Department for Culture Media and Sport

human rights

In October 2000, The Human Rights Act came into effect in the UK. This means that people in the UK can take cases about their human rights to a UK court.

What are the Convention Rights?
There are 16 basic rights in the Human Rights Act, all taken from the European Convention on Human Rights. They concern matters of life and death, like freedom from torture and being killed, but they also cover rights in everyday life, such as what a person can say and do, their beliefs, their right to a fair trial and many other similar basic entitlements.

What does the Human Rights Act mean for public authorities?
The Human Rights Act has the following implications for the work of public authorities:

  • It makes it unlawful for public authorities (including central and local government, the police and the courts) to act in a way that is incompatible with a Convention right
  • Anyone who feels that a public authority has acted in a way that is incompatible with their Convention rights can raise this before an appropriate UK court or tribunal

For more information see:

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