Charity’s fear overECHR ‘withdrawal’

THE GOVERNMENT’S denial that it plans to withdraw from the European Convention of Human Rights has been called into question by a Jewish charity.

In a letter to Theresa May, human rights group René Cassin urged her not to opt out of the treaty, signed in 1950 by 47 European nations as a response to the atrocities committed by the Nazis.

“We believe that turning our back on this essential international agreement runs counter to your vision of a ‘global Britain’ and will diminish this country’s standing in the world.

“Perhaps more worryingly, it will send a message to less enlightened regimes that Britain does not value an internationalist approach to human rights violations,” the charity wrote.

Mia Hasenson-Gross, René Cassin director, said: “Just as Churchill saw the ECHR as essential in upholding European freedoms threatened by Soviet communism, so today the Convention is a vital counterweight to an increasingly authoritarian Russia.”

Speaking in the Commons last week, David Jones, Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union, said the government had no plans to withdraw from the ECHR.

But René Cassin said it believed the Conservatives would pledge to pull out in the party’s 2020 manifesto.