Committee
European and External Relations Committee 04 February 2016
04 Feb 2016 · S4 · European and External Relations Committee
Item of business
Human Rights
Professor Mead
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The term “worthy victims” is not mine; it is used in media studies to denote people who are portrayed so as to gain sympathy. The problem that I have tried to identify and set out in brief is that the people who are in the headline news, and thus the people whom the public think the Human Rights Act 1998 is about, tend not to be the people whom the act actually helps. I will give examples from slightly different spheres. The case of Steven Neary is probably not well known to anybody. As a 21-year-old autistic man, he was taken away from his father, ostensibly for a few days to give him some respite, but that turned into a year’s worth of being away from the home. His father used the right to liberty in article 5 to ensure that his son was brought back to the family home. Several of the witnesses have touched on the narrative around criminals and terrorists, but it is important that we take account of the fact that the Human Rights Act 1998 is as capable of being a victims charter as it is of being a criminals charter. Last year, the Court of Appeal made what in my view was a monumental decision that established for the first time that, where the police fail to investigate allegations of crime and people then suffer from that crime, those people are entitled to compensation. The case involved the Metropolitan Police and John Worboys, who is usually known as the black cab rapist. Several of his victims were able to sue the Met. In a sense, that is an adjustment of the usual narrative about criminals. We should take account of that more widely and, as has just been said, have public education on what the act does for people. That has started in the past year, with the act seemingly about to go. There are several campaigns, some of which have been led by Amnesty. It is about giving people an idea of what the act can do for them in their everyday lives. We need to point out that it is not something for nasty criminals or suspected terrorists but something that can help to redress the balance between the individual and the state and make the state more accountable. It can allow people to claim things that are there. Human rights are ours from the day we are born, but sometimes we need to claim them and go to court. Any adjustment of the narrative that we have talked about would be incredibly welcome.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Welcome back to this meeting of the European and External Relations Committee. Because of the earlier evidence sessions, we are running a wee bit over time. ...
Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
I am the deputy convener.
Dr Tobias Lock (University of Edinburgh)
I am from the University of Edinburgh law school.
Willie Coffey
SNP
I am the MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.
Simon Di Rollo QC (Faculty of Advocates)
I am from the Faculty of Advocates.
Roderick Campbell
SNP
I am an MSP for North East Fife and I refer to my register of interests, which declares that I am a member of the Faculty of Advocates.
Professor Alan Miller (Scottish Human Rights Commission)
I am the outgoing chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission.
Adam Ingram
SNP
I am the MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley.
Paul Brown (Campaign for Housing and Social Welfare Law)
I am from the Legal Services Agency, but I am here representing the campaign for housing and social welfare law.
Naomi McAuliffe (Amnesty International)
I am from Amnesty International.
Anne McTaggart
Lab
I am an MSP for Glasgow.
Michael Clancy (Law Society of Scotland)
Good morning. I am from the Law Society of Scotland.
The Convener
SNP
Professor David Mead joins us for this evidence session via a very strong videolink—nice to have you here, Professor Mead. The etiquette for the round-table...
Professor Miller
Sure. Thank you, convener. I took part in an evidence session with the committee on human rights a few weeks ago, so I do not think that anything that I will...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you very much. Professor Mead, obviously we in this room have a keen interest in the Human Rights Act 1998 and its impact on Scotland. Perhaps you have...
Professor David Mead (University of East Anglia)
Yes. I am certainly not qualified to speak about anything Scottish, but I have a couple of general points to make about the Human Rights Act 1998. The act i...
The Convener
SNP
Okay. Thank you very much. I know that Amnesty International has raised particular issues. Does Naomi McAuliffe want to come in?
Naomi McAuliffe
I thank the committee again for the invite to expand on our written evidence. It is certainly timely for us to look at the issue, given the House of Lords co...
Adam Ingram
SNP
You made a point about misinterpretation and misunderstanding of what the act is all about. Some of what we are hearing from Westminster in particular is tha...
Professor Miller
I would be happy to try to answer that question. It is quite clear from the press and media campaign over the past few weeks on the armed forces issue and fr...
The Convener
SNP
Simon di Rollo, I think that the Faculty of Advocates has produced evidence, which perhaps backs up or gives a different insight into the issue.
Simon Di Rollo
I agree with Alan Miller. As far as the faculty is concerned, we see no justification for the proposition that the court is guilty of mission creep, if that ...
Roderick Campbell
SNP
The other side of the coin is the concept of the margin of appreciation. Will Simon di Rollo—or any of the other witnesses—comment on how that concept has be...
The Convener
SNP
Tobias Lock, do you want to come in on that?
Dr Lock
I will try, because the issues are related. The allegation of mission creep comes from interpretations of the convention through a modern understanding. For ...
The Convener
SNP
Paul Brown will have another perspective on the issue.
Paul Brown
To go back to the question of the armed forces, it is important to bear it in mind that the European convention on human rights legal committee was chaired b...
The Convener
SNP
That is an important issue. I will go back to Professor Mead and then ask Michael Clancy to pick up on some of those points. Professor Mead, in your written...
Professor Mead
The term “worthy victims” is not mine; it is used in media studies to denote people who are portrayed so as to gain sympathy. The problem that I have tried t...
The Convener
SNP
That leads on to the points that Paul Brown made about the understanding of the impact of the proposals on things such as a Scottish constitution. We obvious...