human rights

• The right to vote isn’t just a ‘nice to have’
  Posted on October 26, 2012 by Louise Restell
  Should prisoners have the right to vote? It sounds like a simple yes-no question and most people would probably be able to give a yes or no answer, but it is giving the government no end of headaches.
  Read more...
  Posted in: Courts, Justice System
  Tagged: prisoners’ voting rights, prison, rehabilitation, ECHR, reoffending, human rights
• Some human rights cannot be more equal than others
  Posted on September 17, 2012 by Louise Restell
  Do you have a right to express your religion or beliefs at work? Having trawled through much of the press coverage of the four Christians who have taken their claims of religious discrimination to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), I can confidently say that I don’t know. As with a lot of the law, what may seem like a straightforward question doesn’t always have a straightforward answer.
  Read more...
  Posted in: Employment law
  Tagged: Christians, employment law, equality law, human rights, nadia eweida, religion, religious discrimination, Trevor Phillips
• The crazy case of the cat who sat on the act
  Posted on October 8, 2011 by Louise Restell
  I have a cat.  I’m quite fond of him and I like having him around, but, if I’m honest, I don’t think he’d be too upset if I moved away and left him.  He’d probably just go and live with the neighbour up the road where he seems to spend most of his time anyway.  It’s what cats do.  So it’s surely common sense that a cat couldn’t be a reason not to deport someone?  Apparently not.
  Read more...
  Posted in: Courts, Rule of Law
  Tagged: bill of rights, catgate, ECHR, home secretary, HRA, human rights, Human Rights Act, justice, Learco Chindamo, legislation, rule of law, Theresa May
• The big fat messy saga of Dale Farm
  Posted on September 25, 2011 by Louise Restell
  The Dale Farm saga has the power, it seems, to invoke passions as few other recent events. It has unleashed streams of vitriol on Twitter and in the blogosphere and a glut of contradicting information and claims. As well as the main protagonists, the Dale Farm residents and Basildon Council, a range of other supporting players have emerged to underline this isn’t just a legal, but a moral debate.
  Read more...
  Posted in: Rule of Law
  Tagged: Dale Farm, eviction, Gypsy, human rights, justice, Localism Bill, planning, prejudice, rule of law, Traveller
• Why we should send Gaddafi and his awful outfits to the ICC
  Posted on August 30, 2011 by Louise Restell
  Normally I associate the 1980s with the Thatcher government, the miners’ strike, the Falklands war and alarming fashion decisions.  I often forget it was also the decade that saw the end of apartheid in South Africa and the Berlin wall.  But watching the Arab Spring spread across the Middle East has reminded me that these international events had as big an influence on me as did events on my own doorstep.
  Read more...
  Posted in: Courts
  Tagged: Amnesty International, David Cameron, death penalty, Gaddafi, human rights, ICC, international law, justice, Libya, Robespierre, UN Security Council