the Human Rights Act and attempts to dislodge it
October 9, 2006 – 6:13 pmGood for Lord Falconer. Glad someone’s standing in the way of the Sun and David Cameron in their attempts to get rid of the Human Rights Act. Why they think it will help them I’m not sure -but it seems to be one of those time where the ‘rights of society’ is much vaunted and expected to not come at the cost of individuals. Which is all very well and good - how do all those Sun readers think it won’t come at a cost to one of them? All this talk is clothed as ‘good for the country’ but it seems to me that it boils down to one thing: baying for blood - demands for ‘vengeance’. So the accusations run - ‘oh you’re being soft on “crime” - you’re thinking of the criminal’s rights and not ours!’ And yes I heard Mr. Cameron say they’d ‘re-write’ this Human Rights Act- but exactly what does that mean? Will it translate to - ‘yeah let’s not give anyone a fair trial because we know who’s guilty, and we’ll be really tough on crime: i.e. we’ll go for nasty sentences which won’t do any good but at least we’ll feel better’ i.e. unadulterated vengeance. Next thing you know we’ll be back to the capital punishment days. After all - back in the day, the reason they’d give for topping someone off would be ‘but who cares about this criminal’s rights? We want vengeance’. As if somehow the victim’s rights are being considered by this type of revenge. Sounds like the old desert laws to me - an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It’s one to talk about the application of the Act etc. it’s another to say ah well this human rights thing is not working - let’s scrap it.
Backing the Sun’s campaign sounds like a silly attempt to gain some votes. Sure you win some and you lose some. Someone is baying for blood so let’s give in to them - make us look tough. After all, Tony’s obsession with respect and ASBOs a bit hard to follow I suppose.
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Lord Falconer is the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. In his speech to Parliament today he strongly defended the Human Rights Act, saying the government is “unashamed and unembarrassed” by the legislation. “We intend to mount a campaign for human rights - human rights not just for oppressed minorities, but for everyone“. At a meeting of human rights lawyers at LSE a couple of weeks ago he noted that the Government is planning two new guides to interpreting the Human Rights Act - given all the confusion and hoo-ha.
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10 Responses to “the Human Rights Act and attempts to dislodge it”
Man, I’ve been away from the blogosphere for soo long! I don’t even know what’s going on. Can’t wait til all this studying stuff is over and done with. then I can finally focus on making some hard cash! Oh and of course, keeping my blog running.
BTW, Happy VERY Belated Birthday to you! My birthday’s coming up too.
In like 6 months! LOL Got you didn’t I? You thought it was like in a week or soemthing! Hehehee I’m just soo happy because of the recent news I got. I was so excited that I had to blog about it! Bangladesh won!
By Bengali Fob on Oct 14, 2006
Get rid of the Human Rights Act?…Do they not see the irony… The absurdity that will be revealed when they need such an act to save themselves from their own barbarianism?
It would be funny if it were not so damned sad.
Peace.
By thepoetryman on Oct 22, 2006
In Canada a judge struck down parts of the Anti terro rist act as unconstitutional. Would never happen in US where judges are electe d.
By Mezba on Oct 27, 2006
LMAO…I live in a place that is praised regularly by its residents and the international community for upholding the notion of “Human Rights”…and it was named “Bangladesh” after a 9 month long war that resulted in the gradual improvement of those who betrayed over the gradual distortion of those who fought for the country itself
Lessons learned include 1) Never trust the family of a four-eye who liberates your nation 2) Never trust an Army general (s) who keeps quite too much and is from the north-bengal 3) Never think you’re impervious to death, because it will come…and probably at the hands of those you trust most 4) Never vote , because voting means only to choose the better “douche” over the “turd” who ruled the last 5 years. and last but not the least 5) You have little or no hope of being an optimist when you belong to such a race as the bangalees .
I heard that Human rights is also practiced full in another country called ai-raq… but I couldn’t find it anywhere on the world’s map
By atunu on Oct 28, 2006
Mezba, are you talking about the bits of news on CBC? On CBC they said that that it actually makes it easier for the prosecution to convict a person! Why? Well, according to CBC, now the prosecution doesn’t have to prove WHY the person would commit the alleged terrorist acts. And apparently, that’s the hardest thing for the prosecution to do.
So do you think the Canucj judge made a good decision?
BTW, Sonia, where are you?!?!?
By Bengali Fob on Nov 7, 2006
hello everyone and thanks for your comments ( yes yours too Amrevis)
sorry to have not been around, my day job has been keeping me busy
( yep..as I’m not a full-time blogger yet! so much deprivation in london to address y’know..so much information that needs gathering and analyzing and wot have you..
be back soon!
By sonia on Nov 10, 2006
It will be interesting to see how Cameron responds to today’s out-of-court settlement in favour of the six addicts who claimed their human rights were infringed because they were forced to go cold turkey when inside. After all, he’s made quite a lot of friendly noises about rehabiliting prisoners, especially in relation to drug use.
By Dave Hill on Nov 13, 2006
Nice to see you are still around. Good luck with the day job, but we do miss you in the blogosphere!
By Leighton Cooke on Nov 17, 2006
Hi Sonia,
wasn’t sure where to post this (couldn’t see your email contact) anyway - as you know I’ve been compiling a lsit of the 100 top green bloggers in the UK and I thought I should let you know you are in the top ten.
Check out my blog to confirm - and also note there is a “people’s choice” poll just opened where anyone can vote for who they think, out of the top ten, should have been top.
Jim
By jim jay on Nov 23, 2006
hey jim thanks for stopping by - good to hear from you. sounds great - ! will definitely be visiting your site and having a look see!
cheers
By sonia on Dec 1, 2006