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Torture (Damages) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, too, start by paying a warm tribute to my noble and learned friend Lord Archer of Sandwell. He was a respected and distinguished law officer in a previous Government of whom I was a part. His outstanding legal ability and integrity have always been clear. As the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, said, he has had a lifelong commitment to justice in its fullest sense and to human rights irrespective of national boundaries. He is a challenging, practical humanitarian. The nature of torture cannot be overemphasised. It is so easy to retreat into arid, academic discussions about torture in a disembodied form. The physical, psychological and emotional damage can be unspeakable, and it can remain with the victim for life. Like other noble Lords, I imagine, I have received a good deal of briefing material from people concerned about the issues raised by the Bill. I do no disservice to the quality of all those representations if I pick out one that struck me very forcefully, which came from Redress, Fair Trials International and Liberty. It uses the example of the case of a mainstream British citizen to spell out the point. I hope that I will be forgiven if I quote from the briefing: "““Les Walker, from Liverpool, was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia in February 2001 for more than 900 days without recourse to any legal remedy. For four months he was kept in total isolation and he was systematically tortured over 10 weeks. He was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison after a secret trial ... Prior to his detention, Les worked as a project manager in Saudi ""Arabia, responsible for the running and maintenance of a large housing and hotel complex ... On returning to the UK Les found his life completely turned around. As the result of being tortured, his blood pressure became very unstable resulting in numerous periods of hospitalisation. He suffered broken teeth and serious problems with his feet as the result of beatings … His experiences have left him unable to function as before—he says he tends to panic in situations where he is surrounded by people. He has flashbacks and nightmares of his ordeal. He spends a lot of time on his own and is unable to concentrate for more than short periods … Les is unable to work and consequently is dependant on State benefits for his daily needs. He lives in a small 1 bedroom council flat and says he does not have the mental ability to learn new skills due to his lack of concentration … Les has not received any apology or compensation for what happened to him. If Les were to succeed in bringing a claim against his torturers, he says, this would allow him a greater chance to live the life he hoped to have previously””." That is an example of a Briton, but his story could be repeated even more tellingly countless times across the world. Financial redress will bring some compensation but, more importantly, the public recognition of solidarity with the victim and, I hope, a deterrent to future use of torture will be the outcomes. There can be no doubt that the victims of torture deserve all possible support. However, while financial compensation can be an important part of this—although, as my noble friend has emphasised, there will always be the question of whether the judgments of a court will be enforced—it can never make good what has happened to the individual. I wish to pay a strong tribute to the non-governmental organisations and individuals who have worked with victims of torture. It is a highly sensitive and demanding task. They, too, deserve all possible support. Unfortunately, too often, they do not get it. All those involved in relevant social policy and its implementation at the face-to-face level of the individual and all those involved in the administration of our legal and immigration systems should be helped to understand and have constantly in mind the physical and mental realities of the effect of torture. All need to be alert to detect victims who may not easily speak out about their experiences. Clearly, the Home Office, police, immigration authorities, the Ministry of Justice, the Prison Service, work and pensions, housing administrators, education authorities and local authorities have lead responsibilities in this respect. How our society treats victims is one of the tests of our genuine commitment to the values that we constantly profess as fundamental to our society. This Bill is focused. The present situation in which recompense can be sought only in a country where torture has happened is unacceptable. What standards can really be expected of the legal and governmental systems in countries where torture is condoned or even endemic? In this context, there is a great deal of perhaps wilfully self-deceptive thinking on the parts of Governments who strike intergovernmental deals supposedly guaranteeing that no torture will be applied to those who are compelled under security policy to return to their country of origin. One cannot help occasionally wondering how much real experience of such countries those involved in these deals have had. Significantly, such deals, by seeking reassurance are tacit acceptance of the existence of torture and do little to isolate and condemn those who practise it. Successful cases brought under this Bill would be not only a significant boost to the victim—although implementation of the findings would remain a challenge—but bring accumulating public pressure on the Governments and legal systems at fault. Even where an accused Government are able to sustain a case that the torturer was acting independently of state authority, the very occasion of the court proceedings will bring pressure to tighten up on and eliminate such vile practices. I have one anxiety about the Bill. We must all constantly beware, lest we inadvertently drift into a culture of de facto acceptance of the existence of torture and a hapless concentration on ameliorating its adverse effects upon the victims—although that is vital. Similarly, the Bill must not inadvertently play into the wishful argument that such things happen only abroad or at the hands of those who serve foreign Governments. Our values and standards within the authority of the United Kingdom must always be exemplary and a high-priority commitment. It is, therefore, disturbing that there have recently been too many indications that we need desperately to reassert those values and standards. What has been, in effect, ambivalence about the use of torture by other states to obtain so-called evidence of use to us is a matter of deep concern. The greatest challenge is relentlessly to push forward to ensure that sadistic and cruel practice, with all its terrible effects on its victims, coupled with the brutalisation of its practitioners and of the values of their wider community, is globally abolished. Not to recommit ourselves to that struggle demeans us all; it undermines as the core value of our society a commitment to respect the inherent dignity of the individual for the sacrosanct nature of life and for the body as a vehicle for that life. There has arguably been a weakening of resolve in parts of the world, from which I wish I could say with confidence that we in the United Kingdom have been totally immune. There has been—I must use the word again—ambivalence, let alone appalling official endorsement of waterboarding, so-called soft torture, backed up by totally illegal rendition and the sinister overt or, indeed, covert deals with other Governments and their public servants on interrogation techniques. Post-Second World War statesmen and stateswomen had it right. With the vivid and grim experience of that war and what led up to it, they spelt it out. Torture is a barbaric and grave crime against civilisation which should be eliminated worldwide. I warmly support this Bill and hope that we shall all rededicate ourselves to this even greater challenge.