On the brink of the election, it would be wise to consider the possible fate of the Human Rights Act if the Tories, and particularly UKIP, gain power. There has been much heated discussion about ‘abuses’ upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, forcing Britain into unwelcome decisions that cause outrage in the popular press; and yet, this Act was passed for a good reason.

It was introduced in 1989 with the aim of bringing the rights outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. Among other things, it has been used to protect older people being abused in care homes, to protect women from domestic violence and to defend the rights of soldiers not to be given defective equipment.

It is as well to remember that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN in 1948, in the aftermath of the terrible events of the war, and is the most translated document in the world, which is a testament to its universal nature. In 1950 it was given a European voice with the European Convention. Here in Britain we have an 800 year history, since Magna Carta, of respect for basic human rights. To change or abandon our Human Rights Act would leave us all, but particularly the most vulnerable, without the protection of our equal rights under law. The UDHR became the foundation stone of international human rights law, and the inspiration for the constitutions of many newly independent States. As Ban Ki-moon (Secretary General, United Nations) said, “it has become a yardstick by which we measure respect for what we know, or should know, as right and wrong”. So, it’s worth asking your possible candidates what their party line is on the Human Rights Act, and how willing they are to fight to uphold it, because a great deal of future policies hang upon it, and a Britain that walks away from it could be treading a path into a very different world. In the preamble to the UDHR it says ‘ if everyone recognises the essential dignity and worth of all human beings and if everyone recognises that all human beings have the same basic, equal rights, then this will lead to freedom, justice and peace in the world’. Which of the parties will guarantee to continue that vital support towards a better world?

Kate Sherringer for Cardigan and North Pembs Amnesty Group