The Weekly Roundup: Hate Speech in the UK, Asylum Seekers in Diego Garcia and Ukraine Ratifies ICC Rome Statute

August 26, 2024 by Emilia Cieslak

In the British news

The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published a report showing that black children are strip-searched four times more often than the national population. The report analysed a dataset of all strip searches carried out by all 44 police forces in England and Wales from January 2018 to June 2023. The report found that almost half (45%) of strip searches were carried out without an appropriate adult present and the youngest child searched was eight years old. The majority (88%) of searches were carried out on suspicion of drugs and in 47% of cases the search resulted in “no further action”. The Commissioner argues that this calls into question the need for them and that strip searches should only be carried out on children where there is a clear and immediate risk of harm to themselves or others.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racism (CERD) has recommended that the UK government “implement comprehensive measures to curb racist hate speech and xenophobic rhetoric, including from political and public figures”. CERD highlighted the riots that took place in the UK in August 2024, following the Southport stabbings in which three young girls were killed, and highlighted the role of social media disinformation about the identity of the perpetrator in fuelling the riots. The government has responded to the disorder by activating Operation Early Dawn, an emergency measure to manage the transfer of prisoners, as hundreds of people have been charged in connection with the riots. Under Operation Early Dawn, suspects are only summoned to appear in a police court when a prison cell becomes available, and until then, if they are remanded in custody, they are held in police station cells.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced new measures to significantly increase the removal of failed asylum seekers. These include recruiting 100 specialist intelligence officers for the National Crime Agency to help disrupt people-smuggling rings, new measures to tackle employers who hire illegal workers and increasing the capacity of the Campsfield and Haslar Immigration Removal Centres.

In the international news

Ukraine’s parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has passed legislation to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), making Ukraine a state party. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the move demonstrates Ukraine’s “unwavering commitment to strengthening international justice” and effective cooperation with the ICC to “ensure comprehensive accountability for all Russian atrocities committed in the context of Russian aggression.” Ratification of the Rome Statute is also a requirement for Ukraine to join the European Union, as stipulated in the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The ICC has so far issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and First Deputy Defense Minister Valery Gerasimov.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, has expressed concern after video footage was leaked of an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier sexually abusing a Palestinian prisoner. The special rapporteur has urged that “all alleged crimes committed in the context of this terrible war must be investigated transparently and impartially, and those responsible must be held accountable in civilian courts.” Israeli NGO B’tselem has published a report based on the testimonies of 55 Palestinian prisoners who described systematic abuses, including violence, sexual abuse and denial of medical treatment. As of July 2024, there were 9,623 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, of whom 4,781 are in “administrative detention,” meaning they are being held without charge.

In the courts

The British government has lost an appeal against a decision that it cannot restrict the movement of asylum seekers who arrived inadvertently at the Diego Garcia military base. In October 2021, 47 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers, including a number of children, were rescued at sea by the Royal Navy and taken to the military base, which is classified as a British Overseas Territory. They have since been confined to a small area of ​​the island because of the “operational, safety, health and security risks” of being allowed freedom of movement. The court dismissed the government’s grounds of appeal, including that the judge acted unreasonably in failing to give sufficient weight to the authorities’ security concerns. This lengthy court case has been followed and reported by Joshua Rozenberg KC (hon), and his commentary is available here.

The Federal Court of Australia has ruled that Australian case law has consistently held that gender is “fluid and not necessarily binary”. Ms Roxanne Tickle, a trans woman, sued Giggle for Girls, a social media app for women to communicate with, alleging unlawful gender discrimination when she was banned from having an account on the app. The court found the claim of indirect gender discrimination successful as the app required users to submit a selfie and the reviewer stated that Ms Tickle did not look like a cisgender woman.