\u201cI think it\u2019s really important that we have honesty in the way that we talk about human rights, and that we also have a recognition that the demonisation of migrants \u2013 creating this idea that migration causes huge risks for the country \u2013 can make the lives not just of migrants to the UK, but of ethnic minority UK citizens, very, very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephenson noted a \u201creal risk of people using, quite often, cases where human rights arguments were made in court but were not successful\u201d when discussing the ECHR.<\/p>\n
She pointed to research from the University of Oxford earlier this year that highlighted \u201cseveral high-profile examples of misleading coverage, including the so-called \u2018chicken nuggets\u2019 case \u2013 widely reported as the prevention of an individual\u2019s deportation on the basis of his child\u2019s dislike of foreign food, despite the decision not being based on this detail and having already been overturned\u201d.<\/p>\n
Political debate has ramped up around the UK\u2019s membership of the ECHR \u2013 often in relation to cases in which the government seeks to deport people. Some on the right have claimed the convention hampers those efforts. Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have said they would quit the international treaty.<\/p>\n
The Labour government is reviewing human rights law<\/a> to make it easier to win deportation cases. Changes to article 3 \u2013 prohibition on torture or inhuman or degrading treatment \u2013 and article 8 \u2013 the right to family life \u2013 are included in the government\u2019s plans to overhaul the asylum system, which have both been relied on in high-profile cases.<\/p>\n Stephenson described the convention as \u201creally important\u201d because it was incorporated into the UK\u2019s Human Rights Act and said leaving would weaken the rights everyone depends on.<\/p>\n She gave as examples the supreme court judgment<\/a> in relation to the investigation into the rapist John Worboys, which ruled police could be held liable for serious failures \u2013 and another involving the threatened separation of an elderly couple when one needed to go into residential care.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are all sorts of cases where most people would think: \u2018That\u2019s the sort of thing we would want to see. Those are the sorts of rights we would want to have.\u2019 And so I think leaving the European convention is a mistake. It weakens the rights that all of us depend on.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the chief of the body that oversees the convention said member states had taken an \u201cimportant first step forward together\u201d in agreeing to look at changes to tackle migration within its legal framework.<\/p>\n The Conservative home affairs spokesman Chris Philp described Stephenson\u2019s remarks as a \u201cdisgrace\u201d and claimed \u201cthe left\u201d was trying to paint \u201cthose opposed to mass immigration and illegal immigration as racist\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis nonsense has to end. It is completely wrong that Labour\u2019s new human rights chief dismisses legitimate concerns about mass migration and crimes committed by foreign nationals – including the recent spate of rapes and sex attacks committed by small boat illegal immigrants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Quick GuideContact us about this storyShow The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.<\/p>\n If you have something to share on this subject, you can contact us confidentially using the following methods.<\/p>\n Secure Messaging in the Guardian app<\/p>\n The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.<\/p>\n If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS<\/a>\/Android<\/a>) and go to the menu. Select \u2018Secure Messaging\u2019. <\/p>\n SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post<\/p>\n If you can safely use the Tor network without being observed or monitored, you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766405467_974_4000.jpg\")
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