmichael MP posed the following question to the Justice Secretary: If he is not ruling out ever leaving the convention, is he then not ruling out ever breaking the Good Friday agreement? Raab responded that the Government is ‘absolutely committed to the Good Friday agreement and the stability of Northern Ireland’.
Steve Reed MP (Labour Shadow Justice Minister) went on to state that the Rights Removal Bill 'will mandate British courts to override the European convention on human rights in certain circumstances and restrict access to Convention rights through British courts, but the Good Friday Agreement guarantees direct access to the courts for any breaches of the convention.'
He therefore asked how Raab will achieve his plans without breaching the Good Friday Agreement.
Raab responded that because the ECHR is retained within a schedule to the Rights Removal Bill, 'we can remain absolutely committed to the Good Friday Agreement.'
As our summary of the recent Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Oral Evidence Session in Parliament on the Bill of Rights Bill shows, experts have highlighted how the Bill does, in fact, raise a number of concerns for people in Northern Ireland and the ongoing peace process. These concerns exist despite the inclusion of the ECHR as a schedule to the Bill.
Our series on Why Our Human Rights Act Matters, is composed of blogs from a range of groups in devolved nations, including the Human Rights Consortium of Scotland, who conclude ‘So why does the Human Rights Act matter to people in Scotland? Because people do, and without the Human Rights Act many people simply would not have a voice.’
What Can You Do?
There is a view that because the Rights Removal Bill has not had its next stages scheduled yet that the risks it poses to people’s human rights have been reduced. However, until the Rights Removal Bill is formally withdrawn from parliament, it remains a live threat. Leaving the ECHR is also now an additional concern which the Justice Secretary failed to rule out in his response to the above questions.
It is vital that people hold Government to account. You can write to your MP using this template letter today and tell them why they must resist the Rights Removal Bill, stand firm on our Human Rights Act, and ensure our continued membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Find out about the UK Government's Bill of Rights Bill - better known as the Rights Removal Bill as it puts all our human rights protections at risk.
Find out about the UK Government's Bill of Rights Bill - better known as the Rights Removal Bill as it puts all our human rights protections at risk.
Every day at BIHR the people we support share their real-life stories of Why Our Human Rights Act Matters to them.
Every day at BIHR the people we support share their real-life stories of Why Our Human Rights Act Matters to them.
A section-by-section guide to the ECHR.
A section-by-section guide to the ECHR.
Parliamentary & Policy Assistant