TerrorismCameron calls for human rights reforms to aid counterterror efforts

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron calling for greater national sovereignty // Source: umdiaspora.org

Following the European Court of Human Rights ruling that the United Kingdom could not deport radical Islamic militant Abu Qatada to Jordan, Prime Minister David Cameron blasted the court stating that human rights laws were in danger of becoming “distorted” and “discredited” because of the court’s decisions.

“We do have a real problem when it comes to foreign national who threaten our security,” Cameron said in a recent speech. “The problem today is that you can end up with someone who has no right to live in your country, who you are convinced – and have good reason to be convinced – means to do your country harm. And yet there are circumstances in which you cannot try them, you cannot detain them and you cannot deport them.”

“So having put in place every possible safeguard to ensure that (human rights) rights are not violated, we still cannot fulfill our duty to our law-abiding citizens to protect them,” he said.

Cameron’s speech came as part of a broader attempt to reform the European Court of Human Rights to allow greater sovereignty for national governments. So far the forty-seven members of the Council of Europe have agreed that final decisions should be made by national courts when possible, but the specifics on reform have yet to be hammered out. Cameron has received mixed support with many agreeing that reform is necessary, but fewer approving of the idea of deferring to national rulings.

In response to Cameron’s calls for reform, Sir Nicholas Bratza, the president of the European Court of Human Rights, Europe’s top judge, said he was disappointed by Cameron for seeking reform and catering to the tabloid press.

In defense of the court, Bratza wrote in an op-ed, “It would be deeply regrettable if [the U.K.] were to allow its commitment to that system to be called into question by a failure to defend it against its detractors or to offer its strong support for the vital work of the court.”

“The European Court of Human Rights is an institution of inestimable value not just for Europeans, but for all those who throughout the world look to its judgments for guidance, and particularly those who do not have the benefit of democratic institutions operating within the rule of law,” Bratza added.

The case that sparked Cameron’s calls for reform involves Abu Qatada, a native Jordanian who is wanted on terrorism charges by several countries including the United States, Algeria, and Germany. British authorities currently have Qatada in their custody, but attempts to deport him to his native country, where he has been sentenced in abstentia to life imprisonment for a plot to attack tourists there in 2000, were halted by the Strasbourg court.

The court argued that Qatada could not be deported because his trial would likely be tainted by evidence obtained through torture resulting in a “denial of justice.”

In response to the ruling, Conservative MP Dominic Raab, blasted the court, calling the judgment a “surreptitious attack on basic democratic principles.”

“Strasbourg ignored three failed UK appeals to block the deportation of a terrorist suspect deemed dangerous by domestic judges, because he might not receive a fair trial in Jordan,” he argued. “Putting aside the moral acrobatics in making Britain responsible for other countries’ justice systems, Strasbourg had never upheld the unfair trial defense to deportation before.”

Denis McShane, the former Europe minister, is unsure of the prospects for Cameron’s reforms as he

“doubted very much if there will be any support for any mechanism that gives the UK a privilege.”

“I am not sure what the Prime Minister can achieve,” he said. “It is good he is going and shows respect for the Council of Europe, which is the right place to be in to try and change the way the European Court of Human Rights works but I would be very surprised if he can bring anything back to placate the backbenchers. It is mission undeliverable because of the continuing Tory isolation in the corridors of European power.”