The scheme of the Act

The scheme of the Human Rights Act depends on the core concept of Convention rights. However it is important to understand that, under s. 1(1) of the HRA, the phrase Convention rights does not include all the rights guaranteed by the Convention, but only:

the rights and fundamental freedoms set out in – (a) articles 2 to 12 and 14 of the Convention, and (b) articles 1 to 3 of the First Protocol, and (c) articles 1 and 2 of the Sixth Protocol, as read with articles 16 to 18 of the Convention.

More particularly, the concept of Convention rights does not extend to arts 1 and 13, which deal, respectively, with securing Convention rights to everyone within the courts of the contracting state and providing effective remedies in national courts.

Articles 16 to 18 of the Convention respectively:

permit restrictions on the political activities of aliens;

prohibit any interpretation of the Convention that would permit the destruction or limitation of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Convention; and

require that the restrictions permitted by the Convention shall be applied only for the purposes for which they were created.