Weekly Human Rights News: 09-06-23

This week, we welcomed the newest addition to the BIHR team, Jacob. Jacob has previously been a benefits officer and worked at a human rights consultancy on research, policy and training, and has a master's in international human rights law. He’ll be joining our team of Human Rights Officers who design and deliver resources and support sessions for rights-holders and duty-bearers and share evidence with policy-makers on the everyday value of the Human Rights Act.

Our new explainer contains some of our most frequently asked questions about the ECHR including, “was the ECHR affected by Brexit?”; “what happens if someone breaks the ECHR?”; and “are ECHR judgments made public?”

Head to the explainer to find out more and, if you have questions that haven’t been covered, you’ll also find a space to submit your questions.

The Court of Appeal denied permission to appeal a sex education case

In December 2022, a group of parents brought a claim against the Welsh Government, saying that introducing Relationships and Sexuality Education as a mandatory part of the school curriculum breached the right to education because it did not consider their religious and philosophical convictions. However, the Court said while teaching should be religiously neutral, it doesn’t have to be value neutral and teaching tolerance and critical thinking is in line with the purposes of the right to education. The parents asked to appeal the decision, but the Court of Appeal refused, saying “it is inconceivable that such teaching [about respectful treatment of LGBTQ+ people] could be contrary to the common law or the Human Rights Act”.

Source: ITV News

The Illegal Migration Bill began Committee Stage in the House of Lords

The Illegal Migration Bill had three days of Committee Stage on 24^th May, 5^th June and 7^th June. This stage involves a line-by-line examination of the Bill by the House of Lords. On the third day, the debate went on until 4am.

You can see the amendments debated so far on the UK Parliament website. The Committee Stage will continue on Monday 12^th June.

Find out how a law is made in our explainer.