Human Rights Act 1998

What are human rights ?

What are human rights ?

▪ The Human Rights Act 1998 (c42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000.

▪ Human rights are rights and freedoms that belong to all individuals regardless of their nationality and citizenship. They are fundamentally important in maintaining a fair and civilized society .

▪ Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.

▪ All public bodies (such as courts, police, local governments, hospitals, publicly funded schools, and others) and other bodies carrying out public functions have to comply with the Convention rights.

The History of Human Rights

• The Convention was drafted by the Council of Europe after World War II.

• Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe was the Chair of the Committee on Legal and Administrative Questions of the Council's Consultative Assembly from 1949 to 1952, and oversaw the drafting of the European Convention on Human Rights.

• It was designed to incorporate a traditional civil liberties approach to securing "effective political democracy", from the strong traditions of freedom and liberty in the United Kingdom.

The History of Human Rights

1948 - After the second World War , there came an important realisation that although fundamental rights should be respected as a matter of course, without formal protection human rights concepts are of little use to those facing persecution. The result was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the most important agreements in the history of human rights.

1950 - The European Convention on Human Rights was agreed in the aftermath of the Second World War. British lawyers played an instrumental role in the development of the Convention, and the UK signed up in 1951.

1966 - Granting of the right of individual petition .

1997 - A white paper entitled rights brought home , a human rights bill .

1998 - Enacted by a youthful Labour Government in 1998, the Human Rights Act (HRA) contains a set of civil and political rights considered fundamental to any liberal democracy.

What does the Human Rights Act do ?

It makes the human rights contained in the ECHR enforceable in UK law. This means that it is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that is incompatible with a Convention right. Anyone who feels that one or more of their rights has been breached by a public authority can raise the matter in an appropriate court or tribunal. If they are unhappy with the court’s decision and have pursued the issue as far as it can go in the UK, they may take their complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.

What are the Convention Rights ?

• There are 16 basic rights in the Human Rights Act – all taken from the European Convention on Human Rights.

• They concern matters of life and death, like freedom from torture and being killed, but they also cover rights in everyday life, such as what a person can say and do, their beliefs, their right to a fair trial and many other similar basic entitlements.

The Act sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals in the UK have access to. They include:

• Right to life• Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment• Right to liberty and security• Freedom from slavery and forced labor• Right to a fair trial• No punishment without law• Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence• Freedom of thought, belief and religion• Freedom of expression• Freedom of assembly and association• Right to marry and start a family• Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and

freedoms• Right to peaceful enjoyment of your property• Right to education• Right to participate in free elections

Can human rights ever be restricted ?

Sometimes – especially if there is a real and serious danger to public safety. Not all Convention rights carry the same weight. They can be grouped into three broad types :

• Absolute rights

• Limited rights

• Qualified rights

• Absolute rights – such as the right to protection from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3). The state can never withhold or take away these rights.

• Limited rights – such as the right to liberty (Article 5). These rights may be limited under explicit and finite circumstances.

• Qualified rights – rights which require a balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of the wider community or state interest. These include: the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8); the right to manifest one’s religion or beliefs (Article 9); freedom of expression (Article 10); freedom of assembly and association (Article 11); the right to peaceful enjoyment of property (Protocol 1, Article1); and, to some extent, the right to education (Protocol 1, Article 2)

Why is it important to have your rights protected ?

• Human rights are the basic rights and freedom to which all human beings are entitled.

• They focus on the dignity of human beings .

• They protect individuals and group .

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