Human Rights Law
The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA), which fully came into force on 2 October 2000, makes it unlawful for a public authority (including publicly-funded FE or HE institutions, with respect to their exercise of functions of a public nature) to contravene sixteen key rights laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), unless an Act of Parliament meant that it could not have acted differently.
Human rights are based on principles of equality, dignity and respect. They require a balance to be struck between the rights of an individual and the rights of others or the wider community. FE and HE institutions are required by the HRA to operate in a way that upholds and protects the human rights of those they deal with.