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UK’s Unfinished Reckoning on Overseas Torture

An Opportunity to Help Victims Obtain Justice

The British government is expected to announce this week whether an independent inquiry will resume into the UK’s involvement in overseas torture and transfers (known as “renditions”) in US-led counterterrorism operations after the 9/11 attacks. If…
A motorboat passes by the MI6 building in London August 25, 2010.
News

UK and its Intelligence Agencies Slammed for Role in Ill-Treatment of Terrorism Suspects

Parliamentary Reports Underscore Lack of Accountability and Scant Learning from Past Mistakes

Today, the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee confirmed that, while cooperating with US-led post-2001 counterterrorism operations, the UK took and tolerated actions that were “inexcusable”. For those unfamiliar with…
A motorboat passes by the MI6 building in London August 25, 2010.
News

In a Man’s Death, a Glimpse of Libya’s Horrors

Europe Should Help End Cycle of Detention, Violence in Libya

A young Eritrean man died on Tuesday in Sicily of tuberculosis compounded by severe malnutrition. His name was Segen.* He was 22. There is so much about Segen we may never know. Did he prefer to read books or play football?…
Segen, a 22-year-old Eritrean, stares into the camera before disembarking in Pozzallo, Sicily, from the Pro Activa Open Arms rescue ship on March 13, 2018. He died several hours later.
News

Dispatches: Denmark’s Deterrence Tactics on Refugees

Denmark’s recent decision to seize cash and valuables from refugees to help cover the costs of hosting them rightly sparked global outrage. But another underhanded deterrent scheme to limit the number of asylum seekers heading for Denmark has, so far,…
News

Dispatch: UK Snoopers’ Charter, Version 2.0

On January 6, a retired 36-year veteran of the National Security Agency turned whistleblower, William Binney, cautioned United Kingdom lawmakers against legalizing mass surveillance in the proposed Draft Investigatory Powers Bill. Binney told the…
A man and woman use their mobile phones as commuters walk past the columns of the Bank of England in the City of London, July 3, 2012.
News

Dispatches: Moving Ball Down the Field for Human Rights?

Over the last year, reporting about FIFA, football’s scandal-plagued governing body, has focused on arrests, corruption, and worker rights abuses in the upcoming World Cup host countries, Russia and Qatar. So today’s news that…
News

Dispatches: Britain Backtracks on Justice for Yemen

The British government’s concern for the safety and well-being of the Yemeni people – already extremely feeble – reached a new low this week. In Geneva, Britain failed to actively promote a Dutch resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that…
Damaged buildings in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, May 8, 2015.
News

Dispatches: What Cameron should do about the refugee crisis

David Cameron’s government has shown a shameful lack of leadership and compassion in the face of Europe’s refugee crisis. Until now, it’s not paid much of a political price for doing so. But the heart-wrenching image of Aylan Kurdi, washed up on a Turkish…
A Syrian family sit on the dock side after being escorted into the harbor by the Greek Coastguard who found them drifting offshore on June 4, 2015 in Kos, Greece.
News

Dispatches: Europe’s Refugee Crisis – Has UK Forgotten the Past?

Isaac Levine arrived in the UK from Lithuania as a 17-year-old in 1894. Manfred Gorlin left his home in Nazi-controlled Danzig (now in Poland) and arrived in 1939. As the grandchildren of Jews who found refuge from persecution in the UK, we watch the…
migrants uk
News

Why do People Risk Their Lives to Cross the Mediterranean?

Questions and Answers

The European Union (EU) is facing unprecedented numbers of refugees and migrants arriving by boat. In 2014, 220,000 people arrived, almost double the combined total of 121,000 from 2011 through 2013. During just the first six…
Un buque de la Armada irlandesa Le Eithne, participa en una operación de rescate como parte del operativo Frontex Tritón, el 6 de junio de 2015
News

Dispatches: There is a War in Syria, Mr Brokenshire

The faces and life stories of the people making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean have been in the news for months now. Of all people, the UK’s immigration minister should be well informed on the subject. And yet…
migrant tent calais
News

Dispatches: Where is Britain’s Compassion for Migrants in Crisis?

On the steps of Downing Street last Friday morning, fresh from an election victory, David Cameron described Britain as a country of “great compassion”. He’s right. The British public contributes generously to humanitarian appeals in response to natural…
News

Dispatches: UK Oversight Committee Blesses ‘Bulk’ Surveillance

A much-anticipated government report officially acknowledges what Edward Snowden revealed to the world many months ago: the UK has been intercepting communications en masse. But rather than condemn the widespread snooping, the report endorses the so-…
News

Dispatches: UK Failing to Learn Lessons on Counterterrorism

You might think that, with decades of experience in dealing with the threat of terrorism, the UK would have learned to avoid the obvious mistakes in rushed legislation that abuses rights and alienates the communities whose support is needed to tackle the…
News

Dispatches: UK Counterterrorism Proposals Put Rights at Risk

Counterterrorism proposals aimed at preventing British citizens from becoming foreign fighters with groups such as Islamic State (ISIS) were announced by UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday. Unless accompanied by strict safeguards, these measures…
News

Dispatches: On Assange Anniversary, Press Freedom Held Hostage

Today Julian Assange, the Wikileaks publisher, begins his third year confined in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. He fled there, receiving political asylum, when Sweden sought his extradition to answer sexual assault allegations. Although both Assange…
News

Dispatches: UK Should Come Clean About Surveillance

Today’s Westminster debate on the role of the UK intelligence and security services is long overdue. Four months after the Guardian newspaper first published details of mass surveillance by the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US…

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