1.4 rights in context

Question 1

What rights are included in the 1998 Human Rights Act?

Answer 1

• fair and equal treatment under the law
• freedom of expression in speech and writing
• freedom of conscience
• vote, to stand for election and to join a party or pressure group
• belong to an association such as a trade union
• freedom of movement

Question 2

What are included under social rights?

Answer 2

• the right to education, employment, health care and welfare provision

Question 3

What is the Magna Carta?

Answer 3

• document drawn up in 1215
• regarded as the oldest statement of rights in the UK
• presented to King John by the nobles who disapproved of his tyrannical rule
• its original purpose was to limit royal power

Question 3

What is the European Convention on Human Rights?

Answer 3

• drawn up in 1950
• it was very similar to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, drawn up in the aftermath of terrible violations of rights in WW2
• the ECHR was set up to hear cases where people felt that their rights had been infringed in their own countries
• uk citizens were allowed to appeal to the court, but it was time-consuming and expensive

Question 4

What is the Human Rights Act (1998)?

Answer 4

• was passed by the New Labour government
• incorporated the ECHR into the UK law with effect from 2000
• rights such as the right to life, freedom from arbitrary arrest and right to fair trial could all be defended in UK courts

Question 5

What is the Equality Act (2010)?

Answer 5

• brought together earlier pieces of legislation that had sought to outlaw discrimination and unfair treatment
• identified nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
• made it illegal for public bodies, employers, service providers and other organisations and individuals to discriminate against people on any of these grounds in the workplace or in a wider society

Question 6

What is judicial review good for?

Answer 6

• defending citizens rights
• enabling the legality of government actions to be properly scrutinised

Question 7

Why may judicial review not be good?

Answer 7

• it places too much power in the hands of unelected and unaccountable judges

Question 8

Case Study: The Abu Qatada deportation case and the Human Rights Act

Answer 8

• Abu Qatada, a radical Muslim cleric living in London since the 1992
• he had made speeches justifying the use of violence to promote the Islamist cause and had served times in British jails
• security services regarded him as a threat and ministers wanted him deported
• his legal advisers were able to fight deportation for 8 years on the grounds that he might be tried using evidence found under torture which is a breach of the human rights act
• in 2013 the UK signed a treaty with Jordan to say that such evidence wouldn’t be used
• he was flown back to face trial and was cleared on involvement in terrorist bomb plots
• the British authorities still viewed him as a dangerous influence

Question 9

What can the lack of clarity over the definition of rights lead to between pressure groups and indviduals?

Answer 9

can lead to conflicts

Question 10

Why have pro-human rights groups such as liberty had limited success in deflecting government policy?

Answer 10

governments have tended to place the safety of society above the protection of individual rights

Question 11

What type of pressure groups are governments unlikely to side with?

Answer 11

pressure groups that campaign for the rights of minority groups whom the wider public regards as undeserving of sympathy

Question 12

Why does the Howard League for Penal Reform struggle to persuade the government to implement its agenda?

Answer 12

the rights of convicted criminals do not constitute a popular case