Equality and human rights deserve respect

12.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 1st Oct 2007

Today sees the launch of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, which merges several previous equalities bodies into one and adds a mandate for upholding human rights.

The Liberal Democrats' European justice spokeswoman Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP said:

"The CEHR could become a model across Europe for how to champion and enforce non-discrimination law and secure respect for human rights. But this will only happen if Labour's disgraceful collusion in making 'human rights' an object of scorn and fear is reversed."

"In 1998 Liberal Democrats applauded when the Labour government adopted our policy of 'bringing rights home' through the Human Rights Act. This incorporated the European Convention that Winston Churchill helped draw up and meant British people could at last secure their rights in British courts instead of having to go off to a lengthy process in Strasbourg."

"But we have seen Tories and Labour conspire to drag the notion of human rights through the mud, implying that the only beneficiaries are foreign criminals and terrorist suspects. Liberal Democrats will show how every person can benefit from protection, whether from unfairness at work, abusive treatment in a care home, or snooping by a Big Brother state."