The Weekly Round-up: The Troubles legacy act, French migration, and Colorado and Maine disqualifications
6 January 2024
In the News
The Irish government has announced it will challenge the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 in the European Court of Human Rights. The Act, which came into force in September 2023, was created to address the ‘legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles’. The legislation has been controversial because it allows individuals accused of Troubles-related offences to be granted immunity in return for cooperation with the newly-formed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR). The Act is already facing a number of legal challenges in the Belfast High Court. In this latest challenge, the Irish government will ask Strasbourg whether the Act is compatible with the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Meanwhile, in France, new legislation has been passed which significantly toughens French immigration rules. The bill went through several iterations, with the final version including much harsher provisions than originally proposed. It includes measures for reducing access to social security benefits for immigrants, migrant quotas, and toughened rules for family members of migrants. The bill has been criticised by Human Rights Watch for putting ‘the rights of foreigners at risk.’
In the US, Donald Trump has been disqualified from running as a presidential candidate in Colorado and Maine. The Colorado Supreme Court was the first state to rule that Donald Trump should not be allowed to run for president because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies people who engage in ‘insurrection or rebellion’ from holding any office. The Colorado ruling has been appealed, and the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to intervene on the issue early this year.
In other news
Before the Christmas break, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government’s approval of the planned Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk was lawful. The legal challenge was brought by Together Against Sizewell C (TASC), who argued the government had failed to consider the need for a water supply when it approved the nuclear plant in Suffolk. The Court of Appeal disagreed, holding it was logical for the government to consider the issue of water supply separately from the plant itself. The protest group has said it would continue to fight against the development.
The UN subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture has urged Australia to reduce the excessively high number of people being held in detention whilst on remand or awaiting sentencing. The body warned that its detention policies are disproportionately affecting Indigenous people and other vulnerable groups, and has urged Australia to make legislative changes. Australia was criticised earlier this year for failing to meet its obligations under the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (Opcat), which it ratified in 2017. These failings also related to Australia’s prison system and specifically, the requirement on signatories to establish watchdogs to monitor prisons and detention centres.
Finally, the European Council and Parliament have agreed on the content of five new rules that, once enacted, will ‘overhaul the EU’s legal framework on asylum and migration’. Two of the five rules relate to asylum, introducing a new common asylum procedure (asylum procedure regulation) for member states and a change to current regulations, so that asylum seekers will need to apply for humanitarian protection in the country of first legal entry or stay. The provisional agreement also includes rules on the screening of migrants, the expansion of the ‘Eurodac’ biometric migration database, and a framework for allowing member states to address migration crises. The details of the provisional agreement are not yet finalised, and have yet to be submitted to member states’s representatives for approval.
