The British authorities are preparing to pass three bills that violate human rights, which could lead to outrage in society and, as a result, to a change of government in the country. UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Environment David Boyd warned about this in an interview with The Guardian.
“These three pieces of legislation constrict civic engagement, while the global environmental crisis requires that people's voices be heard,” he said, commenting on the initiatives.
The expert clarified that we are talking about bills related to the police, secret sources of intelligence, as well as an initiative to weaken judicial control and challenge decisions of departments concerning, among other things, the environment.
The specialist pointed out that the government of the country “is moving in the wrong direction”. He said that in order to improve the environmental situation in the world, it is necessary to protect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, as well as the expression of one's own opinion.
Boyd noted that the new bills jeopardize one of the basic rights – the right to access justice.
The specialist warned that outrageous policies could cause unrest in the community. “If people decide that the UK government is becoming more repressive, at some point they will want to get rid of it. These actions [by the authorities] are counterproductive – we saw it in the US, where a terrible, repressive government has been replaced by an administration that in many ways advocates human rights and resilience, ”he concluded.
The expert's statement came after representatives of the Not1More movement appealed to the UN, demanding to protect the rights of peaceful demonstrators in the UK. Representatives of Not1More indicated that the adoption of the new laws will make more vulnerable people who want to exercise their democratic right to peaceful protest. The UN has been asked to thwart the expansion of police powers “to limit or disperse protests or temporary camps, and to end violence against peaceful demonstrators,” which Not1More claims is increasing in the UK.
It is clarified that the amendments to the law on maintaining public order introduce a number of changes in the imposition and enforcement of sentences. The initiative expands the powers of the police so that law enforcement officers will be able to limit the duration of protests, as well as set limits on the acceptable noise level of such events and intervene when noise interferes with the activities of organizations or people in the vicinity. Also, restrictions are introduced for single pickets.
