A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that the government should reconsider its proposals for the reform of legal aid, with more and broader exemptions from some proposals, to protect against breaches of the fundamental right of effective access to justice in individual cases. Recommendations included: that any residence test for eligibility be introduced through primary legislation to allow for full parliamentary scrutiny; that all children should be exempt from any residence test; for urgent reforms to be made to the internal prison complaints system; and that legal assistance should remain for young offenders, particularly for cases regarding resettlement. It also raised concerns about the impact of the proposals on people with mental capacity or mental health difficulties, and about the proposal to remove cases with borderline prospects of success from legal aid funding.
Source: The Implications for Access to Justice of the Government's Proposals to Reform Legal Aid, Seventh Report (Session 2013–14), HC 766 and HL 100, Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, TSO
Links: Report | Coram Children's Legal Centre press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Dec
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that the government should introduce a Bill at the start of the 2014-15 session, to give all prisoners serving sentences of 12 months or less the right to vote in all United Kingdom parliamentary, local and European elections.
Source: Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill, Report (Session 2013–14), HC 924 and HL 103, Joint Select Committee on the Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined the preference for civil, rather than criminal, measures as the policy approach for dealing with forced marriage. One explanation for this was the influence of multiculturalism. Another was the limited conception of the harms of forced marriage apparent in much government discourse. The author raised the question of whether, in adopting a civil remedy approach, the state might be affording some women less protection of their human rights than others.
Source: Kaye Quek, 'A civil rather than criminal offence? Forced marriage, harm and the politics of multiculturalism in the UK', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A report evaluated the family returns process, a process that was introduced to increase rates of return to country of origin following the United Kingdom government's commitment to end the detention of children for immigration purposes. The report said that the new process had a positive impact on family welfare and safeguarding children. It said that the process allowed families to take responsibility for their return, but a lack of engagement meant that assisted and voluntary return rates did not increase. Some areas for improvement were identified.
Source: Mike Lane, Daniel Murray, Terry Smith, Jon Jones, Evelyn Hichens, Victoria Richardson, Rebecca Linley, and Andrew Zurawan, Evaluation of the New Family Returns Process, Research Report 78, Home Office
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that it accepted that the Immigration Bill served a legitimate aim of immigration control, but the committee was concerned that some measures might be applied in practice in a way that breached human rights. It raised serious concerns about provisions for restricting access to housing and access to legal challenges, and raised a number of other matters.
Source: Legislative Scrutiny: Immigration Bill, Eighth Report (Session 2013–14), HC 935 and HL 102, Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, TSO
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Dec
An article sought to develop an interlocking account of the gendered and racialized logics that conditioned the possibility for contemporary border security practices.
Source: Victoria Basham and Nick Vaughan-Williams, 'Gender, race and border security practices: a profane reading of "muscular liberalism"', British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined the system of employment and financial support for asylum-seekers, and the balance between the United Kingdom's human rights obligations and the 'democratic desire' to exclude asylum-seekers.
Source: Katie Bales, 'Universal credit: not so universal? Deconstructing the impact of the asylum support system', Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, Volume 35 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined human rights in Europe under conditions of austerity. It outlined the human rights consequences of the austerity measures implemented across Europe and made recommendations for rights-compliant responses.
Source: Safeguarding Human Rights in Times of Economic Crisis, Council of Europe
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
The government published a report for a joint committee of MPs and peers on responding to human rights judgments.
Source: Responding to Human Rights Judgments: Report to the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the government response to human rights judgments 2012 13, Cm 8727, Ministry of Justice, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Nov
A memorandum gave an overview of key issues and concerns about the independence of the European Court of Human Rights, in order to determine how the Court s independence could be further consolidated.
Source: Boriss Cilevics, Need to Reinforce the Independence of the European Court of Human Rights, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Council of Europe
Links: Memorandum
Date: 2013-Nov
A new book examined the linkage between public finance, particularly budget decisions, and the realization (or not) of economic and social rights.
Source: Aoife Nolan, Rory O'Connell, and Colin Harvey (eds), Human Rights and Public Finance: Budgets and the promotion of economic and social rights, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
A new book examined the lasting constitutional impact of the Human Rights Act 1998. The Act marked a 'sea change' in the relationships between the individual and the state, and between the courts and the political branches of government. This was despite widespread political and popular scepticism about the nature of rights adjudication and the relationship between human rights laws and (for example) measures designed to combat terrorism and crime.
Source: Roger Masterman and Ian Leigh (eds), The United Kingdom's Statutory Bill of Rights: Constitutional and comparative perspectives, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined why legal judgments concerning equality/human rights and religion/belief had frequently provoked controversy. Debate about religion or belief and its place in society had been unduly dominated by particular – and sometimes partial – understandings of legal judgments. In the long term an approach based on human rights principles was likely to be more satisfactory than one based principally on equality.
Source: Alice Donald, 'Advancing debate about religion or belief, equality and human rights: grounds for optimism?', Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, Volume 2 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Apr
A new book provided a critical overview of the development of human rights law by the United Kingdom Supreme Court.
Source: Brice Dickson, Human Rights and the United Kingdom Supreme Court, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined the relationship between social science research and human rights, drawing on a study in Scotland. Social policy and social science research had an important contribution to make in the promotion and protection of human rights.
Source: Alison Hosie and Michele Lamb, 'Human rights and social policy: challenges and opportunities for social research and its use as evidence in the protection and promotion of human rights in Scotland', Social Policy and Society, Volume 12 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
A new book examined debates over human rights in the United Kingdom and Germany. It addressed human rights questions that arose in both jurisdictions in a similar way – such as the tension between liberty and security; and considered the impact of human rights on different areas of domestic law – in particular administrative law, criminal law, labour law, and private law generally.
Source: Katja Ziegler and Peter Huber, Current Problems in the Protection of Human Rights: Perspectives from Germany and the UK, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Feb
A new book examined the several (and interlocking) challenges presented by the Lisbon Treaty for the protection of fundamental rights in the European Union, following its entry into force in December 2009.
Source: Sybe de Vries, Ulf Bernitz, and Stephen Weatherill (eds), The Protection of Fundamental Rights in the EU After Lisbon, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Jan
The report was published of an expert workshop that examined ways of using human rights and equality legislation to analyze and challenge public spending cuts.
Source: Using Human Rights and Equality to Analyse and Challenge the Public Spending Cuts: Reflections on past practice and organising for the future, Centre for Human Rights in Practice (University of Warwick)
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan