LONDON (March 15): United Kingdom Civil Servants are threatening
Ministers with legal action over concerns that senior Home Office staff could be in breach of international
law if they implement the Government’s Rwanda deportation legislation.
The FDA union, which represents senior Civil Servants, has warned its members could be in violation of the Civil Service Code — and open to possible prosecution — if they followed a Minister’s demands to ignore a deportation ban on asylum seekers from the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg.
It has sent a pre-action legal letter to Home Secretary, James Cleverly (pictured), calling for clarity, with a request to either amend the legislation or change the Code.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill states that it is for Ministers to decide whether to comply with decisions by the European Court to temporarily halt a deportation.
“The concern of the FDA and many of its members is that if Ministers instruct Civil Servants not to comply with an interim measures indication, they will be putting the UK in breach of international law,” the letter said.
The Government is expected to try to get the first flights off the ground before the end of the month, with people who have been refused asylum offered thousands of pounds to move to Rwanda voluntarily.
The proposals, which are separate from the main scheme and are understood to have been agreed with Rwanda, are designed to remove people who have no legal right to stay in the UK, but cannot be returned to their home country.
It will be aimed at individuals who do not have an outstanding asylum claim and are in a position to be relocated swiftly.
An intervention by a Strasbourg judge last June stopped the only attempted deportation flight from taking off for Rwanda.
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Call for new Department to lead Civil Service
LONDON (March 14): A report by the United Kingdom’s Institute for Government states the bureaucracy has failed successive Prime Ministers and calls for a new Department for the Civil Service (DCS).
The report, Power with Purpose, says the DCS would “take on the leadership, management and capability of the Civil Service”, including the teams responsible for setting and enforcing functional standards of practice, Civil Service talent, learning and development, and modernisation and reform.
The report says the Institute was usually the first to urge caution around such machinery of Government changes as "they can be disruptive and distracting…but we have concluded that the current structure inhibits effective delivery of Government priorities”.
The report recommends the creation of a senior First Secretary of State with Ministerial responsibility for the Civil Service to lead the new Department, replacing the role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
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AI’s fake news ‘threat to democracy’
SEOUL (March 19): Launching South Korea’s Summit for Democracy, President Yoon Suk Yeol has described fake news and disinformation based on AI and digital technology as threats to democracy.
Meanwhile, some officials attending the global summit accused Russia and China of conducting malicious propaganda campaigns.
Mr Yoon said countries had a duty to share experiences and wisdom so that artificial intelligence and technology could be employed to promote democracy.
"Fake news and disinformation based on artificial intelligence and digital technology not only violates individual freedom and human rights, but also threatens democratic systems," Mr Yoon said.
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Controversial Israeli official in row over tweets
JERUSALEM (March 19): The official spokesperson for the Israeli Government, Eylon Levy, has been suspended, the Office of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu says.
The reason for the suspension was not stated, although Israeli media speculated that Mr Levy had overstepped the line in responding to a tweet by British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron concerning humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The official was in the news a few weeks ago when the wife of the Prime Minister, Sara Netanyahu, tried to have him sacked for taking part in the judicial reform protests before the Israel-Hamas War.
This sparked outrage among both supporters and opponents of the Government at the time, but Mr Levy kept his job. Now, it seems, those who wanted him to go may have got their way.
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Finns hit back over Russian migrant push
HELSINKI (March 20): Finland’s Ministry of the Interior has drafted a Bill that would allow the Government to deny entry to asylum seekers and restrict the reception of asylum applications in circumstances where it is necessary to combat external attempts to influence the country.
Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo said Russia had orchestrated a flow of migrants to the Finnish border, effectively utilising asylum seekers and migrants seeking a better life to undermine national security and public order.
Ministers and senior Public Servants have acknowledged the Bill could come into conflict with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Head of Legal Affairs at the Border Guard Department of the Ministry of the Interior, Sanna Palo said the move was challenging legislatively, but that international treaties concerning the right to seek asylum were established at a time when no State was abusing them.
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Governor defiant over Argentine pay rises
BUENOS AIRES (March 19): The Governor of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires has announced a 13.5 per cent pay rise for State teachers, police officers and public employees in the capital.
The move, by Axel Kicillof, is in defiance of President Javeir Milei’s cost-cutting plans.
The Governor, who belongs to the Opposition Peronist Party, also announced an increase of 110 per cent in ordinary and extraordinary family allowances, a move that will benefit more than 100,000 families, and a 46 per cent increase in minimum retirement pension and non-contributory payments.
"We are making a great effort to protect the incomes of the people of Buenos Aires Province in the face of the inflation caused by the national Government's economic program," Mr Kicillof said.
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Security law targets new offences
HONG KONG (March 19): The Hong Kong Government has fast-tracked a new security law which targets new offences like external interference and insurrection, with penalties including life sentences.
The legislation was rushed through the pro-Beijing Legislative Council in less than two weeks, authorities saying it was necessary for stability. However, critics fear a further erosion of civil liberties.
Titled Article 23, the legislation expands on the controversial National Security Law imposed by China earlier.
Chief Executive, John Lee said Article 23 was also necessary to guard against "potential sabotage and undercurrents that try to create trouble, particularly ideas of an independent Hong Kong".
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Officials in bid to stem Haitian violence
PORT-AU-PRINCE (March 20): Senior Haitian Public Servants and politicians are struggling to put together a Transitional Council to govern the island nation until elections can be held and a proper Government formed.
Haiti has been rocked by a surge of unrest since February when armed gangs raided a prison, releasing thousands of inmates and demanding interim Prime Minister, Ariel Henry resign.
Mr Henry has agreed to step down and allow the formation of a provisional Government, but negotiations have been slow despite pressure from neighbouring Caribbean countries and the United States.
At present the gangs seem to be the only authority in Haiti with police stations, power stations, public buildings and facilities attacked and looted, and bodies left strewn in the streets.
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Prosecutor blocks journalist’s release
KINSHASA (March 19): The State Prosecutor in the Democratic Republic of Congo has appealed against the six months sentence imposed on freelance journalist, Stanis Bujakera for spreading false information, barring his imminent release from prison.
Mr Bujakera was arrested in September after he reported that a prominent Congolese Opposition politician, Cherubin Okende had been murdered by Congolese military intelligence. Mr Okende's bullet-riddled body was found in his car in the capital, Kinshasa.
The journalist was finally sentenced to six months jail last week and fined 1 million Congolese francs ($A551). One of his employers paid the fine and he was expected to be released on the basis of time already served.
However, the appeal by the State Prosecutor, which had initially demanded a 20-year sentence, means Mr Bujakera could be behind bars indefinitely as the lengthy appeal process works through the courts.
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Senior Estonian officials get pay boost
TALLINN (March 17): The Ministry of Finance has announced that senior Estonian Public Servants, including the President, Parliament’s Speaker, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, are to receive pay rises of nearly 1o per cent
The three roles carry the same base monthly wage of €8,318 ($A13.696), and will now rise to just under €9,200 ($A15,148).
Many other senior Public Servants will also be getting pay raises, though in this case at around the five per cent mark.
The average gross monthly wage in Estonia for the final quarter of last year stood at €1,904 ($A3,135).
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