Tag: AIUK

Madleen Mission and the Crisis in Gaza: A Symbol of Solidarity


Events happening thick and fast

June 2025

Two major events have happened in the past few days in relation to the worsening situation in Gaza. A boat trying to make a symbolic visit to Gaza with food and other aid was intercepted in international waters by Israel. Today (10 June) the UK government joined others in sanctioning two members of the Israeli government. The Secretary General of Amnesty said:

By forcibly intercepting and blocking the Madleen (pictured) which was carrying humanitarian aid and a crew of solidarity activists, Israel has once again flouted its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip and demonstrated its chilling contempt for legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice

The operation carried out in the middle of the night and in international waters violates international law and put the safety of those on the boat at risk. The crew were unarmed activists and human rights defenders on a humanitarian mission, they must be released immediately and unconditionally. They must also be protected from torture and other ill-treatment pending their release. 

During its voyage over the past few days the Madleen’s mission emerged as a powerful symbol of solidarity with besieged, starved and suffering Palestinians amid persistent international inaction. However, this very mission is also an indictment of the international community’s failure to put an end to Israel’s inhumane blockade. Activists would not have needed to risk their lives had Israel’s allies translated their rhetoric into forceful action to allow aid into Gaza

Israel’s interception of the Madleen despite global calls for it to be granted safe passage underscores the longstanding impunity Israel enjoys which has emboldened it to continue to commit genocide in Gaza and to maintain a suffocating, illegal blockade on Gaza for 18 years. 

Until we see real concrete steps by states worldwide signalling an end to their blanket support for Israel, it will have carte blanche to continue inflicting relentless death and suffering on Palestinians.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International

UK government announces sanctions

Today, the UK government announced sanctions against two members of the Israeli government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for their various statements about the conflict in Gaza. Smotrich is quoted as saying:

“Gaza will be entirely destroyed” as a result of an Israeli military victory, and that its Palestinian population will “leave in great numbers to third countries”

raising fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territory.

He is also quoted as saying that he wants life for the Palestinians to be as dire as possible by confining them to a narrow strip of land:

“They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”

These and other quotes are not from a hot-head or someone on the fringes of Israeli society but from the Security Minister (Gvir) and Finance Minister (Smotrich). Nor are they isolated statements said in the heat of the moment but part of a pattern of similar statements. The Israeli foreign affairs minister said it ‘was outrageous that elected representatives and members of the government are subjected to these kinds of measures [UK sanctions]’,

The UK government has been under a huge amount of pressure to act especially as the blockage and its appalling effects began to be seen. Shooting people desperate for food after weeks of a blockade has been widely condemned.

Neither event will have much of an impact on Israel so long as America continues its unwavering support. More and more countries, under pressure from people who are outraged by what they see, are beginning to take a tougher line however. There are no viable peace talks taking place at present. The word ‘genocide’ is being used more and more: the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. Just under 55,000 thousand have died in Gaza.

Sources: Jerusalem Post; Palestine Chronicle; Haaretz; Guardian.

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Death Penalty report


Death penalty report for mid March – April

April 2025

We are pleased to attach the group’s death penalty report thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. In a previous post (see below) we refer to the Amnesty annual report for 2024 which shows that while the number of countries using the report has held steady, the number of executions has risen markedly. We do not know of the huge number executed in China since the statistics are a state secret.

Report: Mar – April (Word)Download
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President-elect Joe Biden and human rights


President-elect Joe Biden has declared that human rights will be an important part of his agenda when he becomes president in January.  Following a period when President Trump rowed back on a lot of US commitments in this area, this is clearly welcome.  So how is this likely to look?

Trump pulled the US out of the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 and this year designated the International Criminal Court a “security threat.”  It is expected that a Biden administration will reverse these decisions as well as re-staffing the depleted Human Rights Department of the US Department of Justice and returning to various arms control agreements.  It is also clear that Biden will take a multilateral approach to international issues, unlike his predecessor.

The US-based organisation Human Rights Watch have urged the new administration to reverse course:

On November 9, countries at the UN Human Rights Council reviewed the human rights record of the United States and offered recommendations on guaranteeing the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health, non-discrimination, voting rights, policing, and gender equality, among others.  The Biden administration should re-engage with the Human Rights Council, including by accepting Universal Periodic Review recommendations aligned with international human rights law, and realizing the human rights obligations identified by the council

They also urge the incoming regime also to repudiate the Department of State’s Commission on Unalienable Rights, which Trump set up to make a hierarchy of countries and abandon the universality of international human rights law.

Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty UK, has also urged the Biden administration to take a new approach to international law and has indicated 3 areas where the new administration needs to change its human rights policy internally – gun control, asylum seekers and police reform (AIUK, 9 November 2020).

In the run up to the election, Biden made a number of statements in defence of human rights, notably in the Middle East, which he may well struggle to carry out.  In the last week or two, Egypt and Turkey have both made a large number of arrests of dissidents (maybe hoping to do so before Trump leaves), and Saudi Arabia is sending feminist activists to a terrorism court.

As Kareem Fahim writes in the Washington Post (27 November 2020):

The moves in recent days, by a trio of authoritarian governments that are close allies or partners of the United States, have put human rights issues front and center weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, in a pre-emptive challenge to his pledge to vigorously defend such rights.

 

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