[JURIST] UK government terrorism law watchdog Lord Carlile of Berriew [party profile] Tuesday warned against the country opting out of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) [PDF text] in the process of adopting tougher anti-terrorism legislation [JURIST report] and expanding the scope of control orders [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. Carlile said he believes opting out of the ECHR would be unnecessary, and would lead to clashes between parliament and the judiciary. He made the comments while giving the keynote address at the Royal United Service Institute [official website] conference on International Homeland Security and Resilience [event information], referring specifically to the official backlash against control orders [JURIST report] after three terror suspects subject to the orders were absconded [RUSI analysis].
In March, the UK parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights [official website; JURIST news archive] said that control orders violate the ECHR [JURIST report] and should give way to actual criminal prosecutions. Control orders were first issued [JURIST report] by the Tony Blair government in 2005 and, in addition to being politically controversial, have run into repeated problems in the courts [JURIST report]. Epolitix has more.