Human Rights
13:34:40
2. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to protect the human
rights of Welsh citizens? OAQ54770
13:34:46
First Minister of Wales
Llywydd, we will commence the socioeconomic duty set out in Part
1 of the Equalities Act 2010. We will implement the
recommendations of our gender equality review, and we will bring
forward a social partnership Bill—all steps to help protect the
human rights of Welsh citizens.
13:35
13:35:06
Thank you for your answer, First Minister. My constituents are
having their human rights eroded by South Wales Police, mainly
their article 8 rights. Liberty and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation argue that the widespread use of facial recognition
technology, employed by South Wales Police, clearly contravenes
the right to privacy afforded by article 8 of the Human Rights
Act 1998. The Court of Appeal has granted Ed Bridges leave to
appeal against its use, and Lord Justice Singh has stated that
the case has a real prospect of success.
South Wales Police continue to use automatic facial recognition,
despite the fact that it has been shown to be inaccurate, to
provide false positives, and that the algorithms used display
racial bias. On Saturday, AFR will be employed during the
Wales-Barbarians match at the Principality Stadium. So, First
Minister, will you call upon South Wales Police to stop using
this technology against Welsh citizens until such time as the
Home Office can safeguard our article 8 rights and ensure the
software used is accurate and free of racial bias?
13:36:21
First Minister of Wales
Llywydd, I think the points the Member makes are important ones,
because it is right to have a debate about this matter, and there
are important points to be made on both sides of the debate, as
we have seen it emerge so far. And I'm glad to see that this will
be tested further in the courts, and that leave to move to the
next stage in the courts has been granted. But I'm also aware
that South Wales Police have not taken the steps they have
lightly, that they themselves have a very lively debate about the
ethical and practical issues that surround automatic face
recognition. I think that's a very important debate for us to
have. On the one side, there are the arguments that say that
automatic face recognition can help to keep us all safe,
particularly in large-scale events, such as major rugby matches,
where the potential for bad things to happen cannot be ignored.
On the other hand, there are the concerns that the Member has
articulated this afternoon, and they equally deserve to be taken
seriously and to be tested. And the courts now will be the place
where that is debated and resolved.
