Pringle: Concerns expressed around the world over UK reform of human rights legislation
- Updated: 22nd June 2023
Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said concerns are being expressed around the world over what the UK is doing with its reform of human rights legislation.
Deputy Pringle noted that a report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, considers “the UK system for giving effect to the European Convention on Human Rights through the operation of the Human Rights Act is, in many respects, an excellent example of an effective domestic mechanism for ensuring that the Convention rights are respected” and “therefore considers that it would be regrettable were the UK to dispense with such an excellent system.’
Deputy Pringle said: “Concerns are being expressed around the world as to what the UK could possibly be doing. Our own government is very concerned with the Legacy Bill and as the motion states the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the UK’s own National Human Rights Institutions, the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are all concerned with what is happening.
“Our assembly is concerned that a member state could legislate in a way that could risk breaching international legal obligations and the rule of law. This is something that is very serious.
“But it is interesting in that the forces that are opposed to those legal obligations and the rule of law seem to have become emboldened in recent years and perhaps it is a sign of the times that this is happening.
“Should we expect more of it as well?” he said.
Deputy Pringle is in Strasbourg this week for the summer plenary session of the Council of Europe. He is a member of the Unified European Left in the Council and he submitted his comments for the record of a debate on Wednesday on a report and draft resolution on UK reform of its human rights legislation: Consequences for domestic and international human rights protection.
Deputy Pringle said: “We see how the Council of Europe must push Turkey constantly to have law respected. Today we heard in a side meeting about the jailing of judges in Turkey where over 20% of the judiciary has been targeted and we also know about the constant persecuting of political opponents of the government, particularly the HDP and the Kurdish people.
“What the UK government is doing is not as visible or extreme as what Turkey is doing but perhaps it is emboldened by the lack of reaction from the Council of Ministers and PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe) or the very slow cumbersome reaction.
“As I have said, it is hard to see what the reason for these changes are in the UK when the human rights legislation by all accounts seemed to be working well.
“This I believe is not about having a system that works well.
“This is about having a system that protects itself and allows the system to continue what it is doing. Protecting the ruling classes and the establishment.
“This is a system that will continue to persecute Julian Assange and keep him in jail and try to extradite him to the US. Not so much for what he has supposedly done but because of the chilling effect that his continued incarceration has,” he said.
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