Prior to the Senedd election in May, in February 2026, Sioned Williams MS led a motion on a Member's Legislative Proposal for a “Human Rights Bill”. Explaining why the debate was important, she said:
The Senedd is being asked something fundamental—to agree on whether we believe human rights in Wales should be real, enforceable protections, or simply aspirations expressed in policy documents and speeches.
Now as Deputy First Minister and Minister for Social Justice and Equality, she is tasked with delivering on Plaid Cymru’s manifesto commitment to introduce a Human Rights Act for Wales, incorporating five key UN Conventions into Welsh law. This article explores the human rights framework in Wales and the key issues the Welsh Government faces in taking forward the legislation.
Don’t we already have human rights?
The short answer is yes. The UK is party to several international human rights treaties, which apply across the UK, including in Wales. It also has its own domestic human rights legislation. So, while the people of Wales are already protected by a range of domestic and international human rights laws, there are some important caveats.
Civil and political and socio-economic rights
Human rights can be separated into civil and political rights, and socio-economic rights.
Civil and political rights protect freedoms such as free speech and the right to a fair trial. These freedoms are already protected including by the UK Human Rights Act 1998 which incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. The Act requires public authorities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (like local authorities, health services and the police) to respect and protect these rights in everything they do. If breaches of the Convention occur, individuals can challenge these rights through the courts.
Plaid Cymru’s manifesto is based on a commitment to incorporate socio- economic rights or ‘everyday rights’, which are not protected in UK law and include access to basic services such as housing, health and education.
How have human rights been incorporated in Wales so far?
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Incorporation means giving human rights effect in domestic law. At the UK level, this means making human rights part of the law that applies across the UK. Incorporation by the Senedd would make particular rights part of Welsh law, applying within areas of devolved responsibility. This would supplement, rather than replace or restrict, the protections already provided by UK-wide law. Human Rights expert Professor Simon Hoffman has published an FAQs document on incorporation. |
Human rights are woven into the fabric of Welsh devolution. The Government of Wales Act 2006 prohibits Welsh Ministers, including the First Minister and Counsel General, from exercising their functions in a way which is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
While the UK Government is responsible for entering into legally binding international treaties, observing and implementing the resulting international obligations is devolved. As set out by Professor Simon Hoffman:
… even though the UK has agreed many United Nations human rights treaties, successive UK governments have refused to make international human rights part of UK law. This means that many people and communities in the UK are not experiencing the full benefits of their socioeconomic rights.
How does incorporation work in practice?
Previous Welsh Governments have embedded international human rights through indirect incorporation using the due regard mechanism (this means placing a legal duty on specified Ministers or public authorities to consider and give appropriate weight to rights when making decisions or exercising particular functions). There are different ways international human rights treaties can be incorporated, with the most common methods shown below.
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Type of incorporation |
How it works |
Examples |
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Direct |
This is the strongest form of incorporation with individuals being able to ask a court to seek a remedy if the Government and public authorities fails to deliver their rights. |
Incorporates the ECHR into the UK-wide legal system. This applies to people in Wales. |
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Indirect |
Often referred to as the ‘due regard’ mechanism, it requires government and public authorities to take the rights set out in a convention into account when planning policy and service delivery. |
Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. Requires the Welsh Ministers to have ‘due regard’ to children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child when exercising any of their functions. |
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Sectoral |
This is a version of indirect incorporation but is limited to inclusion in a specific policy area, for example on social care or education. |
Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Requires any person exercising functions under the act to have ‘due regard’ to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Principles for Older Persons. The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2019. Requires a relevant body exercising functions under the Act’s authorities to have due regard to childrens’ rights and disabled peoples’ rights. |
Do we need further incorporation?
In Wales, there have been long-standing civil society campaigns calling for the incorporation of international human rights which protect and promote the interests of women, disabled people, and the right to adequate housing.
The 2021 Strengthening and Advancing Equality and Human Rights (SAEHR) report recommended introducing primary legislation to give effect to international human rights in Welsh law, making select international human rights part of Welsh law and enforceable by a court or tribunal.
The Sixth Senedd’s Cross Party Group on Human Rights also called for legislation to incorporate the UN Conventions listed in Plaid Cymru’s manifesto. Its inquiry concluded that, because these rights cannot be directly enforced in the courts, they remain aspirational and their protection is “dependent on political will and discretionary policy”.
Is further incorporation possible?
The previous Welsh Government made a commitment to incorporate the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRDP). It didn’t achieve this but work was carried out by human rights experts to lay the legislative groundwork for incorporating these Conventions.
The Legislative Options Working Group (‘the LOWG’), established by the previous Welsh Government and comprised of civil society representatives and human rights experts, published its research findings in March 2026. While its focus was on CEDAW and the UNCRDP, it provides important insight into the key challenges and opportunities the new Welsh Government faces as it prepares to deliver its manifesto commitment on human rights.
The report deals with complex legal issues relating to the devolution settlement and, on first read, it is difficult not to focus on the conclusion that fully embedding UNCRDP and CEDAW in Welsh law would present challenges. According to the authors, the reservations set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006, particularly those relating to equal opportunities, mean that the legislation would likely be vulnerable to legal challenge and would require extensive amendment or redaction of treaty provisions.
But this isn’t where the research concludes. Instead the report sets out alternative approaches, putting forward a bespoke legislative model for Wales:
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Under this approach, Senedd legislation would identify and enact a set of Wales-specific rights and duties, informed by CEDAW and the CRDP but expressed in domestic legal terms specifically designed to sit within devolved competence. This offers an additional route (with its own advantages and challenges) to give legal effect to the substance of treaty based human rights standards. |
What can we expect from the Welsh Government?
The Welsh Government’s 100 days plan commits to “take forward proposals to incorporate key United Nations human rights conventions into Welsh law”. Following the election, Amnesty International called on civil society to write to the new First Minister calling on him to prioritise a human rights Bill for Wales. Receiving almost 200 letters, the Deputy First Minister’s response explains that the Welsh Government is considering how to deliver this commitment in a way that is legally robust, deliverable within devolved competence and capable of making a practical difference to people’s lives.
However, a human rights Bill is not included in the first phase of the Welsh Government’s legislative programme. With a four-year term, the Welsh Government may therefore need to move quickly if it is to translate its commitment into enforceable legal protections rather than leave the rights as aspirations.
Article by Claire Thomas, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament