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Summer 2017
DEFENDERS
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- Refrain from violations of human rights and international
law and prevent torture, mistreatment of prisoners, revoking
citizenship and violation of the right to freedom of belief.
- Release political prisoners and human rights activists being
imprisoned for peaceful exercise of their human right to
freedom of expression and criticising the discrimination against
the Shia in Bahrain.
- Respect freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful
assembly and association.
- Respect freedom of religion and take practical steps to stop
any form of discrimination against Shia Muslims.
ODVV Submission to the United Kingdom UPR,
27th session of UPR Working Group (May 2017)
The main issues raised by ODVV in the submission included the role of UK
in foreign conflicts, migrant rights and the county’s domestic laws. ODVV
is concerned about the billions of Pounds UK arms sold to Saudi Arabia
while the country is involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity
in Yemen. The war is taking huge toll on civilians including women and
children.
In addition to playing a role in the Yemen conflict, UK is suffering from
violation of migrant rights including a surge in anti-immigrant hate crimes
in 2016. According to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the
crimes go even further than the average 57 per cent nationwide . In
September 2015, Britain announced that the country would take 20,000
Syrian refugees over the course of 5 years, considering the increase in
the anti-immigrant hate crimes it seems that the country would need to
put more effective strategies in place in order to be able to protect the
growing number of migrants against the increasing rate of hate crimes.
Regarding the domestic laws of the country, Britain has announced
decisions to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British
Bill of Rights.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights
Committee, and the civil society, raised serious concerns that the decision
could weaken the protection of human rights in the country and could lead
to the UK’s withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights -
as one of the first signatories of the convention - undermines the country’s
position as a defender of human rights in the international arena.
To improve the human rights situation, both inside and outside the UK
situation, ODVV called on the British government to: