Grotius – Center for International Law and Human Rights

News Update

30 June 2018

 

England’s Disastrous Human Rights Violations

 

Today, Grotius – Center for International Law and Human Rights published a report titled “The Telegraph Road: England’s Disastrous Human Rights Violations”. It relates to British colonial legacy in Africa, India, and the Middle East; British participation in the wars of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003); the nature of the rule of law in the country, including the character of the British police, prisons, and the phenomenon of miscarriage of justice; England’s approach to immigration; and racism in the country.

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British political culture is plainly simple. At the heart of it are two political parties: the Tories and Labor. The first dominates the armed forces (who possess several submarines with a second strike capacity in response to a possible long range missile attack against London), the country’s intelligence agencies, mainly MI6, MI5, and GCHQ, and the national political agenda through the Office of Prime Minister. Many at Labor mount limited opposition to the ruling establishment of Tories.

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According to a 2016 poll 44% considered that Britain’s long and often brutal colonial legacy overseas is a source of pride while British Prime Minister David Cameron noted that “it should be celebrated.” The wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003) lack sound basis in international law. With respect to the latter leading legal authorities in England have underscored its illegality. The country’s rule of law has suffered from several setbacks through the reoccurrence of miscarriage of justice given the police’s interrogation methods and malicious handling of evidence.

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Britain is not a sympathetic country for immigrants, particularly from Eastern Europe, Pakistan, and India. The Guardian newspaper described Home Secretary Theresa May’s (2012 – 2016) immigration policies as ‘unjust, inhumane, and incompetent’. Racism is endemic in England chronicled by various commissions of inquiry and human rights reports. The British police excelled in crystalizing this social phenomenon. The Macpherson report (1999) into the police’s investigation of the Stephen Lawrence racial murder (1993) determined conclusively the existence of institutional racism in England:

The conclusions to be drawn from all the evidence in connection with the investigation of Stephen Lawrence's racist murder are clear. There is no doubt but that there were fundamental errors. The investigation was marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers. A flawed MPS review failed to expose these inadequacies. The second investigation could not salvage the faults of the first investigation.

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