As politics again takes aim at human rights, it is essential to have a clear sight of what is it is that has become the detested target.
The Human Rights Act was passed 16 years ago to give citizens a real stake in how they are governed and treated by their state.
After the First World War there was no notion that international institutions might inform states how to treat their citizens. Treaties between states were completely inaccessible to individuals. The Holocaust led to the first international tribunal at Nuremberg and that was the start, in a modern historical context, of recognition of crimes against humanity instead of war crimes.
This crime then received its definition in Article 6(c) of the Nuremberg Charter. Clear criminal