Human Rights, Right?

Human Rights Act 1998

I HAVE RIGHTS!

Yeah we all have rights, as in we all have legal rights that came into force in the UK in October 2000 even though the act (The Human Rights Act, also known as the HRA) was drafted in 1998. Why did it take so long before the act was preformed? Simply because it needed time to make the world (or those basically involved in the European Union) aware of this new act that they were now bound by. So what are they? They are a set of rights that everyone is bound by simply by being human, but if you really want to be philosophical then you could ask what does it mean to be human?

After WWII the idea of human rights emerged when the countries realised that committing war crimes were a crime against peace and against humanity. After all over 6 million were killed by German Nazi's. Governments became committed to establishing the United Nations which has the goal of preventing conflict and to keep international peace. They wanted to make sure that the denied freedom and quality of life would never repeat in the future. That is why The Human Rights Act was created, with 19 articles and 2 protocols each covering the fundamentals for every human being.

All public bodies after 2000 were made to follow these rights otherwise face lawful prosecution. These public bodies include

• courts
• police
• local governments
• hospitals
• publicly funded schools
• and other public bodies.

So lets look at what the articles actually are..

Right to life   2

 Right to freedom of torture 3

 Right to freedom from slavery 4

 Right to Liberty 5

 Right to Fair Trial 6

 No person can be punished without an act 7

 Right to privacy 8

 Right to conscience and religion 9

 Right to expression 10

 Freedom of association 11

 Right to marriage 12

 Right to effective remedy 13

 Freedom of discrimination  14