On this page you can search and filter the UN recommendations submitted to the UK
Government should: (a) Fund disabled people's organisations and involve them in planning and implementing all laws affecting disabled people (including...
Government should: Consider withdrawing the reservation to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Consider...
There have been changes to the policy and legal framework to increase political participation and improve the diversity of political...
Government should: a) Plan ways to fully put the CRC into practice in all areas, and ensure that children can...
Government should: a) Improve the way that information on children is collected, in all areas of their lives, and ensure...
Government should: (a) Focus on children’s rights in all systems and actions taken to prevent abuse and neglect of children;...
Government should: (a) Introduce national strategies to stop harmful practices that affect children, such as child marriage, female genital mutilation...
Government should: (a) Do more to help parents and carers balance their work and family responsibilities, including by providing enough...
Government should: (a) Ensure all adolescent girls can access family planning services, affordable contraceptives, and safe abortion care without having...
Government should: (a) Do more to deal with inequalities in education and improve outcomes for disadvantaged children, including by: •...
Government should: Continue reviewing the reservations on ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women...
Government should: Remove reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Withdraw reservations to...
Government should: Reform the Gender Recognition Act so that it is in line with international human rights standards, including by...
The number of recorded hate crimes increased between March 2021 and March 2022, although data has been affected by improvements...
Government should: Reform national laws to include protection against gender-based discrimination. Undertake the necessary reforms to include protection against gender-based...
Government should: Consider reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to remove the requirement for a diagnosis, “living in role” for...
Government should: Give resources to central, devolved and local authorities to put the Istanbul Convention into practice effectively. Dedicate sufficient...
Government should: Take steps to put the Istanbul Convention into practice across the UK and other UK territories. Take all...
Government should: Continue updating action plans on tackling hate crime and put them into practice effectively. Continue updating and ensure...
Government should: Take steps to combat racism, hate crimes and Islamophobia. Adopt measures aiming at combating racism, hate crimes and...
Government should: Keep improving approaches to tackling hate crimes, particularly against racial and religious minorities. Continue to refine its policies...
Government should: Deal with negative attitudes and behaviours rooted in colonialism, and deal with the causes of racism, xenophobia and...
Government should: Prosecute hate crimes and deal with Islamophobic incidents. Prosecute hate crimes and address incidents of Islamophobia...
Government should: Do more to stop hate crimes which became more common during the COVID-19 pandemic. Take stronger action to...
Government should: Keep trying to to tackle hate crimes, by taking steps to discourage hate speech and racism. Continue its...
Women, ethnic minorities and disabled people remain under-represented in politics, and diversity data is inadequate, although the number of women...
We welcome the reduction in the number of children in custody in recent years, a trend that accelerated following the...
Government should: Do more to tackle hate crime, particularly where it is motivated by race or religion. Continue to refine...
UK Government actions In March 2021, regulations were passed to introduce a new ‘multi-channel approach to health assessments’ for a...
The Welsh Government has legislated to make relationships and sexuality education a statutory component of the new curriculum – ensuring...
UK Government actions In March 2021, the census for England and Wales was carried out, on a ‘digital-first’ basis. The...
UK Government actions In December 2020, NHS England published revised guidance on visitor restrictions in maternity units during the coronavirus...
Funding cuts to the public health grant have affected sexual and reproductive health budgets, access to services across England varies,...
The Welsh Government has legislated to make it mandatory for all school children aged 5–16 to learn about sexual and...
Policing in England and Wales has contributed to a regression in human rights protection for certain groups. Though there is...
The UK Government has taken some action aimed at strengthening institutional, policy and economic frameworks related to human rights and...
UK Government actions In its March 2021 budget, the UK Government announced measures to address regional inequalities, including the Levelling...
The UK Government has introduced some positive reforms in relation to family life, including action to tackle child marriage and...
UK Government actions In March 2021, as part of its Build Back Better plan for growth and 2021 Budget, the...
The UK Government has introduced some measures to increase the employment of certain protected characteristic groups, including in specific sectors,...
Several permanent welfare reforms introduced by the UK Government, including the two-child limit, have adversely affected the enjoyment of human...
The UK Government has taken important steps to eradicate, and enhance understanding of, modern slavery and trafficking, such as working...
UK Government actions: In September 2022, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced the Retained EU Law (Revocation...
The UK Government has rejected several recommendations to strengthen equality and human rights legislation, including introducing the Socio-economic Duty in...
The Welsh Government has committed to strengthen the equality and human rights legal framework, including by considering the incorporation of...
The UK Government’s actions to seek re-election to the UN Human Rights Council indicate a continued commitment to human rights...
UK Government actions: In August 2022, the UK Government published its Women’s Health Strategy for England, detailing ambitions for improvements...
The UK Government set out a number of actions to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes in the NHS Long...
UK Government actions: In June 2022, the UK Government published a draft Mental Health Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. This aims...
The Welsh Government has developed policy measures and provided investment to improve mental health outcomes. However, there are shortfalls in...
In England, measuring changes in attainment is difficult due to GCSE and A level reforms over recent years and the...
Measuring changes in attainment is difficult due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on forms of assessment and...
While the Welsh Government has updated its guidance on the procedures for school exclusion, there have been no significant legal...
Government should: Take action against all forms of hate crime and racism, especially against people of African descent. Put in...
Government should: Improve equality and anti-discrimination laws and policies Reinforce measures to combat all forms of discrimination and inequality...
UK Government actions In July 2021, the UK Government published a revised draft of its statutory guidance for schools, ‘Keeping...
Government should: Take action to increase women’s representation in political and public life including Parliament, the judiciary and decision making...
Government should: Keep taking action to end discrimination against minorities, especially women in rural areas. Continue to strengthen mechanisms and...
Government should: Keep working internationally to promote and implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Continue...
Government should: Keeping working to protect women’s rights. Continue efforts towards ensuring the protection of women rights...
Government should: Ensure that all domestic violence cases are fully investigated and prosecuted and that the authorities have the training...
Government should: Fully put into practice the laws on female genital mutilation (FGM) and prosecute anyone responsible for carrying out...
Government should: Keep doing more to increase opportunities for women to find and undertake formal employment. Continue taking additional measures...
Government should: Promote gender equality and ensure women are free from all discrimination and violence. Promote gender equality and ensure...
Government should: Do more to prevent forced marriages. Redouble efforts to fight against forced marriages...
Government should: Protect all women and girls equally from violence. Ensure all women and girls are equally protected from violence...
Government should: Take action to increase prosecution and conviction rates for domestic violence. Take effective measures to address low prosecution...
Government should: Keep working to update the Gender Recognition Act in line with international human rights standards, including recognising trans...
Government should: Take diverse actions to prevent violence against women, including improving reporting systems, increasing conviction rates and providing targeted...
Government should: Ensure women in rural areas have a say in policy making, responding to disasters and climate change. Ensure...
Government should: Review the laws on violence against women to protect and support women migrants, including those without access to...
Continue addressing violence against women and girls, in particular domestic violence. Continue combating violence against women and girls in particular...
Government should: Take action to improve data collection on gender-based violence, including on how it affects disabled people. Take measures...
Government should: Keep taking action to prevent violence against women and girls. Continue its efforts to combat violence against women...
Government should: Increase formal employment opportunities for women and disabled people, and ensure equal pay for work of equal value....
Government should: Do more to protect the rights of women, disabled people and LGTBI people and take action to prevent...
Government should: Keep promoting equal political, social and economic rights for ethnic minorities, especially women and girls. Continue efforts to...
Government should: Keep fighting the discrimination faced by transgender people by expanding the planned ban on conversion practices to include...
Government should: Increase protection from sexual harassment in the workplace for disabled women and LGBTIQ workers, in line with the...
Government should: Remove the reservation to article 59 of the Istanbul Convention, so that all migrant women receive the same...
Government should: Protect vulnerable groups and minorities from hate speech, keep developing remedies. Continue developing effective remedies to protect vulnerable...
Government should: Do more to protect women from harassment at work and promote access to employment for women from marginalised...
Government should: Ensure that women and girls from all ethnic groups can take part meaningfully in political and public life....
Government should: End the disproportionate use of force against members of minority groups, as reported to the United Nations. Put...
Government should: Ensure that women in Northern Ireland can access the same standard of safe abortion services as women in...
Government should: Keep doing more to tackle hate crime, and share information about the best ways to do this with...
Government should: Train law enforcement officials about using force proportionately, especially when engaging with minority groups. Continue training of law...
Government should: Do more to tackle human trafficking, especially of women and girls. Strengthen efforts to combat human trafficking, especially...
Government should: End trafficking of people, women and girls especially women and girls, and support victims. Put an end to...
Government should: Tackle human trafficking and sexual exploitation properly. Effectively combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation...
Government should: Promise to set up a national program aimed at stopping women and girls being trafficked for sexual or...
Government should: Keep doing more to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Continue its work on strengthening measures for the...
Government should: Enhance efforts to further narrow the gender pay gap. Enhance efforts to further narrow the gender pay gap...
Government should: Increase opportunities for women to gain access to formal employment with equal pay for work of equal value....
Government should: Do more to ensure that ethnic minorities and marginalised groups can access healthcare. Strengthen the implementation of programmes...
Government should: Strengthen the implementation of programmes and policies for providing effective access to health care for women belonging to...
Government should: Ensure equal access to abortion across Northern Ireland. Ensure equal access to abortion across Northern Ireland...
Government should: Ensure that changes to tax and benefits policies do not have disproportionately negative effects on older women. Apply...
Government should: Protect and give effect to trans people’s right to health by increasing the capacity of gender identity healthcare...
Government should: Ensure equal pay and access to safe reproductive health services across the UK. Continue with legislative and policy...
Government should: Do more to ensure equal access to healthcare. Strengthen measures taken to ensure equal access to healthcare...
Government should: Keep revising and strengthening laws to improve access to healthcare for women and girls. Continue to address and...
Government should: Take action to ensure that women and girls have access to education, healthcare and other support services in...
Government should: Make education, employment and healthcare easier to access for women and girls in remote rural areas. Make education,...
Government should: Extend the Equality Act 2010 so that it applies in Northern Ireland and protects women there. Extend the...
Government should: Review the Domestic Abuse Act to support and protect women and girls, whatever their immigration status is. Review...
Government should: Ensure that women, including women from ethnic minorities are involved in decision-making at all levels. Continue measures to...
Government should: Update the law to end gender discrimination in employment, including pay gaps and access to fund enforcement bodies....
Government should: Ensure victims of domestic violence and their families can access support and protection from further abuse. Take measures...
The UK Government’s new relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education guidance is welcome, as is action taken in...
There have been a number of positive legislative and policy changes to increase education and awareness of the UN Convention...
Government should: Amend its abortion law. Guarantee women's right to reproductive and sexual autonomy without legalising selective abortion due to...
Government should: (a) Ensure the law provides for 'no-fault' divorce and introduce a requirement that all religious marriages, including Islamic...
Government should: Take specific steps to increase the numbers of women in general, and ethnic minority women and disabled women...
Government should: In line with advice issued by the UN on women in conflict and post-conflict situations: a) Address obstacles...
Government should: (a) Do more to encourage girls to study non-traditional subjects and courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics;...
Government should: (a) Take action to increase the number of women in decision-making roles in the workplace and reduce women's...
Government should: (a) Ensure that affordable and accessible childcare is available throughout the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland. (b) Consider...
Government should: Implement the Committee's previous recommendations on abortion law in Northern Ireland, in line with provisions in the Good...
Government should: Implement programmes and policies that provide effective access to healthcare for women from marginalised groups, particularly asylum-seeking and...
Government should: (a) Ensure that women in abusive situations can receive payments under Universal Credit independent of their partners. (b)...
Government should: in line with advice issued by the UN on the rights of rural women: (a) Take action to...
Government should: in line with advice issued by the UN on women's asylum, nationality and statelessness issues: (a) Introduce a...
Government should: (a) Provide enough resources to effectively implement the Female Offender Strategy for England and Wales and ensure that...
Government should: Share the recommendations of the Committee widely across all levels of government and public bodies, as well as...
Government should: (a) Adopt in law the internationally agreed definition of human trafficking, as set out in the Palermo Protocol;...
Governent should: Ratify international human rights instruments it has not yet agreed to be bound by, including the International Convention...
Government should: Provide a written report on the steps it has taken to implement the recommendations in paragrapHs 13, 21(a)...
Government should: Submit its next report to the Committee in March 2023, following the harmonised guidelines on reporting under international...
Government should: Use the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action to help implemement the provisions of CEDAW. The Committee calls...
Government should: (a) Ensure that all cases of violence, including sexual assault, against children in detention are investigated quickly and...
Government should: (a) Urgently implement the Stormont House Agreement, which was adopted by the British and Irish Governments and the...
Government should: (a) Take urgent steps to provide redress, including compensation and rehabilitation, for victims identified by the Historical Institution...
Government should: Ensure that all women and girls in the UK, including Northern Ireland, can access abortions in situations where...
Government should: (a) Take steps to address the low prosecution and conviction rates for domestic abuse and sexual violence. Ensure...
Government should: Submit an update to the UN, by 17 May 2020, on progress made in implementing the Committee against...
Government should: make CERD part of UK and devolved law, and: (a) Ensure caste-based discrimination is banned by immediately bringing...
Government should: (a) Ensure that vulnerable women can access employment opportunities, housing and social security so they don't need to...
Government should: Fully implement its laws on female genital mutilation (FGM) and take further measures to prosecute people who carry...
Government should: (a) Ban non-statutory stop-and-search checks against children. (b) Ensure statutory stop-and-search checks are proportionate (considering the age and...
Government should: Amend abortion laws in Northern Ireland in line with women's rights to health, life and dignity. Consider UN...
Government should: Legally protect people from multiple and intersectional discrimination, including on the grounds of migrant, refugee or other status....
Government should: Embed the rights of disabled women and girls into disability and gender equality policies. Fully consult on this...
Government should: work with disabled people's organisations to: (a) Ensure disabled people (particularly women, children, intersex people and older people)...
Government should: Reverse all laws and practices allowing any form of forced medical care or surgery. Ensure disabled people (especially...
Government should work with disabled people's organisations to: (a) Develop a fully-funded action plan to improve disabled people’s access to...
Government should: Increase the availability of high-quality data disaggregated by: income, sex, age, gender, race, ethnic origin, migrant, asylum-seeking and...
Government should: Use all available resources to make economic, social and cultural rights a reality for everyone. In line with...
Government should: (a) Increase the number of women in decision-making roles, in public and private sectors. (b) End the gender...
Government should: Consider UN advice on the equal right of men and women to economic, social and cultural rights. The...
Government should: (a) Review conditions attached to social security benefits. Reverse the cuts introduced by the Welfare Reform Act 2012...
Government should: Provide information on the impact of the national strategy on gender-based violence (particularly with regard to violence against...
Government should: Increase efforts towards equal representation for women in the civil service and the judiciary. Implement the recommendations of...
Government should: in line with advice issued by the UN on gender-based violence: (a) Ratify the Istanbul Convention. (b) Take...
Government should: Take action to tackle violence against women, including domestic violence and sexual abuse, by: (a) prioritising introducing domestic...
Government should: Urgently amend abortion laws in Northern Ireland. Extend exceptions to the abortion ban to include cases of rape,...
Government should: Review its reservations to the Convention and consider withdrawing them. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation that the...
Government should: Make CEDAW part of UK and devolved law without delay to ensure all women in the UK are...
Government should: (a) Change laws in Northern Ireland to ensure women there have the same protections as those elsewhere in...
Government should: Look at how changes to public spending, tax and welfare are affecting women’s rights. They should take urgent...
Government should: Continue to tackle money laundering and tax evasion, particularly in its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and assess...
Government should: (a) Assess the impact of leaving the EU on women's rights, including those in Northern Ireland, and take...
Government should: Ensure that women, particularly women in vulnerable situations such as disabled women, ethnic minority women, asylum-seeking and refugee...
Government should: (a) Strengthen the capacity of the Government Equalities Office so that it can provide national leadership on women's...
Government should: Engage with the media to eliminate images that stereotype or objectify women, take steps to end negative gender...
Government should: Raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 years across all devolved administrations and overseas territories. The Committee...
Government should: (a) Revise the Children and Young Persons Act (1933) to protect all under 18s from abuse and neglect...
The Welsh Government has taken some positive policy and legislative steps, including a range of actions to address childhood adversity....
The UK Government has committed to introducing a new Mental Health Bill and implementing new laws to prevent the use...
Government should: Continue tackling discrimination and violence against women and girls. Continue efforts to combat discrimination on any ground and...
Government should: Continue efforts to tackle domestic violence throughout the UK. Continue its positive efforts to reduce domestic violence throughout...
Government should: Tackle violence against women. Take further action to combat sexual exploitation and sexual crimes against children. Effectively fight...
Government should: Take further action to tackle domestic violence. Take steps to protect children from the negative impacts of domestic...
Government should: Strengthen laws in relation to forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Strengthen its legislative framework by including penal...
UK Government actions In September 2021, the UK Government published a new policy to support the needs of perinatal women...
Limited time out of cells, overcrowding, poor conditions, use of force, solitary confinement and self-harm in prisons are commonplace and,...
UK Government actions In July 2021, the UK Government introduced a Nationality and Borders Bill with the stated aims of...
The implementation of ‘hostile environment’ immigration policies marked a reduction in human rights protections and court cases have found failures...
UK Government actions In September 2021, Public Health England published updated guidance on preventing the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in...
UK Government actions In July 2021, the UK Government published its new ‘Tackling violence against women and girls strategy’ for...
Government should: Take a joined-up approach to preventing violence against women and girls, including harmful practices. Ensure a holistic approach...
There have been important recent reforms to strengthen the policy and legal framework, and it will take time for their...
The introduction of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 (the VAWDASV Act) and the...
UK Government actions In July 2021, the UK Government published the National Disability Strategy, which included plans to reduce the...
In recent years, the employment rate has increased overall, employment rates have improved for some, but not all, ethnic groups,...
Employment is mainly a reserved issue, which limits the action that the Welsh Government can take. The employment rate in...
Wales has the highest levels of poverty in the UK, with no significant improvements in people’s outcomes over recent years....
UK Government actions In July 2021, the UK Government responded to the Women and Equalities Select Committee consultation on sexual...
The UK Government has made commitments to ensure fair conditions at work, including to tackle sexual harassment. However, it has...
Employment is mainly a reserved issue, which limits the action that the Welsh Government can take. The Welsh Government has...
Record NHS waiting lists and worsening waiting times before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have limited access to healthcare. There is...
The UK Government has taken some policy and legislative steps to address aspects of violence, abuse and neglect, including its...
Government should: Combat violence against women and girls, in particular domestic violence. Combat violence against women and girls, in particular...
Government should: Adopt laws, especially in Northern Ireland, to tackle domestic violence. Ensure all cases of domestic violence are fully...
Government should: (a) In line with UN advice on harmful practices, ensure that marriage of 16 and 17-year-olds is based...
Government should: Adopt a comprehensive strategy to combat trafficking in women and girls. Reinforce the National Referral Mechanism to identify...
Government should: (a) Put in place a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health policy for adolescents, focusing on improving equality and...
Government should: (a) Ensure all under 18s are protected from prostitution, pornography and trafficking. Ensure UK laws can also be...
Government should: Consider allowing people who feel their rights have been breached to take complaints to the UN by ratifying...
Government should: Ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence ('Istanbul Convention')....
Government should: Make the necessary changes to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women...
Government should: Enforce laws on equality and non-discrimination and end prejudice, xenophobia and violence against women and girls. Ensure equality...
Government should: Introduce policies to prevent trafficking in women and girls. Guarantee a fair trial to victims of trafficking. Adopt...
Government should: Put the victims at the heart of its strategy to combat human trafficking (especially of women and girls)....
Government should: Strengthen measures to combat human trafficking (specifically of women and girls), and to support and rehabilitate victims. Strengthen...
Government should: Do more to tackle violence against women and girls. Exert more efforts to combat or to counter violence...
Government should: Monitor the implementation of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, including its affect on combating trafficking in women and...
Government should: Revise laws and policies to protect the human rights of female domestic migrant workers, particularly when their visas...
Government should: Ensure the abortion law in Northern Ireland is in line with international human rights law. Decriminalise abortion and...
Government should: Provide reproductive health care for all women and girls, in line with CEDAW. Government should: Provide reproductive health...
Government should: Encourage Northern Ireland to align its law on sexual and reproductive health services and rights with the rest...
Government should: Follow-up with employers on their reports on gender pay gaps. With regard to the reporting mechanism on the...
Government should: Tackle discrimination against women, particularly in the labour market, and the gender pay gap. Address the problem of...
Government should: Tackle long-standing discrimination against women in political, economic and social settings, particularly regarding the gender pay gap and...
Government should: Urgently address gender, racial and ethnic discrimination. Make the CERD part of UK law. Pay priority attention to...
Government should: Take further action to end discrimination against women in the labour market. Take necessary measures to eliminate discriminatory...
Government should: Do more to protect people from gender-based violence. Further promote efforts to protect persons from gender-based violence...
