Category: Human rights,

Are American attitudes towards Israel changing?


Evidence that young Americans attitudes to Israel are changing

August 2026

Over the past few days (12th & 13th August) there have been a number of reports on BBC radio and TV and on Channel 4 concerning the latest violent actions by settlers in the village of Qusra on the West Bank. Palestinian families have been attacked by large groups of settlers and some have been besieged in their homes. The Israeli army is on the scene but is unable or unwilling to do more than make ineffectual efforts to curb the violence. There is footage of homes being trashed by the settlers.

In one way, this is not unusual. Settler violence against Palestinians has been a feature of the past few years with the IDF and Israel police doing nothing to stop it. But something changed with this attack. Firstly, it has received extensive coverage as noted with packages of 10 or 15 minutes devoted to the violence. More significantly, Mike Huckabee described the actions as ‘a horrific act of terror’ and those perpetrators as ‘Israeli terrorists’. Huckabee is the US Ambassador and a staunch supporter of Israel. The question is therefore: is there a change in the US attitude to Israel? Will the carte blanche support continue?

Changing American attitudes

The Pew Research Center has produced evidence which seems to record a shift in opinion. They and other commentators suggest that 60% of Americans have a less favourable view of Israel now compared with previously. Among young people especially, there are strong negative views about Netanyahu. There is a divide in the opinion with the young having negative views and older people maintaining their loyalty.

The Institute for Global Affairs suggest that more Americans are seeing Israel as a liability. Many want the flow of arms to be reduced or constrained. American help for Israel has been open ended and has amounted to around $300bn to date. Increasingly, they don’t see Israel as ‘worth a war’.

For UK people, a major factor has been the destruction and killings which have taken place in Gaza. For Americans, it has been Iran and the feeling that the US was embroiled in an expensive project at the behest of Israel. Violence on the West Bank has not gone down well. Americans are seeing the effects in the price of gas (petrol) and other commodities because of the blockade of the Straight of Hormuz. There is a view that Israel is no longer seen as a ‘pioneer democracy’ but more of an ‘oppressive state’.

It is claimed that that the powerful AIPAC organisation – one of the most powerful in the States – has a ‘stranglehold’ over Congress. They have significant contacts and are known to give support to politicians early in their careers. As in the UK, members are taken on carefully curated tours of Israel. They spent $100m to try and influence recent elections.

Problems

Despite the spending and efforts to control the debate and neutralise critics, Americans can see the results on their screens which no amount of sanitising can hide. In the Senate the numbers of Senators calling for restrictions on arms being sent to Israel is increasing.

The biggest group of supporters is from American Evangelicals who see that part of the world in Biblical terms. They see it also in terms of the second coming. They are a key part of the electorate and are very influential.

A problem however with pointing at AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is that it casts Israel, and more particularly Jews, as ‘having control’, a sensitive issue. This simply adds to the anti-Semitic claims made by Israel about any or all people who criticise them. It has an effect on critics.

Is American opinion going to change and will that bring about a re-calibration of their support to Israel? Some observers think it is a while off yet. Although younger Americans are no longer uncritical supporters, their influence is not yet great but it is growing. That Mike Huckabee spoke out in such terms is significant, not just the words themselves but that he felt able to utter them. All in all, the Israeli government is likely to be concerned at the changing mood towards them.

We must hope that a change will happen for the sake of the thousands who suffer in Gaza and the instability in Lebanon. The ceaseless violence will not ultimately help Israel. To cede control to thugs going out and terrorising Palestinians while your army and police stand by is no way for a civilised state to behave. The settlers know they have support for their actions from the highest level of government.

Sources: Channel 4 News (and a podcast); Pew Research Center; Al Jazeera; BBC; Christian Science Monitor; Institute for Global Affairs; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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Uyghurs: getting the word out


Try telling a friend or neighbour about how the Uyghurs are treated

August 2026

Bringing back media and governmental attention on the Uyghurs is an essential step in ensuring that the current crisis is not simply ignored and forgotten. But these actions are only as strong as the wider support from the population. The more people know, care, and act for the Uyghurs, the stronger the influence we can have will be. That is why we are asking you today to simply talk to someone you know – a friend, a neighbour, or a colleague for example – about the Uyghur crisis.

Earlier posts will give you a flavour of the issues, the cruelty and repression these people are experiencing so we hope that with the information we have shared this far you will feel empowered to discuss the issue if in simple terms.

Nobody has all the answers to all the questions that may be asked, but creating that spark of curiosity within someone, who may learn more on their own, is so important and powerful. A simple conversation can make all the difference. You may get a response that it has little to do with us. It is sad and terrible that these things are happening but what can we do? Some points to consider:

  • You are involved. If you have cotton garments in your wardrobe, there is a 25% chance that the cotton was harvested by Uyghurs using forced labour.
  • Repression and denial of free speech is not confined to the Uyghurs. Mongolia and Tibet has also suffered and more recently Hong Kong. Britain has taken in many thousands of people fleeing the territory. There is great anxiety about immigration and considerable political and media attention to the Channel crossings. The thousands of Chinese who have come here receive little attention.
  • We discussed the new China Unity Law in our last post and this has incorporated repression and discrimination into all of China’s minorities.
  • As China becomes ever more powerful, Xi Jinping’s ambitions increase. Taiwan is in his sights and he is fomenting unrest in Japan and elsewhere in Asia
  • China is providing massive weapons assistance to Russia in its war with Ukraine. The war has resulted in many thousands of Ukrainians coming to Britain as well.
  • China is demanding a massive embassy be allowed in Britain which is almost certainly to be used for espionage it is alleged.

Although the Uyghurs may seem a long, long way away, they are but the latest victims of China’s relentless desire for power and commercial domination. The effects of this will increasingly be felt in the UK. Regrettably, it does not get the attention it deserves and governments are keen to pursue trade interests. China is said to be sensitive to criticism and claims that human rights and other matters are raised behind the scenes are to be questioned. They certainly had little or no effect in Hong Kong.

So please mention the Uyghurs to your friends and add that China is becoming ever more important in our lives and it is beginning to affect all of us.

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Britain’s support for the arms trade


The UK hosts a major international arms fair

July 2026

UPDATE: Journalists attending the Fair from Declassified and Byline Times faced threats from the personnel on the Elbit Stand and other Israeli weapons stands. We are grateful for Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine for bringing this link to our attention.

The UK is an enthusiastic supporter of the arms trade, organising a fair at Farnborough ever other year in Hampshire. A thousand firms will attend and the ‘strategic sponsor’ is Barclays. It is curious to note in passing that the bank was founded by two Quakers and their early history was supporting Quaker businesses in the New World. Now they are supporting weapons firms. One of their values is ‘[being] passionate about leaving things better than we found them‘. One wonders what someone who has had a weapon dropped on them or a limb blown off feels about this value?

The firms themselves supply weapons to a range of conflicts around the world including the genocide in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. Some of UK weapons find their way to Sudan via the UAE one of our largest customers. Our old friends Elbit Systems are in evidence as well as Rafael, Israel’s largest missile maker.

Government support

The fair depends crucially on British government support which includes a dedicated arms sales unit in government, organisation of the fair, providing insurance cover in case firms do not get paid and finally, ready access to ministers and civil servants through what is called the ‘revolving door’. This is the highly dubious process by which ex ministers, former civil servants and ex military officers secure lucrative consultancy work or directorships with the firms to help lobby for their activities.

The insurance is provided by Exports Credit Guarantees and the amount may surprise readers. A total of 20 countries have defaulted on payments: some you might expect like Iraq, Cuba and Serbia because of conflicts, but others include Pakistan, Egypt and Argentina. The total is just under £3 trillion which is added to the national debt. It is worth pondering this for a moment because one of the hotly disputed political debates at present is over the welfare bill and some politicians and pundits are arguing for it to be cut to enable tax cuts. The quite staggering level of funding support for arms companies is never mentioned by these same politicians. Three trillion is £3,000,000,000,000. This figure may be an underestimate because the report makes clear some data has been lost.

Establishing facts difficult

Discovering quite what is being exported is not easy. The government likes to claim it has a robust arms sales policy but the facts seem to suggest otherwise. One has only to look at the countries to which we sell to see that ‘robust’ is not a word one would use. It issues what are called Standard Individual Export Licences [SIEL] of which there were 10,400 in 2025. The problem is approximately half of sales are under ‘open license’ making the reporting unreliable.

Ministers cannot always be trusted. David Lammy MP said in parliament that sales to Israel were being reduced once the destruction of Gaza became too great to ignore. Later analysis of Israel’s import data showed sales by the UK had in fact increased.

When we speak of arms sales, the photographs often show fighter jets, missile systems and other items of large scale military kit. We must not overlook that it is the millions of small weapons such as rifles, machine guns, grenades and so forth which cause so much damage to ordinary people. It is these weapons which kill and maim especially women and children.

Our continued support for the likes of Elbit Systems who make the drones which have killed many and made the lives of the people of Gaza such a misery, is shaming. Huge efforts have been made to stamp down on protests and hundreds of protestors have been arrested and gaoled.

There will be much glad-handing at Farnborough and no doubt a minister will speak about the contribution to our economy and jobs created. But we cannot escape the plain fact that this is an industry who’s products are designed to kill people. It could be argued that we need to defend ourselves and our partners in NATO for example. While that may be true, firms are busy supplying weapons to unstable, undemocratic and often brutal regimes who are using them to inflict misery on millions of people. Few questions are asked and the notion of a ‘robust regime’ is for the birds. The revolving door is alive and well – a process so steeped in corruption it is astonishing it has survived so long.

Sources: CAAT, SIPRI (Sweden), MoD, Barclays Bank, Salisbury CND

Picture: Dorset Eye

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Horror of underground prison


Israel’s underground prison – Welcome to Hell

July 2026

Rakefet Prison is not well known among the British public and has not appeared in many news broadcasts. It is an underground prison situated not far from Tel Aviv.    It was designed to hold dangerous Israeli prisoners but was closed on humanitarian grounds. Prisoners were kept underground never seeing sunlight.

It was reopened by Ben Gvir to house Palestinians with 7 times the numbers it was designed for. The appalling conditions are described in considerable and gruesome detail in a report by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem.     Called ‘Welcome to Hell’ it describes the continuous beatings – sometimes leading to death – the poor food, lack of medical attention, atrocious conditions with men packed into airless underground cells in suffocating conditions. Dogs are used to intimidate them. ‘Trophy’ footage was posted by an IDF soldier which has caused outrage around the world.  It reveals a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner secured to a pole.

Children held

Deaths are not investigated and bodies are buried in numbered graves.  There are around 3,500 held elsewhere in ‘administrative detention’ including 200 children.  No charges are brought. B’Tselem explains what this means:

“In administrative detention, a person is held without trial without having committed an offense, on the grounds that he or she plans to break the law in the future. As this measure is supposed to be preventive, it has no time limit. The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them. This leaves the detainees helpless – facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted”. [B’Tselem]

Considerable attention was paid to the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th with frequent media reports on the numbers held, negotiations for their release and footage of their release when they happened.

By contrast, of those held underground in Rakefet or elsewhere in detention, there has been almost no media coverage.  Indeed, few will have heard of Rakefet. Israel is behaving in the manner of some barbaric state with no human rights laws or meaningful legal system. And it doing so in almost complete media silence. It continues to receive uncritical support from the Labour government, up until now at least as we await what the new prime minister will do.  The House of Commons is packed with around 200 ‘friends of Israel’ parliamentarians who seemingly are unconcerned at the beatings, deaths, torture and the barbaric prison conditions in this prison.

Image shows a dog entering a cell.

The RAF flew hundreds of missions over Gaza as part of the UK’s support for the Israeli government.  The numbers vary but it was at least 600 according to various reports.

Most people in Britain who followed the news would have known the tally of hostages held and those released after the horrific October 7th massacre.  There was considerable coverage and many interviews of family members for example.   It received an appropriate level of media attention in view of the tragic events which took place after the horrific attack.                                

Doctor held without trial almost unrecognisable

One person held in Rakefet is Dr Hassan Abu Safiya.  He has been held in the prison since December 2024. He was seized allegedly for being a member of Hamas but since Hamas runs the health authority in Gaza this is meaningless. A lawyer visiting him says he is almost unrecognisable ‘suffering severe injuries to his head, eyes and neck while struggling to breathe in the Rakefet interrogation facility’.                                

Image of the Minister of National Security Mr Ben Gvir who allegedly shouted abuse at those held in Rakefet.

The UN Special Rapporteur criticised the BBC for presenting unproven Israeli military claims about him. This follows the journalist Peter Oborne’s criticism of the BBC’s coverage (and other media) in his book Complicit as disgraceful.

Thus we have two worlds where the horrific attack by Hamas is given massive coverage including false claims of beheading by several of our leading newspapers, whereas the torture, underground confinement without trials, and murder of Palestinians is met with near total silence by that same media. And 200 of our MPs are members and supporters of these dreadful actions including the MP for Salisbury Mr John Glen. We can only hope that the new prime minister Mr Andy Burnham will end Britain’s craven and shameful support given to this dreadful regime and the genocide it has unleashed.

ADDED 15 JULY. Rape of flotilla women in Israeli prison alleged.

Criticising Israel is not anti-Semitic.

Sources include: Ground News, Guardian, Haaretz, B’Tselem, IDF photos,

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Protests under threat: The erosion of Civil Liberties


The steady decline in our rights in the UK continues

July 2026

For many years, Amnesty concerned itself with human rights overseas. There was an own country rule. There was a tinge of arrogance in that based as it was on the assumption that rights in the UK were perfectly all right – after all we had the Magna Carta, a democracy and parliament to look after us – it was people overseas that needed the help. Well they still do but here in the UK, there has been a steady stream of legislation with the intention of inhibiting protests. Governments do not like them and act after act has appeared both from Conservative and Labour governments and Home Secretaries, seeking to obstruct and make protests more and more difficult. Which is why we have initiated these posts.

In this 250th year of America Independence, and as we have many (very welcome) readers from over the pond, it is worth noting that the UK does not have a constitution nor the equivalent of the first amendment rights to free speech enjoyed by US citizens. Which is why the slow drift into authoritarianism by our government is so troubling. We have tended to rely on the courts to protect our rights. As you can see in the first item below, that reliance is extremely uncertain.

Right to peaceful Assembly and Protest

The Supreme Court has controversially overturned the High Court ruling that declared the ban on Palestine Action to be unlawful.  This means that the ban on Palestine Action is restored and charges stand against the 700 plus people being charged under the Terrorism Act. Tom Southerden, Amnesty’s legal programme director, said that it was fundamentally disproportionate to treat direct action protest as terrorism and claimed that the images of people from all walks of life, from nurses and pensioners to military veterans, being bundled into police vans for peacefully holding placards would be long remembered as a deeply shameful chapter in our history.

Subsequently, on 12 June the four Palestine Action activists known as ‘the Filton 4’ were told by Judge Mr Justice Johnson they would be sentenced as having a ‘terrorist connection’ following convictions for criminal damage arising out of their direct action at the Elbit Systems arms factory in Filton, Bristol. Criticisms of these verdicts have been widespread in the UK and the UN.

Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, concluded: 

“The defendants in this case were sentenced as terrorists because prosecutors want to make an example of them and set a precedent for how direct action protesters could be treated in the future. Criminal damage has never been treated as terrorism within the UK justice system before and it is dangerous to treat them as the same thing. We should all be worried about what this means for other individuals taking direct action in protest of a genocide or any other issue. The right to protest is one of the most effective tools we have to hold our leaders to account and today is another step in the ongoing crackdown in this country against it.  The use of terrorism laws against direct action protesters must end”                                                                                                      

Equality and Human Rights Commission Transgender guidance

A total of 135 MPs, 69 of them from Labour, have signed a Commons motion calling for the code of practice on transgender people, recently drafted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission,  to be blocked, primarily because of worries about its impact on transgender people and also the possibility of legal challenges. It’s unlikely that the guidance will be stopped, as the government has declined to allow a vote, but there is pressure on ministers to listen, and possibly to consider new legislation to resolve the problem. The 40-day period for the code to be laid before parliament ends early next month, after which it will become law.

Right to privacy/freedom of information

The High Court has rejected attempts by Nigel Farage’s Reform party to dismiss the challenge from the Good Law Project that they must be more transparent in how they hold data of members of the public. Before the general election, Good Law Project supporters demanded that political parties reveal how personal data is held and used, as the law requires them to do. Notably most requests to Farage’s Reform party received no response.

It is legitimate for political parties to combine the electoral roll with other data they’ve captured to target people with tailored ads and messages. This itself raises questions in a democracy, but is particularly concerning when micro-targeting is done by a far-right party like Reform which currently is experiencing issues over transparency especially over their funding. The Good Law Project will now sue Reform. 

 Oversight for Police AI 

Liberty is calling on the government to establish oversight for the increasing use of AI by police. They demand full transparency in response to public concern; binding rules on what data can be fed into police systems; independent testing and continuous monitoring; accountability to a designated human of decisions resulting from AI; training of officers in its use, limitations and their responsibilities; clear recording and auditing of how decisions are reached; and an independent regulator to enforce these standards.

Workplace rights

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published new commissioned research on harassment in the workplace. The rapid evidence review shows how organisations can prevent problematic behaviours, fulfilling the legal obligations introduced by the Worker Protection Act.

The research highlights the importance of reporting mechanisms but warns that organisations should not rely on the number of harassment reports to determine if they have a problem. Low harassment reporting rates they say may indicate a workplace in which employees feel unable to report, rather than the absence of harassment.

The study also suggests that when employers are purely motivated by reputation management, policies often involve ineffective ‘box-ticking’ interventions which, in isolation, fail to prevent harassment or protect their employees. It concludes that to be effective, interventions need to be implemented consistently, reviewed regularly and involve multiple approaches to increase awareness of harassment through training and communication.


Transfer of jurisdiction under scrutiny

UK police forces have faced severe criticism for ceding jurisdiction to the US military for off-duty crimes committed by their personnel on British soil, preventing such cases from ever reaching the Crown Prosecution Service

Following the high profile challenge launched by the mother of Harry Dunn, in which only after a long legal battle the CPS succeeded in the prosecution of the American driver responsible for his death, a second instance of a failure of the British Government to protect its citizens has recently come to light. Sarah Steele, who was strangled by an American pilot, failed to have her case heard in a British court when the US military transferred the hearing and judgement to their own court. The defendant was subsequently expelled from the military but found guilty of only one of two charges. Justice Secretary David Lammy undertook to raise the case directly with the US government.

Terrorism bill

We shall be saying more about this bill and its worrying aspects in a future post.

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UK Human Rights Report: key issues in June 2026


Our monthly report on human rights in the UK

June 2026

UK Political Prisoners

Research by Queen Mary University of London and the protest group Defend our Juries says that custodial sentences for acts of direct action or civil disobedience were once rare. They are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency in the UK, creating ‘a new breed of political prisoners’ through the systemic incarceration of people acting to prevent climate breakdown and the annihilation of Gaza.

Rules on Transgender

The ECHR has offered clarification on  the application of the law on transgender status, confirming that since the legal definition of sex is based on sex at birth, single sex toilets must exclude transgender people for whom the provision of separate facilities is recommended.

Palantir Challenge

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has blocked the use of Palantir platforms for the Metropolitan Police Force.  Despite its record for assisting anti-immigration police in the US and aiding Israeli surveillance in Gaza, it is alleged that the police failed seriously to consider any other company for the contract.  The lack of process is seriously concerning, since Palantir has been allowed to gain a foothold in public services to the extent that it has now amassed more than 30 contracts with the UK state.  Critics also dispute its superior performance.

A cross party group of MPs have now challenged the Government on this.  Amnesty and other concerned organisations such as the Good Law Project are coordinating local protests against the use of Palantir in NHS Trusts. see our previous post on this firm and the danger it poses.

Equality Act: Public Sector Equality Duty

Discussion around the murder of Henry Nowak has centred around whether the Public Sector Equality Duty section of the Equality Act 2010 led the police in question to mistakenly prioritise a false allegation of racism over an actual stabbing attack, as Tory leader Kemi Badenoch argued.  However, critics say the case was a failure of police procedure rather than a pointer to review the section on institutional guidance on racism. The murder has generated a great deal of political heat.

The Public Sector Equality Duty states that public authorities should ‘advance equality of opportunity between people who share and people who do not share a relevant protected characteristic’.  Protected characteristics include age, disability, pregnancy, sex and sexual orientation.  Government guidance says the duty should ‘always be applied in a proportionate way’ depending on the circumstances of the case.

The duty was introduced in 2010 as part of the Equality Act which merged previous anti-discrimination laws such as the Equal Pay Act and the Disability Discrimination Act.

Since its introduction, organisations and individuals have been able to take public bodies to court for failing to abide by the duty, for example when councils withdrew library funding, set unequal fees for council funding to private care homes, or when the Home Office had not complied with the duty in relation to how its ‘hostile environment ‘ policies would impact members of the Windrush generation.

While Reform would abolish the entire act, the Conservatives criticise only the public sector section.  The Labour Government, however, is promising further anti-discriminatory legislation, a new equality and diversity strategy, with a primary focus on getting working class people joining and progressing in the Civil Service.

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A most terrible prison


Channel 5 is allowed into CECOT – a prison from hell

June 2026

Richard Madeley was allowed to film inside the most awful prison called CECOT – Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo – in San Salvador and the results were transmitted last week. Despite the restrictions placed on the programme makers, it showed a prison that might have come straight out of some dystopian horror film (movie). The prison is vast and to get about it, he had to travel on a shuttle bus. It has a capacity for 40,000.

Words cannot fully describe the state in which the men are held. Think battery farm for chickens and you get close. Men are effectively warehoused in cells of 100 which contain steel racks three tiers high on which they spend their days. They are not allowed any reading materials and there is no TV. The lights stay on 24 hours a day every day. They have no contact with relatives or lawyers. Trials such as they are, take place on screen with up to 100 defendants at a time. The men will never leave the prison. Further insight is by Human Rights Watch who reported on American nationals held there. They eat the same food each day.

Madeley makes it clear that the men are members of various gangs and have committed a vast number of murders. Some inmates are alleged to have murdered 30 people. San Salvador had a high murder rate with around 16 a day. The drastic measures taken by the president Nayib Bukele has seen this rate drop dramatically. This poses a profound question: that in a state where gangs operate and murder is at a very high level, can the drastic measures and the methods used in CECOT be justified?

Madeley admitted feeling ‘shaken’ by the experience and film of some of the terrible murders could not be shown on British TV. He continued: “It’s obvious that CECOT breaches human rights as we currently understand. It’s a shocking, extreme corner of humanity, but El Salvadorians were writhing under the thumb of psychotic, psychopathic sadists. I wonder if sacrificing civil liberties for the common good is something others would ever be prepared to embrace”. The approach by the President is popular among many in El Salvador who are free of the threat posed by the murderous gang members.

The prison has proved to be controversial in the US and a CBS film was pulled before transmission because allegedly, political pressure was applied. President Trump is reported to be keen on the prison and USA Today revealed a financial deal in which prisoners were sent there.

It is a dilemma. Human rights groups condemn the regime but it has delivered a measure of normality for Salvadorians. Richard Madeley poses this question at the end of his programme. Can such inhumane methods ever be justified?

Sources: The Sun, Cornwall Live, Guardian, Independent, USA Today, CBS

Pic: AFP

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Government signs trade deal


Sir Keir says deal with Gulf States a ‘huge win’ for British business but …

May 2026

The government proudly announced a trade deal with the Gulf States this week which will increase trade with UK firms by many millions. The fly in the ointment however is the human and worker’s rights in those countries which are dire. Take UAE as an example. The country commits a wide range of abuses against its citizens. There is little freedom of expression with a number of individuals given long sentences following mass trials which are transparently unfair.

Women have few rights and experience inequality in education, employment and legal rights. The kefala system is widely employed which ties foreign workers to one employer and effectively denies them any meaningful employment rights.

Torture and other abusive actions are frequent with prisoners kept for long periods in solitary confinement. Human rights defenders are harassed.

The country is accused of providing military equipment to the RSF in Sudan who have committed a range of atrocities. A similar range of failures could be listed among the other countries included in the agreement, Saudi Arabia for example.

Values free

None of this seems to matter. Any mention of human rights has been omitted from the agreement and the government claims these matters are best pursued outside it. The TUC has criticised it arguing that we should ‘not be doing deals with countries which abuse human rights and worker’s rights‘. It is claimed to be a ‘values free agreement’.

Any notion of limiting trade with oppressive regimes which practise a range of abuses against its citizens seems a distant prospect. We are sufficiently desperate for trade that such matters are no longer part of the political landscape. Yet ministers will often claim their belief in human rights. Sir Keir himself told his biographer “There is no version of my life that does not largely revolve around me being a human rights lawyer”. Being a lawyer is not the same as having principles and acting on them. Wouldn’t it be more honest simply to admit we will trade with anyone? There is a podcast of this and other recent posts – see below:

Sources: Amnesty, HRW, American Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrein

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People in the Park


Salisbury group attends this event with its focus on sustainability

May 2026

This event, organised by Salisbury Transition City each year with 75 exhibitors present this year. The theme is sustainability and with this in mind the Salisbury group focused on the abuse behind the manufacture an everyday item such as a pair of jeans. Billions are made every year and millions are employed in making them. This followed the publication by Amnesty International of a report Stitched Up which details the multiple abuses of this massive industry. From health hazards, physical and sexual abuse of the mainly female workforce, wage theft and the denial of union and collective bargaining rights are all described. The failure of high street retailers to control adequately what is going on is also noted.

The results were muted and only a few of the handouts were taken (see below). It is disappointing to report the Mayor of Salisbury and her party quickly walked past our stall without stopping. Perhaps it was because people view sustainability mainly as an environmental problem. The idea that globalisation and the abuses that flow from it is perhaps not so well appreciated. Massive amounts of water are consumed in their production and of course the fuel needed to move the items from country to country during the course of their manufacture.

Clearly the idea that abuses taking place on the far side of the globe are both a human rights and a sustainable issue is not well recognised. Around a quarter of the cotton used comes from the Xinjiang region of China where the abuse of Uyghurs is taking place and their culture being systematically destroyed. Thousands are engaged in forced labour to produce the cotton. The region is closed to outsiders for obvious reasons.

There is work to do to convince people that sustainability is not just about trees – important though that is – but about the clothes we wear, where they come from and how they’re made. Retailers can continue to sell goods made with the exploitation of millions of mostly female workers, some in near slave like conditions, while claiming their humanitarian credentials on their web sites.

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Risks to our rights steadily increasing


Our monthly report on trends in the UK is worrying

May 2026

Government appeal against Palestine Action ban

Good Law Project warns that if the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmoud wins her appeal against the lifting of the ban on Palestine Action th the combination of the Online Safety Act 2023 and the Terrorism Act 2000 could be used to silence support for anti-genocide campaigners.

The problem lies in the very broadly drafted offences which even the police have found hard to apply. Online platforms might share this difficulty and fear heavy fines if they don’t remove references to action for Palestine. The Online Safety Act obliges platforms to remove “priority illegal content” from the internet in the UK. At the top of this list is “terrorism content” which includes posts that relate to section 12 of the Terrorism Act, such as “inviting support” for a terrorist organisation or “expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation” while being “reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation”. See also a previous post on this site pointing out the risks inherent in using this firm.

Palantir Data Privacy Concerns continue

The Good Law Project is supporting Democracy for Sale to raise a challenge about the information commissioner’s decision to keep secret documents sent to Wes Streeting Health Secretary and Health and Social Care Minister Karin Smyth that will reveal truths about the risks of Palantir’s data platform. The British Medical Association has expressed concern about handing sensitive health data to the company which has ties with the Israeli Military and ICE. See our previous post about the threats to our rights from this firm. Statements by the firm’s chief executive are illuminating.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Following the Good Law challenge in the Supreme Court, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been obliged by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to revise its guidance on the application of the Sex definition in order to provide ‘legally accurate, practical guidance’ and ensure ‘all service users are treated with dignity and respect’. Parliamentary approval will be sought in May. Recent testimonies from trans patients suggest that their health concerns are sidelined by some doctors.

Democratic decline

Amnesty International warns the UK is increasingly reflecting, rather than resisting, global trends towards weakening of democratic norms. The 2026 report can be accessed here and download the full report which is divided into countries.

In 2025 – 2026 the UK has:

– used counterterrorism powers to restrict peaceful protest

– overseen the mass arrest of peaceful protesters, with courts ruling aspects unlawful

– intensified hostile policies towards migrants and people seeking asylum

– increased surveillance and policing powers

– continued arms transfers to Israel despite clear risks of use in serious violations of international law

– cut international aid amid escalating global humanitarian need

– defended the use of national security vetoes in legacy Troubles cases, undermining truth, accountability and justice for victims and families

– pursued economic and social policies that risk pushing more people into poverty, weakening protections for economic and social rights.

As we have noted on several occasions before, successive governments have got themselves ensnared with various unpleasant regimes because of their desire to maintain arms exports. We continue to arm UAE despite their support for the rebels in Sudan and other destabilising actions in Libya and Yemen for example, and as noted, we continue to arm and support Israel despite the genocide in Gaza.

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