In its annual report on the state of human rights around the world, Amnesty International strongly criticized the British government for its efforts to repeal the Human Rights Act and a series of new “draconian” legislation on refugees and policing. Sacha Deshmukh, head of Amnesty International UK, said: “The United Kingdom can not reliably defend human rights internationally if it undermines and strongly undermines them internally. “The Human Rights Act is the central pillar of rights and protection in the United Kingdom and is vital to the great struggles for justice we are currently facing. “It’s the means by which we can challenge police behavior, challenge the worst health outcomes for ethnic minority groups and ensure a proper investigation into Covid. “The repeal of the human rights law is an act of human rights vandalism that must be dealt with at all costs.” Deshmukh said the recent outburst of public support for people fleeing Ukraine underscored the need for the government to reconsider the hostile treatment of asylum seekers. Amnesty’s report also strongly criticized the government’s controversial bill on nationality and borders. Legislation passed by parliament will deprive many refugees of the right to seek or be granted asylum in the United Kingdom, contrary to international law. It could also criminalize those trying to seek asylum after crossing the Channel and could see asylum seekers being sent to other countries for processing, Amnesty warned. Last week, the government won a series of votes in the House of Commons to restore parts of the bill on nationality and borders that had been removed after strong opposition from the House of Lords, including plans to process refugee claims abroad. Immigrants in the Channel. The bill on nationality and borders could criminalize asylum seekers from France, Amnesty said. Photo: AFP / Getty Amnesty also described the government bill on police, crime, conviction and the courts as a serious threat to the right to freedom of assembly and association, saying it would severely restrict public protest in the UK. Human rights will be severely curtailed, with police powers banning protests that are considered too “noisy” or “subversive”, Amnesty said. “The United Kingdom has taken a very worrying turn in terms of rights and protections, at a time when human rights should be defended, not dismantled,” Deshmukh said. The report also highlighted the government’s decision to cut its emergency pandemic response by an additional £ 20 a week for those receiving universal credit, which is expected to push some 500,000 more people into poverty as the cost of living skyrockets. Globally, Amnesty International’s report concludes that post-pandemic promises of “better reconstruction” have been broken by governments around the world. “2021 should be a year of healing and recovery,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard told the foreword. “On the contrary, it became an incubator for greater inequality and instability, not only in 2021, not only in 2022, but also for the next decade.” Despite enough production to fully vaccinate the world by 2021, by the end of the year less than 4% of those living in poor countries had been fully vaccinated. World leaders had conspired with companies to accumulate power and profits, leading to deeper global inequality, the report said. “While the CEOs and investors of the companies made huge profits, those who desperately needed the vaccine were told to wait. “And you die,” said Kalamar
