‘Disabled women experience disproportionate levels of all forms of violence and abuse from carers, partners and those in the community’ says a July 2018 report (pdf) from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Legislation alone cannot change attitudes, but it can contribute. It can also raise awareness, and give victims of hate crime confidence that it will be taken seriously by authorities.
This is according to a May 2018 independent review (pdf) of hate crime legislation in Scotland, chaired by Lord Bracadale – a senior member of the judiciary.
We want a UK where hardworking LGBT+ Brits do not find their existing rights diluted, or fall behind European workers in the future.
This is a statement is from the May 2018 briefing on Brexit and LGBT+ rights by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The rate of change in the positions of the Minister for Women and Equalities and the Government Equalities Office (GEO) is unsatisfactory and unsustainable. It is a source of disruption and confusion, both within the Civil Service and among stakeholders.
This is from the June 2018 report (pdf) from the Women and Equalities Committee on the role of Minister for Women and Equalities and the place of GEO in government.
Penny Mordaunt, The Minister for Women and Equalities, said that the Government will shortly publish a consultation on the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
The Government Equalities Office announced that it will consult on the future of civil partnerships.
This is from their May 2018 policy paper (pdf) which sets out plans for a new consultation to assess whether there is still enough demand for civil partnerships among same-sex couples, now that marriages are available to them. And whether there is demand for civil partnerships amongst opposite-sex couples.
The House of Commons Library have published a May 2018 briefing paper, which provides links to a selection of debates that have referenced Brexit in the title or during a debate in 2018.
Human rights belong to everyone. We all have rights regardless of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age, income, gender, country of birth or belief.
This is from the February 2018 report from the Scottish Human Rights Commission on building a human rights culture in Scotland.
The research tested and identified the impact of different types of messages on people’s attitudes towards human rights
The report finds:
Demographic groups of women and 16-24 year olds were most likely to become more supportive and engaged with human rights when exposed to key human rights messages
When talking about human rights, organisations involved in human rights secured the greatest levels of trust amongst all those surveyed, with 58% of participants saying they would trust them a great deal or fair amount.
This compares to 17% for a famous singer, actor, sportsperson or musician who is well known for caring about human rights
Different spokespeople affected the impact of messages. For example across all those surveyed, a disability rights campaigner has more impact than the Chair of the National Human Rights Institution when discussing disability rights.
Read the full report (pdf).
Despite allegations of serious abuse in immigration detention centers, the UK
persisted in not imposing a maximum time limit for immigration detention, and
continued to detain asylum-seeking and migrant children.
This is from the January 2018 report (pdf) from the Human Rights Watch (HRW). World Report 2018 is their 28th annual review of human rights
practices around the globe.
The report summarises key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from late 2016 through November 2017.
The report finds:
Germany over the past year made headlines when the Alternative for Germany (AfD) became the first far-right party to enter its parliament in decades
Despite a strong tradition of protecting civil and political rights, Australia has serious unresolved human rights problems. Australia continued in 2017 to hold asylum seekers who arrived by boat on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on the island nation of Nauru, where conditions are abysmal
Bahrain’s human rights situation continued to worsen in 2017. Authorities shut down the country’s only independent newspaper and the leading secular-left opposition political society.
In Bangladesh, civil society groups faced pressure from both state and non-state actors, including death threats and attacks from extremist groups.
Read the full report (pdf).
‘EU and EEA migrants living in Northern Ireland are facing high levels of fear and uncertainty around their status and rights in the aftermath of Brexit’.
This is according to the January 2018 report (pdf) from the Human Rights Consortium on the human rights implications of Brexit in Northern Ireland.
