Diane Abbott MP and Liberty to hold DNA clinic in Hackney

Young people on the DNA database urged to come forward for help on removing profiles

(London – 20 August 2009) – Liberty and Diane Abbott announced today that from September they will be holding a series of DNA clinics in Hackney to help those who have had their DNA retained unfairly. The Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Liberty lawyers will be available to provide help and advice to those who want their DNA profiles removed from the national database.

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said:

“I am glad that Damian Green has been able to get his DNA wiped off of the database. But, as the Home Affairs Select Committee pointed out this month, black men are disproportionately represented on the database. In particular there are tens of thousands of completely innocent young people who have been stigmatised in this way. It is time that the government acted on the ECHR ruling that automatic retention of DNA is wrong. And I am looking forward to working with Liberty to make sure that young people in Hackney who are innocent of any crime can have their DNA taken off the government’s database just like Damian Green"

Liberty have dismissed new Government proposals for the DNA database as ‘inadequate’ and called for the UK to comply with last December’s European Court of Human Rights judgment and remove innocents from the DNA database.

Anna Fairclough, Legal Officer for Liberty, said:

“If Damian Green MP can have his DNA destroyed in record time, young people in Hackney should be entitled to the same. Those without a powerful voice are just as innocent, yet the police seem to find their requests for DNA destruction considerably easier to dismiss.”

Forty percent of Britain’s criminals are not on the database but hundreds of thousands of innocent people are. The National DNA database is one of the largest in the world, holding 4.5 million profiles - this includes around 300,000 children and approximately 850,000 innocent people who have never been charged or cautioned.

Aegis calls on Government to adopt Parliament’s recommendations and completely close the ‘impunity gap’ for genocide suspects in UK

In a report released today, the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights says inconsistencies in the way the UK applies international law have created an “impunity gap” for perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It commends the Government's recent decision to amend to legislation to partially address the problem, but calls for it to close remaining loopholes in the law and to re-establish a specialist war crimes unit to investigate people in the UK who are suspected of such offences.

Under the law as it stands, no-one in the UK can be prosecuted for war crimes in internal armed conflicts, genocide or crimes against humanity committed before 2001. Even if people here are suspected of committing such offences since 2001, they can only be prosecuted if legally resident here, not merely if they are present in the country (for eg., visiting on a student or business visa).

The Aegis Trust worked with MPs and Lord Carlile QC, Lord Falconer QC and Baroness D’Souza to prepare amendments to the Coroners and Criminal Justice Bill which would have closed these loopholes. Tabled in the House of Lords, they triggered the Government’s decision last month to extend jurisdiction of UK courts to prosecute international crimes as far back as 1991.

As the Committee points out, however, this only takes jurisdiction back to the date on which Crimes Against Humanity became recognised as crimes in international law. It argues for jurisdiction on genocide and war crimes in internal armed conflicts to be extended back to the dates on which they were recognised in international law (e.g. 1948 for genocide).

The Committee also supports Aegis’ call for replacement of the ‘residence’ test with a simple ‘presence’ test, so that anyone present on UK soil could be subject to jurisdiction on international crimes, not only those who are legally resident. This is the test used by other common law countries such as Canada, the US, New Zealand, South Africa.

“The Aegis Trust is delighted that the Joint Committee on Human Rights has adopted all of our recommendations for strengthening UK law in this area,” says Aegis’ Head of Campaigns Nick Donovan, whose evidence is quoted in the Committee’s report. “We too commend the Government for the bold progress made last month, and call on it to finish the job by closing remaining legal loopholes which benefit suspected war criminals in the UK.”

In June Aegis published a report that brought together, for the first time, details of people entering the UK who are suspected of international crimes. The report – 'Suspected war criminals and genocidaires in the UK: Proposals to strengthen UK law' – examines 18 cases, including those of suspected genocidaires from Rwanda, alleged torturers from Zimbabwe, Iraq, Liberia and the Congo, and alleged war criminals from Afghanistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. They include such people as a Lieutenant Colonel from KHAD, the Soviet-era Afghan government’s secret police; an alleged Tamil Tiger assassination hit squad driver, and a member of Sierra Leone’s ‘Mosquito’ rebel group, notorious for murder, rape, looting, burning, sexual slavery and forced amputations.

The Joint Committee’s report comes at a time when the workload of the UK Border Agency’s war crimes team is increasing. Several weeks ago, the Government revealed that in the first six months of 2009, recommendations of immigration status refusal following investigation were up four-fold on the preceding four years. Since 2004, there have been 421 cases where immigration action was recommended and 30 cases where the matter was referred was made to the police. How many of these people are currently at large in the UK is unclear.

GREEN MEP DEMANDS ACTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN TURKEY AS KURDISH CAMPAIGNER IS SENTENCED

Jean Lambert today expressed her concern and disappointment over the decision of the Turkish authorities to sentence Leyla Zana, a prominent Kurdish human rights activist, for fifteen months. Ms Zana, who has met with the Green MEP on several occasions, was the winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize in 1995 for her work to improve human rights, and extend democracy and freedom of expression in Turkey.

Commenting on the announcement of Ms Zana's sentence, Jean Lambert MEP said:

"It is a sad outcome for human rights and for the Kurdish people. Leyla Zana is an inspirational figure and has tirelessly fought against intolerance and oppression. I have written to the President of the European Parliament this week to urge that everything possible is done at the EU level to support her appeal and I will continue to follow this situation closely."

Jean Lambert MEP continued:

"Leyla Zana has already served a 10 year prison sentence for speaking Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament, following her election as the first female Kurdish MP. Even now, the use of the Kurdish language is still banned in public places despite pressure from the EU to reform human rights law and comply with the Copenhagen criteria.

"I support Ms Zana's calls for the need for dialogue and a political solution to the conflict. I hope that she will win her new appeal against this sentence so that she can continue her work towards a peaceful solution for Turkey and a better situation for the Kurdish community."

Amnesty International pressure results in webchat hosted by Shell on their human rights and environmental record

Some good news: as a result of our campaigning, including a barrage of tweets, Shell have agreed to host a webchat about the Niger Delta on their Shell Dialogues site, at 2pm on Thursday 23rd July.

At the start of this month we published a damning report revealing how decades of environmental damage by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta has caused serious violations of local people's human rights - leaving them to drink polluted water, eat contaminated fish, farm on spoiled land, and breath air that stinks of oil and gas.

We need to take this opportunity to ask tough questions about Shell’s human rights and environmental practices in the Niger Delta and we’d like your help!

Full instructions of how to register and take part at http://blog.protectthehuman.com/shell-break-silence-on-the-niger-delta/

More info on the subject here - and some further info about how Shell have responded here.

DNA RULES KEEP RETENTION LEVELS LOW

UK LABOUR RETAIN DNA ON 300,000 CHILDREN

SCOTTISH DNA FIGURES FAR LOWER THAN ENGLISH EQUIVALENT

SNP MSP Nigel Don today said he is encouraged by figures showing the retention of DNA on the Scottish DNA database from under 18s is far lower than in England and Wales.

The European Court recently ruled that the system operated by the UK Government was a breach of human rights and praised the Scottish system as the model for other administrations to follow.

In England and Wales samples are held from 320,841 under 18s or 3% of the whole under 18 population. In contrast only 1167 samples of under 18s, equal to 0.1% of all Scotland’s young people are held in Scotland.

As the figures, released in a Parliamentary Answer show DNA in Scotland can only be held for those awaiting trial on an imprisonable offence and can only be retained if the individual is convicted or for up to two years in the cases of those charged with violent or sexual offences if not convicted.

Justice Committee member Nigel Don said the fact Scotland had a far lower proportion of DNA retained from young people was a sign the Scottish system was protecting the public and protecting civil liberties.

Mr Don said;

“These figures show that Scotland’s system of DNA retention is working to protect human rights and to ensure we are able to track those responsible for crimes in our society.

“In contrast the figures for England and Wales expose the real problems of Labour’s approach to criminal justice and emphasise Scotland’s success in finding the right balance between protecting the public from crime and protecting their human rights.

“Being able to identify violent offenders is important but a database containing the details of those who were children when they offended removes any prospect of real rehabilitation or recovery.

“Issues of DNA retention must be kept under regular review, though these figures show the Scottish system is working well to retain DNA only where it is appropriate.”

Control orders, torture techniques and the rise of the BNP - Does Britain still care about human rights?

Liberty poll shows authorities out of step with British public

(London – 15 June 2009) – In defiance of recent events, a poll released today by Liberty shows overwhelming support for human rights laws. Despite a week of the Government defending the unjust and unsafe control order system, the Metropolitan police accused of using "waterboarding" techniques with suspects and the BNP winning two European parliament seats, polling reveals that 97% think it is important that there is a law that protects rights and freedoms in the UK.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said;an rights in Britain. Despite headlines about "waterboarding" and punishment without trial, our common values still run extremely deep and the contents of the Human Rights Act are valued by the overwhelming majority of people."

The ComRes polling, commissioned by Liberty, sends a clear message to all political parties about the values the British public hold dear.

● 89% identified the right not to be tortured or degraded as either vital or important..

● 95% identified both the right to a fair trial and respect for privacy family life and the home as either vital or important.

● 76% believed that the right not to be detained without reason was either vital or important.

At last week's Liberty conference, recently retired senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham said of the

"This poll will be depressing reading for the cocky far right and others opposed to hum

Human Rights Act:

"Which of these rights, I ask, would we wish to discard? Are any of them trivial, superfluous, unnecessary? Are any of them un-British? There may be those who would like to live in a country where these rights are not protected, but I am not of their number."

Sabina Frediani, Campaigns Co-ordinator for Liberty, said;

"Britain hasn't just got talent; it's got an ocean of common sense and decency too. Public bodies have yet to step up and educate people about their rights protections but the public cherish them nonetheless. We need to be more suspicious of politicians who bash our human rights whilst demanding "due process" and "personal privacy" for themselves."

Liberty's poll coincides with the launch of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission's Human Rights Inquiry report. However, both the Commission and The Government have yet to educate the public about the Human Rights Act – the Liberty poll shows that only 10% remember seeing or receiving any information explaining the legislation.

Huhne: DNA announcement nowhere near good enough

Responding to the Governments announcement on removing a limited number of innocent people’s profiles from the DNA database in the light of the European Court ruling that it was illegal, the Liberal Democrats have released new research showing that 925,000 innocent people’s profiles are now on the database.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said, "once again, the Home Office is fighting an undignified rearguard action designed to give as little as possible in response to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights."

Attacking the Governmen Chris Huhne said, "today's announcement is nowhere near good enough. Jacqui Smith must not be allowed to get away with anything short of immediately removing all innocent people from the database, except those accused of a violent or sexual offence."

Talking about new Liberal Democrat research Chris Huhne said, "it is staggering that as many as one in five people on the database has no criminal record. The estimated 925,000 innocents on the database should not have to fight another case in the European Court to establish their freedom from an Orwellian state."

GREEN MEP CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS

Jean Lambert, the Green Party MEP for London, spoke today at a public meeting at the University of London Union to celebrate International Women's Day and highlight the situation of women around the world.

The meeting, arranged by the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq, explored the difficulties women face on daily basis; from those fighting for their basic human rights in wartorn countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to those badly effected by the economic recession around the world.

Jean Lambert MEP, said:

"It is important to remember that the struggle for equality is very real for millions of women around the world and in some countries even basic human rights are frequently abused."

"In the UK, equality at work has still not been reached and a stubborn gender pay gap exists, as wide as 36 per cent for part-time work. Women are finding themselves even more vulnerable in this economic downturn, as the redundancy rate for women is rising twice as fast as it is for men."

"Disturbingly, it's also been found that women are at greater risk of domestic violence and abuse during times of recession. We need to understand these wider consequences of economic stress and ensure that support services are adequately funded, prepared and able to cope with these problems."