Changes aiming to reduce the amount spent on legal aid have altered the way an accused person is able to access legal advice at the police station.
Changes aiming to reduce the amount spent on legal aid have altered the way an accused person is able to access legal advice at the police station.
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The Human Rights Act 1998 (the Act) received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and came into full force on 2 October 2000.
The aim of the Act was to give further legal effect in the UK to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), and to ensure that a set of basic human rights, which are listed in the Act, are fully respected and enforced in the UK.
The Act makes it unlawful for any public body to act in a way which is incompatible with the Convention, and it requires UK judges to interpret legislation, as far as possible, in a way which is compatible with the Convention. The Act ensures that the many provisions of the Convention are adhered to, and these include the right to life, the right to a fair trial, the prohibition of torture and "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" and the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
The Act fundamentally changed the way the UK system of justice works, and made public authorities more accountable for their decisions. The impact of the Act was to put human rights at the forefront of the law in England and Wales for the first time.
Most of the rights brought into effect by the Human Rights Act in 1998 had actually been in place for some time, under the international treaty known as the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the commencement of the Act changed the process and meant that people were much more aware of their rights and that authorities could be held directly accountable. Prior to the Act, any case involving a breach of Human Rights had to be heard in Strasbourg, something which was both time-consuming and expensive. However, the introduction of the Act meant that issues related to human rights can now be heard in UK courts and tribunals. There have been some a number of areas where the Act has made a discernible difference to the law. It has been directly or indirectly of benefit to a number of groups whose interests were not adequately represented in the political process, such as asylum-seekers, foreign suspected international terrorists, those serving indeterminate sentences and those who are concerned about invasion of privacy. There are also many who are actively seeking to repeal it, and politically it has not been completely unifying.