Human Rights Legal Remedies

You will already have seen, littered throughout this website, various references to the course of action you can take if you feel that your human rights have been breached. The most important thing for you to note at the moment is that you cannot take an action against a private individual or company. You can only sue for a breach of your human rights if you are an employee of or have been affected by a public authority, such as:

• Police, Prison authorities, immigration officials
• Courts and tribunals
• Local authorities
• Government departments
• Public prosecutors (the Crown Prosecution service)
• Public bodies

For all other employers and organisations you will have to rely on the UK based laws currently in place.

For now, let us assume that you do work for or have been aggrieved by one of the groups in the list above.

What Next?

We are also going to assume that you have taken the case to court and been successful. What remedies can the court give you? No-one can turn back time and make whatever it was simply never happen and it is unrealistic to assume that any remedy the Court can come up with will make you feel otherwise. Unfortunately, in part because the Human Rights Act is in its relative infancy, there are few firm remedies for breach of your rights. This is in contrast to, for instance, Personal Injury law where a Solicitor can look down a sheet and tell you how much you will get.

Just Satisfaction

This is a central tenet of the remedies available under Human Rights Laws, stating basically that the successful applicant must be satisfied with the outcome. This may be monetary or a public admission of wrong-doing.

Declaration of Incompatibility

By the nature of the Human Rights Laws and the way the Strasbourg Court has developed, there are various damages that are not compatible to the human rights arena. The UK Courts must interpret our own laws in keeping with the European Convention on Human Rights and this is not always possible. In an attempt to rectify this, they can issue a ‘declaration of incompatibility’, thus advising Government of the problem and enabling them to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

Discretion

The Human Rights Act confers a responsibility on the Courts to issue damages, where it is appropriate to the case and necessary to ‘Just Satisfaction’. In this way, Parliament has placed sole discretion for the level of damages upon the Court. When deciding whether to award damages, and how much, the Court must take into account how serious the breach was and whether a punitive award is required. This is on a case by case basis and, as before, there is no distinct measure on who gets what, when and how much.

Alternatives to Damages

The Act also states that the Court need not award damages to a successful claimant if there is some other way in which the situation can be satisfied. If it is in the Court’s power to do so, they could order the return of property, for instance, or the review of a procedure undertaken by the authority.

One Plus One Equals?

One thing that is absolutely clear is that the Court must be satisfied that the breach was the sole and direct cause of the loss, before they are able to award any remedy. It is not sufficient for you to say that it is, you must be prepared to prove to the Court that the action of the Organisation caused the breach and that the breach was the cause of your loss.