Amnesty International UK has levelled criticism against the House of Lords for failing to reject pivotal clauses which compromise human rights protections for prisoners. The charitable organisation marked this failure as the continuation of a “sinister trend” where human rights are increasingly being ‘”switched off” for specific groups, with prisoners currently being the primary target. As noted by Amnesty UK, these criticisms emerged after a vote held earlier in the week.
This situation pertains to the Victims and Prisoners Bill, first introduced in March 2023, a legislation designed to enhance victim support after crimes occurred – which includes the provision for specialist advocates. This same Bill also relates to the parole system reform, incorporating restrictions to hinder the early release of dangerous offenders. However, it is the controversial clauses that prohibit life-imprisoned inmates from marriage or the formation of civil partnerships that originated the cited criticisms. The full details of the Bill can be found here.
Prior to the House of Commons’ second reading of the Bill, Amnesty published a briefing, which urged amendments to Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill and the complete removal of Part 3. Amnesty, alongside other organisations like Liberty and Justice, warned that the proposals contained in Part 3 disapply Section 3 of the Human Rights Act (HRA) – which mandates public authorities to interpret and implement laws in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – from certain prisoners. The actions proposed under this part have been flagged as creating significant practical concerns and fundamental principle issues around the UK’s adherence to human rights and functionality of the country’s human rights protection system.
These concerns, however, seem to have fallen on deaf ears, as the House of Lords failed to reject these concerning clauses within the Bill during the Tuesday debate. Consequently, these actions have removed protections under the HRA, leading to criticisms from Amnesty. Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive noted: “Human rights protections are designed to be universal, not given by politicians to groups they favour and taken away from groups they don’t like… It was deeply disappointing to see the Labour leadership abstain from the vote on these dangerous clauses in the Bill yesterday.”
This situation further underscores the importance of vocal commitment to the preservation of human rights across all sectors and populations, regardless of circumstances. The repeal of such restrictive clauses in future governance actions could potentially help alleviate these concerns. For a more detailed account, click here.