Britain’s equality watchdog has warned that full-body scanners, brought in at airports to help catch terrorists, may be illegal.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission says it has “serious doubts” about the Government’s decision to install the devices at terminals across the country in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bomb attempt on a transatlantic airliner.
It claims they may breach passengers’ rights to privacy, because the machines create images of their naked bodies as well as any hidden explosives and weapons. The watchdog says they might also break discrimination law because Muslim or Arab travellers cannot find out if they are being unfairly targeted by security staff.
The watchdog has expressed its concerns in a letter to the Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, published on Tuesday.
Trevor Phillips, its chairman, said: “The right to life is the ultimate human right and we support the government’s review of security policies.
“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.
“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.”
Full-body scanning machines, costing £100,000 each, had been under trial at Manchester airport since October.
They were seen as an important new weapon in the battle to detect terrorists before they board flights. The machines use microwaves to see through passengers’ clothing and reveal explosive material concealed on passengers’ bodies that would not set off metal detectors and could not be found in pat-down searches.
After the alleged attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day using explosives hidden in his underwear, ministers ordered the technology to be installed in airports across Britain.
They are now in use at Heathrow, the country’s largest airport. Its operator, BAA, said earlier this month that the checks only last a minute and insisted that the images taken are deleted immediately.
However children’s rights campaigners had claimed that the “virtual strip-searching” images could break child pornography law because they show clear outlines of subjects’ bodies.
The EHRC also warned the Government last month that the introduction of the scanners may damage “community relations”.
Now the watchdog has gone further by claiming the use of the full-body scanners could breach the privacy of all passengers, and that the Government has failed to justify it.
It also claims that the policy of using the scanners could breach human rights law, because there is no way to check whether passengers are being chosen at random or whether they are being profiled along race or religion lines. The watchdog says this means the authorities cannot check if certain groups are being “unfairly selected”.
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, said: "The Government seems intent on pressing ahead with the use of body scanners without addressing any of the privacy concerns and safeguard issues raised by the Liberal Democrats and others.
"The Commission is right to suggest that security measures cannot simply be introduced without due respect for the rule of law."
Matthew Knowles, a spokesman for ADS, an aerospace, defence and security trade organisation, said: "It is absolutely right to ensure that the use of security equipment is in full accordance with the law.
"However, the reason for the need for such equipment should not be forgotten. Terrorism poses a real threat to the safety of the travelling public and the authorities need to be able to protect us."
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "The safety of the travelling public is our highest priority and we will not allow this to be compromised. However, we are also committed to ensuring that all security measures are used in a way which is legal, proportionate and non-discriminatory.
"That is why we have been absolutely clear that those passengers who are randomly selected for screening will not be chosen because of any personal characteristics, and why we have published an interim code of practice which addresses privacy concerns in relation to body scanners.
"Given the current security threat level, we believe it was essential to start introducing scanners immediately. We are currently carrying out a full equalities impact assessment on the code of practice, which will be published shortly when we begin a public consultation on these issues. We would welcome any comments the EHRC wish to make during this process."
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