Kartik Raj Profile picture
Jun 21 9 tweets 6 min read
1/8 The UK government plans to replace the #HumanRightsAct with a #BillofRights. The UK government wants to bypass full legislative scrutiny by Parliament. This is bad news.

@HRW today joined 150 organizations today asking the Justice Secretary to think again.

Thread👇🏾
2/8 Our friends @libertyhq have shepherded more than 150 groups and individuals who lead on human rights in the UK, to say clearly -- in one voice -- to the government that a change that is so fundamental should not be rushed through without full scrutiny. libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/what-are…
3/8 The full letter text is here: libertyhumanrights.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

The closing line puts it very clearly: "We urge the Government to respect the principles of our parliamentary democracy and subject the
proposed Bill of Rights to the pre-legislative scrutiny it clearly requires."
4/8 The @Guardian has a good brief write up of the letter and the concerns here: theguardian.com/law/2022/jun/2….

It is really worrying that a rearrangement of "the pecking order of rights" based on misplaced, ideologically-motivated concerns about "wokery" can be rushed into law.
5/8 We're not alone in stating these concerns. Not one but *FOUR* Parliamentary committee chairs have written to the Justice Secretary to express their disappointment and to urge a rethink. The devolved governments aren't happy either. committees.parliament.uk/publications/2…
6/8 @HRW's submission to the Ministry of Justice's earlier consultation on these proposals is here: hrw.org/news/2022/03/0….
In retrospect, I wonder if I should have just stopped drafting after the first paragraph.
7/8 It's worth recalling that the government effectively forgot about a whole set of people with disabilities being included in the consultation. Oops. A startling oversight. So much for everyone's human rights mattering. This piece with @SubhajitSaha97 hrw.org/news/2022/03/0…
8/8 In this year's Queen's Speech, the plan for the Bill of Rights followed on from a statement of principle in defence of the constitution.

The government will show how empty that commitment is if it chooses to bypass full legislative scrutiny.

gov.uk/government/spe…
* yes, I mistakenly typed "today" twice in the first tweet. Then seven more followed, making it impossible to go back and edit the first one.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Kartik Raj

Kartik Raj Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Kartik__Raj

Jan 30
A thread /

1/ One of the perks of this job I have is I get to talk to and learn from some phenomenally inspiring people. People like Usman Camara, an organic farmer in Madrid, originally from Mauritania, help restore my faith in humanity, when it is sometimes challenged.
2/ Usman is now in his mid-50s. He left Mauritania as a young man and arrived in Spain in 1995, and then worked in all sorts of jobs here and in France until 2011. At that point he was out of work, and started farming this plot south of Madrid.
3/ He leases a small plot of land from the Rivas-Vaciamadrid local government, where he grows organic kale, chard, broccoli, carrots, beets, tomatoes, aubergine, beans and so much more. And then he sells this to small food co-ops, and makes up vegetable boxes to order.
Read 11 tweets
Jan 14, 2021
1/3

This defies belief.

The 🇬🇧 UK government's educational authorities have just announced that free meal coverage for kids🧒🏾 from low income families in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 won't continue over the February half-term break.

Instead some other winter grant scheme may kick in.
2/3 I'm appalled. The government has tried this before, making last minute u-turns -- at significant cost to families living on very low incomes and school staff -- after outcry.

Children have a #righttofood under intl human rights law. Like they have a #rightoteducation.
3/3 It's so miserly and callous.

Every time you think finally a lesson about basic rights has been learned during the pandemic, you realize those making decision have learned: next to nothing.

And that's what some kids will be left with to eat in February: next to nothing.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 13, 2021
Out now.

@HRW's annual review of #humanrights around the world: #Rights2021

Read @KenRoth's introduction, the individual country chapters, and a curated selection of thematic essays on rights challenges and trends here:
hrw.org/world-report/2…

thread to follow 👇🏾
2/ Advance warning/apology - this will be a narrow, parochial thread.

Read for yourself the bigger #Rights2021 report, and the chapters that interest you.

What follows below is just on issues I follow (as perhaps you may also do, seeing as we're connected over twitter)
3/ Read here what the main #humanrights concerns across the EU🇪🇺 have been during 2020.
hrw.org/news/2021/01/1…
#COVID19
Health, Unemployment, Lockdowns
Poverty and Inequality
Rule of Law
Discrimination and Racism
Sexual and reproductive health and rights
Migration and Asylum A nurse holds hands with a Covid-19 patient at the intensive
Read 21 tweets
Apr 25, 2019
Thread #UKPoverty #FoodPoverty 1/ The scale of food poverty in the UK, the fifth richest economy in the world, and its rapid increase over recent years is staggering. I've been researching this for @hrw for just over a year. hrw.org/news/2018/11/2…
2/ So many important things are happening today on this issue, each one of which on its own should make the government and all of us sit up and take notice. There is no excuse for looking away.
3/ The @TrussellTrust's annual figures are out. They do not make for easy reading. A 19% increase in the last year alone. Read their blog on what they see driving people to seek food aid. trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/…
Read 18 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(