Human Rights Act 1998
and the European Convention on Human Rights
The Human Rights Act is possibly the most important piece of legislation in the UK regarding human rights. It came into effect 2nd of October 2000 and is concerned with enforcing the terms of European Convention on Human Rights in UK Law.
While the Human Rights Act primarily focuses on public authorities, its principles have developed into wider individual responsibilities.
It gives every UK citizen a clear statement of their rights and responsibilities and provides each citizen with the opportunity to challenge more easily actions of the state and of other such public authorities.
Physical intervention is relevant to:
Article 2 - Right to life
Article 3 - Prohibition of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment
Article 5 - Right to liberty
Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life
Article 14 - Right to freedom from discrimination in respect of Convention rights
Interference with the individuals human rights must be necessary, legitimate and proportionate to the aims being pursued.
If force is not proportionate, then this may account to a breach of Articles.
This legislation has a significant impact on physical intervention being taught in the UK today. It is no longer acceptable to be taught techniques dependent training, but training now has to be managed and structured, delivered to comply with the conventions rights if it is to be considered legal. All training delivered must incorporate the protected rights of individuals within their training.
Article 2 - is the primary article when considering the use of force within physical intervention.
The Article says:
“Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law”
The impact for organisations is that any training, training material, policy and practice procedures, must promote a positive duty to the preservation of life. Therefore unless it is absolutely necessary, any training that teaches techniques that are deemed to be high risk as a primary method of control, and that can potentially lead to death could be in breach of Article 2 and furthermore could lead to prosecution of the organisation under The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
In addition, the new amendment to The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which came into effect on 13 September 2011 means that organisations can now be prosecuted under this Act for deaths in custody.
Following the amendment to the Work-Related Deaths Protocol (WRDP) which came into effect on 1 October 2011, it is also possible that where manslaughter or homicide charges are not relevant, prosecution can be brought before an inquest held by the Health and Safety Executive, Police. CPS and Local Authority if it is believed to be in the interest of justice.
As you can see the Human Rights Act 2007 has a profound influence on the use Physical Intervention. Commissioning organisations and training providers have a duty of care to promote life and this must be at the forefront of any delivery of physical intervention skills training and the implementation of using the skills taught in the workplace.
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