Death penalty urgent actions


June 2024

We have received the following from Amnesty’s Death Penalty project. One concerns attempts by the Republicans in Texas to seek the death penalty for those offering abortions. A second rather distressing post concerns the botched execution attempt of Thomas Creech, one of 9 bungled attempts in the USA in the last 4 years.

Urgent is the case of Ramiro Gonzales who is due to be executed in 6 days on 26th of June. Finally, Toomaj Salehi in Iran, an Iranian rapper who is on death row.

If you are able to take action on at least one of them that would be appreciated. See full details of the above on the link below.

Urgent actions

https://email.amnestyuk.org.uk/c/12h86yI3jySIshFmwHiOQdFIwbXU

Video link

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Vigil – 6 months


June 2024

Group members attended the Vigil in Salisbury Market Place yesterday and the numbers were back up to well over 30 who came. There were new faces as well as the stalwarts. It’s six months since we have been going to these and the violence in Gaza and the West Bank shows no sign of abating. Peace talks don’t look as though they are going anywhere. The US and President Biden are looking increasingly powerless as time goes by.

The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago this year
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CAAT News


Summer edition of Campaign Against the Arms Trade news highlights many troubling issues around the this trade

June 2024

UPDATE: 20 June 2024. This post mentions the ‘revolving door’ where senior military personnel, civil servants and politicians go off to lucrative posts in the companies they were supposed to be controlling before retiring. Private Eye has done extensive work on this (see link below) and in the current edition No: 1624, there is an article about the Israeli arms firm Elbit who have recently taken on Sir Mark Poffley, formerly of the MoD. He had senior positions in logistics and hence would have had a lot to do with contracts. MoD have awarded Elbit with contracts worth £57m.

There is supposed to be a 2 year gap between leaving and taking up a role and lobbying previous colleagues. Private Eye questions whether this two years has indeed elapsed since although he is supposed to have left in 2018, documents show he remained as master general of logistics in 2022. ACOBA (see below) say these posts are ‘honorary’ and so do not infringe the two year rule.

Elbit, make the drones which are a feature of the Gaza campaign. Elbit say the drones used over Gaza are not made in Bristol.

The arms trade has a severe impact on human rights in countries around the world. We have already highlighted the fact that the UK government is continuing to issue licences to the Israeli government despite the horrific death toll in Gaza.

A troubling development is the increase in the number of universities engaged in research programmes funded by, or in partnership with, arms companies. CAAT, in conjunction with Demilitarise Education has published a new report Weaponising Universities. The report describes the nature of the research projects and makes a number of recommendations for universities, faculties and students (p56ff). Protests by students have taken place at Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool. Newcastle and Glasgow as awareness grows of what is happening.

Campaigners blocked access to the Bristol Arms Fair for a time. Among the exhibitors was Elbit, an Israeli arms company, which supplies weapons used in the Gaza conflict. The protest aimed to show that such firms were not welcome in the City.

There are two issues important in the arms industry: one is the lax control on what and to whom weapons are sold and two, the immense support offered by the UK government to the arms companies. The government claims it has robust controls in place yet weapons are sold to Turkey, Israel, Saudi, Qatar and other nations where abuses are taking place. There is a whole government department in place CAAT reports, called the UK Defence & Security Exports which uses public money to support the sale of arms around the world. The department’s title has a certain Orwellian feel to it with the use of ‘defence’ and ‘security’ to describe itself. Who could be opposed to defence or security? Unfortunately, what is sold is far from either of these things and are used to kill, or oppress.

Companies have almost limitless access to ministers and civil servants via extensive lobbying and countless meetings. Then there is the ‘revolving door’ which has been reported on in depth by Private Eye. This is the scandalous and cosy relationship between government and business, including the arms firms, whereby retiring military people, senior civil servants and ministers are offered lucrative positions or consultancies once they retire. It is an invitation for corruption. The Aerospace, Defence & Security Group (note those words again) hold lavish dinners for politicians and industry figureheads. Altogether, a multi-layered system of contacts enabling arms firms to exert considerable influence over politicians and civil servants. If any progress is ever to be made to put a stop to this deeply entrenched system of influence then at the very least, contacts should be reported on and there should be a considerably greater level of transparency. ACOBA, the toothless department which notionally controls the revolving door has to be radically strengthened. Essentially, instead of policing this system, the UK government is a willing participant and appears to have lost all objectivity. And remember, these are companies which sell weapons which kill.

CAAT News has much more on countries such as Saudi, Australia, Russia, China and more. There is also a piece on the Twickenham Arms Fair and is also a report on Barclays who are heavily involved in financing Elbit and BAE Systems with over £4bn in loans and financial services.

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June minutes


June 2024

We are pleased to attach the minutes of our June meeting thanks to group member Lesley for producing them. We have noted before that they are rather longer than normal minutes but as we do not produce a newsletter they act as a kind of replacement for that.

As we are the only group in Wiltshire now, any ex-members of the Marlborough or Devizes groups who might just pick up on this are welcome to get in touch. Also north Dorset. You would be welcome to come to our summer party.

June minutes (Word)Download
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Refugee report – June


June 2024

As the General Election approaches, immigration continues to be on the agenda, although different interests claim different levels of concern.  Immigration is the top concern for 27% of the population (54% among Conservative voters in 2019 to 15% among Labour voters.)  The latest YouGov poll places it behind the cost of living, health and the economy. 

The Migration Observatory has a comparison between Conservative and Labour policies.  Notably, with regard to small boats, the Labour Party has said it wants to spend money currently earmarked for the Rwanda scheme on enforcement activity instead.  It would establish a new ‘Border Security Command’ to prosecute gangs operating small boat routes and enhance security cooperation with the EU, and negotiate a deal with the EU to return asylum seekers to EU countries.

The Election has placed some ongoing legislation in difficulty, particularly the Illegal Migration Act (2023), some of which is already law, but some parts not yet enacted have been described by practitioners as ‘messy’.

The Government is still pushing the Rwanda plan (interesting to note that the Australian Government, which came up with a similar idea, has recently had 5 Rwandans on their shores).  ‘Operation Vector’, to give it its title, remains in the Conservative manifesto; the cost of the project so far is believed to be about £240 million, though the Parliamentary Public Affairs Committee, quoting National Audit research, record it would cost £500 million by 2033 if implemented.

The small boat numbers continue to be high at over 10,000 arrivals this year so far.  Ironically, 316 migrants arrived in 5 boats on 6th June.  The main countries of origin continue to be Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, now joined by Turkey.

There has been a drop in the grant rate for asylum seekers in the last year (down from 74% accepted to 62%).  This may be exacerbated by the ongoing backlog clearance, where the hardest cases will be left to last.  In Q1 only 43% were allowed, which will no doubt add to the number of appeals.

Refugee Week starts on 17th June.  The theme is Our Home.  The organisers have a list of events, plus things you can do at home (some quite simple).  

Andrew Hemming

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Death penalty report


June 2024

We are pleased to attach the report for mid May to mid June 2024 thanks to group member Lesley for compiling it. It covers many areas including African states and the shocking number of executions in Iran. As ever to note that China is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined but the numbers are a state secret.

May-June report (Word)Download

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Arms to Israel


UK continues to issue arms licences to Israel

June 2024

The conflict in Gaza continues and 36,700 Palestinians have died and well over 80,000 have been injured many seriously. In the last four months alone, 12,300 children have been killed. The death toll inflicted on Gaza is out of all proportion to the atrocity committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found that there is a plausible case for Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. The response by the deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell is to say that ‘the ICJ does not have jurisdiction [over Israel]’ (source, Government briefing, ‘UK Arms Exports to Israel,’ May 2024). Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, is quoted as saying that Israel ‘is committed to complying with International Humanitarian Law’ and hence did not recommend that licences be suspended. Today, 12 June 2024, the UN has issued two reports accusing both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity including the use of torture.

Meanwhile, over 100 licences for arms have been issued to Israel since October 7, 2023. Quite what is licensed is difficult to discern. Eight are ‘open’ licences and the statistics do not give the value of the exports. In 2022, the value of arms exports to Israel amounted to £42m. The UK is not a major supplier and the US sends around ten times as much including fighters and artillery.

The ICJ action raises serious questions for the government which may well be different after July 4th. Essentially, governments continuing to arm Israel risk being complicit in genocide which is a specific crime under the convention.

Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and a Palestinian human rights organisation al-Haq, have joined a legal action by Global Legal Action Network for a judicial review. The position of the Labour Party (who may be in government soon) is unclear but the party has had a difficult relationship with Israel and has had to weather many accusations of antisemitism which it is keen to dispel.

There are signs of movement and in March, over 100 MPs and a number of Peers signed an open letter to the government calling for and end of arm sales to Israel. Lord Cameron has been critical of them commenting on the blocking of aid and turning away entire lorries on spurious grounds such as shipments containing ‘dual use’ items (medical scissors).

The question is largely a moral one. Should we continue to supply arms to a state which is causing such damage, bombing entire blocks of apartments, almost destroyed all hospitals and killed so many men, women and children? By not allowing journalists entry, objective assessments of Israeli claims of targeting Hamas fighters is hard to verify and we simply have to rely on IDF statements.

However, the conflict shows no signs of coming to a satisfactory conclusion. A hard-line Israeli government – which has become even more so after the recent resignation of Benny Grantz – is determined to see the complete extinction of Hamas, an objective almost impossible to achieve. The violence in Gaza will be breeding the next generation Hamas fighters. Violence on the West Bank has grown markedly worse. A two-state solution looks impossible to achieve. The continued supply of weapons principally by the US but also by the UK, is simple adding fuel to the fire. More important perhaps than the actual supply of military materiel, is the implicit support that the the licences give to the Israeli government, a government which is disinclined to end the violence.

Sources: CAAT, Guardian, Amnesty,

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Celebrate protest


Amnesty webinar on the state of protest in Europe

May 2024

It seems that the UK is not alone in its attempts to stifle protest and passing laws to restrict individual’s abilities to protest. Recent tensions with ministers and some of their media supporters concerned Extinction Rebellion, Rwanda and the related issue of the boat people and more recently, the events in Gaza and the treatment of the Palestinians. Amnesty International recently hosted a webinar to look at the issue of protest and some of the points made are discussed below.

Protest has a curious position in British culture and law since there is no direst right to protest: it is not a specific human right. There is a right to free speech and a right of assembly and these combine to enable people to come together to protest.

The value of protest is something that seems to be forgotten. The anger at the noise of disruption of a protest march overshadows the fact that this is a means to enable people to highlight a cause of concern. There are some who complain about the disruption and who say that they would not mind a peaceful protest, it’s the noisy and disruptive ones they object to. The problem with a peaceful and noiseless protest which causes no disruption is that no one takes any notice. Many people report that visiting one’s MP or writing letters to them is largely a waste of time. It is also forgotten that nearly all social reforms in the UK have come as a result of protest, some lasting decades. The positive history of protest is not generally known or recognised. It is seen as a nuisance and something to be curtailed or even better, stopped.

Webinar

The results of the survey will be published on July 9th and it will show some regional trends which include casting protest as a threat, claiming it is a privilege rather than a right and the increasing use of supposed public safety measures to curtail them. They conclude it is generally getting worse with a heavy police presence used to intimidate. Complaints against the police and the use of excessive force are difficult because of the lack of identification.

A lot depends on language and protestors are frequently described as ‘rioters’ with no justification. There are also attempts to cast protestors as ‘illegitimate’.

One speaker from Clidef – with a focus on climate protest – spoke about the ‘pincer movement’. This includes new legislation introduced by government together with the stretching of old laws. Police action and powers have been strengthened as already mentioned together with the greater use of prison sentences against alleged offenders: 138 Just Stop Oil protestors have been imprisoned for example. They are also trying to use conspiracy laws.

Secondly, private actors and the use of SLAPP actions [Strategic Litigations Against Public Protest] which are a means to use the law to intimidate those seeking to take action against wrongdoers. They are a means by the wealthy to use the law to silence critics since they can afford to effectively bankrupt them with costs.

Thirdly, the judiciary and he might have mentioned the legal system itself. Judges have been in the firing line for not allowing those on trial to say why they were protesting, fearful no doubt that once a jury realises that they were promoting a climate action, they would acquit. The final speaker asked ‘who are they protecting? The activists or the companies?’

The theme of the webinar and the speaker contributions was that governments are increasingly dumbing down on protest whether it be the climate, Palestine or anything else. They give the impression of not liking dissent in any form and are using increasingly draconian tactics to inhibit, arrest and imprison those to engage in it.

Media

A theme not explored was the role of the tabloid media who almost without fail demonise protestors calling them things like ‘eco-zealots’, ‘eco-mob’, ‘a rabble’, and their actions amounting to ‘mob rule’. Article after article describes protests in entirely negative terms and seldom give readers much (in fact next to nothing) in the way of an explanation of why they are protesting and the nature of their cause. It is to be presumed that they are reflecting public opinion and the views of their readers. Recent reports on the climate are extremely worrying. The fossil fuel companies are able to mount expensive lobbying campaigns to ensure their interests are looked after and extraction can continue. Protestors do not enjoy this privileged access to those in power and taking to the streets is the only way they can be heard. It is a shame that sections of the media are not able – or are disinclined – to reflect this imbalance of power and the inevitable effects it will bring to the climate.

Our right to protest is precious and should be defended.

The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago

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Salisbury group at 50


The Salisbury group was established 50 years ago: did the founders think we’d still be needed half a century later?

May 2024, amended in September

Following the Observer article by Peter Benenson in 1961 which led to the formation of Amnesty International, local groups formed around the country and the Salisbury group came into being in 1974. It is the only surviving group in Wiltshire which is disappointing to report. Did the founders, it might be asked, think we would still be campaigning all these years later? It might not have been a question they asked themselves at the time but there was a feeling following the horrors of the war and the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, that we were on some kind of improving path towards better treatment for people wherever they lived. There was some kind of belief in a new future.

To an extent, the history of the UDHR and the true commitment of nations to the cause of universal rights, has been overstated. There was considerable resistance by the colonial powers, in particular the UK, to the ‘universal’ element because of the likely effect of such rights in the subject peoples of the colonies. Many were seeking independence from the Empire and this was not always achieved peacefully. America was fearful of the effects in the southern states in particular because of the treatment of the black population and the Jim Crow laws.

The human rights situation in the world today is dire. Entire peoples have been oppressed or driven from their homes, the Rohingya in Burma for example. China has oppressed Tibet and is currently detaining around a million Uyghurs in what almost amounts to genocide. Russia has invaded the Ukraine and committed many human rights violations. Wars rage in sub-Sahara Africa with millions displaced from their homes and villages – those who have not been killed that is. The Israeli response to the October 7th massacre by indiscriminate bombing in Gaza is causing widespread international concern. Around 36,000 have now been killed.

Flaws

One of the flaws of the post-war agreement was the reliance on countries to be the ‘policemen’ so to speak. The US in particular did not want to grant powers to the newly created UN to enforce rules in countries not obeying them. Since it is countries which are heavily involved in committing the crimes this is a serious weakness.

Another flaw was the rise of corporate power and the ability of major corporations to operate in ways making control extremely difficult. These companies, and the banking system which supports them, engage in arms sales, mineral exploitation, tax evasion and abuse of people in sweat shops almost with impunity. Millions suffer impoverishment and almost non-existent rights as a result of their activities yet little is done to control them.

The Declaration grew out of the European tradition since it was Britain, France and the US who were the key players after the war. Power has slowly drifted away in the last few decades however, with the rise of China, a re-emergent post-Soviet Russia and the rise of new southern hemisphere countries such as South Africa and Brazil not all of whom share all these traditions. The freedom of the individual is not something they are concerned with. The Gulf states are another group of powers where free speech, religious freedom and human rights are not supported. Women enjoy few rights in these states. The world has changed therefore and the comfortable assumptions of European Emancipation is no longer the only game in town.

UK

The international order has changed, so has the climate in the UK. Over the past two decades or so, there has been a concerted move to abolish the Human Rights Act and by some, to leave the European Convention (see the last post). Sections of the media have characterised human rights as a threat not a protection. It is claimed that they enable terrorists and criminals to escape justice because their human rights will be infringed. Stories abound of the act being used to enable pornography in prisons or hostage takers to demand a burger of their choice. Infamously, the then home secretary Theresa May, claimed someone could not be deported because they had a cat. These and other stories provide background music for a variety of MPs to demand that the act be abolished or seriously modified. Local Wiltshire MPs generally vote against human rights measures according the They Work for You website.

Too negative?

Is the above too negative? It is and it isn’t. Millions have human rights but many of those millions do not enjoy them. They live in countries which have signed up to this and that convention – against the use of torture for example – but where police and security services use it routinely and with impunity. They live in countries where free speech is part of the country’s constitution but where the media is controlled, shut down or where journalists are arrested or even gunned down outside their apartment block (Russia).

But it also true to say that human rights have entered people’s consciousness. They know they should have them and they know they are being infringed which induces a tension in society and a deep sense of anger. It has put pressure on countries in their dealings with other countries to be aware of the human rights issue even if they proceed to ignore it in the interests of their economy and jobs. Most of all, it has articulated what rights should be and it is a genie which has escaped the bottle of power and oppression. It has provided campaigners around the world with a cause.

So, fifty years on, sadly the need for a human rights group in Salisbury is still present. With several Wiltshire MPs wishing to see those rights limited, curtailed or even abolished, it is a long way from ‘job done’. Those who are in positions of power and privilege and who consort with other power holders – corporate, City and media for example – there is a natural desire to hold on to that power, and demands by ordinary people are seen as some kind of threat to the natural order of things. Human rights groups, trade unions and protest organisations are seen as a threat to that natural order. Fifty years ago it was other countries which were the subject of campaigning and it is regrettable that we now spend part of our time defending rights in this country, such has been the regression. More and more legislation, ever increasing police powers and a sometimes supine judiciary together conspire to form a pincer movement against the rights of ordinary people. So we embark on the next 50 years …

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The European Court


Seminar asking ‘what’s at stake?’ with the threat to leave the European Court

May 2024

Following the last minute reprieve last year by the European Court for the asylum seekers on their way to be deported to Rwanda, many politicians and a large section of the media are campaigning for Britain to leave the jurisdiction of the Court and resign from the European Council. The MP for Devizes, Danny Kruger, is a prominent member of this group. It has become a political issue, one likely to crop up in the current election. This webinar by the European Movement UK discussed the history of the court and the institution and what some of the implications might be if we did leave.

The Court has been subject to much abuse and is generally and disparagingly referred to as a ‘foreign court’ and together with Strasbourg, has almost become a term of abuse. Although nothing to do with the EU which Britain has left, it is confused with that entity and it is possible that many people thought that when we left the EU we had left all things European including the Court.

The webinar started with some history including the key fact that it was Britain and in particular Winston Churchill, who were instrumental in getting the European Council established at the Treaty of London after the war. The UK was the first country to ratify the treaty. It is an irony that it was Conservatives who led the way in the post-war years yet it is members of the same party who are now keen to see us depart.

From the rhetoric and press reporting one might gain the impression that the Court is a regular thorn in the exercise of law in this country and frequently interfering in the exercise of justice. The reality is quite the opposite. The UK has the lowest number of applications and out of 38,000 applications from member states in 2023, only 176 relate to the UK. There have been 3 judgements and one violation. There are issues still outstanding concerning Northern Ireland however. The main point being made was that on the whole, the UK has a reasonable judicial system and most matters are resolved within the country without need to go to Strasbourg.

As far as being a ‘foreign court’, only France has more nationals working there and the British presence is strong and influential.

False promise

Another speaker referred to the main reason for the current desire to leave is the Rwanda issue. The promise of leaving the jurisdiction of the Court overlooks other conventions we have signed up to including the Refugee Convention. The consequences of us leaving were discussed and these included the negative effects on human rights in the UK if the ultimate backstop was removed. There will be consequences for the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland. It will undermine UK’s standing in the world as a country which stands by its international agreements. It will reduce our influence, which, as already mentioned, is considerable.

Dominic Grieve, the final speaker, said it ‘has been the best example of soft-power exercised by the UK since the second world war’. He repeated that the UK was hardly ever in violation. The Court had brought about positive change for example by overturning the decision by a local authority to house an elderly couple in separate care homes brought about by the family life provision in the Convention. He noted that the obsession by some politicians was not reflected by the public at large.

Success

The success of the Court in the post war world should be a matter of celebration rather than the subject of 15 years of denigration. Recent government legislation to inhibit demonstrations and the actions of judges in preventing protestors explaining why they were protesting are examples of how fragile our rights are. The combination of government laws, increased police powers, media disinformation around human rights and demonising protestors as ‘rioters’ and ‘eco-zealots,’ has cast a chilling effect over attempts to bring concerns to public attention via protests. It is forgotten that a huge range of social reforms have almost always resulted from protest. It will be interesting to see what appears in the parties’ election manifestos on this subject.

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