If the UK leaves key international agreements, it will be a blow for health, justice, and accountability

International agreements to which the UK is a signatory, such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), have long served as vital safeguards for health, justice, and environmental accountability. Yet today, these protections are under serious threat.The proposal, by the Conservative and Reform UK parties, to withdraw from the ECHR reflects a broader political shift that risks weakening the legal foundations on which public health depends.1 Disengagement is not confined to right wing parties. The Labour government is proposing leaving a lesser known agreement, the Aarhus Convention,2 which guarantees three core environmental rights: access to environmental information held by public authorities, public participation in environmental decision making, and access to legal mechanisms to oppose environmental decisions.3For health professionals, leaving the ECHR is the most concerning. Its importance extends far beyond its core provisions, which include the right to life and the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment. Judgments by…