human rights
9 July 2010 by Rosalind English
In two recent but separate developments, homosexuals fleeing persecution have been granted a lower threshold for refugee status and the Strasbourg Court has rejected a complaint by a same sex couple that Austria was in violation of the Convention for not granting them the right to marry.
We posted earlier on the case of HJ (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 31 (07 July 2010), in which the Supreme Court ruled as unlawful the government’s policy of sending refugees back to their home countries because they could avoid persecution if they acted discreetly.
There are two questions raised by this judgment and its implications. One concerns the extraterritorial reach of rights observed by signatory states to the Refugee and Human Rights Conventions. The second is the sheer practical difficulty of examining the veracity of a persecution claim based on these particular grounds.
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8 July 2010 by Adam Wagner
The controversial stop and search anti-terrorism powers are to be scrapped after a decision of the European Court of human Rights that they violated human rights law.
According to a press release on the Home Office website, the decision will have immediate effect and is a direct response to the European Court’s decision:
Theresa May today tells Parliament that the government will change how stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act are used, with immediate effect.
The move is in response to a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (new window), which found that the use of stop and search powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (new window) amounted to a violation of the right to a private life.
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8 July 2010 by Guest Contributor
A v (1) East Sussex County Council (2) Chief Constable of Sussex (2010) – Read judgment
The Administrative Court has held that the removal of a baby from her mother due to fears that she was fabricating symptoms was not a breach of human rights. The court did, however, identify ways in which the situation could have been handled less heavy-handedly.
Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel QC, who appeared in the case for the Appellant, analyses the judgment
This case involved a claim under the
Human Rights Act 1998 for damages for breach of
Article 8 of the European Convention. The Claimant was a young mother who had taken her baby into hospital when she was worried he appeared to have episodes when he stopped breathing. The baby was admitted to hospital and the medical assessment was there was nothing wrong with the baby. The paediatrician was concerned that the mother, having reported incidents that were not observed by medical staff, might be suffering from factitious illness, i.e. that she was deliberately fabricating the symptoms. He alerted social services who held a meeting on 29 December.
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8 July 2010 by Adam Wagner
HJ (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 31 (07 July 2010) – Read Judgment
The Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s “Anne Frank” policy of sending back gay refugees to their home countries where they feared persecution is unlawful as it breached their human rights..
HJ and HT are both homosexual men and had been persecuted in their home countries – Iran and Cameroon respectively – after their sexual orientation had been discovered.
The court criticised the controversial policy, practised since 2006, of telling gay asylum seekers who feared prosecution in their home countries to hide their sexuality upon their return, rather than granting them asylum. In the Court of Appeal the men’s barrister had referred to this as an “Anne Frank” policy, in that, like Anne Frank, the men would be safe if they hid from authorities but not if they didn’t.
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6 July 2010 by Adam Wagner
Binyam Mohamed
The details of the forthcoming wide-ranging public inquiry into British complicity with “rendition” and torture abroad have been announced by the Prime Minister.
He also announced the public release of guidance, formerly secret, on the questioning of suspects overseas, and that a new committee is to review the use of secret evidence in court proceedings.
The statement can be read in full here. Contrary to some reports, the new inquiry is to be judge-led. It will be headed by Sir Peter Gibson, a retired Court of Appeal Judge, who amongst other things headed up the Omagh bombing intelligence review in 2008, and currently is serving as the Intelligence Services Commissioner, a post which involves reviewing actions taken by the Secretary of State under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 and the activities of British intelligence.
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6 July 2010 by Adam Wagner
Human Rights Watch has released a comprehensive report into the Government’s controversial anti-terrorism stop and search powers.
The report – Without Suspicion Stop and Search under the Terrorism Act 2000 – runs to 64 pages and seeks to systematically dismantle the case for area-based stop and search under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows the police to stop and search without suspicion. Responding to proposals to cut the scope of the scheme, the reports states:
… we believe that even if the law were improved—if its geographic scope were permanently narrowed or its use restricted to specialist officers—the reforms would not entirely address the risk of arbitrary use, including profiling of ethnic minorities or stops of children. It is impossible to give clear guidance to officers on the use of a power that requires no reasonable suspicion. The risk of arbitrary use also makes the power incompatible with the traditional discretion given to UK police officers in course of their duties. The use of section 44 compromises the UK’s human rights obligations and is counterproductive.
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6 July 2010 by Matthew Hill
The Coalition Government is to introduce a system of statutory regulation to govern the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, responding to criticism of its scheme in Birmingham which was said to be targeting Muslim residents.
As we posted recently, ANPR cameras were controversially introduced in two predominantly Muslim areas of Birmingham under a scheme funded by an counter-terrorism initiative; the cameras have since been covered with plastic bags while a consultation process is undertaken
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1 July 2010 by Adam Wagner
The Coalition Government has today launched the “Your Freedom” website, “giving people the opportunity to suggest ideas on restoring liberties that have been lost, repealing unnecessary laws and stripping away excessive regulation on businesses”.
The website can be accessed here, although it appears to be having some bandwidth issues at the moment. Amongst other things, it asks the public “which current laws would you like to remove or change because they restrict your civil liberties?” According to the Number 10 press release, the answers will be taken into account in the Freedom Bill later this year.
In its Program for Government, the Coalition promised a “Freedom” or “Great Repeal Bill”, which is a marrying together of the two parties’ manifesto promises (the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives respectively). Whether the eventual legislation will be as wide-ranging as the draft Bill published by the Liberal Democrats is not clear, although interestingly a substantial number of the Bill’s proposals made it into the Coalition agreement, notably children’s biometrics, freedom of information, trial by jury, ID cards, DNA, regulation of CCTV and the right to public assembly.
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1 July 2010 by Adam Wagner
The European Court of Human Rights has rejected the United Kingdom’s application to appeal its decision in a recent finding that stop and search powers enacted as part of anti-terrorism legislation breached human rights law.
In January 2010 the European Court held that section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (the broad police power to stop and search without suspicion) violates the right to respect for private life guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention on Human Rights (Gillan and Quinton v. UK 4158/05 [2010] ECHR 28 (12 January 2010)). The claimants received £500 each by way of compensation.
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30 June 2010 by Adam Wagner
The Mayor of London v Hall & Ors [2010] EWHC 1613 (QB) (29 June 2010) – Read judgment
The Mayor of London has won a court order to evict a camp of protesters from Parliamentary Square, with the High Court stating that his response to the protest was proportionate and not a breach of the protesters’ human rights.
The protesters have gained a temporary reprieve by appealing the decision, and according to their website have therefore delayed their eviction until at least 4pm on Friday 2 July
As we posted earlier this month, during the build-up to the General Election a number of protesters erected tents and flags in Parliament Square, a green outside the Houses of Parliament. The protesters named the site “Democracy Village”. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, launched an action for possession against the protestors, who he claimed were trespassing on Parliament Square.
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30 June 2010 by Adam Wagner
The Mayor of London has won a court order to evict a camp of protesters from Parliamentary Square. The protesters have won a temporary reprieve by appealing the decision.
As we posted earlier this month, during the build-up to the General Election a number of protesters erected tents and flags in Parliament Square, a green outside the Houses of Parliament. The protesters named the site “Democracy Village”.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, launched an action for trespass against the protestors.
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25 June 2010 by Adam Wagner
Baroness Hale of Richmond has spoken to the Salford Human Rights Conference on the development of human rights law, and has lamented the time spent on constitutional wrangling rather than applying the essence of the Act.
Lady Hale is the only female judge on the UK Supreme Court. The speech can be downloaded here, and makes for interesting reading; many thanks to the UK Supreme Court Blog who have provided a useful summary.
Lord Phillips, the head of the Supreme Court also spoke recently on the Human Rights Act, responded to accusations that it is hampering the fight against terrorism. He said that “respect for human rights is a key weapon in the ideological battle”. Lady Hale suggested that the tension between the Government and the courts arising from such cases is preventing judges from doing their job. She concluded:
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24 June 2010 by Rosalind English
Grzelak v. Poland (no. 7710/02) – read judgment
The European Court of Human Rights has found that A Polish boy who refused to attend religious instruction classes for reasons of personal conviction had been discriminated against human rights because of a policy of reflecting that non-attendance in school reports.
The applicant Mateus Grzelak had been brought up in a non-religious tradition by his parents who were also applicants. Mateus began his schooling at the age of seven, and in conformity with his parents’ wishes, he did not attend religious instruction. Doctrinal classes were scheduled in the middle of the school day, between various compulsory courses.
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22 June 2010 by Adam Wagner
George Osborne is to announce the Government’s emergency budget today. Although the Government has been seeking to emphasise measures which will soften the blow to the poor, the fact remains that these are the biggest cuts in decades and that many will end up worse off, particularly if wages decrease and unemployment increases.
Update: The full budget can be downloaded here. The section on benefits starts at page 33.
The Government is to cut benefits by £11bn by 2014-15. The huge cost of benefits (“spending on social security and tax credits has increased by 45 per cent, around £60 billion, in real terms over the past 10 years.), the Chancellor told Parliament, were one of the reasons why there isn’t any more money in the Government coffers. The Health in Pregnancy grant will be abolished from 2011 and Sure Start will be limited. Child Benefit is to be frozen for the next three years. Disability Living Allowance will be restricted by a new medical check from 2013. The Chancellor has said he will “increase the incentives to work” and will reassess benefits on the basis of the Consumer Price Index rather than the Retail Price Index. Housing benefit will be limited significantly and maximum limits on what can be claimed are to be introduced for the first time.
Rosalind English posted two weeks ago on whether budget cuts will lead to revised calls for “socio-economic” human rights; a concept which is as old as the European Convention on Human Rights and just as controversial. We will now revisit that post.
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22 June 2010 by Adam Wagner
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, United States Supreme Court – Read judgment
The US Supreme Court has ruled that it does not violate the US Constitution for the government to block speech and other forms of advocacy supporting a foreign organization that has been officially labeled as terrorist, even if the aim is to support such a group’s peaceful or humanitarian actions.
The judgment does not, of course, have any direct effect on the UK. But UK anti-terrorism legislation already provides the police with broad powers to prosecute those who support terrorist groups. The UK Government is likely to be keeping a close eye on the United States in order to guide future policy, in terms of what is and what is not beyond the pale in restriction freedom of expression.
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In two recent but separate developments, homosexuals fleeing persecution have been granted a lower threshold for refugee status and the Strasbourg Court has rejected a complaint by a same sex couple that Austria was in violation of the Convention for not granting them the right to marry.
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