UN told of human rights flaws

The methods for protecting human rights in the UK are inadequate, resulting in the number of violations perpetrated here, a coalition of 12 pressure groups - including the Law Society and Bar Council - told the United Nations this week.

In a joint statement to the UN's human rights committee, which this week in Geneva began an examination into the state of human rights in Britain, the groups have reasserted their long-running call for a human rights commission in the UK, similar to that set up in Northern Ireland.

The other signatories to the statement are: Amnesty International, the Bail Circle, Britain and Ireland Human Rights Centre, British Irish Rights Watch, Charter 88, the Children's Rights Alliance for England, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, JUSTICE, Legal Action Group and Liberty.

They also call for the government to ratify protocols 4, 7 and 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Protocol 4 prohibits imprisonment for debt, the expulsion of nationals and collective expulsion of 'aliens', as well as allowing for freedom of movement.

Protocol 7 sets out procedural safeguards relating to the expulsion of aliens, the right of appeal in criminal matters, compensation for wrongful conviction, the right not to be tried or punished twice, and equality between spouses.

Protocol 12 sets out a general prohibition against discrimination.In more detailed evidence given to the committee, Liberty highlighted areas where it said the UK was falling short, including: deaths in custody, continued discrimination against ethnic minorities in the criminal justice system, the lack of an independent police complaints system, the 'regular erosion of the rights of suspects and defendants', and the 'very poor' treatment of asylum-seekers.

Liberty's associate director, Mary Cunneen, said: 'The government, and the law - through the courts and the police - must be utterly, unmistakably fair.

The Human Rights Act took us nearer that end; the government's latest proposed changes in the criminal justice system risk taking us further away from it - with more people facing unfairness and discrimination.

We hope the UN committee will send a strong message that this is unacceptable.'Neil Rose