Equality and Human Rights Commision - "We are walking a tight rope".

[Billie18]

In September this year the Equality and Human Rights Commission Chief Executive, Rebecca Hilsenrath had this to say about the effect of coronavirus restrictions on human rights -

"We are walking a tightrope. We need to find the balance between saving lives from coronavirus, and allowing people the hard won freedoms that are the framework for those lives - such as a right to a private and family life, to freedom of assembly, and to an education. This must go hand in hand with an economic recovery that provides everyone with an adequate standard of living.

“At the same time, we must protect those many other lives which will be put at risk without access to appropriate health and social care, such as older and disabled people, patients with cancer or with mental health challenges - or risked through the rising rates of domestic violence.

“In lockdown we heard how those in residential care were being protected as much as possible from the virus, but we also heard how people were deprived of family when they needed them most. Staying at home to protect the NHS was a simple message but it may have stopped screening and the right to health care for those with other conditions such as cancer. Blanket approaches may well have other consequences. The virus isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and we have to make sure that our efforts to live free from coronavirus don’t come at too high a price.

“As more restrictions are considered, we’re calling on the Government to make sure that protections are proportionate, measured, and rooted in science and the law. Any changes that restrict our rights must be flexible, with review and end points, and remain open to challenge. If we want to protect public health and save lives, then changes need to complement or enhance our human rights, not treat them as optional.”

www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/news/covid-19-restrictions-and-effect-human-rights

With the new harsh restrictions in place with no end date and the full closure of schools and universities not be being ruled out have we now crossed a line in terms of equality and human rights?

Yep.
Let's hope the Covid paranoid take note.

Restrictions are meant to be temporary.

Do you realise that people are dying and unless we stop the nonsense and entitlement the situtation with the virus will only get worse?

Has anyone close to you died of Covid @Billie18 ?

@trulydelicious

Restrictions are meant to be temporary.

Do you realise that people are dying and unless we stop the nonsense and entitlement the situtation with the virus will only get worse?

Has anyone close to you died of Covid @Billie18 ?

Did you read the statement from the Equality and Human rights commission? It does not dispute the reality that some people will die with or be affected by coronavirus but coronavirus is not the only negative impact on health and well being.

It's against my human rights not to have a safe working environment.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

It's against my human rights not to have a safe working environment.

There are no working environments that can guarantee complete safety. Regulations are there to reduce risk and still allow basic freedoms and also the work to be carried out. A line has to be drawn. This is the "tight rope" that the equality and human right commission refers too.

Completely agree with you @Billie18 but you won’t get too much sympathy on here.

I agree. The restrictions on our freedoms have gone on too long now. With talk of them leaving many of us in tier 4 until Easter.

You won’t get the agreement on here though . I think many people are enjoying these never ending lockdowns.

Agree. But wait for all and sundry on here to tell you you're being unreasonable,how dare you suggest people's lives are worse less than others etc etc etc.

@Layladylay234

Agree. But wait for all and sundry on here to tell you you're being unreasonable,how dare you suggest people's lives are worse less than others etc etc etc.

Yep and the 'granny killing' accusations. Also think many people are enjoying lockdown and judging others!

@Layladylay234

Agree. But wait for all and sundry on here to tell you you're being unreasonable,how dare you suggest people's lives are worse less than others etc etc etc.

I'm with you. But I think we're in danger of falling off the tightrope. This has gone on too long.

Agreed! The fact its now illegal for some people to see their own family is quite frankly fucking ridiculous.

Yes I agree. I can’t actually believe it’s illegal for me to see my family now, and couldn’t see them at Christmas as it was illegal to leave my area and illegal to see anyone. I supported restrictions before but this is a step too far, I won’t be supporting a complete infringement on my private life much longer.

If it had stayed at tier 1 restrictions or even tier 2 but allowed to see family I would keep supporting it, but endless tier 4 is not right.

Agreed! The fact its now illegal for some people to see their own family is quite frankly fucking ridiculous

Agreed.

I am precisely on the fence.
First duty of a govt is to protect its people.

If covid patients take over hospitals then there will be no medical care for anything else. Terrible car accident? Accident in the home leading to a skull fracture? Heart Attack? -- you'd be on your own dealing with those.

That's without assuming the health professionals didn't all quit completely demoralised.

I am not afraid of the virus but I'm pretty scared of calling an ambulance & there being none whatsoever, no doctors at all to help for the next few months.

We could have gone down a 'Lock granny up to protect her' route, but that wasn't acceptable to people either. All the choices are bad ones.

@PinkPiranha11

Completely agree with you *@Billie18* but you won’t get too much sympathy on here.

Yep, we are superfucked. The general population loves lockdown and wonders why it's not sooner, longer, harder - 'why were we allowed out in July' etc.

The statement is absolutely spot on. I’m genuinely perplexed as to how anyone can argue with it.

Yawn.

The economy will not recover until we control the virus.

You cant have other health care if health care staff have covid. You treat those who need help to survive before you treat those who can wait.

I will give up non-essential rights temporarily to protect the lives of others and their access to health care.

You are so very boring.

No doubt you are right, Covid19 has had it's fun and should go away now. Perhaps you should send a strongly worded letter to the new and easily transmitted variant sweeping U.K and Europe now, and behaving differently including affecting young people and children more.
You can send a more firmly expressed letter to the even more worrying strain coming from South Africa.

Reserve some fierce warnings for the fourth variant, coming from Nigeria.

Maybe the Equality and Human Rights Commission will co-sign your protests? (Heaven knows they are good for little else.)

It been too much for about 3 months now!! No end date or believable exit plan. I get that we still need precautions but they can’t expect people to carry on like this for much longer just the fact that it has been illegal for some people to see their families inside for nearly 9 months is appalling.

@alreadytaken

Yawn.

The economy will not recover until we control the virus.

You cant have other health care if health care staff have covid. You treat those who need help to survive before you treat those who can wait.

I will give up non-essential rights temporarily to protect the lives of others and their access to health care.

You are so very boring.

So you don’t think the government’s suspension of “non-essential” rights should be subject to scrutiny and review?

Mind you, I suppose checks and balances are so very boring.

Perhaps they would like to comment on the unsafe conditions for children and teachers in the SE.

Where are their rights?🤷🏼‍♀️

Well of course what the government does should be subject to review - but preferably by those with a brain cell or three. Dont see much evidence of that on this thread.

The thing is it isn’t just about preventing excess, untimely deaths - it’s about trying to maintain a decent level of health care.

So, one example is that for every ambulance call out related to Covid, you have the additional time of donning PPE and deep cleaning afterwards. That and the extra demands on the service will have an impact on ambulance call out times. Any one of us could slip on the stairs, trip over something etc and need emergency treatment.

As Doctors and Nurses are deployed to treat the more serious life threatening cases of Covid on ICU etc that takes them away from their substantive posts and puts extra pressure on/causes a back log elsewhere. The NHS runs on the goodwill and extra efforts of those in it already. There is no slack. In medicine, you have to focus on the more urgent and life threatening cases first (unless we say to hell with it, let every one who missed the last ICU bed die - and even a person who struggles with empathy wouldn’t want to see that I’m sure) higher rates means less health care provision and like PP said - not getting an ambulance when you need it - that IS and should be scary for us all.

There are also the human rights of healthcare practitioners to consider and our reliance on their good physical and mental health to treat us. They are amazing but they are only human and everyone has their limits. Staff are already being traumatised, experiencing moral injury, getting burnt out and that means we, the general public, are less likely to get the care we would want.

The restrictions are awful. Covid is awful. Unnecessary death and suffering is awful, the financial impact is awful, the loss of jobs is awful. But we have to temporarily put up with some restrictions on freedom so that we can get through it with the NHS somewhat intact - for all our sakes.

It’s not like we are sacrificing our life for others like soldiers in the war.

It’s tolerable for most of us (most of us don’t have to do 12 hour shifts in full PPE, trying to save lives and having to deal with the emotional impact of dealing with death constantly) so we should support each other to do what we can, not rabble rouse to defy the restrictions.

20mum

Well said!