Europe’s human rights watchdog has raised concerns about the policing of protests in the UK following arrests over the ban on Palestine Action, and called for broader protest laws to be reviewed.In a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Council of Europe human rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty said law changes had allowed authorities to “impose excessive limits on freedom of assembly”.Responding in a statement, Mahmood said the right to protest was “a fundamental freedom” but had to be balanced with the right of people to live “without fear”.O’Flaherty also wrote to two chairs of parliamentary committees expressing “concern about the current climate for trans people in the UK”.As commissioner, Mr O’Flaherty is tasked with identifying potential shortcomings in human rights law in countries that are signed up to the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, including the UK.The Conservative Party recently announced it would leave the convention if it wins the next general election, while the Labour government has said it is reviewing how it is applied in UK law in relation to asylum cases.It is understood the home secretary plans to respond to Mr O’Flaherty’s letter, which was sent last month and published by the commissioner on Tuesday.A government source said Mahmood took a “dim view of the arguments” and “fundamentally disagrees with the assessment”. “It doesn’t help sustain public confidence in the European Convention when the council is seen to intervene in domestic politics and national security in this way.”Allies of Mahmood also said that she considers the Supreme Co …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnEurope’s human rights watchdog has raised concerns about the policing of protests in the UK following arrests over the ban on Palestine Action, and called for broader protest laws to be reviewed.In a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Council of Europe human rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty said law changes had allowed authorities to “impose excessive limits on freedom of assembly”.Responding in a statement, Mahmood said the right to protest was “a fundamental freedom” but had to be balanced with the right of people to live “without fear”.O’Flaherty also wrote to two chairs of parliamentary committees expressing “concern about the current climate for trans people in the UK”.As commissioner, Mr O’Flaherty is tasked with identifying potential shortcomings in human rights law in countries that are signed up to the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights, including the UK.The Conservative Party recently announced it would leave the convention if it wins the next general election, while the Labour government has said it is reviewing how it is applied in UK law in relation to asylum cases.It is understood the home secretary plans to respond to Mr O’Flaherty’s letter, which was sent last month and published by the commissioner on Tuesday.A government source said Mahmood took a “dim view of the arguments” and “fundamentally disagrees with the assessment”. “It doesn’t help sustain public confidence in the European Convention when the council is seen to intervene in domestic politics and national security in this way.”Allies of Mahmood also said that she considers the Supreme Co …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
