CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed a Ministry of Defence (MoD) decision to drop plans to introduce a five-year limit on prosecutions for torture as part of a new law, but they warned that more changes are needed.
The MoD confirmed this week that torture, genocide and war crimes would be excluded from a “presumption against prosecution” of British soldiers proposed in the Overseas Operations Bill.
The concession follows months of campaigning by human-rights groups, which warned that such measures would amount to the “decriminalisation of torture,” and a House of Lords vote last week to exclude the crimes.
Freedom from Torture described the changes today as an “important moment for torture survivors.”
Several years ago, I punched a friend, Marc… I punched him, and said (something like), “don’t ever do that. Not when I’m around, and even when I am not.”
“No, no. Wait,” he said. “I am gay.” Marc had referred to someone as a “flaming faggot”. Sure, I was being a bit of a twat, but I was sincere. We were in London. It was the early 1990s, and I had over the years become (very) finely tuned to detect bigotry.
Fast forward a few months later. I am at Highbury (what was once the most sacred place in football don’t @me), we shouted abuse at Tottenham Hotspur fans. After the match, we went down the Nag’s Head for a pint. I overheard someone at a table refer to Spurs as those “@#$%&$% Yids”. I got back on my high horse, but a mate held me back: “No, that’s their nickname. Spurs call themselves ‘Yids’”. After that, I stopped hurling abuse (mainly football banter) at Spurs, because it just felt wrong to harangue a group of “Yids”.
ARMY visits to Welsh schools are acting as a “fig leaf” for military recruitment, with disadvantaged students particularly targeted, a new report claims.
The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) said its research contradicts claims by the forces that they do not recruit in schools.
The British Army offers free visits to schools across the country.
During these visits, forces are portrayed in “misleading and simplistic ways” with alternative views left out, the report suggests.
Misleading messages are “frequently aimed at the poorest and most disadvantaged young people,” it adds.
Concerns have been repeatedly raised about the army’s activities in schools.
Lady Williams of Crosby obituary theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
MINISTERS were condemned today for putting an extra £1.1 million into armed forces cadet units in English schools after a decade of heavy cuts to other youth services.
The government has already ploughed more than £50 million into creating new school-cadet forces since 2016, the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) said.
However, youth services across Britain were cut by over £400 million between 2010 and 2019, according to research by Unison.
The new £1.1 million for extra staffing in existing cadet units is the latest example of everyday militarism in Britain, the PPU warned.
Recent militaristic government policies include a 44 per cent increase in the upper limit on the number of Britain’s nuclear warheads and the biggest percentage increase in military spending since the Korean War.