A LEGAL RIGHT TO CONSULAR ASSISTANCE - Briefing for Westminster Hall Debate: Consular services for cases involving human rights

A LEGAL RIGHT TO CONSULAR ASSISTANCE Briefing for Westminster Hall Debate: Consular services for cases involving human rights April 2024 REDRESS is an NGO that pursues legal claims on behalf of survivors of torture in the UK and around the world to obtain justice and reparation for the violation of their human rights. [...] Transforming consular assistance from a mere discretion into a legal obligation would ensure more robust safeguards for British nationals at risk of human rights abuses abroad and solidify the State’s responsibility to secure the rights and wellbeing of its most vulnerable citizens. [...] Consular assistance – founded on freedom of communication and access between consular officials and a detained person – enables the UK Government to provide three key protections to its nationals abroad: preventing human rights abuses in the first place; providing redress for human rights abuses when they do occur; and ensuring procedural safeguards to prevent further violations. [...] The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD) found in May 2022 that, under international law, Jagtar’s detention is arbitrary The provision of consular assistance by the UK Government can provide a crucial – and sometimes the only – link between a detained British national and the outside world, and it is a vital safeguard against human rights violations. [...] Under international law, consular assistance – founded on freedom of communication and access between consular officials and a detained person – enables the UK Government to provide three key protections to its nationals abroad: ▪ Preventing human rights abuses, by identifying and acting on warning signs of potential violations (including, for example, signs of torture) or an imminent risk of such.