15 Reasons We Should Celebrate The Human Rights Act

For a law that guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms to citizens, the Human Rights Act 1998 certainly had a bad reputation. We've put together our list of things we think should be celebrated about the Human Rights Act and some of its achievements below.

1. Despite what you may have heard, the HRA protects all of us - old and young, rich and poor, you and me

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Misreporting has led to the Human Rights Act being misrepresented. For example, it has been wrongly claimed that the Act has been used to allow prisoners access to hardcore pornography and that the police can't distribute images of known criminals!

2. HRA protects our rights whilst also maintaining the sovereignty of Parliament

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Primary legislation from the UK Parliament has supremacy. Judges can declare that a law is incompatible with the Human Rights Act which will then be debated in Parliament.

3. The HRA makes it unlawful for public authorities, such as the police, to act against our human rights.

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And if they do, individuals can take cases to the court.

4. It gives the state a duty to investigate serious offences

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The state is obliged to protect victims of crimes, for example deaths occurring in custody must be publicly investigated. Serious offences need to be investigated by the police and people who are threatened need to be protected.

5. The HRA carefully balances human rights with public safety

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The Human Rights Act can be limited if it is necessary and proportionate to protect public safety, for example a person's right to liberty could be limited if they have committed a crime and are sent to prison.

6. The only explicit protection of freedom of speech is found under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act.

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Under common law, the right to freedom of speech is a 'negative right' but it's only explicit protection is in the Human Rights Act. This has strengthened the free press.

7. You cannot be prevented from attending a protest

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In 2003, protesters were prevented from attending an anti-war demonstration but this was later ruled to contravene human rights laws on freedom of assembly.

8. The HRA helped to get convictions in the phone hacking scandal

Interception of mobile phones and voicemail is regulated by a law which was introduced in direct response to both the Human Rights Act and a European Court of Human Rights case in 1997. This law has been used to convict the News of the World private investigator for voicemail hacking in 2005-6.

9. The HRA protects the freedom of the media and defends the public interest

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In the interests of defending the public interest, the identity of individuals linked with Al-Quaeda were revealed affirming the press's right to free expression.

10. Local authorities cannot intrude into the private life of families

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A local authority using surveillance powers to monitor whether a family lived in a school’s catchment area was determined to be intruding into the family’s private life.

11. The HRA protects people against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation

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The Rent Act 1977 was ruled to be discriminatory as it permitted the survivor of a heterosexual couple to become a statutory tenant but not the survivor of a homosexual couple.

12. Unmarried couples are protected from unjustified discrimination

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In Northern Ireland, only married couples or single people could be considered as adoptive parents. However, this was ruled to breach the right to family life in the the Human Rights Act.

13. Citizens need to have their rights enshrined in law rather than simply trusting the government will not take away their rights.

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Most countries have a bill of rights and a written constitution. The Human Rights Act is one of the few documents we have that sets out our rights.

14. Human rights are a great British tradition!

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We should celebrate human rights as a strong British tradition. Many of the protections in the Act are derived from ideas contained in the Magna Carta, the 1689 Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus Acts and the common law.

15. Lastly the HRA protects our rights - what a reason to celebrate!

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