Human Rights Victory For Soldiers

Well done to the three senior judges who overruled the Ministry of Defence’s claims that British soldiers can only be protected by the Human Rights Act within the confines of a military base.

The Guardian reported on this ruling today:

http://http//www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/18/human-rights-army-jason-smith-inquest

This means that it is now a legal human right for every soldier to be equipped with the highest standard of equipment. This will mean an awful lot to soldiers. When I sat down for a meal with soldiers on a training exercise in Macedonia in 2007 and asked them about their profession in general, this was one of the things that came up. The lack of adequate equipment affected the way they viewed themselves through the eyes of those telling them what they have to do – i.e. the Government.

In this case, the Human Rights Act is not being applied in the kind of naive way that Shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, is suggesting, whereby every soldier is ensured the right to life on the battlefield; it is ensuring that soldiers’ lives are valued.

Women In Black

Last night I happened to walk past the Edith Cavell statue opposite the National Portrait Gallery in London as the Women In Black were holding their weekly hour-long vigil against militarism the world over. I first came across them one evening just after I moved to London nearly three years ago and I recognised some of the faces. They are hard to ignore. Dressed in black, usually in long skirts or overcoats, they look rather imposing and theatrical standing there in silence, billboards hung around their necks, as the pavement spotlights around the statue light up their faces and their (mostly) silver hair. I imagine the suffragettes would have had a similar aura.

I stopped and had a read of a flyer I was handed.

This week they were protesting against the war in Iraq and how women had been disproportionately affected by the war. That is certainly something I would want to protest about too. But there were a couple of sentences in the flyer which made me feel uneasy. A quote from the Basra Chief of Police in Dec 2007: “The UK has left behind murder and chaos. Basra has become so lawless in the last three months 45 women have been killed for being ‘immoral’ because they were not fully covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock.”

I protested against the war in February 2003 and I believe that war is atrocious. But I fail to swallow the corollary that it is the UK’s fault for women being murdered for not wearing the hijab. That is a massive jump to make and it means you have to believe a whole number of things before you get to that conclusion. The UK is not responsible for Islamic laws. But it IS responsible for its military intervention and for providing security in the wake of its intervention. It can’t withdraw its troops until it has ascertained that pulling out will not lead to more chaos than staying. Obama is not saying he will pull his troops out tomorrow. He is saying he wants to pull out as soon as possible because he knows he has a responsibility.

There was another line in the flyer that caused me worry too: “Despite some improvements in the overall security situation, women are now more at risk of sexual violence and their lives more restricted than during the Saddam regime.” So, does that mean Women In Black are pro-Saddam? I asked the woman who handed me the flyer. “No,” she said, “We are not pro-Saddam.” Just a couple of extra sentences in the flyer clarifying that point would have avoided misunderstanding.

Aside from those few caveats, I supported all the action Women In Black were asking people to take, such as asking the government to investigate crimes against women, take measures to safeguard personal freedoms and improve the conditions of women.

Anti-Semitism

People who think that what is happening in Gaza is not relevant to us here in the UK are wrong.

Yesterday Hamas and Al-Qaeda called for Jews all over the world to be killed. The London free papers last night carried reports of anti-semitic attacks rising sharply since the start of the war. The London Lite reported yesterday that there has been an attack on a synagogue in north west London, an assault on a Jewish motorist and a gang of youths shouting anti-semitic slogans at Jews in Golders Green. There was also an arson attack on the Jewish synagogue in Brondesbury on Sunday night according to The London Lite report. My Jewish friends are anxious.

"There is nothing we can do," someone told me on Monday night when I said I hoped that the Israeli air strikes on Gaza would stop and the seven year rocket fire onslaught from Hamas would end. "Yes there is," was my response. "We can apply international pressure."