Etma_07

Aurora Dennis A3088210 eTMA 07 Question Human Rights laws play an important role in ensuring that the rights of individuals are respected above all else. Critically evaluate this statement drawing upon your knowledge of the law in relation to privacy and family discipline. Human rights are those rights which belong to every individual, there are two different types of human rights and they are those which are moral and those which are legal, these were examined in depth for the purpose of this assignment. Moral rights are universal and are the birthright of every human being, a person does not have to earn these rights they are equal and apply to every member of society regardless of age, sex, ethnicity or the area in which they live, moral rights are inalienable. Legal rights differ in that they have been created by governments and unlike moral rights they do not apply universally, they are particular meaning the legal rights of a person would depend upon the society in which the individual live and are alienable. To critically evaluate the statement that human rights laws plays an important role in ensuring that the rights of individuals are respected above all else rights and obligations was examined, as can be seen in Reading 1 'How rights work' there is a clear link between rights and obligations, a right is a persons entitlement to something an example of this would be the national minimum wage where it is the employers duty by law to ensure that their employees are not paid anything below this. Another example of rights and obligations would be low income families and single mothers who rely on benefits having adequate shelter, food and clothing for their children. This is a complex subject and has caused a lot of controversy as the money used to provide low income families with 1 these necessities is down to tax payers. As can be clearly seen from examining this area all individuals have rights, however the argument in relation to those who require state benefits and housing is that it is an organisations responsibility to provide them with these necessities at the cost of those individuals who are seen to 'work hard' for their money. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 was set up following the atrocities which had happened during the second world war and represented the rights of all individuals internationally. It was aimed to give all people the freedom of speech, dignity and justice to name but a few. The UDHR was set up on a moral rights basis and to make this legal there had to be responsibilities involved which include accountabilities on breaching a persons human rights. An example of this would be the suffering of children through areas such as child prostitution in certain communities in Asia and UNICEF have estimated that 60 million girl children are not alive today purely because of their gender. Another responsibility of UDHR would be the cost, poorer countries cannot afford the same standard of medical treatment as others, an estimated 12 million children under the age of five die every year from preventable diseases in the poorest countries. In situations as complex as this it is hard to agree with the accuracy of the statement in the question as poorer countries find it much harder due to the cost of tackling these issues. Reading 3' Human rights and Responsibilities the inextricable link'. To gain a further understanding of this area the Human Rights Act 1998 was examined, in Reading 2 'The State Can't Set You Free' it can be seen that as the country develops a persons rights, wants and what they expect from the Government increases as times change. As can be seen from this reading the Human Rights Act can be abused by those who confuse rights with wants, an example of this would be travellers who claim exemption from planning laws. Those individuals who set up a traveller site on farm land intended for agricultural can be issued with a planning contravention 2 notice from the council may then use their human rights to adequate alternative housing and shelter to avoid being evicted causing many problems for local residents such as waste, pollution and social conflict to name but a few. The issues of travellers on illegal sites causes conflict with local residents as they have adhered to laws and regulations on areas such as planning permission whereas the travellers have not, another issue would be the value of properties in the area being decreased due to the local traveller site. Block 6, Rights, Slaper et al, pp 15-17 Another area of legal rights which was investigated was that of the prison system, a legal right is alienable meaning a person can be deprived of something, such as freedom in this instance as punishment for a crime. This is an extremely controversial subject as can be seen in the case of Mary Bell who killed two young children at the age 11, as she was over the age of 10 Mary Bell was tried as an adult as in legal terms a child of that age should be aware of what is right and what is wrong. This case was looked upon in the case of the 10 year old killers of James Bulger, this case was criticised by the European Court of Human Rights as the two killers were tried as adults at the age of 10. This case caused a lot of controversy as after the two killers were released from prison they were granted anonymity and the press forbidden to print anything revealing where they could be living, this could affect the human rights of the general public who felt that they had a right to know where they were as a matter of safety for their children and themselves. These cases clearly shows the differences between moral and legal rights.Block 6, Rights, Slaper et al, pp 25-29 An essential element of human rights is an individuals right to privacy this can be seen throughout history and certainly in religion as can be seen in the Bible and Qur'an. Although there are certain laws aimed to try and protect an individuals privacy, it is not always possible. Reading 9 'Privacy and human rights 2004: overview' was examined in order to establish the importance of privacy. 3 From studying this reading it can be seen that privacy protects an individual from embarrassment, intrusion and being able to control who is able to see private information as can be seen in confidentiality, this also protects a persons dignity. Section 12 of the Human Rights Act 1998 states that courts in the UK should have high regard to the importance of the freedom of expression. Block 6, Rights, Slapper et al, 2010, pp93-94. This can cause issues with a persons right to privacy as can be seen in the case Anonsen v Donahue where a woman revealed on national television that her husband raped and impregnated their daughter. This resulted in the husband, daughter and grandchild jointly suing for invasion of privacy. The woman expressed her freedom of speech yet had completely invaded the privacy of members of her family in an extremely sensitive situation. The outcome of this particular case resulted in the woman's right to freedom of expression. There are many other areas in which a persons privacy is affected especially with regards to the way society has changed throughout the years. Due to the escalation of crime there has been an increase in CCTV which many people feel is intruding in there privacy. Police also have the right to enforce identity cards and monitor internet activity including the monitoring of personal emails. If for national security reasons the police feel it may be necessary to tap phone calls and use video surveillance they are entitled to do this, all are invasion of a persons privacy yet it is deemed necessary for the safety of other individuals. In circumstances such as this it is seen that the privacy of some individuals is breached in order to protect others. Block 6, Rights, Slaper et al, pp 91-94 There are certain UK Acts which have been set to protect a persons right to privacy, one of those would be The Data Protection Act 1998. The Act ensures that an individuals personal information is held responsibly by the company / organisation that has access to it, this could be financial 4 information being held by credit referencing agencies by example. Another Act which aims to protect privacy would be the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this Act entitles a person to the right to request to see official information held on them by police, health authorities and local councils to name a few. The two Acts mentioned respect the rights of individuals as not only are they keeping certain information private they are preventing the information from being misused and ensuring that all individuals have the right to see their personal data which has been kept on record. The common law right to confidence is there to protect privacy, if a person feels that their privacy has been invaded by the issuing of private information or unauthorised photographs without the correct authorisation their confidence has been breached, this can be seen in legal contracts both written and verbal. Although there is no right to privacy in UK law there is the right to confidence which helps to protect a persons privacy. Block 6, Rights, Slaper et al, pp 95 The final area to be examined in order to answer this question was laws relating to family discipline. In November 2004 section 58 Children Act 2004 was passed in order to protect children by limiting the physical punishment. This law meant that if a parent was charged with common assault for smacking their child as punishment their defence would be that their actions were that of reasonable chastisement, however if the child received injuries such as bruising or cuts the parent could be charged with actual bodily harm. As seen in Reading 20 'Hands-off parenting' physically punishing a child by an adult can be seen as a form of domestic violence. A year earlier Section 51 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 was passed banning the use of implements when chastising children, blows to the head and shaking. There are many criticisms of the defence of reasonable punishment in relation to family discipline and can be seen to lead to further future problems such as backing up violence can be a legitimate way of solving future problems when the child is older. Research has also shown that parents are 5 more likely to smack a child if they are under stress as can be seen in Reading 22 'Beyond anti-smacking' evidence has shown that 33% of children whose parents were in an unstable marriage had experienced physical punishment compared to just 7% of those children whose parents were in a stable marriage. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considers corporate punishment as breaching the principles of international human rights law, it was also made clear that they were disappointed that the UK had failed to introuduce banning all physical punishment towards children. After further investigation it was also seen that The Joint committee on Human Rights within the UK shared the same views by stating that physical chastisement was a violation of a children's rights. However laws such as Children Act have been put in place to protect children from physical harm, therefore protecting their human rights. From fully examining all the relevant information it can be seen that Human Rights laws do play an important role in ensuring that the rights of individuals are respected above all else, however this is an extremely complex subject as moral rights and legal rights can collide causing issues. As society changes people expect more and there can be a confusion between rights, obligations and wants. 1949 words