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Trending - July 2016

Brexit Poisons Human Rights

Putin, Le Pen and Trump; the list of those cheering the news of Brexit is a fairly clear indication of the negative impact on human rights and international cooperation. The anti-immigrant poison of the campaign has also encouraged an upsurge in hate crimes across England. And the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland has also been put in jeopardy.

There is no doubt that Putin and other authoritarian leaders are delighted by anything that weakens the European Union and questions international cooperation around universal values and the rule of law. The EU, for all its faults, has been an important bulwark in support of human rights. It made respect for human rights a key criteria for membership and thereby contributed to the democratic transitions in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. While these values have recently been challenged by autocrats in Hungary and Poland, their complaints are a testament to the institutionalisation of human rights within the EU, even if more needs to be done to guarantee respect for those rights in all member states.

The EU has also been a strong supporter of human rights internationally and has given weight to the protection of human rights defenders. The adoption in 2004 of EU Guidelines for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders was the starting point for a much more systematic support by the EU for human rights defenders at risk around the world. There is no doubt that Europe's failures in response to the refugee crisis as well as the way racism is increasingly polluting the political sphere in several European countries has undermined the moral force of EU advocacy on human rights. Nevertheless, the EU continues to provide much practical support and funding for human rights defenders at risk. Brexit is a direct challenge to this important norm and threatens to undermine cohesion and reduce available resources.

The UK itself seems to be set on a course towards a more xenophobic right-wing nationalism. Theresa May, who is currently favourited to become the next Prime Minister, is a long time opponent of the European Convention on Human Rights and a supporter of unregulated surveillance and other powers for the security services. The UK Government is also investing significant funds to block access to justice for victims of torture. There seems little prospect of a post-Brexit UK playing a more positive role in the promotion and protection of human rights. The current UK government had already sacrificed human rights in pursuit of investment from China in the building of nuclear power stations and high speed rail. The scramble to re-establish trading arrangements post-Brexit will likely weaken further any residual concerns about ethics or the rule of law.

There are diplomats within the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office who are making a practical difference in support of individual human rights defenders, but the risk is that post Brexit the positive policy framework on human rights defenders which encourages such engagement will be diluted or abandoned.

Brexit is linked to the growth of a right-wing populist discourse which has explicitly sought to smear and undermine human rights and those who defend them. In the UK, young people, in particular, are mobilising to counter the surge in hate crimes. And we must hope that the response of the EU to the challenge of Brexit will be to reinforce its commitment to human rights and international cooperation.

Sometimes we only fully appreciate how valuable things are when they are under attack or when someone takes them away. Sadness was an understandable reaction to the triumph of lies and xenophobia, but we cannot afford to linger in a state of despair; it is time once more to redouble our efforts in the struggle for human rights for all.

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