On 1 July the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, visited parliament to brief MPs and Peers about the work that UNESCO had carried out and its future plans for combating antisemitism. Amonst those present were APPG Against Antisemitism Chair John Mann MP, Vice-Chair Guto Bebb MP, President Lord Alderdice and long-time member and supporter Lord Beecham.
On 8 October, parliamentarians including Rt Hon Sir Eric Pickles, Wes Streeting, Tulip Siddiq and Baroness Jenny Jones together with ACC Gary Shewan and key civil servants visited Paris to meet with their counterparts and other relevant bodies in order to better understand manifestations of antisemitism in France, efforts to combat it and lessons that could be learned for Britain.
An article by Tulip Siddiq and Wes Streeting about their experience can be found here.
On Wednesday 21 October, Assistant Chief Constables Garry Shewan & Mark Hamilton together with Paul Giannasi and representatitves of the CST and Tell Mama came to brief MPs and others about work to combat hate crime. Among those parliamentarians present were Stuart Andrew MP, Catherine West MP, Yasmin Qureshi MP, Luciana Berger MP, Lord Haskel and Lord Beecham.
On 17 November, the APPG Against Antisemitism, The APPG on Digital Crime, the Digital Trust & Thesis – Fixated Risk Management held an event on The Dark Threats of Digital Crime. Speakers included Luciana Berger MP, Steve Kavanagh (Chief Constable Essex Police), Roisin Wood (Kick it Out), Liz Saville-Roberts MP (chair) Philip Allen and Dr. Frank Franaham (Theseus Risk Management) and Harry Fletcher of the Digital Trust.
Parliamentarians in attendance included Baroness Onora O’Neill, Guto Bebb MP, Baroness Hamwee and Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede.
Overview: The nature of crime is changing, moving off to online. The Head of the College of Policing recently estimated that half of all crime reported to front line police had a digital element. Digital crime can involve: fraud, identity theft, extortion, grooming, data theft, harassment, threatening behaviour, antisemitism or racism and serious abuse.
Developing technology presents huge challenges for the Police and the Criminal Justice System.
Few staff have any experience of investigating digital crime and few cases result in prosecutions. Criminals are becoming more experienced and more sophisticated. Digital crime is now widespread. The ease of access to technology offer new opportunities for criminal behaviour.
Arguably the Police are using early 20th century methods to combat early 21st century crimes. There are too few opportunities for staff to be trained and yet social media abuse is getting out of control. Parliamentarians, journalists and those in the public eye are high-risk targets whilst the public in many cases have voiced frustration at a perceived lack of action.
Highlights of the Meeting
Police: Policing urgently needs to change and meet the challenge of online crime with a coherent programme, consistent response, increased digital capacity and better trained officers and staff. Specifically, awareness of how to respond to social media abuse and knowledge of when criminal thresholds have been met is vital. New partnerships are needed to respond to the shift in the way society operates and tools required to enable the Police to determine which cases need investigating.
Academia: The scale of the digital threat must be measured.
Government: Home office crime data does not catch the extent of online crime nor do its victims receive proper support. A Digital Crime Bill is required:
-There are over 30 Acts of Parliament which cover Digital Crime, this causes confusion and needs consolidating
-It is unclear whether or not certain activities such as locating and listening to someone, publishing multiple images and posting images without permission are illegal. A Bill would clarify this.
-A Bill would ensure that training and education were mandatory.
-A Bill could clarify the responsibilities of Industry including codes of standards, safety assessments and cooperation with the Police
-A Bill could also give the Secretary of State Powers to issue guidance in respect of new developments, ensure that best quality standards are followed and that risk assessments are followed.
Industry: Industry responsibility, support and cooperation is vital.
Industry should be asked to act promptly in risk assessing and closing down abusive accounts. Social media guidelines need to be revised and Industry should establish a third sector fund for combatting abuse. Civil Society/NGOs
There is a need to educate most abusers rather than criminalise them. There is a need for support so that victims can protect themselves.
Victims: Victims must learn to move away from the idea that abuse is something they should put up with.
On 16 December, the APPG Against Antisemitism held a winter reception. Speeches were given by group chair John Mann MP, then Communities Minister Baroness Williams and Commander Dean Haydon of the Metropolitan Police.
Among those MPs that attended were:
Luciana Berger MP, James Cleverly MP, Oliver Dowden MP, Mark Durkan MP, Louise Ellman MP, Lilian Greenwood MP, Khalid Mahmood MP, Kit Malthouse MP, Matthew Offord MP, Ian Paisley MP, Tulip Siddiq MP, Ruth Smeeth MP, Cat Smith MP, Wes Streeting MP, Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, Tom Tugendhat MP, Catherine West MP, John Woodcock MP, Baroness Deech, Lord Dholakia, Lord Dubs, Lord Mendelsohn of Finchley and Lord Palmer of Childs Hill
APPG Against Antisemitism Chair, John Mann MP spoke on two panels at the Limmud conference in Birmingham about antisemitism about the work of the APPG and his efforts to combat antisemitism
On 6 January Vice-President of the Bundestag Petra Pau MdB and Deputy Speaker of the UK Parliament, and APPG Vice-President Natascha Engel MP announced a major international conference on antisemitism taking place in Berlin, in March. Vice-President Pau also met with members of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Antisemitism and Islamophobia including Khalid Mahmood MP, Naz Shah MP, Guto Bebb MP, Paul Farrelly MP and with ICCA and APPG chair John Mann MP.
Two articles about the conference are available here and here.
On 2 February, Parliamentarians including Sir Eric Pickles, Lilian Greenwood, Neil Gray and Lord Selkirk received a briefing from the Centre for Holocaust Education about its work. Specifically, the CfHE discussed research it had undertaken relating to the effectiveness of Holocaust Education and methods to improve it. There was discussion about the level of understanding of antisemitism and of what MPs and others could do to help improve teacher training about the Holocaust.
On 7 February 2016, APPG Chair John Mann MP was part of a panel event entitled “Is British Sport Antisemitic?â€. The panel discussed whether football was institutionally antisemitic and whether Jews could openly show their identity at the games, John set out the steps he had taken with the APPG to combat antisemitism in the sport. He shared a panel with amongst others Simon Johnson from the JLC and formerly of the FA and Deb Owen at the Manchester FA.
On 17th February 2016, APPG Member Andrew Percy MP and Officer Guto Bebb MP visited Brussels to meet with key stakeholders, NGOs, Politicians and others.
Specifically, the MPs met with Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator for combating Anti-Semitism to discuss joint efforts in a number of sectors. The MPs also met wuth the European Jewish Association and visited a Jewish school to discuss antisemitism in Belgium and europe more widely.
Andrew Percy later referenced the visit in a parliamentary debate.
