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David Maxwell Fyfe

EDM (Early Day Motion) 1511: tabled on 19 June 2025

Tabled in the 2024-25 session.

This motion has been signed by 9 Members. It has not yet had any amendments submitted.

Motion text

That this House commends the work of David Maxwell Fyfe, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials and notes his important role in drafting the European Convention on Human Rights; understands David’s childhood and early education took place in Edinburgh; applauds the work of Songs of the People, a project by English Cabaret including members of a new generation of David's family, which educates people on the evolution of modern human rights; notes their production, Dreams of Peace and Freedom, which commemorates David's journey from Nuremberg to Strasbourg through his own words, archive film, original music and live performance; recognises this year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials; celebrates the 75th anniversary of the signing of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); acknowledges the ECHR’s crucial role in empowering individuals to uphold their rights; further understands it laid the foundation for drafting relevant laws in the United Kingdom; and believes this was especially true of the Human Rights Act 1998, which embedded this protection into domestic law and strengthened the rights of people across the UK.