This is a short list of things we have planned for the coming months. If you were thinking of joining us, one of these would be a good opportunity to come and make yourself known. Joining the group is free.
World Day Against the Death Penalty is on 10 October. The group has focused on Oklahoma this year as part of Amnesty’s campaign of asking groups to focus on a particular state in the Union. There will be a separate post about this shortly. For anyone who wants to be involved with stopping the use of this penalty which is the ultimate cruel punishment and where mistakes cannot be rectified, let us know.
Our annual carol singing takes place on 23 December.
The next group meeting is on 9th October at 2pm in Victoria Road.
We have a coffee morning booked for February next year in St Thomas’s church, Salisbury. Details nearer the time.
Members of the group attend the weekly vigil for peace in the Middle East outside the Library each Saturday starting at 5pm for half an hour.
Keep an eye out here or on Facebook or Bluesky for updates @salisburyai.
This month has been overshadowed by arguments around flags. Leaving aside the question of accommodation for asylum seekers, I wanted to provide a summary of the worldwide situation.
123 million refugees worldwide
At the end of 2024 there were estimated to be 123.2 million “refugees”, of whom 42.7 million have refugee status, 73.5 million are internally displaced within their own country and 8.4 million are seeking asylum. (4.4 million are officially stateless). That amounts to 1 in 67 of the world’s population in flight. The largest numbers by country were from Syria (see more below) 13 million, Sudan 12 million, and Ukraine 10 million. Interestingly, the numbers returning home during the year were 20,000 Syrians, 73,000 Ukrainians but only 3,700 Sudanese (hardly surprising). Of 8 million Congolese in exile, only 122 returned home during the year.
On the return question, the UK’s deal to return one for one asylum seekers to France has started and the UK government is seeking a similar arrangement with Germany. Since the aim is to reduce the backlog of pending applications, it is worth noting that the appeals backlog is currently around 70,000 (90,000 last year). The main reason for the failure to reduce the numbers dramatically is the decline in the acceptance rate. Whereas in 2023/4, 58% of applications were accepted in 2024/5 this was down to 48%, resulting in more appeals and more processing time. Also the quality of the assessments has been criticised as leading to more overturning of decisions. Among Afghan asylum seekers 96% were granted leave last year and only 40% this year (though only 8 families were actually returned in 2024/5). This pattern is general – of 96,910 refusals between 2020 and 2024, only 24,508 people were actually returned.
New Home Secretary
With a new Home Secretary we must expect more legislation on small boats. The number of people crossing this year is, of course, up on last year’s figure by 27%, mostly due to prolonged fine weather.
The reshuffle has meant that Home Office ministers Angela Eagle and Seema Malhotra have been moved to other departments, signalling probable change in policy under the new minister.
Section 80B of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 has been amended to take account of Brexit and the lapse of the old Dublin rules about seeking asylum in the first safe country arrived at. The rules on “inadmissibility” have been tightened to make it possible for any perceived connection to a third county grounds for deporting applicants to that (“safe”) country.
Still in the UK, the previous Home Secretary temporarily suspended applications for family reunion. It remains to be seen if the right will be restored.
The Council of Europe has issued a report warning member countries against outsourcing application processing to third countries.
The MOD has admitted 49 data breaches in the handling of Afghan applications; this will have a very damaging effect on giving information about Afghans who served the pro-Western government to the current leadership. Following the leak, the then government set up the Afghanistan Response Route secretly to aid 7,000 Afghans to come here. It was ended in June without any detail of its success or otherwise.
Outside of Europe the USA has now done deals to deport “illegal” immigrants to Rwanda, South Sudan, Eswatini and Uganda. The latter country has 2 million refugees from the DRC within its borders. President Trump has suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program – President Biden set it up with a cap on the number of arrivals of 125,000. Trump has decided on allowing 40,000 immigrants, of whom he wants 30,000 to be Afrikaners from South Africa.
…But finally, some good news. Following the overthrow of Assad, the UNHCR report that 2 million Syrians have returned home, 600,000 of them from abroad.
We are pleased to attach the latest death penalty report for the above period thanks for the work put in by group member Lesley in compiling it. Contains extensive information from the US where the appetite for executions seems to be increasing in some states. Florida for example is the leading state at the moment. We have to caution as ever that China executes more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined but information is a state secret.
Sharifa Mohamadi sentenced to death in Iran for her human rights work.
The situation in Gaza gets ever worse with 63,000 now dead many of whom women and children. Around 330 have now died as a result of starvation and this number is set to grow. Peace looks a long way off and from the Israeli perspective, with American and Trump’s unqualified support, they are able to continue without let or hindrance. American support has even extended to banning members of the PLO from attending the UN.
The president of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials have had their visas revoked. The reason is because the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed them for undermining peace efforts and for ‘seeking the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state’. We seem to have entered a looking glass world as far as the Americans are concerned. The Palestinians are far from being as white as snow but they are far, far weaker than Israel who have all the weapons and materiel needed for the campaign of destruction in Gaza.
On the subject of weapons, the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition to be held in London starting shortly will not feature a stand by the Israeli government. Their arms firms will still be there however. The UK government has decided not to allow a delegation to attend. “The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” a UK government spokesperson said. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.“
The BBC coyly refers to the exhibition using the word ‘defence’ and there will no doubt be defence firms there. But it is much more about our arms industry, heavily promoted and subsidised by our government, and which sells arms to many of the world’s troubled countries thus aiding in the carnage. The government claims it has ‘robust controls’ but with the big rise in open licences, this is a dubious claim. The fact that they were happy to allow Israel to attend until yesterday, only days before opening, speaks volumes. We should never forget the victims in these conflicts are women, children and the vulnerable. British firms profit, millions suffer. The extent of UK support for Israel is hard to quantify. RAF flights over Gaza continue the purpose of which is unclear.
There is still no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen and he did not mention the vigils in his weekly Salisbury Journal column which focused on his work getting to know people in his constituency. He is a member of the Friends of Israel lobby group in the Commons.
A video of the vigil, attended by around 40, is available here courtesy of Peter Gloyns.
Local MP takes aim at ‘gesture politics’ concerning Palestine and Gaza
August 2025
In a previous post we analysed the Commons statements by our three local MPs, Mr John Glen, Mr Danny Kruger and Sir Desmond Swayne. We concluded that the latter was the only one who spoke up about the war in Gaza. Mr Glen is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel so any comments or speeches critical of Israel were unlikely. Mr Kruger appeared to have accepted the claims from Israel that Hamas fighters were embedded in the various buildings they are bombing.
In a piece in this week’s Salisbury Journal, Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative, New Forest West) writes about Palestine under a piece entitled Britain’s gesture politics are a disgrace (28 August). He refers to the government’s intention, along with France, to recognise a Palestine state. He acknowledged this was ‘gesture’ politics but accepts that sometimes such gestures are called for.
‘For years the objective of [British government policy] has been the implementation of a Palestine state base on the occupied West Bank. Throughout this time however, Israel’s actions have been designed to thwart any such prospect’ he writes. He mentions the growing policy of apartheid in the country.
The recent announcement by the Israeli government to build a further illegal settlement which will cut the West Bank in two thus making the prospect of a functioning Palestine state almost impossible. ‘The intention is clear’ he notes quoting Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, who said “they’ll keep talking about a Palestinian dream, and we’ll keep on building a Jewish reality … a reality that buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there’s nothing to recognise.”
David Lammy ‘at a complete loss’
How are we to respond? he asks to the man-made famine in Gaza, as well as the continuing devastation of civilian life. Every time ministers come to the Commons to face the anger of what is being done in Palestine they reiterate that they are ‘very cross about it’. Ministers point to the modest actions they have taken but when MPs point out that these actions have had no impact, the Secretary of State, David Lammy refers to ‘further actions’ that they will consider. Sir Desmond reports that when he asked the SoS ‘what further actions?’ he was directed to the Oxford English Dictionary to look up the meanings of the two words. Very drole.
Sir Desmond concludes that David Lammy is no doubt appalled by what is happening but is ‘at a complete loss’. We are in thrall to the Trump administration and we know that they will not allow any effective sanctions against Israel. It is refreshing to hear a politician spell out the plain fact that Britain is largely powerless. To quote Sir Desmond “it is time to call a spade a bloody shovel”.
“So we stand and watch as Gaza burns and the West Bank is swallowed. We will be judged accordingly”. (Sir Desmond Swayne, Salisbury Journal).
The leader of the Reform party sets out his policy for handling immigrants and asylum seekers
August 2025
Nigel Farage made a speech yesterday (26th) setting out his ideas for handling the rising numbers of immigrants and asylum seekers many of whom arrived in boats across the Channel. Often termed ‘illegal’ immigrants although it is not illegal to come via this method if asylum is claimed. The whole issue of asylum seekers, boat crossings and hotels has become headline news in recent months and there have been protests outside some of them most notably in Epping. A case started today (26 August) concerning an Ethiopian man alleged to have sexually assaulted a 14 year old girl and this has added to the widespread sense of outrage.
Mr Farage in his speech promised to fix the problem in quick order if he became prime minister. His speech has made headlines because of his poll lead which if maintained, could conceivably mean he will be a prime minister after the next election. Some polls show a 15 point lead over Labour. He promised to launch ‘Operation Restoring Justice‘ which would involve leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (joining Russia and Belarus), repealing the Human Rights Act and disapplying the Refugee Convention. This is to enable the UK to detain every migrant arriving illegally. Countries will be persuaded by a mixture of ‘carrot and stick’ to take them back. These will include countries with poor human rights records such as Iran, Afghanistan and Sudan where the risk of torture or death is extremely likely. The detentions will include women and children he made clear. They ‘will never be allowed to stay’ he said.
Critical issues arose in the press conference and included the cost and where they will be housed while deportations are arranged. He was not able to answer these questions. By amending or abolishing the legislations and coming out of the ECHR etc, it will frustrate the ability of lawyers to prevent deportations largely because the majority do have asylum claims which are legitimate. Over the coming days, other criticisms will appear. For example, existing English law, upon which the ECHR was largely founded after the war, provides protections despite membership of the Convention. Will foreign countries be willing to accept the large numbers involved?
Human rights
The concern here though is the desire to rid us of the ECHR and to repeal the Human Rights Act. This has popped up as a policy in several Conservative manifestos but has never actually come to pass. Local MP Danny Kruger is an advocate of this policy. Mr Farage’s ideas gained favourable coverage in some of the newspapers with the Daily Mail saying in a headline ‘Finally a politician who gets it’ [26 August, accessed 27 August]. His indifference to those he proposes returning to countries where torture is routine was particularly noteworthy. It is interesting however, looking at the comments from readers many of which were not supportive of his comments despite the uncritical nature of the article. The extent to which Mr Farage and Reform are making the waves was clear from the responses from the two main parties. Kemi Badenoch complaining that Reform had stolen their policies and a No 10 statement merely saying that Labour could not rule out leaving the ECHR. There was strong condemnation from the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Farage couched his speech in terms of a public mood of ‘total despair and rising anger’. It is disappointing to note the feeble and pusillanimous nature of the responses in particular from No 10. Britain was in the lead in promoting a new world order after the war following the Atlantic Conference. The ECHR was based a lot on British principles of justice. We would join only Russia and Belarus if we left – neither country a ringing endorsement of rights and human dignity. It is also disappointing to see newspapers like the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph (How Farage would kick 600,000 migrants out of Britain) seemingly to endorse Mr Farage with little sign of critical analysis. The Telegraph even had a story headed ‘We’re ready to work with Farage on migration says Taliban‘. The human rights situation in Afghanistan is abysmal.
How have we come to a situation where prejudice and a lack of critical reporting about the almost unworkable and hugely expensive proposals put forward by Reform are treated in this way? Instead of a robust response and clear statements of how to tackle problems, the two main parties seem to be falling over themselves to ape Reform policies. Partly it is because they confuse some newspaper reporting as reflective of the wider public’s feelings about immigration which are a lot less black and white. It may also be a reflection of years of negative articles by some newspapers about human rights – and by extension the Human Rights Act – claiming it is a criminal’s charter. It is perhaps not surprising that part of Mr Farage’s speech was about the HRA and he spoke of ‘removing the tools from our judiciary’ to prevent successful asylum claims.
A point he referred to several times was around ‘whose side are you on?’ This was in answer to a question from the BBC concerning the risk of returnees being tortured. His answer was ‘are you on the side of the safety of our women and children on our streets, or on the side of outdated treaties backed up by dubious courts’. Another quote was defending our borders and keeping our people safe. There is no evidence of women and children rendered unsafe on our streets disproportionately by immigrants (illegal or otherwise). The torture question was asked more than once.
The tone of the presentation was that immigrants are a threat to our society. That women and girls are unsafe despite the fact that many asylum seekers and others are in secured accommodation. By extension, many of our problems would be removed in short order if he became prime minister. The HRA and other laws and treaties are part of the problem he claims.
Reflections
Mr Farage, despite being a member of a party with only 4 MPs, is able to command a big audience from a speech and to be the lead item on many news channels.
He enjoys wide and largely uncritical support in chunks of the media.
Mr Farage himself (!) noted an interesting point, namely most of the press questions were about process. There was little of a moral or principled point of view.
A large part of his speech was based on dubious claims and unsubstantiated facts. There are problems surrounding immigration and he is correct that both parties have been ham-fisted in trying to deal with them and failing. But solutions are complex and the nation cannot simply step away from international treaties and agreements.
He does not discuss the reactions from other nations from his set of unilateral proposals to deport all illegal migrants. The question is – what if all countries decided to do the same? He spoke of return agreements and an expert from the Migration Observatory said in an interview that such agreements had a mixed history.
He speaks as though the UK is uniquely affected by these problems. The reality is that the scale of displaced people around the world is massive. There are 36.8m refugees worldwide and 123m displaced people according to UNHCR. The UK’s problems in comparison are miniscule. We are also a rich country better able than most to tackle the problem with capable leadership. Many of the millions are in, or adjacent to, countries which are among the world’s poorest. No part of his speech discussed what could be done to tackle the worldwide problem.
So whose side are we on to pose Mr Farage’s question? Not his.
Analysis of the voting record of the three Members of Parliament in the Salisbury area
August 2025
Salisbury has three MPs whose constituents live in the Salisbury area and it is timely to ask how they have performed in Parliament concerning the conflict in Gaza. We compare this with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia which is broadly taking place at the same time.
Although there is no job description for an MP, a key role is to represent their constituents in parliament and to the government of the day. Their constituents will have a plurality of views so straightforward representation is almost certainly impossible. A further problem is to ask who are they representing? This refers to the many lobby groups and organisations who spend millions on their activities trying to persuade MPs to their views and ideas. A key one relevant to this post is the role of the Conservative Friends of Israel thought to be the largest lobby group in parliament and with around a third of a million pounds, very well funded. The MP for Salisbury, appears to be a member of this group.
Methodology
We looked at the website They Work for You and used the following search terms [Gaza] [Israel] [Palestine] and for comparison [Ukraine]. All were accessed on 25 August 2025. We also did a search using Startpage (a search engine) using the same terms. We also referred to the website MP War Crimes. This site has analysed a wide range of sources and has concluded that all three MPs are ‘anti-Palestine’.
Results
John Glen (Salisbury).
Only three interventions none of them concerned about the violence. One asking about the refusal of Israeli authorities to allow MPs to enter the area. A question with a focus on Christians in the area and access to Christian holy sites such as the Mount of Olives and Bethlehem. Recently, he complained about an alleged statement by a Irish Republican at Glastonbury saying ‘the only good Tory is a dead Tory’ and ‘Up Hamas!’ and ‘Up Hezbollah!’.
On Ukraine by contrast he made over 30 interventions going back to June 2018.
Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire which comes down to the boundary of the City)
One. On the 29 October 2024 he asked a lengthy question making a collection of doubtful statements concerning Unwra and Hamas. This included the allegation that Hamas was ‘hiding their soldiers in hospitals’ and that they were ‘deeply integrated into Unwra’. Israel has never provided evidence of the former and on the latter, UN investigation showed that 7 operatives out of its thousands of staff might have been involved in the October massacre. This is the only one we could find and the intervention showed strong evidence of Kruger accepting Israeli claims without caveats.
On Ukraine he has made nine interventions.
Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) south of the City
The only one who seems to have asked any questions and ten which we could find with a strong emphasis on West Bank violence. Like Mr Glen, there is a focus on Anglicans some of whom were taken by IDF soldiers from an Anglican hospital and whose whereabouts are unknown. He made a number of interventions about the West Bank prior to October 7th and it seems to be a continuing interest of his on this subject. Only a small number about Gaza however.
On Ukraine, he made a similar number of interventions – ten – going back to 29 June 2016.
Conclusions
The only local MP who exhibits some kind of balance is Sir Desmond Swayne who has asked a series of questions and made speeches on a range of issues both about Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine. The same cannot be said for either John Glen or Danny Kruger. Indeed, historians in years to come, going through Hansard reading their speeches and questions, would wonder if Gaza or violence on the West Bank had ever occurred. Like reading a Jane Austen novel where you are unaware Britain was at war. Both seem to have a focus on the plight of Christians which is a proper concern and one that is often forgotten in Western media. But wider concerns about other faiths does not seem to be on their radar. As we have reported elsewhere on this site, people in and around Salisbury have now mounted 90 vigils in Salisbury, not one of which Mr Glen has ever attended or referred to in his weekly column in the local paper. He has been voluble on Ukraine but almost silent on Gaza.
We conclude that neither MP is representing, on this evidence, the views of a large number of their Constituents. It is possible that Mr Glen’s membership of Conservative Friends of Israel maybe a contributing factor. None are in government at present. It is important from a human rights perspective because there is mounting evidence of genocide and the use of starvation is a war crime. The known death toll is 62,000.
Around 55 attended this week’s vigil exceeding last weeks total. More stood and took notice and many photos were taken by passers by. The ‘Honk for Gaza’ sign attracted 32 honks. Several new faces attended which is encouraging. An excellent video of the vigil is available here courtesy of Peter Gloyns. A feature of the vigils is the range of posters and signs that people bring.
Israel is now preparing to launch an offensive to capture Gaza City. Bombing has started already causing many casualties: the total known is now 62,000. Many thousands more lie under the rubble unaccounted for. Over a 1,000 have been shot by IDF soldiers and US mercenaries at the limited food distribution sites fun by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF. What is upsetting many are the scenes of starving children, especially infants below the age of 5, for whom proper food is vital. Interviews with Israeli officials are met with denial. They claim there is no famine and that there is plenty of food available. According to Haaretz, the majority of Israelis are not aware of the famine in Gaza.
The UN declared a famine in part of Gaza this week: it is unable to do so for other areas as it cannot get sufficient data. António Guterres. the UN Secretary General said it was a ‘man made disaster, a moral indictment – and a failure of humanity itself’. Image: UN
The events around the hotel in Epping show deep tensions around asylum
August 2025
It is tempting to say that, in respect of immigration and asylum, little has changed over the past century or so. The arrival of thousands of Polish and Russian Jews fleeing from the pogroms at the end of the 19th Century, was the start of protests and antipathy towards what were then called ‘aliens’. The Aliens Act was passed in 1905 as a response to growing concerns. In subsequent eras there have been other outbreaks particularly with the arrival of Commonwealth citizens in the ’60s as Britain gave up its empire.
The current anger centred on the Bell Hotel in Epping which is one of many hotels used by the Home Office to house the immigrants awaiting assessment as to whether their asylum claims are valid or not. Recent tensions have been heightened by the increasing numbers of people arriving by boat over the English Channel. Large, angry crowds have assembled outside the hotel stimulated by claims that one of the inhabitants had molested a 14 year old British girl, an allegation he denies. In common with other disturbances – the Southport riots for example – social media has had a role to play in circulating rumours and speculation. The tensions have been an opportunity for politicians of various ilks to promote their views. Nigel Farage of Reform has made statements and Robert Jenrick of the Conservatives has also been voluble. He claimed in an article in the Daily Mail that he feared for the safety of his 3 daughters because of the ‘medieval attitude to women’ of men arriving by boat. The article refers to a ‘spate’ of crimes [alleged] to be committed by asylum seekers.
History
Historically, the fears follow a similar pattern. There is the fear of a loss of jobs by immigrants undercutting local labour. This is not altogether logical since those in these hotels are prohibited from working. Safety fears often surface such as those voiced by Jenrick. Taking up housing is another common reason and it will be galling for people spending years on a waiting list seeing immigrants being housed although the standard of accommodation is not always of the highest. In any event, this is about a hotel being used not houses occupied. A threat to our culture and our way of life is frequently expressed. We can see some of these themes in the Britain First website (described as a far right and fascist organisation by some). The pages contain words such as Britain being ‘overrun’ with mass immigration; the danger of ‘losing our country’ for ever; of our culture and heritage being ‘diluted’ and the risk of ‘erasing our identity’. Words like ‘hoards’ and ‘invasion’ often appear.
“We are not happy with these men in this hotel [Epping] because we fear for our children” A woman interviewed by the BBC
Common to the previous and historical outbreaks of this kind of angst concerning immigrants is a country experiencing stress. Added to that is the great mass of the population who do not feel they are being listened to and certainly not by politicians. Politicians have sometimes praised the contribution that immigrants have brought to our society – and rightly so – since large parts of our economy would grind to a halt without their input. But, they have not given that much attention to the social impacts and providing the resources to integrate people into society.
The problem is that people wishing to seek asylum in this country from places like Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea or Iran for example, have almost no legal means to do so. As routes have been closed off and entering on lorries now almost impossible, crossing the Channel is about the only means left. Once here, matters have been made worse by an inept Home Office. Considering how long this issue of immigration and asylum has been a political hot potato, it is astonishing that systems have not been geared up sufficiently to tackle it. Painfully slow assessments and inadequate accommodation have provided fuel to the fire of anger, hostility and a golden opportunity for populist politicians to jump in.
In a statement, Amnesty has said: Thousands of refugees are being refused asylum under flawed criteria that were introduced but not applied by the previous government – criteria this administration has irresponsibly chosen to maintain and enforce. This is a shocking abandonment of people fleeing war, torture and persecution and simply pushes backlogs and costs elsewhere – including into the appeals system.
In interviews, various politicians and others have argued that we should leave the European Convention to enable harsher measures to be introduced. We seem to have arrived at a place where fear and prejudice are defining forces, where media and social media amplify those prejudices, where politicians are too fearful to stand up against them and other politicians see them as an opportunity. Moral and humanitarian arguments are only occasionally heard. It is a great pity that the passions on show outside hotels and mosques could not be directed at some of the causes of the problem. Where is the anger at arms companies who profit and help foment the civil wars? Where are the protests outside City firms who handle the vast fortunes from those arms deals? Instead, anger is directed towards those who fled this unrest to seek sanctuary here.
Proposed elections are a sham. Sanctions are patchy and ineffective
August 2025
Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza: what links these current conflicts where thousands of women, children and the elderly die or have their homes destroyed? All are conflicts where the warring parties are equipped and supported by outside countries many of which are on the UN Security Council. Myanmar is armed and supported by Russia and China together with India and Austria with Singapore often acting as the go-between. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is supported by China, Sudan by the UAE and Israel’s genocidal actions by America principally with other western countres in the frame including the UK.
It is unlikely these conflicts would be as deadly or last as long if it was not for this outside influence and support. The support takes different forms. The straightforward supply of weapons and military materiel. Providing the financial pathways to enable the regimes to engage in trade and pay for the weapons. Allowing western countries to trade with the regimes and buy their exports. And frustrating efforts by the UN to broker peace efforts or reign in the activities of the outside countries. The Security Council supporters of the regimes frustrate these efforts by vetoing motions and allow the carnage to continue. The noble aims of the post war era when the UN was formed and there was meant to be a new world order is in tatters.
The latest edition of Burma Campaign News (Edition 48) is to hand and contains updates on the long running conflict in that country with 50,000 dead in the last four years. The country has slipped out of the news due largely to conflicts close to home and the difficulty and danger of reporting from there. After six decades of conflict, killings and attacks on minorities, the only good news is that the military is not having it all their own way. A combination of resistance, strikes, and economic boycotts, the military is slowly losing ground. The bombing of schools, hospitals and homes continues with around 5 million forced to flee. Elections are planned which will be a sham.
Many countries, including the UK, impose sanctions on the country. Unfortunately, as Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) points out in a report, these sanctions are not coordinated. This means there are gaps and what is sanctioned by one country may not be by another.
“There were 165 distinct entities sanctioned by the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom in response to the military coup in 2021.69 The report concluded that while the US, EU, and UK state that they are coordinating sanctions, there are significant missed opportunities to implement sanctions regimes in a coordinated manner. The report stressed that as of 1 February 2023, a mere 13 percent of the 165 entities were targeted by all three sanctions regimes, 20 percent by two, and 67 percent by only one. The report concluded that the gaps in the existing sanctions regime make it easier for the Myanmar military to evade sanctions. The report also noted that Member States seem reluctant to sanction high-impact targets such as Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), which is sanctioned only by European Union, and aviation fuel, for which Canada has imposed wide ranging sanctions as of March 2023 and the UK has imposed targeted sanctions. 110. While these sanctions have been welcomed by the National Unity Government, Myanmar civil society, and international NGOs, they primarily regulate the engagement of persons under the jurisdiction of the Member State.70 As such, in the absence of economic sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, third country actors are not legally prohibited from doing business with the sanctioned regime, person, or organization”. (Para 109)
A key source of revenue for the regime is the telecoms company Mytel described as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Burmese military and is highly profitable. The US sanctioned the company in January this year ‘for providing surveillance services and financial support to Burma’s military regime, enabling the regime to carry out human rights abuses through the tracking and identification of target individuals and groups’. The UK by contrast has not sanctioned them. Burma Campaign suggests contacting the Foreign Secretary asking for sanctions to be imposed: action.burmacampaign.org.uk/tell-british-government-sanction-mytel where there is a link.
A BBC report features the role of global arms firms in Burma.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 