The Strategist

Cameron: Convention on the Rights Needs to be Changed According to the Interests of Great Britain



06/03/2015 - 17:40



In 2014, the country's Interior Minister Theresa May announced that Great Britain can refuse to carry out the clauses of the present Convention. It is known that David Cameron suggested the same idea before. In his opinion, it is absolutely necessary to rethink radically country’s relations with the European institutions.



Ben Fisher/GAVI Alliance
Ben Fisher/GAVI Alliance
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron says that Britain may withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights if it is not changed in accordance with the interests of the British.

In 2014, the country's Interior Minister Theresa May announced that Britain can refuse to carry out the clauses of the Convention. It is known that David Cameron suggested the same idea before. In his opinion, it is absolutely necessary to rethink radically country’s relations with the European institutions, because the British government must be able to deport illegal immigrants and criminals. Great Britain faced with such difficulties while trying to deport an extremist Abu Qatada, whose lawyers were able to prolong the extradition procedure for eight years by means of appealing to the clauses of the Convention.

"We take a clear position on this situation. We want the British judges to take the decision in the British courts. These plans do not include a withdrawal of the convention, but let's be honest – what if we do not get exactly what we want? I'll do anything to achieve this result", - said David Cameron in the Parliament on Wednesday, responding to the questions from members of the House of Commons about his government plans to keep circulation and withdraw from the Convention.

The Conservatives who control the Parliament and form a government intend to pass a number of laws that would restrict the actions of human rights legislation and reduce the influence of the European Court of Human Rights to the situation in Britain. In particular, during the talks with the deputies, Cameron said that it was absolutely necessary to review the rules of the laws according to which foreign criminals could avoid deportation in case their families lived in Britain. The Conservatives have already announced their intention to replace the existing laws by common “bill of rights of Great Britain”.

The European Convention on Human Rights was signed in 1950 and entered into force in 1953. Disputes about the violation of the Convention, whose members include all the countries of the Council of Europe, are considered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The UK, having participated in the European Court of Human Rights since 1998, let the British taxpayers pay 4.4 billion pounds (more than $ 7 billion). Moreover, terrorists, murderers and those who commit sexual offenses were among the plaintiffs.

The most notorious case was the procedure of deportation from the UK of the Islamic radical Abu Qatada, accused of involvement in terrorist activities. Lawyers of the accused, trying to prevent the extradition of their client, accused Britain of violating his rights and filed a lawsuit with the ECHR. The court ordered to pay to Abu Qatada, which was announced in the UK as one of the most dangerous criminals, compensation in the sum of two thousand pounds, and in fact suspended the deportation. As a result, the radical was expelled, but this took British authorities about eight years.

source:theguardian.com