By Brian Lett KC, 4 King's Bench Walk
I must confess to being a fervent supporter of the European Convention on Human Rights [which was drafted in large part by British lawyers], and of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, the cynic in me questions whether, in reality, human rights are not just the luxury of a settled and successful country, and are too often forgotten or brushed aside in times of national crisis such as war. The decision to go to war may be an involuntary one, as in the case of Ukraine today, but both the attacker and the defender will know that military violence of any kind will inevitably bring “collateral damage”, the deaths or injury of innocent civilians or the ruining of their homes and their lives. Too often mass violations of human rights are explained away by the ...