Last year was busy for the UK Government. They managed to pass four different pieces of legislation that will drastically reduce civil liberties in this country, such as the right to protest, the right to strike and the right to appeal for asylum.
These pieces of legislation are so sweeping, and written in language so confusing, that we at the Lewes Amnesty Group have written short guides for citizens. If enough people understand what is happening, we have a chance to get these rights back.
Migration
What’s wrong with “stopping the boats”?
Nothing’s wrong with preventing people smugglers risking other people’s lives, but the new “illegal” migration bill and policy is wrong for these reasons:
No safe routes for many
You cannot claim asylum as a refugee in the UK unless you arrive by a Government approved route, such as provided for Ukrainians and for a limited number of Syrians living in UN refugee camps, but there are no offices overseas to which those fleeing threats to their lives can apply.
Modern day slavery made easier
Trafficking of people into the UK for exploitation in domestic service, sex work and agriculture, for instance, happens already through false promises of good jobs. The new rules will make it harder to detect those trafficked.
Disregard of UN conventions
The UN Declaration of Human Rights, to which the UK is a signatory, declares that ‘Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’ (Article 14). The government seems willing to ignore this.
Loss of skills and experience
Many refugees, like other immigrants, have skills we need and want to make a positive contribution to the UK once allowed to.
Let’s not lose our proud tradition
The government likes to say this is what we have in supporting refugees but the current attitudes and legislation will make us lose it. Most of those who apply for asylum are accepted, often after a delay of years, and are then able to get on with their new lives and be an asset to our country.
Published by Amnesty International Lewes August 2023
Background to the new bill The new legislation became law in July 2023 despite criticism and amendments from the House of Lords, opposition parties and many organisations and religious groups. The aim of the new rules is to stop people coming across the Channel or entering the UK illegally in other ways.
The government’s case for the bill is set out at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/illegal-migration-bill- factsheets/illegal-migration-bill-overarching-factsheet
Criticisms of the new bill are made in this paper from Freedom from Torture and other agencies supporting refugees https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/news/illegal-migration-act-everything-you-need-to-know
Anti-Slavery International’s view of the impact of the new bill https://www.antislavery.org/government-rhetoric-has-chilling-effect-on- survivors-of-modern-slavery/
Local organisations you may like to support
Amnesty International
Details of the local group at http://amnestylewes.org/
LOSRAS
A Lewes based charity that provides information on, and campaigns for, the rights of refugees and people seeking asylum. More information at: https://losras.org/
The right to strike
STRIKES (MINIMUM SERVICE LEVELS) ACT 2023
This is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting UK labour law designed to force trade unions to provide a minimum service during a strike in the sectors of: health, education services, fire and rescue, border security and nuclear decommissioning.
It has been criticised both for being a violation of human rights and a violation of international law Background The legislation was published on 10 January 2023 by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and introduced into Parliament by the Conservative Secretary of State for Business, Grant Shapps.
It is the second piece of legislation seeking to secure a minimum service – legislation covering the transport sector was introduced in October 2022.The bill passed both chambers of the UK parliament and was signed into law on 20 July 2023. The General Secretary of the TUC has said that it will ‘prolong disputes and poison industrial relations, leading to more frequent strikes’ , The Labour Party has promised to repeal the legislation.
The law seeks to expand the guarantee of a minimum service to the National Health Service, education, fire and rescue, border security and nuclear de-commissioning, authorising ministers to set minimum service levels in these sectors without any requirement for parliamentary approval. Employers are allowed to issue a ‘work notice requisitioning people to work in the event of a strike, with no automatic protection against unfair dismissal for those who refuse. – the last time this happened was in 1940 at a time of war.
If work notices are issued, union officials will have to comply, since if they do not provide minimum service levels during a strike, they then lose immunity from being sued for damages to the employer for economic loss, and, as stated above, workers lose protection from unfair dismissal.
The right to boycott
Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill
The UK government is not alone in seeking to introduce anti-boycott measures; some 30 countries, including the USA and Germany, have been doing similar things in recent years.
Initially the UK government sought specifically to target the BDS movement, a Palestinian-led movement promoting Boycotts, Divestments, and economic Sanctions, intended to pressure Israel into meeting its obligations under international law, and to undermine perceived corporate complicity in Israeli attacks on Palestine. (It is modelled on the 1980s South African anti-apartheid movement, huge popular UK support for which the Thatcher government similarly wished to suppress. Had this Bill been law then, it could have.)
In 2016 local authorities were told by central government that it proposed to veto any boycott of investment in Israel or fossil fuels. BDS won a court action against this proposal, but in June 2023 Michael Gove reintroduced it in the form of the above Bill.
It passed its first reading in the Commons in June, its second reading on 3 July, by 268 votes to 70
(Lewes MP Maria Caulfield being among the 268), Committee stage on 14 September, and is now – as of 6 October – at the Report stage, before its third reading (date tba). It then has to go through all the same steps in the Lords, before receiving royal assent and becoming law.
THE BILL
Though first and foremost aimed at the BDS movement, its reach is now much wider, as it seeks to prohibit all public bodies, including local authorities, universities, public sector pension funds and even charities from engaging in ethical considerations about investment and procurement, if these go against current government policy.
Over 60 campaign groups oppose it, including War on Want, Friends of the Earth, Amnesty International, Greenpeace, several large trades unions, Liberty, Jews for Justice and other Jewish groups. (Though the UK government, like the US government introducing similar anti-boycott measures, likes to presents them as combating anti-semitism).
The Bill’s disclosure requirements, financial penalties and ambiguous, even contradictory wording (particularly around pension funds) are likely to have a “chilling effect” on public bodies, deterring them even from conducting due diligence to assess whether their financial decisions might implicate them in human rights abuses or environmental harm. It is at odds with the government’s own National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, and its own business risk guidance, for example on China and Israel.
For instance the Bill can restrict public bodies from making decisions about investing in companies involved in providing arms or spyware to the Saudi Arabian government, or in its war crimes in Yemen; or in war crimes in the Palestinian West Bank, or Chinese government repression of Uyghurs; it can penalise charities that choose not to buy medical products (such as Covid tests) from state-owned companies involved in mass genetic or personal data collection.
Caroline Lucas has called it “a major attack on freedom of expression, an erosion of fundamental democratic principles and a genuine threat to climate and human rights campaigns”.
HELPFUL WEBSITES
Public Order Bill 2023 (signed into law since the April meeting)
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/campaigns-blog/public-order-bill-explained
Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2839
Illegal Migration Bill
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/illegal-migration-bill
https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/explained-anti-refugee-bill/
Anti-Boycott Act
righttoboycott.org.uk
https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/fight-rights-why-we-must-defend-strikes-boycotts-and-protests