We want a society where every person will have the fullest possible freedom of choice in the shaping of their own lives, limited only by the rights and freedoms of others in a fair and equitable society and never by the pressures of religion, tradition, or outmoded law, or by discrimination and prejudice.
This includes children, who should be actively prepared in schools for a life in society in which they can exercise this freedom and should, while still children, enjoy their human rights with increasing fullness in line with their growing maturity.
We support legal protection for human rights because we believe it is the best way to guarantee the fundamental freedoms of every person. When human rights are given legal status, governments have to abide by them and protect them.
Freedom, equality, and choice
We endorse the principles behind the major international human rights treaties and covenants as well as the specific rights guaranteed within them. This includes:
- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
- the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
- the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
- the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
- the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
- the European Convention on Human Rights, which is UK law in the Human Rights Act 1998.
We want to see all these rights and freedoms implemented and protected in full in law or policy by governments across the UK and the world, including by making sure people have legal recourse if their human rights are denied.
No one’s enjoyment of their human rights should be impeded by discrimination so we also endorse the principles in the Equality Act 2010 and equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland, and their prohibitions on discrimination on grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Political ideals must be based upon ideals for the individual life. The aim of politics should be to make the lives of individuals as good as possible.
The humanist vision of society is one in which the ‘good life’ is available for all individuals and therefore for society as a whole.
Our work for freedom of choice
Below you can explore our policy briefings and active campaigns relating to freedom of choice, covering individual liberties and human rights.
Compassionate assisted dying
Giving people who are terminally ill or suffering the right to choose the circumstances of their death
Legal recognition for humanist marriages
So that humanist couples have the same rights as couples who have religious weddings
Campaign to end religious schools
We want to see an end to discrimination by state faith schools and to illegal religious schools
