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

Marking 75 years of the ECHR and 25 years since the Human Rights Act (HRA) gave it effect in UK law, the research addresses a debate often dominated by claims about immigration control and widespread misunderstandings of what the ECHR does. 
 

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. 

It concludes that the way in which the UK incorporated ECHR rights through the HRA safeguards everyone's rights every day, including actively protecting people when they are at their most vulnerable, protecting people's privacy against intrusion, holding those in power accountable, and increasing the UK's international influence and credibility.

The authors note that this conclusion does not suggest there should be no debate about the ECHR, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, or the application of the HRA within the UK. This debate must, however, be well-informed and evidence-based.

The authors of the report are:

Victoria Adelmant, Doctoral Researcher in Law, University of Oxford, and Resident at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights
Alice Donald, Professor of Human Rights Law, Middlesex University London
Başak Çalı, Head of Research at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and Professor of International Law

Joelle Grogan, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, UCD Sutherland School of Law; and Co-Academic Director, Rule of Law Clinic, CEU Democracy Institute
Philip Leach, Professor of Human Rights Law, Middlesex University London