Lord Neuberger, who is the president of the Supreme Court, in his first interview after taking the post, has warned that Britain will have to withdraw from the United Nations as well as the European court of human rights if it decides to deport terrorist suspects to countries that carry out torture.
The country’s most senior judge also commented on the lack of diversity in the top strata of the judiciary and the ‘subconscious bias’ against women, prevalent among the appointment panelists.
The 65-year-old judge objected to the misrepresentation and one-sided portrayal of the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The declaration states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” He also said, “Human rights excite great emotions”.
Neuberger added that UK’s supreme court was in a dialogue with the judges in Strasbourg. In June 2013, the court will return to the subject of prisoner’s voting rights, on which parliament and the human rights court failed to come in consensus. Both Home secretary Theresa May and justice secretary Chris Grayling have contemplated the idea of pulling out of the Council of Europe body. The judge’s comments were published on March 5, 2013 and were made before the two minister’s views were published in Sunday papers.
