Letter from the Chair of the Committee
to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor,
dated 21 July 2009
MONITORING THE
GOVERNMENT'S
RESPONSE TO
HUMAN RIGHTS
JUDGMENTS FINDING
BREACHES OF
HUMAN RIGHTS:
ANNUAL REPORT
In our Report on Monitoring the Government's
Response to Court Judgments Finding Breaches of Human Rights,
my Committee agreed to continue its work on scrutiny of the
Government's responses to judgments against the United Kingdom
by the European Court of Human Rights and declarations of incompatibility
made under Section 4 HRA 1998.[17]
In that Report, we confirmed our commitment to taking a more systematic
approach to our work in this area and to producing regular reports
on any significant issues.
In August 2007, we received the first part of
the Government's response to that Report, responding to our recommendations
in respect of individual cases and committing to responding separately
on broader issues. In our Annual Report, published in January
2008, we expressed our concern about the outstanding element of
the Government's response to our recommendations on the mechanisms
for responding to adverse human rights judgments in Government.[18]
In the Government's response to that Report, Michael Wills MP
explained that it was "taking quite some time to investigate
the possibilities in this area, and the extent to which the Committee's
recommendations would be possible and effective".[19]
In October 2008, we published our second annual
report on the Government's response to human rights judgments,
pointing to the Government's continuing failure to respond to
our report and requesting a response by the end of the parliamentary
session.[20]
We also expressed our disappointment at the Government's failure
to respond to our request for a memorandum on the Government's
progress over the previous 12 months in dealing with adverse
judgments.[21]
The Government responded to our report in January 2009 rejecting
our recommendation for a separate annual report on progress in
dealing with adverse judgments as it considered that there would
be little additional benefit.[22]
We are currently preparing for the publication
of their next Report on this issue, which we expect to publish
shortly after our oral evidence session with Michael Wills MP
on 27 October 2009. In advance of our evidence session with
the Minister, we would like to give you an opportunity to submit
written evidence on the Government's work on the implementation
of judgments over the past year. In particular, we would welcome
any of the following:
— Comments or information on the Government's
general work on adverse human rights judgments, either from the
European Court of Human Rights or the domestic courts, since June
2008. In particular, we would be grateful if you could outline
any steps which the UK Government have taken to meet the Recommendation
of the Committee of Ministers on efficient domestic capacity for
rapid execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights
(CM (2008) 2), adopted in February 2008;
— Submissions on progress in respect of
any of the cases considered in our last Report, including any
updated information provided to the Committee of Ministers;
— A brief report on all adverse human rights
judgments, either from the European Court of Human Rights or in
respect of declarations of incompatibility made in our domestic
courts, since June 2008, following the model adopted in the Netherlands
and in line with our previous recommendations. It would assist
our work if this could include:
— the Government's reaction to the case
and any work planned to provide a response to the judgment;
— if no remedial order is planned, we would
be grateful for an explanation why the Government considers a
remedial order is not necessary;
— if the Government intends to bring forward
a remedial order, we would be grateful if you could explain whether
the urgent procedure will be used, and if not, why not.
In order to assist your response, I have attached
a provisional list of cases which we plan to consider in our Report.
We have already written to individual departments in relation
to these cases. We plan to publish this letter, and to invite
members of the public and civil society to submit evidence to
us on these issues.
I have copied this letter to Michael Wills MP,
and to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,
as I understand that the Minister, or officials at the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office who work closely with the Committee of
Ministers on the implementation of Strasbourg Judgments, may also
wish to write to the Committee on these issues.
21 July 2009
17 Sixteenth Report of Session 2006-07, Monitoring
the Government's Response to Court Judgment Finding Breaches of
Human Rights, paras 155-163. Back
18
Sixth Report of Session 2007-08, The Work of the Committee in
2007 and the State of Human Rights in the UK, Appendix, para
19. Back
19
Eighteenth Report of Session 2007-08, Government Response to the
Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2007-08: The Work of the Committee
in 2007 and the State of Human Rights in the UK, Appendix,
para 19. Back
20
Thirty-first Report of Session 2007-08, Monitoring the Government's
Response to Human Rights Judgments: Annual Report 2008, para 9. Back
21
Para 14. Back
22
Responding to Human Rights Judgments: Government Response to the
Joint Committee on Human Rights' Thirty-first Report of Session
2007-08, Cm 7524, para 36 Back
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