This government proposes to legislate for several measures that will interfere with an individual's human rights. The proposed measures include compulsory identity cards, house arrest for suspected terrorists, (without those allegations being properly tested in a criminal court), and further expansion of the sanctions to be applied to anti-social behaviour.
The money laundering legislation obliges lawyers to break client confidentiality and report suspicious transactions to the state authorities. Furthermore, if you are arrested, your fingerprints and DNA may be retained even if you are never charged, never mind convicted of a crime.
The current government justifies such measures as necessary to maintain freedoms for the vast majority in a democratic society. Historically, many human rights abuses around the world have been committed with the sanction of ruling governments, and on occasion within the laws passed by those governments.
Stephen Grosz is correct (see [2005] Gazette, 27 January, 14) that every lawyer has a duty to promote respect for human rights. However, it seems to me incongruous that to promote that respect we will have to do so by challenging legislation passed by the same government that passed the Human Rights Act.
Susan Hardie, Hodge Jones & Allen, London
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