Dear Supporter,
We
urgently need your help to prevent the Government from seriously
undermining the law on Universal
Jurisdiction. If the government are successful, magistrates
will lose their powers to issue arrest
warrants for foreign
nationals visiting the UK who are suspected of the worst human rights violations. We
expect an announcement on a legislation change this
week – please email Gordon
Brown today.
What is Universal
Jurisdiction?
Universal Jurisdiction allows national
courts to prosecute anybody suspected of serious human rights violations
such as genocide and war
crimes committed anywhere in the world.
What would be the consequences of the
change?
The UK could become a safe haven for the world’s worst criminals. In
seeking to avoid any future attempts to prosecute suspected war
criminals, the Government would subvert the judiciary’s independence and
integrity, it would fail to meet its commitments under
international law and it would undermine the rights of victims to obtain
justice, truth and reparations.
Why
is Amnesty objecting so strongly?
No person and no
country is above the law and whether we are talking about Israel, Sudan, Congo or Rwanda, there should be an
absolute commitment from Britain to help detain and bring to trial those
suspected of the world’s worst crimes.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Take action today by emailing the Prime Minister. There's
still time to save our war crimes legislation, but we must act
now. Find out more on this
issue.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Kristyan Benedict
Campaign Manager
Crisis Response & Country Priorities
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