In a recent interview on BBC’s Radio 4’s Today, Home Secretary Suella Braverman stated her wish that the U.K. leave the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), calling it “a politicized court,” “interventionist,” and “treading on the territory of national sovereignty.” This move would be the latest in a series of recent measures shredding the rights of modern slavery victims. 

Freedom from slavery and forced labor goes “out the window” 

Far from being “politicized” or “interventionist,” the judges of the ECHR are independent and do not represent the nationality of applicants or States. In fact, the ECHR fills a vital role as an objective court of appeals that helps protect victims of modern slavery. If survivor’s rights are not recognized in U.K. courts, they can go to the ECHR to ask to have their rights recognized.  

Phillipa Roberts, Head of Policy and Research for Hope for Justice, told Byline Times: 

“The ECHR is an integral part of the legal framework that protects victims. And that’s regardless, actually, of whether the person who is a victim is a foreign national or a British national.” 

In addition, the ECHR does not just support irregular migrants, as much of the inflammatory rhetoric would have us believe, 25% of modern slavery cases that take place in the U.K. are those of British nationals. The ECHR helps all victims of modern slavery, regardless of where they come from. 

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