PROGRAMME 2

Background information

Human Rights Today
Human Rights are getting some negative press at present. A recent YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph for instance, showed some 46% of respondents taking the view that the 1998 Human Rights Act 'is turning out to do more harm than good and should be repealed' (Daily Telegraph, 26 March 2005). Only 25% said the Act should be retained.

This may sound an alarm to those minorities that the Human Rights Act aims to protect, but it puts any scepticism about the scenario presented in Last Rights into perspective. Human Rights are necessary to protect minorities from one of the main pitfalls into which democracies are prone to tumble, namely the 'tyranny of the majority', as recognised as early as 1859 by John Stuart Mill (in his essay 'On Liberty'). It is this tyranny to which Max and Tariq are subject when 80% of the public comes out in support of the youth curfew, and to which street beggars and asylum seekers may well be subject if the DCP remains in government.

High profile applications of these principles include: the high levels of public support for the Government's proposals for detainment without trial in the recent Terror Bill; the passage of the Hunting Bill against vociferous protest; and of course the detainment in captivity of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Camp Breadbasket, and Belmarsh prison.

The Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, includes the following basic rights: the right to life; protection from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; freedom from slavery; the right to liberty and security; the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent court; the right to respect for privacy and family life; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to freedom of expression; the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association; the right to education; the right to enjoy one's possessions; the right to elect a government by secret ballot; the absence of the death penalty; the right to enjoy the above rights without discrimination.

Examples of rights explored in Programme 2
Examples of rights and liberties contravened in this programme include the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to respect for privacy and family life (Melissa, Max and Tariq's mum), the right to a fair trial (Tariq), the right to integrity of the person (Tariq, Max, Steve), and the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, and freedom from harassment, amongst others.

Human rights beyond our borders
As mentioned above, the HRA 1998 derives from the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – a legal document known as the ECHR. With its values, policies and ambitions, the European Union is a considerable force for human rights in the wider world, and for organisations such as Amnesty International a very important entity. Whilst serious human rights problems still do occur inside the EU – torture, use of excessive force, racism and abuse of minorities to name but a few – the EU can play a very positive role in human rights today. Using its substantial economic muscle, the EU can offer preferential trade agreements to countries like China and Turkey, in return for important human rights reforms in those countries.