The UK and European Human Rights: A Strained Relationship

(Paperback)

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The UKs engagement with the legal protection of human rights at a European level has been, at varying stages, pioneering, sceptical and antagonistic. The UK government, media and public opinion have all at times expressed concerns about the growing influence of European human rights law, particularly in the controversial contexts of prisoner voting and deportation of suspected terrorists as well as in the context of British military action abroad. British politicians and judges have also, however, played important roles in drafting, implementing and interpreting the European Convention on Human Rights. Its incorporation into domestic law in the Human Rights Act 1998 intensified the ongoing debate about the UKs international and regional human rights commitments. Furthermore, the increasing importance of the European Union in the human rights sphere has added another layer to the relationship and highlights the complex relationship(s) between the UK government, the Westminster Parliament and judges in the UK, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The book analyses the topical and contentious issue of the relationship between the UK and the European systems for the protection of human rights (ECHR and EU) from doctrinal, contextual and comparative perspectives and explores factors that influence the relationship of the UK and European human rights.

Reviews

The great merit of the book is that it is so multifaceted, going far beyond looking just at British politicians criticising the Strasbourg Court. -- Antoine Buyse * ECHR Blog *
Endorsement Understanding the nature and purpose of human rights is increasingly important as misperceptions are mounting. Here it is the information and brilliant analysis that should inform current debate. -- Baroness Helena Kennedy QC FRSA, Principal of Mansfield College, University of Oxford
Endorsement The editors have assembled a wide-ranging and authoritative collection of essays. The contributors examine the fundamental legal and policy issues to which the United Kingdom's relationship with European human rights gives rise. There is detailed examination of how the UK's relationship has evolved historically, how strains arising from conflicting jurisprudence and competing judicial and political institutions have been managed, what lessons can be learned from the comparative experience of other European states, and the role of the media in shaping the relationship and in developing or undermining a human rights culture. The book will be an invaluable resource for anyone seriously concerned with the current and future relationship between the United Kingdom and European human rights. -- Dominic McGoldrick, Professor of International Human Rights Law, University of Nottingham
Endorsement The European human rights regime is under attack. This in-depth discussion of the UK and human rights with a comparative perspective is most welcome. -- Geir Ulfstein, Professor of Public and International Law and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Legitimate Roles of the Judiciary in the Global Order (PluriCourts), University of Oslo

Author Bio

Katja S Ziegler is Sir Robert Jennings Professor of International Law, Elizabeth Wicks is Professor of Human Rights Law and Loveday Hodson is Senior Lecturer in Law, all at the University of Leicester.