UK police must end stop and search without suspicion
13 January 2010, 10:35AM
The UK government must scrap abusive, discriminatory and unlawful powers that allow the police to stop and search without reasonable suspicion, Amnesty International said after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that their use was illegal.
The European court has been hearing a case involving two protesters, Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton, who were stopped near a protest against an arms fair in London in 2003 by police acting under the 2000 Terrorism Act, which allows senior officers to authorise stop and search procedures without reasonable suspicion.
The Court ruled their right to respect for a private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.
“These police powers to stop and search under the Terrorism Act clearly violate people’s right to privacy and family life and the government must act urgently to scrap them,” said Halya Gowan of Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Programme.
The Court also said it was "struck by the statistical and other evidence" showing that these powers disproportionately affected black and Asian people, although the applicants in this case were not from a Black or Asian minority ethnic background.
In the past, Amnesty International expressed serious concern about police powers to stop and search people without suspicion of any wrongdoing.
“These powers also contravene the rights to liberty, freedom of expression and assembly, and freedom from arbitrary detention, all of which the UK is bound to uphold," said Halya Gowan.
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Michael Wild
13 January 2010, 09:31PM
If this is against the laws then the laws need to be changed. I know young men from racial minorities and of lower social economic status will get annoyed being checked more frequently. That’s understandable human nature. But searches are brief. We’re not talking about weeks in detention without charges, being jailed for your beliefs, torture or the death penalty. Frankly it’s in the interest of angry young men that there are as few knives or weapons on the street as possible. Amnesty International has an excellent reputation for being a sensible, reasonable organization that non Labour and Green voters can comfortably support. If this keeps up it won’t be. Do we really want to be known as LOAP? (Leftists Only Amnesty Provincial).
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