Overview

• Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe human rights commissioner, has written to UK ministers and MPs warning that steps taken after April’s Supreme Court ruling risk violating the European Convention on Human Rights.
• He cautions that implementing the judgment in ways that void the practical effect of legal gender recognition could push trans people into an unacceptable “intermediate zone.”
• O’Flaherty flags privacy concerns under Article 8, warning that policies requiring habitual disclosure of sex assigned at birth would force trans people to ‘out’ themselves when accessing services.
• He notes reports that EHRC interim advice curtailed access to single‑sex facilities and allowed birth‑certificate checks, with formal guidance now with minister Bridget Phillipson for a decision.
• In a separate letter on protests, he questions treating Palestine Action supporters as terrorists and urges a review of protest law, including reconsidering a proposed offence of concealing identity and limits near places of worship.