NIHRC Accused Of Neglecting Women's Rights Following Relaxation of Abortion Laws

Christian campaigners for the abortion laws said the laws gave enough rights and protection for women. But women still have the right to abort their foetus in case the child could not live a proper life because of its abnormalities. Another right they need is if the child was conceived after rape or any crime of the sort.

In Britain, we have the 1967 Abortion Act. This allows abortions for these types of cases. However, in Ireland, only if the foetus endangers the life or the mental state of the mother can it only be aborted. At any point an abortion is performed illegally, women can be arrested for life.

As a result, many Irish women seeking an aboriton travel to the United Kingdom to avoid the law.

According to Belfast Judge Justice Mark Horner, the inability to access an abortion made it a "gross interference with her personal autonomy. Meanwhile, a huge burden is placed on victims when sexual crime has conceived the foetus.

Justice Minister David Ford said the proposed change could remain in Limbo for some time.

Meanwhile, the Christian Institute Lobby Group Head Callum Webster said:

"It is heartening that the majority of MLAs have voted to uphold the sanctity of life today at Stormont.

"There has been a media campaign to undermine the legal protections afforded to our unborn children, but thankfully politicians have resisted that co-ordinated pressure."

Britain Bended The Rules To Make Real Economic Gains... On Yemeni Life

Anybody here remember the Houthi rebels from Yemen?

Warmongers speculated Iran was behind the revolutionaries that sought to oppose Yemen's Sunni rule.

Now, Yemen's government, backed by Sunni Saudi Arabia, sought help from the latter. The result is a widespread assault by Saudi Arabia by air, land and sea.

But that is expected, to be honest.

The only thing that connects Britain to the conflict is that our contractors had sold the weapons Saudi Arabia.

It's not wrong because UK contractors have a license to sell Saudi some weapons. But it's wrong because the government had not yet reviewed the activities of Saudi Arabia.

Clearly, rules are being bent for profit's sake.

Of course, we know it's profit. With Britain's own government tying contracts with defence companies, it's not a farfetched idea that the whole-new IS and international extremism agenda is swinging to their favour.

Ask the stock markets. It's actually happening.

But, sorry to disappoint fellahs, selling to Saudi Arabia may be illegal. Some highly influential people in the Campaign Against The Arms Trade (CAAT) highlighted Saudi Arabia's indisputable record when it comes to human rights violations. If the government will not review and possibly suspend the licenses, we're seeing a big issue that would define the UK's role in its entirety.

The Law Society Condemns UK Small Claims Court Limits Rise

In response to an ever-increasing premium for motorist insurance due to fraudulent soft tissue personal injuries from motor accidents, the UK Chancellor George Osborne proposed to increase the small claims court's limit from £1000 to £5000 and to abolish all soft tissue "minor" personal injuries from personal injury claims.

However, UK's Law Society criticised the Chancellor's proposals. Law Society President Jonathan Smithers said the society "is gravely concerned the proposals will undermine the right of ordinary citizens to receive full and proper compensation" due to the lack of legal advice for personal injury claims below £5000

"Personal injury claims, even lower value claims, can include serious injuries arising from the fault of an employer or other road traffic accidents where legal rights can be very complex and the injuries caused debilitating. A new limit of £5000 will mean personal injuries including facial scarring would be considered as ‘small claims’. This is totally unacceptable," Smithers added.

The Select Transport Committee (STC) also criticised the proposals as it only surveyed insurers rather than victims and insurance holders. The STC iterated the Law Society's criticism and highlighted that victims may not represent themselves properly in the small claims court without proper legal advice.

The high number of UK whiplash personal injuries receiving compensation had forced insurers to charge an extra £90 per motorist insurance premium in the United Kingdom. The industry estimates it loses £2billion from repaying fraudulent claims.

The Short-Sightedness of the UK Investigatory Powers Bill

It's not so surprising that the United Kingdom would say their Investigatory Powers Bill is timely enough for the situation. After extremists attacked Paris and several other heavily-populated cities in other countries, UK tories would say "we told you so" and would push through with their plans to snoop inside the conversations of millions of Britons nationwide.

This is all in an attempt to thwart terrorist communications, which make use of similar networks such as the Internet.

But Internet and tech companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook and others, said the plan would be a big failure because the technology itself locks out the developers from accessing sensitive information stored in their systems.

A Single Backdoor is a Backdoor For Anyone

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, a single backdoor they create in their Message App and it would be anyone's backdoor to access another person's private files. The Message App currently has no backdoor and relies on end-to-end encryption wherein the receiver of the message is the only one to read the message. Not even their servers can translate the data.

The bad news is that if Internet and tech companies feel the pressure to create these new technologies, they may end up competing in security against government-sanctioned hackers employed in the ranks to enforce the law in full, if necessary.

So What is Protecting The Rest Of Us From Spies When British MPs Aren't Even?

It would seem GCHQ's eavesdropping crimes did not only reach the civilian level, but also the MP level. British MPs believe laws protect them against spies tapping their communications, but the IPT dismisses these.

We're talking about the case of three MPs who brought forward the fact they can charge GCHQ spies of illegally tapping their communications.

It's a bit confusing I know. Wiretapping is illegal, but it's right that those three politicians were "legally" observed by spies? Confusing.

Ghost Foundations

It's like this. About four decades ago, British Minister Harold Wilson said the MI5 and MI6 cannot tap phones of members of parliament.

That sounded convincing. But it was only a statement. While considered a doctrine, the Harold Wilson statement is part of the UK's "unwritten constitution".

Think of it as a verbal agreement between two people. It's founded on trust. Clearly, the latter does not exist in this situation.

Without any basis in law, the IPT cannot use it. Therefore, there's no MP protection against spies.

False Assurances

Meanwhile, the UK government said it is not giving false assurances to its members. According to them, intelligence agencies did not interfere with their calls. They had also insisted that agencies worked in a manner that they specifically chose their targets.

I don't know what I'm writing as of the moment. All I know is surveillance is illegal and all of this does not make sense.

Legal Firms Turn To Technology and Other Means To Defeat Legal Aid Reduction

O'Garra's Solicitors have once heard cases personally. Moving with technology, websites allowed customers to send inquiry forms and receive free consultation. Now, they've developed software enabling fee-earners to take client instructions digitally and generate client letters and email the files to offices without doing legwork.

The law firm, along with other firms struggling with the UK's decreased legal aid budget focus on improving their efficiency to get more contracts while minimising resource use.

O'Garra's Solicitors and other firms face possible 'limbo' over legal aid deficits as cases and contracts continue to go down the drain.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Michael Gove thanked practitioner groups

"Thanks to the constructive dialogue that we have had with them and with [MoJ] civil servants, we are now in talks to ensure that access to justice can be enhanced and, at the same time, that the quality of advocacy improves."

The level of interest in duty contracts, including O'Garra's increased efficiency style, shows the strong urge to take on cases despite the legal aid reductions.

Meanwhile, public reaction to legal aid cuts were negative. Many said the MoJ should have had greater pressure from groups to withdraw the legal aid cuts.

Chelsea Manning Denied Legal Library Access Before Prison Hearing

Imprisoned soldier may face solitary confinement due to violations including possession of unapproved reading material and expired toothpaste. Soldier and Guardian Columnist Chelsea Manning was denied access to a prison legal library days before her prison court hearing. The hearing could result to a decision leaving her in solitary confinement.

The army will schedule a hearing on her violations at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where Manning is currently held.

Manning was the source of the vast leak of US State Secrets to WikiLeaks. A call to the US disciplinary barracks at Fort Leavenworth was not immediately returned.

American Civil Liberties Union Attorney Chase Strangio, who was handling Manning's legal dispute with the US military over her health treatment in prison as a transgender woman, said it is possible Manning was unfairly targeted.

“Chelsea has a growing voice in the public discussion,” Stangio said, “and it would not surprise me were these charges connected to who she is.”

Petitions against the military to release Manning and drop her of her charges for the reported prison infractions had earned 64,000 signatures. According to Fight for the Future Campaign Director Evan Greer:

“This is a hearing where she’s facing a disciplinary board that has the power to essentially remand her to indefinite solitary confinement,” Greer told the Guardian. “She has to face this board without her attorneys present. And now she’s being denied access to the resources to prepare a proper defence.

“Those things being denied paint a really grim picture of what it looks like the military’s trying to do to her, and should arouse suspicion from the public and from journalists.”