The UK is inconsistent in its support for human rights and democracy overseas

In the 2012 audit of UK democracy, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Andrew Blick, and Stephen Crone discussed the role of the UK in promoting democracy and human rights overseas. They found the UK purports to set itself high standards in this area, and has made progress recently by agreeing new international human rights instruments. Our relationship with the European Convention on Human Rights suggest a desire to weaken international standards, however, and our support for human rights is also conditioned by political and commercial concerns.