New MDX-backed report outlines reasons to stay in European Convention on Human Rights

New report identifies ten reasons to stay in the ECHR as UK public backs membership

A new report from the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford identifies, examines, and addresses the counter-arguments for ten key reasons for the UK to remain in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

'Examining 10 Reasons to Stay in the European Convention on Human Rights: Informing the Public Debate in the UK' is co-written by MDX academics, Professor Alice Donald and Professor Philip Leach, along with Victoria Adelmant,  Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights,  Professor Başak Çalı of the Bonavero Institute, and Dr Joelle Grogan, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, UCD Sutherland School of Law.

It marks 75 years of the ECHR and 25 years since the Human Rights Act was brought into UK law. The report addresses a debate often dominated by claims about immigration control and widespread misunderstandings of what the ECHR does.

The authors outline how ECHR membership has been beneficial to people in the UK and the national interest:

• After disasters such as Hillsborough, the ECHR has required fuller investigations, while in Northern Ireland it helps anchor the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
• The same framework protects people at risk: children, people in care, and victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery.
• The ECHR enables international cooperation on issues such as border control, security, data transfer and combatting crime, while withdrawal could heavily damage the UK’s international standing.

“Engaging in debate about the ECHR and the UK’s relationship with it is legitimate and is how human rights law and policy evolves in a democratic society. But such debate must be evidence-based and grounded in accurate information.”

Alice Donald, Professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University.

This year has seen proposals to take the UK out of the ECHR – a step no democracy has ever taken and which runs counter to public opinion – with implications for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and wider cooperation with European partners. However, the analysis finds that reasons for the UK to remain in the ECHR have been largely missing from media reporting and political discussion, and that there has been a lack of sufficiently informed debate about the consequences of withdrawal from the ECHR.

The report sets out ten key reasons to stay in the ECHR – spanning accountability after state failures, protections for free expression and privacy, proportionate policing, and practical safeguards across public services – with evidence drawn from UK law, public authority practice, human rights case law, international treaty obligations, and academic and expert analysis.

Study co-author Professor Başak Çalı, added: "Our analysis shows that the ECHR underpins everyday protections from digital privacy and freedom of expression to safeguards for victims and the stability of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. It is wrong to say that the ECHR does not respect parliamentary sovereignty. It does and also provides essential accountability when things go wrong. Our evidence shows that the ECHR strengthens protections at home and gives the UK credibility and influence abroad."

The analysed benefits of staying in the ECHR are:

• Safeguarding basic rights in workplaces, courtrooms, hospitals, care homes, and newsrooms.
• Protecting people at risk, including children, people in care, and victims of domestic violence and modern slavery.
• Defending privacy in an age of mass surveillance and data harvesting (e.g. DNA retention limits and bulk interception safeguards).
• Enabling accountability after major failures such as the Hillsborough disaster.
• Protecting free speech and democracy and respecting parliamentary sovereignty.
• Providing increased protection compared with common law protections, including by providing an external source of accountability through the European Court of Human Rights
• Providing rights protections that stand the test of time, adapting to new circumstances and new threats.
• Supporting peace and stability in Northern Ireland.
• Enabling cooperation on border control, security, data sharing and tackling cross-border crime.
• Strengthening the UK’s voice and credibility in the Council of Europe and on the global stage.

Previous research by the Bonavero Institute, also co-written by Professor Donald,  ‘The European Convention on Human Rights and Immigration Control in the UK: Informing the Public Debate’, found that a large majority of ECHR-related news articles published in the UK focus on immigration and deportation, with the role of the ECHR frequently misreported in this context. Together, the reports demonstrate that recent political proposals to withdraw risk being made based on inaccurate or false premises and without an informed public debate about the benefits of the ECHR or about the consequences of withdrawal.

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