Human Rights and Anti-Terrorsm Legislation Essay

Human Rights and Anti-Terrorsm Legislation - Essay Example The primary Human Rights document in the United Kingdom is the Human Rights Act 1998. The Human Rights Act 1998 received royal assent on November 9, 1998 and came into force on October 2, 2000. The objective of said Act was to harmonize the domestic law of the United Kingdom with the European Convention on Human Rights and to provide for stricter human rights guarantees to be followed by all states. The provisions on free speech, freedom of assembly and due process all impact heavily on the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in November of 2001, a mere two months after the historic 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Criticized by many for the undue haste in its passage, with concerns of political pressure being raised, the law in its original form contained passages that human rights groups deemed to be violative of established human rights principles. Amidst the outrage surrounding the 911 attacks, the Anti-Terror Law was heralded as a measure to combat the worldwide phenomenon of terrorism and to arrest its spread and development. Legal scholars and free speech advocates, however, unite in condemning the law for trampling constitutionally-protected liberties. There is also the possibility that the law might give rise to or at least encourage racial profiling, particularly the provisions on proscription of terrorist organizations. It might further alienate minority groups and exace rbate the political violence by radicalizing "moderate" groups. Human rights advocates scored a victory when the Law Lords ruled that a provision in the Law allowing the indefinite detention of foreign terrorist suspects was contrary to human rights principles. Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, in his ruling, said: "Indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial is anathema in any country which observes the rule of law." This decision was reached when nine detainees lodged their appeal before the Court. Indeed, due process is a fundamental principle of human rights. Criminal justice in any mature society always involves a balance of two competing interests: the need to protect the rights of the accused, and the need to combat crime and instill peace and order in society. "Legally, a crime is any act or omission proscribed by the criminal law and thus punishable by the state through the criminal justice system" (Davies, Croall and Tyrer, 2005) Legal systems in the civilized world - whether in civil or common law jurisdictions -- have, at least in theory, given primacy to the rights of the accused, understanding that ambiguity should be resolved in his or her favor. The anti-terror legislation of the United Kingdom unfortunately appears to have forgotten this notion. This comes as little surprise, certainly, given its beginnings that would make many a human rights advocate flinch. Post-911 anti-terror legislation in the UK is heavily laden with the baggage of American anti-war rhetoric which in turn smacks of prejudice, bigotry and an abject refusal to honor human rights prin

Health Care Delivery and Insurance System Essay

Health Care Delivery and Insurance System - Essay Example This paper analyses the health care delivery system as to whether it is broken or not Even though there are more than 40 million Americans who are not insured but still a major part of the gross national product of the nation is spent on health care (Iglehart, 1999). If the present problem has to be solved then it is essential that some changes take place in a lot of health financing systems (New York Academy of Sciences, 2000, pp. 1-14). The system should be best in all ways which means that the use of medical dollars should be made in an efficient way with provisions for improved medical care ostentation and promoting innovation. The new system should also incorporate quality with efficiency in prices of health care along with productive competition. The present system of health care which is driven by market and the existent governmental semi-National Health Insurance (NHI) Medicare and other Medicaid programs do not meet the requisites of best health care provisions (Brodenheimer, 1999; Riley, 2001; Pear, 2002; Krugan, 2002). Many countries are in problems due to a single payer for the nationalized health care and regular deficiency of patient selection (Krauz, 2002). 8. Areas which require attention The following areas put forward by different authors require immediate attention by the Congress government: 1. The people belonging to uninsured groups and those who are underinsured should be given immediate attention. 2. Politically and combative prescribed welfares (Jensen and Morrisy, 1999; Perez, 2002). 3. Imbalanced tax handling for health funding should not be the criteria. 4. Insured do not have any alternative to plans and providers. 5. Wayward financial bonuses for the insurance industry(Austin, 1984; Kuttner, 1999; Newhouse et.all, 1981 and Krauz, 2002) 6. Low financed and mystified Medicaid plans (Pear, 2002). 7. Inadequate national clinical tests and deficiency in limitation of preventable mismanagement suits (Institute of Medicine, 2001). 8. Unreasonable rivalry by hospitals burdening their own patients with varied amounts for indistinguishable services should not be the objective. Also the discrepancy in the amounts charged by pharmaceutical companies to individuals and small organizations should be done away with (Institute of Medicine, 2001). Apart from those mentioned above there are many areas in the health industry which require immediate attention of the creators. The Congress should create tax incentives which are individual in nature with permitted universal disastrous coverage so that the above mentioned discrepancies are removed. Discussion With reference to the number of individuals who are not insured, it only means the American medical system is a complete failure. Actually whatever be the kind of Medicaid it must have a provision for unforeseen