A quick general thread about what to expect and understand the ICJ judgment on South Africa's request for provisional measures against Israel, at 12pm UK time today, which you can watch live . A few things to watch out for. /1icj-cij.org/sites/default/…
First, we need to be clear about what the Court is doing today. It is NOT making a definitive finding that there has or has not been genocide. It is being asked by South Africa to make provisional orders, which you could liken to an emergency injunction. /2
Mar 17, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Wow. ICC issue arrest warrant for Putin.
Two specific allegations: war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) & unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russian Federation (Arts 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of Rome Statute).
ICC: reasonable grounds to believe Putin bears individual criminal responsibility (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others &/or through others & (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian & military subordinates who committed the acts..
Mar 10, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
In sending that tweet*, & not backing down, @GaryLineker sought to stand up for vulnerable, voiceless people & unwittingly unleashed a roar of support.
Don’t lose that focus on Monday, when the govt puts the shocking, inhumane & unworkable illegal Migration Bill before Plmnt.
*whether you agree with his analogy or not.
Feb 5, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
It’s wild reading British news headlines from abroad. A govt not talking to crucial sectors on strike, people barely managing a cost of living crisis, Brexit costs unacknowledged, so too climate crisis, but govt wants to whip up fury about small boats & leave ECHR yet again.
These politically unstable years since the referendum have done a lot of damage - with Britain on one hand rightly damning violations of international law by states including Russia and China, but itself making wrecking ball threats which jeopardise & may weaken those same norms.
Dec 18, 2022 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Loving this @BBCSport footage from Rosario of the young Messi and his vida Argentina.
Love both these teams, and what a spectacle to come, but I’m a long time fan of the Argentina magic so… #VamosArgentina#ArgentinaVsFrance.
Those anthems, these teams!
And just like that, #GlobalBritain becomes the next Brexit catchphrase to bite the dust. This news that the UK formally is to downgrade its longstanding commitment to human rights for close diplomatic ties is a real blow. Soft power has always mattered. theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
Hoping for a strong and principled response from opposition parties on the govt’s reported foreign policy intention to drop the UK’s long-standing commitment to human rights for close diplomatic ties.
#IndyRef2 UK Supreme Court ruling now with unanimous judgment: Court has decided it does have power to decide reference from Lord Advocate. Consistent with rule of law & public interest.
Supreme Court does not uphold SNP arguments on the right to self-determination under international law. Finds it cannot meet the threshold of a colonised people or an oppressed people, following Canadian SC judgment on Quebec.
Oct 31, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
The speedy congratulations posted out by world leaders overnight is really testament to quite how frightening a Bolsonoro victory would have been, and they are a rare joy and optimism to behold, even with the hard work ahead for Brazil. Parabens @LulaOficial!
Leading the way with genuine warmth and elegant optimism is, as ever, President Macron, reflecting that Lula’s win opens a new page of history in Brazil.
They are not EU laws but UK laws which we have because of our EU membership. The #REUL Bill will set fire to legal certainty & stability for individuals, business & growth. An arbitrary way to make law, allowing Ministers to replace or lose 2400+ laws, without Plmnt scrutiny.
All sorts of critical regulations are affected, including employment rights, environmental protections, food standards, consumer rights, animal protection etc.
Replacing decades of carefully crafted regulations which protect us requires careful consultation & scrutiny by Plmnt.
Oct 20, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Hoping lawyers, civil society & MPs examine carefully the #RetainedEULawBill. It will hand sweeping power to the executive over critical areas of people’s lives like workers rights, environmental & consumer protections, with alarming implications for legal certainty & stability.
If it feels like Groundhog Day, that’s because it is. But this is not an argument about Brexit.
We have left the EU. That doesn’t enable a free pass for any govt of the day to deregulate in an arbitrary way.
The risks of unintended consequences, at the very least, are high.
Jul 1, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
As Hong Kong marks 25 years since the handover from Britain, the rapid & undisguised transformation of Hong Kong just 2 years after the National Security Law was imposed sees the fears confirmed in this piece I wrote in 2020 for @prospect_uk. prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/why-h…
This is an excellent deep dive into how Hong Kong has been transformed by China into a landscape where journalists, lawyers, elected democrats, unions & civil society operate in a climate of fear or are silenced by the State in a harsh crackdown on rights and freedoms.
Woke up early to read Raab’s Bill of Rights Bill, wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I started reading the dangerous tangle of incoherence, like some teenage anti-HRA wish list & then saw @ProfMarkElliott had written a blog. Read it. It’s brilliant. publiclawforeveryone.com/2022/06/22/the…
One point that really struck me when I read this Bill was on international law.
We don’t seem to have a government that understands its obligations in international law at the moment - see NI Protocol, Rwanda, WTO scandals just from last week.
And now this Bill of Rights Bill.
Jun 21, 2022 • 21 tweets • 11 min read
As the Bill of Rights is due to be published, a piece I wrote when the latest #HRA review was announced.
“The championing of parliamentary control sits uncomfortably alongside this government’s consistent attempts to bypass scrutiny and accountability…” prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/a-hum…
A reminder that the govt effectively ignored the IHRAR, the previously commissioned independent review of the #HumanRightsAct, which made clear there was no proper basis for the narrative that judges are out of control, nor that groundless human rights claims are proliferating.
Jun 14, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Tonight’s ECtHR intervention is a measure granted only exceptionally where there’s a “real risk of irreversible harm”.
That no removal should take place until 3 weeks after the final domestic decision is the common sense this govt so often mentions in the human rights context.
On a day when the UK Prime Minister’s attacks on lawyers have led the leaders of the profession to issue a strong statement, where Johnson has unleashed at least a question mark over the ECHR itself, this is a confrontation his govt has brought on itself - perhaps foreseeably.
This powerful piece by @Lees_Martina reconstructs the horrifying tragedy of Grenfell & explains why, 5 years on, 640k people still live in flammable flats & up to 4.2million are trapped in #claddingscandal created by govt failures, corporate wrongdoing & regulatory incompetence.
When you read the painful details of the multiple failures which led to tragedy of Grenfell, & when you have personally experienced the fallout as millions of us have, it’s been very hard to believe that we live in a country, properly regulated, that values people over profits.
Jun 7, 2022 • 10 tweets • 8 min read
British journalist Dom Philips remains missing in the Amazon following threats. Situation alarming.
Part of an important thread which shows why the highest level urgent intervention by the Brazilian authorities is needed. The terrain, the drug trafficking routes & illegal mining make this an operation fraught with danger & difficulty.
Imagine having faced the unimaginable in Afghanistan last summer, as Britain failed its allies, making it here & being faced with this flimsy document. In English. No translation. Almost no legal help.
Reflecting on what “bearing responsibility” means for a Minister after Sue Gray report & @CommonsForeign on #Afghanistan.
Accountability in Government appears to hold less consequence than for a CEO, employee or worker, despite its consequence for people, policy & constitution.
If the PM can ‘misrepresent’ at leisure (often using wild language as he did yesterday moments before & after professing contrition) & the Speaker does nothing to regulate that - other than a policing of very specific words - Parliament is quaint but not functioning in its role.
May 24, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Absolutely damning report from @CommonsForeign on UK’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, fiercely critical of Raab & senior leaders “on holiday when Kabul fell mark[ing] a fundamental lack of seriousness, grip or leadership at a time of national emergency.”
“…no clear line of command within the political leadership of the Govt as decisions were made on the basis of untraceable & unaccountable political interventions.”
May 14, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Wait. What? 155 points?
What is happening? #Eurovision
(Confess I haven’t heard the song…)
Douze points! Merci beaucoup la France!
Haven’t watched this for about 20 years but how sweet is this love and mutual appreciation this year? #Eurovision
May 6, 2022 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Waking up to news that the Tories are taking something of a battering in London.
But if Labour takes control of true blue Westminster, Tory since the borough was created in 1964, that’s really a result to cause a stir.
