{"id":7438,"date":"2025-06-23T19:15:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T17:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/?p=7438"},"modified":"2025-06-23T19:15:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T17:15:31","slug":"civil-society-letter-to-the-uk-home-secretary-outlines-grave-concerns-over-the-decision-to-proscribe-palestine-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/civil-society-letter-to-the-uk-home-secretary-outlines-grave-concerns-over-the-decision-to-proscribe-palestine-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Society Letter to the UK Home Secretary outlines grave concerns over the decision to proscribe Palestine Action\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>London, 23<sup>rd<\/sup> June 2025<\/em>: This morning, seven legal, campaign, and Palestinian rights organisations wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, urging the Government \u201c<em>not to propose a proscription order against Palestine Action and cease using counter terrorism laws to punish and criminalise Palestine solidarity activism and advocacy<\/em>.\u201d Mere hours later, the Home Secretary released a statement, announcing her intention to proscribe the organisation.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>In the letter, the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC), Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), British Palestinian Committee (BPC), and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) describe the move as a shocking and dangerous attempt to curtail the right of protest for Palestine.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Only hours after the joint-letter was sent to the Home Secretary, she released a statement announcing her decision to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000, following the group\u2019s direct action at RAF Brize Norton.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>The letter refers to the UK\u2019s obligations under the Genocide Convention to take all measures reasonably within their powers to prevent the commission of genocide, and notes that the UK has maintained intelligence co-operation with, and arms exports including F-35 parts to, Israel despite 20 months of its war on Gaza.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>United Nations experts, leading NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and the genocide scholarship community, including genocide-focused think tanks, have all concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel is awaiting trial at the International Court of Justice for Genocide Convention violations, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against its leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Palestine Action has used non-violent direct-action tactics against sites that are connected to these very war crimes committed against Palestinians. The letter states:\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u201cRather than fulfilling its obligations under international law to prevent genocide, the Government is systematically attempting to criminalise and isolate people who demand justice for Palestinians and an end to Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide. This comes at a time when Israel is continuing its relentless bombing campaign against the displaced population of Gaza, including carrying out daily massacres of starving people gathered to collect much-needed aid.\u201d\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>Numerous Members of Parliament have already stated their opposition to the move, as have civil and human rights groups including Amnesty International and Liberty, who described the move as a \u201c<em>shocking escalation of the Government\u2019s crackdown on protest.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<br><br>The full letter can be accessed here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/elsc.support\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Letter-to-Yvette-Cooper-on-Palestine-Action-Proscription.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Contenu embarqu\u00e9 Letter to Yvette Cooper on Palestine Action Proscription.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-60c7ebdb-7c93-44fd-af51-382d9ba0ecc7\" href=\"https:\/\/elsc.support\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Letter-to-Yvette-Cooper-on-Palestine-Action-Proscription.pdf\">Letter to Yvette Cooper on Palestine Action Proscription<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/elsc.support\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Letter-to-Yvette-Cooper-on-Palestine-Action-Proscription.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-60c7ebdb-7c93-44fd-af51-382d9ba0ecc7\">Download<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven rights groups, including the ELSC, have condemned the UK Government\u2019s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a dangerous attack on the right to protest. Hours after receiving a joint letter urging restraint, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper moved forward with the ban\u2014further criminalising Palestine solidarity and deflecting from the UK\u2019s obligations under international law.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":7440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[55,30],"tags":[112,111],"test-2":[],"country":[152],"blog_categories":[],"class_list":["post-7438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","category-statements","tag-anti-palestinian-racism","tag-freedom-of-assembly","country-gb"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":55,"label":"Press Release"},{"value":30,"label":"Statement"}],"post_tag":[{"value":112,"label":"Anti-Palestinian Racism"},{"value":111,"label":"Freedom of Assembly"}],"country":[{"value":152,"label":"Britain"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/elsc.support\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Civil-Society-Letter-to-the-UK-Home-Secretary-outlines-grave-concerns-over-the-decision-to-proscribe-Palestine-Action--1024x538.png",1024,538,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Bashar","author_link":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/author\/bashar\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":55,"name":"Press Release","slug":"press-release","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":55,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Official updates shared with media or public.","parent":0,"count":77,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":55,"category_count":77,"category_description":"Official updates shared with media or public.","cat_name":"Press Release","category_nicename":"press-release","category_parent":0},{"term_id":30,"name":"Statement","slug":"statements","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":30,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Public positions, opinions, or reactions from ELSC.","parent":0,"count":34,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":30,"category_count":34,"category_description":"Public positions, opinions, or reactions from ELSC.","cat_name":"Statement","category_nicename":"statements","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":112,"name":"Anti-Palestinian Racism","slug":"anti-palestinian-racism","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":112,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"Discrimination against Palestinians","parent":0,"count":61,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":111,"name":"Freedom of Assembly","slug":"freedom-of-assembly","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":111,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":45,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7441,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7438\/revisions\/7441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7438"},{"taxonomy":"test-2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/test-2?post=7438"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=7438"},{"taxonomy":"blog_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elsc.support\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog_categories?post=7438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}