Terrorism Bill

When I was appointed chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, some may have thought that I was a poacher turned gamekeeper, in view of the efforts that I had made over the years to expose the activities of extremists. I started to ask questions about them as long ago as 1998. I do not agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Wareing) on whether effective action was taken. I think that the answer is self-evident, given all that we have learned over the years about some of those concerned. My work in that regard has given me a perspective on human rights. It is important to look at both sides of the argument; one side is often overlooked. I believe that my Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the Government’s response to terrorism is looking at both sides—and I am pleased about the constructive way in which the Home Secretary has engaged with us on the issue. The attacks on 7 and 21 July themselves constituted gross violations of human rights. The murder of 56 innocent civilians, including four of my constituents, and the severe maiming of scores of others are not capable of legal justification. It is well established in human rights law that invoking human rights to justify the destruction of other human rights is itself an abuse of such rights and never attracts protection. Human rights law also imposes onerous positive obligations on states to take steps to protect the lives and physical integrity of everyone within their jurisdiction against the threat of terrorist attack. Where an attack has taken place, the state is required by human rights law itself to review the adequacy of the legal measures that it has in place to protect people from terrorist attack and to bring perpetrators to justice. The fact that attacks have taken place is highly relevant evidence in an assessment of the level of terrorist threat, which itself is relevant to the proportionality of any interference with human rights that can be restricted in the interests of public safety and national security. However, it remains the case that all measures taken by states to fight terrorism must themselves respect human rights and the principle of the rule of law. National rules may change, but the applicability of human rights rules themselves do not. My Committee will have reservations about much of the Bill’s detail, and particularly about the breadth of its coverage, its definition of terrorism and the question of international comparators.