Focusing on Cross-Channel boats and the Rohingya

27 May 2023

Dear Readers,

Cross-Channel boats

On 5^th May, UAI published “Asylum-seekers crossing the Channel from France – Why don’t they stay in France”, an article by our volunteer, Marie Léveillé. The article quickly attracted widespread praise for its detail and clarity from respected writers on the question of asylum.

UAI is in consultation with groups across Europe to generate support for demands to stop the inhumanities at Europe’s borders.

This will be a major initiative over the coming months

Rohingya lives at risk

The situation of Myanmar’s Rohingya population has continued to worsen since the last UAI newsletter, as indicated by three important and disturbing developments.

First, the government of Bangladesh and the military authorities of Myanmar, with the support of China, have launched another effort to promote the repatriation of Rohingya refugees. This initiative has been taken despite the intensifying armed conflict in Myanmar, the failure of the military authorities to meet the refugees’ requests to be granted citizenship of the country, and the UN’s position that conditions there are not amenable to return and reintegration.

Second, those members of the Rohingya population who remain in Myanmar, especially those who are confined to squalid internment camps, have been seriously hit by Cyclone Mocha, which has devastated coastal areas of the country. Despite their need for urgent assistance, the military authorities have been obstructing the work of humanitarian organizations and impeding the distribution of aid.

Third, reports from India suggest that the country’s Rohingya refugee population is increasingly at risk of detention, deportation and discrimination by the authorities and local population, as well as new restrictions on their access to education, health care and livelihood opportunities.

Readers of this newsletter might be interested to know that Guardian journalist Kaamil Ahmed has published a new book, titled ‘I feel no peace: Rohingya fleeing over seas and rivers’.

Finally, for any readers wishing to keep up-to-date with the situation of the Rohingya, this recently established website, ‘Rohingya Refugee News’, provides a wealth of useful information, analysis and commentary.

Sudan

Everybody has been shocked by the appalling developments in Sudan. Looking at the situation in the context of the surrounding region of the Greater Horn of Africa, UAI is exploring options for focusing on the atrocities in Sudan and the situation facing people fleeing from the fighting. UAI is mobilising in order to support efforts to bring attention to the situation in Sudan and stop the consequences of war on civilians.

UAI supporters wishing to join us, write a blog or bring to our attention materials that could be featured in future Newsletters are invited to send them to contact@against-inhumanity.org.

The post Focusing on Cross-Channel boats and the Rohingya – Newsletter May 2023 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

14 April 2023

Dear Friends,

The news is overwhelming – but what can we do? At UAI, we hold on to the idea that a lot of small initiatives can add up to a big impact.

In this month’s Newsletter, we report on the persistent efforts of UAI colleagues to focus on some critical issues and the surprising impact we can have if we work together. We offer two suggestions for how you can help.

Afghanistan

UAI colleagues have been shining a light relentlessly on the scandal of Afghanistan’s frozen reserves. In her blog ‘Déjà vu all over again,’ Norah Niland explains what is going on and why it is so important that people concerned about the desperate situation of Afghans keep up the pressure on our politicians.

Please also check out the revamped Afghanistan campaign page on our website by clicking on the second button below.

You can find further reflections by Norah on Afghanistan at the very end of this newsletter.

Myanmar

With the world’s attention focused on Ukraine, climate change, and the legal woes of a certain ex-US President, the disastrous situation in Myanmar gets little attention. UAI has formed a new Task Team focusing on this crisis.

As local press and UNHCR whistleblowers have started to cry wolf regarding Myanmar’s de facto authorities’ efforts to cajole UNHCR into cooperation, UAI’s Jeff Crisp has published an historical insight into the plight of Rohingya refugees.

BREAKING NEWS

On Tuesday, 11 April, a series of airstrikes on a village ceremony in the Sagaing region of Myanmar killed around 100 people. Click below for the Report in The Guardian of 12 April.

Asylum in Europe

The relentless loss of lives among migrants crossing the Mediterranean continues to outrage us. Shockingly, our governments have made it part of their routine response to seal off Europe’s borders and push back people in need of protection. This is illegal and needs to end.

UAI is working with partners to develop a Europe-wide advocacy campaign to stop the inhumanity at Europe’s borders. On 17^th March, UAI’s Jeff Crisp took part in an edition of the BBC World Service programme ‘The Real Story – Is the Asylum System Broken?’ in which he and other panellists offer humane alternatives to the current dehumanizing narratives of populist leaders.

On 30^th March, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) issued a damning report, for 2022, on the illegal and brutal ways in which refugees and other migrants were forcibly pushed back across Europe’s external borders.

Click below for the links.

New Technologies and the Prevention of Genocide

UAI in the UK is a member of the Atrocity Prevention Working Group (APWG), a UK-based civil society network.

Its submission to the UN Human Rights Council ‘The Role of New Technologies in the Prevention of Genocide’ offers important insights into how new technologies can be used both to prevent atrocities and, when manipulated by malicious actors, to perpetrate genocide.

THANK YOU

The International Executive Committee of UAI

REFLECTIONS ON AFGHANISTAN by Norah Niland

Nowruz, a tradition of some 3,500 years has long marked the arrival of Spring and the hope of new beginnings throughout much of Afghanistan.  Although shunned by the Taliban, Nowruz  remains an important household event even as most families are finding it difficult to put naan, everyday bread, rather than celebratory fruit and meat dishes, on the table.

Policy-ordained poverty has driven much of the Afghan population to unprecedented levels of hunger, deprivation, and displacement.  Policies include a slew of Taliban Edicts that further marginalize women and girls who suffer disproportionately from reduced access to education and employment opportunities outside the home. This penalizes their families and the general well-being of the Afghan population.  The policies of external actors, including in particular Western donors, effectively crashed the economy when they cut most non-humanitarian aid and budgetary support upon the return of the Taliban to Kabul.  They then froze some US$ 9 billion of external reserves that were vital for the effective functioning of the economy, the banking sector, and investments critical for employment possibilities and livelihoods. 

UAI remains engaged on several fronts in challenging harmful and life-threatening policies. This includes mobilizing and supporting civil society and public opinion, in challenging policies and narratives that attempt to rationalize the orchestrated suffering of much of the Afghan population.  UAI is actively engaged in different online forums, NGO networks, panels, and other initiatives as well as media coverage. 

UAI is alarmed that the Afghan Fund in Switzerland, six months after its creation, has not taken concrete, productive measures to address the recapitalization of the DAB, the country’s central bank. This puts in question its credibility while simultaneously condemning Afghans to appalling levels of impoverishment, hunger – including near famine conditions for many – indebtedness and involuntary displacement and migration.

With the help of dedicated volunteers, UAI has recently restructured the Afghan Frozen Funds Campaign pages on our website so that material is more easily and readily available to anyone interested in evolving events in Afghanistan. This includes tabs for UAI Statements, blogs and other postings, and a Media Watch section that includes studies as well as mainstream media articles. You can access the pages quickly by returning to the Afghanistan section above and clicking on the second button

UAI has also re-invigorated its social media content on Afghanistan: you can find us on Twitter amongst other platforms.

The post What Can We Do? – Newsletter April 2023 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

4 February 2023

Dear UAI friends,
 
This issue shines lights into dark corners. With a few notable exceptions, media coverage of Myanmar, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan has been displaced by Ukraine, inflation, and climate change. Important as those issues are, states still have responsibilities to prevent war and its related atrocities, to provide adequate relief to civilian populations in need, including those in need of asylum, and to bring justice to the victims of these crimes.
 
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Myanmar

On 1 February 2021, the military in Myanmar took power from the elected civilian leadership in a coup. Two years later, the country has fragmented, with the military resorting to increasingly brutal tactics to hold on to power.
 
On 23 January, UAI in the UK partnered with the Diplomacy Society of University College London to hold a hybrid webinar on “Anarchy, Displacement, and Destitution: What future for Myanmar?”

Joining the event online from Asia were Adelina Kamal, a former senior official with ASEAN, Burmese activist ‘Alexia’, and journalist Min Ye Kyaw. In the hall at UCL were Sir Charles Petrie, former UN Resident Coordinator in Myanmar, Dr Jeff Crisp, former head of policy at UNHCR, and Florence Duchet, UCL graduate and author of a blog on the current situation.  

See below for links to their recent articles on the UAI website.

‘Myanmar is Falling Apart. It Needs Urgent Attention from the United Nations’ – By Charles Petrie

‘Displaced, Dispossessed and Deprived of Rights: The Rohingya of Myanmar’ – By Jeff Crisp and Heeba Hasan

‘Myanmar is Descending into Anarchy, Atrocities, and Destitution: What can be done?’ – By Florence Duchet

Over the course of 2 hours, the debate, moderated by Dr Garson of UCL, described the current situation, acclaimed the activism of young people in resisting the military take-over, and recognised the appalling suffering inflicted on the Rohingya people, both within Myanmar and in camps in Bangladesh and other parts of Asia.

Only from Aceh in Indonesia were there heart-warming stories of Rohingya refugees being rescued and welcomed by local fishermen and their communities.
 
All the speakers called for far greater international attention to the situation, including efforts to isolate and sanction the junta, increase aid to communities without collaborating with the junta, support a stronger peace-making role for ASEAN, and take initiatives to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity.
 
On the anniversary, Adelina Kamal and colleagues published a powerful article, in The New Humanitarian, on the need for creative aid to local communities. (Click below to access their article.)

‘Myanmar’s Neglected Crisis Demands a Different Response’ by Adelina Kamal, Naw Hser Hser and Khin Ohmar

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UAI has now established a standing Task Team on Myanmar, so coverage of this situation will be a regular feature of our messages.

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Ethiopia

Finally, after two years of terrible war, the people of Tigray seem to be emerging from the disaster. Some reports suggest that 600,000 people (or about ten percent of the population) may have been killed in Tigray since the beginning of the conflict. Whatever the true figure, the levels of suffering are horrific.

The eyes of the world have been blinded by a shutdown of the internet and refusal of access to journalists.

Fred Harter, a reporter for The New Humanitarian, has just published a useful overview of the situation (see below for a link). As the cease fire agreement continues (hopefully to hold) urgent work will be required to meet immediate humanitarian needs, to support peace building efforts in Tigray (and its neighbouring regions in Ethiopia) and hold perpetrators of atrocities to account.  

‘Tigray Aid Access Improves as Peace Deal Makes Headway’ by Fred Harter

Whilst the ending of the conflict in the north is a relief, the other conflicts affecting different parts of Ethiopia are of equally serious concern.

International media attention has focused on the north, so the spread of violence in Oromia, in particular, has been given little attention.
Forced displacements, revenge attacks on villages, kidnappings and destruction of homes and infrastructure are causing immense suffering to communities adding to the humanitarian caseload of a country still experiencing the effects of a five year region wide drought and spiraling rates of inflation.

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Afghanistan

As if 40 years of war and the imposition by the Taliban authorities of inhuman bans on education and employment for girls and women were not enough, Afghanistan has been suffering, during recent weeks, from winter weather of unprecedented severity.

Temperatures below – 30 degrees Celsius have been recorded. More than 150 people have been reported as having died from the cold, although it must be assumed that this is an underestimate.

High level visits to the country by the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Emergency Relief Coordinator did not manage to persuade the Taliban administration to reverse the bans on the education and work of women and girls, but practical negotiations both at national and local levels have allowed women to resume work in medical centres and some schools.

UAI continues to press for a rapid start to the work of the Afghan Fund in Switzerland (established last September). Urgent decisions are needed to enable the Central Bank to deliver on its responsibilities of facilitating the normal banking transactions that are essential for economic recovery and a functioning economy.

Finally, two pieces of good news:

After a long wait, newly printed Afghanis, the local currency, organised by the Central Bank, went into circulation much to the relief of Afghans who had struggled for almost two years with bank notes that were crumbling and not always accepted as legal tender.

And, Transparency International have reported that Afghanistan has climbed 24 places in 2022 in its rankings assessing levels of corruption. Click on the link below to access the article.

Afghnistan pulls away from the lower ranks of the Global Corruption Index

The post Myanmar’s Awful Anniversary, Tigray Tragedy,& Afghanistan’s Devastating Winter – Newsletter January / February 2023 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

31 December 2022

Dear UAI friends,
 
As we reach the end of a year that brought so much horror and suffering to people in Ukraine, their cousins in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, plus those in many other countries endured another year of war, wanton destruction and loss of life and opportunity. They wondered why their country had to suffer these horrors. Why could they not enjoy the peace that others take for granted?
 
In this issue, our Editor talks of Horror and Hope, and we look forward with new energy to 2023.

Click HERE to read the Editor’s Message.

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First up in 2023 is an event in collaboration with the Diplomacy Society of University College London on Myanmar on Monday 23 January at 6.30 pm.

Please save the date. Registration details will follow.
As background, please click below to read a recent article by Charles Petrie on the UAI website. Further reflections on the situation in Myanmar were published last month; one by Jeff Crisp and Heeba Hasan and one by Florence Duchet. Both articles are in the News Section of the UAI website.

Myanmar is falling apart. It needs urgent attention from the United Nations – By Charles Petrie

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Afghanistan will continue to be front and centre of our focus.

Please click HERE to read an update on our work to Unfreeze Afghanistan’s Frozen Reserves.

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Asylum in Europe

The right to seek asylum in Europe will be a top priority in 2023. We sense a growing recognition all over the continent that current policies and practices towards those seeking asylum are gratuitously cruel, demean our values, and are designed to portray people in desperate need of help as criminals who have no right to a life of dignity.

These attitudes must and will change.

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UAI joined others in Dublin on 18 November in celebrating the adoption by 82 countries of the Political Declaration on the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas.

We will be following this file in 2023, to see how we can best contribute to encouraging more countries to adopt the Declaration and introduce the changes to military doctrine and practice that the Declaration requires.

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Finally, we wish all our readers a happy and fulfilling year in 2023.

A Request

Please consider making a donation to UAI to help us continue our advocacy in 2023. We are looking forward to a return to live events and need support to fund these and to help establish a small core staff.

Please make a donation now (however small) by clicking on the RED Donate button at the top right-hand side of our website

Thank You,
 
The UAI team

The post A Year of Peace and Respect for Humanity; looking forward to 2023 – Newsletter December 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

21 November 2022

Dear Friends,

It is nearly two years since the military junta overthrew the elected government in Myanmar and fifteen months since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan.

Both countries are facing calamity.

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Myanmar

Last week, UAI published two new articles on the situation in Myanmar, the first, by Florence Duchet, with support from Charles Petrie, describes the anarchy, the atrocities, and the destitution confronting the people of Myanmar.

Myanmar – What Can Be Done? A blog by Florence Duchet

In the second article, Jeff Crisp and Heeba Hasan, chronicle the unending horrors facing the Rohingya, whether in Myanmar itself, in the refugee camps of Bangladesh, or eking out an existence as undocumented migrants in other countries in the region.

Displaced, dispossessed and deprived of rights: The Rohingya of Myanmar – By Jeff Crisp and Heeba Hasan

All the authors urge much greater international attention to Myanmar, without which things will only get worse.
The recent release of some political prisoners by the military junta is welcome, but does nothing to address the fundamental problem; the overthrow of a properly elected civilian government by the military junta.

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Afghanistan

Since March this year, UAI has campaigned relentlessly on the ‘Frozen Funds’ question, seeking to unlock around $9 billion of deposits belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank, held in US and European banks.

Now, a glimmer of hope: A consignment of new Afghanis, the Afghan local currency, has finally arrived in Kabul after a long-delayed shipment was released (see UAI’s statement below).

Other steps to allow the banking system to operate normally are still urgently needed, but this is a start.

UAI Statement – Amid deepening poverty, hunger, and economic crisis…a glimmer of hope for Afghans

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Explosive Weapons

UAI was represented in Dublin at the adoption of the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas on 18 November.

UAI is a member of the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) and supports the statement they issued.

As the horrors of the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure continue, all efforts to strengthen the norms intended to protect civilians in armed conflict, must be vigorously supported.

INEW Statement dated 19 November 2022 – Dublin Conference

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Thank You,
 
The UAI team

The post Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Explosive Weapons; new banknotes, old inhumanities – Newsletter November 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

30 September 2022

Dear Friends,

As our screens show the war in Ukraine, rises in the cost of living, and catastrophic weather events, desperate cries for justice can easily be overlooked.
 
Yet, in recent days, several devastating testaments to the horrors of war have been submitted by authoritative groups to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva with little attention from the world’s media.

SYRIA

On 12 September, an Independent International Commission of Inquiry presented its most recent report (dated 17 August) documenting grave human rights violations in regime-controlled areas, appalling situations in refugee camps and deteriorating conditions for civilians in the North-Eastern part of the country. Click HERE to read a summary of the report and to access the full document

On 23 September, the US Government and the Syrian Network on Human Rights co-sponsored a webinar on Justice and Accountability in Syria during the 77th meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Representatives of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK, highlighted small steps towards the use of ‘universal jurisdiction’ as a means of holding the most serious war criminals in Syria to account. Then, representatives of the Commission of Inquiry, the White Helmets, Syrian Women victims of arbitrary detention and torture, and Kenneth Roth, recently retired as CEO of Human Rights Watch, gave impassioned pleas for governments and civil society not to relax efforts to hold Bashar Al Assad and his regime to account for his crimes, and to resist efforts to normalise relations with Syria before a genuine transition to democracy has taken place.

For a summary, and to access the full report of the event, please click HERE

ETHIOPIA

On 19 September, the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia submitted a horrifying report on atrocities committed since November 2020 in Ethiopia. It is deeply shocking and disappointing that the crimes they describe do not seem to have elicited serious responses from individual governments or regional and global institutions including the Security Council. As the conflict slips further into obscurity, fighting has resumed in Tigray, which remains largely cut off from the outside world. Access for humanitarian aid to desperate people remains completely inadequate. The suffering continues.

Click HERE to read a summary of the findings of the report and access the full document.

MYANMAR

On 12 July, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) reported that crimes against humanity are systematically committed in the country. As the army has targeted civilians, women and children have found themselves in a particularly vulnerable situation, with people continuing to flee in their thousands. A press release dated on 9 August by the UN Human Rights Office says that states must do more to cut the Myanmar military’s access to revenue and arms supplies to halt its repression of the people.

Click below to read the IIMM Report and the UN Press Release.

IIMM REPORT

UN PRESS RELEASE

UKRAINE

As the press focuses on the war, Russian threats of nuclear weapons, and “referendums” in Russian-occupied areas, a team of three independent UN experts has submitted important evidence to the commission of war crimes to the Human Rights Council. The investigators listed Russian bombardment of civilian areas, executions, torture, and sexual violence.

REPORT ON WAR CRIMES IN UKRAINE

CONCLUSION

These reports demonstrate the appalling levels of impunity that are being enjoyed by the most murderous thugs in the world, and the complacency of democratic governments that compromise their own legitimacy by continuing to do ‘business as usual’ with regimes that behave with no respect for the law and no compassion for the lives of their own citizens.

Please ask your friends to sign our Call to Action, and to subscribe to our newsletter, to demonstrate solidarity with the victims of these monstrous crimes and support their struggle for justice.

Thank You

Photo: c Shutterstock. Aftermath of an air strike on Retroville Shopping Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine. March 2022

The post Cries for Justice – Newsletter September 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

This month features three very different stories, each demonstrating apparently shocking disregard for human life and dignity.

Syria – Threat to cross-border aid
 
On 10 July, the Security Council authorisation to use the one open border crossing (at Bab al Hawa) between Turkey and Northern Syria expired. The authorisation allows aid to reach more than 4 million civilians. Russia, as feared, vetoed a draft resolution to extend the authorisation for one year. Eventually, the Council agreed a compromise of a 6-month extension, removing the immediate threat to aid flows, but ensuring that the same threat will be faced in January, this time in the middle of the harsh Syrian winter.

UAI supported a vigorous campaign by international NGOs demanding an extension to the Security Council’s authorisation.

Click below to access the UAI statement on Cross-border Aid to Northern Syria.

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2022/07/05/uai-statement-on-cross-border-aid-to-northern-syria/

It recalled that deliberate denial of access to food for civilians in war is a crime. It is a tactic that the Russian government is using in Ukraine, and that the Syrian government has deployed with impunity throughout the conflict there.

This impunity must be challenged. We called on states to ask the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation. The denial, by belligerents in today’s wars, of access for civilians to essential food supplies must be stopped. The perpetrators of this crime must be brought to justice.

Deadly Clashes in Ethiopia

In a move that is becoming increasingly popular in authoritarian states, Ethiopia has maintained an internet blackout on its Tigray region, since the war there started in November 2020 and continues to deny access to independent journalists.

This has allowed the government to hide from the world the appalling suffering of people in Tigray, but it has also deprived those people of access to essential information and services normally available through the internet. While a ceasefire seems to be holding, and some limited aid is getting through, denial of what has become an essential component of daily life cannot be justified.

In her blog, Livelihood and Protection Breakdown in Ethiopia, Angela Raven-Roberts, chronicles the alarming surge in violent clashes in various parts of Ethiopia. Fuelled by the toxic rhetoric of identity politics, amplified by social media, these clashes take place in the context of a protracted drought, Covid, and the inflationary pressures brought on by the war in Ukraine.

Angela calls for concerted efforts to de-escalate, and for generous support for community-led peacebuilding efforts.

Click below to access the blog by Angela Raven-Roberts

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2022/07/12/livelihood-and-protection-breakdown-in-ethiopia/

In its linked statement, Ensuring Protection in Ethiopia, UAI puts forward a comprehensive menu of recommendations for action at the local, national, and international levels, under three headings: Peacebuilding, Humanitarian Assistance & Protection, and Human Rights & Justice.

Observers warn of the risk of all-out war. With concerted action to deter aggression, and support for peacebuilding and human rights, the worst can still be averted.

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2022/07/12/uai-statement-on-ethiopia-12-july-2022/

British Special Forces in Afghanistan
 
On 12 July, the BBC aired an edition of its Panorama programme dedicated to a shocking account of alleged atrocities committed by British Special Forces in Helmand province of Afghanistan in 2010-11.

Making use of detailed investigations by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) and visits to the sites of the attacks by the Panorama team, it suggested that, in a six-month period in 2010-11, a single SAS Special Forces squadron killed 54 Afghans who posed no threat to them, some of whom they had already detained.

The report suggested that senior British officers covered up the attacks and denied access to the military police to essential documentation. (Click below to read an editorial about the revelations in The Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/12/the-guardian-view-on-the-sas-in-afghanistan-investigate-claims-of-war-crimes

UAI will join with others to demand a statutory judicial enquiry into the allegations in the UK and will report regularly on progress towards full justice for the bereaved Afghan families.

The accounts bear striking similarities to the findings of an official, independent Australian enquiry that found “credible evidence” of potential “war crimes” concerning the killing of 39 Afghans by Australian Special Forces between 2005 and 2016.

Click below to access the report published on 25 April 2021.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/25/989546260/i-remember-them-screaming-afghans-detail-alleged-killings-by-australian-military?t=1657870167934&t=1660588522360

A Request

UAI relies almost entirely on the huge amount of time that its volunteers devote to our efforts to improve the lives of the victims of conflict and those seeking asylum.
 
Volunteers give their time freely. But UAI cannot operate without basic administrative services, communications facilities, and reimbursement of other essential costs.
 
We recognise that, to become fully established, UAI will need a small core staff. We are engaging with foundations and other like-minded organisations to generate the required income. Their response will be shaped in part by the number, generosity, and enthusiasm of our subscribers.

Please try out the Donate button and encourage friends to sign up for our newsletters and support our work.

Thank You,
 
The UAI team

UN Photo – Eskinder Debebe: UN Security Council vote on Syria – 10 July 2022

The post Syrian Cross-border Aid, Clashes in Ethiopia and a Shocking Report on the UK Special Forces in Afghanistan – Newsletter July 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

17 June 2022

Dear Friends,

1. Deportations from the UK to Rwanda

In the UK, our focus has been on the extraordinary saga of the flight to Rwanda that didn’t go – for now.

Britain’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, seemed determined to push ahead with the first deportation flight of asylum-seekers to Rwanda. British courts accepted her assurance that those sent on the first flight would be allowed to return to the UK if the full judicial review of her policy (scheduled for July) finds it to be unlawful. The number of people expected to travel steadily declined from 30 to seven, until, late in the evening of 14 June, a judge at the European Court of Human Rights blocked the flight.

It is hard to imagine the emotions of those young people as they were taken from the detention centres where they are accommodated to the airfield where the plane waited.

The case raises important questions that will, hopefully, be fully examined during the judicial review in July. These include:

• The 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees requires a state party to disregard the method of travel, when considering an application for asylum. How can the UK government claim that its policy is consistent with its obligations under the Convention, when it so obviously is not, and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has repeatedly stated that it is not?
• If the Home Secretary is ready to accept the findings of the full judicial review in July, why does she not wait until then before putting vulnerable people through this horrible ordeal?

UAI in the UK Committee member, Jeff Crisp, a former senior official with UNHCR, tweets regularly on this topic. To see Jeff’s comments and join the conversation, click the link below.

https://twitter.com/JFCrisp?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

2. Frozen Afghan Funds
 
Check out the page on UAI’s new website devoted to the campaign to release Afghanistan’s frozen reserve funds in US and European banks using the link below.

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/campaigns/

We are committed to continuing our advocacy on this issue.

We are in contact with like-minded groups including the “Unfreeze Afghanistan” campaign in the US and the NGO “Emergency” in Italy. We continue to raise the issue wherever possible in Afghan and international fora.   We post regular updates on our initiatives. Watch this space.


3. New Website

UAI is proud to announce the launch of our new website at the same address as the old one – www.against-inhumanity.org.

Explore the site and find insightful blogs by Antonio Donini, Norah Niland, Jeff Crisp, Eleftheria Kousta, and many others.

4. The Donate button

On the new site you will find a Donate button that allows you to contribute to our work.

UAI relies almost entirely on the huge amount of time that its volunteers devote to our efforts to improve the lives of the victims of conflict and those seeking asylum.

Volunteers give their time freely. But UAI cannot operate without basic administrative services, communications facilities, and reimbursement of other essential costs.

We recognise that, to become fully established, UAI will need a small core staff. We are engaging with foundations and other like-minded organisations to generate the required income. Their response will be shaped in part by the number, generosity, and enthusiasm of our subscribers.

So, please try out the Donate button and also encourage friends to sign up for our newsletters and support our work.

Thank You,
 
The UAI team

Photo: Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel and Minister Biruta sign the Migration and Economic Development Partnership between the UK and Rwanda – 14 April 2022 UK Home Office

The post Deportations, Frozen Assets, and Better Communications – Newsletter May/June 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2022/04/29/uai-statement-on-ukraine-29-april-2022/

The latest statement on Ukraine calls, of course, for an end to the fighting, but also for meticulous work to gather evidence for future prosecutions for war crimes. We publish a new blog, by Eleftheria Kousta, entitled ‘Authoritarians are going to war, are we doing enough to hold them accountable?’

It looks at the challenges facing those intent on holding perpetrators of war crimes from authoritarian states to account.

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2022/04/29/authoritarians-are-going-to-war-are-we-doing-enough-to-hold-them-accountable/

We welcome the generosity of European nations and communities towards the 5 million refugees from Ukraine and call on the same states to show similar generosity to other refugees.

As the UK government announces its extraordinary and illegal deal with Rwanda to outsource Britain’s responsibilities under the UN Convention on Refugees, we publish an important new article by Dr Jeff Crisp that explains the history of such deals, known as ‘externalisation’. Crisp unmasks the cruelty and inhumanity of such policies, which only serve to drive desperate people to even more desperate measures.

https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2022/04/29/the-cruelty-of-containment-how-the-worlds-wealthiest-states-are-using-inhumane-and-illegal-methods-to-undermine-the-right-to-asylum/

While our attention is inevitably drawn to Ukraine, we urge our supporters not to forget the plight of civilian victims of atrocities in so many other countries.

Our new website!

In a few days time, UAI will launch a new website, with features making it easier to navigate, to find what you are looking for, to sign up for this newsletter and to get in touch with us. Keep an eye open for the great event, and let us know what you think.

We are extremely grateful for your encouragement and support.

The UAI team

Photo: Wikicommons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International Ukrainian refugees offered meals, clothes and shelter in Kraków – 20 March 2022

The post War Crimes, Justice, Refugees and Solidarity – Newsletter April 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.

9 March 2022

Dear Friends and Supporters

Yesterday, UAI launched a major campaign to persuade President Biden , government leaders in Germany, Italy and the UK, and the Bank for International Settlements to release reserves belonging to the Afghan Central Bank.

Assets with a total value of $9.1 billion are currently frozen in bank accounts in those countries.

• Without access to these reserves, the Afghan Central Bank cannot fulfil its essential role in creating liquidity, supporting the local currency, and enabling basic banking functions,.
• Without these services the country’s economy cannot operate normally.

This condemns already desperate people in Afghanistan to even greater levels of  impoverishment and starvation.

The open letter to President Biden, signed by more than 50 senior colleagues with extensive knowledge of Afghanistan, can be accessed below. There is also a link to UAI’s statement giving more background on the situation and explaining the urgency of our appeal.

(Copies of the letters in French and Farsi plus Press Releases in French and German can be accessed below. )

Sign our Petition!

Immediately below is a link to the petition that we launched on Avaaz urging the release of the frozen funds. 

Please sign it now and encourage your friends and networks to do the same.

Every signature helps to demonstrate broad popular support for Afghans suffering unbearable misery, while being deliberately deprived of access to their own resources.

Thank you for continuing to champion UAI and the people who desperately need our support.

The UAI team

The post Afghanistan Campaign – Newsletter March 2022 appeared first on United Against Inhumanity.