The Weekly Round-up: Trump on the ballot, government defeats in the House of Lords, and abortion a constitutional right
11 March 2024
In UK news
The government has suffered defeats in the House of Lords, as the peers voted through ten amendments to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. The amendments included:
- Requiring the bill to maintain full compliance with domestic and international law
- Ensuring that Rwanda is only considered a safe county “when and as long as” arrangements provided for in the Rwanda Treaty are fully implemented and adhered to in practice (for example ensuring that asylum seekers are not sent back to the countries from which they fled).
- Allowing decision-makers, such as immigration officers, courts and tribunals to consider whether or not Rwanda is a safe country and to grant interim relief.
- Protecting victims of modern slavery from being removed to Rwanda without their consent.
Labour’s Lord Coaker, the Speaker for the Opposition, has confirmed that the House of Lords will not block the bill. Lord Coaker did acknowledge the likely outcome that the House of Commons will reject the amendments made by the House of Lords.
In international news
Parliamentarians in France have voted to amend the country’s constitution to include a “guaranteed freedom” of abortion. The measure passed in an overwhelming 780-72 vote. The change was prompted by Dobbs v Jackson’s Women’s Health Organisation, a case in which the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and so ended the right to abortion for millions of women in the USA.
The people of the Republic of Ireland have rejected proposals to “modernise” the country’s constitution. The country held a referendum to amend Article 41 of the Constitution. Article 41 provides that “mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home” and that the state shall “guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded”. The proposed changes would have substituted marriage with “durable relationships” and would have replaced the clause relating to mothers’ duties in the home with a clause recognising care provided by family members by “reason of the bonds that exist among them”.
An UN report by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict has found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 07 October attacks in Israel including rape and gang rape. A separate internal UN report has described widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees including physical and sexual violence. As the humanitarian conditions in Gaza rapidly deteriorate, countries that previously withdrew UNRWA funding, due to allegations that employees of the agency participated in the 07 October attacks, have announced that they are resuming funding. This includes the EU Commission, Sweden and Canada. In his State of the Union address President Biden has put forward a plan to build a “temporary pier” on Gaza’s coastline to distribute aid.
In the courts
The US Supreme Court has unanimously held that Colorado cannot remove Donald Trump from the ballot of the presidential elections. The Colorado Supreme Court had held that Trump was ineligible to appear on the ballot, under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which disqualifies anyone “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the federal government. Section 3 was originally enacted after the US Civil War to prevent supporters of the Confederacy from taking public office. The US Supreme Court held that only Congress, rather than individual states, can enforce Section 3. A particular consideration was the potential for “chaos” if different candidates were eligible in various states.
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