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US President Donald Trump Lands In UK, Faces Human Rights Protests

By Aaron Walawalkar, News and Digital Editor 3 Jun 2019
Speech

Human rights activists are poised to mount protests against US President Donald Trump as he lands in the UK on a three-day state visit.  

The President and First Lady Melania Trump touched down at Stansted Airport at 9am today (June 3) for his second UK visit in less than a year.

He is due to visit the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall as well as outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.

Protestors are due to gather today outside of Buckingham Palace and on Vauxhall Bridge, near the US Embassy, while thousands are expected to gather for the nationwide Stop Trump march tomorrow.

Amnesty International last week sent a letter to outgoing prime minister Theresa May to stand up for human rights principles in her meeting with the President.

Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s Director, said: “Within the Anglo-American relationship, we’d like to see the UK Government being far more vocal about human rights.

“Our fear is that the Government’s desperate hunger for post-Brexit trade deals with the USA could mean we end up giving a free pass to the White House as this onslaught against human rights continues.”

Campaigners from the group unfurled five brightly-coloured banners in front of the embassy which say: “Resist sexism”, “Resist racism”, “Resist hate”, “Resist cruelty” and “Resist Trump”.

https://twitter.com/AmnestyUK/status/1135485625946333185

What Human Rights Violations Is Donald Trump Accused Of?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cornstalker/

Image Credit: Flickr.

Amnesty International UK has compiled the following list of moves ‘hostile to human rights’ it has criticised President Trump’s administration for:

  1. Separating child migrants from their parents
  2. Reinstating and expanding a “global gag rule” affecting funding for international women’s health programmes
  3. Pushing ahead with a revised multi-country travel ban
  4. Saying it would formally withdraw its support for the global Arms trade Treaty
  5. Withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council and the Paris Agreement on the climate emergency
  6. Blocking the work of the International Criminal Court and withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council
  7. Making remarks apparently excusing racist violence at neo-Nazi gatherings such as Charlottesville
  8. Having no regard for serious allegations of sexual assault against a Supreme Court nominee
  9. Using phrases like “enemies of the state” to describe journalists, and limiting or cancelling altogether regular press briefings
  10. Failing to introduce wide-ranging new gun-controls laws
  11. Continuing to sell military equipment to countries with poor human rights records, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain
  12. Introducing a ban on trans people in the military
  13. Drastically reducing the number of refugees the USA would admit annually
  14. Ending “Temporary Protected Status” for over 250,000 people from El Salvador
  15. Recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
  16. Failing in any way to hold leaders of governments in Saudi Arabia, Hungary, Turkey (among others) accountable for appalling human rights records
  17. Terminating funding for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency
  18. Issuing an executive order on the US-Mexico border which allows for the forcible return of people to life-threatening situations
  19. Significantly increasing the rate of US drone strikes in Somalia and failing to acknowledge civilian casualties
  20. Failing to investigate the deaths of civilians in large-scale US-led bombing operations in Mosul and Raqqa
  21. Appointing Gina Haspel as director of the CIA
  22. Pushing thousands of asylum-seekers at the Mexico border back into Mexico
  23. Cavalierly suggesting the possible use of nuclear weapons in response to a cyber-attack in the USA and the imposition of death sentences in drugs cases
  24. Constructing the Dakota pipeline despite environmental and cultural concerns
Featured Image: Jem Collins / RightsInfo

About The Author

Aaron Walawalkar News and Digital Editor

Aaron is an NCTJ-accredited multimedia journalist focussing on human rights. His extensive reporting on rough sleeping in east London has been nominated for multiple awards. He has worked for regional and national newspapers and produced illustrations, infographics and videos for humanitarian organisation RedR UK.

Aaron is an NCTJ-accredited multimedia journalist focussing on human rights. His extensive reporting on rough sleeping in east London has been nominated for multiple awards. He has worked for regional and national newspapers and produced illustrations, infographics and videos for humanitarian organisation RedR UK.