http://www.guardian.co.uk/idcards/story/0,15642,1404479,00.html
The government’s plans for compulsory identity cards raise serious questions about human rights and the invasion of privacy, an influential all-party group of MPs and peers has warned.
The joint parliamentary committee on human rights has also sharply criticised ministers for claiming that their ID card legislation is compatible with human rights conventions without giving any explanation to support the claim.
The report from the committee of MPs and peers, chaired by the Labour MP Jean Corston, says they have serious human rights concerns over key parts of the legislation including:
· The extent of personal information held on the central computer register.
· The potential for personal information to be recorded without the knowledge or consent of the individual concerned.
· The potential for discrimination by making registration compulsory for certain groups, such as foreign nationals.
· Personal information that can be disclosed to public service providers as a condition of access to public services.
· Provision for extensive data sharing across both the public and private sectors.
The committee said: “The information which the bill envisages will be held on the register allows for significant intrusion into private life.”
The committee’s report was welcomed by the Liberal Democrats and by Liberty, the civil rights organisation. The Lib Dem president, Simon Hughes, said Charles Clarke “must listen to this crystal-clear warning”. Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty said it was meticulous in pointing up the numerous flaws in the legislation.
But the Home Office said it would respond in due course to the committee’s concerns, adding that the MPs and peers had also concluded that the European convention on human rights did not prevent the issue of any form of identity card.
“Twenty-one out of the 25 European states have identity card schemes, which underlines the point that ID cards do not raise concerns under the convention,” said a Home Office spokesman.
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ID cards put human rights at risk, say MPs and peers – Independent 3 Feb 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=607251
Proposals for ID cards which lie at the heart of Tony Blair’s pre-election programme were dealt a devastating blow yesterday as senior MPs and peers declared they risked infringing human rights.
Plans for compulsory biometric ID cards and a national identity database could breach the right to privacy and protection against discrimination enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, a powerful committee of MPs and peers said. A report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, which checks that all law complies with the convention, warned that the legislation contained a string of potential breaches.
Human rights campaigners and MPs condemned ID cards for heralding a “surveillance society” and said yesterday’s report struck at the core of the Government’s plans. But Downing Street insisted planned ID cards would not violate international human rights law. It warned that doubts had been raised about the use of cards in preventing terrorism or crime, one of the key justifications for ID cards in human rights law.
Wide-ranging powers to hold information without consent, make cards compulsory for people applying for passports and allow organisations inside and outside government to access information about people all raised serious questions, the committee said.
In a letter to Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, the committee demanded answers to 14 questions about the impact of the ID Card Bill on human rights. Their 30-page report was published before members of the committee question Mr Clarke about his proposals next week, with the ID Cards Bill going through the Commons.
The report rejected claims by ministers that ID cards would initially be voluntary, saying people would be forced to join a national identify database if it was linked to passport or driving licence applications.
The committee also raised questions about information to be held on ID cards, which could include previous addresses, immigration history and details of previous requests to access information by police, prospective employers or other bodies. The report warned that the Bill was “potentially highly intrusive of private life”, raising the prospect of any organisation asking people to produce an ID card or agree to an identity check before dealing with them.
The committee expressed concern at the lack of safeguards in the legislation and attacked the former home secretary David Blunkett, condemning as “deeply unsatisfactory” his failure to explain how the Bill conformed with human rights law.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the pressure group Liberty, said the report was a “road map” for future legal challenges.
