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Parliaments and Human Rights

Parliaments and Human Rights Redressing the Democratic Deficit

Author: Murray Hunt; Hayley Hooper; Paul Yowell
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781509915453

Published In: June 2017
Format: Paperback , 478 pages
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
Hardback Edition ISBN: 9781849465618

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In many countries today there is a growing and genuinely held concern that the institutional arrangements for the protection of human rights suffer from a 'democratic deficit'. Yet at the same time there appears to be a new consensus that human rights require legal protection and that all branches of the state have a shared responsibility for upholding and realising those legally protected rights. This volume of essays tries to understand this paradox by considering how parliaments have sought to discharge their responsibility to protect human rights. Contributors seek to take stock of the extent to which national and sub-national parliaments have developed legislative review for human rights compatibility and the effect of international initiatives to increase the role of parliaments in relation to human rights. They also consider the relationship between legislative review and judicial review for human rights compatibility, and whether courts could do more to incentivise better democratic deliberation about human rights. Enhancing the role of parliaments in the protection and realisation of human rights emerges as an idea whose time has come, but the volume makes clear that there is a great deal more to do in all parliaments to develop the institutional structures, processes and mechanisms necessary to put human rights at the centre of their function of making law and holding the government to account. The sense of democratic deficit is unlikely to dissipate unless parliaments empower themselves by exercising the considerable powers and responsibilities they already have to interpret and apply human rights law, and courts in turn pay closer attention to that reasoned consideration.

1. Introduction Murray Hunt, Hayley Hooper and Paul Yowell

PART I: LEGISLATIVE REVIEW FOR HUMAN RIGHTS COMPATIBILITY

2. Finding and Filling the Democratic Deficit in Human Rights David Kinley

3. Legislative Rights Review: Addressing the Gap Between Ideals and Constraints Janet Hiebert

4. The role of Parliaments following judgments of the European Court of Human Rights Phil Leach and Alice Donald

PART II: LEGISLATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW IN THE UK PARLIAMENT

5. The Joint Committee on Human Rights David Feldman

6. The Joint Committee on Human Rights: A Hybrid Breed of Constitutional Watchdog Aileen Kavanagh

7. How has the Joint Committee on Human Rights affected legislative deliberation? Paul Yowell

8. Parliament's Role following Declarations of Incompatibility under the Human Rights Act Jeff King

PART III: LEGISLATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS REVIEW IN OTHER PARLIAMENTS

9. Australia's Exclusive Parliamentary Model of Rights Protection George Williams and Lisa Burton

10. Legislative Review for Human Rights Compatibility: A View from Sweden Thomas Bull and Iain Cameron

11. Guaranteeing international human rights standards in The Netherlands: the Parliamentary dimension Martin Kuijer

12. Human rights in the European Parliament Geoffrey Harris

13. The protection of human rights in the legislative process in Scotland Bruce Adamson

14. Human rights in the Northern Ireland Assembly David Russell

15. Human rights in the Welsh Assembly Ann Sherlock

PART IV: INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES TO INCREASE THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN RELATION TO HUMAN RIGHTS

16. The work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Ingeborg Schwarz

17. The work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Andrew Drzemczewski and Julia Lowis

18. The work of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy George Kunnath

PART V: THE IMPLICATIONS OF LEGISLATIVE RIGHTS REVIEW FOR COURTS

19. The Use of Parliamentary Materials by Courts in Proportionality Judgments Hayley Hooper

20. Democratic Deliberation and Judicial Review Liora Lazarus

21. The Varied Roles of Courts and Legislatures in Rights Protection Kent Roach

PART VI: A DEMOCRATIC CULTURE OF JUSTIFICATION 22. What is a Democratic Culture of Justification? David Dyzenhaus

23. From Dialogue to Deliberation: Human Rights Adjudication and Prisoners' Right to Vote Sandy Fredman

24. Conclusion: Can Human Rights be Democratised? Murray Hunt

Murray Hunt is Legal Adviser to the Joint Committee on Human Rights of the United Kingdom Parliament and a Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Oxford.
Hayley J Hooper is a Junior Research Fellow at Homerton College, University of Cambridge.
Paul Yowell is a Fellow in Law at Oriel College, University of Oxford.