UN criticises ‘severe’ Just Stop Oil sentences
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ray Sanders
It’s not difficult to see which side Justin Rowlatt is on!
Long jail sentences handed to two Just Stop Oil climate campaigners could stifle protest, the United Nations has warned the UK government.
The protestors caused traffic gridlock after scaling the Dartford Crossing Bridge for almost 40 hours in October last year.
Morgan Trowland, 40, was jailed for three years and Marcus Decker, 34, for two years for causing a public nuisance.
In response to the UN, the government said that the right to protest is a fundamental part of the UK’s democracy but that the "law-abiding majority" must be able to go about their daily lives.
At an appeal hearing last month Lady Chief Justice, Lady Carr defended the sentences, saying they met a "legitimate" aim of deterring others from such offending. The activists were refused permission to challenge them in the Supreme Court.
The warning comes in a letter shown to BBC News, sent to the government by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, on 15 August this year.
The sentences are "significantly more severe than previous sentences imposed for this type of offending in the past," Mr Fry notes.
He says he is worried about “the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly and association”.
The letter goes on to say the new Public Order Act which came into force in July "appears to be a direct attack on the right to the freedom of peaceful assembly".
The new legislation includes measures aimed at curbing disruptive protests.
The letter sent in mid-August requested a reply within 60 days but has not received one, which the UN special rapporteur described as "troubling".
"Most countries take these letters seriously and respond," Mr Fry told BBC News. He suggested that the lack of a formal reply reflected "a general disregard for human rights concerns by the current government".
The Home Office said it had "responded" to the special rapporteur’s letter.
It said peaceful protest is a vital part of a democratic society and a long-standing tradition in the UK, provided it is done within the law.
The new legislation is designed to "clarify the definition of serious disruption and allow police to clear roads quickly", it told the BBC, and said the new legislation on protests was put in place following proper parliamentary procedure and is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0p6ll3jjgo
Much though Justin Rowlatt might stamp his little feet, I’m not quite sure a letter from a UN Special Rapporteur is even news at all. These people have no official authority whatsoever; they are just independent experts who have been asked by the UN for advice.
Rapporteurs often merely fill their reports with their own biased views. According to his CV, he has worked for the Tuvalu government for 21 years, focussing on climate issues such as loss and damage, and sustainable development. The idea that he is some sort objective, independent expert is ridiculous:
Mr. Ian Fry is an international environmental law and policy expert. His focus has primarily focussed on mitigation policies and loss and damage associated the Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol and related instruments.
Mr. Fry worked for the Tuvalu government for over 21 years and was appointed as their Ambassador for Climate Change and Environment 2015-2019.
Mr. Fry has represented the Tuvalu Government at numerous international fora including the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Commission for Sustainable Development, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations General Assembly and UN SIDS conferences.
Mr. Fry teaches part-time at the Fenner School of Environment and Society of the Australian National University. He specialises in International Environmental Policy and Environmental Law.
Mr. Fry is the Pacific Regional Representative to the United Nations for the International Council on Environmental Law, a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, a Research Associate at the Centre for Climate Policy and Law (Australian National University Law School), a member of the Australian Association for Pacific Studies, the International Studies Association and the International Association for Small Island Studies.
He has regularly attended meeting of the Friends of Human Rights and Climate Change held in the margins on UNFCCC meetings.
Mr. Fry coordinates the Least Developed Countries on matters relating to carbon markets and is currently on the Bureau of the UNFCCC. He has held the position of Vice-Chair of the Facilitative Branch of the Compliance Committee under the Kyoto Protocol and has co-chaired the Durban Forum on Capacity Building.
Mr. Fry has previously undertaken consultancy work, primarily associated with negotiations training in the context of multilateral environmental agreements. His work focuses on building the capacity of government representatives from Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island Developing States and ASEAN countries.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/specialprocedures/sr-climate-change/ian-fry
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Rowlatt will never learn or perhaps it would be fairer to say that it is not in his interests to do so. Freedom of expression does not mean freedom to disrupt.
In this context Mr Fry views are irrelevant.
Good sentences, but they are unlikely to deter the stupid members of JSO and XR.
Treating climate whingers like a protected species is and always was bound to backfire. Appeasement only makes them even more anti-social, putting it mildly.
A reasonable person would ask how does the UN have the resource to comment on relatively short jail sentences following a trial in the UK when there are more urgent issues elsewhere in the world that the UN has dismally failed to deal with for decades.
Indeed:
https://www.turbulenttimes.co.uk/news/front-page/aid-and-development-corporate-drivel/
Richard North lists the current conflicts as he dissects David Cameron’s international posturing.
Defund the UN. Halve its budget so it sacks these parasitic grifters who have never done a proper days work. The whole organisation is a wasteful swamp of parasites.
I wonder if the UN has expressed its concerns about judisprudence and sentencing in Iran?
…. or China;
…. or Russia;
…. or Hamas;
….. or the Taliban;
…. or, or, or…
The UN appointed Iran’s ambassador to the UN to be the chair of a two-day council meeting on human rights. The UN/human rights is an oxymoron.
Precisely why I focussed on theMad Mullahs.
I seem to recall a couple of people died when diverted by the disruption. Anyone deliberately disrupting transport bears a heavy responsibility – the worst ever air disaster, the B747 collision at Tenerife, wouldn’t have happened had not strike action elsewhere diverted aircraft to Tenerife and put extra pressure on the airport.
Heavy jail sentences for interfering with transport are well justified.
Another tougher who has never held a real job in his life
I am bemused as to why the police stopped the traffic at all. If they had simply allowed it to carry on as normal, then it would have completely spiked the guns of these lunatics. If one of them had fallen off then tough luck.
It might have also been tough luck had they fallen onto the windscreen of a vehicle driving below, resulting in injury or worse for the occupants. Not an easy call. Having driven almost under a man threatening to jump from a bridge over the M3 near the M25 I was grateful that he didn’t jump (he was already over the railings), although that would have been from a somewhat lesser height. I rang 999 to find there had been quite a few calls already. Surprisingly perhaps the smart motorway signs did not halt the traffic. Perhaps they think it encourages suicides if the traffic is halted, or perhaps they hadn’t been told.
Stuck in traffic driving home along the M20 I was cursing the “damn French” for causing Operation Stack for the zillionth time. Transpired it wasn’t them it was the collapse of a bridge. Terrifying to think what could have happened if I had set off about 30 seconds earlier!
https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/miracle-m20-day-bridge-came-1467705
To Ray:
Surprised it was not turned by some media into a ‘climate related’ incident.
Many infrastructures around are way beyond design life, especially in the USA.
Ironically a lot here from Roman times are still holding up!
However, one issue is spalling, especially crenelations from times when crinkly bits were in vogue. Once saw several pieces from the council offices of our market town narrowly miss some tourists. Wind, rain and and is will eventually work their magic.
“It’s not difficult to see which side Justin Rowlatt is on!”
And the UN!
I wonder how many air-miles and five-star hotels Mr Fry racks up – all expenses paid, of course – in his work? And I wonder if his efforts over many years of such arduous work changed the sea-levels around Tuvalu in any measurable way?
Tuvalu got larger under his supervision so that’s a plus.
The UN has been great for many years since WW2. However, its time is up! How to establish its replacement is deeply problematic !
Along with all the other globalist NGOs and why is any replacement necessary? One of GB News commentator has so swallowed the globalist nonsense he might be funded by the WEF. Drivelling on about ‘loss of influence’, ‘losing our standing in the international community’ etc when it was suggested it was time to leave the ECHR to control our borders. He ignored the fact of the many countries that are not tied in knots by these treaties and are not treated as pariahs.
I see that South Africa plans to leave the UN Convention on Refugees. It’s the only way to get it ameneded to something sensible.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12775147/South-Africa-plans-withdraw-conventions-restrict-immigration-send-refugees-countries-not-deemed-dangerous.html
“The UN has been great for many years since WW2.”
Wut?
It was taken over by the freedom haters decades ago.
“However, its time is up!”
It was over decades ago.
“How to establish its replacement is deeply problematic !”
Impossible! The League of Nations failed to prevent WWII. The UN has fostered conflicts worldwide. Any new international alliance will suffer the same fate. Freedom haters will use it to destroy the West. Western numbskulls will view it as a path to peace and harmony; it will be a tool of THEIR destruction.
Whilst Climate Change is the route to promotion any petty official will seize every opportunity to advance his or her credentials
Hard to show any interest in a letter from somebody who only has his job because to the global warming scam.
‘The UN has warned the UK over long sentences for two Just Stop Oil protesters’
Dr. No: Sit down. (Dent obeys) Why have you disobeyed my strictest rule and come in daylight?
Dent: I had to. Bond came to see me this morning.
Dr. No: Yes I know. I gave orders that he should be killed. Why is he still alive?
Dent: Our attempts failed.
Dr. No: Your attempts failed. I do not like failure. You are not going to fail me again, Professor.
Dent: No. I came to warn you.
Dr. No: Warn me?
Dent: Tell you.
Nature imitates art!
The UN is poison, and the UK should leave its interfering globalist agenda far behind.
The right to protest is a fundamental human right, and must remain. However, no one has a right to prevent others from going about their lawful business. These sentences are a warning to others of the correct way to behave.
Here is my comment on the Daily mail report.
The UN is a pretty useless operation, it is supposed to basically prevent wars between nations not meddle about in criticising minor local issues. It seems to be more of a political organisation now attempting to take control of individual nations. All the global warming lies are coming from the UN, the head Antonio Guterres is unelected and spouts off about” the planet is on fire and boiling” also the UN2030 plan is a political document to equalise standard of living across the world, mainly by lowering ours! The World Health Organisation (WHO) overseen by the UN want to control our reaction to the next pandemic, mandatory vaccine and lock downs. The sooner we get out the better.
I am pleased to see Police doing actual Police work and courts sentencing these ECO terrorists and I would be even happier if the JSO loonies received hefty fines as well as custodial sentences.
Justin Rowlatt’s sister is/was an active member of Insulate Britain. Runs in the family.
I agree with the UN.
These sentences are too harsh.
Unfortunately, transportation to the colonies (or even to Rwanda) for life is no longer an option.
So. we should replace incarceration with sterilisation.
Thus, the possibilities of their genes entering the gene pool, producing more humans like them, would be eliminated almost entirely.
If they didn’t like sterilisation, they could be offered imprisonment for life as an alternative.
These protesters are an anti-social blight on society.
Their goal is to take your freedom. Taking their freedom is the perfect remedy.
There was a time when the UN actively created peace between countries, Korea in the early 1950s being an example.
My limited understanding is that UN troops are still involved in Korea.
What an enormous cheek of the UN, interfering with our sovereign court processes and decisions. I’m beginning to think that the UN is a lost cause, taken o er by zeolots.
UN replaced the League of Nations as European organizer of drug cartels, which produced wars. But the America-organized UN is baldly prohibitionist and produces economic crashes which in turn cause wars–like the Hague and League before them.
I would have sentenced them to live two and three years without oil or anything derived from it.
Two or three years seems a lenient sentence to me.
Without oil products they would be dead before their two or three years were up.
It’s time the UN concentrated on the day job:
It was good to see th police actually doing what they should have been doing all along today – immediately removing protestors who laid down in Whitehall near Trafalgar Square. If they had taken that attitude from the outset these protests that obstruct traffic would long since have been abandoned as futile. The courts finally got with the programme when these two idiots were tried. Far too many of them have been let off entirely. Tougher sentences are needed where the disruptions become substantial.
Teaching kids calculus and physics instead of “Just Say No” brainwashing would empower them to see through the fraud themselves. What you are looking at is 3 decades of mindless Just Say No programming.
I agree with the UN, those sentences were shocking, they should have got 10 years each
Rowlatt doubles down on his treasonous behaviour.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6pxn4z1rqno
A line I find particularly interesting is this;
“The warning came in a letter shown to BBC News, sent to the government by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, on 15 August this year.”
So a UN official is bypassing government and covertly disclosing information to a broadcasting organisation. Hmmm, I call that seeking to pervert the cause of justice. Perhaps the UK government should be prosecuting the UN for the actions of its staff for whom it is has joint and several liability.
And surely the BBC has sufficient cause to boot out Rowlatt who regularly shares the stage with his XR buddies. They ditched Vorderman so why not him?
‘Rapporteurs’ are no longer the saintly species the BBC still presumes. Especially UN ones.
Recall when Prescott was finding ways to stay relevant he clocked up serious airmiles with his entourage checking out the 5* hotels of the Caribbean.
Ditto Vordermort whose pneumatic intrusions are matched only by her dire promotion of dodgy finance schemes.
And notice they only ditched her after handing the QT gig to have a rant the BBc wanted with guest implausible deniability.
I was so angry when I heard that the nine activists who broke the windows at HSBC with hammers and chisels were cleared of criminal damage. How can this happen?
Symbionese Liberation Army retasked?