Theresa May's human rights comments 'a gift to authoritarian regimes' - UN official
2 min read
Theresa May's recent comments about changing human rights laws to deal with terrorism were "highly regrettable" and a "gift" to tyrannical governments, the UN's human rights chief has claimed.
Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the high commissioner for human rights, attacked the Prime Minister for saying she would look to restrict the movement of suspects, even if there was "not enough evidence to prosecute".
Following the London Bridge terror attack earlier this month Mrs May announced a plan for a series of new anti-terror measures and said "if human rights laws stop us from doing it, we will change those laws so we can do it".
At a speech in London, Prince Zeid strongly condemned her comments, saying: “Whatever the intention behind her remarks, they were highly regrettable, a gift from a major western leader to every authoritarian figure around the world who shamelessly violates human rights under the pretext of fighting terrorism."
He also hit out at what he claimed was a press culture of denigrating human rights law, which he said had fed through to some parts of the British public.
“Human rights law has long been ridiculed by an influential tabloid press here in the UK, feeding with relish on what it paints as the absurd findings of the European court of human rights in Strasbourg,” he said.
“This viewpoint has some resonance with a slice of the public unaware of the importance of international human rights law – often seen by far too many people as too removed from everyday life, very continental, too lawyerly, too activist, ultimately too weird.”
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