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Human rights: old subject, new audience

01 March 2024 / Roger Smith
Issue: 8061 / Categories: Features , Human rights , Public , Constitutional law
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Roger Smith enters the world of local politics

I have recently taken on a new commitment. I have become chair of the local ward of a political party. It does not matter which. I could happily have survived in any of the factions which have surfaced in the three major national parties. The point is that, to make a bit of a splash at my first meeting, I chose to undertake a presentation on human rights.

This was, therefore, one of the few times that I have had to talk about the subject to a non-lawyer audience. As director of JUSTICE when the Human Rights Act came into force in 2000, I debated often with lawyers and politicians. But not too many ordinary people in the street. Or, as in this case, on Zoom.

I have to admit that my north London audience gave me an easy ride. I tried beforehand to find someone critical of human rights with whom I could have a debate. There are, after all,

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NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
David Lammy, Ellie Reeves and Baroness Levitt have taken up office at the Ministry of Justice, following the cabinet reshuffle
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