Individual rights versus the collective rights of the state
The biggest conflict arises though between individual rights and the collective rights expressed by the state such as national security, public health and keeping the public safe. These clashes often pit the government, backed by the will of those who elected them, against individual rights and the courts are left to resolve the dispute. This often brings the courts into direct conflict with the government and according to critics could put the safety of the country at risk and undermine the trust of the public in the legal system.
Individual rights have come into conflict with the priorities of government in four main areas:
1. Sentencing laws: In Vinter and Others v the United Kingdom (2013), a case involving convicted murderers Jeremy Bamber, Peter Moore and Douglas Vinter, the ECtHR ruled that for a life sentence to remain compatible with Article 3, there had to be both a possibility of release and a possibility of review. Former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said it was this case that led him to propose a new British Bill of Rights to replace the HRA to ensure that UK Courts and Parliament should have the final say in these matters.
2. Treatment of prisoners: In Hirst v UK (2005) the ECtHR ruled that a blanket ban on prisoners voting violated Article 3 in a case that David Cameron described as making him feel physically ill.
3. Terrorism: This has perhaps been the most controversial area of all, especially in light of the perception of an increased terrorist threat since 9/11. A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department (2004), known as the Belmarsh case, saw the Law Lords rule that the Labour policy of indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects without charge broke the Human Rights Act. The court ruled that laws like this were ‘the real threat to the life of the nation’. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, did not release the suspects until the following year, having passed new legislation that allowed him to place the suspects under control orders that impose strict restrictions on suspects, including electronic tagging and limits on who they can meet.
(Abu Qatada) v UK (2012), the ECtHR ruled that the radical cleric Abu Qatada couldnot be deported back to Jordan as it was believed evidence obtained using torture would be used in the case against him, contravening his right to a fair trial. The verdict angered the Home Secretary, Theresa May, and the PM, David Cameron, while also drawing the anger of the mainstream media and public opinion. Theresa May eventually agreed a new treaty with Jordan in 2013, guaranteeing a fair trial and Abu Qatada was deported the same year.
4. Right to privacy and family life versus the need to protect others. In S and Marper v United Kingdom (2008), the ECtHR ruled that the blanket retention of DNA profiles taken from innocent people posed a disproportionate interference with the right to private life, in violation of Article 8 of the ECHR. The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith (Labour), was disappointed in the ruling, arguing that keeping the fingerprints and DNA profiles was vital to fighting crime. In 2010, the case of Aso Mohammed Ibrahim triggered an angry response from the PM David Cameron and was highlighted by the Daily Mail in its campaign against the HRA. In 2003, Also Mohammed Ibrahim knocked down and killed a young girl in a hit and run. Seven years later, an immigration tribunal turned down the application to deport him under Article 8, as in the intervening seven years he had married a UK citizen and his family also consisted of two children and two stepchildren.