New equalities boss warns in opposition to ‘demonisation’ of migrants in UK | EUROtoday

The “demonisation” of migrants can harm UK residents and make their lives “very, very difficult”, the brand new chair of Britain’s equalities watchdog has warned.

Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson mentioned these from ethnic minorities had been being affected as she additionally warned in opposition to the “mistake” of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a coverage backed by Reform UK and the Conservatives.

Nearly 250 refugee charities referred to as for a transfer away from the “demonising language of the past” as they condemned the anti-migrant violence of final August, which noticed rioters storm accommodations housing asylum seekers.

Dr Stephenson mentioned: “I think it’s really important that we have honesty in the way that we talk about human rights, and that we also have a recognition that the demonisation of migrants, the creating this idea that migration causes huge risks for the country can make the lives not just of migrants to the UK, but of ethnic minority UK citizens, very, very difficult.”

She hit out at what she mentioned was a “real risk of people using, quite often, cases where human rights arguments were made in court but were not successful”, in an interview with the Press Association.

She pointed to analysis from the University of Oxford earlier this yr that highlighted “several high-profile examples of misleading coverage, including the so-called ‘chicken nuggets’ case – widely reported as the prevention of an individual’s deportation on the basis of his child’s dislike of foreign food, despite the decision not being based on this detail and having already been overturned”.

She additionally highlighted optimistic circumstances of the usage of ECHR, together with the John Worboys black cab rapist case, during which the Supreme Court dominated that police may be held accountable for critical failures of their investigations.

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have mentioned they might give up the ECHR as a part of efforts to deal with immigration, amid claims it hampers efforts to deport unlawful migrants.

The authorities has rejected calls to depart the treaty however ministers are reviewing human rights legislation to make it simpler to deport individuals who haven’t any proper to be within the UK.

Earlier this month the pinnacle of the physique that oversees the ECHR mentioned member states had taken an “important first step” by agreeing to look at reform of the treaty to tackle migration.

Sir Keir Starmer had urged Europe’s leaders to re-examine how the major human rights treaty was interpreted to tackle illegal migration and see off the rise of the far right.

Council of Europe secretary general Alain Berset said that the treaty, which he described as a “dwelling instrument”, is feasible to adapt and work will start to undertake the brand new political declaration in Moldova in May 2026.