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Category: Human Rights (Page 1 of 43)

Case Law, Strasbourg: Halet v Luxembourg, LuxLeaks, Grand Chamber strengthens whistleblowers protection – Dirk Voorhoof

LuxLeaks, one year laterOn 14 February 2023 the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a judgment that is both highly instructive and protective for whistle-blowers claiming protection of their right to freedom of expression and information as guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Continue reading

Case Law, Strasbourg: Zemmour v France, Journalist’s conviction for inciting discrimination did not breach Article 10 – Catherine Arnold

ECHR upholds hate speech conviction against Eric Zemmour – DW – 12/20/2022In Zemmour v France [2022] ECHR 1130 (in French only), the Fifth Section of the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that the Article 10 right of the applicant, a journalist and political commentator, had not been violated by his conviction for inciting discrimination and religious hatred against the Muslim community in France under s.24 § 7 of the Freedom of the Press Act of 29 July 1881. Continue reading

Case Law, Strasbourg: McCann and Healy v Portugal, Article 8 claim by McCanns dismissed – Catherine Arnold

In McCann and Healy v. Portugal ([2022] ECHR 725)(in French only), the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that the applicants’ Article 8 rights had not been violated by the publication of a book, a documentary programme, and a newspaper interview alleging that the applicants’ daughter had died inside their holiday flat and that the applicants had hidden her dead body and fabricated her abduction. Continue reading

What impact might the Bill of Rights Bill have on freedom of expression cases? – Godwin Busuttil

There are three clauses of the Bill of Rights Bill [pdf] which, if enacted in their current form, would have a direct impact on freedom of expression cases. These are clauses 4 (‘Freedom of speech’), 21 (‘Limit on court’s power to require disclosure of journalistic sources’) and 22 (‘Limit on court’s power to grant relief that affects freedom of expression’). Continue reading

Liberty and Human Rights, Part Four: Parliamentary Sovereignty and the ‘Elective Dictatorship’ – Julian Petley

As we have seen, Raab claims that the Bill of Rights “helped mould a separation of powers between government, Parliament and the courts – a system of checks and balances to prevent any one branch of the state from dominating the others or abusing its power”. But as far back as 1976 the Conservative sometime Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, was warning that the parliamentary system could be exploited in such a manner that it could act as an ‘elective dictatorship’. Continue reading

Liberty and Human Rights. Part Three: Dominic Raab and the Bill of Rights 1689 – Julian Petley

Raab’s view of the Bill of Rights 1689 is, if anything, even more rose-tinted than his misty-eyed evocation of Magna Carta. According to him, the Bill “built on earlier rights. Fair trial safeguards were added, strengthening the independence of the jury selection from bias, and requiring the prior conviction of a criminal offence before the imposition of fines or the forfeiture of property”. He also points out that it added to Article 20 of Magna Carta “a ban on the infliction of ‘cruel and unusual punishments’”, which he sees as “an early precursor to the modern ban on torture”. Continue reading

Liberty and Human Rights. Part Two: Dominic Raab and Magna Carta – Julian Petley

Raab expanded considerably on the sentiments expressed above in the first chapter of  his book The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights (2009). When this was published, Raab took the opportunity openly to state that “I don’t support the Human Rights Act and I don’t believe in economic and social rights”, and many of the Act’s defenders regard the Bill of Rights Bill that he has recently introduced as the culmination of a twelve-year campaign to rip up our current human rights protections. Continue reading

Liberty and Human Rights. Part One: The Atavistic Press – Julian Petley

According to Peter Hitchens in the Mail, 22 June 2022: “There’s no such thing as human rights … They are an invention, made out of pure wind. If you are seriously interested in staying free, you should not rely on these flatulent, vague phrases to help you. They are in fact a weapon in the hands of those who wish to remove your liberty and transform  society”.  Continue reading

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