Boris Johnson: What Is The Next Prime Minister’s Human Rights Record? – Rights Info

‘Boris Johnson has been named the new leader of the Conservative Party and the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.’

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Rigths Info, 23rd July 2019

Source: rightsinfo.org

Specialist jails aimed at stopping radicalisation are underused, say staff – The Guardian

Posted July 23rd, 2019 in Islam, news, prison officers, prisons, religious discrimination, terrorism by sally

‘Jails-within-jails designed to prevent extremists from radicalising vulnerable prisoners are undersubscribed, staff at the specialist units have told officials.’

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The Guardian, 22nd July 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Costs award overturned after judge read ‘without prejudice’ letters – Litigation Futures

‘A judge was wrong to make a costs order after viewing ‘without prejudice’ material relating to settlement discussions that was not marked “save as to costs”, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 9th July 2019

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Social housing and religion: R (Z & Anor) – Law & Religion UK

‘A non-Jewish woman, Z, had four children, including a son with autism. She was at the top of Hackney Council’s list for a four-bedroom home in the area. The co-defendant, the Agudas Israel Housing Association (AIHA), was founded in 1986 to provide social housing for Orthodox Jews in north London: it does not accept applications from anyone outside the Orthodox community. Six four-bedroom properties owned by AIHA became available but Ms Z was not allowed to apply for one of them. She sought judicial review of that refusal, arguing that it was unlawful and discriminatory for the AIHA to refuse her a home. As we noted, in R (Z & Ors) v Hackney London Borough Council & Anor [2019] EWHC 139 (Admin), a Divisional Court dismissed her claim, holding that a Jewish housing association might legitimately refuse to rent houses to those who were not Orthodox Jews. Z appealed.’

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Law & Religion UK, 5th July 2019

Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com

Christian wins appeal after being thrown off social work course – The Guardian

‘A devout Christian thrown off a university social work course after being accused of posting derogatory comments about gay and bisexual people on Facebook has won the latest round of a legal battle.’

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The Guardian, 3rd July 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Boxing beard ban is discrimination, says Sikh amateur fighter – BBC News

Posted July 2nd, 2019 in equality, health & safety, news, religious discrimination, Sikhism, sport by sally

‘A ruling that amateur fighters in Wales must be clean shaven is discriminatory, a Sikh boxer has said.’

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BBC News, 2nd July 2019

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Court of Appeal rejects challenge to lawfulness of discriminatory allocation of housing on ground of religion – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal against a Divisional Court ruling that a charitable housing association’s arrangements for allocating housing, which amount to direct discrimination on the ground of religion, were lawful.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 27th June 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Same-sex and single-parent adoption and religious discrimination: Page – Law & Religion UK

‘On 19 June 2019, the Employment Appeal Tribunal handed down two separate judgments relating to the same appellant, Mr Richard Page: Page v Lord Chancellor & Anor [2019] UKEAT 0304 18 1906 and Page v NHS Trust Development Authority [2019] UKEAT 0183 18 1906. The appeals related to Mr Page’s religious beliefs in relation to his position as a magistrate and as a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Trust, respectively; and the EAT dismissed the appeals in both cases. From the legal perspective, the two cases were not “linked” as such because there was no cross-referencing between them. However, the action taken by the Lord Chancellor’s Department resulted, indirectly, in action being instituted by the NHS, and the following note relates to both judgments.’

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Law & Religion UK, 24th June 2019

Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com

LGBT relationships and the school curriculum: a human rights analysis – UK Human Rights Blog

‘What is the scope of a school’s duty to accommodate the religion of a parent whose children attend its schools? From September 2020, it will become mandatory for “relationship education” which includes lessons about LGBT relationships to be taught in English primary schools under the Children and Social Work Act 2017. According to a petition by Muslim parents in Birmingham, however, such teaching contradicts the Islamic faith, thereby violating their freedom of religion.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 4th June 2019

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Article 9 ECHR & promotion of religious views by employees: Kuteh – Law & Religion UK

‘ In Kuteh v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust [2019] EWCA Civ 818, the Claimant was a nursing sister employed by the Trust. She was a “committed Christian”; and in March and April 2016, staff in her department told her superiors that patients had been complaining that when they were being assessed by Mrs Kuteh she had been raising matters of religion and faith with them. One patient complained that she had been asked “what she thought Easter was about”, another that he had been asked what he thought being a Christian meant and a third, about to undergo major surgery for bowel cancer, that she had told him that if he prayed to God he would have a better chance of survival. In the end, she was dismissed: she lost her claim in the Employment Tribunal and, in an unreported judgment, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the grounds for an appeal to it were unarguable and dismissed her appeal from the ET’s decision[1]. [For the detailed background, see Mrs S Kuteh v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust (England and Wales: Unfair Dismissal) [2017] UKET 2302764/2016.]’

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Law & Religion UK, 14th May 2019

Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com

Court of Appeal agrees to hear case on housing allocation policy and religion – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal a Divisional Court ruling that a housing association letting homes on the basis of religion was lawful.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 29th April 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Solicitor’s discrimination claim to continue despite Twitter campaign – Legal Futures

‘US firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison has failed to strike out an employment tribunal claim brought by a former corporate lawyer in its London office, after a tribunal found her not responsible for a friend’s Twitter campaign against it.’

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Legal Futures, 11th April 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Working on the Sabbath: City of Oxford Bus Services Ltd v Harvey – Law & Religion UK

‘In The City of Oxford Bus Services Ltd (t/a Oxford Bus Company) v Harvey [2018] UKEAT 0171 18 2112, the Company employed Mr Harvey, a Seventh Day Adventist, as a bus driver. Drivers were required to work on five out of seven days each week, including on Fridays and Saturdays but Mr Harvey, as an Adventist, was obliged to respect the Sabbath by not working between sunset on a Friday and sunset on a Saturday.’

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Law & Religion UK, 18th March 2019

Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com

Hallett tells senior lawyers to step up on discrimination – Legal Futures

‘Top women judges have called on senior lawyers to take responsibility for ensuring there is no discrimination in their organisations rather than leaving it to diversity specialists.’

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Legal Futures, 11th March 2019

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Equality watchdog to decide if Labour broke law over antisemitism – The Guardian

‘Britain’s equality watchdog is close to deciding if it will launch an inquiry into whether the Labour party’s handling of antisemitism cases complies with equalities law.’

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The Guardian, 6th March 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Antisemitic incidents in UK at record high for third year in a row – The Guardian

Posted February 7th, 2019 in Judaism, news, religious discrimination, statistics by sally

‘Jewish community leaders and politicians have condemned a third successive year with a record number of antisemitic incidents.’

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The Guardian, 7th February 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Judges reject bias claim against Jewish housing association – The Guardian

Posted February 6th, 2019 in bias, equality, housing, Judaism, news, religious discrimination by tracey

‘A row about allocation of scarce housing could be heading for the court of appeal after judges rejected a claim that a housing association broke equality laws with its policy of providing homes only to Orthodox Jews.’

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The Guardian, 6th February 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Summary: What offences may be committed if someone is shouted at or approached by another person in the street? – Crown Prosecution Service

‘This summary does not cover every eventuality but intends to outline some of the possible criminal offences that may be committed. It should not be treated as legal advice and is not meant to be an exhaustive account of this area of law.

The police are responsible for investigating an allegation that a crime has been committed. Following investigation, the decision whether to charge a person with a criminal offence lies either with the police or the CPS.

Where a series of existing offences – including harassment and public order offences – are committed, and such an offence was motivated by hostility to race or religion, or was accompanied by hostility to race or religion proximate to the commission of the offence, a separate racially or religious aggravated offence is committed attracting a greater penalty. For further details, see the CPS-published guidance on this website. For those offences not covered but where hostility or hostile motivation towards race or religion is present, or hostility or hostile motivation towards disability, sexual orientation or transgender is present, this must be treated as an aggravating factor at sentence and stated as such in open court.’

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Crown Prosecution Service, 11th January 2018

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

Offenders with Muslim names are not jailed for longer, study finds – The Guardian

Posted December 18th, 2018 in Islam, news, religious discrimination, sentencing, statistics by sally

‘Offenders who have Muslim names do not appear to be receiving unfairly long sentences from crown courts in England and Wales, according to criminology research.’

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The Guardian, 18th December 2018

Source: www.theguardian.com

Muslim takes local council to High Court because their burial rules ‘breach his human rights’ – Daily Telegraph

‘A Muslim man has taken his local council to the High Court after complaining that their burial rules are infringing on his human rights.’

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Daily Telegraph, 4th December 2018

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk