Inquiry into the human rights implications of Brexit

Date: 20th September 2016
Category: Other human rights treaties and mechanisms

The Committee is issuing an open call for evidence, focusing on three issues: privacy and family life; international trade; and other human rights protected by EU law.

Issues of particular interest to the Committee:

Privacy and family life

What is the potential impact of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects privacy and family life, on EU nationals living in the UK and UK nationals living in other EU Member states in terms of their right to stay? For example, if current residence rights are not respected, issues could arise where EU nationals are married to British citizens, or where there is a genuine and subsisting relationship between a parent and child.

International trade

As part of the EU the UK is currently party to trade deals with human rights clauses written into them. What are the implications and how important are they? As the UK withdraws from the EU and begins to negotiate its own trade deals, what human rights requirements should it write into them? Should it model them on the current wording in EU trade deals or should the UK be setting higher standards?

Other human rights protected by EU law

What is the potential impact of withdrawal on other human rights protected by EU law? These include labour rights, disability rights and rights to freedom from discrimination on grounds of e.g. sexual orientation. To give just one example, in the area of children's rights there are detailed Directives on the subjects of combating child sexual abuse, exploitation and pornography, and on combating human trafficking.

Writing a child rights response

Together will be submitting a response to this consultation. However, Together has also recently made a submission to the Scottish Parliament's European and External Relations Committee's inquiry into EU reform and the EU referendum and its implications for Scotland. This can be used to inform a child rights-focused response to the JCHR Inquiry.