Ms Gr?inne Teggart:

The international pressure has been important to this process. Amnesty has been engaging with the UN special rapporteurs and through special procedures, where various statements have been made, as well as through the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and with the advisers in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It is our hope and we call on that office to make an intervention in respect of this Bill.

We co-ordinated with some of the US congressional interventions on this Bill and have been working closely with offices there. I have also been meeting with representatives from various arms of the US Department of State since the publication of the command paper. Therefore, I know this issue has been raised at meetings between the US administration and UK Ministers.

We hope the UK Government is paying heed to this. To be frank, despite the multiple, extensive and unequivocal interventions on this Bill, which clearly called out how it is not human-rights compliant, I am concerned the UK Government will not pull back from the Bill or that there will not be a pause in the process of the legislation. The UK Government does not appear to be re-entering into good-faith negotiations to agree a way forward with the Irish Government, which is a significant concern. I am aware the Secretary of State has indicated there may be some changes to the Bill, that they are listening to concerns and are open to that. I am not convinced that it is entirely sincere. I do not believe the consultation process has been adequate. What the UK Government has in mind by way of amendments to the Bill will be very different to what Amnesty and, indeed, victims want. They may include, for example, suggested changes to the date of application for the ban on civil actions. It could be that-----