Human rights groups have urged Sir Keir Starmer to reject calls from retired senior military officers for a legal framework which would disapply the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act to troops’ actions while on active service. The intervention comes as the Government’s new Northern Ireland Troubles Bill is due for its second reading in the UK Parliament on Tuesday. Grainne Teggart, deputy director for Northern Ireland at Amnesty International UK, said: “Attempts to paint accountability as ‘lawfare’ are deeply harmful and deliberately misleading. “Human rights protections uphold the very basic principle that no-one is above the law. Their service and their sacrifice will never be forgotten.”The Northern Ireland Office highlights support for the Government’s approach by several victims and family groups.
