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The Pros And Cons Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights

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In the wake and devastation of the Second World War, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which became the basis for the European Convention on Human Rights. Although the UK agreed to be bound by the Convention in 1953, it was only in 1966 that it accepted the right of its individuals to bring complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). A problem to this approach was the fact that the ‘victims’ needed to apply to the ECtHR, and none of the rights were available in domestic law – although they could use them as persuasive arguments to make a claim for their right. However, the Convention became particularly significant when the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) was incorporated ‘Convention Rights’ …show more content…

It has been argued that while it is not for the courts to extend Convention rights beyond what they already provide (R (on application of Ullah) v Special Adjudicator), if the UK is to contribute significantly to the development of Human Rights in Europe, it cannot restrict itself in ensuring only that the domestic law keeps pace with Strasbourg. The case of Re P and ors, is a classic example of a case in which the HOL reached a decision knowing well that they may have done more than keeping in pace with …show more content…

This, however, does not affect the validity or continuing operation of the provision in question. The Government is also not required to change the law. When a declaration of incompatibility was made in the Belmarsh case, the Home Secretary did not release the defendants from prison (although the provision under which they were detained was flagged incompatible). While s.4 appears to be just a flag for the courts to warn the Government and Parliament, Baroness Hale and Tom Hickman are of the view that such a thing allows a ‘dialogic’ approach which forges a partnership between the legislature, executive and judiciary. Ministers could through remedial orders under s.10 of the HRA 1998 make amendments to the primary or secondary legislation to make the Act convention compatible. However, the draft order needs to be approved by both Houses of

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