Human Rights (2)

Following up from yesterday blog, there is a this interesting article in today's Guardian, where Katie Ghose from British Institute of Human Rights argues that not only was the Chindamo decision based on EU law and not Human Rights legislation, but also that critics attacking human rights are undermining their positive aspects.

Ghose is right when she points out that the Human Rights Act* does not prevent the deportation of criminals and that Cheindamo's right to family life does not overrides all other considerations. I would, however, argue that the European Convention of Human Rights gave Chindamo a very strong case against deportation, and is therefore not irrelevant to the discussion of his case.

For more on the Chindamo case see this Guardian article and this blog (thanks to Andrew for the link.)

* The Human Rights Act, which Labour introduced and Parliament passed in 1998, incorporated the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law. Prior to 1998 individuals in Britain who wanted to enforce a Convention right only had recourse to the European Court of Human Rights.