According to the international non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW), the British government may soon be part of a list of countries that abuse rather than protect human rights.
“There is a very worrying trend in the UK. Last year, a law was passed that called into question basic human rights,” stressed HRW’s executive director Tirana Hassan, expressing the organization’s “deep concern”.
Speaking of civic space and the right of people to participate in a democratic society, the right to peaceful assembly and the right to protest as fundamental pillars, he clarified that there is currently a “direct attack”. A section of Govt in this regard.
The British government had a “very short window” to reverse some of its decisions before joining countries accused of “abusing human rights,” the British newspaper The Guardian quoted the official as saying.
Last year, “the most significant attack on human rights protections in the UK for decades”, Yasmin Ahmed, UK director of HRW, recalled the 2023 Global Declaration already in place in the UK.
Public order laws at risk, limiting the right to protest and increasing prison sentences; Electoral Act requiring voter identification; Legislation restricting people’s rights to judicial review of social security and immigration decisions, and the Nationality and Borders Act, which criminalizes asylum seekers with irregular pathways and increases powers to revoke citizenship.
This recent legislation and the British government’s policy of transferring asylum seekers to Rwanda have been widely criticized not only by the public but also by the United Nations (UN).
Jane Austen is a writer and contributor covering culture, literature, lifestyle, and society. Her work focuses on thoughtful storytelling, social trends, and the issues shaping everyday life, delivering engaging and accessible content for readers across the United Kingdom.
