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A European inquiry has found that the UK government has an “increasingly hostile attitude” to human rights which is weakening rather than strengthening protections for people.
According to the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Dunja Mijatovic, inflammatory language used by MPs and officials to describe lawyers can put their safety at risk.
She said the Police, Crime, Punishment and Courts (PCSC) Act will have a chilling effect on the right to peaceful assembly, which will worsen if the Public Order Bill is adopted.
Plans to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill of Rights would undermine the rights of individuals in the UK, Mijatovic said.
The findings were released in a 47-page report following a four-day visit to the UK in June and July by Mijatovic’s team.
They come as Downing Street and the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, draw up plans to ban people from designated countries from claiming asylum in the UK, and amid reports that No 10 could give asylum due to timetables for Justice Secretary Dominic Raab’s bill of rights. Obstacles
A Council of Europe report examined the legislative proposals in the UK and concluded that the changes were “difficult to disconnect from the marked political focus on the so-called ‘culture wars’ issues”.
It found that professionals supporting human rights cases were characterized by government officials and MPs as “politically motivated” or “activist lawyers”.
“While physical attacks on human rights professionals are rare in the UK, there are concerns that inflammatory language against lawyers could put them at risk,” the report says.
It also says:
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The provisions of the PCSC Act that de facto criminalize Gypsy, Roma and Traveler communities leading a nomadic lifestyle should be repealed.
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Given the significant impact of recent and proposed legislation, there is a “high level of concern among stakeholders” about human rights protection in the UK.
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UK policies towards refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are eroding their rights. Proposals criticized in the report include newly introduced inadmissibility rules for asylum claims, the possibility of removing individuals to Rwanda and the criminalization of irregularly arriving asylum seekers.
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The emergence of a harsh political and public discourse against trans people in the UK has a negative impact on their rights.
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The UK government should consider withdrawing the legacy bill, which offered conditional amnesty to people accused of murder and other trouble-related crimes.
Mijatovic and his team met four ministers during their visit to the UK: Raab, Foreign Office Minister Tariq Ahmad, Tom Pursglove, then Immigration Minister, and Northern Ireland Minister Jonathan Cain.
The Public Order Bill, which is at the committee stage in Parliament, has recently been criticized by MPs and activists. The government has introduced the bill to deal with disruptive protests, which have grown in recent months and are said to be straining police resources.
Braverman is believed to be drafting legislation in the New Year to make it easier to reject and remove asylum seekers from Albania. More than 12,000 people from Balkan countries have arrived by small boats this year, nearly a quarter of all Channel crossings.
Raab’s proposed bill of rights has been criticized by lawyers and former judges who say it would undermine the UK’s position as a legal center and risk friction with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Raab told MPs last month: “I think we have a great bill here.”
Reports claim that the bill could be shelved as Rishi Sunak wants to focus on pushing through legislation on the arrival of small boats. A Whitehall source said: “There is some concern over bandwidth, and so it may be kept within reason.”
A government spokesman said: “The government is committed to protecting human rights and will continue to champion them internationally and at home.
“The Bill of Rights will strengthen human rights such as freedom of expression, while the Police, Crime, Punishment and Courts Act will improve the balance between the right to protest and the rights of others about their business.”
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