Clause 26 - Publication of Reports
Inquiries Bill [Lords]
9:25 am
Mr Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Huntingdon, Conservative)
Welcome to the Committee in your capacity as Chairman, Mr. Gale. You will have seen how far we got on Tuesday, which will hopefully enable us to have a short day today. It is fair to point out in that regard the debt that the Committee owes to the experience and thoroughness of their noble lordships, who have enabled us to centre on the key outstanding issues, of which the Committee will appreciate there are a number at this stage.
I have already spoken at some length about the increased ministerial powers granted by the Bill and the damage that it is likely to cause to the independence and effectiveness of inquiries. I shall not repeat at length the arguments that were set out under the previous set of amendments, although I underline that the same principles apply to this group.
I draw the Committee’s attention to a joint statement issued on 22 March by Amnesty International, British Irish Rights Watch, the Committee on the Administration of Justice, Human Rights First, the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association, Inquest, Justice, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada, the Law Society of England and Wales, the Pat Finucane centre and the Scottish Human Rights centre. The pertinent statement ends:
“On 15th March, 2005, Judge Peter Cory, a retired Canadian Supreme Court justice who was appointed by the British and Irish governments in 2002 to investigate allegations of state collusion in six controversial murder cases, wrote a letter expressing his own fears about the potential effects of the Inquiries Bill. He described the Bill as ‘unfortunate to say the least’ and with specific reference to the case of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane stated, ‘It seems to me that the proposed new Act would make a meaningful inquiry impossible.’ Judge Cory noted that ‘the Minister, the actions of whose ministry was to be reviewed by the public inquiry would have the authority to thwart the efforts of the inquiry at every step’ and he concluded that he ‘cannot contemplate any self respecting Canadian judge accepting an appointment to an inquiry constituted under the new proposed act’.
We agree with all of these views and urge Parliament to take them very seriously. An inquiry held under the Bill as currently drafted would not be effective, independent, impartial or thorough, nor would the evidence presented to it be subject to sufficient public scrutiny. Such an inquiry would fall far short of the requirement of international human rights law that an effective remedy be provided to the victims of human rights violations. Moreover, the passage of the Inquiries Bill in its current form would do great harm to the tradition of public inquiries in the UK and would undermine the important principles of accountability and transparency. In order to command public confidence, it is absolutely necessary that an inquiries system permit close independent public scrutiny and provide for the active participation of the relevant victims. The Inquiries Bill does not do this.”
Those are serious and contemplative words, indeed.
Amendments Nos. 26 to 29 seek to address the imbalance of powers between the Minister and the chairman in relation to the publication of an inquiry’s report.