UN Committee against Torture Scrutinizes UK's Human Rights Record

The high-profile examination of the UK’s human rights standards comes in the wake of the “hostile environment” policies aimed at migrants and critical parliamentary reports on complicity in torture of jihadi suspects.

Before the regular country review, held by the UN every five years, a coalition of more than 80 civil society groups has submitted combined evidence highlighting what they believe are failures to protect basic rights.

The committee assesses adherence to the UN convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which the UK ratified in 1988.

The report notes that the UK is the only European country with no time limit on immigration detention. Torture survivors are among those held, while about 1% of all detainees are inside for more than a year.

The UK government has failed to establish an independent judge-led inquiry into allegations of torture overseas, the submission says, despite “strong and credible” evidence of UK involvement in the torture and ill-treatment of suspects held by other states in counter-terrorism operations overseas since 2001. The alleged policy of “outsourcing torture and ill-treatment” avoided the involvement of UK officials.

In England and Wales, prisons remain extremely overcrowded, the coalition’s report states. Assaults in prison are at their highest level in 10 years and the number of deaths at its highest in five years.

There are currently 7,973 men and women held above the Ministry of Justice’s own definition of prisoner numbers that can be sustained with safety and decency, according to the study: “Overcrowding is unevenly distributed across the prison estate. For example, HMP Winchester and HMP Wands worth are operating at 159% and 155% capacity respectively.”

Other problems highlighted by the coalition include:

Asylum seekers do not have the right to work, leaving nearly 75% below the relative poverty line.

A growth in the use by police and prison officers of incapacitants such as electric Tasers and Pava pepper sprays.

The National Preventive Mechanism, the body which inspects places of detention, lacks a clear legislative basis and funding.

A sharp rise, of 36% since 2010, in the number of people detained under the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act.

Rupert Skilbeck, the director of Redress, one of the coordinating charities, said: “The UK prides itself as a global leader in the fight against torture. But as this report makes clear, a culture of tolerance to ill-treatment and even torture has developed in the last five years, and the situation has got worse, not better.”

Corey Stoughton, advocacy director at Liberty, said: “Set in the context of an increasingly hostile environment for migrants and undocumented people, the report paints a disturbing picture. It is high time that the UK lives up to the reputation it sets for itself as a human rights leader and takes seriously its fundamental commitment to the absolute prohibition of torture and other forms of ill-treatment.”

David Isaac, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "We have called on the UK government to introduce a 28-day limit on immigration detention and improve mental health services in the community to reduce the need for people to be detained. Improving Britain’s record on torture and ill-treatment is essential if we are to ensure that everyone can realize their right to live without fear of inhumane treatment or risk being punished.”

Responding to the complaints, a government spokesperson said: “This government is committed to ensuring people in custody are treated fairly and appropriately. We have noted this report and will consider its recommendations in relation to our obligations under the United Nations convention against torture.”

All prisons in England and Wales are within their operational capacity, according to the Ministry of Justice, which maintains that they are safe for inmates. Pava pepper spray, it said, is being introduced to help prevent serious harm to staff and prisoners, the Guardian reported.

The Home Office has defended its immigration detention system as “used only when absolutely necessary”. Earlier this year a Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not detain people indefinitely, and the law does not allow it – most people detained under immigration powers spend only short periods in detention … we are committed to going further and faster with reforms to immigration detention and a comprehensive cross-government programme of work is in hand to deliver on that commitment.”