Complete 11 pages APA formatted article: The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on Individuals. Additionally, section 3(1) imposes a positive obligation on judicial authorities to interpret all legislation “in a way which is compatible with the Convention rights”.
Complete 11 pages APA formatted article: The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on Individuals. Additionally, section 3(1) imposes a positive obligation on judicial authorities to interpret all legislation “in a way which is compatible with the Convention rights”.
Therefore, individuals can rely on the provisions of the HRA to address ECHR rights directly in national courts and the focus of this analysis is to critically evaluate the impact of the HRA on individuals. In doing so, I shall consider specific Articles of the ECHR and how they have impacted individuals in the UK and certain sections of society.
Firstly, if we consider the rights of homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals and Article 8 of the ECHR is relevant to this particular section of the community. Article 8 of the ECHR specifically deals with the right to privacy, and the approach of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has used Article 8 to address matters of sexual privacy, which has led to incidental protection of homosexuals and transsexuals.
If we consider the European case law, in Dudgeon v United Kingdom4 for example, the Court stated that the right to private life under Article 8 included the right to enjoy one’s private sexual life. The result of this was that the Northern Ireland law prohibiting certain sexual activities between men was held to be in breach of Article 8. The court further held that an individual’s sexual life was an intimate aspect of their private life and that strong justification had to be provided to interfere with this right. The court pointed out that societal disapproval of homosexuals was not a sufficient reason to justify interference with ECHR rights.
Similarly, in the leading case of Smith and Grady v United Kingdom, it was held that the dismissal of armed forces personnel due to their sexuality constituted a disproportionate interference with their right to respect for private life. However, the court has not always been .so interventionist and it ultimately depends on the nature of the act when addressing the “margin of appreciation” principle. .
