Sadiq Khan MP: Human Rights are for all of us

Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan celebrates International Human Rights Day by reminding us how human rights have transformed the country. Far from being a villain’s charter, human rights legislation has brought enormous benefits to the way we treat the vulnerable; from the elderly to innocent victims of crime, from blacks in South Africa to black Britons dying in custody in the UK. On International Human Rights Day, and less than a week since Nelson Mandela died, we should reflect on the unsung positives of human rights legislation. What do human rights and Monty Python’s Flying Circus have in common? You might think very little, but you’d be wrong. Remember their famous Life of Brian sketch – what have the Romans ever done for us? In which initially the view was ‘very little’ but which by the end comprised a considerable list of Roman achievements? Well, on International Human Rights Day, many in Britain will pose the question – what have human rights ever done for us? Fed a diet of horror stories about criminals and terrorists evading justice, most people would struggle to come up with any positive benefits from being one of the original signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, our membership of the European Convention on Human Rights or the Human Rights Act. Yet the list is actually long and impressive. Human rights have transformed the lives of many people in this country, and often under the radar. Human rights aren’t static - just as societies evolve so must the way we treat each other. Take the way human rights have benefited gay and lesbian people, and elderly couples no longer forced to live apart in separate care homes. Journalists are no longer under threat of being forced to reveal their sources due to the Strasbourg court's interpretation of human rights legislation, and airline staff can wear crucifixes around their necks, when their employers don’t want them to, because of human rights laws. The list of benefits goes on.... Far from this being all about criminals, one of the biggest beneficiaries have been victims. For a start, it’s a myth that criminals have the same rights as everyone else. In fact, human rights laws state those convicted of the most serious crimes must be kept behind bars if they are a serious risk to the public. Our human rights laws also place a specific requirement on governments to do all they can to protect people against crime, and provide justice to victims. Failure by governments and their agencies to do so is in contravention of human rights legislation. For murder and torture, human rights laws mean governments must respond promptly and effectively, with official investigations backed up by criminal prosecutions. This ‘positive obligation’ on authorities has a clear impact on victims of crime, who want cases investigated and solved as quickly as possible, and for the perpetrators to be put behind bars. Human rights laws explicitly protecting against torture and degrading treatment see victims as central to this. It’s down to the European Court of Human Rights that witnesses giving evidence in court that fear for their own safety can do so behind a screen so that defendants, public and press cannot see them. While the Convention seeks to protect a defendant’s right to a fair trial, it also has to take into account the need to protect the safety of witnesses too. Human rights also stopped the ignominy of rape victims being cross-examined in court by their alleged attackers. Our human rights laws rightly deemed this as wrong. Deaths in a police station or a prison cell must also be properly investigated because of human rights legislation. Not only is this important to the family of those who died, but it ensures that lessons are learnt and future deaths are prevented. And because of human rights laws, families are now given advanced notice of the information to be made public at inquests into deaths of loved ones, preventing emotional distress. Today we celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Over the subsequent decades it has become a beacon across the globe for those fighting for their human rights. In this sombre week, no one personifies this struggle for human rights better than Nelson Mandela. Yet at a time when the British Justice Secretary wants the UK to withdraw from the Strasbourg court, it is worth reminding ourselves that for six decades, our human rights have been protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, a convention written by Brits, and now protecting 800 million citizens across 47 nations. Human rights constitute one of our finest post war exports. If it were tangible like cars or computers, we’d be shouting about it from the rooftops. Some critics on the right are genuinely unconcerned or ignorant about the benefits brought by human rights laws – for them, the European Convention is a convenient political football with which they want to score and score big, playing into an increasingly toxic debate about Europe. We will be all the poorer if we wound back the clock, leaving the British people exposed without the protection offered by human rights laws. The 65th anniversary of the Universal Declaration is also a good chance to remind ourselves of history. Human rights laws came about through a realisation that democracies can result in those in the majority ignoring, trampling on or even abusing the rights of certain groups of citizens. That’s why having a set of rights that apply to all citizens as a guard against exploitation by governments of the day is crucial. And these rights are about real people – the Nelson Mandela’s of this world, but also me and you. That’s why those in a rush to jettison our human rights laws need to wise up. Rt. Hon Sadiq Khan MP is the Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Lord Chancellor