The Human Rights Act and the Assault on Liberty: Rights and Asylum in the UK - Press Release

Parnesh Sharma (2011)

(ISBN: 978-1-908062-30-7

5th September 2011

Human Right Act "has failed the most vulnerable"The Human Rights Act, introduced with so much fanfare, has largely failed to protect some of the most vulnerable from illiberal policies, concludes a new book today from Nottingham University Press

....The much vaunted 'culture of rights' the Act was supposed to herald – to make Britain a more inclusive, more caring society – is nowhere to be seen by those at the bottommost rung of society.

The book, 'The Human Rights Act and the Assault on Liberty: Rights and Asylum in the UK' by Dr. Parnesh Sharma, examines the Act in action as it faced its first real test. ...A David and Goliath battle between the Home Office and NGOs advocating on behalf of asylum-seekers forced into destitution by government policies seeking to deter them entering or remaining in the UK.

In a comprehensive study, the first to examine the impact of the Human Rights Act on real lives, Dr Sharma examines how the Act ultimately failed some of those it was supposed to protect.

The book charts the promise and coming into effect of the Act with events that set it on a collision course with a particularly draconian legislative scheme known as Section 55.

Such was the storm that ensued that news media reported a 'war had been ignited' between the Home Office and the judiciary; that the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, was 'spitting blood', and the NGOs were pushed to the limit.

The author, Parnesh Sharma, said: 'The effects of this war – an estimated 10,000 asylum-seekers forced into destitution by a deliberate government policy.

The conclusion of the book – that the Act has proven to be ineffective against increasingly illiberal policies directed at some of the most powerless and marginalised groups in UK society – provides a much-needed wake-up call.

'As we watch major cities across the UK burn and fall into anarchy, the book is a timely reminder that rights must be more than just words on paper. That those at the bottommost rung, with little stake in society, sometimes strike back.'

Parnesh Sharma holds graduate degrees from Oxford and Cambridge and is a former adjudicator at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. He has a keen interest in human rights, asylum rights, social movements, courts and social change – in particular, the role of rights in bringing about social change and rights as a resource in the work of NGOs which advocate on behalf of powerless constituents.

For further information or review copies, contact:

Alan Murray
MurrayPR
020 7544 0016