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	Dismantle the barriers faced by millions of persons with disabilities by UN DESA, European Disability Forum, agencies   June 2024   Accelerating the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities, report from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs   Six years away from the deadline for the 2030 Agenda, the Disability and Development Report 2024 shows that persons with disabilities are being left behind. Progress for persons with disabilities on 30 per cent of targets of the SDGs is insufficient; on 14 per cent, the target has been missed or progress has stalled or gone into reverse.   These include targets on access to financial resources, health care, water and ICT as well as on building resilience of persons with disabilities during disasters and other emergencies. A mere 5 indicators are on track, i.e., with progress consistent with achieving their respective targets for persons with disabilities by 2030 – these include progress in education laws on equal access, disaster early warnings in accessible formats, online services for persons with disabilities, government ministries accessible for persons with disabilities and monitoring of bilateral aid dedicated to disability inclusion.   Wide gaps persist between persons with and without disabilities, particularly on food insecurity, health, access to energy and ICT – with gaps above 10 percentage points – and on multidimensional poverty and employment – with gaps above 20 percentage points.   For women with disabilities, indigenous persons with disabilities, persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and persons with disabilities living in rural areas, the gaps are wider. Moreover, although countries have increasingly involved persons with disabilities in decision-making processes, overall, this involvement remains low.   The COVID-19 response was largely not inclusive of persons with disabilities, especially in the early stages of the pandemic, with discriminatory practices in COVID-19 treatment, lack of information in accessible formats and reduced access to COVID-19 testing (41 per cent of persons with disabilities versus 28 per cent of persons without disabilities did not have access to COVID-19 testing).   Half of COVID-19 deaths occurred among persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities lost jobs and income at higher rates than others. Early in the pandemic, a third of persons with disabilities lost access to personal assistance, assistive technology or accessibility services. Persons with disabilities faced more difficulties than others accessing and affording food, water delivery, energy, housing, health care, medicines, masks and sanitizers.   One in 5 students with disabilities dropped out of school during the pandemic and 9 in 10 did not have the ICT needed to participate in remote learning. Half of workers with disabilities faced barriers working remotely, such as inaccessible online platforms.   The isolation created by lockdowns increased the risk of violence, with a quarter of persons with disabilities experiencing violence at home and almost half of women with disabilities not feeling safe at home. Lockdowns disrupted data collections creating a lack of evidence to guide pandemic responses for persons with disabilities.   Not all countries introduced measures to support persons with disabilities to face these challenges. Only half of households with students with disabilities received financial support for the personal assistance and technology they needed for remote learning, less than half of countries targeted persons with disabilities in their COVID-19 social protection measures and only 10 per cent of countries conducted rapid emergency data collections on persons with disabilities during the pandemic.   Compared to the Disability and Development Report 2018, this time around there is more data on persons with disabilities – data availability is at its highest level since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Despite these advancements, only 50 per cent of targets have indicators with enough data to assess progress.   For 40 per cent of targets, there is only data to provide a one point in time snapshot. For 10 per cent of targets, there is not enough data for a one point in time snapshot – these include targets on extreme poverty, child mortality, health impact of pollution, early childhood development, child labour and the impact of corruption and bribery.   The way things are going, the world will not achieve the SDGs by, for and with persons with disabilities by 2030. Depending on the target, progress needs to accelerate to 2 to 65 times faster.   Accelerations are particularly needed in making physical and virtual environments accessible for persons with disabilities, in adopting anti-discrimination legislation, in expanding social protection and in implementing measures to guarantee the safety and protection of all persons with disabilities during disasters and emergencies.   As the international community prepares for the Summit of the Future in September 2024, all States need to step up progress to accelerate the SDGs and disability inclusion. The world needs to build on the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to plan better for future crises.   The Disability and Development Report 2024 provides a snapshot of the current situation and progress made by goal/target and identifies concrete steps that global leaders and relevant stakeholders can take to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs by, for and with persons with disabilities.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/disability-and-development-report-2024-accelerating-realization-sustainable-development-goals-and-persons-disabilities http://www.unsdsn.org/resources/the-sustainable-development-report-2024/   * Nick Herd, a disability rights activist reports from the 17th session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/06/1150786 http://www.icj.org/africa-african-commission-on-human-and-peoples-rights-calls-for-the-full-continental-ratification-and-implementation-of-the-african-disability-protocol/ http://www.ilo.org/resource/news/ilo-report-urges-action-close-social-health-protection-gaps-persons http://www.social-protection.org/gimi/ShowTheme.action?id=6 http://www.globaldisabilitysummit.org/resource/global-disability-inclusion-report/   May 2024   Building an inclusive Europe, by Ioannis Vardakastanis and Haydn Hammersley. (European Disability Forum)   With the EU elections looming, it’s time for policy-makers to dismantle the barriers faced by millions of persons with disabilities.   Persons with disabilities are expected to be patient — constantly in receipt of promises by policy-makers that change is on its way and that their concerns will be acted upon. Yet, it is hard to ignore just how light certain manifestos for the June election are on their commitment to the more than 100 million persons with disabilities living in the European Union.   It is not only that the pledges on disability inclusion are meagre. Even the websites of the main European political parties were recently found to be incompatible with basic accessibility requirements.   This is even more incomprehensible when Europe is juggling so many crises which disproportionately affect persons with disabilities — often not just left behind but forgotten. Far from the ‘polycrisis’ justifying the sidelining of disability issues, on the contrary, it enhances the case for their prioritisation.   We are talking about a very significant group of people. The latest figures from Eurostat suggest that 27 per cent of individuals in the EU have some kind of disability; among women, this rises to almost 30 per cent. It’s hard to let policy-makers off the hook for overlooking challenges faced by more than a quarter of the population.   The data speak for themselves as to the urgency of removing the barriers faced by persons with disabilities. EU-level figures paint a startling picture of just how different life looks if one has a disability.   Take poverty. In the EU, 18.3 per cent of people without a disability live at risk of poverty and social exclusion. For those with a disability, however, this figure jumps to 28.8 per cent. It leaps even higher for women with disabilities, of whom 29.8 per cent are so at risk, and soars to around 36 per cent for persons with disabilities who have high support needs.   Or consider employment. On average, the employment rate of persons with disabilities in the EU is over 21 percentage points lower than that for persons without. In some countries, the difference is far greater, such as in Ireland (37 percentage points), Croatia (36pp) and Belgium (35.3pp).   Persons with disabilities are also far more likely to be working only part-time, in low-paying jobs or in sheltered workshops, which has a huge impact on their quality of life.   Young people with disabilities have it particularly hard. Many are forced to drop out of education early because they do not get the support they need: 22.1 per cent of persons with disabilities in the EU drop out of school, compared with only 8.4 per cent of people without disabilities.   Again, the higher a person’s support needs, the more likely it is that these will not be met by the education system: a whopping 41.8 per cent of young people with high support needs do not finish school.   Those who manage to complete their schooling and go to university then meet an array of further barriers, particularly if they plan to take up learning opportunities abroad. The lack of quality, inclusive education worsens employment perspectives generally for young people as they make the transition towards adulthood: 31.1 per cent of young persons with disabilities are not in employment, education or training (NEETs); among those with higher support needs, the figure is around 42 per cent.   Nor does it stop there. Countless persons with disabilities are denied boarding on planes, trains or buses each year in the EU without explanation or arrive at their destination to find their assistive devices broken without any hope of receiving full compensation.   More than one million persons with disabilities are still segregated in institutional care across the EU. And countless women and girls with disabilities continue to undergo forced sterilisation.   This is a snapshot of the barriers society creates for most persons with disabilities in the EU. They do not need sympathy but expect their rights as citizens to be vindicated. And while the EU cannot be expected to resolve all of these issues – the treaties do not give it the prerogative to do so – it could do a number of things much better.   Greater ambition is needed   First, its institutions need to acknowledge the scale of the challenge and allocate financial and human resources accordingly. Structural innovation is required: there should be a directorate-general for equality and fundamental rights in the European Commission, working in close co-operation with a disability committee or co-ordinator in the European Parliament and an equality configuration in the Council of the EU.   The union also needs to be much more ambitious in its political and policy priorities, focusing on the concerns of persons with disabilities with the courage to impose legally binding measures. The EU has proved its ability to do so through initiatives such as the new EU Disability Card and Disability Parking Card and legislation such as the European Accessibility Act.   In line with the EU’s competences, why not begin the new mandate by finally tackling denial of boarding on flights and ensuring fair compensation when mobility equipment is lost or damaged during travel? The commission has proposed legislation to revise these rights but stopped short when it comes to passengers with disabilities. The parliament and the council have the chance to propose a better, rights-based text.   The EU should also work on employment. There is a blueprint in the European Youth Guarantee, an initiative supported by EU funding which has assisted tens of millions of young people across the EU to get into jobs and training programmes and resulted in a reduction in the number of unemployed youth. The European disability movement is asking the EU to put in place a similar initiative for persons with disabilities.   This ‘European disability employment and skills guarantee’ would be an adapted version, removing age limits for eligibility, allowing individuals to retain their much-needed disability allowance when in their new role and providing extra funds to support employers in making any necessary workplace adaptations or purchases.   It is crucial, too, that people be given access to the assistive devices and technologies they require to carry out day-to-day activities. The EU could pave the way by better controlling the availability and affordability of assistive technologies and devices persons with disabilities depend on across the single market.   We also urgently need the forced sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities to be prohibited. And the EU must immediately stop its money being used to fund institutions where persons with disabilities are segregated and denied basic rights.   What is needed, first and foremost, is for policy-makers to acknowledge the barriers faced by Europe’s disabled population and to make removing these a priority.   Our message to all political groups, all candidates for the European Parliament and all those in line to represent their member states in the next term within the other EU institutions is: do not pity persons with disabilities — just act.   http://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/european-integration/building-an-inclusive-europe-7499   European citizens firmly support European Aid – MEPs must acknowledge this reality   Statement by Edouard Rodier, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) director for Europe, ahead of the new European Parliament term:   “As the newly elected European Parliament prepares for another term, MEPs face a crucial task: deciding on the European Union’s (EU) aid budget for 2025.   “While numerous topics create division within Europe, data and surveys tell us that Europeans are united on one front: the conviction that the EU has a duty to demonstrate global solidarity through European aid.   “However, national leaders and politicians are increasingly pushing for significant reductions in official development aid and scaling back on humanitarian aid pledges. Despite these pressures, MEPs must remember the clear voice of their constituents when deciding whether to cut or expand Europe’s aid budget this month.   “More than nine out of ten Europeans believe it is vital for the EU to fund humanitarian aid globally. In some EU countries, nearly everyone agrees, with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, and Ireland showing 97 per cent approval rates for European aid. Denmark, Latvia, Sweden, and Finland have seen over 10 per cent increases in the number of people who consider European aid very important since they were asked in 2020.   “Such strong consensus should be a gift to policymakers. It’s evident that citizens want to continue seeing the EU utilize taxpayer funds to assist people facing severe crises.   “This consensus reflects a pressing reality: in 2019, when the previous group of MEPs assumed office, 131 million people needed humanitarian aid. Today, that number has risen to 308 million due to conflicts, climate crises, and economic challenges.   “Reducing long-term development funding to places like Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali or Myanmar at this time is not a good way to save money. Providing aid today is more effective than having to address spiralling humanitarian needs tomorrow.   In Burkina Faso, for example, NRC has worked with communities that relied on trucks delivering potable water supply for several years before finding a durable solution. Even though water-trucking is essential in some emergency settings to save lives, in the context of protracted crises such as the Central Sahel, investment into solar-powered boreholes is better to allow for sustainable and dignified support to people in need.   “Cutting off a lifeline to millions of people will have a direct and disproportionately large impact, with the consequences being far more costly if these fragile situations spiral into deeper or prolonged crises.   “A policy disconnect is looming. Europeans are committed to providing aid, while European lawmakers are focused on reducing it. MEPs have a rare chance to bridge this divide and represent their citizens by advocating for and approving an increased humanitarian and development aid budget. Reducing aid budgets when millions depend on them, and when Europeans support them, would be reckless policymaking.”   http://www.nrc.no/news/2024/september/european-aid/
	Tens of thousands of anti-racism protesters take to streets to counter far-right rallies in UK by Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Equality Trust United Kingdom (UK)   June 2025   UK Social Security Plans Will Harm People With Disabilities - Proposed Benefit Cuts Will Worsen Poverty and Undermine Rights. (Human Rights Watch, agencies)   The United Kingdom government has just published draft legislation seeking to “reform” key disability-related aspects of its complex social security system. While the government claims its moves “will protect the most vulnerable,” in reality its plans to cut £4.5 billion in disability-linked benefits by 2030 will have a devastating impact on people’s rights.   The bill proposes freezing, until 2030, the amount of additional health-related support for people with qualifying health conditions or disabilities as part of their Universal Credit payments, the UK’s main social security program. New claimants will only receive half the health-related amount (although the standard component of Universal Credit payments, that all recipients get, will go up). The bill also seeks to freeze rates of an older benefit that supports people who have limited capability for work because of qualifying health conditions or disability.   The bill would also raise eligibility barriers for the daily care component of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a key disability-linked benefit. The current qualifying test for PIP—already considered inhumane and degrading because of how it quantifies people’s ability to perform daily tasks like dressing, using the toilet, bathing, and preparing food—will be further tightened if this bill becomes law.   The government’s own analysis shows that up to 800,000 people will no longer be eligible to receive PIP and that the changes could lead to 200,000 more people (50,000 of them children) in poverty by 2030. Organizations working on social security and disability rights, including Citizens Advice, the Disability Charities Consortium, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, have warned of the poverty the cuts will create.   Last month, the chair of the UK Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee wrote to the government asking it to delay these plans, given the risk of poverty. Earlier this week, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty and Inequality published a report recommending the government abandon the proposals. The government is proceeding anyway.   The government says it will protect those it considers to have the highest support needs, or nearing the end of their life, ensuring they do not lose their PIP eligibility and continue to receive the full health-related element of Universal Credit. But that is cold comfort to hundreds of thousands people with disabilities anxious about the impact of losing thousands of pounds a year.   Parliamentarians should reject the planned legislation, and be clear that budget savings should not come at the cost of the rights—in particular the right to social security—of people with disabilities. Human dignity must come first.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/06/21/uk-social-security-plans-will-harm-people-with-disabilities   * 27 June 2025   UK government backs down on disability benefit cuts after Labour MPs rebellion.   The United Kingdom government has backed down on the more controversial elements of its plan to slash disability and sickness benefits after a major rebellion by 126 rebel MPs, however disability advcates remain concerned..   http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/01/welfare-bill-passes-after-keir-starmer-offers-late-concession http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/disability-poverty-campaign-groups-statement-government-welfare-bill http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/disastrous-cuts-bill-that-leaves-legacy-of-distrust-and-distress-must-be-dropped/ http://appgpovertyinequality.org.uk/home-page/appg-publishes-report-on-the-disproportionate-impact-of-poverty-and-inequality-on-disabled-people/ http://www.harwichandmanningtreestandard.co.uk/news/national/25282146.scottish-government-minister-says-uk-welfare-reforms-abandoned/ http://www.gov.scot/news/uk-government-urged-to-abandon-disability-benefit-cuts/ http://www.fph.org.uk/news/fph-response-to-governments-disability-and-health-related-benefit-cuts/   Mar. 2025   Cuts to push 250,000 into poverty as living standards for the poorest under continuing assault. (Joseph Rowntree Foundtion)   Responding to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and the publication of the government’s impact assessment for their planned cuts to disability benefits, Paul Kissack, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:   “The Chancellor said today that she would not do anything to put household finances in danger, yet the government’s own assessment shows that their cuts to health related benefits risk pushing 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. This will harm people, deepening the hardship they already face.   “The Chancellor also said the world has changed, and today’s announcements places the burden of that changing world on the shoulders of those least able to bear the load – the 3.2 million families left worse off by these cuts.   “With living standards for the poorest under continuing assault, the government needs to protect people from harm with the same zeal as it attempts to build its reputation for fiscal competence.”   Key points from impact assessment:   250,000 people could be pushed into poverty, including 50,000 children; 800,000 will lose money from PIP according to the OBR, and almost half will be from reassessments; 3 million will lose money from changes to the main health element of Universal Credit, £500 a year for existing claimants, and £3,000 for new claimants; £500 million will come out of the carers benefits bill as 150,000 lose carers allowance or UC care element.   http://www.jrf.org.uk/news/cuts-to-push-250000-into-poverty-as-living-standards-for-the-poorest-under-continuing-assault http://www.jrf.org.uk/news/government-fails-to-make-moral-choice-if-cuts-rob-disabled-people-of-a-dignified-life http://www.jrf.org.uk/cost-of-living/starmers-missed-milestone-the-outlook-for-living-standards-at-the-spring-statement http://www.jrf.org.uk/social-security/guarantee-our-essentials-reforming-universal-credit-to-ensure-we-can-all-afford-the http://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2025-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications   http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/21/disability-cuts-family-labour-5bn http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/23/social-care-cuts-benefits-disability-labour-whitehall http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/06/britain-us-uk-assets-economic-disaster-labour http://neweconomics.org/2025/03/britain-is-now-following-a-developing-country-economic-model-and-we-know-where-that-leads http://www.newstatesman.com/magazine/britains-child-poverty-epidemic http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/20/study-finds-third-uk-children-living-poverty http://equalitytrust.org.uk/evidence-base/billionaire-britain-2025/ http://www.jrf.org.uk/wealth-funding-and-investment-practice/talking-about-wealth-inequality http://neweconomics.org/2025/03/austerity-is-a-false-economy http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/69837/could-it-happen-here-britain-reform-trump   7 Aug. 2024   UK: Tens of thousands of anti-racism protesters take to streets to counter far-right rallies. (Guardian news, agencies)   Tens of thousands of anti-racism protesters gathered across England and formed human shields to protect asylum centres after police warned of unrest from more than 100 far right-led rallies.   People took to the streets in towns and cities nine days after the country was shaken by the fatal stabbing of three girls in Merseyside and the far right racist rioting that followed. But there was little sign of the unrest seen over the past week.   Lawyers’ offices shut down, high street shops were boarded up, GP practices closed early and MPs were told to consider working from home as 41 of the 43 local police force areas in England and Wales braced for potential disorder.   About 6,000 riot-trained officers were drafted in to tackle the expected rallies and an estimated 30 counter-protests after immigration law firms and refugee centres were listed as potential targets in a far-right chat group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.   But instead, thousands of counter-protesters took to the streets of Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and London to protect their communities.   In Liverpool, hundreds of people formed a human shield outside a targeted church that hosts an immigration advice centre. Similar scenes were witnessed in Hackney and Walthamstow, both in east London, and Finchley in the north of the capital, as thousands of local people came together and held placards saying “we are one human race” and “unite against hate”.   Despite the fears of further far right violence, in the end counter protestors outnumbered those supporting the far right led protests. In some places counter protestors found that no one else on the other side had turned up.   A police source with knowledge of the national picture said there were believed to have been small, far right led gatherings in Durham, Blackpool, Norwich, Northampton, Sheffield and Brighton.   The source said: “It appears the swift justice being meted out to those involved in far right rioting over the last week has made people think twice. We have seen the evening pass with minimal to no violence. The law abiding public have no time for the mindless criminality we have seen, and last night proves that … We must thank our communities for standing united against wanton thuggery.”   So far 428 arrests across 26 forces have been made and more than 140 people have been charged since the riots erupted last Tuesday, but that number is expected to increase, police said.   4 Aug. 2024   Far right extremists try to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers as far right violence flares across the United Kingdom.   Some 700 far right anti-immigrant rioters gathered outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, before clashing with police. Rioters hurled bottles, chairs, sprayed fire extinguishers at police and stormed into the hotel, setting it on fire, while frightened residents were inside.   South Yorkshire police said at least 10 officers had been injured, including one who was left unconscious with a head injury.   The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the rioters: “The criminal, violent attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham is utterly appalling,” she said. “Deliberately setting fire to a building with people known to be inside".   Assistant chief constable Lindsey Butterfield said the behaviour seen had been “nothing short of disgusting”. She said: “While it was a smaller number of those in attendance who chose to commit violence and destruction, those who simply stood on and watched remain absolutely complicit in this.   “Those who choose to spread misinformation and hate online also need to take responsibility for the disgusting scenes today".   Far right rioters also gathered outside a Holiday Inn in Tamworth on Sunday evening, Staffordshire police said. Windows of the hotel were smashed with three petrol bombs used to start fires.   One officer had a suspected broken arm, the force added, calling the scenes “despicable thuggery”. Police said the disorder had ended with the crowd dispersed from outside the Holiday Inn. Officers continued to patrol the area over Sunday night. They appealed for information to help identify people who attacked the hotel and police officers.   A Staffordshire police statement said: “Police officers were faced with being attacked with petrol bombs and damage was caused to the hotel by protesters, with the lives of residents inside put at risk. Fortunately, no one inside was injured.”   Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at Freedom from Torture, said: “It’s horrific to see the scenes of violence in Rotherham and across the country targeting refugees and other minority communities.   “Make no mistake, this is no accident. This is the result of years of divisive politics, demonisation and dehumanisation. “Images of people attacking and setting fires to hotels housing refugees – men, women and children who’ve fled unimaginable violence like torture – are a stark and chilling reminder that hateful rhetoric inspires hateful acts.   “The Prime Minister is right to condemn these attacks. No-one should feel unsafe in Britain and refugees must never be singled out as targets for far-right violence and intimidation".   Rioting and disorder has continued in the wake of the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on Monday.   Axel Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused of the attack, but false claims were spread online that the suspect was an muslim asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat. In the wake of these messages, far-right protesters and extremists – guided by social media – have gathered in towns and cities across the country.   At least 100 people were arrested after violence on Saturday in Hull, Liverpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast.   In Hull, several police officers were injured, shops were looted and a library providing support for one of the most deprived communities in the country was set on fire by a far right mob.   Councillor Jack Haines of Hull city council said; “The violence we have seen on our streets is the manipulation of tragic events, an attack on our community by wanton criminals. We can’t allow a minority of mindless thugs to win".   Faith leaders across Merseyside said "too many people have sought to use the Southport tragedy to create division and hate".   Leaders from the Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh and Hindu communities, among others, issued a joint statement this afternoon.   "Division can destroy the very relationships and environment that we depend upon every day of our lives and there is no place for hate in our communities," it read. It can - and has - left communities in fear and has put people in danger.   The statement called for "community spirit" and urged people to remember that "there is far more that unites than divides us".   ‘Far-right thugs’ will be swiftly brought to justice, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vows.   The prime minister said the violent rioters targeting people because of their skin colour will be swiftly convicted, as he said “all right-minded people should condemn” the disorder.   “Be in no doubt: those who have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law,” he said. “The police will be making arrests. Individuals will be held on remand. Charges will follow. And convictions will follow. I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder.”   Speaking from Downing Street, he pledged to those feeling frightened about being targeted because of their race or religion that “this violent mob do not represent our country and we will bring them to justice”.   Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem politicians condemned the scenes of violent gangs attacking the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham in South Yorkshire where asylum seekers were housed.   At least 247 arrests were made over the weekend across England and Northern Ireland, including in London, Hartlepool, Bristol, Belfast, Southport, Hull, Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool, and some charges have been brought, with police warning of more to come once footage has been scoured.   The violence is the worst mass disorder since the 2011 riots across England, with police dealing with 47 gatherings from the far right protesters on Saturday, and nine on Sunday.   Chief constable BJ Harrington, the national lead for public order, told the Guardian: “Social media is playing a large part, we are looking at that,” he said, adding it was being used in the “incitement and encouragement”. He said: “People in foreign countries are putting out disinformation.”   Muslim leaders are warning their communities no longer feel safe, and the Home Office on Sunday offered new emergency security measures aimed at protecting mosques.   The surge in extreme right-wing activity in the past week has led to a fivefold increase in threats to Muslims, such as rape and death, and a threefold increase in hate crime incidents, according to Tell Mama, a national monitoring group. It said Muslims in Britain have been left “terrorised” by the increase in extreme right-wing activity since Monday, which is directly linked to a large increase in anti-Islamic hate crimes.   In a broadcast to the nation from No10, Starmer said those taking part, whether in person or “whipping it up online and then running away themselves”, would regret their actions.   Asked whether he thought everyone taking part in the riots were “far-right thugs”, he said: “If you target people because of the colour of their skin or their face then that is far right and I’m prepared to say so. But it doesn’t matter what apparent motivation there is. This is violence, not protest. It doesn’t matter what the motivation is.”   3 Aug. 2024   The far right has moved online, where its voice is more dangerous than ever, writes James Tapper.   Social media such as X are fuelling the growth of extremism by allowing its figureheads a platform to direct violence.   The resurgence of far-right violence in the UK is in part due to Elon Musk’s decision to allow figures such as Tommy Robinson back on to the social media platform X, researchers say.   Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and those of his ilk are not leaders in the traditional sense and the far right has no central organisation capable of directing the disorder and violence that has been seen, experts say.   Jacob Davey, director of policy and research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), said: “People have been naming the EDL [English Defence League] as key figures when the EDL actually has ceased to function as a movement.” The UK, like other parts of the world, now has “a much more decentralised extreme-right movement,” he said.   “There have been known figureheads at protests – including some avowed neo-Nazis – but there’s also this loose network that includes ­concerned local citizens and football hooligans.   “All of these people are tied together by these loose online networks, ­activated by deeply cynical influences – many outside the country – and galvanised by viral online disinformation from unknown and untrustworthy sources.”   Instead, Robinson, who is believed to have left the country earlier last week before a legal case, and other figures act as “weathermakers”, according to Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope Not Hate, the anti-fascism organisation.   They inspire people to take ad hoc local action, or spread their own misleading or false videos online about issues including migrant boats and child grooming gangs.   The killings of three young girls in Southport last week was the spark for continuing violence, fuelled by false claims that the perpetrator was a 17-year-old asylum seeker called “Ali al-Shakati” who had arrived on a boat last year.   Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff, appeared at Liverpool crown court last week, charged with murdering the three girls.   “The initial disinformation and anger was being perpetrated by individuals on X, for example, that have been previously de-platformed,” Mulhall said. “And now they’ve been re-platformed.”   In March 2018, Robinson was permanently banned from X, then known as Twitter, before being reinstated in November last year after Musk bought the platform.   On 27 July, he held a demonstration attended by more than 20,000 people in London, where he allegedly screened a documentary repeating false claims made about a Syrian refugee, against high court orders. “We hadn’t seen any significant numbers at any demonstrations since 2018,” Mulhall added.   Prof Stephan Lewandowsky of Bristol University, who is an expert in disinformation, said that social media platforms amplified far-right voices. “Facebook is an outrage machine,” he said. “It’s a serious problem and is easily solved by modifying the algorithms so that they highlight information based on quality rather than outrage.   “There’s pretty good evidence that de-platforming works. If you kick someone off a platform, their influence declines and people who were hangers-on also go elsewhere. There is some displacement – people go to other platforms. And you have to be careful not to act as a censor.”   The decentralised nature of far-right activity, which Mulhall described as “post-organisational”, makes it much harder to police and track, he said.   “We’ve been spending 24 hours a day for the last week attempting to dig down and find out who is organising these events,” he said. “And what you find is that someone sets up a Telegram channel saying something like: ‘Nottingham rising, we’ll be here at 3pm on Saturday’, and no one has any idea who that is.”   Language used by higher-profile figures such as Robinson, the actor Laurence Fox and ex-MP Andrew Bridgen, who spoke at the 27 July rally, as well as the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, is often repeated in other social networks such as Telegram and WhatsApp, Mulhall said.   Others are acting as online content creators, posting videos of vigilante activity by self-styled “migrant hunters” or “paedophile hunters”.   Alan Leggett, who calls himself Active Patriot, and Amanda Smith, known as Yorkshire Rose, have made videos outside police stations and migrant accommodation.   “One of the reasons so many ­people are angry about things like hotels housing asylum seekers is because they’re seeing this really provocative content being pumped into their timelines on a daily basis,” Mulhall said.   However, both Mulhall and Davey said that far-right activity online also needed the right conditions in the real world to flourish. “There are underlying grievances which are capitalised on by cynical actors,” Davey said. “Unemployment, the economy – there’s a lot of concern about cost of living pressures. The far right gives the easy answer – ‘the reason you haven’t had a pay rise is because of this group here’.”   The government should create a community cohesion strategy as a matter of urgency, according to Mulhall. “Multiculturalism takes work,” he said. A decline in third spaces away from home or work where people from different communities could mingle were “massively” important, he said.   “When individuals and different communities interact with each other, misinformation is harder to spread. When you play sport together, or go to the same youth clubs, boxing clubs, football clubs, or even just parks or libraries, when you hear lies about other communities, it’s more likely that they won’t believe them.”   The Guardian view on the online far right: thugs have brought devastation   The riots that have spread across the UK from Southport since Tuesday are the effect of a cocktail of anti-immigrant, far-right views mixed with lies about a traumatic news event, gulped down by violent thugs. It is hard to unpick precisely how falsehoods, including that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker, were invented and spread. But there is no doubt about the malign role of public figures including Nigel Farage. By publicly questioning whether the truth was “being withheld from us”, Mr Farage disgracefully lent credence to the incendiary notion that the authorities were concealing facts. Nor is there any question about the contribution of social media, where these dangerous ingredients were shaken and stirred.   The grim consequence is devastation. In Sunderland, a Citizens Advice office was destroyed by fire. In Liverpool, a library is a burned-out shell. In Rotherham and Hull, hotels housing asylum seekers were targeted. In Hartlepool and elsewhere, mosques were attacked. Dozens of officers have been injured and more than 100 people have been arrested. Both the extent and the explicitly racist, anti-Muslim nature of the violence have made this a terrible week like no other. As well as public buildings, the less tangible social assets of confidence and cohesion have been viciously attacked.   Ministers have queued up to warn rioters of “consequences” and “the full force of the law”. Strenuous efforts must now be made to prosecute ringleaders, and to reassure the targeted communities. But while racism is not new, and parallels can be drawn with previous riots, it would be a grave error to overlook what is novel about these events.   Ideologically motivated xenophobes have always looked to thugs to spread fear among those members of society who they wish to isolate. But experts are clear that the far right does not organise in the way that it used to. Our media landscape, which is symbiotically linked to politics, has both raised the temperature of civic life and created forums for destructive, anti-democratic impulses to coalesce in new ways.   http://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/07/anti-racism-protesters-fill-streets-of-english-cities-as-far-right-threat-recedes http://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/03/the-far-right-has-moved-online-where-its-voice-is-more-dangerous-than-ever http://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/aug/03/a-polarisation-engine-how-social-media-has-created-a-perfect-storm-for-uks-far-right-riots http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/05/the-guardian-view-on-the-riots-culpability-in-high-places http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/05/far-right-riots-legitimate-anger-racist-violence   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/08/uk-big-tech-platforms-play-an-active-role-in-fuelling-racist-violence/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/08/uk-government-must-address-root-cause-of-racism-that-plagues-our-society/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/08/we-cant-ignore-racism-and-islamophobia-fueling-riots-uk http://theconversation.com/riots-in-the-uk-online-propagandists-know-how-to-work-their-audiences-this-is-what-we-are-missing-236084 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-14/meta-shuts-crowdtangle-as-disinformation-ai-runs-rampant/104214782 http://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/ian-dunt-uk-riots-06-august-2024/104192092 http://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/04/uk/uk-riots-rotherham-southport-intl/index.html   July 2024   UK: After 14 years of conservative government: 14 million people in poverty   British Labour party wins in a landslide in the UK general election. Labour have won more than 412 out of the 650 seats in the House of Commons - the Conservatives just 121, with the Liberal Democrats securing 72 seats. (326 seats are all that a needed to form a majority government). Labour leader Keir Starmer will be the new prime minister.   June 2024   How to make this the equality election. (The Equality Trust)   This election is a chance to change the direction of the UK and take real action on our entrenched inequality. Everyone knows our system is failing, with massive profits for the richest as our public services crumble and crises of health, housing, climate, and living costs go unchecked.   Candidates will be happy to condemn the record of other parties when they ask for your vote – but are they prepared to take the action we need?   That’s why we need you to ask the difficult questions – why are billionaires able to enrich themselves? Why do our systems impoverish people? What do our politicians plan to do about it?   Stats About Our Inequality Crisis:   The UK’s severe levels of inequality enable the super rich to amass enormous resources, which harms us all. Our research shows that everyone in the UK could lead a better life if wealth and income were shared more equitably because more equal societies work better.   Since 1990, billionaires in the UK have increased their wealth by over 1160% to over £697.2 billion, and the richest 50 families in the UK held more wealth than half of the UK population, comprising 33.5 million people. But child poverty and food bank use have reached new heights in the UK, hitting record levels this year. Clearly, this wealth increase for the richest is not benefiting us.   Compared to other developed countries the UK has a very unequal distribution of income, with a Gini coefficient of 0.351. The UK has one of the highest levels of income inequality in Europe, although it is less unequal than the United States.   The UK’s democracy and economy favours the rich and powerful, with decisions made benefiting them, increasing their influence, and harming the rest of us. Privatised utilities like our water companies have extracted £72bn in dividends while dumping record amounts of raw sewage. Profits at gas companies like British Gas rose 900% in 2023. Banks made nearly £30bn in profits from interest rate hikes in the first six months of 2023. Oil and gas companies paid huge dividends while slashing investment in renewables.   Our research found that compared to the average for developed OECD countries, the consequences of the UK’s greater inequality cost us £106.2 billion yearly. Compared to the top five most equal countries, the UK’s inequality cost us £128.4 billion yearly.   The UK’s inequality is lowering everyone’s quality of life, from higher crime, worse health and mental health, and poorer educational outcomes to less trust in democracy – with this general election predicted to be our most unequal for decades. These poor outcomes make it difficult for our economy to grow or our communities to thrive.   Five key questions for every candidate:   1. Will you introduce taxes on wealth?   The wealth of the richest has been growing unsustainably at our expense. Wealth taxes are crucial to get this under control. Polls indicate 78% of the UK public supports a wealth tax on those with over £10m, and wealth taxes like this could raise over £50bn a year.   If they don’t back a wealth tax, they should at least recognise the unfairness of taxing income from work much more than the passive, unearned income from wealth – will they commit to raising taxes like Capital Gains Tax? Will they tax the rich at all?   2. Will you enact the socio-economic duty?   The socio-economic duty is part of The Equality Act (2010) which was never brought into force. It would require public bodies to adopt transparent and effective measures to address the inequalities that result from differences in occupation, education, place of residence, or social class. Trade union bodies like the GFTU believe it would help make austerity unlawful in future, and it would provide an crucial tool for governments to begin treating inequality like a crisis.   3. Will you invest in people?   Austerity, the cost of living crisis, and our structurally unequal system has hurt many people, and that hurt has been distributed very unequally. It means that many people can’t fully participate in society, holding back our economy and hurting communities. Getting the economy growing or any real change requires that the government invests in people: a social security system that at the very least covers the cost of essentials; universal access to basic services; a care system that works for everyone; and universal access to safe, affordable homes.   4. Will you take essentials into public ownership?   Privatised utilities have hiked our bills to create shareholder profits while the utilities fail. Sewage dumping, gas shortages, leaking pipes, an inefficient electricity grid, expensive and crowded transport: no wonder people overwhelmingly want to see water, gas, electricity, rail, healthcare, buses, mail and more nationalised. This would save the public billions, wipe thousands off our bills, and give us democratic control over the future of our essential services.   5. Will you make our democracy work for people?   People have no trust in politicians and faith in democracy is falling. We need to adopt a fair voting system with proportional representation, introduce strict lobbying and donation regulations, and devolve real power to the people. As well as funding and empowering local government, we need to let people participate in government by introducing peoples’ assemblies and co-production on a local level.   http://equalitytrust.org.uk/news/blog/i-want-a-more-equal-society-do-you/ http://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk/ http://equalitytrust.org.uk/category/news http://equalitytrust.org.uk/evidence-base/the-spirit-level-at-15/ http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/23/landmark-book-spirit-level-cost-inequality-fifteen-years-later-worse-labour   June 2024   14.2 million people in poverty in the UK, of which 4.2 million are children. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)   As Conservative leader Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer prepare to debate this evening, new analysis from JRF has found that alongside millions of people already in poverty, further millions are “teetering on the edge”. JRF is calling on the party leaders to set out what they will do to tackle this “stain on the moral conscience of our nation”.   3.2 million people in the UK are only £40 a week from poverty, equivalent to the entire population of Wales. This includes 700,000 children, 1.5 million working-age adults and 1.0 million pensioners. 900,000 of these are only £10 a week away (including 0.2 million children, 0.4 million working-age adults and 0.3 million pensioners). This is on top of the 14.2 million people already in poverty in the UK, of which 4.2 million are children.   It has now been almost 20 years since the last prolonged period of falling poverty. In May 2024, 7.0 million households reported that they had gone without essentials like showers, toiletries or adequate clothing in the last six months, or had gone hungry or cut or skipped meals in the last 30 days. Large numbers of people are also close to deep or very deep poverty lines, meaning they are living on incomes less than 50% or 40% of the UK average respectively.   Paul Kissack, CEO of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:   “Such high levels of hardship, with millions experiencing poverty and millions more teetering on the edge of it, are a stain on the moral conscience of our nation.   “It has been six prime ministers since this country last made sustained progress on reducing poverty. During that time we've seen a sustained rise in the number of people in deep poverty, with hardship and destitution growing even faster. Whoever is Prime Minister after July 4th must make reversing this dismal trend a priority.   “Our political leaders must be specific and ambitious about how they will tackle poverty. But so far there hasn’t been anything like the level of urgency from either Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer that we need to see. Pointing to future growth as a panacea just won’t cut it.   “Tonight’s debate is a chance for both leaders to set out their plans and demonstrate they are serious about addressing hardship. Failure to act is a political and moral choice, and one they should expect to be judged on.”   http://www.jrf.org.uk/news/politicians-must-urgently-address-relentless-reality-of-hardship-as-7-million-households http://www.jrf.org.uk/deep-poverty-and-destitution http://www.jrf.org.uk/news http://foodfoundation.org.uk/news/latest-food-insecurity-tracker-shows-millions-struggling-feed-themselves http://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/11/how-britain-became-a-food-bank-nation http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/07/infant-mortality-births-children-tory-government http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01344-8/fulltext http://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2024/jan/08/england-deaths-inequality-poverty-austerity-covid-study-public-health http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/health-inequalities-lives-cut-short http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/123915/ http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2024/06/19/the-cost-of-austerity-how-spending-cuts-led-to-190000-excess-deaths/ http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/how-labour-can-tackle-inequality/ http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/labour-can-and-should-tax-wealth/ http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/123529/5/Why-wealth-inequality-matters.pdf http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/view-all/   http://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/05/uk-poverty-levels-simply-not-acceptable-says-un-envoy-olivier-de-schutter http://www.hhrjournal.org/2023/07/uk-cost-of-living-crisis-and-food-banks-a-right-to-health-critique/ http://www.jrf.org.uk/press/jrf-annual-figures-show-unacceptable-increase-poverty http://www.jrf.org.uk/report/guarantee-our-essentials http://www.jrf.org.uk/pressroom http://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/19/uk-social-security-should-guarantee-adequate-living-standard http://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/1/1/e000097 http://equalitytrust.org.uk/news/spring-budget-2023-equality-report-card http://equalitytrust.org.uk/news/equality-trust-finds-1000-increase-billionaire-wealth   http://www.ippr.org/media-office/revealed-sickness-epidemic-creating-new-wave-of-economically-inactive-in-bad-health-blackspots http://www.ippr.org/articles/healthy-places-prosperous-lives http://www.ippr.org/media-office/next-election-is-set-to-be-most-unequal-for-over-60-years-finds-ippr http://www.ippr.org/articles/who-decides http://theconversation.com/a-single-person-on-universal-credit-now-receives-20-less-than-what-it-costs-just-to-eat-and-keep-warm-222008 http://theconversation.com/why-profits-not-pay-have-caused-the-cost-of-living-crisis-204521 http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/comment/cutting-back-on-the-investment-and-delivery-of-public-services-is-not-what-the-economy-needs-or-what-the-electorate-wants/ http://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/conservatives-are-the-political-wing-of-the-fossil-fuel-industry-as-sunak-invites-bp-and-shell-to-downing-street/ http://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/the-next-uk-government-must-defend-the-humanitarian-system/ http://www.bond.org.uk/news/   Jan. 2023   Poverty is a violation of Human Rights - Submission to UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights assessment of the United Kindom   We believe that present conditions of poverty in the UK are a violation of our human rights   This submission comes directly from 4 grassroots groups – ATD Fourth World UK, Intisaar, RAPAR and Thrive – and the communities we work in.   We provide crucial help and assistance to those experiencing violations of the rights to non-discrimination, work, social security, an adequate standard of living, and protection and assistance of the family and health. We want the voices of the people we work with to be heard by the CESCR so that it may understand the turmoil they are going through because of this failure.   We share the belief of ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), where the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has stated that “the rights to work, an adequate standard of living, housing, food, health and education, which lie at the heart of the Covenant, have a direct and immediate bearing upon the eradication of poverty.” We believe that present conditions of poverty in the UK are a violation of our human rights.   Since the 2010s, austerity has weakened the UK’s social security and public service systems to a point in which they cannot work effectively to support those that need it most in society (See submission to CESCR PSWG from Just Fair). International human rights bodies and experts have denounced measures of austerity and policies proposed by UK Governments throughout the 2010s as being contrary to the realisation of ESCR under ICESCR.   The Glasgow Centre for Population Health and University of Glasgow reports that an additional 335,000 deaths were observed across the UK due to the impact of austerity policies. The National Audit Office stated that funding for local authorities fell in real terms by 49.1% between 2010 and 2018.   Further to this, in May 2022, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that: “7 million low-income households were going without at least one essential (such as a warm home, enough food, appropriate clothing or basic toiletries) and over 2 million families were neither eating properly nor heating their home adequately,” due to impact from the Covid-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.   In March 2022, the Resolution Foundation noted that a lack of action from the UK Government on the cost-of-living crisis will see 1.3 million people pushed into poverty in 2023. We, as GRIPP, believe that this failure to alleviate and pull people out of poverty is ultimately a failure of the UK Government in respecting, protecting and fulfilling its obligations under ICESCR as we show in this report. http://bit.ly/40HK0Gg   * See various U.K. civil society organisations submissions to the UN Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights assessment of the United Kingdom: http://bit.ly/41doaKD http://www.hrw.org/news/2023/01/17/uk-submission-un-committee-economic-social-and-cultural-rights Visit the related web page
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