This essay will discuss what is meant by Human Rights and go on to explain both the rights of privacy and the freedom of expression individually and then identify if both of these work well together.

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Question: ‘Human rights simultaneously claim to protect freedom of expression and the right to privacy.’ (Clapham, A. (2007) Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, p.114)

Evaluate this statement using the examples of the law on privacy you have studied in Unit 21. Is the current balance between a right to privacy and a right to freedom of expression appropriate?

This essay will discuss what is meant by Human Rights and go on to explain both the rights of privacy and the freedom of expression individually and then identify if both of these work well together. From the explanations, identification will be made as to why if some of the rights conflict with each other. It will look at the nature of the Human Rights legislation focusing on the laws surrounding privacy and freedom of expression and assess both the strengths and weaknesses of this legal methodology. In order to examine the laws surrounding Human Rights it is first essential to understand what they are and how they have developed over time into the legal framework used to support them.

Human rights are those rights that every individual on the planet is entitled to. Human rights are entitled to every individual regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, whether the individual is a criminal or not, working class or social status. These rights are automatically assigned to an individual the moment they are born, and they cannot be infringed upon by anyone whether in the family or a position of authority. These human rights are there to ensure that an individual can have the basic rights and needs to live a happy life.

The main piece of legislation that regulates human rights is the human rights act 1998. This act is at the centre of any disputes regarding human right infringements. Certain areas of human rights can be quite contentious; this refers to such disputes that arise out of issues regarding the right to respect for private and family life. It is important for the government to respect this right but at the same time ensure that this doesn’t result in crimes going unnoticed. There have been cases in the past where individuals experiencing domestic abuse felt helpless because it was in their home seen as the private realm, which the government cannot enter. Similar to this there have been difficulties over freedom of expression, this relates to defamation law. A level needs to be set where individuals can have this freedom of speech but what they are saying is not allowed to be defamatory of a another person. Disputes can arise over situations where human right laws seem to conflict with more contemporary laws.

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The European Convention on Human rights was implemented on the 3rd of September 1953. Countries can be held liable to the convention once they ratify to it. It provided 18 articles on European human rights ranging from The right to life, Article 2, through to Permitted Resitrictions, Article 18.  Whereby an individual can be restricted their rights under situations where the law prohibits it, such as the right to liberty is limited when they are detained in a penitentiary. In this particular scenario Articles 8. The rights to privacy and Article 10. The freedom of expression will be looked at ...

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