Three government Bills have been singled out for potential human rights breaches.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, which scrutinises government Bills for human rights compatibility, highlighted the Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill, the Modern Slavery Bill, and the Serious Crime Bill as “likely to raise particularly significant human rights issues”.
The Serious Crime Bill tackles female genital mutilation, makes provision about involvement in organised crime groups and creates an offence of possession of guidance about committing sexual offences against children. The Modern Slavery Bill consolidates existing offences relating to slavery and trafficking, and increases the maximum sentence for human trafficking to life imprisonment. The Armed Forces (Service
Complaints and Financial Assistance) Bill sets up a Service Complaints Ombudsman and creates powers to make charitable payments that benefit the armed forces community.
The Committee has asked for submissions from interested parties by 18 July.
