The right to security of person can only be achieved if the security services are able to do all they can to ensure national security, and thus there is a need to balance the rights of the individual with the need for secrecy to ensure that human rights as well as civil liberties are maintained. This has been agreed by the United Nations to be a universal human right, yet it could also be deemed to cross into a matter of civil liberty. The third article in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everybody has the right to life, liberty and security of person” (United Nations 2012). It is “generally accepted that some degree of secrecy is appropriate” (Chesterman 2011: 9), the government “must have some lee-way as only it has the benefit of intelligence” (Zucca 2009: 239) and therefore as it seems that secrecy will not disappear, it is essential to attempt to balance it against the rights of the individual. This essay will argue therefore that the British government should predominantly consider the human rights of its citizens in the balance between the rights of the individual and the need for secrecy, without disregarding civil liberties, but should place the preservation of national security above individual freedoms. The rights of the individual or civil liberties are found where it is ensured that when “the state regulates public or private life it will respect individual freedoms” (Zucca 2009: 237) these are different from human rights, which detail “intuitively how people should be treated” (Zucca 2009: 237). ![]() The word secrecy encompasses all covert activity, “the entire realm of state secrecy – the intelligence services, classified information or diplomatic discretion” (Horn 2011: 104). ![]() ![]() Security is no longer limited to the state, and with the threats to peace being largely terrorist activities the need for secrecy is growing. How Should the British Government Balance the Need for Secrecy Against the Rights of the Individual?Ī balance has long been sought between the rights of the individual and the secrecy and authority of the state balance continues to be coveted today as technology progresses and so too do the threats that face the country and international community.
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