- Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture; Source: United Nations - Geneva
Closed material proceedings would allow the government to present secret evidence to the courts without giving the non-state parties any knowledge of its evidence and, therefore, no possibility to challenge the agencies. Méndez, on the occasion of a speech at the thinktank Chatham House, said that “if a country is in possession of information about human rights abuses, but isn’t in a position to mention them, it hampers the ability to deal effectively with torture”.
Despite the criticism from Méndez and several other human rights organisations, the government insists that the justice and security bill is essential for the protection of its intelligence-sharing relationship with other governments, in particular the US.
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