Human Rights

The Human Rights (Jersey) Law entered into force on 10 December 2006.  This date was the 58 Anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  It has also been set aside annually by the UN as International Human Rights Day - to celebrate, educate and reflect on the principles that form the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The United Kingdom's ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has included Jersey since 1951 and people in the Island have, since then, been able to bring cases claiming that their rights under the Convention have been infringed, before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, a lengthy and expensive process which only a handful of people have followed. One big change that the 2000 Law will bring is that it will incorporate the rights guaranteed by the Convention into the Island's domestic law and enable, for the first time, the enforcement of those rights in the Jersey courts.
 
Since the States adopted the Human Rights (Jersey) Law in 2000, Protocol 13 of the ECHR was opened for signature on 3 May 2002, which provides for the total abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances, including wartime.

On 13 May 2003, the States adopted a Proposition of the Policy and Resources Committee (P.39/2003) that the Island Authorities should inform the UK that they wished the UK ratification of Protocol 13 to be extended to Jersey.


In the following pages, you will find:

a short guidance note on the draft Law

the most frequently asked questions about the Law

Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000
(Note: The Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000 has been amended by Article 66 of the Terrorism (Jersey) Law 2002, to take into account that the revised provisions on detention of persons suspected of terrorism offences introduced by the 2002 Law have made it unnecessary to maintain the derogation contained in Schedule 2 to the Human Rights Law).