Rights Brought Home for Children

Abstract

The incorporation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms into domestic law was described, albeit unsympathetically, as a measure which would have 'a seismic impact on the people of this country. It is part of the bulldozing of the constitutional landscape of the United Kingdom'.' The object of this article is to consider the extent to which children will benefit from this change. The government's plan to make the European Convention on Human Rights part of our domestic law, marks a radical change of approach to traditional thinking on how best to protect the rights and freedoms of British citizens. The view was formerly that our innate freedoms were properly protected by a democratically elected parliament and that they existed unless and until they were expressly abrogated by common law or legislation. Furthermore, it was considered that to adopt a written constitution, as in France and the USA, would endanger underlying liberties, since only those listed would gain recognition.2 Now the government considers that it is not enough merely to assert the theoretical existence of citizens' fundamental liberties. Instead, their constitutional rights require formal guarantees and direct modes of protection.3 The United Kingdom's erstwhile refusal to incorporate into domestic law any list of rights has meant that although successive governments have ratified many international human rights treaties, these have had no direct effect on English law. Nevertheless, the list of rights embodied by the European Convention has already become a relatively familiar one. Indeed, despite its not being part of English law, it has had considerable influence on the development of law here. This was partly because the courts have been entitled to assume, when interpreting domestic legislation, that the legislature had not intended it to be inconsistent with any of the United Kingdom's obligations under the Convention.4 Of greater significance however, was the existence of a powerful mechanism for the Convention's interpretation and enforcement. Since 1959, when the European Court of Human Rights was established, individuals have had a means of obtaining redress for domestic