Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire
Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
The following three factsheets have been produced by the group for use on stalls and on campaigns generally. They can be downloaded here (pdf files). One is about the group and what it does and has achieved; another is a death penalty case in Japan for the World Day Against the Death Penalty on Saturday, and the last is about refugees.
[If any Amnesty group would like one of these sheets we are happy to modify them, with their own group details on for example, and send you an amended pdf]
September 2016
Those who watched this programme will have been horrified at the destruction which has taken place in this country. It looked as though no part has escaped bombing. Tens of thousands living in camps in desperate circumstances. But perhaps the most chilling was the impact it is having on children and babies with scenes of malnutrition in understaffed and under resourced hospitals. The blockade meant that food supplies sat out in the Red Sea for so long that it was already unusable by the time it was eventually landed the programme showed.
The programme brought out well our role in this war by supplying weapons and military personnel to assist the Saudis in their campaign. We have also helped the Saudis on the UN’s Human Rights Council.
It is truly shaming that this is happening and our (the UK) and the United State’s role in supplying the wherewithal and the political cover for the devastating campaign. While most of the media’s attention is on (quite rightly) the terrible events in Syria, until now too little attention has been paid to this forgotten war and our dreadful role in it. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, accuses the Russians of war crimes in Syria so what do you call our role in the Yemen?
We have described the events in Yemen and the role of the UK in selling arms to the Saudis who are using them to bomb civilian targets in that country. We have been assured that the UK has a strict policy when it comes to selling arms which does not in fact seem to work. The most recent activity by our government is to block and enquiry by the European Union into allegations of war crimes in Yemen.
The UN’s Human Rights Council based in Geneva was hoping to carry out a proper enquiry but this was stymied by the UK. Only today, Boris Johnson condemned the Russians for war crimes in Syria alleging that civilians were being targeted. There seems little difference to what the Russians are alleged to be doing and what we are doing by selling arms to the Saudis who then use them to bomb civilian targets, hospitals and schools.
The policy has been condemned by Human Rights Watch and by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.
The march in aid of refugees was attended by at least 15,000 yesterday and was good natured and uplifting. It started in Pall Mall, London, and wove its way along Piccadilly ending up in Parliament square. It is encouraging in the current climate to see so many people travel from as far afield as the Wirral and Penzance to show their solidarity for a better treatment of refugees. Britain’s role has been exceptionally poor largely because of hostility towards them egged on by a xenophobic press.
We attach minutes of the September meeting thanks to group member Lesley for preparing them.
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Three year report on the group’s activities is published
The three year report, prepared by our chair, is published and shows what we have achieved over this time. It is always interesting to look back and review progress and for a small group, we have done a lot in the last 3 years.
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The death penalty report is now available thanks to group member Lesley for the work in putting it together. The report covers several countries but it must always be remembered that China leads the world in executing its citizens.
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The march was a huge success and was attended by at least 15, 000 people. A fuller report and pictures will be posted soon.
Women, men and children around the world are fleeing war, persection and torture. They have been forced into the hands of smugglers and onto dangerous journeys across the sea in rickety old boats and dinghys. Many have lost their lives. Those who have made it often find themselves stranded in makeshift camps in train stations, ports or by the roadside.
And still, politicians across Europe fail to provide safe and legal routes for people to seek asylum.
Meanwhile, ordinary people have responded with extraordinary displays of humanity and generosity. They’ve been moved to act after seeing thousands of people drowning in the Mediterranean, the continuing misery of camps in places like Calais, and images of the brutal conflicts across the world.
We need to tell the Prime Minister Theresa May that we want to help.
The UK government must do more – let’s call on them to:
The march starts at 11:30 outside Green Park station and ends in Parliament Square.
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On the BBC last night (6 September) there was an item concerning arms sales by Britain to Saudi Arabia. Readers of this blog will be no strangers to this item and we have been highlighting this trade for some time. The weapons are being used to bomb Yemen and targets include hospitals, schools and even wedding parties. British service personnel are involved in the command centre doing what is not entirely clear.
At last the Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls is asking questions and a leak of their report said:
The weight of evidence of violations of international humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen is now so great that it is very difficult to continue to support Saudi Arabia while maintaining the credibility of our arms licensing regime
Oxfam is among the agencies who have been critical of this trade and the results in Yemen. At least 4,000 have died, many have had to flee their homes and among the dead are women and children. Oxfam said:
The UK government is in denial and disarray over its arms sales to the Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign in Yemen. It has misled its own parliament about its oversight of arms sales and its international credibility is in jeopardy as it commits to action on paper but does the opposite in reality
Even now, the Foreign Office continues to defend the sales and Boris Johnson has reportedly defended the Saudis saying:
They have the best insight into its own procedures and will be able to conduct the most thorough and conclusive investigation
Will be able to but will they?
Of course this is linked to the powerful lobbying by the arms firms themselves and countries like Saudi (who have a representative Adel al-Jubeir here to try and persuade the Committee not to recommend banning arms sales). The current version of Private Eye (1246) has a lengthy report on what is called the ‘revolving door,’ that is the huge numbers of senior civil servants, ex-ministers and senior military people who move from their posts into companies and firms linked to their previous roles. It makes the point that sound government is eroded if ministers and other senior people are hoping to hop into a lucrative directorship or consultancy once they leave government or the services. In a four page report it lists the shear numbers moving out of government or the services into commercial posts usually linked to their previous roles. How likely are they to stop sales to Saudi if it could jeopardise their post ministerial employment?
The Committee meets today so it will be interesting to hear what they decide.
Sources: BBC; International Business Times; the Sun; Oxfam; Amnesty International
The new Lord Chancellor, Liz Truss, said in an interview that the abolition of the Human rights Act and its replacement with the British Bill of Rights is back on the agenda. On the 10 August, The Times had suggested that it was not going forward. As we speculated on this blog a while ago, the sheer amount of work needed to negotiate new trade agreements with the world and our exit from the EU, is going to consume parliamentary effort and ministerial time on an enormous scale. Will they have time and energy to spend time haggling with the Lords over a new bill with all the rest that is going on? Then there are the complex relations with Scotland and Northern Ireland to consider. This pledge has been around for 10 years now yet Liz Truss gives no timetable.
We are committed to [abolishing the Human Rights Act]. It is a manifesto pledge. We are looking very closely at the details but we have a manifesto pledge to deliver that Liz Truss
The result will at best be a modest change in the law unless we are going to withdraw from the European Court itself. This will have widespread effects especially in eastern Europe where the Court’s activities has had a positive effect on human rights.
The shame of it is that the public anger about the ‘terrorist’s charter’ and other nonsenses are fostered by the media and few of our MPs and Ministers seem to have the courage to stand up to them. The Daily Mail, the Sun and the Daily Express are often loud in their criticisms but connection to actual facts is often weak. But even periodicals like the Spectator – a venerable political weekly – is not above publishing tendentious material. The hostility to the act is in part we argue, due to the privacy clauses which give some protection to those who have suffered press intrusion for no good reason other than boosting newspaper sales.
Abu Qatada is frequently produced as evidence that the act doesn’t work and meant, allegedly, that we were not able to deport him. Firstly, if he was such a terrible man, why was he not arrested and prosecuted here? Secondly, the failure of the Home Office and the then Home Secretary Theresa May to deport him was not the HRA but treaties we have which prevent us returning people to countries where torture is routine (as well as the HRA). Qatada would not have had a fair trial in Jordan because, at the time torture, was common there.
We often read that duties and responsibilities are to be added as there are many – not just on the Conservative back benches – who are unhappy with ‘rights’ and feel that such rights should only be available to those who act responsibility. How this would work is not explained. Who’s to judge what ‘responsible’ means? A police officer at the time of arrest feels that the person behaved irresponsibly and therefore decides not to allow the person access to a lawyer – a provision in the HRA? Some rights are absolute and do not depend on good behaviour. Other rights are qualified anyway.
It is hard not to see a parallel with the Brexit debate. Years were spend denigrating the EU and then when it mattered, those like the previous prime minister, David Cameron, wanted to persuade country to Remain, he lacked conviction. He was hoist by his own petard, or more colloquially, ‘stuffed’.
A concerted campaign has been waged by the media against the act and stories produced which only occasionally have any relation to the truth. We have suggested before to refer to Rights Info to get the background and a sober assessment of some of the fictions.
Whether the BBoR ever sees the light of day remains to be seen. It is likely that this is a rash statement by the new Lord Chancellor which may quietly drift into the background when the difficulties and disadvantages are explained. But it will continue to lurk until a sufficient number of MPs – like those in the Runnymede group – stand up and speak positively about the act and the benefits it has brought to thousands of ordinary citizens who have used it to secure basic rights, stories that rarely find their way into print.
Salisbury MP, John Glen is among those who have publicly called for the act to be abolished.
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Sources: The National; The Times; http://www.parliament.co.uk; Spectator; Daily Express
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 