Category Archives: Law

Beijing calls Hong Kong bar association chief an ‘anti-China politician’

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Authorities lambast British-born Paul Harris for criticising treatment of pro-democracy campaigners

Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have accused the British-born head of Hong Kong’s bar association of being an “anti-China politician” after he criticised jail sentences imposed on pro-democracy activists.

Paul Harris, a human rights lawyer and the chair of the HKBA, had represented one of 10 people convicted this month for organising or attending unauthorised assemblies during the pro-democracy protests in 2019. The defendants were given a range of suspended sentences or immediate jail terms of up to 18 months.

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US police killings of Black Americans amount to crimes against humanity, international inquiry finds

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In devastating report, human rights experts call on International Criminal Court prosecutor to open an immediate investigation

The systematic killing and maiming of unarmed African Americans by police amount to crimes against humanity that should be investigated and prosecuted under international law, an inquiry into US police brutality by leading human rights lawyers from around the globe has found.

A week after the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in George Floyd’s death, the unabated epidemic of police killings of Black men and women in the US has now attracted scorching international attention.

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Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, rights watchdog says

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Human Rights Watch calls on international criminal court to investigate ‘systematic discrimination’ against Palestinians

Human Rights Watch has accused Israeli officials of committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution, claiming the government enforces an overarching policy to “maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians”.

In a report released on Tuesday, the New York-based advocacy group became the first major international rights body to level such allegations. It said that after decades of warnings that an entrenched hold over Palestinian life could lead to apartheid, it had found that the “threshold” had been crossed.

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A mayday call, a dash across the Mediterranean … and 130 souls lost at sea

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Last week, a dinghy full of migrants sank near Libya. Those who were part of the rescue mission tell of a needless tragedy

The weather was already turning when the distress call went out. A rubber dinghy with 130 people on board was adrift in the choppy Mediterranean waters.

On the bridge of the Ocean Viking, one of the only remaining NGO rescue boats operational in the Mediterranean, 121 nautical miles west, stood Luisa Albera, staring anxiously at her computer screen and then out at the rising storm and falling light at sea.

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Yemen, Myanmar and George Floyd: human rights this fortnight in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Peru

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Home Office sued by asylum seeker over baby’s death

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Woman claims asylum housing staff ignored pleas for help when she was in pain while 35 weeks pregnant

A woman whose baby died is suing the Home Office for negligence over claims that staff at her asylum accommodation refused to call an ambulance when she was pregnant and bleeding.

The woman, who has asked to be named Adna, sought asylum in the UK in January 2020 after fleeing Angola. She was seven months pregnant when she was brought by police to Brigstock House asylum-support accommodation in Croydon.

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Rape victims in south Asia still face vaginal tests, report finds

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Unscientific ‘morality’ examination linked to low conviction rates and violates women’s rights, says Equality Now

Physical vaginal tests are still used to determine whether women and girls have been raped in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, according to a new report.

The practice remains widespread in all three countries and some courts refer to the test in judgments, despite it having no scientific basis and being banned in India.

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Nearly 17 child migrants a day vanished in Europe since 2018

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Investigation finds one in six were solo and under 15, as experts say cross-border cooperation ‘nonexistent’

At least 18,000 unaccompanied child migrants have disappeared after arriving in European countries including Greece, Italy and Germany.

An investigation by the Guardian and the cross-border journalism collective Lost in Europe found that 18,292 unaccompanied child migrants went missing in Europe between January 2018 and December 2020 – equivalent to nearly 17 children a day.

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Campaigners call for global response to ‘unprecedented’ oppression in Xinjiang

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Human Rights Watch urges more coordination by governments to tackle China’s treatment of Turkic Muslims

The Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where it has escalated its oppression of Turkic Muslims to unprecedented levels, Human Rights Watch has said, as the NGO called on governments to take direct action against officials and companies that profit from labour in the region.

HRW also recommended the EU delay ratifying its recent trade agreement with China until forced labour allegations were investigated, victims compensated, and there was “substantial progress toward holding perpetrators to account”.

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Nine and looking after the family: the children working to survive in Malawi

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As sole provider for his family, nine-year-old Gift is exhausted and, despite hopes of being a teacher, gets little chance to study

While other children play football or watch cartoons at home after school, nine-year-old Gift Phiri goes to work.

After his day at primary school in Mchengautuwa, in Malawi’s northern city of Mzuzu, the nine-year-old goes home to start work, hammering sharp-edged metal sheets, shaping them into charcoal cooking stoves. Gift, who lives with his grandmother, two younger siblings and another relative, started making the stoves after being trained by his grandfather when he was six.

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‘Marry your rapist’ laws in 20 countries still allow perpetrators to escape justice

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Critical UN report says the legislation is ‘deeply wrong’, subjugates women and shifts the burden of guilt on to the victim

Twenty countries still allow rapists to marry their victims to escape criminal prosecution, according to the UN’s annual state of world population report.

Russia, Thailand and Venezuela are among the countries that allow men to have rape convictions overturned if they marry the women or girls they have assaulted.

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Sturgeon blasts decision to refer Holyrood bills to UK supreme court

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Scottish first minister calls UK government decision ‘morally repugnant’ as bills were passed unanimously

Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the UK government’s decision to refer two bills passed by Holyrood unanimously to the supreme court as “morally repugnant” amid an outcry from MSPs.

The Scottish parliament passed the United Nations convention on the rights of the child bill and the European charter of local self-government bill in the weeks before it went into recess.

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Britain risks damaging reputation by keeping Julian Assange in jail, says partner

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Stella Moris says continued detention of WikiLeaks founder is compromising UK’s global standing

Britain would be on stronger ground campaigning against authoritarian regimes if it pressed the Biden administration to drop its call to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges, Stella Moris, Assange’s partner, has told the Guardian.

Moris – who has two children with Assange – is trying to broaden the campaign of support for him by pointing to the global damage caused to the UK’s reputation by keeping him in jail for so long.

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Ex-police reveal bribes and threats used to cover up corruption in 70s London

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BBC documentary to examine incidents that led to setting up of unit on which Line of Duty’s AC-12 is based

One of London’s most senior police officers, described by a colleague as “the greatest villain unhung”, was believed to be involved in major corruption in the 1970s but never prosecuted, according to a new documentary on police malpractice.

Former officers who exposed corruption at the time describe how they were threatened that they would end up in a “cement raincoat” if they informed on fellow officers and were shunned by colleagues when they did.

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Zimbabwe under renewed pressure to give up Rwanda genocide suspect

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Protais Mpiranya is top of a list of remaining fugitives indicted by an international tribunal

United Nations investigators tracking one of the most notorious killers in the Rwandan genocide believe he is hiding in Zimbabwe and are launching a new effort to convince authorities in Harare to allow the 60-year-old fugitive to face trial.

Protais Mpiranya, the former commander of the presidential guard of the Rwandan army, has been on the run for 27 years charged with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

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UAE general unsuitable for role of Interpol chief, says UK report

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Election of Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi would serve to validate UAE’s record on human rights, ex-prosecutor says

An Emirati general linked to human rights abuses is unsuited to head Interpol and his possible appointment may be seen as a “reward” for donations to the agency, according to a report by the UK’s former director of public prosecutions.

The process of electing a president of Interpol, which is due to happen later this year, is “shrouded in secrecy and opaque”, Sir David Calvert-Smith wrote.

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UK’s ‘headlong rush into abandoning human rights’ rebuked by Amnesty

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Covid failings, crackdown on protest, police discrimination and resumed arms trade with Saudi Arabia all listed in annual report

Amnesty International has published a stark rebuke of the UK government’s stance on human rights, saying that it is “speeding towards the cliff edge” in its policies on housing and immigration, and criticising its seeming determination to end the legal right for the public to challenge government decisions in court.

In its annual report on human rights around the world, Amnesty International says the UK’s increasingly hostile attitude towards upholding and preserving human rights legislation raises “serious concerns”.

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Freshwater part 6: the decision

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The court of appeal in London hears the appeal of the Freshwater Five. In the final part of our miniseries, we find out how the judges reach their decision and what it means

The case of the Freshwater Five, convicted a decade ago of attempting to smuggle £53m (A$96m) worth of cocaine into the UK, makes it to the England and Wales court of appeal, where new evidence is heard that the men hope will clear their names. Anushka Asthana follows the week-long hearing, sitting alongside the men’s families as the barristers argue the case.

The court of appeal can consider new evidence not heard by the original jury, and so the bar to overturning the convictions is set high. Nevertheless, the appeal has several grounds: one aspect focuses on new radar data that the men hope would show they were not close enough to the cargo ship that was alleged to be the other vessel involved in the transfer of drugs. There is also evidence purporting to show a new suspect vessel in Freshwater Bay as well as a surveillance plane that should have been able to spot the drugs floating in the water if indeed they were there at the time the prosecution suggested.

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Coercive behaviour must be prioritised in domestic abuse cases, court of appeal says

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New guidance for England and Wales welcomed but critics say it fails to address perpetuation of rape myths and ‘contact at all costs’ approach

The family courts should prioritise the issue of coercive and controlling behaviour when considering disputes between parents in domestic abuse cases, court of appeal judges have advised.

Three senior judges set out fresh guidance on how these sensitive cases should be approached as part of a 47-page judgment after hearing four linked appeals brought by mothers over child contact.

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Ever-changing Covid rules on protest set up conflict with the police

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Analysis: public disorder could have been avoided with more clarity about the legality of protests in the UK

Ambiguous, confusing and a mess is how the current coronavirus regulations dealing with protest have been described by MPs and peers tasked with scrutinising the government’s record on human rights. And it is the backdrop to the police versus protesters debate that should not be ignored.

In fact, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), a cross-party group, concluded that protest has never has been completely illegal during the pandemic, even under lockdown.

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