To my astonishment, the FCO Official Spokesman has just confirmed to me that the FCO stands by Phillip Hammond’s statement that the members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention are lay persons, and not lawyers. Even though every single one of them is an extremely distinguished lawyer.
I confess I am utterly astonished. I know there is nothing more dull than an old buffer like me droning on about falling standards in public life. But when I was in the FCO, the vast majority of colleagues would have refused to advance what is a total and outright lie, about which it cannot be argued there is an area of interpretation, doubt or nuance.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office officially states that the members of the UN Working Group are all lay people, and not lawyers. Given a chance to retract, they confirm to me that this is their official position.
I repeat again the cvs of all the Working Group.
Sètondji Adjovi (Benin, Second Vice-Chair) Adjovi, an academic and practitioner specialising in international criminal procedure and judicial reform, worked at the International Criminal Court and at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda before his appointment to the UN WGAD.
Mads Andenas (Norway, Chair and member until mid-2015) Chair of UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention until mid-2015. Has previously held positions as Director of the Centre of European Law at King’s College, University of London and Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London. Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Oslo.
Mr. José Guevara (Mexico, First Vice-Chair) Guevara is a legal academic and practitioner who focuses on Human Rights Protection and International Criminal Law. Prior to joining the WGAD, worked in the NGO sector, Mexico City’s Ombudsman’s office and in government in the area of human rights. Guevara is the recipient of the Open Society Foundation’s New Executives Fund leading the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights.
Seong-Phil Hong (Chair-Rapporteur, Republic of Korea) An expert member of the Asian Council of Jurists of the Asia Pacific Forum and legal academic, Seong-Phil Hong has specialised in the case for reparations regarding Japan’s Enforced Sex Slavery during the Second World War and accountability for human rights violations by the North Korean regime.
Vladimir Tochilovsky (Ukraine) A legal academic and practitioner whose expertise lies in international criminal justice and procedure. Tochilovsky was part of the Preparatory Committee and Commission that drafted the guidelines on criminal procedure for the International Criminal Court.
I honestly don’t know what to say, or to think, any more. When you have a government which believes it does not even have to pretend that its words and actions have even the remotest relationship to truth, I cannot conceive how society can continue to function in any direction other than fascist.
Gbenga Oduntan is Senior Lecturer in International Law, University of Kent. He offers his thoughts on the various options open to Julian Assange and the UK and Swedish governments.
“In a sense, the finding of the UN panel is binding mostly as a matter of international moral authority. Should the UK and Sweden choose to ignore the ruling, it could compromise their ability to boldly denounce other perhaps more repressive states in the future – particularly on the basis of any finding by the same UN panel. Both states have appeared over the years at the UN as champions of human rights and dissident cases, and neither has any urge to lose that cachet.”
http://nsnbc.me/2016/02/06/julian-assange-verdict-how-this-curious-episode-might-be-brought-to-an-end/
Thanks for that Macky, sadly she is right, her cyber bullies are bereft of sanity. and not much has changed here.
But I forgot my password for medialense so I could not tell her.
I tried to post the following on Medialens but don’t have an account (or cannot recall my password) so perhaps Macky would be good enough to pass it on.
“Good to know you are still posting Mary. Hope you are well. Best regards. John.”
“.. What is more disturbing is the MSM have not called him on it. Predictable complicity with the powerful but disturbing nonetheless.”
And the Opposition? What do they have to say? Labour, of course are hamstrung by Benn and his ilk. What of the Nationalists or Liberals? Or UKIP for God’s sake, if Independence has any meaning.
The FO can get away with such lies because there is no need to account to the Commons. That makes it easier for what is left of the media to get away with doing what their bosses pay them for-looking the other way. Or talking about how ‘weird’ Assange is, the principle being well established that it is OK to torture, persecute, stitch-up or slander those of whose personalities careerists disapprove.
And then there is the underlying fact that the FO enjoys the benefit of impotence-it doesn’t matter what its spokesmen say. Lying in the national interest is an old game, proverbial, but nowadays we have lying professionally, ‘because we’re good at it.’ British lies are better. Where would the bombing campaign against Serbia have gone without our sterling spin doctors? Saddam would still be in Baghdad if our Tony hadn’t given the Americans a master class in lies, deception and hypocrisy.
Blatant, outrageous lies are very fin de siecle. This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper-from a puppy in Whitehall, fresh out of Oxbridge.
Maxter
06/02/16 4:55pm
One thing both politicians and sociopaths are not is stupid. If they are aware that the Hare Psychopathy Checklist is going to be used to screen them, then they will soon learn how to circumvent it.
Kind regards,
John
Message posted as request John.
Nevermind; “Thanks for that Macky, sadly she is right, her cyber bullies are bereft of sanity. and not much has changed here.”
Her chief tormentor is now playing Mr Ultra Polite & Reasonable now that his main mission has been accomplished; he never fooled me, and he definitely doesn’t now, and all those that gave & still give succour to this odious troll by treating him/it with respect not due, as if he/it was a regular normal Poster, are just as much to blame for driving Mary away.
” all those that gave & still give succour to this odious troll by treating him/it with respect not due, as if he/it was a regular normal Poster, are just as much to blame for driving Mary away.”
Hear, Hear !
The appointment of members of the panel would appear to be made by the unochr consultative group http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/SP/Nominations/MemberCGperCouncilcycle.doc
then ratified by the President of the HCR and put to the vote in the Council – current membership at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/CurrentMembers.aspx
The wife of the current High Commissioner is Swedish, which is entirely irrelevant but I thought that I would mention it before anyone else did.
Craig
Indeed – on the subject of lies “the Foreign Secretary said what he said” is not actually a lie. “The words speak for themselves” looks like a bureaucratic way of saying “we are not going to try to back them up”
Sorry not wife, mother.
Thanks Macky. Yes, I asked for the other one, the leading racist, religionist, anti-Muslim to be given a red card, but was ignored.
”If you are really good at propaganda, you avoid outright lies.”
Also it’s important not to start believing your own propaganda. Propagandists who believe their propaganda will enter a fantasy world.
I think the Tories might actually think their bullshit lies are the truth.
Hammond’s lie was so just outrageous.
@John Goss, surely you’re not too surprised ? This is a “Free Speech Blog”, where anything goes except that even just writing the “J” word gets you on pre-moderation, which is how the Zionist Trolls managed to get the Moderation here to do their dirty work for them.
“I just had a very courteous exchange with a senior member of the working group. He declined to respond to Hammond but said “our credentials are in the public domain”. Also a strong hint to research the countries involved in the selection process. Where is Mary when we need her?”
_______________________
Is Mary the only contributor to this blog capable of doing that research? What about one of the other prolific commenters volonteering for the task? 🙂
Yes, we’re through the looking glass now. As deception is how we lay the groundwork for destroying other countries, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised when big lies are trotted out as the truth. Who will hold the liars to account – the corporate media?
When the Guardian tells us that ‘Aleppo is on the brink’ I think: On the brink of what? Being liberated from the Saudi/Turkey-supported heart-eaters and head-choppers? Bring it on!
The Syrian Arab Army is fighting for us all. For Afghanistan, and Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Ukraine, East Timor, Serbia, Congo, Iraq, Yemen and countless other places where the Empire’s shadow has fallen.
We salute the lions of Syria.
I distinctly remember an outburst of righteous anger on here a couple of weeks ago about the decision that the RAF should start military operations over Syria.
Now that it is clear that tens of thousand of Syrian refugees are either heading for, or are already at the Turkish border following heavy Russian bombing of Aleppo and its surrounding region, may we expect a similar outburst of righteous anger on here in the hours to come?
I should of course have included Palestine on that list – the regional gauleiter’s favourite punch-bag.
Mike
“We salute the lions of Syria.”
___________________
“Salute” is an unfortunate word in the Middle East context.
Are you by any chance George Galloway?
“..even just writing the “J” word gets you on pre-moderation”
________________
Are you sure, Macky? I thought that our Transatlantic Friend had proofed the opposite.
“Thanks Macky. Yes, I asked for the other one, the leading racist, religionist, anti-Muslim to be given a red card, but was ignored.”
___________________
Do those slanderous words refer to Anon1?
If so, I must remind Mr Goss that the last “commenter” to be given a red card was, in fact, one RobG.
What was his offence, I wonder?
It was a long, arduous process of corrective surgery, Mr H, but I now do indeed look exactly like George Galloway. However, as I possess a falsetto and very womanly voice I tend to keep my public appearances, if not utterances, to a minimum.
There is a course of hormone injections to rectify this embarrassing deficiency, although they are only available on the Andaman Islands. I am currently fundraising for the trip. Can I rely on your support in this matter? I salute your astute observations in this regard and wish you a speedy recovery in all departments.
GG
I note from a couple of the previous “comments” that a couple of people have been referring to Craig’s blog and to his moderators in distinctly unfavorable terms in another forum (Medialens Lifeboat or something similar).
Reminds one a little of Macky going on about CM and the moderators on Squonk (after Macky had been told off by Craig), doesn’t it?
Mike
I think my attempt at humour was better than yours. Sorry! As Sophia Kibo-Noh (a middle aged male poster pretending to be a pre-pubescent girl some of you might remember)found out after a while, verbosity is the enemy of successful humour! 🙂
Indubitably, Miss H. I defer to your anathematising of sesquipedalian proclivities.
I have not laughed so much I have lately reading the comments about the Saudi deciding to send their “special forces” to Syria! The derision and the comments around the cyber space is basically telling of a disbelief at the bursars of tyranny and oppression, who have been buying African mercenaries and ordering Blackwater mercenaries from Eric Pince to send to Syria and later to Yemen, while the jets bought by the Saudi are flown by various contracted in pilots (most of the air support crew are foreign ie from the West and these are not going to sing their little heart out given the huge pay outs they get!
Despite all the generosity of these brusars of tyranny and oppression the al Saud have seen that the Yemeni fighters have brought the fing over the border into Saudi itself. This of course is going unnoticed by the oligarch owned media, and Bunkum Bullshit Corporation, that are all too busy recanting the fleeing Syrians from Aleppo. Fact that the terrorists have been for years holding these areas to ransom and are now losing their grip of their captive minions whom having seen the chaos that is befalling the terrorists have taken their chances and are away from their captors in anticipation of the shin dig to come as the Syrian forces are setting to encircle Allepo and end the reign of terror of the very terrorists that have been selling women for ten dollars a head and “marrying” eight year old girls.
This of course in the oligarch owned media sand Bunkum and Bullshit corporation is being portrayed as the relentless bombings of Russia on poor poor “moderate” opposition!!! Fact that after five years seventy five percent of the Syrians are backing their legitimate government is of no value to the presstitutes repeating their false narrative.
However as ever the proof of the pudding is in eating it, let’s see if the al Saud have the balls to confront the battle hardened warriors kicking the butt of their proxy terrorists out of Syria, also will the West be silly enough to get involved with an ex superpower that still packs a mean punch and is not the rust bucket army they had come to believe it is?
Craig wrote
“I honestly don’t know what to say, or to think, any more. When you have a government which believes it does not even have to pretend that its words and actions have even the remotest relationship to truth, I cannot conceive how society can continue to function in any direction other than fascist.”
That is the agenda to twist everyone’s minds – even yours – and I have enormous respect for you.
Sometimes it is best to ignore the insanity of the lunatics in control…and just go and dig your garden – or take your cat for a walk.
I’ve had to put up with this lunacy – alone – single handed since very early in 2003.
No one believed me..They thought I was mad…
And I see photos of Syria…The US “Representative” – says well there are no homes for the refugees to return to…We have bombed the lot to hell…
Maybe you should have done physics and maths and psychology instead of University Challenge and had the Balls to get over Your Cognitive Dissonance
But that’s up to you.
I think we are all fcked now…and its mainly because virtually no one had the courage to stand up and tell the truth…and challenge these shithead neocon psychos with facts….
Look at the state of John Kirby representing the current US Administration…in their Daily Press Conferences
He’s Off his head – and that is the Best The US have got to communicate their insanity to the World ..and our Craven politicians suck up to these evil bastards and no one even says boo.
Tony
Couldn’t agree more, FedUp. Saudi and Xe (blackwater?) UaE etc are getting their arse handed to them in Yemen. And they want to try it against the SAA, Hezbollah and Russian SU35s? Go right ahead !
Syria is where the tide is turning. Every village that’s liberated is a defeat for the Empire.
“Where is Mary when we need her?”
Where you might expect, Craig, when you have allowed the execrable bully and his entourage to get away with the bile they poured on her.
You may have noticed, too, the said bully and one of his chums calling recently for the blog to proceed with your postings only and no comment section. Maybe you can now see that such a closing down of comments would be job done for the hasbaras, for that is their game – ie, no criticism of Israel.
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“Is Mary the only contributor to this blog capable of doing that research? What about one of the other prolific commenters volonteering for the task?”
What about you volunteering for it, Hasbarakuk, since you are also one of the prolific commenters? Difficult though it might be for you, since, having once been told that you could be traced by giving links, you do not give them.
Incidentally, it is possible to take your cat for a walk if she loves you. I used to do it all the time…before we had kids and before the internet…It was usually letters to a Newspaper written at 3:00 am after I had finished shift at 11:00pm. My girl was asleep in bed and had to get up at 6:00am to go to work.
The next week we would be in tune..working the same early shift.
They did publish my letters – even The Daily Mail.
I used my own name and address.
Tony
“What about you volunteering for it,)?”
That’s like asking the heckler to get up on stage and show how Stand-up is done. Audiences would rather stand in line at the postal office.