Ali Harris, Equally Ours CEO, speech as delivered, 19.03.2026
Friends and colleagues—welcome. It is a privilege to be here today, bringing together leaders from across the Equally Ours network, the Equality and Human Rights Commission UK, and devolved government departments, and beyond.
Equally Ours is a small organisation and a mighty network of networks. We and our members share the foundational belief – taken from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – that all people are born equal in dignity and rights. As a network we harness our professional and lived experiences to make that belief a reality in people’s lives. Whether we are talking about disability rights, racial justice, freedom of religion and belief, or freedom from violence for women and LGBT+ people, our struggles are interconnected and our strength is collective.
We are here today to consider the future of human rights. Against a backdrop where the very foundations of our society – the rule of law and human rights – and specifically the Equality Act and the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights – are facing unprecedented levels of threat. Our task is ensure that human rights remain at the heart of our inclusive and pluralist society.
First, I am truly delighted to welcome Dr. Mary-Ann Stephenson as the new Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Mary-Ann, many of us in this room have known and admired your work for years. You understand both the complex drivers of inequality and the importance of everyday human rights. You understand why so many mothers can no longer afford to feed their children – and the true extent of discrimination faced by older people in the workplace. You understand how to work with decision-makers so they take into account everyone’s dignity and rights, including the most marginalized people.
Your leadership represents an opportunity for the robust and ongoing collaboration with civil society, that the Paris Principles call for, to ensure the Commission’s effectiveness as a National Human Rights Institution.
The recently launched civil society covenant also provides a chance to renew the relationship between civil society and the Commission and government. To create a relationshiod that is characterised by appropriate levels of collaboration and courageous independence – on all our parts.
But let us be candid about the landscape we are navigating now and for the foreseeable future. Civil society is under immense pressure. Our communities’ rights are under immense pressure.
In addition to the impacts of long-term disadvantage and the cost-of-living crisis, many of our team members, organisations and communities are also facing increasing abuse. More open and violent racism, xenophobia, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hate. Many of our young people – mainly young men – are simultaneously being harmed by exposure to extreme manosphere beliefs about women and minority communities, and being drawn into harming others by acting out those beliefs in their own lives.
Threats to rights are not theoretical or in the future – they are happening now – and even the key concepts and language of the rule of law and human rights are being co-opted and weaponised by bad faith actors.
But there are also reasons for optimism, strong foundations to build on and opportunities to seize. We can sustain and strengthen support for human rights – as long as we act now.
For example, we know – as opinion polls across many policy areas over many years show – that most people in the UK believe in equality and human rights –and in values such as fairness, compassion, and doing right by others. They want the law and public policies to live up to those values. Empirical evidence about how people form beliefs shows that the more that the public know that this is what most people agree with, the more likely they are to agree with it too.
We also know that the more people understand what human rights are really about – the more they support them.
We could make much more of the fact that we all rely on human rights in our everyday lives – even when we don’t realise it. Whether it’s challenging a parking ticket given in error or when the DWP make the wrong decision about our entitlement to benefits (of which there are many thousands of instances every year). Or challenging the abuse of our disabled family members in so called care homes, or the systemic over-policing and adultification of our young Black sons and daughters.
At Equally Ours we think of human rights as the one multipurpose powertool that we all actually need. Human rights provide both the standards that duty bearers should uphold and a range of mechanisms for people to challenge them when they don’t meet those standards, at both individual and public policy levels.
And we could make much more of the fact that the Equality Act protects us all against discrimination. It’s not that there are ‘people with protected characteristics’ and ‘people without’ – we all have at least four characteristics that are protected by the Equality Act, and that can change over our life course. 1 in 2 of us will get cancer, most during our working lives, and sadly many employers will only follow the law if they are made to.
All of us here today have different roles to play in creating a culture of rights rooted in shared national values, by turning these facts into common knowledge and these opportunities and reasons for optimism into action. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these important issues over the course of the day.
I want to close with a reminder of why we call ourselves “Equally Ours.”
Equally Ours means that this country, its rights, and its future don’t belong to one group or one ideology. They belong to all of us – the newcomer and the long-settled alike. As I said, we all rely on human rights in our everyday lives, even when we don’t realise it. They are – and need to remain – equally ours.
By protecting our legal bedrock, winning over the public, and using rights to tackle major social problems, we can stop the tide of division and uphold the rule of law and human rights for everyone.
Thank you.
