🚨 OUT NEXT WEEK🚨

#BritanniaEnchained, an audit of rights in the UK by IRR Vice Chair and former barrister @FrancesWebber5.

‘As the economy unravels, we are seeing an increasingly aggressive government squaring up to an expanding list of enemies’ 🧵

bit.ly/BritanniaEncha… Over the course of last year, the government continued breaking laws, promises, conventions, codes, human rights obligations, & people - threatening the system of protecting human rights and the rights of specific groups. irr.org.uk/article/britan…

THREAD🧵

Amidst far-right anti-immigrant protests in Dublin, misinformation over sexual violence is once again being mobilised to justify anti-migrant racism, with homeless migrants reportedly attacked by a group of men with dogs, sticks and a bat

irishtimes.com/ireland/social… The attack was fuelled by the claim that a refugee or Black man had been involved with a recent alleged sexual assault. This has been denied by the gardai who have ruled out the involvement of migrants/refugees
irishexaminer.com/news/courtandc…

🚨#IRR50 year wrap up🎁

And what a year it's been! We've produced articles on policing in schools, highlighted the treatment of asylum seekers, released reports on citizenship-stripping and police racism, PLUS all our #IRR50 activities

Here's a rundown of our major highlights🧵 In 2022, we celebrated 50 years since the IRR underwent its radical transformation: from an establishment body funded by large multinational corporations into an explicitly anti-racist thinktank oriented towards those making struggle against state racism. irr.org.uk/article/irr50/

🚨NEW

IRR warns of deepening ‘culture of extremism’ amongst police across Europe.

Speaking to @ObserverUK, Liz Fekete suggests racism has become entrenched in policing, as rank-and-file officers organise on an increasingly extremist agenda.

A thread🧵
theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/j… In Racism, Radicalisation and Europe’s ‘Thin Blue Line’, in July's issue of @Race_Class, IRR director Liz Fekete highlights numerous cases of racist & misogynistic attitudes within private WhatsApp groups - plus far right entryism amongst police officers.

irr.org.uk/article/racism…

On this day in 1972, one of the most significant steps in British race relations – the transformation of the Institute of Race Relations led by its staff and supporters – took place. #IRR50🧵 At an Extraordinary General Meeting held at St. James Church Hall, the staff defeated the IRR Council of Management in a crucial vote. The majority of the Council resigned en masse. #IRR50

#ImpunityEntrenched
🧵THREAD OF THREADS 🧵

This week, we published a 5-part series by @FrancesWebber5 examining the legislative & policy changes threatening human rights.

Follow the link to read each part & find a thread 🧵summary of each edition below👇
irr.org.uk/article/impuni… On Monday, we started #ImpunityEntrenched with an analysis of borders and immigration policy, with a focus on the destructive Nationality & Borders Bill.

https://twitter.com/IRR_News/status/1483046958159872005?t=EoFQKFn-q3cZkLSGYvfA4w&s=19

#ImpunityEntrenched 3
⚖️Ministerial Impunity & the rule of law

It’s not just specific bills that should worry us. This THREAD summarises what underlies them: attempts to evade scrutiny and accountability, while curbing the judiciary

Read the full piece⬇️
irr.org.uk/article/impuni… Part 3 looks at how government ministers are undermining the rule of law by:

⚖ Breaching UK & International law
🧑‍⚖️ Political interference in the judiciary
🕵️‍♂️ Treating journalists like spies
🔒 Constraints on public bodies
🗳 Voter suppression

irr.org.uk/article/impuni…

#ImpunityEntrenched Pt 2
🚔Police impunity: in & beyond the pandemic

As revelations of police racism, misogyny & brutality mounted in 2021, the government gave police more powers & protections.

This THREAD details key developments. Get the full picture👇
irr.org.uk/article/polici… The Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill is an enormous and wide-ranging piece of legislation with 179 clauses and 20 schedules.

Its sheer size and range impede proper scrutiny, as the House of Lords Constitution Committee (@HLConstitution) pointed out
committees.parliament.uk/publications/7…

OUT NOW: #ImpunityEntrenched Part 1
🛂 POLICING THE BORDERS

Is this the end of asylum?

The below THREAD 🧵 provides a summary of border and immigration legislation and policy introduced last year.

For the full analysis, read here ⬇️
irr.org.uk/article/polici… The hostile reception for asylum seekers is extended to refugees in the Nationality & Borders Bill, which expands policies of exclusion, criminalisation and deportation. This thread will critique the bill and review other important developments from 2021
irr.org.uk/article/polici…

THREAD 🧵

As the Nationality and Borders bill returns to the Lords today, a recap of how outrage has grown out of one of its many abhorrent aspects - clause 9 – which would allow ministers to revoke the citizenship of British nationals without notice on ‘public interest’ grounds When the @NewStatesman reported that the clause could affect up to six million citizens who have or have access to a second citizenship, most from ethnic minorities, fear and anger erupted on social media, in the press, in parliament and in MPs’ constituency surgeries.

🚨 NEW

Ministers will be able to strip British citizens of their citizenship without telling them, under the Nationality and Borders Bill.

theguardian.com/politics/2021/… The new clause allowing this was quietly added to the Bill in committee in the Commons, in October.

It is the most fundamental requirement of fairness that citizens are given notice of decisions that will affect them.

#dropthecharges 🧵

@frhumanitarians volunteers @sean_binder_, @SarahMardini4 and Nassos Karakitsos go on trial in Lesvos tomorrow, Thursday 18 November for ‘espionage’.

They face up to 8 years in prison.
theguardian.com/world/2021/nov… Working to rescue refugees in the Aegean and as first responders onshore, they are accused for listening to coastguard radio and exchanging WhatsApp messages.

🧵THREAD

Following the conviction of Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard, the Met acknowledges that it needs to look at its ‘own culture’. But the culture of any institution is determined by its leadership.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/s… When it comes to leadership on sexism, 9 out of 12 police officers across England and Wales who abused their positions or failed to properly investigate sex crimes between 2017-2020 remained in post.
bylinetimes.com/2021/09/21/thr…

🧵What is happening to equalities in the UK?

After a former employee of the @EHRC accused the body of ‘colluding in the denial of institutional racism’, this THREAD recalls a series of warnings that the government appears set on disappearing the matter of structural racism. Following the #SewellReport, IRR Director Liz Fekete warned that some of its reccomendations were designed to create a new set of norms about how race and racism are conceptualised and which could make research into structural racism 'virtually impossible' irr.org.uk/article/sewell…

THREAD

What's the true significance of the EHRC’s recent report on the hostile environment?

IRR Vice-Chair, Frances Webber responds The report is what's termed a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) Assessment of the Home Office’s compliance with the Equality Act 2010 – a less rigorous procedure than an inquiry or an investigation into ‘unlawful acts’ defined by the Act, such as discrimination or harassment.

A huge thank you to everyone who has taken part in today's twitter storm highlighting the issues raised in this report, giving those that died a context and an identity, and calling for #SafePassageNow

irr.org.uk/article/deadly… Special thanks to our report partners @Migrantpptlond1 who helped fund and initiate the report through contact with @legisti based in France, who wrote an earlier French-language version. Please follow both of them to keep in touch with their vital work.

#SafePassageNow

As part of today's #SafePassageNow twitter storm starting now, we will be highlighting some of the many cases like Niknam's.

Read his story and the many others 🔽
bit.ly/Deadly-Crossin… The importance of counting and accounting for deaths at the border was recognised by Leanne Weber and Sharon Pickering, who in their 2011 book 'Globalisation and
borders: death at the global frontier' insisted on the importance of first, finding out as much as possible... 1/3

THREAD

The IRR is concerned that the government has given a contract to develop a ‘border flow tool’ to a company with disturbing links to the US far Right and which does not respect privacy or data protection safeguards.

theguardian.com/politics/2020/… The new border contract gives US data analytics firm Palantir Technology access to HMRC and Home Office data in addition to data on goods and transport.

As criticisms grow of Trevor Phillips involvement in the government’s inquiry into the disproportionate impact of #Covid19 on BAME communities, @PHE_uk has said that a consultancy run by Phillips and Prof Richard Webber have the right skills and experience to aid the inquiry 1/14 This thread is aimed at testing this claim through the lens of Webber and Phillips' previous work in creating ‘coding’ systems marketed to police forces. 2/14