Sex education and human rights--a lawyer's perspective

The Human Rights Act 1998 is the most significant British statute to have been passed in the last decade. It has already been the catalyst for a series of high profile cases, ranging from the privacy rights of celebrities (Douglas v Hello! [2001] QB 967) to the Home Secretary's sentencing powers in murder cases (R (Anderson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2002] 4 All ER 1089). Yet, beyond the media spotlight, the real influence of the Human Rights Act 1998 lies in the fact that individuals and groups have, for the first time, been accorded the opportunity to invoke in the national courts a series of fundamental human rights. In this paper I will consider one area that is likely to be affected--the extent to which the Human Rights Act will have an impact on the law relating to sex and relationship education (SRE).