Tag Archives: GB

1 November 2017

Caroline Lucas has criticised the Home Office for failing to implement its own policy and continuing to detain victims of sexual assault.

Lucas called on the Government to stop “inflicting further misery on people who have already experienced intense suffering” in response to a report by Women for Refugee Women, which found 22 out of 26 women interviewed had experienced sexual or gender based violence and been detained.

All the women were detained after the Home Office ‘Adults at Risk’ policy, which states people most at risk of being harmed by detention, including women who have survived sexual and gender-based violence, should not normally be locked up.

Caroline Lucas MP, co-leader of the Green Party, said:

“These findings are shocking, and show a complete failure by the Home Office to act on their own policy. Just a glance at some of the case studies reveals the callous disregard for people’s wellbeing at the Government’s approach – and the urgent need for change.

“The Government’s cruel failure to comply with their own policy inflicts further misery on people who have already experienced intense suffering. Indeed the UK has one of the most draconian systems of detention of anywhere in the world. It’s inhumane, expensive and unnecessarily harsh – which is why it needs overhauling. The Home Office must immediately stop routinely locking up the victims of sexual violence – there’s simply no excuse for further inaction.”

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27 October 2017

Green Party Co-Leader has written to the Home Office over the proposed deportation of Abderrahim. 

Abderrahim, a 25 year old gay Moroccan man, faces deportation after his application for asylum in May failed. 

Jonathan Bartley though has written to Amber Rudd, Home Secretary, urging her to intervene and ensure Abderrahim is granted asylum because it is clear his life will be at risk if he returns to Morocco. 

Full letter below:

Dear Amber Rudd

I was concerned to recently learn of the situation of Abderrahim, a 25 year old gay Moroccan man who faces deportation from the UK.

It is my understanding that, after applying for asylum earlier this year in May, his case has been rejected by the Home Office, and has also lost a subsequent appeal. I would urge you to reconsider this decision and grant Abderrahim asylum in the UK.

Morocco penalises homosexualtiy with up to three years in prison, with eminent figures like the minister of state for human rights recently calling homosexuals ‘awsakh’ – meaning scum, or dirt. This is not a safe environment for a gay person.

Deporting Abderrahim to Morocco will threaten his safety and liberty, and he will be put in this danger purely because of his sexuality, along with his desire to support other oppressed members of his country’s LGBT+ community.

In the UK, we are rightfully proud of our traditions of democracy, freedom of association, and liberty to live a free and dignified life regardless of one’s sexuality. This is a time to draw on those traditions, and extend them to a person in need.

We should show compassion, and grant Abderrahim asylum in our country. More than this, we should recognise Abderrahim’s efforts to support other LGBT+ people in Morocco, and applaud him for them, rather than needlessly condemning him to persecution.

Abderrahim has shown great courage, and is evidently deserving of asylum in the UK. I urge you to reconsider your decision, and approve his asylum application.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Bartley,

Co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

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27 October 2017

A judge has thrown out a case against Green Party councillor Alison Teal for protesting against the felling of healthy trees in Sheffield [1].

The Labour-run Sheffield City Council had accused Teal and other protesters of breaking the injunction the council had taken out against them [2] and asked for custodial sentences.

Natalie Bennett, Green Party former leader, was in court for the hearing. She said:

“I welcome today’s decision by the judge, which confirms Alison acted lawfully in supporting the people she was elected to represent in trying to save healthy, valuable street trees. Sheffield’s Labour City Council has put considerable resources into pursuing Alison and I think the people of the city will be asking why it chose to do that.”

Notes:

1. https://twitter.com/helenpidd/status/923902485378600960
2. https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2017/08/15/greens-condemn-high-court-ruling-against-sheffield-tree-protesters/
3. Protester Calvin Payne has been found to have breached the injunction and will be sentenced on Friday, November 3. The case against protester Siobhan O’Malley has been postponed for a week.

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26 October 2017

Responding to today’s Daily Mail splash ‘Our remainer universities’ [1], Young Greens co-chair Sam Murray said:

“As an academic I find this witch hunt by the right wing media a frightening exercise in enforcing a pro-Brexit doctrine. Britain’s universities are world-class, and our academics have a right to teach without fear of smears and harassment from the press. It’s crucial that the government stand up for them and condemn this campaign of intimidation.”

The headline comes after pro-Brexit MP Chris Heaton-Harris sent a letter to vice-chancellors requesting details of their teaching on the EU [2].

Notes:

1. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5018251/Remainer-universities-Anti-Brexit-bias-laid-bare.html
2. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/25/chris-heaton-harris-mp-who-asked-for-list-of-tutors-lecturing-on-brexit-was-doing-research

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26 October 2017

Green Party Co-Leader Jonathan Bartley has written to the BBC asking whether they will review their policy of giving airtime to those who deny the existence of human-made climate change.

Bartley’s letter comes after the BBC admitted fault for letting the views of prominent climate-change sceptic Lord Lawson go unchallenged on their flagship Today programme [1].

Bartley welcomed the BBC admission but challenged their underlying assumption that giving space for climate-change deniers on their programmes offers viewers and listeners “balance”.

In his letter to David Jordan, Director of Editorial Policy and Standards, Bartley said:

“I was pleased to see the BBC complaints team apologise for the Radio 4 Today programme interview with Lord Nigel Lawson on 10th August 2017. I am writing today to ask what the BBC now plans to do to make sure this does not happen again?  

“The overwhelmingly scientific consensus is not only that climate change is happening but that human activity is causing it. 97% of peer-reviewed scientific papers say it it human-made. The 3% who question this link have been found to contain errors.

“Giving credibility to those on the fringes with no evidence to support their claims does not provide balance, it misleads.”

Notes

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41744344

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