Parents Against Injustice
Parents Against Injustice
Stop foreign criminals using ‘family rights’ to dodge justice
Stop foreign criminals using ‘family rights’ to dodge justice
Heavyweight politicians from all sides today back a Sunday Telegraph campaign to stop foreign criminals from claiming the right to a “family life” to avoid being deported.
A former Labour home secretary forms a coalition with her ex-Conservative shadow to demand a review of British human rights legislation which has led to a number of cases which have sparked public outrage.
Britain’s courts have consistently allowed appeals on the grounds of human rights from foreign criminals who committed serious offences in the UK – with a growing number claiming they have the right to a “family life” which would be under threat if they were deported.
Last year more than 200 foreign offenders successfully avoided being sent home using this method.
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) grants everyone “the right to respect for his private and family life” – although it also goes on to list a number of exceptions including the “prevention of disorder or crime”.
A growing numbers of campaigners for change, including MPs, claim judges in Britain are ignoring these exceptions. Criminals who lose their cases in Britain are able to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
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This newspaper is calling on David Cameron and his ministers, as a first step, to review the British laws which cite Article 8 of the ECHR – the 1998 Human Rights Act and the 2007 UK Borders Act – with a view to removing the family life defence from legislation.
David Davis, the former Tory shadow home secretary, said: “Support for real human rights has been undermined by people abusing the system.
“Foremost amongst them are foreign criminals who misuse family rights as a way of protecting themselves from the proper operation of justice.”
Jacqui Smith, who was Labour home secretary when the UK Borders Act became law, said: “This is something I found extremely frustrating at the time.
“Recent judgments have been completely on the wrong side of common sense and public opinion. The time has come for a fresh look at this issue, at the very least.”
Lord Carlile, the Liberal Democrat peer who has acted as independent reviewer of government anti-terror laws, is another supporter of reform of European-engendered human rights laws. Earlier this year he said European judges had turned Britain into a “safe haven” for foreign terrorists.
Dominic Raab, the Conservative MP who will spearhead a parliamentary battle for legislative changes, said: “Gordon Brown promised automatic deportation of foreign criminals, but the legislation he introduced made that impossible.
“We should repeal the express human rights exemption to the UK Borders Act 2007, and make clear that tenuous family links are not enough to frustrate a deportation order.
“The Coalition may not be able to agree on repealing the Human Rights Act. But it should, at least as an interim measure, look at bespoke changes that give the Supreme Court the last word on interpreting rights – not the Strasbourg court – and prevent the creeping judicial legislation that has already damaged our border controls.”
Any new law passed by parliament which struck out the family life protection would undoubtedly be challenged by the Strasbourg court. However, judges there do not have any political power to enforce their rulings.
The ultimate sanction would be for the Council of Europe – the body with 47 member states which oversees the Strasbourg court – to threaten Britain with expulsion, but other countries which have been found guilty of flouting human rights laws in the past have not their membership revoked.
Mr Cameron, however, would be unlikely to relish picking a fight with Strasbourg as to do so would harm relations with his Liberal Democrat partners in the Coalition as well as reawakening memories of previous damaging battles between the Conservatives and the European Union.
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