Commons Justice Committee Calls for Improvements to Arrest Warrant and EU Defence Rights
Fair Trials – Newsletter April 2010
Earlier this month, the cross-party House of Commons Justice Select Committee, published its report “Justice Issues in Europe”. The report followed an inquiry lasting 12 months during which Fair Trials International gave written and oral evidence and provided materials from its own cases demonstrating the need for reform of the European Arrest Warrant and for EU cooperation to improve respect for defence rights.
Drawing on FTI’s evidence, the report concludes that successful use of the European Arrest Warrant had “been overshadowed by perceived injustices in individual cases”. Welcoming steps being taken to address the disproportionate use of the Warrant (over 13,500 were issued in 2008 alone), the Committee concluded that delay in reforming instruments like the Arrest Warrant could “undermine the mutual trust approach” in Europe. It also considered that: “If the European Evidence Warrant is revised or replaced, lessons should be learned from the operation of the European Arrest Warrant by incorporating safeguards into the legislation to minimise the potential for disproportionate use.”
The report also welcomed the European Union’s ”Roadmap” towards enforceable guarantees of procedural defence rights but expressed fear of potential setbacks ahead, particularly regarding measures giving suspects and defendants the right to immediate legal advice, funded by legal aid where necessary. It concluded “As the number of European arrest warrants is predicted to rise, there is a real risk that many more citizens will experience the dire consequences of the lack of adequate safeguards afforded to them when they find themselves caught up in European judicial processes.”
Justice issues in Europe – Seventh Report of Session 2009/10