The Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary of the United Kingdom David Lammy has underscored the British Government’s commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights during an exchange of views on 1 December with the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in London, noting that the Convention “upholds the values of a civilised society” and benefits everyone across the UK.
But he added there was nonetheless “an appetite for reform” in the face of unprecedented levels of migration across Europe, and said the Convention should now evolve to address modern challenges.
He informed the committee of coming changes in UK domestic law to tighten the application of Article 8 of the Convention for migrants in the UK and said he would discuss reform of the Convention – together with other countries – to clarify how the notion of “inhuman or degrading treatment” under Article 3 of the Convention is applied in the migration context.
Despina Chatzivassiliou, the Assembly’s Secretary General, distinguished between any domestic changes and wider reform, if ever needed, at the international level. She said that any discussions on the latter should be conducted by all member states “calmly, thoroughly and democratically”. Council of Europe justice and other ministers are due to hold an informal meeting in Strasbourg on 10 December.
Also taking part in the committee’s meeting were the former judge in respect of the UK on the Strasbourg Court, Tim Eicke KC, members of the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights and the House of Lords Constitution Committee, and the President of the Council of Europe’s Anti-torture Committee (CPT). Issues discussed during these exchanges included the ECHR system, the rule of law, artificial intelligence, transnational repression and the work of the CPT.
The Assembly’s Sub-Committee on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights also met separately a day later to discuss how the implementation of Strasbourg Court rulings by states could contribute to deeper democratic security across Europe, as well as how to ensure the implementation of rulings against Russia.
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