Human Rights Act 1998

Other Proceedings

The Human Rights Act will have an impact on other areas of law, such as immigration and education.

For example, asylum cases could involve a potential breach of Article 3, (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment). The European Commission has held that serious discrimination on the grounds of race can amount to degrading treatment under Article 3. As can sending a seriously ill person to a country where there is no adequate health provision.

Challenges are also likely under Article 5, (right to liberty) in respect of detainees and the power to detain.

Article 2 of protocol 1, (right to education) is important to the area of education law. However, as the UK has restricted Article 2 by entering a reservation that it is only applicable as long as it is compatible with the UK's provision for "efficient instruction and training and the avoidance if unreasonable public expenditure". This restriction could still be subject to a challenge in the European Court of Human Rights.

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the right to education was a right of access to educational facilities which already exist and does not give a right to individuals to require the state to set-up a particular level or type of education.

There is also no general right of access to a particular school of choice. It is unclear whether Article 2 of protocol 1 gives parents a general right to educate their children at home.

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