CAMPACC: Campaign Against Criminalising Communities

This is a message to all CAMPACC supporters. The General Election on 8 of June is a critical for our future. Theresa May as Home Secretary under David Cameron has played a key role in pushing through some key police powers which criminalise innocent people. There are many issues that we face. Here we are going to focus on the issues that CAMPACC has been working on for a long time. For each issue, we are going to give you some background information and then suggest the kind of questions you can put to prospective parliamentary candidates.

In Britain, nearly 4,000 soldiers have been deployed to support local police departments in the wake of a suicide bombing that killed 22 people and injured dozens at a concert on Monday night. - Democracy Now, 24 May 2017

They asked for my password and I declined. Now I am being threatened with prison... I am not alone in this. Around 50,000 people in the UK are stopped each year while travelling. None of them are ever suspected of a crime. In my case, this has happened more than 20 times. - cage.ngo, 17 May 2017

Snowden among more than 100 signatories to open letter to president calling for clemency for Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks staff members - The Guardian, 15 May 2017

As Barack Obama’s second term as US president comes to an end, much has been said and written about his achievements, or in the case of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp, his failure to close it. One of his first actions upon being elected president for the first term in early 2009 was signing an executive order to the effect that Guantánamo would close within one year. Over 40 prisoners remain as he leaves office. - Aisha Maniar, One Small Window, 17 January 2017

Please see the appeal from India Matters UK for the release of Prof. Saibaba and five others. IMUK invites you to a meeting in London on 06 April (venue tba) to discuss how we might take this campaign forward. If you are able to organise events, meetings or other activities in support of this campaign please contact us. Please circulate this appeal to your networks.

IMUK is deeply concerned about the decision of the Sessions Court in Gadchiroli, in India’s State of Maharashtra to sentence Prof. G. N. Saibaba to life imprisonment along with five others under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)...(a pdf version of this appeal is attached)

In the wake of the terror attacks in England, France, Germany and elsewhere, can we finally admit that the war on terror is an utter and complete failure? - Global Research, 23 March 2017

Please find the statement from the Indian Workers' Association (GB) condemning the life imprisonment given to Professor Saibaba and others by the Maharashtra State court in India. Please post this on your website and circulate widely. - IWA, 10 March 2017

The UAPA evolved over the years by a gradual but steady constriction of Article 19, which guarantees the fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly. A complete repeal is the only way forward. - The Wire, 9 March 2017

The UAPA evolved over the years by a gradual but steady constriction of Article 19, which guarantees the fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly. A complete repeal is the only way forward. - The Wire, 9 March 2017

The Bar Human Rights Committee has today written to the Turkish Constitutional Court, calling on them to urgently address the thousands of cases pending since Turkey’s abortive coup in July 2016. Since the attempted coup, no cases have yet been heard or resolved. 80,000 cases are currently waiting to be considered by the court, with over 30,000 people held in detention. In their letter to Prof. Zühtü Arslan, President of the Constitutional Court, BHRC argues that by not making any determinations in relation to these cases, defendants’ rights to an effective and timely remedy under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights have been breached. - 2 March 2017, BHRC

While European leaders woo and praise Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for generously hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, none of them mentions a discordant fact: more than 400,000 of his Kurdish fellow-citizens, who were displaced by the war in south-east Turkey last year, have received no government aid and still cannot return home, according to aid groups. - Jonathan Steele, Middle East Eye, 28 February 2017

Guidelines produced for border guards participating in an EU joint operation instruct the targeting of “migrants from minority ethnic groups, and individuals who may have been isolated or mistreated during their journey, as such people are often more willing to talk about their experiences.” - Statewatch, 16 February 2017

LATE last year, our government passed the most authoritarian law this country has ever known. The Investigatory Powers Act — more commonly known as the Snoopers’ Charter — means the state now knows almost everything about you. - Morning Star, 8 February 2017

Blaming public representations for making “sweeping statements” and having “an anti-development attitude”, the expert appraisal committee (EAC) on river valley and hydel projects of the Ministry of Environment has decided “not to take any cognizance of such representations” received by its members. In its December 30 meeting, the committee concluded that once a project proposal reaches the EAC for appraisal, it has crossed the stage of public consultation and “the EAC should not go back in time, and should not reopen it, by entertaining unsubstantiated representations received from the people”. - Jay Mazoomdaar, The Indian Express, 14 January 2017