The United Nations Association - UK (UNA-UK) supports recent calls for the UK Government to explain its apparent U-turn over an inquiry into torture and rendition.
The Government has repeatedly promised a comprehensive, independent, judge-led inquiry into allegations of UK complicity in the extraordinary rendition and torture of terror suspects - including through commitments made to the UN Human Rights Council during its Universal Periodic Review in 2012, and its review last year by the UN Committee Against Torture.
UNA-UK was therefore disappointed by the Government's announcement last December to hand this over to the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), a body answerable only to the Prime Minister, and which has produced unsatisfactory results in the past (see below). There are serious concerns that an ISC inquiry would not meet UN guidelines as to what constitutes an independent inquiry.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary William Hague and Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood, 10 human rights NGOs ask that the Government explain how it will "reconcile the limitations inherent in the ISC’s mandate and powers with the obligation under international law that the government conduct an independent, effective, thorough and impartial investigation".
UNA-UK's Chairman, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, and Policy & Advocacy Officer Hayley Richardson, recently met with Andrew Tyrie MP, to discuss these concerns. In his capacity as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition, Mr Tyrie has written separately to Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP, Chair of the ISC, asking the Committee to set out the parameters of this second inquiry as soon as possible.
Background
- July 2007: ISC published a report which said there was “no evidence that the UK Agencies were complicit in any 'extraordinary rendition’ operations”
- July 2010: the Prime Minister announced that there would be an independent inquiry into allegations of UK involvement in torture and rendition
- 2010-2012: the Detainee Inquiry, chaired by Sir Peter Gibson, analysed 20,000 related documents, though its work was boycotted by NGOs for lacking an independent mechanism for determining what material would be disclosed
- January 2012: the work of the Detainee Inquiry was brought to a close when criminal investigations into alleged UK involvement were established
- June 2012: Sir Peter submitted the Detainee Inquiry report to the Prime Minister
- December 2013: the Cabinet Office released the report, which highlighted 27 areas of concern the Inquiry would like to have investigated further, and announced that the ISC would take this forward
Click here to read the NGO letter in full.
Click here for UNA-UK's briefing on the UN system and extraordinary rendition.
Photo: © UN Photo/Christopher Herwig. Prisoners in an over-crowded facility in Nimba county, Liberia.
