BBC News | UK POLITICS | Warning over rights act

Lawyers say that Article eight of the convention, which guarantees the right to respect for privacy and family life, could allow pupils over 16 to challenge any ban on homosexual activity or even their choice of hairstyle in school.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has also conducted a survey which has found hospitals, school and old peoples' homes are all unprepared for the changes.

The Independent Schools Information Service has issued advice to schools warning that Article nine, the right to freedom of expression, could be used to challenge bans on overtly homosexual behaviour.

And Article 10, guaranteeing freedom of thought and religion, could be used by pupils demanding the right to observe religious festivals.

More advice to follow

More detailed advice is to be sent out shortly to help schools prepare for the impact of the legislation.

Speaking at an IPPR conference on the introduction of the legislation into UK law, Mr Straw said hospitals, schools and security services all needed to make sure they complied with the provisions of the act.

Mr Straw said: "Most of the rights in the Human Rights Act are not absolute.

"In almost every case it is open for the public authority to limit the right or balance one right against another.

"It's about looking at how you treat the public and putting yourselves in their shoes. Do as you would be done by. "Do that and then we will be more than halfway there."

The IPPR said among the organisations it had contacted which claimed to know nothing about the act included a public school for 700 children, a residential home for 100 elderly people and a nursing care organisation with 7,000 inpatients.

Researcher and human rights lawyer Francis Butler said: "Organisations that are ignorant of the impact of the act are more likely to face claims.

'Corporate citizenship'

"There's no doubt that informed assessment is better than the ostrich approach - after all, litigation is only good for lawyers."

Earlier Mr Straw told the BBC: "People should not panic about it, but they should get to know what is in the Convention."

The act was passed in 1998 and means UK citizens will now be able to have their human rights enforced by British courts rather than having to go to Strasbourg.


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