When I read this morning about the last minute government amendment to remove
UK citizenship from terrorists, I immediately thought of the UN Convention on
Reduction of Statelessness 1961 under which the UK can remove
citizenship on grounds that a person "conducted
himself in a manner seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the State;". The UK took advantage of a provision in the convention which allows this as long as the state concerned specified it at the time of signing the convention. However, Article 8.4 of the convention requires a right to a fair hearing by a court or other independent
body. The government amendment does not provide for this. There is a further Labour amendment which does.
People may think, "What the hell ? They're terrorists. Kick 'em out" but we do have a tradition of fair trials in this country. Teresa May is giving herself the power to remove someone's citizenship and their right to a fair trial because she is satisfied "... that the deprivation is conducive
to the public good because the person, while having that
citizenship status, has conducted him or herself in a manner which
is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the United Kingdom, any of the
Islands, or any British overseas territory."
Can any Liberal agree that a government minister acting alone can decide that an individual is no longer a citizen, without any judicial proceeding whatever ?
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