5.3.5.4  The European Convention on Human Rights

(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)

The most contentious element of EU law, from a UK perspective, has been the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.  It was formally incorporated, as a set of legal principles, in the UK Human Rights Act 1998 (section 3):

“So far as it is possible to do so, primary legislation and subordinate legislation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with the Convention rights”.[1]

Before the Act was passed in the UK it had been necessary to refer cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).  Many of the participating countries (some of which are not members of the European Union) have had legislation referred to this court from time to time.[2] 

In June 2007, the British Home Secretary John Reid challenged the current relevance of the European human rights provisions:

“The driving desire behind the European Convention on Human Rights was the wish to protect the individual from the imposition of the awful, arbitrary, destructive power of the fascist state.

But today we face new phenomena - unimaginable to those pioneers who framed that worthy Convention. It is the need to protect the whole community, everyone in the civil state from the imposition of the awful, arbitrary, destructive power of fascist individuals, working in small groups or networks.” [3]

Given that the UK government felt itself under pressure, John Reid had the right to make the challenge.  No aspect of governance can be regarded as beyond challenge, and in this book human rights are regarded as negotiable – not “inherent and inalienable”.[4]  Changing the Convention would be possible but would require wider agreement in Europe, including the support of those countries that did not feel themselves under such immediate pressure and were therefore able to take a more balanced view of the long-term requirements.  John Reid appeared not to realise that the main reason for the European Convention on Human Rights is to prevent any State in Europe, including Britain, from turning into a police State with the kind of "awful, arbitrary, destructive power" that destroys the freedom of its own citizens and causes it to be a threat to its neighbours.

© PatternsofPower.org, 2014