rights in context

Question 1

list the changes in rights over the years

Answer 1

• Magna Carta 1215 - established right to trial by jury
• Bill of Rights 1689 - increased power of parliament
• ECHR 1950 - created ECtHR and echoed the UDHR
• HRA 1998 - right to life, prohibition of torture, protection from arrest without reason, fair trial and privacy and family life
• Equality Act 2010- cannot be discriminated on age, disability, race, gender, maternity, religion, belief and sexual orientation

Question 2

what are the arguments for rights being effectively protected in the UK?

Answer 2

• supreme court has power to overrule a government decision which acts in violation of these rights e.g., deportation of Abu Katada - right to family
• the court of appeal can make a declaration of incompatibility which suggests to the government to change the legislation e.g., a law which said a deceased father’s details could not entered on his child’s birth certificate was deemed incompatable with the right for respect for a family and private life
• supreme court is independent from the government with protection to pay and an independent committee appointing them. this means that the government cannot pressure judges into accepting laws which violate our rights

Question 3

what are the arguments for our rights not being protected?

Answer 3

• much of our rights are unentrenched meaning they can be changed with an act of parliament e.g., the tory party are pledging to create a new british bill of rights to replace the HRA
• the judiciary is unelected and unnaccountable, suggesting that judges might not have full motivation to fully enforce rights
• the supreme court is also unrepresentative with 10/12 being male, suggesting there isnt a full representation of the country who’s rights they are protecting

Question 4

what are the arguments in favour of parliament being the ones protecting rights?

Answer 4

• parliament is more representative and thus will be better able to reflect the societies values
• parliament is accountable and thus MPs are less likely to act against individual’s rights as they would simply not be re elected
• parliament have been the ones introducing these rights into our system, so they should be the ones who are the best and most willing to protect them

Question 5

what are the arguments against parliament protecting our rights?

Answer 5

• short term interests might be more important than defending human rights
• parliament has power to suspend HRA to achieve its goals
• MPs may be against defending human rights, especially if they are often seen as unpopular cases in the public eye e.g., Katadar is a supporter of terrorism but he had his rights abused

Question 6

how do pressure groups protect our rights?

Answer 6

• groups like amnesty international and liberty promote the application of rights and pressure governments into respecting them
• Liberty has a campaign to ‘save our human rights act’ in opposition of the government’s proposed bill of rights