Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic for the UK Human Rights Law Framework

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to lay bare the state’s weaknesses and the gross inequalities in our society which have been allowed to flourish. It has also set in motion demands for a whole variety of ‘rethinks’ once the crisis is over. In that vein the purpose of this paper is to consider what lessons the pandemic might hold for the UK human rights law framework. The paper is in four parts. In the first part a short description of the UK’s comparatively bad pandemic is set out, including the disproportionate negative impact for some groups. In the second part, the various acts and failures to act where human rights guarantees might have some influence are considered and in the third, the impact and potential impact of UK human rights law on these events. In the fourth and final part the lessons for human rights protection through law are set out.