HL 86, HC 859 - Legislative Scrutiiny: Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill


Book Description

Recommends amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill to ensure that private (or voluntary) sector care homes which accommodate publicly-funded residents are brought within the scope of the Human Rights Act. House of Commons papers 303 2007-08.




Digital Privacy, Terrorism and Law Enforcement


Book Description

This book examines the UK’s response to terrorist communication. Its principle question asks, has individual privacy and collective security been successfully managed and balanced? The author begins by assessing several technologically-based problems facing British law enforcement agencies, including use of the Internet; the existence of ‘darknet’; untraceable Internet telephone calls and messages; smart encrypted device direct messaging applications; and commercially available encryption software. These problems are then related to the traceability and typecasting of potential terrorists, showing that law enforcement agencies are searching for needles in the ever-expanding haystacks. To this end, the book examines the bulk powers of digital surveillance introduced by the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. The book then moves on to assess whether these new powers and the new legislative safeguards introduced are compatible with international human rights standards. The author creates a ‘digital rights criterion’ from which to challenge the bulk surveillance powers against human rights norms. Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE QC in recommending this book notes this particular legal advancement, commenting that rightly so the author concludes the UK has fairly balanced individual privacy with collective security. The book further analyses the potential impact on intelligence exchange between the EU and the UK, following Brexit. Using the US as a case study, the book shows that UK laws must remain within the ambit of EU law and the Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU's) jurisprudence, to maintain the effectiveness of the exchange. It addresses the topics with regard to terrorism and counterterrorism methods and will be of interest to researchers, academics, professionals, and students researching counterterrorism and digital electronic communications, international human rights, data protection, and international intelligence exchange.




House of Lords - House of Commons - Joint Committee on Human Rights: The Implications for Access to Justice of the Government's Proposals to Reform Legal Aid - HL 100 - HC 766


Book Description

The report The Implications For Access To Justice Of The Government's Proposals To Reform Legal Aid (HL100, HC 766) concludes that the government should reconsider its proposals for the reform of legal aid. The government has so far made welcome exemptions to its proposed residence test in the light of responses to its consultation, but the Committee is still not satisfied that the proposed test will not affect vulnerable groups. While accepting that it is legitimate for the government to introduce a residence test for civil legal aid and to restrict the scope of prison law funding, the Committee calls for more and broader exemptions from these proposals to avoid breaches of the fundamental right of effective access to justice in individual cases. The exceptional funding framework may not be working as intended and could therefore leave certain groups unable to access legal aid when human rights law requires it. The proposal to remove cases with




Accountability and Review in the Counter-Terrorist State


Book Description

Counter-terrorism is now a permanent and sprawling part of the legislative and operational apparatus of the state, yet little is known about the law and practice of how it is reviewed, how effective the review mechanisms are, what impact they have or how they interact with one another. This book addresses that gap in knowledge by presenting the first comprehensive, critical analysis of counter-terrorism review in the United Kingdom, informed by exclusive interviews with policy makers, politicians, practitioners and civil society.




Fenwick on Civil Liberties & Human Rights


Book Description

More than merely describing the evolution of human rights and civil liberties law, this classic textbook provides students with detailed and thought-provoking coverage of the most crucial developments in the field, clearly explaining the law in context and practice. Updated throughout for this new edition, Fenwick on Civil Liberties and Human Rights considers a number of recent major changes in the law – in particular proposals to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, and the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 – whilst also contextualising the impact of reforms on hate speech and contempt due to advances in new media. Comprehensive and authoritative, this textbook offers an essential resource for students on human rights or civil liberties courses, as well as a useful reference for students and scholars of UK Public Law.




Security and Human Rights


Book Description

This is the second edition of the acclaimed Security and Human Rights, first published in 2007. Reconciling issues of security with a respect for fundamental human rights has become one of the key challenges facing governments throughout the world. The first edition broke the disciplinary confines in which security was often analysed before and after the events of 11 September 2001. The second edition continues in this tradition, presenting a collection of essays from leading academics and practitioners in the fields of criminal justice, public law, privacy law, international law, and critical social theory. The collection offers genuinely multidisciplinary perspectives on the relationship between security and human rights. In addition to exploring how the demands of security might be reconciled with the protection of established rights, Security and Human Rights provides fresh insight into the broader legal and political challenges that lie ahead as states attempt to control crime, prevent terrorism, and protect their citizens. The volume features a set of new essays that engage with the most pressing questions facing security and human rights in the twenty-first century and is essential reading for all those working in the area.




HL 114, HC 749 - The Next National Security Strategy


Book Description

The last five years have seen a range of international developments, ranging from the growth of radicalisation and fundamentalism, to growing concerns around our energy supply, and rising aggression from Russia. The NSS must be flexible enough to support contingency planning, and in this Report the Committee recommends that the Government produce a classified NSS or annex which can be used in Government departments to influence planning assumptions for a range of scenarios. In its report the Committee said that the next NSS should look hard at the UK's place within the international order, and what strategic thinking should underpin its actions over the next five years. It also needs to influence the Comprehensive Spending Review, to ensure that the Government can make fully-informed decisions on security-related spending. The next NSS should set clear objectives for the UK's future place in the world and geopolitical priorities, and inform the Strategic Defence and Security Review's assessment of the means required to achieve them.




HL 106, HC 594 - Violence Against Women and Girls


Book Description

The Government's progressive work on tackling violence against women and girls abroad is not translating into its domestic policy, despite its Violence against Women and Girls Action Strategy and the Home Secretary's personal commitment to the issue. The Committee warns that failure to provide adequate refuge spaces and specialist services for victims of violence against women and girls demonstrates the difficulty for the Government in fulfilling its international obligations under the Convention when decisions over commissioning of certain services has been devolved. The Committee also expresses alarm at the prevalence of violence against women and girls across many cultures in the UK today, and heard troubling evidence from many minority groups that represent women with particular needs. The portrayal of women as victims of violence is deeply embedded in cultural stereotypes, in the depiction of women in the media and in how women are treated in the asylum system. This has to stop The Committee's recommendations include that: schools should play a greater role and include issues of violence against women and girls within the PSHE curriculum; whilst the Government has taken steps to engage with the media and with public awareness campaigns to counteract the sexualised portrayal of women, noting that the BBC declined invitations to give evidence to this inquiry, the media themselves should do more; the Government look again at the payment of universal credit to couples because of its concerns that it could put women subject to domestic violence at risk.




Legislative Scrutiny


Book Description

The purpose of the report Legislative Scrutiny: Justice and Security Bill (HL 59 & HC 372) is to focus specifically on practical ways in which the Justice and Security Bill could be improved by amending it to accommodate the many human rights concerns it raises. The Committee welcomes some of the significant changes which have been made to the proposals in the Green Paper ( Published: 19 Oct 2011 ISBN: 9780101819428 ), but considers that the proposals in the Bill extending closed material procedures into civil proceedings still constitute a radical departure from the UK's constitutional tradition of open justice and fairness. The report recommends that: The Bill's scope should be limited to the two narrow categories of material suggested by the Intelligence and Security Committee, namely: UK intelligence material which would reveal the identity of UK intelligence officers or their sources and their capability; and




Parliament


Book Description

This collection of essays by leading academics, lawyers, parliamentarians and parliamentary officials provides a critical assessment of the UK Parliament's two main constitutional roles-as a legislature and as the preeminent institution for calling government to account. Both functions are undergoing change and facing new challenges. Part 1 (Legislation) includes chapters on Parliament's emerging responsibilities for pre-legislative scrutiny of government Bills and for evaluating proposed legislation against explicit constitutional standards. The impact on legislation of the European Union and the growing influence of the House of Lords are also examined. Part 2 (Accountability) investigates how Parliament operates to scrutinise areas of executive action previously often shielded from effective parliamentary oversight, including national security, war-making powers and administrative justice. There are also chapters on parliamentary reform, including analysis of the House of Commons 'Wright reforms', parliamentary sovereignty, privilege and the European Convention on Human Rights, Euroscepticism, and parliamentary sovereignty and the regulation of lobbyists. The book will be of interest to anyone who is curious about the work of Parliament and is aimed at legal academics, practitioners and political scientists.