In a landmark case, 19 Uighur Muslims have filed a criminal complaint with a Turkish prosecutor against 112 Chinese officials accusing them of crimes of genocide, torture, rape, and crimes against humanity.

“Turkish legislation recognises universal jurisdiction. Torture, genocid, rape [and] crimes against humanity can be prosecuted in Turkish courts and criminals can be tried” warned lawyer Gulden Sonmen.

The charge relates to 116 people who reportedly remain in detention in China and was filed against 112 individuals, including members of the Chinese Communist Party, directors and officers at labour camps.

UN experts have criticised China’s treatment of the Uighurs and has reported the interment of over a million people in forced re-education camps.

Commenting on the case Sonmez slammed the international community noting their failure to pursue accountability in China.

“The International criminal court should have already started this trial, but China is a member of the [United Nations] Security Council and it does not seem possible within this dynamic” he noted.

Gave his statement surrounded by over 50 Uighurs holding up photos of their missing family members and demanding that Chinese officials face prosecution. Demonstrators were also seen waving the blue-and-white flags of the independent movement of East Turkestan, a group China accuses of threatening stability in the Xinjiang province. Turkey is home to the largest Uighur diaspora outside Central Asia with an estimated 50,000 as part of the population.

 

Sino-Turkish relations

Uighurs living in Turkey have criticised the government’s cordial relationship with China after an extradition treaty was signed between the two countries. Turkey’s Foreign Minister insisted that the agreement would not lead to Uighurs being send back to China where they would face persecution.

In July President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly spoke with Chinese premier Xi Jinping and maintained the need for Uighurs to be able to live as “equal citizens of China”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in July that it was important to Turkey that Uighur Muslims lived in peace as “equal citizens of China”, but maintained that Turkey respected China’s national sovereignty.

Read more here.

President Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia who is leading the war against TPLF.

Thousands of Tigrayan migrant workers in Saudi Arabia who were deported to Ethiopia by Riyadh have been locked up in detention camps and forcibly disappeared, a latest Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has revealed.  

Many Tigrayans who fled their region did so because of impoverishment caused by drought and war and recurrent human rights abuses at the hands of the Ethiopian state. They crossed the Red Sea and reached Saudi Arabia via Yemen by land in search of better economic opportunities. 

Saudi Arabia notoriously mistreats African migrant labourers and subjected Tigrayans to severe hardship by detaining them and abusing them physically. 

Saudi authorities set in motion a repatriation of thousands of Tigrayans back to Ethiopia in late 2020, when the country had just slid into an armed conflict between government forces and the Eritrean army on one side and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other. 

As the internecine conflict ravaged the second most populous African country, massacres, rapes and deliberate starvation became commonplace. Tigrayans have been persecuted as the fragile ethnic harmony of the country crumbled and public mood became more polarised.

It was at this stage that Saudi authorities deported Tigrayans who upon arrival were again locked up and forcibly disappeared in detention facilities by Ethiopian forces. The HRW investigation revealed the story of a woman who was stopped at a checkpoint and taken to a detention facility on a bus ride that lasted 36 hours. Her requests for food and access to the toilet were denied. 

The detention camps are likely to be based in the towns of Semera and Shone, identified via satellite imagery, neither of which is located in the Tigray region. 

HRW calls on Saudi Arabia to cease its deportation of Tigrayans and urged Ethiopia to release those who have been locked up against their will in detention facilities. 

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok has resigned following continued mass pro-democracy protests at the capital Khartoum.

His resignation grants Sudan’s military full control over the country as they continue their violent crackdown on democratic protesters.

Over 50 people have been killed since the military staged a coup in October which initially placed Prime Minister Hamdok under house arrest; the country was just one month away from transitioning to a civilian head of state. On Sunday two people were killed during pro-democracy protests.

The leader of the coup general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has defended the coup claiming that the army acted to prevent a civil war. He further claimed that Sudan is committed to the transition to civilian rule, with elections planned for July 2023.

This was followed by a power-sharing agreement with the military established in November. Responding to the Prime Minister’s resignation, political commentator Emmanuel Igunza stated:

“The resignation of PM Abdalla Hamdok is a big blow to the military leaders who had thought an agreement with Mr Hamdok would appease protesters and legitimize their stay in power”.

Writing in Foreign Policy, Amgad Fareid Eltayeb, a former assistant chief of staff to Hamdok, urged UN Security Council members to impose pressure on Sudan to ensure a transition towards civilian rule. He urged for the establishment of a panel to support for a democratic transition in Sudan as well as “direct individual sanctions against” those who led the coup. Eltayeb also maintained the need to discuss “discuss the transitional justice process and agree to procedures for truth and national reconciliation”.

In his piece Eltayeb also raised his concerns over the heightened risk of conflict with South Sudan and emphasised that “what happens in Sudan is not simply an African problem”.

“It touches at the heart of the global competition between the democratic, rules-based order and those countries offering alternative authoritarian approaches. The collapse of the civil democratic transition in Sudan will strengthen the Russian presence in the region” he notes.

“The international community needs to act quickly and forcefully now to avert an explosion, rather than reacting later and seeking to put out the fire” he maintained.

Read more here and here.

Former Columbian military official, Mario Antonio Palacios, has been arrested by Panama authorities under allegations of forming part of a mercenary group that assassinated Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise.

Palacios was detained during a stopover flight in Panama and asked to “voluntarily” board a flight to the US, the Hindu reports. After refusing the request, Panamanian officials told him that they would enforce an Interpol red notice issued by the US, which is addition to one Haiti had already issued.

There has been no immediate comments by lawyers for Palacios or Interpol.

President Moise was assassinated in his home on 8 July and his wife left with serious injuries. Yesterday, the Guardian reported that Haiti’s new Prime Minister Ariel Henry was forced to flee the northern city of Gonaïves after a shootout between his security forces and an armed group that had warned the leader not to set foot in the city.

Read more here and here.

Photo Credit: UN Women

In a rare joint statement, the five permanent members of the UN Security council (the US, Russia, China, the UK, and France) pledged to address to “create a security environment more conducive to progress on disarmament” and avoid nuclear conflict.

“As the use of nuclear arms would have far-reaching consequences, we also confirm that nuclear arms – as long as they exist – should serve defensive aims, deterrence against aggression and prevention of war” the statement maintained.

The five states are also the five nuclear weapons states recognised by the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The statement comes as there is escalating tension between the West and Russia over security concerns relating to Ukraine and with China, given China’s aggressive posture towards Taiwan. Responding to these threats the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on China over its treatment of Uighurs and warned Russia of further sanctions if it invades Ukraine.

In December, Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a virtual conference in which they sought to “more effectively safeguard the security interests of both parties”.

Read more here: Faced with growing US pressure, Putin and Xi show a unified front

The New York Times writes that both leaders discussed forming an “independent financial infrastructure” to reduce their reliance on Western banks and their vulnerability to punitive measures from the West.

Responding to the joint statement, Moscow’s foreign ministry stated “We hope that, in the current difficult conditions of international security, the approval of such a political statement will help reduce the level of international tensions”.

The statement affirmed members commitments to “strengthen our national measures to prevent unauthorized or unintended use of nuclear weapons” and “reiterate the validity of our previous statements on de-targeting, reaffirming that none of our nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other State”.

The statement concluded stating:

“We underline our desire to work with all states to create a security environment more conducive to progress on disarmament with the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all. We intend to continue seeking bilateral and multilateral diplomatic approaches to avoid military confrontations, strengthen stability and predictability, increase mutual understanding and confidence, and prevent an arms race that would benefit none and endanger all. We are resolved to pursue constructive dialogue with mutual respect and acknowledgment of each other’s security interests and concerns”.

Read the joint statement here.

Save the Children has confirmed that two of its staffers have been killed in a Christmas Eve massacre conducted by Myanmar’s military and killed at least 35 people, including women and children.

The massacre occurred on a highway in Kayah state, in eastern Myanmar, where prodemocracy rebels have been confronting the military.

“The military forced people from their cars, arrested some, killed many and burnt the bodies,” Save the Children stated.

Responding to the attack they told reporters:

“We are shaken by the violence carried out against civilians and our staff, who are dedicated humanitarians, supporting millions of children in need across Myanmar.”

They further added that the two staffers killed were new fathers.

Reports indicate that since Myanmar’s military coup in February, over 1,300 people have been killed.

Save the Children, which has an estimated 900 staff in Myanmar, has since suspended operations in Kayah state and several other regions.

UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths, has responded to the massacre expressing his horror and demanding the government of Myanmar launch an investigation.

In October, Save the Children reported that its office in the western town of Thantlang was destroyed in junta shelling that also razed dozens of homes after clashes with a local anti-junta group.

Earlier this month Human Rights Watch responded to a seperate massacre stating:

 

The latest killings show Myanmar’s military is escalating its campaign of terror. Without urgent and coordinated international efforts to halt military abuses, more atrocities can be expected in the year ahead.

Read more here.

<p>Egypt's State Security Emergency Misdemeanor court has issued jail sentences to three prominent human rights activists who engaged in anti-government protests in 2019.</p> <p>The activists detained were Alaa Abd El Fattah, rights lawyer &nbsp;Mohamed el-Baqer, and the blogger Mohamed Ibrahim (also known as Mohamed Oxygen). El Fattah was sentenced to five years whilst the others were sentenced to four years each.</p> <p>The activists have been charged with spreading false news and were among the thousands detained by authorities in protests sparked by allegations of corruption by a former collaborator with the military. Human rights advocates decried the court ruling as "politically motivated" and the head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Hossam Bahgat, has told reporters:&nbsp;</p> <blockquote><p> <strong>“Even by the standards of today’s Egypt, this trial was a travesty of justice.”&nbsp;</strong> </p></blockquote> <p>Bahgat himself has been recently convicted of spreading false news and ordered by a court to pay a penalty, the New York Times reports.</p> <p><strong>Attempts to whitewash Egypt's image</strong></p> <p>The New York Times notes that the continued repression persists despite Egypt's attempts to clean its image.&nbsp;</p> <p>In part Egypt's publicity campaign has been aided by plans to enable the country to host next year's United Nations Climate Change Conference, the COP27, and plans, also next year, to inaugurate a $60 billion administrative capital city outside Cairo that it hopes will attract foreign investment.</p> <p>Despite these ventures and announcing a strategy to improve human rights, little change has occurred. Whilst the current regime has lifted a four-year state of emergency, the government retains the power to quash protests and control the media. The government has released a number of imprisoned prominent activists however thousands remain jailed and courts continue to issue sentences against human rights activists.</p> <p>Egypt's President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, has a notorious record overseeing a brutal crackdown on civil society and suppressing protests once he assumed power. His administration has defended his actions claiming that such steps were needed to quell the unrest caused by the Arab Spring. Al-Sisi came to power in 2011 following the overthrow of the country's then autocratic ruler, President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for 30 years.</p> <p><strong>International response</strong></p> <p>In May over 30 countries including the United States issued a statement condemning Egypt's repression and call on the government to allow journalists to speak out “without fear of intimidation, harassment, arrest, detention or any other form of reprisal.”</p> <p>The US followed up these actions by stating that it would withhold $130 million in military aid to Egypt until the human rights situation there improves.</p> <p>Rights activists have called for further actions and condemned Egypt's continued use of emergency courts, whose verdicts cannot be appealed. They also maintain that pretrial detention undermines the government's alleged commitment to human rights.</p> <p>Read more from the <u><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/20/world/middleeast/egypt-human-rights-…">New York Times.</a></u></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

In meetings with Lebanon's religious leaders, President, Prime Minister, and Parliamentary Speaker, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged the country's leaders to address the dire economic situation Lebanon finds itself in and to resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout programme.

Guterres's visit on Saturday follows more than two months of gridlock during which Lebanon's government refused to meet due to ongoing disagreements over diplomatic disputes, street violence, and investigation into the Beirut Port explosion. Over 200 people were killed and 6,500 wounded in the port explosion on 4 August 2020.

Lebanon's economy has taken a nosedive with its currency losing more than 90% of its value since 2019. Three-quarters of the population has now fallen into poverty and hundreds of thousands of families are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. On Monday the Secretary-General noted that only 11% of the UN’s humanitarian response plan for Lebanon has been funded.

“I have urged Lebanon’s political leaders to implement reforms that respond to the demands of the Lebanese people for greater welfare, accountability, protection, and transparency, in order to restore hope for a better future,” Guterres told reporters.

Guterres has further stressed the need for Lebanon to reengage with formal discussions with the IMF for a bailout programme and to hold democratic elections. Government talks with the IMF fell through in July 2020. 

Read more here.
 

A BBC investigation has revealed that Myanmar's military carried a mass killing of at least 40 civilians in four separate incidents in Kani Township - an opposition stronghold in Sagaing District in Central Myanmar.

Eyewitness accounts detail that boys as young as 17 were tortured first before being buried in shallow graves. The BBC reports that these kills appear "to be a collective punishment for attacks on the military by civilian militia groups in the area, who are demanding that democracy is restored". 

Since Myanmar's military coup in February, the military has increasingly been met by resistance from civilian formed militias including the People's Defence Force. Confrontations between these militias and the military intensified prior to these executions in July.

The BBC notes that men were specifically targeted for collective punishment despite the insistence of their family members that they were not involved in these confrontations with the military.

The largest killings took place in Yin village, where at least 14 men were tortured to death before their bodies were thrown in a forested gully, reports the BBC. In the village of Zee Bin Dwin, 13 mutilated bodies were found buried in shallow graves. Amongst the bodies was the small body of a possible child as well as the body of a disabled person. Some of the bodies uncovered had been mutilated.

Since Myanmar's coup foreign journalists have been barred from reporting in the country and most non-state media outlets have been shut down.

Read more here.
 

With historic turnouts, left-wing candidate Gabriel Boric has won the presidency in Chile securing 56% of the votes compared to the 44% secured by his rival Pinochet-admirer, Jose Antonio Kast.

In accepting the speech he pledged to be “the president of all Chileans” and was immediately recognised as the victor by Last who phoned him to congratulate him. At 35, Boric is set to become Chile’s youngest-ever President.

This election follows as a run of election to a fiercely contested vote in November in which Cast claimed almost 28% whilst Boris secured 26%. Political analysts have noted that Boric has since been able to secure a majority by moderating his stance to broaden his appeal to the public.

Among his pledges are to “decentralise Chile, implement a welfare state, increase public spending and include women, non-binary Chileans and Indigenous peoples like never before” write Will Freeman and Lucas Perello.  They further add that it is his ultimate goal is “of extricating the country from the binds of Pinochet’s dictatorship that will define his legacy”.

In contrast, his rival Kast is of the far-right and targeted the most conservative voters in Chile. Notably, his father emigrated to Chile following WWII and was a card-carrying Nazi.

His platform focused on opposition to the influx of migrants from Venezuela and Haiti, where he proposed establishing a similar police unit to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Kast also stands fiercely opposed to abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and has stressed demands for “law and order”.

In international affairs, “he has an isolationist streak and has floated the idea of withdrawing Chile from the United Nations Human Rights Council”.

In an op-ed for Foreign Policy, Freeman and Perello emphasise that will be tasked with governing the Constitution Convention which will see a draft of a new constitution put to a national plebiscite mid-2022.

Boric has stressed this as an opportunity to end Pinochet’s entrenched legacy and enshrine socio-economic rights however Kast has vowed to reject the new constitution if assembly members "disrespect the right to free speech, freedom of worship, freedom in the classroom, or private property”.

Read more here and here.

On Friday the UN Human Rights Council voted to establish an international probe to investigate atrocities committed by both sides of the conflict in Ethiopia and prosecute those responsible.

The resolution highlighted the atrocities which included "unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions, including wilful killings on the basis of ethnicity, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of civilians and captured combatants, arbitrary detentions, abductions and enforced disappearances, and widespread sexual- and gender-based violence against women, girls, men and boys, including rape committed by all parties to the conflict". 

Further abuses included the "deliberate targeting of civilians and indiscriminate attacks" on sites which included "houses, hospitals, health centres, schools and places of worship". 

The resolution was passed by a vote of 21 to 15 with the support of Western states. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, praised the Africa states - Senegal, Mauritania, Libya, Malawi, and Sudan - for abstaining and breaking rank with the Africa group and refusing to "oppose this potentially life-saving step". He further slammed the "see-no-evil states that opposed scrutiny of Ethiopia" which includes "Bolivia Burkina Faso Cameroon China Cote d'Ivoire Cuba Eritrea Gabon India Namibia Pakistan Philippines Russia Somalia Venezuela".

1.2 million people have been displaced from western Tigray since the beginning of the conflict, with more than 10,000 Tigrayans displaced between 25 November and 1 December. The fighting has displaced more than 2 million people across Tigray and driven hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions.

The resolution urged all parties to grant "international Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia and its members' unhindered access without delay and to allow them to visit sites, and to meet and speak freely and privately, with whomever they wish to meet or speak". 

It further established a one year period, renewable as authorised by the Human Rights Council, "to conduct thorough investigations into allegations of violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law and international refugee law in Ethiopia, committed since 3 November 2020 by all parties to the conflict".

Read the resolution here

Read the UN High Commissioner's report here.

 

Human rights campaigners have welcomed the announcements of US sanctions on Bangladesh's notorious paramilitary unit, the  Rapid Action Battalion, as well as the country's national police chief, but have called for further action. 

The sanctions were announced by the US on 10 December, International Human Rights Day and come as part of a raft of sanctions and visa bans targetting human rights abuses in countries such as China, North Korea, Russia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.

In their statement the State Department detailed:

"Benazir Ahmed, current Inspector General of the Bangladesh Police and former Director-General of Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and Miftah Uddin Ahmed, Lieutenant Colonel and former commanding officer of RAB Unit 7, for their involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely the May 2018 extrajudicial killing of Teknaf City Municipal Councilor Ekramul Haque in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh. The RAB, Benazir Ahmed, and five other officials were also designated today by the Department of the Treasury under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program in connection with serious human rights abuse".

The sanctions mean the RAB will neither be allowed to own properties in the US nor engage in any financial transaction with a US body or personnel. The sanctions also ban seven current and former top officials of the RAB, including Benazir Ahmed, the inspector general of Bangladesh Police, from entering the US.

Commenting on the sanctions, Phil Robertson, Human Right Watch's (HRW) deputy director of Asia noted:

"RAB deserved to be sanctioned years ago because it has been a de facto death squad, operating with impunity for years in Bangladesh”.

“Now, the designation means the U.S. is finally putting their words of condemnation into action by sanctioning some of the key, top officers of RAB both present and past”, he added.

He further stated that HRW has called for the disbanding of RAB for years and the sanctions illustrate why Bangladesh should heed this advice and end its reign of terror.

Human rights activist, Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman called for further action such as reviewing Bangladesh's participation in global peacekeeping operations. He further added:

“The sanctions have been imposed only on some former and present RAB officers. Actions should be taken also against the perpetrators from police, military intelligence and other agencies who committed identical crimes”. 

What is the RAB?

In 2004, the Bangladesh government established the RAB drawing from figures in the army, air force, navy and police. However, since its formation, the group has grown notoriety for alleged abuses which include arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings.

The Bangladesh human rights group, Odhikar, has estimated that between 2009 and September 2021, RAB killed at least 1,255 people in extrajudicial shootouts. A further 605 were forcibly disappeared across this same period with the RAB being accused of being behind at least 190 of these cases. 81 of those who disappeared have been found dead whilst 154 remain missing.

Following the ascent of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League to power in 2009, the RAB stands accused of forcibly disappearing opposition political activists.

Wahiduzzaman, a former university teacher in Bangladesh who fled the country told Voice of America:

"Security forces, including RAB, also shot dead many opposition activists during the violent anti-drug campaign and falsely tagged them as drug peddlers.”

Bangladesh's response

Responding to the sanction's Bangladesh's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Kamal dismissed the charges stating:

“None can kill a person just on his own. In our inquiries in the past, we found all the incidents [of killings] were justified. Such incidents happen in all countries,” 

Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen further chided the US describing their actions as "not very mature".

Bangladesh's authorities have consistently denied allegations of abuse against the RAB however in 2017 a court had issued death sentences to 16 RAB members for abducting and murdering seven people in Narayanganj city.

A change in US policy

Commenting on the announcement Michael Kugelman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center, noted the peculiar timing of the sanctions with the US seeking closer relations with Bangladesh. In February, US officials met with Bangladesh's army chief and spoke of the close partnership between the two countries.

He further criticises the idea that this would be a shot at China noting that sanctions would only drive Bangladesh to further turn towards China.

The US may have made the move “not to distance itself from Dhaka, but to send a tough message that it wants to engage more” but only if Dhaka improves its rights record, he notes.

Ali Riaz, professor at Illinois State University, told Al Jazeera that the recent decision illustrated that the “patience of the United States is wearing thin”. He added that:

“For a long time, Washington used to view Bangladesh through the Indian prism, but this (sanction) indicates it is decoupling Bangladesh from its India policy”. 

He also highlighted that the effectiveness of these sanctions will depend on whether countries such as the United Kingdom or Canada will join America.

Read the US State Department's statement here.

Read more here and here.

Faced with the threat of further US sanctions over the aggressive posturing of China and Russia, Chinese President Xi Jingping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a virtual conference in which they sought to “more effectively safeguard the security interests of both parties”.

“A new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries – one based on foundations like non-interference in domestic affairs and respect for each other’s interests,” Putin told reporters.

The New York Times writes that both leaders discussed forming an “independent financial infrastructure” to reduce their reliance on Western banks and their vulnerability to punitive measures from the West.

This follows the US imposition of sanctions on China for its genocidal treatment of Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province, which has seen over 1 million people detained, and the threat of US sanctions against Russia if it invades Ukraine.

During the meeting, both parties also discussed the idea of a three-way summit with India. This follows meetings between Putin and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a historic arms deal between the two countries.

Read more here: India pursue Russian arms deal despite the threat of US sanctions

President Xi is reported to have told Putin, “we firmly support each other on issues concern each other’s core interests and safeguarding the dignity of each country”.

Read more here

Writing in the Guardian, Tamil human rights lawyer at MTC Solicitors, Naga Kandiah, slammed the British government’s proposed Clause 9 to the nationality and borders bill which could see dual nationals stripped of their citizenship without notice.

The New Statement’s research, based on the 2011 census, reveals that as many as 5.6 million people living in England and Wales could be affected by the rule change.

Kandiah’s piece follows the case of Shamima Begum which has been in the public focus with regards to this rule change. Begum was stripped of her citizenship when she left the UK to join ISIS. This was enabled by a controversial provision introduced following the 2005 London bombings which enabled the Home Secretary to strip dual citizens of their British citizenship when “conducive to the public good”. This power was further strengthened in 2010 and 2014 and Clause 9 would further add to this.

The British Supreme court ruled in the government’s favour claiming that that stripping Begum of her citizenship was permitted as through her parents’ heritage she could claim Bangladeshi citizenship. This is despite Begum never having lived in the country. 

The British government maintains that Clause 9 would only exempt the government from providing notice when not “reasonably practicable” to do so, or in the interest of national security, diplomatic relations, or the public interest; Kandiah questions the ambiguity of these lines.

“How does the government define what is in the public interest? Could that include displeasing the government of the day, even if no crime is committed and no law is broken?”

Kandiah further highlights that the failure to notify victims will leave them on the backfoot and highlighted the case of R V Secretary of State for the Home Department 2003. In this case, Lord Steyn stressed the importance of notice “as a key component of fair decision-making, stating that fairness is the guiding principle of our public law and that fairness requires that a decision takes effect only upon communication” Kandiah writes.

“Those of us among the 5.6 million who are people of colour will sleep less easily in our beds if this clause becomes law” he writes.

Read the full piece on the Guardian.