Leading Human Rights groups today welcomed the publication of the Bill to establish the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights.

The British Institute of Human Rights, JUSTICE and Liberty have joined together to mark this important milestone and the way forward.

Recognising the hard work many people have put into making this possible Sarah Cooke, Director of BIHR said:

"The new Commission presents a new opportunity to make the society in which we live more humane. It will be able to promote equality and human rights as central to the improvement of public services. It should also be able to take steps if the practice of public authorities is found wanting. This is important for everyone in the UK"

Gay Moon, Head of the Equality Project at JUSTICE said:

“JUSTICE welcomes the announcement that a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights is to be set up. It will play an important role in the advancement of equality and human rights for everyone in Great Britain. It is now important that its work is not hampered by outdated and unnecessarily complex equality laws. Work towards new comprehensive equality provisions needs to be taken forward as a matter of urgency.”

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said:

"All those who care about the state of human rights in this country should welcome the creation of an independent Commission for Equalities and Human Rights. Precious democratic values are far too important to be left to politicians and lawyers alone. That’s why democratic countries the world over have Commission's of this kind."

Contacts:

JUSTICE - 020 7762 6436
BIHR - 020 7848 1818
Liberty - 020 7378 3656 & 07973 831 128