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Proposed U.K. Inquiries Law Would Hide State Violations of Human Rights
Human Rights First opposes the Inquiries Bill introduced for debate before the United Kingdom’s House of Lords on November 25, 2004. If the bill is passed into law, it would constitute a serious obstacle to public, independent inquiries into cases of state misconduct against civilians, including the 1989 murder of Belfast human rights lawyer Patrick Finucane.
“The proposed legislation would defeat a main purpose of holding inquiries,” said Archi Pyati, Senior Associate at Human Rights First. “It robs the inquiry chairperson of independence and would allow for entire inquiries to be held in private at the discretion of a single cabinet minister. Under the bill, state involvement in serious violations of human rights would be hidden from public view,” added Pyati.
These are Human Rights First’s main objections to the proposed Inquiries Bill:
- The power to commence and supervise an inquiry is taken away from Parliament and placed solely in the hands of a single Minister.
- Only the Minister who initiates the inquiry can set the terms of reference and appoint a chairperson. This gives the Minister control over which facts and issues will be investigated. The appointed chairperson of the inquiry will have no power to change these terms of reference even if doing so is necessary to fully investigate the facts and produce a balanced report.
- The Minister who initiates the inquiry can prevent public access to some or all of the hearings and can also decide to stop evidence and information, including the final report, from reaching the public.
- The Minister can exercise this right to restrict public access to hearings and information when it is deemed that such restriction is “necessary in the public interest.” The public interest could include such elastic terms as “damage to the economic interests of the United Kingdom”, “damage to national security”, or “additional cost.”
- The Minister can order an end to an inquiry without providing any reason for doing so.
Patrick Finucane, a human rights lawyer, was gunned down in his Northern Ireland home in 1989 by loyalist paramilitaries, in front of his wife and children. His was just one among a number of killings carried out with the collusion of U.K. security forces. An open and independent inquiry into the murder of Patrick Finucane would contribute to public confidence in government accountability. The proposed new law could mean an end to any hope that such an inquiry will ever be convened.
More on Human Rights Defenders in Northern Ireland
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/defenders/hrd_n_ireland/
hrd_northern_irland.htm
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