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UK to scrap Human Rights Act in favor of a British Bill of Rights

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Votes for prisoners and prohibition on deportations.
But these limits on deportations... I don't know the British issue in particular, but in other european countries the "problem" is that you can't deport criminals unless you're certain the recieving country won't execute or torture them. Which in my mind is a sound and important principle.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Votes for prisoners and prohibition on deportations.

There isn't a prohibition on deportations. The ECHR can prevent deportation on three grounds:

* If the foreign criminal has been resident in the UK since childhood and is facing deportation to an essentially foreign country about which he or she knows nothing and the offence is not a super-serious one, such a person has a fighting chance of resisting deportation.
* If the foreign criminal has children and a partner in the UK the question becomes whether the family can be expected to relocate abroad, whether it is reasonable and proportionate for the family to be permanently split by deportation of the foreign criminal or whether the foreign criminal should be allowed to remain with his or her family in the UK.
* If the foreign criminal can demonstrate that there is a strong likelihood they would face torture, deprivation, or any other cruel and unusual punishment in the country they would be deported to.

Also note: that last condition is part of the ECHR, but it is *also* part of the UN Convention Relating to Refugee Status, meaning even if the ECHR was made completely irrelevant from a British perspective, it would still apply unless we left the UN. That means, for example, Abu Qatada's case, which is frequently listed as an ECHR problem, in the grand scheme of things simply isn't and the Telegraph/Mail just like misreporting when it panders to their readers.

The government doesn't actually release figures for how many appeals are successful under ECHR grounds; but the LSE's estimate is between 2 and 6% - it's a small fraction of deportations.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Votes for prisoners

What's the problem?

There isn't a prohibition on deportations. The ECHR can prevent deportation on three grounds:

Also note: that last condition is part of the ECHR, but it is *also* part of the UN Convention Relating to Refugee Status, meaning even if the ECHR was made completely irrelevant from a British perspective, it would still apply unless we left the UN. That means, for example, Abu Qatada's case, which is frequently listed as an ECHR problem, in the grand scheme of things simply isn't and the Telegraph/Mail just like misreporting when it panders to their readers.

The government doesn't actually release figures for how many appeals are successful under ECHR grounds; but the LSE's estimate is between 2 and 6% - it's a small fraction of deportations.

That's really interesting. Thanks.
 
why shouldn't prisoners be allowed to vote?
Because they lost their rights when they broke the law, apparently...

I mean it's not like we expect prisoners to be rehabilitated and to be accepted back into society yet because of one possible mistake they could lose their rights to have their say in how the country is run.

I'm willing to say that the vast majority of prisoners are from a lower socio-economic background and so it's really just another way of taking the vote away from those 'lesser' common people who coincidentally are less likely to vote for the Conservatives. Reminds me of when republicans change voting laws to push out minorities.
 

Mario007

Member
Two weird things:

1. The Human Rights Act is based on the European Convention on Human Rights, which was pretty much written by Brits after World War 2 and the UK was the first signatory.

2. This'd have to not be a "Bill of Rights" but a "New Bill of Rights" as we already have one. It came in to law in 1689 and is still in use and cited in legal cases today. Hell ours was the inspiration for the somewhat better known American "Bill of Rights".

The weird thing is UK hasn't left or is planning to leave the ECHR. The Human Rights Bill and the EU have almost nothing to do with each other.
 
what's wrong with prisoners having a vote?

People would say it's because they "lost the right" yet they still remain citizens. It disregards that not every prisoner is someone who's there only because they did some fucked up shit. Some forget there's such a thing as being in prison for petty crimes to even being wrongfully convicted. If policies are going to affect them as much as people outside those walls, they should have a vote.
 
The popular narrative of the left leaning consensus on Neogaf to simply hate on anything proposed by the current government without actually bothering to educate themselves on the matter, because god forbid the UK actually restricting the rights of prisoners to vote or wanting to deport Afghans who used hijacking to get into the country.

Exactly why should prisoners not have the right to vote? I very much doubt many do, but I'm confused to exactly why a prisoner shouldn't be allowed to have a say in how his or her country is run.
 

Spaghetti

Member
Denying prisoners a vote seems like an extension of the rhetoric that everybody who's ever gone to prison is an inhuman baby-eating monster, which is obviously not true.

Anyway, for reasons already mentioned on the previous page, this probably won't actually happen because the people involved are largely incompetents with nowhere near enough legal power to make it work.

I assume a Tory Government's British Bill of Rights will be similar to how they structure their cuts; if you've got no money or are disabled, you've got no rights.
 

Xun

Member
Does the UK want to build a ceiling over their territory? It's not like they get much Sun anyway.
Oh people get plenty Sun, just not the right type.

Two weird things:

1. The Human Rights Act is based on the European Convention on Human Rights, which was pretty much written by Brits after World War 2 and the UK was the first signatory.

2. This'd have to not be a "Bill of Rights" but a "New Bill of Rights" as we already have one. It came in to law in 1689 and is still in use and cited in legal cases today. Hell ours was the inspiration for the somewhat better known American "Bill of Rights".
It is strange.

It's a shame how much we're regressing backwards.
 

kmag

Member
We bloody well better.

We can't block it, block it. But Holyrood can refuse to extend it to reserved matters, and the Scotland Act explicitly says that the parliament must follow the ECHR and for that matter EU law.

Legislative competence.

(1)An Act of the Scottish Parliament is not law so far as any provision of the Act is outside the legislative competence of the Parliament.

(2)A provision is outside that competence so far as any of the following paragraphs apply—

(a)it would form part of the law of a country or territory other than Scotland, or confer or remove functions exercisable otherwise than in or as regards Scotland,

(b)it relates to reserved matters,

(c)it is in breach of the restrictions in Schedule 4,

(d)it is incompatible with any of the Convention rights or with [EU] law,

(e)it would remove the Lord Advocate from his position as head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths in Scotland.
 

Joni

Member
That the ECHR says we should let them vote!

The European Court of Justice has no problems to allow such a ban if proportionate, so it can be applied for murderers stuck in jail for decades and not for people that committed petty theft that will be released two weeks after the election. So the European Union is perfectly fine with France's ban on votes for prisoners with sentences longer than 5 years.
 
People would say it's because they "lost the right" yet they still remain citizens. It disregards that not every prisoner is someone who's there only because they did some fucked up shit. Some forget there's such a thing as being in prison for petty crimes to even being wrongfully convicted. If policies are going to affect them as much as people outside those walls, they should have a vote.

Sure, and let's give children a vote on bedtime.

Edit:

The European Court of Justice has no problems to allow such a ban if proportionate, so it can be applied for murderers stuck in jail for decades and not for people that committed petty theft that will be released two weeks after the election. So the European Union is perfectly fine with France's ban on votes for prisoners with sentences longer than 5 years.

Really? I'd probably be happy with that.
 

patapuf

Member
Ok, I can't work out what everyone's so down about here. What's wrong with us having a British Bill of Rights?



It's damn good, but you've got to treat it with respect!

Usually, and that seems to be the case here, abolishing the Human Rights Act in favor of a domestic solution means a government finds a particular par of the HRA inconvenient and wants to get rid of it.

In this case it seems that not being able to deport people into countries where there is a war or where they have to fear persectution is said inconvenience.
 

Joni

Member
Sure, and let's give children a vote on bedtime.

So if your parents had said you needed to go to bed at 17h despite you being 17, you would have accepted it? Kids do actually have a 'vote' on bedtime assuming their parents aren't tyrants that ignore any discussions.

Really? I'd probably be happy with that.

Obviously, it will no longer apply to Britain as the European Court of Justice only rules on the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights - which is a non-EU entity - disagrees with this, so that will become the highest court once the Brexit is complete.
 
Remember also Cameron wants(ed) to ban the Human Rights Bill because it is against mass surveillance:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/internet-surveillance-report-edward-snowden-leaks

There is even a clause in the human rights bill which could(?) undo things like mandatory porn censorship already in place or at least undo future things:

Article 17 of the covenant, Emmerson points out, states that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home and correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation”.

That's why Tories want to replace it with shit that let's them do anything they want since UK is so soft it allows every bullshit law to pass.

Human Rights Council to Name Expert on the Issue
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/26/un-major-step-internet-privacy
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/26/un-navi-pillay-internet-privacy

The 22-page report warns that the use of mass surveillance technology, through interception programs developed by the NSA and GCHQ such as Prism and Tempora, “effectively does away with the right to privacy of communications on the internet altogether”.

^ That's directly against mass surveillance UK does and why they want to get rid of human rights bill.
 

Screaming Meat

Unconfirmed Member
Usually, and that seems to be the case here, abolishing the Human Rights Act in favor of a domestic solution means a government finds a particular par of the HRA inconvenient and wants to get rid of it.

In this case it seems that not being able to deport people into countries where there is a war or where they have to fear persectution is said inconvenience.

I imagine the 'peaceful gatherings' part will be omitted too.
 

hodgy100

Member
Because they lost their rights when they broke the law, apparently...

I mean it's not like we expect prisoners to be rehabilitated and to be accepted back into society yet because of one possible mistake they could lose their rights to have their say in how the country is run.

I'm willing to say that the vast majority of prisoners are from a lower socio-economic background and so it's really just another way of taking the vote away from those 'lesser' common people who coincidentally are less likely to vote for the Conservatives. Reminds me of when republicans change voting laws to push out minorities.

People would say it's because they "lost the right" yet they still remain citizens. It disregards that not every prisoner is someone who's there only because they did some fucked up shit. Some forget there's such a thing as being in prison for petty crimes to even being wrongfully convicted. If policies are going to affect them as much as people outside those walls, they should have a vote.

But this viewpoint is ridiculous as the law isn't infallible it was only 50 years ago that homosexuality was considered a crime. if we silence people by imprisoning them and refusing their right to vote we are just suppressing another avenue of dissent. Having a vote is jsut as important of a right as having free speech imo.
 
So if your parents had said you needed to go to bed at 17h despite you being 17, you would have accepted it? Kids do actually have a 'vote' on bedtime assuming their parents aren't tyrants that ignore any discussions.

Their house, their rules mate.

And discussions =/= a vote, does it? I think you realise the difference, as you put 'vote' in inverted commas...
 

Joni

Member
Their house, their rules mate.

And discussions =/= a vote, does it? I think you realise the difference, as you put 'vote' in inverted commas...

Their house, their rules wouldn't hold up as children do tend to have rights. As for the quotation marks, your parents didn't hold actual elections so there wouldn't be a vote, just discussions.
 
The popular narrative of the left leaning consensus on Neogaf to simply hate on anything proposed by the current government without actually bothering to educate themselves on the matter, because god forbid the UK actually restricting the rights of prisoners to vote or wanting to deport Afghans who used hijacking to get into the country.

I don't want to be taken out of the HRA just to have a new, Michael Gove-penned right wing bill of rights. By all means, feel free to sign your own rights away because 'terrorism' or whatever, but I'd like mine to stay intact.
 
Regardless of the contents of this New Bill of Rights, scraping an existing Human Rights Act because it goes too far looks fucking sinister.
 
Sure, and let's give children a vote on bedtime.

Edit:



Really? I'd probably be happy with that.

Because a child's vote on bedtime will effect the rest of their life and potentially their children's lives too.

Hot off the back of a Vote that is going to effect the country for decades, whatever side of the debate you are on.

Nonsense.
 
Their house, their rules wouldn't hold up as children do tend to have rights. As for the quotation marks, your parents didn't hold actual elections so there wouldn't be a vote, just discussions.

The right to stay up as long as they want? That's a right? Don't be ridiculous.

Edit:

Erm...I feel like we may have gone off-topic...

Edit2:

Obviously, it will no longer apply to Britain as the European Court of Justice only rules on the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights - which is a non-EU entity - disagrees with this, so that will become the highest court once the Brexit is complete.

Getting back to this. So...post-Brexit will we be able to ban prisoners with sentences longer than 5 years from voting, or not?
 
Sure, and let's give children a vote on bedtime.

Prisoners are still adults. They have the potential to change and learn from mistakes. Many have responsibilities and focuses beyond their criminal record and it's not insane to think that maybe they'd like some semblance of control over how their country is run since they're at its whim as much as standard citizens. Do you honestly think that just because you're imprisoned, you're somehow completely devoid of humanity and sense at that point? If you believe that, why not just take the vote away from ex-cons as well?
 

jdstorm

Banned
The popular narrative of the left leaning consensus on Neogaf to simply hate on anything proposed by the current government without actually bothering to educate themselves on the matter, because god forbid the UK actually restricting the rights of prisoners to vote or wanting to deport Afghans who used hijacking to get into the country.

But who defines what makes someone a prisoner. It's a slippery slope because if prisoners can't vote and the government of the day has the ability to incarcerate people. Then why wouldn't they just arrest everyone who disagreed with them so they could stay in power indefinitely.

See the problem yet
 

Tommy DJ

Member
Exactly why should prisoners not have the vote, in your opinion...?

My parents think like that. Prisoners don't deserve to vote because no one good will ever end up in prison. If you end up in prison, its definitely because you are a bad person and therefore have no right negatively influencing the lives of the good people of Australia.
 
This Brexit thing, all negatives.

The leavers won't even get the main thing what they wanted.

al-bundy-confused.gif
 

Khoryos

Member
So? Is there a party running on a "let all prisoners free" program they are putting into power or something?

Why shouldn't a citizen of your country be able to vote if he is locked up.

I think you're missing the point - it's not what we're being told to do, it's that Johnny Damned Foreigner is telling us what to do! We didn't fight a war, frog-eaters, boxheads, etc.

At least, I think that was the point ClosingADoor was attempting to humourously convey.
 

amanset

Member
The weird thing is UK hasn't left or is planning to leave the ECHR. The Human Rights Bill and the EU have almost nothing to do with each other.

Planning to scrap the Human Rights Act, which is based on the European Convention on Human Rights, is exactly what the article is about. Did you even read it?

Unless you are now arguing about the European Court of Human Rights, but that'd be weird because the post that you're quoting makes no reference to it. It also made no reference to the EU, which you seem to think it did.

I'm starting to think you read not one of the original post, the linked article nor my post that you commented on. Good work!
 

amanset

Member
People would say it's because they "lost the right" yet they still remain citizens. It disregards that not every prisoner is someone who's there only because they did some fucked up shit. Some forget there's such a thing as being in prison for petty crimes to even being wrongfully convicted. If policies are going to affect them as much as people outside those walls, they should have a vote.

That is something that can happen via other means too.

I am a British Citizen, have never been convicted of a crime and yet I have lost the right to vote.
 

Joni

Member
The right to stay up as long as they want? That's a right? Don't be ridiculous.

Excessive bedtimes could infringe on civil, political, economic, social, health or cultural rights of children. Their house, their rules ignores that their house is in a greater area with rules that overrule them.
 

oti

Banned
This Brexit thing, all negatives.

The leavers won't even get the main thing what they wanted.

al-bundy-confused.gif

I love that all the government needs to do is say "inmates" and people start clapping and cheering for getting rid of the HUMAN RIGHTS ACT. It's Manipulation 101 and they don't even realise it.
 

jdstorm

Banned
I love that all the government needs to do is say "inmates" and people start clapping and cheering for getting rid of the HUMAN RIGHTS ACT. It's Manipulation 101 and they don't even realise it.

Yep.

Good thing we don't have country's currently detaining people because of their religion, sexual preference or colour of their skin. OH wait we do
 
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