Fwd: UK nuclear weapons now outside jurisdiction of international law?

[Zardoz Greek]

> Cc: "Linda Beamish" <Linda.Beamish at yahoo.com>
> Date: Friday, 5 May, 2017, 11:38
> Dear All,
> Please find forwarded letter from Alicia Hull
> (NNGP) in reference to the UK Prime Minister Teresa
> May's governmental breach of International Laws
> regarding Trident, (and more) - and please either forward
> onwards to Decision Makers and Change Makers, or take action
> to raise public awareness against Mrs May's decision,
> (for the sake of all concerned).
> Since the (non-democratically elected) PM Teresa
> May (casually) 'slipped' into power, the UK
> government has slid silently away from International Law -
> not only in regards to nuclear weaponry and nuclear power,
> but also in regards to International Laws regarding the
> protection of people's Human Rights - written and
> adopted by nations all over the world since the end of
> WWII.
> As quoted by Alicia: "No other Prime
> Minister has crossed the line of boasting in the Commons
> that she would press the nuclear
> button.
> This is scary stuff - the Taxpayers who did not
> elect Mrs May as Prime Minister in the first place (since no
> democratic election was ever called to vote her into power),
> are exactly the same people (who, with future generations),
> the UK government expects to pick up their tab, not just for
> Trident, but for new nuclear power stations too, (especially
> risky for investors and communities in flood risk zones such
> as Hinkley Point).
> There is one Earth, one water, and one air - and
> one people.  
> (Scrapping the Department for Energy and Climate
> Change does not stop the need to comply with International
> Laws regarding: Energy or Climate Change, Nuclear, War, or
> Human Rights granted since the end of WWII - it just proves
> the UK government is in violation of International Laws, as
> highlighted in detail by Alicia Hull's forwarded
> letter.)
> Please take action to protect all
> concerned.
> Thanks.
> Yours Faithfully,
> Linda Beamish.(Global ARK Projects,
> EVNUK & IRDI - NGOs)
> 
> ---------- Forwarded
> message ----------
> From: Alicia
> Hull <aliciajhull40 at yahoo.com>
> Date: 4 May 2017 at 07:37
> Subject: Did you know that our nuclear weapons have been put
> outside the jurisdiction of international law?
> To: Alicia Hull <aliciajhull40 at yahoo.com>
> 
> 
> Dear All
> I was so shocked to hear of the quiet way Mrs
> May’s government has reneged on our previous position of
> upholding international law, that I decided to spread the
> word myself and try to get other people informed.  I have
> written to several media outlets and am now contacting
> everyone on my email list to let them know and to ask them
> to join in, sending the information to all their
> contacts, and writing to the media, etc themselves.
>  
> My sole action will have little effect, but if
> lots join in, it might.  You  may know of many others to
> contact.  Also please let me know you have joined
> in to some at least of the contacts above.  A very simple
> letter, or just endorsing mine would be fine.
> I have sent the information below to several
> media outlets and to Justin Welby, the Bishop of Norwich and
> the Catholic admin.  

The Guardian - politics.desk at theguardian.
> comDaily Telegraph
> – dtnews at telegraph.co.ukBBC Radio 4 – Today programme
> – today at bbc.co.ukBBC TV – haveyoursay at bbc.co.ukITN news – viewer_liaisonc3 at ITN.co.ukChannel 4 – news at channel4.comEDP – dan.grimmer at archant,co.ukRadio Norfolk – conrad at bbc.co.ukArchbishop of Canterbury – contact at lambethpalace.org.ukCatholic Church – ccn at cbcew.org.ukBishop of Norwich –  bishop at dioceseofnorwich.org
> The letter I have sent with Judge
> Bedjaoui’s statement attached is copied below.
> Yours in
> hopeAlicia______________________________
> ______________________________
> ______________________________
> __________________Dear On the 23rd
> February 2017, Mrs May's Government, without any
> scrutiny by Parliament, reneged on our previous policy of
> adhering to international law with regards to our nuclear
> weapons.  I learned this from
> Sebastian Brixey-Williams of the British Ameerican Security
> Information Council (BASIC)I was scandalised that such a major
> shift in policy, completely altering our moral status in the
> world, should go unremarked by MPs – only Caroline Lucas
> called for a debate in Parliament - and unrecorded
> by the media. We claim to be a moral country. I am sure most
> people would be as shocked as I am if they knew what had
> happened. International law is essential to regulate conduct
> between countries. Undermining it threatens a return to a
> more barbaric time. Any person, party or government which
> thinks they are above the law is dangerous. Her action puts
> us in the position of a 'rogue' state. We no longer
> have the right to ask other countries to keep international
> law.It is your
> duty to report this action and comment on its implications
> for nuclear disarmament and for international law in
> general.Why did the Government take this action? The aim
> seems to have been to undermine the current UN multilateral
> disarmament talks. Now the non-nuclear weapon states cannot
> call the UK to account through its legal obligations to
> disarm. In an act of total hypocrisy, the government has
> already refused to support these talks, despite claiming to
> be in favour of multilateral
> disarmament.Equally
> important, by making international law irrelevant, this
> change aims to suppress public discussion here about
> Trident, specifically the Public Interest Case Against
> Trident (PICAT). Several hundred people, over 200 in
> Norfolk, have been trying to get the case heard for well
> over a year. Earlier this year, after considerable delay,
> the Attorney General promised a decision as to whether the
> case could be heard in a Magistrate's court, but his
> office is now calling for yet more time. It seems the
> Government is afraid that, once the stark reality of the
> horror of Trident is understood, people will no longer find
> it a credible 'defence' system. How can a weapon of
> mass destruction, whose effects would be both genocidal and
> suicidal, affecting us and our allies as well as enemies and
> even future generations, be used for
> defence?Indeed the
> Government must know that Trident breaks all our obligations
> under international and domestic law. It has recently been
> reminded that, as long ago as 2008, Judge Bedjaoui, previous head of the
> International Court of Justice, made it abundantly clear
> that any use of Trident, whether deliberate of
> accidental, would break all our obligations under
> international and domestic law. Even having it breaks
> international law. (His statement is
> attached.)This Government
> is not alone in its determination to keep Trident.
> Successive governments have failed to live up to their
> obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Calling
> Trident an 'independent deterrent' and a
> 'defence' system has misled the public. Opposing
> multilateral and unilateral disarmament has delayed reform.
> But no other administration has taken the drastic step of
> putting us outside international law.  No other Prime
> Minister has crossed the line of boasting in the Commons
> that she would press the nuclear
> button.To look deeper
> into the issues of multi- and uni-lateral disarmament –
> Contrary to claims, Trident cannot be used as a bargaining
> chip in negotiation between the two superpowers. We have no
> leverage there. Bi-lateral negotiations are needed. However
> Trident could be used to bargain with smaller nuclear powers
> in the current multilateral UN negotiations. Or, equally,
> giving it up unilaterally would encourage other nuclear
> states to disarm and other potential nuclear states not to
> make that mistake. Our leadership would aid multilateral
> disarmament, world wide, making the world a safer place.
> Unilateral and multilateral disarmament work together. They
> are not opposed.The shocking
> news about nuclear weapons should be added to the fact that
> front line soldiers and the MOD have also been put outside
> the jurisdiction of the International Court. Theresa
> May's disregard for human rights pre-dates Brexit. Last
> April, she campaigned to opt out of the European Convention
> on Human Rights for our troops, against the views of her own
> party. Charles Falconer, then Justice Secretary, described
> the policy as 'so ignorant, so illiberal, so
> misguided'.I was already
> writing to you, but now with an imminent General Election,
> it is all the more important that the public know of Mrs
> May's policies and decisions, while they assess if she
> is fit to lead this country.  
>   Yours faithfully
> Alicia
> Hull
> 
> 
> 
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