radiofree.asia

Category: UK news

  • Labour’s plan to reopen immigrant detention centres will be disastrous | Letter

    Gee Manoharan says the government should pivot towards community-based alternatives that uphold British values of humanity and justice

    Your report on the escalating violence and deteriorating conditions at Gatwick immigration removal centre should send shockwaves through anyone with a conscience (Gatwick immigration removal centre getting less safe for detainees, says watchdog, 29 August). The fact that nearly a year after the Brook House inquiry revealed a culture of abuse, the government has allowed these horrors to persist – and worsen – is beyond appalling.

    As someone who has survived the nightmare of immigration detention, I know first-hand the toll that it takes on the human soul. The government’s response? To expand this inhumane system by planning to reopen the Haslar and Campsfield House centres in Hampshire and Oxfordshire respectively, ignoring the mountain of evidence that detention inflicts profound harm. This isn’t just a misstep, it’s a blatant betrayal of human dignity.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Academic free speech is too crucial to be used as a political football by left or right | Sonia Sodha

    Labour is wrong to put on hold a law that aims to protect staff from external pressures

    Michelle Shipworth, an associate professor at University College London (UCL), has for several years taught a “data detectives” masters module on research methods that teaches students to critically appraise the use of data. One exercise involves discussing a Global Slavery Index finding that China has the second highest prevalence of modern slavery in the world, to help students understand the flawed nature of the data on which it is based.

    Last October, one Chinese student complained that the example was a “horrible provocation”. Shipworth was asked by her head of department to remove the example from her course. A few weeks later, she was told complaints had been raised about her “bias” against students from China, based on the fact that two Chinese students had been expelled from the university after she discovered they had been cheating; she was told she could no longer teach her module and she should not post on social media about “educational issues about only one country”. The email expressed concern that if there was perception or misperception of bias, this could threaten the commercial viability of UCL courses.

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Funeral of refugee activist Viraj Mendis to draw mourners from all over Europe

    Mendis, who stayed in Manchester church for two years in 1980s to fight deportation, has died aged 68 in Germany

    Refugees and human rights activists are making their way to Bremen in north-west Germany for the funeral of a man who fought for freedom and safety for asylum seekers.

    Viraj Mendis came to prominence after seeking sanctuary in a Manchester church where he spent two years in the 1980s. He died aged 68 on 16 August in Bremen, which offered him sanctuary after he was deported from the UK.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Thousands of women abused as children may be unable to get justice due to legal anomaly

    Exclusive: ‘Loophole’ in England and Wales from Sexual Offences Act is being challenged in human rights court

    Thousands of women who were sexually abused as children could be unable to obtain justice because of an anomaly in the law of England and Wales that is being challenged at the European court of human rights.

    The case has been brought by Lucy (not her real name), who was 13 when a man 22 years her senior began having sex with her. Despite him admitting it, police told her charges could not be brought because she did not report the alleged offence in time.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘We need to assert our power – or we’ll get trampled on’: the cleaner sacked for eating a tuna sandwich

    Gabriela Rodriguez was fired from her job over a minor misdemeanour. Now she and others like her are fighting back

    At the moment when Gabriela Rodriguez discovered she had been sacked for eating a tuna sandwich, she was carrying the bins out. Removing rubbish bags from the office in Finsbury Circus – an elegant, towering ring of neoclassical buildings that sits at the heart of London’s financial district – formed a key part of Rodriguez’s daily duties. So did wiping surfaces, scrubbing dishes in the kitchen, restocking basic supplies and all the other quietly essential activities that enable a busy workplace to function. “I’m proud of my job: it’s honest, and important, and I take it very seriously,” she says. Which is why, when the call from her manager flashed up unexpectedly on her mobile last November, nothing about it seemed to make any sense.

    “He ordered me to come back inside and hand over my security pass immediately,” she says. Rodriguez was at a loss, until the words “theft of property” were mentioned – an act of gross misconduct, and a criminal offence under English law. “That’s when it began to dawn on me,” she says, shaking her head. “This was about a leftover piece of bread. And I was going to be dismissed for it.”

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Serial killer Levi Bellfield blocked from having civil partnership

    New law comes into force stopping most serious offenders getting married or entering into civil partnerships behind bars

    The serial killer Levi Bellfield has been blocked from having a civil partnership, after a new law came into force stopping the most serious offenders getting married behind bars.

    Bellfield is serving two whole-life orders for killing Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange, as well as the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Portrait of Peter Tatchell hung in National Portrait Gallery

    LGBTQ+ and human rights campaigner ‘delighted and honoured’ to have painting by Sarah Jane Moon on display

    A vibrant portrait of the LGBTQ+ and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has been hung in the National Portrait Gallery’s History Makers gallery as part of a drive to better reflect the diversity of the UK.

    The painting by Sarah Jane Moon shows Tatchell in a casual pose, seated with his hands clasping his left calf. The 72-year-old activist is sporting a rainbow tie to celebrate almost six decades of fighting for LGBTQ+ rights.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Campaign groups call on Home Office to stop ‘steady erosion’ of protest rights

    Civil society organisations demand home secretary protects the ‘safety valve’ of democracy

    Environmental groups are among 92 civil society organisations who have warned Yvette Cooper against “the steady erosion of the right to protest” in the UK, and called on her to reverse the previous government’s crackdown on peaceful protest.

    “The right to protest is a vital safety valve for our democracy and an engine of social progress,” the letter, delivered on Friday, said. “The achievements of peaceful protest are written on the labour movement’s own birth certificate.”

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK ‘turning a blind eye’ to threats to kill Saudi activists living in exile

    Saudis living in the UK claim Riyadh is targeting them for speaking out on human rights and jailing of female activists

    Saudi exiles living in the UK have spoken of threats to their lives and harassment over their support for improvements in human rights in their home country.

    Saudi Arabia has been attempting to present itself as a reformed state since the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad at its consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

    It has spent billions on sporting deals and promoting tourism in the country and was recently named host of a UN commission on women’s rights, despite what Amnesty International called its “abysmal” record on women’s rights.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Purgatory in paradise: how a shipwreck off Diego Garcia led to three years of hell and horror

    In 2021, dozens of Tamils were fleeing Sri Lanka for Canada when their boat sprang a leak. They were taken to Diego Garcia by the British navy. Three years later, they remain there in desperate, dangerous limbo

    It was 10 days into the journey when the boat sprang a leak. Dozens of men, women and children were crowded on to a fishing boat, all Tamils fleeing persecution in their home country, Sri Lanka. They had hoped to reach sanctuary in Canada.

    Instead, on 3 October 2021, as their vessel began to sink, they were spotted and rescued by British navy ships, then taken to the secretive US-UK military base on the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Civil servants obliged to carry out Tory Rwanda deportations, court rules

    Union for civil servants claimed Home Office staff could be open to prosecution if Strasbourg rulings on Rwanda ignored

    • General election 2024: live news

    Guidance drawn up by Conservative ministers which told civil servants to ignore Strasbourg rulings and remove asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful, the high court has ruled.

    The FDA trade union, which represents senior civil servants, brought legal action claiming senior Home Office staff could be in breach of international law if they implement the government’s Rwanda deportation bill.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • NCA failure to investigate imports linked to forced Uyghur labour unlawful, court rules

    Decision could result in retailers being prosecuted if they import goods made through forced labour, campaigners say

    The UK National Crime Agency’s decision not to launch an investigation into the importation of cotton products manufactured by forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province was unlawful, the court of appeal has found.

    Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which brought the action, said Thursday’s decision was a landmark win that could lead to high street retailers being prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) if they import goods made through forced labour.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • NCA failure to investigate imports linked to forced Uyghur labour unlawful, court rules

    Decision could result in retailers being prosecuted if they import goods made through forced labour, campaigners say

    The UK National Crime Agency’s decision not to launch an investigation into the importation of cotton products manufactured by forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province was unlawful, the court of appeal has found.

    Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which brought the action, said Thursday’s decision was a landmark win that could lead to high street retailers being prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) if they import goods made through forced labour.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK politics: Anas Sarwar says election is about ‘getting rid of Tories’, not Scottish independence – as it happened

    Leaders of Scotland’s five main political parties clash during live TV debate

    Momentum, the leftwing Labour group set up when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, is not happy about Keir Starmer’s jibe about Corbyn’s manifesto.

    Labour’s 2019 manifesto was fully costed.

    Keir should know, he stood on it as a member of the shadow cabinet.

    How about stopping attacking your own side during an election @Keir_Starmer?

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK system for wrongful conviction payouts is lawful, European court rules

    Most miscarriage of justice victims will still be denied compensation after two men lose test case in Strasbourg

    Most victims of miscarriages of justice will still be denied compensation in Britain after the European court of human rights ruled the government’s test for payouts was lawful.

    A test case was brought by Sam Hallam and Victor Nealon, two men who between them served 24 years in prison for crimes they were later exonerated of. Neither was paid any compensation by the government despite new evidence being enough to overturn their convictions.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda admission sparks legal action from detained asylum seekers

    Migrants seek redress for ‘immense distress’ from deportations now thrown into chaos by election announcement

    Asylum seekers detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation to Rwanda are set to take legal action against the government after Rishi Sunak admitted that no flights will take place before the general election.

    The Home Office started raiding accommodation and detaining people who arrived at routine immigration-reporting appointments on 29 April in a nationwide push codenamed Operation Vector.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Inquiry to begin into DWP’s treatment of ill and disabled people on benefits

    Some eligibility decisions have been linked to deaths of vulnerable claimants, and EHRC will examine if ministers acted unlawfully

    The treatment of chronically ill and disabled people by welfare officials, including benefits decisions subsequently linked to the deaths of vulnerable claimants, is to be formally investigated by Britain’s human rights watchdog.

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it would examine whether ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had acted unlawfully by failing to protect claimants with learning disabilities or severe mental illness.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Guardian view on peaceful protests: the high court has preserved a fundamental right | Editorial

    Ministers should think again after judges ruled the authoritarian move to constrain demonstrations was unlawful

    Judges in the high court have found that the former home secretary Suella Braverman acted unlawfully in making it easier for the police to criminalise peaceful protest. That is a very good thing for society and democracy. The rights of non-violent assembly are among our fundamental freedoms, providing a touchstone to distinguish between a free society and a totalitarian one. Liberty, the civil rights campaigners who took the government to court, ought to be congratulated for standing up for all our rights. At the heart of this case was whether a minister could, without primary legislation, decide what words meant in law. The court, thankfully, thought that such matters were best left to the dictionary.

    During protests by environmental groups in the summer of 2023, Ms Braverman had decided to rule by diktat. Consulting only the police, and not the protesters who would have been affected, she used so-called Henry VIII powers that the government had conferred upon itself a year earlier. These allowed her to lower the threshold at which the police would intervene to impose conditions on public protest, defining “serious disruption” as anything “more than minor”. There’s an ocean of difference between the two. But Ms Braverman was unconcerned that she was shamefully pursuing a nakedly authoritarian move to constrain the right of peaceful protest by stripping words of their meaning.

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Summary of advice that UK arms sales to Israel not unlawful to be released

    Andrew Mitchell preparing to share details of assessment that there is no clear risk in breaching international human law

    The British government is preparing to publish a summary of its legal advice stating there are no clear risks that selling arms to Israel will lead to a serious breach of international humanitarian law (IHL).

    In a pre-prepared concession to the business select committee, the deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said: “In view of the strength of feeling in the IHL assessment process, I will look to see what more detail we could offer in writing on the IHL assessments in relation to Israel and Gaza both in process and substance.”

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwanda denies entry to senior human rights researcher

    Human Rights Watch says Clementine De Montjoye’s case raises fresh questions about UK’s asylum seeker scheme

    The Rwandan government has barred a senior human rights researcher from entering the country, prompting accusations that officials are seeking to dodge independent scrutiny just weeks before the UK government is due to send asylum seekers there for the first time.

    Rwandan immigration authorities denied entry to Clementine de Montjoye, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, when she arrived at Kigali International Airport on 13 May.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘Art-washing’? Unease as British cultural institutions lend lustre to Saudi trade push

    Campaigners say move to use the arts to reinforce economic ties with Riyadh may help to launder Gulf state’s human rights record

    It was an unusual gig for YolanDa Brown, the saxophonist and composer who this week performed high above the clouds for a UK delegation on a private British Airways plane bound for Saudi Arabia.

    The flight was part of a trade offensive for British businesses and institutions in Riyadh, with Brown’s performance part of a new focus for Saudi-UK relations – international arts.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Rwanda deportation law should not apply in Northern Ireland, court rules

    UK government considers appeal after judge says act undermines post-Brexit human rights protections guaranteed in the region

    The cornerstone of Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda deportation policy should not apply in Northern Ireland because it undermines human rights protections guaranteed in the region under post-Brexit arrangements, a high court judge has ruled.

    Parts of the UK’s Illegal Migration Act were also incompatible with the European convention on human rights (ECHR), Mr Justice Humphreys said.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK politics: government to appeal against ruling that blocks Rwanda deportations in Northern Ireland – as it happened

    Rishi Sunak says Belfast judgment will not affect his plans and the Good Friday agreement should not be used to obstruct Westminster policy

    Sunak starts with global security threats.

    The dangers that threaten our country are real.

    There’s an increasing number of authoritarian states like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China working together to undermine us and our values.

    People are abusing our liberal democratic values of freedom of speech, the right to protest, to intimidate, threaten and assault others, to sing antisemitic chants on our streets and our university campuses, and to weaponize the evils of antisemitism or anti-Muslim hatred, in a divisive ideological attempt to set Britain against Britain.

    And from gender activists hijacking children’s sex education, to cancel culture, vocal and aggressive fringe groups are trying to impose their views on the rest of us.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Human Rights Act will be safe with a Labour government | Letters

    James Toon, who helped develop the act in the 1990s, responds to an article by Shami Chakrabarti on the pressing need for equal treatment

    I read with interest Shami Chakrabarti’s article (The big idea: why we need human rights now more than ever, 6 May). The context for her article is the Conservative right’s repeated calls to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998. This was one of the landmark statutes of the first Blair administration, and its legal and constitutional significance is immense.

    Although now retired, I was a member of the Home Office bill team that developed the policy broadly set out in the 1996 Labour document Bringing Rights Home, supported ministers during its passage through parliament, and started work on its implementation. I had several discussions with Jack Straw, the then home secretary.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Lady Massey of Darwen obituary

    Teacher, education adviser and politician who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of children in Britain and abroad

    Doreen Massey, Lady Massey of Darwen, who has died of cancer aged 85, devoted a long and busy working life primarily to improving the lives of children and young people in Britain and, subsequently, as a member of the Council of Europe, further afield. She believed in an inclusive society and sought to challenge discrimination, to defend human rights and, whenever possible, to speak on behalf of those who did not themselves have a voice.

    Massey was acclaimed for her considerable ethical contribution to a number of issues in public life, notably on education, marriage equality, LGBTQ+ rights, sexual health and the misuse of drugs and alcohol. She was a forthright, brave woman who lived life according to the values she espoused, and in consequence was as widely popular in parliaments as she had once been as a schoolteacher in the playground.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Detainee protests on rise over deportations from UK to Rwanda

    Hunger strikes at detention centres as asylum seekers get ‘no answers’ from Home Office and fear removal on Gatwick or Heathrow flights

    Protests and hunger strikes among asylum seekers held in detention centres in preparation for deportation to Rwanda are increasing, the Guardian has learned.

    Approximately 55 detainees, including Afghans, Iranians and Kurds, are believed to have staged a 10-hour peaceful protest in the exercise yard at Brook House immigration removal centre, near Gatwick airport from 6pm Tuesday until 4am Wednesday.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Why have student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza gone global?

    Ceasefire and divestment calls have spread beyond US campuses, with more expected as Rafah offensive begins

    University campuses around the world have been the stage of a growing number of protests by students demanding academic institutions divest from companies supplying arms to Israel.

    The protests, which first spread across college campuses in the US, have reached universities in the UK, the rest of Europe, as well as Lebanon and India.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Former NUS president settles with union over antisemitism claims

    Shaima Dallali, ousted as NUS president in 2022, said to have accepted ‘substantial’ settlement before tribunal

    A former president of the National Union of Students is said to have accepted a “substantial” settlement to end her legal action against the union following her dismissal over allegations of antisemitism.

    Shaima Dallali was ousted as NUS UK president in November 2022 after an investigation claimed she had made “significant breaches” of the union’s antisemitism policies. But shortly before Dallali’s legal challenge was to be heard by an employment tribunal, the NUS and Dallali’s lawyers said a settlement had been agreed.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Never mind stop the boats: Sunak is using fear to build a life raft for himself. But the people will stop him | Owen Jones

    Asylum seekers are our neighbours, not political pawns for failing politicians. If MPs cannot resist the Rwanda plan, activists will

    Laws that are unjust will inevitably be broken. Here is a basic reading of our history, and indeed how numerous rights and freedoms were secured in the first place. Ruled as we are by a desperate man lacking a moral compass, our sinking government has brought forward plans to detain asylum seekers across the UK in preparation for their deportation to Rwanda. After both the European court of human rights and the supreme court declared the government’s scheme unlawful – not least because Paul Kagame’s authoritarian regime could plausibly deport them to the country from which they fled – the government railroaded through legislation, absurdly declaring Rwanda to be safe. Here is the very definition of a law to be disrespected: one drawn up to override the courts and thus the separation of powers, to turn a lie into a legal fact, in support of an unworkable and immoral scheme that imposes pain on the traumatised purely to bolster a prime minister’s imploding administration.

    Civil disobedience will take many forms. Asylum seekers will simply avoid reporting to the authorities, disappearing from the system altogether: indeed, the Home Office reports it cannot locate more than six in 10 migrants identified for deportation. But a network of activists across the country is poised to take action. We have lived through a decade of protests, speaking to a growing willingness to take to the streets to defy authority. Social media plays a pivotal role, not least when it comes to migrants’ rights: Anti Raids Network, for example, uses X to promote calls by local groups to mobilise activists to stop deportation raids. One such callout in Solihull yesterday asked for help stopping a deportation van: “There are unmarked enforcement vans in the car park, and we think these people could be at risk of being taken to detention.”

    Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The torture of being trapped by indefinite prison sentences | Letters

    Readers on the harm caused to those who remain incarcerated despite the abolition of IPP sentences in 2012

    I am heartened by two pieces on indeterminate sentences that you published last week (Tommy Nicol was kind and friendly – a beloved brother. Why did he die in prison on a ‘99-year’ sentence?, 24 April; Editorial, 26 April). The suicide of Tommy Nicol starkly highlights how unjust imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences always were and remain (although abolished for new cases 12 years ago). As a former prison chaplain and doctoral researcher into pastoral care for those serving IPP sentences, I witnessed firsthand their impact on the mental wellbeing of those who were, in many cases, life-wounded souls themselves.

    Thanks to the Guardian and campaign groups such as the United Group for Reform of IPP, I am hoping that this judicial scandal can achieve the same traction in the public consciousness that the Post Office scandal has. While the Commons justice committee report into IPP sentences in 2022 strongly recommended resentencing those still in custody, MPs on both sides of the house lack the moral courage to take this humane step to right a blatant injustice. Some time ago, as a Labour party member, I wrote to Keir Starmer seeking clarification on his position regarding the IPP scandal. Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, my epistle was met with silence.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.