Forthcoming group events

List of events planned

February 2025

NOTE CHANGE OF TIME FOR THE TREE CEREMONY

Although our minutes contain a list, it is still useful to highlight them in a specific post. Any of these are a useful opportunity to make yourself known if you would like to join us. Most join because they care about human rights both around the world and here in Britain. Indeed, we have become more concerned about our rights here with a number of pieces of legislation passed to inhibit protests and demonstrations. There seems to be no hurry by the Labour Government to repeal this legislation.

Forthcoming group events

Vigils continue every Saturday at 5pm in the Market Square by the Library. We had hoped to stop these in view of the ceasefire and exchange of prisoners and hostages, but the future looks uncertain.
Tree. We have a tree! To commemorate our 50 years since formation, there is a tree in Victoria Park and we are planning a group photo. We hope the last two surviving founder members will be able to attend and it will take place on 4th March at 11:00 am. We’d like as many supporters to be there as possible. The Salisbury group is the last remaining Amnesty group in Wiltshire.
A conversation with Nazanin Zaghari at the Cathedral on 8th March. The group took place in a number of signings and events to get her freed. It is free and details are on the Cathedral’s site. The group was not invited to have a role.
South West Conference in Exeter on 22nd March. An enjoyable event with speakers and a chance to meet other groups.
Evensong at the Cathedral. Date tbc.
Market Stall, probably in May. If you have any items for the stall please save them up. We can collect if need be. No electricals please.
People in the Park on 17th May for most of the day.
Coffee Morning, St Thomas’s on 5th July starting at 10:00 or so until noon.
Write for Rights on 4th November. Details idc.

These details will be updated in due course. Hope you can make one of them!

February 15, 2025 1

UK Refugee Report: Political Issues and Policy Changes

This month’s refugee report on this vexed problem focuses on political issues in the UK

February 2025

This month the concentration will be on the continuing situation in the UK, with legislation going through and much pressure from certain political parties on the issue.

The Government’s Border Security Asylum and Immigration Bill passed its second reading this month. This Bill repeals the previous government’s Safety of Rwanda Act and some of its Illegal Migration Act. As presented, the Bill has received a cautious response from refugee and asylum organisations, most taking the view that it could have been worse. The new offence of “supplying or handling ‘articles for use in immigration crime’” is expected to only be rarely used, despite the draconian punishment. The other main provision concerns applying anti-terrorist legislation to smuggling gang leaders when caught. Most organisations in the field point out that gang leaders rarely have assets in the UK and the National Crime Agency have said that most crime gangs are based in France, Belgium, Germany or Turkey, the success of this initiative is therefore to be doubted.

Blanket denial of citizenship

As of this week, the Home Office has been accused of a policy of denying citizenship to anyone who arrived by irregular means, however long ago, and despite being given leave to remain. This would appear to be in breach of Article 34 of the Refugee Convention. The issue is continuing.

Among the boat arrivals, the number of deaths recorded in transit was 78 in 2024, three times higher than the previous year. Pressure on the boat suppliers has led to more overcrowding, among other causes.

Within the European Union, irregular migration figures are down by 38% from 2023 to 2024, according to Frontex. Migration routes from Tunisia, Libya and the Western Balkans have been made more difficult, but the policy of the government of Belarus in pushing migrants to the west has added to the numbers from that source. Frontex are developing the use of AI on the borders.

The UK government has been publicising its deportation programme for unsuccessful claimants. Between 5 July 2024 and 31 January 2025, a total of 18,987 returns were recorded – an increase of 24%, the Home Office said. Removals of foreign national offenders were up by 21% and illegal working raids – on such places as nail bars and car washes – are up by 38% compared with the same period 12 months previously. Videos of people being put on planes* (for unknown destinations) have been put in the public arena. Of the total returns since 5 July 2024, 2,925 were of foreign national offenders – an increase of 21%.

The backlog of asylum cases continues to be a concern. In the last year, the proportion of asylum claims that have been accepted has dropped from 75% to 52% with a resulting increase in the number of appeals. So, although the initial backlog built up over years has fallen, it is constantly being topped up. The last available figure, for September, was 97,000, but the Home Office say it is reducing.

Criticism of language used

A report by the Runnymede Trust has noted the language of the immigration debate, particularly the widespread use of the word “illegal”, although governments have tended to avoid the word as immigration is not illegal, though it may be “irregular”. It blames media reporting for encouraging hostility towards migrants. In parliamentary debates and media reporting, negative terms like “illegal”, “flood” and “influx” are persistently used in association with migrants, posing them as a threat, dangerous and outsiders. The word “illegal” is in the top five most strongly associated words with ‘migrant’.

The pause in accepting Syrian refugees since the revolution is continuing despite urging from Damascus to process ongoing claims.

The Migration Advisory Committee has called for a change in the rules on working, asking for claimants to have the right to work after six months in the country.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees issued a report this month on the working of the immigration system, and made some recommendations for improvement. Overall, the inquiry found that the current processes for safe and legal routes are overly complex, restrictive, and slow, leading to prolonged family separations and increased irregular migration. The report says UK governments since 2019 have adopted a “scattergun” approach to safe and legal routes.

“They have failed to effectively utilise the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and cooperate with the UNHCR to provide quotas for arrivals on this scheme. Instead, nationality specific schemes, each conferring differing entitlements, have been adopted, meaning that access to family reunion, immigration status and integration prospects are dependent on the scheme you arrived on which is unfair and inefficient.

“The refugee family reunion route was also highlighted as not operating effectively. Despite the number of visas issued increasing significantly in 2024, two-thirds of cases are failing to meet the Home Office’s own service standard of processing within 60 days. A backlog of family reunion cases has risen to at least 11,000 cases. The UK also operates one of the most restrictive refugee family reunion policies in Europe.“

The APPG makes three main recommendations. Firstly, it calls for improvements to refugee family reunion by processing cases within 60 days, allowing refugee children to sponsor their family members, and removing financial restrictions on UK-based sponsors. Secondly, it recommends restoring the UK Resettlement Scheme as the primary resettlement route and reaffirming the commitment to resettle 20,000 Afghans under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. Thirdly, the report proposes introducing a pilot refugee visa scheme targeted at high grant rate countries, with a cap of 10,000 visas during the pilot period.

Finally, Amnesty are offering small grants for actions during Refugee Week in June details are available on the Local Groups email (but the final date is Monday!)

*the video is embedded in this LBC post.

February 13, 2025 0

Death penalty report

February 2025

Here is the death penalty report for mid January to mid February thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. It is quite long! That is partly due to a lot of activity in America where executions are proceeding apace and the various executive orders being issued by President Trump.

Another event is the call for the return of the death penalty in the UK particularly by the Reform party. This occurs after a particular murder or murders in this case the dreadful murders of three little girls in Southport last year. Amnesty’s position is that it is never right to inflict a death sentence on someone, it does not act as a deterrent and mistakes cannot be put right if there is a wrongful conviction.

Report (Word)Download

February 13, 2025 3

Talk at Cathedral

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in conversation at the Cathedral

February 2025

Nazanin will be in conversation with the Bishop of Sherborne on Saturday 8th March in the Cathedral. This is a free event. Details and booking are on the Cathedral site. Members of the Salisbury group and other Amnesty groups around the country campaigned on behalf of Nazanin over a long period of time. We were delighted when she secured her released from prison in Iran. Members of the local group were a little disappointed therefore not to be invited to play a part in the event.

Letter to the Salisbury Journal in 2017

February 10, 2025 0

Ex-diplomat alleges Britain ‘complicit in war crimes’

Britain’s system of arms control ‘broken’

February 2025

Allegations by an ex diplomat that officials were instructed to manipulate findings of misuse of weapons by allies will not come as shock to readers of this site. We have frequently questioned the oft repeated statement from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that ‘Britain’s export licensing controls are some of the most robust in the world’ as palpable nonsense. We have regularly featured items published by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, CAAT.

In this case, featured on the front page of today’s Guardian newspaper (10 February), the ex-diplomat claims that officials are ‘bullied into silence’. Processes are manipulated to produce politically convenient outcomes. The article suggests that probably the most significant of his allegations was that officials had demanded the toning down of evidence that UK arms had been used to commit war crimes. This would appear to be a clear example of manipulation of what was intended to be an objective exercise. One tactic was to say they are ‘waiting for more evidence’ as cover for inaction. The FCDO office denies these allegations.

Palestinians returning to north Gaza have been shocked to see almost total devastation of their homes, communities, medical facilities and much else. What greets them are piles of rubble where once they lived their lives. The bombing of civilian targets using dumb bombs and the killing of thousands of non-combatants including many women and children, is clear evidence of a war crime. Israelis have been able to do this with weapons such as the F-35 parts of which are manufactured in the UK. Yet the UK government refuses to ban these exports.

The ‘revolving door’ enables corruption to continue

As we have argued before, the UK is in a kind of trap when it comes to these sales. Arms exports are one of the few areas where we do well from an economic perspective. Many jobs depend on these sales and a proper regime of controls would hit the industry. Arms firms employ many lobbyists to promote themselves. CAAT have spoken of the ‘revolving door‘ whereby senior staff from the civil service, the military and government retire and emerge as consultants or directors of these firms. Such senior staff have a clear incentive therefore, to sing the industry’s songs so as not to destroy the opportunity for lucrative employment post retirement. It is as close to corruption as you can get. We must not forget however, the end result of this corruption and manipulating processes as alleged, is the death, destruction, maiming and general mayhem as the weapons are used to destructive effect.

Apart from Gaza, another area where Britain turned a blind eye and pretended not to know was Yemen. We continued arming Saudi and provided support and advice stopping just short of arming the planes thus avoiding claims of being mercenaries.

Listening to ministers opine about peace ring hollow when its own staff are allegedly manipulating evidence to enable arms sales to continue.

February 10, 2025 0

Vigils continue

62nd vigil held on Saturday

February 2025

And the vigils continue with the 62nd taking place in the market place Salisbury on Saturday 8 February. As we said in a previous post, we had hoped with the ceasefire underway, however shaky, and peace talks about to resume, that we might be seeing an end to the violence. And along came President Trump with his talk of ‘clearing out’ Palestinians and rebuilding Gaza to become a new Riviera for that part of the world. ‘Clearing out’ – like so much rubbish or emptying one’s shed. This was music to the ears of the far right in Israel. The problem is that it lowers the impetus for peace and a two state solution now seems dead in the water. The proposals have dismayed America’s allies and even some Republicans were taken by surprise. Arab countries are vehemently against.

February 9, 2025 0

Vigil Attendance in Salisbury: Marking a Significant Moment

Sixty first vigil took place yesterday

February 2025

The 61st vigil took place in Salisbury on Saturday 1st February and around 25 attended. With ceasefire still holding and hostages being released, it was hoped that the previous week’s was going to be the last at least for a while. But as we said in a previous post, the seemingly unqualified support for Israel coming from the US, the possible appointment of Mike Huckabee as ambassador and Israel’s decision to cancel the arrangements with Unwra are all bad omens for the future. Unwra are the largest agency by far operating in Gaza and no other agency has the scope or facilities to step into their shoes. There has been a mass return to the north following the ceasefire with thousands returning to rubble where once their homes were. The latest death toll in the territory stands at 46,707 with around 18,000 children having been killed. These figures are underestimates.

Pictures from the vigils

We are grateful to Peter Gloyns for the pictures.

February 2, 2025 0

Angry response to vigil article

January 2025

There has been an angry series of responses to the article published in the Salisbury Journal

Our last post was to draw attention to a piece in this week’s Salisbury Journal (30 January) reporting on the vigils which have taken place in Salisbury for over a year now. They are silent, last half an hour and the main theme is peace in Gaza. It is worth noting that the death toll is around 46,000 but the Lancet suggests it is higher because many bodies lie undiscovered in the rubble.

The article has prompted a large number of almost exclusively critical ‘below the line’ comments some of which have attracted 70, 80 or more ‘likes’ [accessed 31.01.25, 21:38]. Two drew attention to the fact it was published on Holocaust Memorial Day and said that whoever on the Journal decided to publish it ‘should be fired’, that it was ‘not appropriate’ and they ‘should hang their heads in shame’. This is to misunderstand the themes behind the day which the Holocaust Memorial Trust points out is about empathising with people today and helping to build a better future. Of course it is about the terrible events during the war and the millions of Jews and others murdered by the Nazis. But is also reminding us that violence on the scale we have seen in Gaza and its indiscriminate nature is also a cause of great concern. [UPDATE: 2 February. The adverse comments attracted over 700 ‘likes’]

Another called it ‘unbelievably crass’ to pass on unfiltered pro-Hamas views. It is difficult to see where a description of a peaceful vigil can be described as ‘pro-Hamas’. It was also described as a ‘demonstration’. It was not. One wrote: ‘on Holocaust Memorial Day 2025, Isabella Holliday [the journalist who’s by-line was at the top of the article] has failed in her professional duty as a journalist, to write an accurate unbiased article on the Israel/Hamas conflict’. It was not such a piece.

Other wild comments include the assertion that ‘Hamas is responsible for all the civilian deaths in Gaza and that most of the casualties are Hamas terrorists’. Since around 15,000 of the deaths are children this is a bold claim and demonstrably untrue. The hostility of the comments might come as a surprise since the vigil is just that: between 30 or 40 people typically, who come together each week to express their concern for the violence that is taking place. There is no visible or overt support for Hamas. It might be worth remembering that it was Benjamin Netanyahu who did support Hamas according to the Times of Israel and others.

Last week was meant to be the last, and we welcomed the cease fire and the release of some of the hostages with more to come out. But the increase in violence on the West Bank, the ending of aid provided by Unwra, and the possible appointment of Mike Huckabee as the US ambassador, led to the decision to continue.

Hamas has not been destroyed. Gaza has been reduced to rubble. At least 46,000 Palestinians have died and many thousands injured. Channel 4 News featured some distressing images of injured children unable to get proper medical help (31 January). Almost nothing has been achieved and certainly not the long term security of Israel. It is disappointing to see so many hostile comments and the large numbers of people who appear to like them i.e. approve of them.

The next vigil will take place tomorrow, 1st February as usual.

January 31, 2025 3

Salisbury Journal piece

Journal acknowledges Vigils held in Salisbury

January 2025

The Salisbury Journal published a short piece describing the Vigils we have been holding each week in this week’s edition (30 January 2025). It said:

“A silent vigil took place outside the library to express a hope for the of violence in the Middle East. On Saturday the 60th silent vigil took place outside Salisbury Library with around 50 people attending. The weekly vigils are an expression of hope for an end to violence and a peaceful future in the Middle East and in the most recent [event] people carried flowers and candles and displayed heartfelt messages.

The messages emphasised the message for a permanent ceasefire. A spokesperson from vigil said “we call on the UK government to take immediate action to ensure accountability and justice for Palestinians. All arms sales to Israel muse be suspended. This is a moment of truth for the UK. To continue shielding Israel from accountability is to abandon the principles of justice and human rights that the UK claims to uphold.”

These vigils are supported by local groups of Amnesty International, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Christian Aid, Quakers, Sarum Concern for Israel Palestine and many others.”

The vigils will continue and the next is this Saturday 1st February at 5pm as usual for half an hour. All welcome.

Also in the Journal, the local MP Mr Glen, spoke of his presence at the Holocaust memorial which took place in the city. He has not acknowledged in his weekly columns any of the 60 vigils so far held.

January 30, 2025 0

Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire