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Terrorism Bill

The amendment causes me deep concern. I agree with a lot of what the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, said about human rights, but the amendment seeks to limit the circumstances in which the Attorney-General or Advocate General could give such consent. Consent could not be given where the country concerned was believed to have a poor human rights record and the person to be prosecuted was thought to have been involved in or to have encouraged action other than a deliberate killing of members of the public. There is no attempt to define what constitutes grave breaches of human rights; I can see lengthy arguments in court on this very point. It is not just a theoretical point; in the context of the UK/US extradition treaty, the noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, and some of his noble friends have often been very critical of the human rights records of the United States, or certain states within it—so presumably it would be intended that that should be covered by the exclusion as well. It is so wide that it would make extradition virtually impossible in many cases. Could my noble friend the Minister say whether the existing provision provides more safeguards than exist in similar situations in France and Germany? Signing a memorandum of agreement and the subsequent monitoring of the situation allow us to shine a light on the human rights record of the regime involved, as well as allowing us to provide human rights training in the legal system of the recipient country. So I would certainly feel uncomfortable if the amendment was passed.