Reforming Control Orders must be more than a rebrand, says Amnesty

Amnesty International today (6 January) insisted that reform of control orders, hinted at yesterday by Prime Minister David Cameron, must acknowledge the fundamental human rights concerns with the system and not be a mere rebranding exercise driven by political concerns.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

“Before the election the Liberal Democrats clearly recognised that control orders are so incompatible with liberty and fair trials that they needed to be scrapped. We hope this will be one of the commitments the coalition chooses to live up to. Any proposed alternative must focus on human rights and security, not on political points-scoring between the coalition parties.

“Reforming the control order system should not be a mere rebranding exercise. The government must respect the fair trial guarantees of the ordinary criminal justice system whenever people are deprived of their liberty on the basis of criminal accusations."

Amnesty has consistently called on the UK government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 and abandon the use of control orders, which can violate people’s rights to liberty, freedom of movement, expression, association and privacy.