Lindis Percy gave oral evidence (with Milan Rai – Justice not Vengence) and Phil McLeish (Climate Change Camp) to the JCHR on the afternoon of 21 October 2008 in the Portcullis Building (opposite Big Ben). CAAB will be submitting further details to the Committee. Vernon Coaker MP and Minister for Security, Policing and Crime will be called to give evidence. The Committee will then produce a report on their findings.
The Sunday Times
October 5, 2008
Every call you make, every e-mail you send, every website you visit – I’ll be watching you. …
Times Online – UK
October 12, 2008
Assume Israel planned to use bases in Georgia to launch an air attack on Iran, the Russian invasion, albeit brief, must have put a spoke in their wheel. …
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4926251.ece
The Associated Press
… Russian officials have said newer versions of the Topol can penetrate any missile defense.
“We will strengthen our military capability, we will adopt new types of weapons, but we will continue to test the traditional ballistic missiles we have in service,” Medvedev said …
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXJ7Du9xyLuO-Kp8b9PpvuQWpQ8QD93OU6H80
Article: CAAB submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Lindis Percy has been invited to give oral evidence to the Committtee hearing on 21 October in the House of Commons.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has decided to inquire into the human rights issues arising from policing and protest.
The Committee has a longstanding interest in the protection, promotion and fulfilment of the right to peaceful protest. During the last Parliament, the Committee’s predecessor raised significant concerns about the potential restrictions on protest around Parliament when it scrutinised the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA).
These concerns have been borne out by subsequent events (e.g. the prosecution of Maya Evans for reading out the names of the war dead at the Cenotaph). However, the Committee’s concerns extend more widely than the operation of SOCPA alone to the policing of protest more generally and to the operation of other policing powers in practice (e.g. policing of the May Day and Fairford protests).
Are these events indicative of a trend towards eroding the right to protest or are they an inevitable and necessary reaction to increased security concerns?
The right to protest is a fundamental feature of a democratic society, encompassing the rights to freedom of assembly and expression, amongst others. These rights have long featured in British legal tradition, and are protected by Articles 11 and 10 respectively of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). According to the House of Lords,
“these rights are fundamental rights, to be protected as such. Any prior restraint on their exercise must be scrutinised with particular care. The [ECHR] test of necessity does not require that a restriction be indispensable, but nor is it enough that it be useful, reasonable or desirable.”(FN 1)
The Committee wishes to explore the following issues which arise from policing and protest:
Interested persons and bodies are invited to submit written evidence
for consideration by the Committee, if possible, by Monday 9 June 2008. This call for evidence identifies questions in relation to which the Committee would particularly welcome evidence. The Committee would also welcome views on other matters witnesses wish to raise which are relevant to policing and protest. The Committee intends to hold oral evidence sessions in the summer.
1. Are current legislative measures which restrict protest or peaceful assembly (such as SOCPA 2005 and the Public Order Act 1986) necessary and proportionate to the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly?
2. How do existing common law and legislative police powers (such as the common law power to prevent a breach of the peace, stop and search under the Terrorism Act 2000 and the use of force) operate in practice?
3. Can the competing interests of public order and the right to protest be reconciled?
FN1: R (Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary [2007] 2 All ER 529, para. 52 (Lord Bingham).
NOTE:
Submissions should be no longer than 2,500 words and be addressed to Dr Mark Egan, Commons Clerk of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Committee Office, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA (email: jchr@parliament.uk). Electronic submission in Word format is
requested, but a signed hard copy should also be sent. Evidence becomes the property of the Committee, and may be printed, placed on the Internet or circulated by the Committee at any stage. You may publicise or publish your evidence yourself, but in doing so you must indicate that it was prepared for the Committee. Evidence published other than under the authority of the Committee does not attract parliamentary privilege.
The members of the Committee are:
Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) (Chairman) Lord Dubs (Labour)
John Austin MP (Labour, Erith & Thamesmead)
Lord Bowness (Conservative)
Mr Douglas Carswell MP (Conservative, Harwich)
Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Liberal Democrat)
Dr Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West & Abingdon) Lord
Morris of Handsworth (Labour)
Mr Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing, Southall)
The Earl of Onslow (Conservative)
Mr Richard Shepherd MP (Conservative, Aldridge-Brownhills)
Baroness Stern (Cross-Bencher)
October 9, 2008 – 8:13pm
By The Associated Press
As of Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, at least 4,180 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …
By Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The United Kingdom is abuzz with a major military exercise on sea, air and land in which a U.S. Navy captain is playing a major role from the helm of a British aircraft carrier. …
www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65134&archive=true
New image falls flat
Africans reject U.S. Africa Command
Workers World – USA
Published Oct 9, 2008
… The U.S. military base in Djibouti has existed since at least 2002, when the Bush administration began to place greater emphasis on the Horn of Africa, claiming that so-called “Islamic terrorists” were utilizing neighboring Somalia as an area of operation. …
FAS Strategic Security Blog: By Hans M. Kristensen
A report from an advisory board to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recommended that the United States beefs up its nuclear, conventional, and space-based posture in the Pacific to counter China. … Although the Secretary of State asked for recommendations to move US-Chinese relations away from competition and conflict toward greater transparency, mutual confidence and enhanced cooperation, the board instead has produced a report that appears to recommend policies that would increase and deepen military competition and in essence constitute a small Cold War with China. …
Mark Thompson / Washington
Time.com: Monday, Sep. 29, 2008
The Pentagon’s missile-defense program has already cost $100 billion and strained relations with the Russians, and it has yet to prove its real-world value. Hitting a bullet with a bullet — the heart of the system — is a difficult enough task. But a new report reveals that the Pentagon is even having problems launching the practice targets needed to test the system. …
