About the project
Human rights are frequently in the news but the public debate usually suggests that they are in opposition to the things that people care about: like security, democracy and national sovereignty.
“Human Rights: Informing the UK Debate” is a project that will provide expert content to correct inaccurate or misleading reporting about human rights, and to demonstrate how they underpin security, democratic protections and international co-operation.
The overall aim, in keeping with the overarching purpose of the PEC, is to improve the quality of public discourse on human rights over time by providing dispassionate and reliable evidence and analysis.
This project, which is made possible by the generous support of the Sigrid Rausing Trust, is an ongoing collaboration between the PEC, the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and Middlesex School of Law and Social Sciences.
It is a continuation of an earlier collaboration which produced two Reports:
Human Rights and the Hillsborough Law
This Explainer on Human Rights and the “Hillsborough Law” is being published by the project to inform the Second Reading debate on the Public Office (Accountability) Bill in the House of Lords on Tuesday 1st September 2026.
This blog by PEC's Director, Murray Hunt, talks about how the Hillsborough Law is a chance for the UK government to turn the tide of hostile criticism of human rights laws.
Know the Facts: Do human rights laws stop the UK deporting foreign offenders?
Do human rights laws prevent the UK from deporting foreign offenders?
This video looks at what the law actually says, explaining when the government is required or able to deport a foreign national who has committed a crime, and the circumstances in which human rights protections can affect that decision. It explores the narrow exceptions that may be used to challenge deportation based on the prohibition of torture and in human or degrading treatment and the right to private and family life, and explains how courts balance those protections against the public interest in deportation. It explains how few human rights appeals against deportation succeed.
Beyond the headlines: The “chicken nuggets” deportation case
Did an Albanian man really avoid deportation because his son did not like foreign chicken nuggets?
This video looks behind one of the most widely reported immigration stories of recent years to examine what the case was actually about and why most of the headlines about the case are misleading. It explains where the reference to chicken nuggets came from, the much wider evidence considered by the tribunal about the child and his family circumstances, and the role of the right to family life in the legal proceedings. It also looks at what happened when the original decision was appealed, showing why the full legal story is more complicated than the headline suggests.
Lead image: AI generated for illustration purposes
