Save our human rights: what next? Results

Over 15,000 38 Degrees members have taken part in the survey to decide what we do together to protect our human rights. The Human Rights Act protects our right to education, a fair trial, and freedom from torture. But these rights are under threat from the government. They want to scrap the Human Rights Act by this summer, and write their own version instead.

Firstly, 38 Degrees members were asked “Should we focus on persuading politicians to vote to protect the Human Rights Act? Or should we focus on telling other members of the public about the campaign to create a storm of public pressure? Or, should we focus on both?” The result was overwhelming that we should focus on both.

38 Degrees members were also asked to prioritise different campaign tactics. Here are the top five:

• Big public meeting with MPs from all parties to rally opposition
• Make headlines about how important the Human Rights Act is for ordinary people
• Email our MPs to ask them to vote against the government’s plans
• Chip in for ads to make sure personal stories – of people who relied on the Human Rights Act – are seen nationwide
• Share things on social media to spread the word

So let’s get going! There’s a lot to do but we can start by creating a storm in the media: let’s commission research and legal advice to earn us headlines that’ll make the government wince. Let’s all chip in for ads to make sure that personal stories to show that any of us may need to rely on the Human Rights Act are seen by as many people as possible.

Let’s also put on a big public meeting with MPs from all parties to rally opposition to these changes. It’ll send a huge message to the government that we won’t stand for these changes, and help convince other MPs to break cover.

This is going to be a long fight, but 38 Degrees members will always stand up for human rights.