Judges could be told how to interpret law
New legislation that would for the first time tell judges how to interpret the Human Rights Act is being planned by the lord chancellor.
Lord Falconer’s suggestion is aimed at preventing judges from blocking the government’s tough new policy on deportations, and comes the day after home secretary Charles Clarke announced ten foreign nationals were being deported on the grounds of national security.
Under the Human Rights Act, the government is prohibited from deporting people to countries where they may face torture or ill-treatment. Nine of the deportees announced yesterday face being sent back to Algeria, which has the poorest human rights record in north Africa.
Mr Clarke said he was confident that he would get assurances from the destination countries that deportees would not be badly treated, but civil liberties campaigners have expressed scepticism about any such promises.
Announcing the new policy last week, Tony Blair admitted that he expected a “battle” with judges over the deportations, but today’s comments by the lord chancellor suggest the government is not taking that chance.
In an interview with The Guardian, Lord Falconer said the proposed new law would force judges to give equal weight to both the interests of national security and the rights of the individual deportee when assessing cases.
He said he defended the role of judges in protecting civil liberties, and would only take the step of amending the Human Rights Act if he was forced to, an echo of the prime minister’s comments on the issue last week.
If the law were amended, it would set out how national security needs must be taken into account as well as the right of the deportee not to be put at risk of torture.
Legislation setting out how the courts interpreted this last right “is the sensible way of staying inside the convention, but have a sensible policy on deportation”.
Earlier this week Conservative leader Michael Howard suggested that “aggressive judicial activism” was threatening Britain’s security, and warned judges should not be able to strike down anti-terror laws passed in parliament.
Civil rights group Justice reacted angrily to the lord chancellor’s suggestions, insisting that “there can be no balancing of individual and national rights”.
Director Roger Smith said: “The European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture, ratified by the UK in 1988, forbid the condoning of torture in this way.
“We do not need to side with torturers against terrorists. This is not a zero sum game. Quite the reverse: torture invites terror as a response.”
