Domestic Criticism of UK PolicyA robust analysis of the government’s policy that did recognize and engage with a substantive critique of the problems with diplomatic assurances against torture was issued by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in a May 2006 report. The Committee heard evidence from a number of actors regarding the policy, pending court challenges, and the impact of UK action on other countries using or contemplating using assurances. The Committee stated that “[t]he evidence we have heard in this inquiry, and our scrutiny of the Memoranda of Understanding … have left us with grave concerns that the Government’s policy of reliance on diplomatic assurances could place deported individuals at real risk of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment, without any reliable means of redress.”48 The Committee went further, however, and opined that UK policy “could well undermine well-established international obligations not to deport anybody if there is a serious risk of torture or ill-treatment in the receiving country. We further consider that, if relied on in practice, diplomatic assurances such as those to be agreed under the Memoranda of Understanding with Jordan, Libya and Lebanon present a substantial risk of individuals actually being tortured, leaving the UK in breach of its obligations under Article 3 UNCAT, as well as Article 3 ECHR.”49 |