{"id":9844,"date":"2016-09-14T12:27:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T11:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=9844"},"modified":"2016-09-15T13:41:57","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T12:41:57","slug":"our-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=9844","title":{"rendered":"Our humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Speaking in support of a motion calling on the trade union movement to defend the Human Rights Act, Unite director of legal services\u00c2\u00a0Howard Beckett highlighted today (September 14) just how important the Act is.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe principles of collective rights, the protection from enforced slavery, the right of assembly, the right to protest, freedom of speech, the right to belong to a trade union and yes conference the right to withdraw labour — the right to strike — are all protected by the Human Rights Act,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese are rights are so important as to be central to international law protected by the United Nations, to be integral to the Scotland Act and to be central to the Good Friday Agreement,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Beckett added.<\/p>\n

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Quoting Nelson Mandela who said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098To deny people their human rights is to deny their very humanity,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Beckett noted that the Tory government is hell-bent on doing just that.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBe in no doubt that as the Tory rabble fail to deliver to the right wing zealots the Brexit they so desire — the anti-Europe, insular, xenophobic, racist society they seek — they will look to the exit from the Human Rights Act as their succour to the right wing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Beckett warned conference.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey will seek to remove us from the Human Rights Act and claim that this is sovereignty reclaimed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\nHe argued too that the so-called Bill of Rights that the government intends to replace the Human Rights Act with \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwill have at its very heart how to defeat in the courts the very tactics my union has used with such success\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNo comrades these are our human rights, our core, our essence,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Beckett concluded. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey deserve to be protected by international law not subject to the whims of the ruling elite of government nor the privileged out of touch judiciary. We must be ready to stand with Liberty, Amnesty and others and say \u00e2\u20ac\u0098our Human Rights Act is our humanity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must protect our rights.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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