UK going backwards on economic rights

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has reviewed the UK’s progress on implementing the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Two years ago, a UN Committee made a series of recommendations to the UK around how they can improve social and economic rights for people across the UK.  This includes things like the right to food, right to housing and the right to health.

This EHRC review is to consider what progress the Govenrment has, or has not made on implementing these recommendations.  The EHRC highlights a number of areas that need more attention, including addressing the lack of access to justice, considering the equality and human rights impacts of austerity measures, enforcing the Living Wage, and the need for a Human Rights Impact Assessment on all new law and policy decisions.

Read the full report here: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/progress-socio-economic-rights-great-britain

 

The EHRC has also examined recent changes to tax and social security to see which groups will be hardest hit.  They conclude that children – particularly those in larger households -will be affected the most by these changes.  And extra 1.5 million children in the UK will be in poverty in 2022.

Read the report here: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/cumulative-impact-tax-and-welfare-reforms

 

 

 

Image credit: Tim Green, Flickr CC BY 2.0