UK ‘politics of fear eroding human rights’

Nigel Morris

Tony Blair’s government has been condemned for exploiting the “politics of fear” by bringing in tougher anti-terror legislation, cracking down on asylum-seekers and allowing the prison population to soar.

Amnesty International condemned Britain’s human rights record on an array of issues, from curtailing the free speech of anti-war protesters to failing to stand up to the US over the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

It coupled a scathing assessment of this country’s disregard for civil liberties with a challenge to Gordon Brown to show leadership by changing direction on human rights when he becomes Prime Minister.

In its annual report Amnesty said: “The Government continued to erode fundamental human rights, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. Measures taken with the stated aim of countering terrorism led to serious human rights violations and concern was widespread about the impact of these measures on Muslims and other communities.”

The human rights group denounced the policy of deporting people to countries “with a history of torture or other ill-treatment” or placing them on control orders, which severely restrict their movements. It added: “Consequent judicial proceedings were profoundly unfair, denying individuals the right to a fair hearing.”

Intelligence material was withheld from the suspects in the secret hearings that determined their fate and depended on a “particularly low standard of proof”.

Amnesty also registered its alarm over the behaviour of police in anti-terror raids, including the shooting of an innocent man in Forest Gate, east London, last June.

It painted a bleak picture of the treatment of failed asylum-seekers who “through no fault of their own were condemned to live in abject poverty”, and made clear its worries over last year’s Immigration, Nationality and Asylum Act, which weakens refugees’ UN protections.

Amnesty also attacked the prison service. It said Britain had one of the world’s highest per capita imprisonment rates, adding: “Overcrowding continued to be linked to self-harm and self-inflicted deaths, greater risks to the safety of staff and inmates, and detention conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

Kate Allen, Amnesty’s UK director, said: “Gordon Brown should reject the politics of fear and show principled leadership which respects human rights and upholds the rule of law.

“The UK should use its influence on the world to encourage others to put policy based on fear aside. If the UK is to be credible in this, it must have its own house in order by having a humane asylum policy and counter-terrorism measures that do not undermine basic human rights protections.”

She suggested that Mr Brown should call for the closure of Guantanamo Bay and order a full investigation into allegations that British officials have colluded in the CIA kidnapping terror suspects and transporting them around the world for interrogation.

Irene Khan, Amnesty’s secretary general, called on Mr Brown to take an international lead to find a solution to the Darfur conflict, which she described as a “bleeding wound on the world’s conscience”.

She said the US had lost much of its authority in the world as a result of its security policies. “There is great suspicion about the US’s intentions now. It is a powerful country and it is sad to see that has been squandered, making it impotent as a force for human rights.”

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