United Nations to probe Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms for ‘grave violations’ of human rights
What astonishingly good timing!
The United Nations will probe whether Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms are committing ‘grave violations’ of human rights, a prominent charity chief has said.
Officials from the UN’s Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities could soon sweep into Britain after the Tory axeman announced a wave of measures, including slashing disability benefits by £30 a week.
Thousands of people on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are having their weekly payment cut from £102.15 to £73.10, the same as jobseekers’ allowance, if they’re told they can look for ‘work-related activity’.
That prompted an outcry from charities, which resurged this week when it emerged 2,380 ESA claimants died soon after being declared fit for work.
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Please, please, please UN…make it happen !
Tweeted @melissacade68
Is there any chance that Ian Drunken Smith could be tried on a capital charge of “crimes against humanity”?
Yes.
They can come to my house anytime mike to see how living with long term sickness and disabilities and the stress caused by the DWP affect you and in my case making you end up like a skeleton
I doubt very much thou the UN would come round but i keep an open mind
Mike absolutely brilliant news but how much clout have the UN got, as this bunch of corrupt murderers dismissed her last year as some kind of lunatic, typical, but can something good come out of this. ? Please say YES.
Yes. Raquel Rolnik’s visit was a fact-finding mission – she wasn’t going in with the express intent of investigating wrong-doing and setting about fixing it.
I stand corrected! Thank you!
hi Mike.
thats brilliant news,but also couldn’t the EU look into this as well under human rights
legislation.
and also isn’t it possible that some of the brainy people,who post on here can look and
get their heads round this and find ways to charge this government with corporate
murder/manslaughter or crimes against humanity.
i would presume that you may have already looked at these options Mike.
The UN’s fact-finding mission to Britain is indeed remarkable, given the severity of the OHCHR budget cuts: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/10/cash-strapped-human-rights-office-at-breaking-point-says-new-chief/.
Not that I think it’s right, it is lousy, but I thought the cut was to be applied to new claimants only?
I also thought, that if the original amount, is what the law says you have to live on, that couldn’t be altered unless a specific law has been changed?
Its probably possible to drop the rate via SI (Statutory instrument) which is basically a bit of paper that IDS publishes saying “this is changed” and thats all that needs to be done.
As far as I can tell the “this is how much the law states” actually means “we decide how much, when we change it this is the rate that the law states, there is no minimum amount or recognised standard… we make the law, now go and die quietly!”
An actual change to the law, or a “new something” requires the full processes, papers, laid, readings, debates, etc…
After “UC” passed, a sub-clause basically gave the minister cart blanch to make any changes via SI without recourse to legislation.
Rates, levels, conditionals, etc. of UC and _existing_ security legislation are usually done by SI, as are specific changes to implementation as when the legislation is originally detailed and processed often the details are left out, or at some point someone goes “oh you forgot to allow for…” so going back to full process would be time consuming and expensive. (Its no different to how a business would decide/agree something, then maybe change some aspects later.)
Only if something is new or massively different, or if something requires amendments to existing legislation (the 1986? rule-re bedroom tax) does it have to go before parliament again.
surely, even in business, any changes such as above, have still to be put before the committee
/governors, shareholders etc???
Also things went so well when the last one came, about the bedroom tax, and what happened then? Oh yeah, Nothing!!!
I feel the same. It’s good that it’s being highlighted, and the government shamed for what they’re doing, but what power do they have to force the U.K. government to actually change their policies?
Whatever action is taken has to follow a legal process, one that can enact change, as someone commented above.
At least / last, an influential organisation is concerned, but what clout does the UN have?
Its disgraceful that the UK Parliament has allowed this to degenerate to a point where a UN investigation is warranted against such a country as Great Britain. It shows that we do need a Constitutional change and electoral reform.
The story above from the Mirror is an exaggeration as are most of its stories. The UN official is coming here and visiting many countries as part of a study for a general report to be submitted to the UN this November. Her visit was arranged some time ago and is not due to any specific situation in the UK.
Nice try.
But the UN investigation into human rights violations by the DWP has been due since before the general election and we all knew it was coming.
I don’t hold out much hope for anything positive coming from the UN.
Just got back from my weekend away.
There appears to be NO data in the data release for:-
Those whose who appealed a fit for work decision and died before a tribunal date.
No data for those who died whilst being parked on mandatory reconsideration.
No data for those on ESA WRAG who died/committed suicide after being sanctioned.
It would be nice to think IDS could be getting a rocket from a respectable, but, alas, powerless organisation.
Here comes another major news story about the UN interfering with government policies, all under the human rights act. This government couldn’t give two hoots as to what the UN think, people have died in this country because of the bedroom tax, they still are, the UN has about as much clout as a wet fish.
This psycho government will carry on with its cull of the sick, disabled and unemployed and totally ignore the UN they think they are above the law.
Here is an example of how they commit their murders? I barely survived and they did as much harm as possible when I began to fight back at them by abusing the process.
I complained about a violation of my human rights from income support when I was forced to labour 24 hours per day to provide myself with a home and keep up with the demands of the Jobcentre who dictated unreasonable orders under threat of losing my benefits. They gave me a taste of this treatment when they failed to set me up,to be sanctioned so they just stopped my benefits and claimed it was a computer error.
I ate nothing but 15p a tin value rice pudding for months, I had to stop taking vital medication and eventually self prescribe stimulants to satisfy the JCP staff who had set me up to steal my pension, lose all my benefits and eventually end up homeless and in prison. I predicted this was their intention from the outset and the officer involved said ” what sort of people do you think we are?” I can now give him a reply.
They had 2 rules they could chose to apply to me arbitrarily;
I could use capital to provide myself with a home and have no more need to claim housing costs if I completed renovating it in six months (26 week rule)
Or
I could not use capital to renovate a dilapidated house to provide myself with a home and stop claiming housing costs (CIS/369/1993)
They would not tell me which rule they would apply until after I had attempted to complete the work myself and to provide receipts for every nail and screw and to deal with the kilos of paperwork they would send almost daily, mostly demands for documents they had already received up to 9 times.
They cancelled my income support without notice or explanation on the day I moved forcing me to cash in my pension to pay the removal company otherwise I would carry my furniture on my back. They then claimed they did not know why my claim had been cancelled and reinstated it minus the pension sum that I had received.
Then gave incorrect information to the tax office so I did not receive the pension payment.
Then decided to apply the 26 week rule
then changed their mind and demanded 2 years worth of income support be repaid as they decided to enforce rule CIS/368/1993
Then decided not to collect the money as it was only owed because of their maladministration,
Advised me to not notify my local council of their decision, deliberately leaving me open to prosecution for council tax fraud
I was told I cannot complain that my human rights have been violated or that they have acted against the disability discrimination act as they are immune to these rules because their process has been checked. Then they said sorry we made a mistake but you are now on ESA so we closed your case as another team has your file.
The conservatives worldwide create the mess with not only the refuges but also are responsible for mass human rights abuse then go on to blame others when it is they themselves are responsible for all of the mess in the first place
The uk and the world need to wake up to modern conservatism as the end game always ends in mass destruction for many with the weakest being killed off
So George Osborne writes a column in the sun rag, did he forget the sun’s front page story of he’s alleged night with call girl and cocaine use?! They are all two faced! Please sign this petition https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105119 this will help change their minds
The UN should look into what our government is doing to the poor, weak and vulnerable of our country, persecution and tyranny doesn’t just happen in third world and other poor countries, it’s happening right here, right now, him and all of the tories should be prosecuted for murder!