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Human rights in Wales

What are human rights?

Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world.

Ideas about human rights have evolved over many centuries. But they achieved strong international support following the Holocaust and World War II. To protect future generations from a repeat of these horrors, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. For the first time, the Universal Declaration set out the fundamental rights and freedoms shared by all human beings.

How do human rights help you?

Human rights are based on core principles like dignity, fairness, equality, respect and autonomy. They are relevant to your day-to-day life and protect your freedom to control your own life, effectively take part in decisions made by public authorities that affect your rights and get fair and equal services from public authorities.

Human rights lectures

2018 - Human Rights in the 21st Century a lecture by David Isaac

Chair of the Commission David Isaac delivered a lecture on the possible impact of Brexit on our human rights and outlining some of the key projects being undertaken by the Commission now and in the future. Watch David's 2018 lecture in full on YouTube.

2017 - Fake news: Human rights and access to justice by Adam Wagner

Adam spoke about access to justice, human rights and fake news. Adam shared some of his experiences of setting up RightsInfo and put forward ideas on what the human rights community could be doing to make things better. Watch Adam's 2017 lecture in full on YouTube.

2016 - Migrants to Wales: What about human rights by Reverend Aled Edwards 

This lecture highlighted the experiences of asylum seekers, migrants and refugees in Wales and across the world in relation to the protection and promotion of human rights. Read more and watch the 2016 lecture. 

2015 - Islamophobia: a human rights perspective by Dr Chris Allen

The lecture explored the scale and impact of Islamophobia in Wales and how this relates to the Human Rights Act. 

Last updated: 11 Apr 2019