A report examined the law in Northern Ireland as it related to alleged injustices suffered by people who had been arrested (whether or not the arrest itself was lawful). It recommended a statutory right to compensation for arrested persons who had been unlawfully denied access to a solicitor, or who had suffered torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Source: The Rights of People Who Have Been Arrested, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (028 9024 3987)
Links: Report (pdf) | NIHRC press release
Date: 2004-Dec
Nine foreign nationals who had been held in custody on suspicion of terrorist activity - without charge, trial or seeing the evidence against them - won an appeal in the House of Lords which declared their detention unlawful. The judgment meant that article 5 (the right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights applied to foreign nationals detained in the United Kingdom under anti-terrorist legislation. The government said that it would study the judgment carefully to see whether it was possible to modify the legislation to address the concerns raised by the House of Lords.
Source: A (FC) and others (FC) (Appellants) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent); X (FC) and another (FC) (Appellants) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent), UKHL 56 (Session 2004-05), House of Lords Judicial Office (020 7219 3111) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 16 December 2004, columns 150-151WS, TSO
Links: Text of judgement (pdf) | Hansard | Amnesty press release | LSC press release | JUSTICE press release (pdf) | ICJ press release (pdf) | IRR press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Dec
The Identity Cards Bill was given a second reading. Campaigners and lawyers called for the Bill to be abandoned.
Source: Identity Cards Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 20 December 2004, columns 1943-2030, TSO | Press release 17 December 2004, JUSTICE (020 7329 5100), Law Society and Bar Council
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | Home Office press release | HOC Library research paper (pdf) | JUSTICE press release (pdf) | JUSTICE briefing (pdf) | Liberty briefing (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Dec
The government made a submission to the United Nations on how United Kingdom obligations under the Convention against torture were being fulfilled. Campaigners said that the failure by the government to fully incorporate the Convention into law had left the door open for UK authorities to rely on evidence obtained through torture by foreign agents.
Source: Address by Jonathan Spencer (United Kingdom delegation) to United Nations Committee Against Torture, 17-18 November 2004 | Press release 10 November 2004, Amnesty International UK (020 7814 6241)
Links: Address (pdf) | Responses to Committee (pdf) | Amnesty press release
Date: 2004-Nov
Researchers examined the ways in which human rights points had been made in Scottish court cases since devolution, exploring policy implications and case law development. Criminal justice and immigration control had been the public policy areas where human rights points had been raised most frequently; and there were clusters of cases relating to children and prison conditions. Most challenges that could have had a significant impact on policy had been unsuccessful.
Source: Paul Greenhill, Tom Mullen, Jim Murdoch, Sarah Craig and Alan Miller, The Use of Human Rights Legislation in the Scottish Courts, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Date: 2004-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs said that an identity card scheme could make a significant contribution to achieving the aims set out for it by the government, particularly tackling crime and terrorism. In principle an identity card scheme could also play a useful role in improving the co-ordination of, and the citizen's access to, public services - although the government had not yet put forward clear proposals to do so. The government had made a convincing case for proceeding with the introduction of identity cards: but they also carried clear risks, both for individuals and for the successful implementation of the scheme.
Source: Identity Cards, Fourth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 130-I, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Home Office press release | Law Society press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the ban on voting rights of sentenced prisoners in the United Kingdom was in violation of article 3, protocol 1, (right to free elections) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Source: Hirst v. The United Kingdom (No. 2), European Court of Human Rights (+33 0 3884 12018)
Links: Summary of judgement | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar