Letter To British Government Says Full-Body Scanners May
Counter European Law
The U.K's Equality and Human
Rights Commission has warned the British Government that it
needs to take immediate action to bring its policy for body
scanning passengers at UK airports within the law.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the Secretary of State for
Transport, Lord Adonis, and detailed legal arguments sent to
officials working on the implementation of body scanners, the
Commission recognizes that the threat posed by terrorist activities
means the Government needs to take steps to protect the travelling
public. The Commission has expressed concerns about the apparent
absence of safeguards to ensure the body scanners are operated in a
lawful, fair and non-discriminatory manner. It also has serious
doubts that the decision to roll this out in all UK airports
complies with the law.
The Commission argues that the current use of body scanners,
already in place at Heathrow and Manchester airports, may be
breaking discrimination law as well as breaching passengers’
right to privacy. It calls on the Secretary of State to ensure that
these concerns are addressed.
The Home Secretary has indicated in the House of Commons that
people will be selected on a random basis, but this has not been
publicly endorsed by the Transport Secretary. The lack of
transparency about how people will be chosen for body scanning
means that it would be impossible for passengers to challenge why
they’ve been selected. The Commission considers that greater
openness on the part of Government is vital to demonstrate fully
how it is intending to comply with the law, specifically within the
framework of its equalities and human rights duties, and ensure
appropriate accountability and transparency in the roll-out of the
use of body scanners to UK airports.
"State action like border checks, stop and search and full body
scanning are undertaken for good reasons. But without proper
care such policies can end up being applied in ways which do
discriminate against vulnerable groups or harm good community
relations." said Commission Chair Trevor Phillips. But, he warned,
"National security policies are intended to protect our lives and
our freedoms; but it would be the ultimate defeat if that
protection destroyed our other liberties."
An absence of safeguards, such as monitoring who is being
scanned and how those scans are carried out, means that authorities
are unable to check if in practice people are being unfairly
selected on the basis of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual
orientation or disability.
The letter says that breaching people’s right to privacy
can be justifiable under human rights legislation, if it is for
national security, but the Commission argues that the Government
has failed to demonstrate that this policy is currently justifiable
within the law.
"State action like border checks, stop and search and full body
scanning are undertaken for good reasons," said Phillips. "But
without proper care such policies can end up being applied in ways
which do discriminate against vulnerable groups or harm good
community relations."
File Photo
The international news service AFP reports that, in response to
the letter, a British Ministry of Transport spokesman said
officials had "been absolutely clear that those passengers who are
randomly selected for screening will not be chosen because of any
personal characteristics."
He added the ministry had "published an interim code of practice
which addresses privacy concerns in relation to body scanners."