November 4, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 17, 1422

GENEVA, Nov 3: A U.N. human rights body on Friday urged Britain not to violate basic civil and political freedoms in its campaign against terrorism.

The U.N. Human Rights Committee, comprising 18 independent experts, said that proposed new laws should not exceed exceptional measures permitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said in parliament two weeks ago that Britain would adopt legislation allowing rapid freezing of terrorist networks’ assets and making it a crime to stir up religious hatred. Other new laws would bring in “robust and streamlined” asylum procedures.

“The committee thought it useful to express general concern that these new or proposed legislative acts should not be used to go too far,” committee member Eckart Klein told a news briefing.

The Covenant allows countries to apply emergency measures to combat threats to security but these should not be used as a pretext to violate human rights, he added.

“It is a general warning that this should not be misused,” the German expert added.

The proposed British laws would also give police and customs officers new powers to demand that people remove facial coverings, enable fingerprints taken in immigration and asylum cases to be kept on file and allow authorities to detain “those who are a terrorist threat” but cannot be deported.

The experts were concerned that the new laws could allow prolonged detention of suspects, restrictions to freedom of the press and “unproper attitudes” toward foreigners, Klein said.

Prafullachandra Bhagwati, a former Indian chief justice who chairs the body, said it also was concerned about violent outbreaks of serious racial rioting in Britain.

The U.N. committee also examined the compliance of Switzerland, Azerbaijan and Ukraine under the 1966 pact, a major human rights instrument ratified by 148 states.—Reuters