By Maria Monserrat Escudero and Dolores Modern

Human Rights in context

This year, commemorating Human Rights day is critical. 

The Human Rights Framework guided governments, policymakers, and societies in general for decades, enshrining the value of human life, dignity and compassion beyond borders. Alarmingly, this consensus is now being challenged globally. In the UK, we can see this clearly with the pledge by some MPs to scrap the Human Rights Act and leave the European Convention on Human Rights. But we don’t need to go this far to put Human Rights at risk. By demonising migration, this government is fuelling the narrative that questions whether we are all deserving of rights and entitlements.

Human Rights are interlinked, and most importantly, inherent to every human being. By alienating certain groups of people from their fundamental rights, we are stripping them from their humanity. In the context of the 16 days of activism, where the importance of eradicating violence against women and girls is in the spotlight, the interconnectedness of Human Rights comes into centre. 

The dehumanising effect of the hostile immigration environment

The cruelty of the current hostile environment migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are living in cannot be overstated. Our communities have progressively seen their vulnerability increase for years. And when we thought things could not get much worse, a government many of us had put our hopes in, turned on us. 

Migrants have become the scapegoats for state failings of all kinds. We are to blame for the housing crisis, for austerity impacting the working class, for salaries falling and working conditions worsening. There is no evidence that shows that migration has caused any of these issues, or that reducing migration would fix them. However, the idea that migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are impoverishing the UK by taking from British citizens is spun across media, parliamentary debates, and now at dinner tables. 

The purpose of these narratives is not to fix the root causes of the issues facing the UK. They are used and exploited to create division, cover failings and gain political support in a context of crisis and concern. These narratives and the policies that derive from them are also an extension of the colonial project, which extracted from and exploited ‘othered’ populations. Now, we see it happening within the UK borders by allowing for the dehumanisation of human beings who have made this country their home, however temporarily. 

The real life impact of dehumanising migrants 

The downgrading of the Human Rights framework and the narratives that enable this affect everyone. A mother might be afraid to speak to her child in her own language in public. A child might face bullying at school. A worker might fear reporting their employer for abusing their rights. A student might choose not to continue pursuing their education in the UK for fear of violence. This creates a fragmented society, where fear seeps into communities and erodes the trust and solidarity that hold us together. It also opens the door to further curtailing of rights. 

For those most at risk, including the women we work with who are survivors of gender-based violence, trafficking, and exploitation, this context makes it even harder to access support, justice, and redress. These women, who are often experiencing intersecting issues related to structural racism and class discrimination, are being systematically failed by this government from multiple fronts. They are the very people the government claims to want to protect. 

Migrants Rights and Women’s Rights are Human Rights

There are no humans less deserving of a dignified life. Violence against women and girls will not be eradicated if we, as a society, marginalise women who, due to their immigration status, are subjected to institutional violence and discrimination. The idea of “earning” Human Rights through, for example, increasingly complex conditions for settlement, goes against the commitments this country has taken to abandon the colonial project and become a firm supporter of the advancement of all peoples. 

In this context, communities and solidarity networks are taking the role of the state and protecting those most vulnerable. However, charities and communities alone cannot revert the consequences of these curtailments. 

But we refuse to lose hope. When in crisis, humanity has thrived by strengthening community bonds, and pulling each other up. The UK was once a leading voice in the adoption of Human Rights globally, being the first nation to ratify the European Convention of Human Rights. We need a government that can take up the mantle, refusing to be blinded by short-term political gain, and steps up to the challenges facing our times. 

Everyone deserves to live in dignity. A fair immigration system that offers equal and real protections is the only way to guarantee Human Rights.