Posts Tagged ECHR
Human rights: in praise of practice over principle
Posted by Nick Cowen in Civil Liberty, Crime, Human Rights on 12/12/2011
Sigrid Rausing offers a powerful and clear defence of keeping European Court of Human Rights’ decisions superior to the democratic will of Parliament. But her argument is lacking in a number of important respects and, in the end, risks weakening the power of the concept of human rights to command reasoned agreement in a democratic society.
Strasbourg Court flouting democratic self-government
Posted by Nick Cowen in Civil Liberty, Human Rights, Press Release on 21/04/2011
Following Parliament’s rejection of votes for prisoners, a new Civitas report calls for urgent reform of human rights legislation to keep European judges from deciding British law.
Strasbourg in the Dock, by international lawyer and Conservative MP Dominic Raab, argues that judges have gone beyond their legitimate powers of interpretation in their now infamous Hirst ruling. He finds some of the European judges are ‘woefully lacking in experience’ and, as a consequence, ‘are undermining the credibility and value of the Court’.
See full press release.
Buy the report on Amazon and on Amazon kindle.
Does it matter if we ignore the ECHR?
Posted by Carolina Bracken in British History, Civil Liberty, Crime, Human Rights, Politics on 08/02/2011
In an emphatic open letter, the Director of the Howard League, Frances Crook, calls on all MPs to stand against Thursday’s motion relating to voting by prisoners. Ms Crook rightly states that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is “arguably one of the greatest achievements in recent history”. Similarly, it is true that, so far as the decision on Thursday is concerned, “our reputation in the international legal world is on the line”. However, whilst these points are wholly correct, Ms Crook’s conclusion is disappointingly myopic and alarmingly naïve.
