Being asked to stack shelves – an alleged breach of Human Rights !

In another frankly outrageous attempt at using the Human Rights Act, in this case article 4 (2) which deals with forced or compulsory labour, a long term unemployed young woman is seeking to challenge the Government’s requirement to undertake unpaid work experience as a potential gateway to future employment.

In this case the individual was required, in order to remain eligible for jobseeker’s allowance, to spend 2 weeks working in Poundland, undertaking tasks such as filling shelves or cleaning the floor. She objected to this and claims that such activities, with the underlying sanction for non-compliance of removal of her benefits, are tantamount to a forced labour situation.

Surprise surprise, this will be yet another case brought with legal aid, so that the claimant and the lawyers have nothing to lose. At a time when legal aid looks like it will be withdrawn for many very legitimate and important cases, the fact it is being used for these types of Human Rights claims is really ridiculous, and it should stop immediately in our view.

What do you think ?

Backlog of European Human Rights cases at 150,000

Setting aside the issue of the huge public expense of the unlimited ways in which Human rights issued are being used on cases in England & Wales, there is also the issue of the ludicrous backlog of 150,000 cases lodged in Europe.

It is virtually if not totally inconceivable that this number of cases can ever be dealt with without a massive expansion of resources and even then, we could be looking at decades. This all just shows, in our view, that the Human Rights debacle has now got completely out of control.

Apparently, discussions are ongoing ay Governmental level about what to do with the backlog and it appears that Ken Clarke may also argue Britain’s case that the debate must be extended to a more restrictive approach to the types of issues which can be taken to the European level, not least due to the huge uncertainty the whole process causes as to what the law might be after a case is finally heard at the European level.

Human Rights – a judge’s view

Interesting times we are living in generally – on a macro level, will Britain start a slow or quick process of decoupling from the EU or will we perhaps be drawn in further to an ever more centralized Europe ?

On the micro, although not so micro, level, back to the ever thorny issue of Human rights law, which of course has it’s origins in European law.

Judges are masters of using measured words but clearly the Judiciary in the UK are also somewhat troubled by the way Human Rights law is causing such controversy, costing so much money and being argued in such a wide range of cases. In some of the more controversial cases, foreign criminals who commit serious offences are not being deported due to arguments based on article 8 of the Human Rights legislation.

Lord Phillips and Lord Judge spoke for some 90 minutes to a parliamentary committee this week and concurred that the English courts had perhaps, based on respect for the common law system on which English law is founded, been willing to give too much credence to European Human Rights precedents.

Lord Judge also spoke about the prospects of the government seeking to make changes to Human Rights law, perhaps arguing strongly that no country can continue, in the economic conditions of the foreseeable future, to continue dealing with the volume of these cases, as the ECHR apparently  has a backlog of over 100,000 uncompleted cases.

Article 8

This article is perhaps the most controversial of all the Human Rights articles. There have been an ever increasing number of attempts to apply the principle of right to family life in court claims of all types, not least in immigration cases, and even immigration cases relating to hardened criminals

MP’s are now being encouraged to agree cross party support for a proposal to amend the UK Borders Act 2007 to remove references to Article 8 in that Act and consequently, make it harder for  foreign criminals to delay and resist being deported unless they can demonstrate a “serious risk of torture”.

What makes the current law even more of a farce is the fact that “family life” has been so widely interpreted under the Human Rights Act, to include girlfriends and relationships which would otherwise not be seen as having longevity or permanence.

Common sense, long overdue in this area.

Human Rights & Social Housing

Just a quick note to advise that, in the growing and important new law area of how the Human Rights legislation may impact on social housing law, there is a fantastic new page with practical guidance on the Equality Rights Commission website. We simply wouldn’t be able to improve upon the content on that site, so simply click on the link for a very helpful and informative explanation from both Landlord & tenant perspective.

Smoking is a Human Right and an equality right  ?!!!

In another quite extraordinary  proposed application of Human Rights  and equality laws, patients who have been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 have succeeded in gaining leave to apply for judicial review against being banned from smoking by the hospital in which they are detained, which ban applies to the hospital grounds as well as of course the interior of the hospital.

Human Rights Act – the alleged cost

A respected Human Rights law expert has suggested that the cost to the Uk of Human Rights compliance could be as high now as a staggering £9 billion.

The figures are undoubtedly open to question but according to the expert, Dr Lee Rotherham :-

• Compensation claims  under the Human Rights legislation  cost £7.1billion a year
• £2.1billion is spent on compliance
• Legal fees arising from Human Rights Act cases are estimated at £250million a year
• The total cost to the Uk is some £42billion since 1953 but costs are accelerating rapidly
• There are now at least 2,000 human rights lawyers in the UK.

A full note of Dr Rotherham’s findings appears to be available under the auspices of the Taxpayers Alliance. Interesting reading indeed !