Rights in context

Cards (10)

  • The Human Rights Act of 1988 is a law that protects the rights of individuals in the UK
  • Positives of UK Citizens' Rights
    • the Human's Rights act of 1998
    • The Freedom of Information act of 2000 that requires the government to reveal decision making information
  • Negatives of UK Human Rights
    • Government can ignore judges' rulings
    • Human Rights Act is not fully entrenched
    • Freedom of Information Act has too many exemptions
  • Rights In Context - Developments
    • Magna Carta 1215 = limit royal power
    • ECHR 1950 = similar to the UNDHR
    • Human Rights Act 1998 = New Labour, could now be defended in the UK rather than in the EU
    • Equality Act 2010 = brought together all other discrimination laws and made it illegal to discriminate against the 9 protected characteristics.
  • How far is the UK becoming a rights-based state
    • since passing the HRA all new legislation must be compliant with the act
    • increased use of Judicial review (Numbers rose from 4240 in 2000 to around 15600 in 2013)
    • High court rulings on retired Gurhka soldiers to settle in the UK in 2008
  • How Are Rights Protected?
    • Judicial Review = review of ministers' decisions to decide if they are lawful, can be declared unlawful when the decision is Ultra Vires (acting beyond their power), anyone can apply for it
    • Common Law = rules established through customs, judges have decided that some rules are so firmly set in traditions, left to the judges to decide
    • Statute Law = takes precedence over common law, (Common-law marriage, right to roam, and right to hunt with foxes eventually superseded by statute law)
  • How well are rights protected - YES
    • The HRA and other laws mean that rights are set out clearly and in detail
    • a rights-based culture has been established
    • this allows the judiciary to be active in defending rights
    • Pressure groups, such as Liberty, work to stop gov. undermining rights
  • How well are rights protected - NO
    • Citizens' rights have been restricted as govs seek to protect citizens from terrorism
    • right to protest has been restricted
    • Gov has introduced control orders to restrict freedom of movement
    • the media underminds rights protection by portraying acts like the HRA as restricting rights
  • Case study: The Abu Qatar Case (2012)
    a 2012 ECHR judgement prevented the deportation of the radical islamist cleric to Jordan where he risked being tortured and tried. he was finally removed in 2013 and tried and acquitted. Home sec. at the time, May, said he would have been removed earlier if it wasn't for the ECHR 'moving the goalposts' by establishing new legal ground to block his deportation
  • Case Study: Poundland Case
    Cait Reilly won her claim that it was unlawful to force her to work in Poundland unpaid as a condition of her claiming jobseeker allowance. The court ruled that gov had acted unlawfully by not giving unemployed people enough information about the penalties they faced if they refused to work unpaid