Understanding the British Human-Rights Debate

Abstract

The United Kingdom is contemplating major changes to its human-rights regime, including the repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998, the enactment of a new Bill of Rights, and — perhaps — withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. In this short paper, I consider the nature of the concerns that animate arguments in favour of radical reform and briefly sketch how such concerns might be addressed.

Keywords: human rights, constitutional law, human rights act, european convention on human rights

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K19, K30, K39