United Nations Radio

The United Nations human rights committee has raised concern over the treatment of terrorism suspects in France and the United Kingdom.

The committee which has been holding its 93rd session in Geneva said suspects are being detained without charges for long periods and also denied immediate access to legal representation. The committee says such acts were in violation of the international covenant on civil and political rights.

Patrick Maigua reports from Geneva:

"A terrorism suspect can be detained for up to 28 days without charge in the United Kingdom while in France terrorism suspects in police custody were guaranteed access to a lawyer only after 72 hours. Ivan Shearer a member of the committee says although the threat of terrorism requires that states take special measures, parties to the international covenant on civil and political rights are obliged to seek exemption from provisions of the covenant when dealing with terrorism suspects.

'If it is thought that the general law is insufficient to deal with those cases they may exercise their rights under article 4 of the covenant to make a declaration that for a limited time and limited purposes that they may need to take some special measures and then the committee will consider that those special measures are necessary and proportionate in order to meet the need. The United Kingdom has not made any formal statement of derogation to the Secretary General of the UN who is the depository of our covenant saying that the circumstances require a lengthy time of detention.'

In its report in France, the Human rights committee raised concern over the large number of illegal migrants and asylum seekers in detention and acts of ill treatment perpetrated by law enforcement officials against foreign nationals. The committee urged France to review its detention policy in regards to foreign nationals and establish adequate systems for monitoring and deterring abuses by law enforcement officials. Patrick Maigua UN Radio Geneva."

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