On Wednesday 3 March 2021, the AIRE Centre submitted its response to the Independent Human Rights Act Review, public call for evidence. 

We submit that the relationship between UK domestic courts and the European Court of Human Rights currently works well, and that no change to the Human Rights Act 1998 is required. 

The response highlights in particular: 

• The HRA has led to a significant decrease in the number of cases brought against the United Kingdom and in the number of violations found against the UK.
• The HRA was part of a package of carefully balanced constitutional reforms, including the decentralisation of power and in particular the devolution statutes, and is a significant pillar of the human rights architecture of the agreements relating to the devolved powers. 
• The impact of the HRA and the nature of the relationship between the ECtHR and the domestic courts in the development of case law on children's rights, asylum law and the extraterritorial application of the HRA.

The AIRE Centre believes that it is essential that, whatever conclusions and recommendations come out of this review exercise, those
recommendations coincide teleologically with the UK’s obligation under Article 1 of the ECHR to “secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in Section 1 of this Convention."

A full copy of our response can be viewed here: AIRE response to IHRAR Consultation.