BTEC Level 3 National Public Services

Unit 1 Government, policies and the public services

AS6

Human rights

The public services have a tremendous amount of power over our lives. They can take away our freedom, investigate our private lives, monitor our actions and use the resulting information against us if required. The public services are carefully regulated to avoid abuses against members of the public. The Human Rights Act 1998 makes it clear that certain rights are given to all UK citizens and if these rights are broken by the public services the individual has the right to take the service to court and challenge its actions. The rights include: right to life prohibition of torture prohibition of slavery and forced labour right to liberty and security right to a fair trial no punishment without law right to respect for private and family life freedom of thought, conscience and religion freedom of expression freedom of assembly and association right to marry prohibition of discrimination protection of property right to education right to free elections.

Are there any that you would add or remove from the list? Explain your answer.

What would be the impact on society and the public services if we did not have the Human Rights Act 1998? Rank your answers in order of importance, with 1 being the most important.

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