Richard Ekins Journalist Profile

Articles

How to stop Gerry Adams's taxpayer-funded pay day

Jan 15, 2025 | spectator.co.uk | Richard Ekins

The government’s fealty to human rights law is not in doubt. Still, one might have hoped that the human rights lawyers who dominate this government – the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer KC and the Attorney General, Lord Hermer KC – would handle human rights law effectively, distinguishing weak from strong arguments and making a reasonable case for our national interest. The unfolding debacle in relation to cession of the Chagos Islands shows that this is not so.
How to stop Gerry Adams’s taxpayer-funded pay day

Jan 15, 2025 | spectator.com.au | Richard Ekins

The government’s fealty to human rights law is not in doubt. Still, one might have hoped that the human rights lawyers who dominate this government – the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer KC and the Attorney General, Lord Hermer KC – would handle human rights law effectively, distinguishing weak from strong arguments and making a reasonable case for our national interest.
Starmer’s Government has no power to arrest Netanyahu

Nov 25, 2024 | yahoo.com | Richard Ekins

The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, poses a test for the UK. Will our Government attempt to arrest Prime Minister Netanyahu? Or will it instead follow the law? The Government’s failure to make clear whether it intends to attempt to enforce the ICC arrest warrant is irresponsible and unjustifiable.
The International Criminal Court Act 2001 and State or Diplomatic Immunity - Policy Exchange

Nov 25, 2024 | policyexchange.org.uk | Richard Ekins

The Government has equivocated about whether it would attempt to enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu. This paper shows that any such attempt would be clearly unlawful. The International Criminal Court Act 2001 carefully preserves the immunity of the Head of Government of a State that is not party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC. The only exceptions are if the State waives immunity or the UN Security Council adopts a resolution.
The great flaw in the Human Rights Act

Nov 11, 2024 | spectator.com.au | Richard Ekins

Our new government’s most closely-held commitment is to the primacy of human rights law. Shortly after taking office, Keir Starmer vowed that under his leadership the UK will ‘never’ leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The great flaw in the Human Rights Act

Nov 11, 2024 | spectator.co.uk | Richard Ekins

Our new government’s most closely-held commitment is to the primacy of human rights law. Shortly after taking office, Keir Starmer vowed that under his leadership the UK will ‘never’ leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The Impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 in Twenty-Five Cases - Policy Exchange

Nov 10, 2024 | policyexchange.org.uk | Richard Ekins

This new paper for Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project shows how the Human Rights Act has had a major, negative impact on how the UK is governed – and on the way in which many important questions about public policy have been resolved. The paper contributes to the study of the impact of the Human Rights Act by picking out, from each year of the Act’s operation, one striking case that illustrates some of the problems to which the Act gives rise.
Israel is the victim of escalating international lawfare

Oct 15, 2024 | msn.com | Richard Ekins

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Israel is the victim of escalating international lawfare

Oct 15, 2024 | telegraph.co.uk | Richard Ekins

Across the course of the past year, Israel’s military action in Gaza has been the subject of repeated challenge in international courts. In late December 2023, South Africa began proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Israel had committed and was committing genocide against the Palestinians.
Handing over the Chagos Islands is a grave mistake

Oct 4, 2024 | spectator.com.au | Richard Ekins |Tom Grant

The British government’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is a profound strategic error, rooted in a misunderstanding of international law and a failure to protect the UK’s vital national interests. Surrendering sovereignty over the Islands will have a deleterious effect on British and allied interests just as international strategic competition intensifies.