The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a select committee of both the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 and House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 in the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

. The remit of the committee is to consider human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 issues in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Purpose

Membership

As of 23 May 2011, the current members of the committee are as follows:

Member		Party	Constituency
	Hywel Francis Hywel Francis Dr Hywel Francis is a Welsh Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Aberavon since 2001.-Background:...  MP (Chair)	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	Aberavon Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency) Aberavon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system.-History:...
	Rehman Chishti Rehman Chishti Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti known as Rehman Chishti is a British Conservative politician who was elected MP for Gillingham and Rainham in the 2010 general election....  MP	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	Gillingham and Rainham
	Michael Crockart Michael Crockart Michael Bruce 'Mike' Crockart is a Liberal Democrat politician, and the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West. He was first elected on 6 May 2010 at the 2010 General Election....  MP	Liberal Democrats	Edinburgh West Edinburgh West (UK Parliament constituency) Edinburgh West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , first used in the 1885 general election...
	Dominic Raab Dominic Raab Dominic Rennie Raab is a British Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Esher and Walton in Surrey and is a former international business lawyer.-Biography:...  MP	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	Esher and Walton
	Virendra Sharma Virendra Sharma Virendra Kumar Sharma is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall since 2007.-Parliamentary career:...  MP	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	Ealing Southall
	Richard Shepherd Richard Shepherd Richard Charles Scrimgeour Shepherd is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom. He is currently a Member of Parliament, having represented the constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills since 1979....  MP	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	Aldridge-Brownhills Aldridge-Brownhills (UK Parliament constituency) Aldridge-Brownhills is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
	Lord Bowness	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	—
	Baroness Campbell of Surbiton	Crossbench	—
	Lord Dubs	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	—
	Lord Lester of Herne Hill Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill Anthony Paul Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill, QC is a British politician and member of the House of Lords, and a member of the Liberal Democrats....	Liberal Democrats	—
	Lord Morris of Handsworth	Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...	—
	Baroness Stowell of Beeston Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston, MBE, is a Conservative member of the House of Lords and a former Head of Corporate Affairs for the BBC. She was previously Head of Communications for three Chairman of the BBC: Gavyn Davies, Michael Grade, and Michael Lyons...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...	—

Source: Joint Committee on Human Rights

Changes

Occasionally, either house may order changes to its membership on the committee. Such changes are shown below.

Date	Outgoing Member & Party		Constituency	→	New Member & Party		Constituency	Source
2 November 2010		Andy Slaughter MP (Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... )	Hammersmith Hammersmith (UK Parliament constituency) Hammersmith is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...	→		Virendra Sharma Virendra Sharma Virendra Kumar Sharma is a British Labour Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall since 2007.-Parliamentary career:...  MP (Labour Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... )	Ealing Southall	Hansard
9 March 2011		Baroness Morris of Bolton Patricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton Patricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE DL is a British peer and former Shadow Minister for Women and an Opposition Whip for the Conservative Party....  (Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... )	—	→		Baroness Stowell of Beeston Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston Tina Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston, MBE, is a Conservative member of the House of Lords and a former Head of Corporate Affairs for the BBC. She was previously Head of Communications for three Chairman of the BBC: Gavyn Davies, Michael Grade, and Michael Lyons...  (Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... )	—	Hansard
28 March 2011		Eleanor Laing Eleanor Laing Eleanor Fulton Laing, née Pritchard, is a British politician. She is Conservative Member of Parliament for Epping Forest, and was first elected in 1997.-Early life:...  MP (Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... )	Epping Forest Epping Forest (UK Parliament constituency) Epping Forest is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...	→		Rehman Chishti Rehman Chishti Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti known as Rehman Chishti is a British Conservative politician who was elected MP for Gillingham and Rainham in the 2010 general election....  MP (Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... )	Gillingham and Rainham	Hansard
23 May 2011		Julian Huppert Julian Huppert Julian Leon Huppert is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom and Member of Parliament for Cambridge since 2010...  MP (Liberal Democrats)	Cambridge Cambridge (UK Parliament constituency) Cambridge is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system....	→		Michael Crockart Michael Crockart Michael Bruce 'Mike' Crockart is a Liberal Democrat politician, and the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West. He was first elected on 6 May 2010 at the 2010 General Election....  MP (Liberal Democrats)	Edinburgh West Edinburgh West (UK Parliament constituency) Edinburgh West is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , first used in the 1885 general election...	Hansard

External links

• Joint Committee on Human Rights