'Cloak of secrecy' warning over government's justice and security proposals

As the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights published a report criticising the government’s proposals in its Justice and Security Green Paper as “inherently unfair”, Amnesty International UK Policy Adviser Tara Lyle said:

“David Cameron has long promised to get to the bottom of serious allegations of complicity in human rights abuses by UK officials.

“Instead the government is proposing new laws that would actually throw a cloak of secrecy around these cases, frustrating efforts to ever get to the truth.

“The victims of human rights abuses as well as the general public should know the truth about whether and how government officials have been involved in human rights violations like rendition, secret detention and torture.

“If members of the intelligence and security services are suspected of involvement in violations of human rights, the government should not be able to invoke ‘national security’ to avoid real accountability.”

Amnesty has previously made a submission to the government of its own concerns and has also given written and oral evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights.