Rights … and wrongs
Aileen Campbell (Law & Legal Affairs, 5 January) illustrated that dangerous characteristic of rights: they are so vulnerable to application outside their intended area.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that "in all actions concerning children … (in] … courts of law … the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration". This clearly refers to cases directly concerning children, not cases where a parent is charged with a crime unrelated to the child, yet Ms Campbell presses it into service, arguing that the imprisonment of parents should be avoided in some cases for the good of the child. This is typical of rights, as they fail properly to specify the area of application.
RICHARD LUCAS
Cowan Road
Edinburgh
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Wednesday 15 February 2012
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