"Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is expected to agree a political declaration on Friday with other members of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR). The declaration is supposed to curb the way the convention is interpreted by European and domestic courts to halt the removal and deportation of asylum claimants. It follows claims from Cooper and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, that articles 3 and 8 of the convention the right to live free from torture and the right to family life have been misused by criminals."
"Reacting to the planned declaration, legal experts and human rights organisations said the move was a grubbily political deal that risked playing into the hands of repressive governments. Prof Eirik Bjorge KC, the author of Courts as Faithful Trustees: Domestic Application of the ECHR, said the declaration sought to interfere with the independence of the judiciary but would be rejected by judges. There is nothing principled about the Chisinau manifesto; it is a grubbily political initiative."
"Seeking to water down by political means the most fundamental guarantee in the ECHR, the absolute prohibition in article 3, is ignoble and unlikely to have any effect on the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg court. The initiative seeks to interfere with the independence of the judiciary and will be rejected as such, he said."
"Kolbassia Haoussou, a director at the NGO Freedom from Torture and a torture survivor, said: The UK has long prided itself on fairness, compassion and upholding the rule of law. Chipping away at article 3 would not just undermine that reputation but send a dangerous message to repressive regimes around the world that even the most fundamental protections can be barga"
Ministers from 46 countries, including the UK, are preparing to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers and foreign criminals. Yvette Cooper is expected to agree a political declaration with other Council of Europe members. The declaration aims to curb how the European Convention on Human Rights is interpreted by European and domestic courts to halt removals and deportations of asylum claimants. The move follows claims that Articles 3 and 8 have been misused by criminals. Legal experts and human rights organizations say the plan is a political deal that risks benefiting repressive governments and interfering with judicial independence. They argue Article 3’s absolute prohibition on torture should not be weakened and would likely be rejected by judges.
#european-convention-on-human-rights #deportation-and-asylum #judicial-independence #article-3-prohibition-of-torture #human-rights-and-torture-prevention
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