Promoting human rights from Salisbury UK
November 2023
We are pleased to attach the death penalty report for the period mid October to mid November thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. An interesting item is the shift in opinion in the USA away from the use of the penalty. Once again, we note that China – believed to be the world’s largest user of the penalty – does not feature as all details are a state secret.
November 2023
We are grateful to group member Andrew for his work in compiling this report on the current state of affairs with refugees and asylum seekers. A quiet month on the legislative front, but much noise from certain quarters. It was noted that the Home Secretary’s complaint against “tent-dwellers” included the aside “many of them from abroad”, with its implication of illegal immigrants joining in the supposed lifestyle choice. This was roundly condemned by a number of refugee charities, along with homelessness support groups.
The Joseph Rowntree Trust have published a report on destitution in the UK. Among its findings was the fact that 28% of destitute households were migrants, and rates for that group were 35% higher than the national figure. Such households also tend to have more children.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (a centrist think tank) has also published a report, “Charting New Waters”, on dealing with those crossing in small boats. Like the Safe Passage report mentioned last month it is concerned with developing safe routes, an organized Europe-wide system to share the responsibility, and a reform of the asylum processing system. The report does not give much detail, but reinforces the feeling that the government needs to engage with our neighbours in finding solutions to the issue.
On that topic, the numbers of asylum seekers crossing the channel has been lower this month, mainly because of the weather
We still await the High Court decision on the Rwanda plan, but the feeling is that the government is prepared to lose the case. This would, of course, put the European Court of Human Rights in the firing line, at least with the Home Secretary. The decision is expected in the first half of December.
Many Afghans who were promised a safe passage to the UK after the Taliban takeover are still waiting; 3000 who have been promised asylum in the UK are in UK-funded hotels in Islamabad, but the Pakistan government is ejecting all Afghan refugees. There has been no government statement, as far as we know.
The Home Office has rolled out a new “asylum decision-making prioritisation”. This is really a pushing ahead in trying to reduce the backlog of cases awaiting decision. The government has argued that the backlog has been reduced, but in fact the total has increased due to new cases, while the “legacy” cases from pre-2022 are indeed being reduced.
Migration lawyers have noted with pleasure that the number of refusals of claims of trafficking by new arrivals has fallen, following a change in the regulations.
The Home Office announced this week that the number of asylum seekers to be held on the barge Bibby Stockholm is to be reduced from 500 to 425, following a fire risk assessment. This would likely make the provision 10% more expensive than housing claimants in hotels.
On the campaigning front, next year’s Refugee Week will be from 17th to 23rd June. The theme will be “Our Home.”
AH
November 2023
Jagtar was abducted off the street in 2017 and held incommunicado for a number of days during which time he was subjected to brutal treatment and was almost certainly tortured into signing a confession. His ‘crime’ as far as the India government was concerned was to represent the Sikh community and because of his human rights activity and his faith according to the UN.
He has now been in custody for 6 years and concerned lawyers have written to the UK Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad, asking him to retract his comments saying that Jagtar will receive ‘due process’ in India. Manifestly he has not.
Many MPs were disappointed that the prime minister Rishi Sunak did not do more at the recent G20 summit when he met the India prime minister on the fringes of the meeting. Shockingly, it was revealed that the British security services MI5 and MI6 gave their Indian counterparts a tip-off which led to his arrest and torture. MPs and human rights organisations have criticised the UK government repeatedly over this affair and arrest of a British citizen. They have said the the government has been reluctant to press the Indian government over his arrest and mistreatment and have repeatedly failed to call for his release. The latest claim that he will be subject to due process flies in the face of all the evidence.
There is the suggestion that the ‘government’s timidity and reluctance to press his case too strongly relates to the desire to secure various arms deals with India. A Foreign Office spokesman is quoted as saying that it was committed to resolving his case ‘as soon as possible’.
Sources: Reprieve; Guardian; Independent; Amnesty International
November 2023
UPDATE: 10 November. Brent was executed on 9th.
Brent Brewer is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 9 November 2023. His 1991 death sentence was
overturned in 2007, but he was resentenced to death in 2009. In 1991 and again in 2009, the prosecution relied on unscientific and unreliable, but influential, testimony of a psychiatrist who asserted that Brent Brewer would likely commit future acts of violence, a prerequisite for a death sentence in Texas. Nineteen years old at the time of the crime, Brent Brewer is now 53. He has been an exemplary prisoner, with no record of violence during his three decades on death row.
Full details and the action to take can be found on this link https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2023-10/UA09323.pdf?VersionId=aoSL1YL8VaIBdDlzj2fhUXdafmJZky1_
October 2023
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, created an international diplomatic storm when he called for a ceasefire in the Middle East. If such a ceasefire was agreed it would prevent – at least technically – Israel’s stated intention to enter Gaza and eliminate Hamas as a terror organisation. But what has roused the Israelis to considerable anger is his comments about the factors leading up to the outrage on October 7th. The actions by Hamas were appalling and have been almost universally condemned. The key passage is below:
The attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum, he noted, with the Palestinian people being subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation, during which they saw their land devoured by settlements; their economy stifled; their homes demolished; and their hopes for a political solution vanishing. However, the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. “And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he said, emphasizing: “Even war has rules.” At this critical hour, he appealed to everyone to pull back from the brink before the violence claims even more lives and spreads even farther.
Guterres clearly links the history of the post 1948 settlements to the events of today. The central argument is whether the barbaric actions of Hamas terrorists can ever be justified by what has taken place over the past 56 years? Guterres says not but clearly recognises that the treatment the Palestinians received over these decades is clearly a factor. He also says that the actions taken against the citizens of Gaza, which are ‘collective punishment’, are not justified by the Hamas attack. A copy of the full UN statement is available here.
On a purely practical level, invading Gaza is likely to be neither effective nor good politics. It will be a bloody affair with heavy losses of life on both sides. It is unlikely, not to say impossible, to achieve since although it may be possible to kill Hamas people, it is impossible to kill an idea or ideology. Around the world, there was a high degree of sympathy and shock at the awful deaths of Israelis on 7th. The death toll mounts in Gaza, including hundreds of children, some of the hospitals are closing for want of fuel and water. Only tiny amounts of aid are entering the enclave. The sympathy which the Israelis received after the terrible killings, may begin to dissipate as time goes by.
Events like these always have causes. Violence seldom if ever springs out of nowhere. Years of apartheid and persecution will have had their effects. What is clear that two wrongs don’t make a right. Palestinians have suffered great wrongs as Guterres and others have said but that does not justify the actions of Hamas. The actions of Hamas in turn do not justify the Israelis taking punitive action against an entire people. This is particularly so as Israel is a modern, heavily armed state with overwhelming military superiority. As Human Rights Watch puts it ‘Condemn the Crimes, Comprehend the Context’
One thing which has become clear is that these events have shone a light on various western nations including the UK. Neither Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister, nor Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition party, are having ‘a good war’. The former has been too partisan offering unqualified support for Israel and saying very little about human rights. The desire to score political points has swamped the need for a statesmanlike and impartial approach. Sir Keir has been particularly disappointing: as an ex human rights lawyer and director of the DPP, he must know that cutting off supplies of water, electricity and fuel to Gaza is a war crime yet he defended their actions in doing this [Update: Sir Keir denies this is an interview today]. He seems to be too desperate to shake off the anti-Semitism his party was accused of under the previous leader. This seems to have led him to refrain from saying anything which might be construed as critical of Israel. At serious moments like this when we want calm judgement and measured responses, both leaders have fallen short.
October 2023
We enclose verbatim, a statement by the chief executive officer of Amnesty UK concerning the conflict in Israel/Palestine.
| We are horrified by the escalating violence in recent days and the mounting civilian death toll in Israel and Gaza, and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Hamas’s shocking summary killings and abductions of civilians displayed a chilling disregard for life and for international law. Deliberate attacks on civilians & hostage-taking are war crimes & cannot be justified under any circumstances. Hamas and other armed groups must end deliberate attacks on civilians, the firing of indiscriminate rockets, and hostage-taking. They must release civilian hostages immediately. Relentless Israeli air strikes are now pounding Gaza, obliterating entire families and destroying whole neighbourhoods. Once again civilians in Gaza have nowhere to seek safety. The Israeli authorities’ illegal 16-year blockade on the Gaza Strip, a key part of its system of apartheid, means 2.2 million Palestinians are trapped, plunged into darkness, and without access to essential needs. The collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population by Israeli authorities amounts to a war crime – it is cruel and inhumane. Palestinian civilians are not responsible for the crimes of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, and according to international law Israeli authorities must not make them suffer for acts they have played no role in and cannot control. Families and survivors deserve justice. As the situation is so fast moving, Amnesty is publishing the latest developments via publications on the press releases page of the AIUK website, which you can see here https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases. In solidarity, Sacha Deshmukh Chief Executive Officer Amnesty International UK |
October 2023
We are pleased to attach the minutes of the group’s meeting on 12 October 2023 thanks to group member for compiling them.
October 2023
It has been distressing to see the steady erosion of rights in the UK with limits on protests, campaigning and access to judicial review all incorporated in legislation. Police powers have also been increased. The war in the Middle East has seen the Home Secretary urge the police to take action against supporters of the Palestinian position.
A disappointing lack of resistance has been seen with the introduction of these new laws and other bills in parliament. There has been opposition in the House of Lords but this has been bypassed or simply ignored. The main resistance has come from outside organisations such as Each Other and Open Britain. The Labour Party has been disappointingly quiet.
At the recent Labour Party conference in Manchester there was a fringe event Human Rights for a better Britain. An Amnesty member, Elena Auer, attended this event and reported:
“I attended a Labour Party fringe event held jointly by Amnesty and The Labour Campaign for Human Rights. It was an interesting networking event with opening remarks robustly setting out our defense of human rights. The Labour party representative set out their belief that human rights should remain at the heart of Labour’s policy and practice. We were given a copy of Amnesty’s new ‘Human Rights Manifesto which was launched this week (W/c 9th October) [we have been unable to locate this online but an older version can be accessed here]. The good news was there was a ground-breaking speech from Emily Thornberry committing the a future Labour government to review all anti-rights legislation. I am hopeful that both Amnesty and Liberty would hold the Labour party to account on this if they do form the next government”.
Whether the party – should it form a government – will do more than ‘review’ the legislation remains to be seen. Review by itself commits the party to nothing and it will have to find parliamentary time to debate and drive through alternative legislation. In view of other pledges and changes it wants to make (if the conference speeches are to be believed) then this time may be limited. These more restrictive laws are likely to be a feature for some considerable time.
As previously reported, The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, visited Washington DC recently and gave a speech in which she referred to the Human Rights Act as the Criminal’s Rights Act. Liberty has gained permission from the High Court to take criminal action against the government for introducing new anti-protest legislation which has been democratically rejected by parliament just a few months previously.
They say that the Home Secretary has acted unlawfully by using a statutory instrument to give the police more powers to impose restrictions on protests that cause ‘more than minor’ disruption. Statutory Instruments are a way to bring new laws in without having to create a whole new bill. Liberty argues the Home Secretary was not given the power by parliament to take this action, making her action a serious overreach which inviolate he constitutional principle of the separation of powers because the measures have already been rejected b parliament. By bringing in these new powers, the government has been accused of breaking the law by giving the police ‘almost unlimited’ powers to shut down protests due to the vagueness of the new language.
Status of Acts
Briefly, the current status of acts which negatively impact on human rights are:
| Nationality and Borders Act 2022 | Royal assent: May 2022 |
| Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 | Royal Assent May 2022 |
| Police, Crime, Sentencing Courts Act 2022 | Royal Assent July 2022 |
| Public Order Act 2023 | Royal Assent May 2023 |
| Anti-Strike (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 | Royal Assent July 2023 |
We are grateful for group member Mike for the work in facilitating this post.
The week’s big event has been the start of the Supreme Court’s review of the legality of the Rwanda deportation plan. They are expected to take 3 days to come to a conclusion, but this will not be made known for some weeks. Also, the Mayor of Portland’s planning permission protest against the Bibby Stockholm ship was heard this week (she lost) and the Home Office have reported that claimants will be sent back to the barge from 19th October. In passing, the Home Office is refusing to state the cost of the barge, as it would not be “in the public interest”.
The government’s Illegal Migration Act is facing a court challenge from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) on the ground that it breaches the Windsor Framework. The framework is the revised post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, which was agreed by the UK and EU earlier this year. It deals mostly with trade issues but also includes a human rights element. It commits the UK not to water down the human rights provisions that flow from the Good Friday Agreement.
Opening up the UN Refugee Convention to reform would cause the world to “go backwards” on refugee rights, a UN leader has said. Gillian Triggs, UN Assistant Secretary-General, told the One Young World Summit in Belfast that there is a “global environment of populist rhetoric” that is damaging to refugees. The 1951 UN Refugee Convention outlines a number of protections for refugees, including basic minimum standards, and asserts they should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.
Suella Braverman
In a trip to Washington DC last month, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said it should be questioned whether the application of the UN’s Refugee Convention is “fit for our modern age”.
Channel crossings
The mild Autumn has kept the small boats coming, the total people arriving for the year so far being just over 25,000. This is down by about 20% on last year, mostly because of the absence of arrivals from Albania. There have been two major reports this month: Safe Passage has been looking at safe routes for prospective refugees and the Refugee Council have looked at the data on arrivals, and discuss the impact of the new Illegal Migration Act. The Refugee Council’s analysis of new Home Office statistics shows that three in every four of the people who have crossed the channel so far this year would be recognised as refugees if the UK Government processed their asylum applications. This is higher than the Refugee’s Council previous analysis of those who made the journey in 2022, which found it was almost two-thirds. The statistics also show that:
More than half (54 per cent) of those who have made the perilous crossing come from just five countries – Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan.
With the exception of Albanians, the number of people crossing the channel is higher in 2023 compared to 2022.
Analysis based on the data shows that once the Illegal Migration Act 2023 comes into force:
• Each year, over 27,000 refugees who cross the channel will be denied status in the UK.
• As few as 3.5 per cent of those people arriving by small boat, 1,297 people, will be removed from the UK to their own country.
• 35,409 people who arrive in the UK by small boat could be left in limbo each year, having had their asylum claim deemed permanently inadmissible but not having been removed.
• Even with a safe third country agreement in place with Rwanda which allows for up to 10,000 people to be removed there annually at least 25,409 people will be left in a state of permanent limbo each year.
(The Illegal Migration Act The Illegal Migration Act became law on 20 July. The main elements of the Act include the creation of a duty for the Home Secretary to arrange for the removal of anyone who arrives irregularly into the UK – including, but not limited to, those who arrive by small boat. Anyone who is covered by the duty to remove will also have any asylum application or relevant human rights claim deemed automatically inadmissible. )
The Safe Passage report concentrates on devising a better system of dealing with new arrivals. It recommends developing safe routes, not least to end the control of the smugglers, an organized Europe-wide system to share the responsibility, and a recommitment to the UN-based regulations under international law.
The Migration Advisory Committee has recommended that the shortage occupation list is abolished and that people in the asylum system with permission to work are allowed to work in any role. These are some of the recommendations in the full review of the shortage occupation list, published this week.
With thanks to group member Andrew for the work in producing this report.
AH
October 2023
We are pleased to attach the death penalty report for mid-September to mid-October 2023 thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling the information. The report mentions the World Day Against the Death Penalty in which several group members took part sending an email and/or an email to Singapore concerning its use of the penalty for drugs offences. Note as ever that China does not feature as the details are a state secret. The country is believed to execute more of its citizens than the rest of the world combined.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 