The United Nations Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai highlighted the inappropriate use of techniques such as ‘kettling’ and the embedding of undercover police officers that form sexual relationships in non-violent groups.
Kiai called for a judge-led public enquiry into the use of police agents and specifically identified the case of Mark Kennedy stating “The duration of this infiltration, and the resultant trauma and suspicion it has caused, are unacceptable in a democracy.”
His comments finally give international credence to the assertions of the late Spartacus R who is first credited with exposing the existence of a UK equivalent of the American Counter intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) started by the FBI in 1956 to destroy progressive revolutionary groups like the legendary Black Panther movement.
The UN Special Rapporteur also exposed how the widely publicised use of ‘kettling’ is being used as a deterrent to discourage future protestors by compelling those held without water or access to sanitary facilities to disclose their name and address as they leave the area. Speaking on the issue Kiai said “I believe that this practice is detrimental to the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly due to its indiscriminate and disproportionate nature.”
His concerns provides context for the what happened on 25 August 2008, when almost two hundred innocent African children were detained in custody on the streets of London by police force officers armed with machine guns. The children who were trapped for several hours in the cordon off area were forcibly subjected to searches and fingerprinting by hundreds of police officers under the pretext of “policing”.
“No matter how old a democracy, there is always space for continued improvements,” said Kiai ,the first independent expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and promote the realisation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association worldwide, at the end of his official mission to the United Kingdom.
British Prime Minister David Cameron a long time opponent to the European Convention on human Rights said in May 2006 that he would replace or scrap the Human Rights Act if he was elected. Since being in power he has seen to the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) budget slashed by 60% and its workforce significantly reduced.
In 2012 the EHRC reported that Police forces are up to 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against African people people than europeans people and may be breaking the law.
In 2008 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) said it was “struck by the blanket and indiscriminate nature of the power of retention in England and Wales” after the Labour government defended the recording and retention of the DNA and fingerprints of two men although neither was convicted of any offence.
The ECtHR ruled “the retention in question constituted a disproportionate interference with the applicants' right to respect for private life and could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society”.
Cameron launched an independent Commission on a UK Bill of Rights on 18 March 2011 which concluded that the government should “press for the fundamental reforms of the European Court of Human Rights” despite members of the same commission arguing that they had “failed to identify or declare any shortcomings in the Human Rights Act or its application by our courts.”
The exercise which cost £700,000 was described as a waste of time by Dr Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, who quit the commission. Professor Philippe Sands another commission member also stated that the befuddled majority “couldn't agree on what should be in a Bill of Rights and they couldn't even agree on whether or not it should be based on the European Convention".
A final report on the visit will be presented by the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council during its 23rd session (27 May to 14 June 2013).
External Links
DNA database ‘breach of rights’Police up to 28 times more likely to stop and search black people – studyBritish Bill of Rights commission fails to reach agreementStatement by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association at the conclusion of his visit to the United Kingdom
Police likely to use kettling at carnival warns Agbetu
Kiai called for a judge-led public enquiry into the use of police agents and specifically identified the case of Mark Kennedy stating “The duration of this infiltration, and the resultant trauma and suspicion it has caused, are unacceptable in a democracy.”
His comments finally give international credence to the assertions of the late Spartacus R who is first credited with exposing the existence of a UK equivalent of the American Counter intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) started by the FBI in 1956 to destroy progressive revolutionary groups like the legendary Black Panther movement.
The UN Special Rapporteur also exposed how the widely publicised use of ‘kettling’ is being used as a deterrent to discourage future protestors by compelling those held without water or access to sanitary facilities to disclose their name and address as they leave the area. Speaking on the issue Kiai said “I believe that this practice is detrimental to the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly due to its indiscriminate and disproportionate nature.”
His concerns provides context for the what happened on 25 August 2008, when almost two hundred innocent African children were detained in custody on the streets of London by police force officers armed with machine guns. The children who were trapped for several hours in the cordon off area were forcibly subjected to searches and fingerprinting by hundreds of police officers under the pretext of “policing”.
Humiliation and resentment as armed police harass innocent African children
British Bill of Rights a waste of time
“No matter how old a democracy, there is always space for continued improvements,” said Kiai ,the first independent expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and promote the realisation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association worldwide, at the end of his official mission to the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister David Cameron a long time opponent to the European Convention on human Rights said in May 2006 that he would replace or scrap the Human Rights Act if he was elected. Since being in power he has seen to the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) budget slashed by 60% and its workforce significantly reduced.
In 2012 the EHRC reported that Police forces are up to 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against African people people than europeans people and may be breaking the law.
In 2008 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) said it was “struck by the blanket and indiscriminate nature of the power of retention in England and Wales” after the Labour government defended the recording and retention of the DNA and fingerprints of two men although neither was convicted of any offence.
The ECtHR ruled “the retention in question constituted a disproportionate interference with the applicants' right to respect for private life and could not be regarded as necessary in a democratic society”.
Cameron launched an independent Commission on a UK Bill of Rights on 18 March 2011 which concluded that the government should “press for the fundamental reforms of the European Court of Human Rights” despite members of the same commission arguing that they had “failed to identify or declare any shortcomings in the Human Rights Act or its application by our courts.”
The exercise which cost £700,000 was described as a waste of time by Dr Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, who quit the commission. Professor Philippe Sands another commission member also stated that the befuddled majority “couldn't agree on what should be in a Bill of Rights and they couldn't even agree on whether or not it should be based on the European Convention".
A final report on the visit will be presented by the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council during its 23rd session (27 May to 14 June 2013).
Spartacus R: Exposed Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO)
External Links
DNA database ‘breach of rights’Police up to 28 times more likely to stop and search black people – studyBritish Bill of Rights commission fails to reach agreementStatement by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association at the conclusion of his visit to the United Kingdom
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Police likely to use kettling at carnival warns Agbetu
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I believe that [the practice of kettling by British police] is detrimental to the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly due to its indiscriminate and disproportionate nature.
Maina Kiai, United Nations Special Rapporteur
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