Making sense of cloudy human rights

Human rights are often “clouded by nonsense”, according to the Constitutional Affairs Secretary, Lord Falconer.

The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) began a campaign last week to promote a better understanding of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) among a range of public sector organisations, including the police and the probation service.

Launching the campaign in Manchester last week, Lord Falconer said: “Too often much of the real importance of human rights has been clouded by nonsense. Human rights and common sense go together. It is my responsibility and that of my department to make sure staff in key frontline services are properly informed about the legislation and how it is meant to work.”

Stephen Grosz, partner at Bindmans and Partners, says: “There have been misconceptions about what HRA 1998 does and does not apply to, and [Lord Falconer] exposes some of these in his speech.

“However, while common sense will get you home most of the time, it’s not always going to be enough, particularly where unpopular groups are concerned, such as terrorists, gypsies and mental patients. Protection of minorities is an important role of human rights.”