Straw signs up for adoption of Euro human rights laws
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
THE Home Secretary, Jack Straw, yesterday made the final preparations for the European human rights convention to be incorporated into English law.
He signed an order giving full effect to the Human Rights Act on Oct 2. From that date, the human rights convention will become an integral part of the law. Complainants will now be able to pursue their cases through domestic courts rather than through the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg.
Around £4.5 million has already been spent training judges and magistrates to deal with human rights cases. The Lord Chancellor’s department has budgeted to spend an extra £21 million on new court hearings. A further £39 million has been set aside for legal aid.
Jane Kennedy, minister in the Lord Chancellor’s department, said that the costs added up to less than five per cent of the total £450 million annual courts budget and only 2.3 per cent of the £1.6 billion set aside each year for legal aid. She said: “We are not expecting an explosion of cases. Judges have said they will not entertain lawyers who advance unmeritorious human rights cases.”
Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, said that he was sure that the judiciary would not entertain unwarranted claims. He said: “I am sure they will be sensible and realistic when dealing with convention arguments and will not lose sight of the philosophy behind the convention - balance and fairness.”
As ministers are now required under the Act to indicate whether all new legislation is compatible with the convention, the Government does not anticipate many successful applications. In Scotland, where the Act has been in force for a year, only 13 of the 180 cases brought have been upheld.
Mr Straw maintained that the Football Disorder Bill, which limits the rights of unconvicted people to leave the country if they are suspected of being a potential hooligan, was compatible with the convention.
Although the convention was ratified by Britain in 1951, he said that there was a stronger sense of human rights in countries that have written constitutions and bills of rights. He said: “We have been subject to the convention rights for 50 years. This makes them easier to exercise and reduces the need to go to Strasbourg.”
John Wadham, director of the human rights group Liberty, said: “The Human Rights Act is a great piece of legislation but it is the beginning of strong human rights protection in this country, not the final word.”
30 March 2000: Warning on Euro rights ’panic’
5 April 1999: European human rights law for Britain is facing long delay
| 
