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Happy birthday UDHR and a warning for Jack Straw

By John Hirst

Happy birthday UDHR and a warning for Jack Straw

Today the 60th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be cause for celebration. However, I am in no party mood. This is because both Jack Straw and David Cameron are seeking to rip up the Human Rights Act 1998, and deny citizens of this country the human rights enjoyed by most of the rest of Europe since 1948. We were 50 years behind Europe when we eventually incorporated the European Convention into domestic law. It was claimed that British Justice is the best in the world therefore it was the so-called less civilised nations that needed to tidy their act up not Britain. However, the European Court of Human Rights case-law showed that the UK is the worst violator of human rights. When I started studying the subject, I noted that the UK had been found guilty over 50 times and Italy came second with about 20 violations. I do not feel proud to be British given that we are known for re-offending on such a large scale. In fact, I am so ashamed of our record that I refuse to state that I am British. I prefer to call myself European.

According to the Human Rights Act:

6 Acts of public authorities

(1) It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the courts, prisons, probation, criminal law and sentencing. And responsible for securing human rights. The Ministry of Justice is a public authority. The Minister of Justice is Jack Straw.

Under the Convention, The First Protocol, Article 3, provides for the Right to free elections: The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature.

I interpreted this to include prisoners. The ECtHR agreed with my interpretation of the law. CASE OF HIRST v. THE UNITED KINGDOM (NO. 2)(Application no. 74025/01)

Article 53 of the Convention states: The High Contracting Parties undertake to abide by the decision of the Court in any case to which they are Parties.

Article 54 of the Convention states: The judgment of the Court shall be transmitted to the Committee of Ministers which shall supervise its execution.

Whilst it is arguable that the Committee of Ministers do not appear to have the necessary teeth of a watchdog, and the Joint Committee on Human Rights also appears to be lacking the necessary teeth of a watchdog, it is no excuse for Jack Straw to continue being irresponsible and breaking the law to boot.

Last week noises were being made (Abbott and Portaloo on the Brillo Show) about a possible late Spring or early Summer General Election. Could it be that the unreasonable delay by the Ministry of Justice and the desire to prevent prisoners having a say in politics is going to backfire?

Prisoners may hold the key to the legal validity of the next General Election, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) concluded in its Annual Report published on 31 October 2008.

I'm alright Jack, I can vote now given that I am outside prison serving my life licence in the community. I wonder what Jack Straw will have to say when thousands and thousands of claims by prisoners seeking their human right and monetary damages clog up the court system?

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on December 10, 2008 (boomark / email).