‘The phrase ‘sportswashing’ is one that is used regularly in the press. So, what is it? There is no single definition and none that appears in the Oxford English dictionary. We can be bold and safely surmise that it is where a state uses sport to propel their reputation positively as a means to cover their poor human rights record.’
Church Court Chambers, July 2022
Source: churchcourtchambers.co.uk
‘The parents of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, who was left in a comatose state after suffering brain damage, have failed to persuade the supreme court to intervene in a life support treatment battle.’
The Guardian, 28th July 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘By and large we know by now how hospitals, care homes, schools and most other state-run institutions coped, or didn’t, with the Covid pandemic. But not until now, with this shocking, distressing, authentic and academically robust study, have we had the unvarnished truth about conditions in UK prisons.’
The Guardian, 20th July 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘What does international law say about turning back migrants at sea, and can “pushback” tactics be used safely and legally?’
House of Commons Library, 13th September 2021
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
‘In July 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 37 on the right to peaceful assembly, directing States to recognise the “intrinsic value” of the right, and to “promote an enabling environment for the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly without discrimination”. The Human Rights Committee also reaffirmed that, even in states of emergencies, states’ obligations to ensure non-discrimination remain: emergency measures must not discriminate either in their purpose or their effects.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 19th August 2021
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘Fifty-two people are being held in prison units in England and Wales in conditions that a UN human rights expert has said may amount to torture, the Guardian has learned.’
The Guardian, 26th July 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The government is in breach of a UN treaty designed to eradicate racial discrimination, a new report has warned. Research by the Runnymede Trust said that minority ethnic groups face sustained disparities across health, the criminal justice system, education, employment and immigration in England.’
The Independent, 14th July 2021
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘A UN report that analysed racial justice in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” enjoyed by police officers who violate the human rights of black people.’
The Guardian, 28th June 2021
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘As they evolve and come under scrutiny, what constitutes our human rights in the United Kingdom is hotly contested. The first of a series, this piece takes us through the history of human rights from their formal inception to the present day.’
Each Other, 7th April 2021
Source: eachother.org.uk
‘The maritime law tribunal of the United Nations has ruled that Britain has no sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.’
BBC News, 28th January 2021
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The UK government’s policy of allowing children in detention to be locked alone in their cells for up to 23 hours a day under emergency Covid-19 measures is “extreme and inhumane” and could lead to lifelong mental health damage, according to the UN special rapporteur on torture and leading child health experts.’
The Guardian, 27th October 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Psychological torture is being exploited by states to circumvent the more widely understood ban on physically inflicting pain and may open the way to a future of “cybertorture”, the UN torture rapporteur has said.’
The Guardian, 21st February 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The UK could lose its permanent seat on the UN security council unless it resolves the future of the Chagos Islands, the archipelago in the Indian Ocean whose largest island, Diego Garcia, is a US military base.’
The Guardian, 5th January 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Refusal to return archipelago to Mauritius “lawless” and “reflects colonial mindset” says barrister.’
The Guardian, 22nd November 2019
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The decimation of legal aid has contributed to “the systematic immiseration of millions across Great Britain”, the UN’s expert on poverty and human rights said yesterday.’
Legal Futures, 23rd May 2019
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Britain suffered an embarrassing diplomatic defeat on Wednesday when the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to hand the disputed Chagos islands back to Mauritius.’
Daily Telegraph, 22nd May 2019
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘The UK should end its control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean “as rapidly as possible”, the UN’s highest court has said.’
BBC News, 25th February 2019
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Through the power of precedent, international incidents involving the use of force help to clarify the meaning and interpretation of jus ad bellum, the corpus of rules arising from international custom and the United Nations Charter that govern the use of force. UN Charter Article 2(4) forbids states from using force in their international relations. Exceptions to this prohibition are acts taken in self-defence under UN Charter Article 51 or under the auspices of a UN Security Council authorization to use force under Article 42. States can also consent that another state use force in its territory, for example to combat rebel or terrorist actors. In certain cases, state practice gives rise to new interpretations of existing rules or novel exceptions emerge. Through the study of precedents scholars often consider whether or not there has been a shift in the legal landscape. To give but a few illustrations, commentators have questioned if States take measures of self-defence under Article 51 to protect nationals abroad (a justification that has been invoked at various moments, for instance by Russia in the context of the crisis in Georgia in 2008), if a right to humanitarian intervention has emerged (a discussion triggered by the Kosovo crisis in 1999), or if self-defence under Article 51 can be invoked against non-state actors (a topical debate in the post 9/11 era). Consequently, depending on the precedent’s facts and the arguments invoked by the main protagonists different legal issues can be triggered.’
OUP Blog, 19th November 2018
Source: blog.oup.com
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