Letter To British Government Says Full-Body Scanners May Counter European Law

The U.K's Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned the British Government that it needs to take immediate action to bring its policy for body scanning passengers at UK airports within the law.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the Secretary of State for Transport, Lord Adonis, and detailed legal arguments sent to officials working on the implementation of body scanners, the Commission recognizes that the threat posed by terrorist activities means the Government needs to take steps to protect the travelling public. The Commission has expressed concerns about the apparent absence of safeguards to ensure the body scanners are operated in a lawful, fair and non-discriminatory manner. It also has serious doubts that the decision to roll this out in all UK airports complies with the law.

The Commission argues that the current use of body scanners, already in place at Heathrow and Manchester airports, may be breaking discrimination law as well as breaching passengers’ right to privacy. It calls on the Secretary of State to ensure that these concerns are addressed.

The Home Secretary has indicated in the House of Commons that people will be selected on a random basis, but this has not been publicly endorsed by the Transport Secretary. The lack of transparency about how people will be chosen for body scanning means that it would be impossible for passengers to challenge why they’ve been selected. The Commission considers that greater openness on the part of Government is vital to demonstrate fully how it is intending to comply with the law, specifically within the framework of its equalities and human rights duties, and ensure appropriate accountability and transparency in the roll-out of the use of body scanners to UK airports.

"State action like border checks, stop and search and full body scanning are undertaken for good reasons.  But without proper care such policies can end up being applied in ways which do discriminate against vulnerable groups or harm good community relations." said Commission Chair Trevor Phillips. But, he warned, "National security policies are intended to protect our lives and our freedoms; but it would be the ultimate defeat if that protection destroyed our other liberties."

An absence of safeguards, such as monitoring who is being scanned and how those scans are carried out, means that authorities are unable to check if in practice people are being unfairly selected on the basis of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation or disability.

The letter says that breaching people’s right to privacy can be justifiable under human rights legislation, if it is for national security, but the Commission argues that the Government has failed to demonstrate that this policy is currently justifiable within the law.

"State action like border checks, stop and search and full body scanning are undertaken for good reasons," said Phillips. "But without proper care such policies can end up being applied in ways which do discriminate against vulnerable groups or harm good community relations."

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The international news service AFP reports that, in response to the letter, a British Ministry of Transport spokesman said officials had "been absolutely clear that those passengers who are randomly selected for screening will not be chosen because of any personal characteristics."

He added the ministry had "published an interim code of practice which addresses privacy concerns in relation to body scanners."

FMI: www.equalityhumanrights.com, www.dft.gov.uk