Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, May 15, 2006

Human Rights

So the EU refuses to talk to Serbia about admission to the union because suspected war criminal Ratko Mladic remains at large. Nigeria is pressured to arrest and extradite Charles Taylor who is wanted as a war criminal. Sadaam Hussein is on trial in Iraq. Democratization is touted as a trend in global politics.

So why is it that in the USA and the UK, there are debates about government spying on citizens and limiting the power of courts in human rights cases?

Here's an introduction to the topic from a New York Times article.

Blair Weighs Move to Limit Courts' Power in Rights Laws

By ALAN COWELL

Published: May 15, 2006

LONDON, May 14 — Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is contemplating changes in Britain's human rights laws, limiting the power of courts to challenge the government, after a paroled rapist killed a woman and a judge refused to send several hijackers back to their country.

The government depicts the debate as one weighing individual rights against potential threats to public safety — a familiar discussion in the United States in its campaign against terrorism ... Britain [does] not plan to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, which was written into British law by the Human Rights Act in 1998. But ... the government [is] concerned about the way the values reflected in the legislation had been applied...

1 Comments:

At 7:41 PM, Blogger Ken Wedding said...

See the entry from May 25, "Constitution for the UK?" for related ideas.

 

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