Star lawyer Amal Clooney has decided to leave his role as the British government’s special envoy for press freedom.
She got the role in April last year, and the purpose was to work for journalists to have more freedom internationally. At the time, she stated that she was proud to be able to defend journalists who with their lives’ efforts covered, among other things, corruption and war.
Now she has resigned, in protest. The Guardian writes that the star lawyer quits because of the authorities’ “sad” intention to “violate international law”.
Imagine neither child nor wife: – She changed everything
“It is sad that Britain is talking about its intention to break an international promise signed by their Prime Minister less than a year ago,” she wrote in her resignation, which was sent to Dominic Raab – the British Foreign Secretary. She has wanted to resign for a long time, but waited until she had spoken to the Foreign Minister directly.
She believes she can not encourage other nations to respect international law when Britain does not do it itself. The case she is referring to is about Brexit.
“Now that I have spoken to you and have not got any impression that you are going to turn the issue around, I have no choice but to resign,” Clooney wrote in the letter.
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Complex
The situation is complex, but the procedure is as follows: On Monday night, the lower house gave its preliminary approval to the controversial bill that is contrary to the Brexit agreement. With that, they cleared the way for four days of critical review of the bill’s text during this and next week. After that, the bill is finally passed or voted down.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the bill was a safety net against what he claimed were threats from the EU to impede normal trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The United Kingdom left the EU in January, but is still subject to EU rules for a transitional period ending on 31 December.
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An important element of the Brexit agreement is the clauses that ensure an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in order to preserve the peace agreement. When the UK leaves the EU, this border will be the only national border between the UK and the EU.
In order to ensure smooth cross-border trade, goods arriving in Northern Ireland and passing on to the Republic of the South were to be treated in accordance with EU customs rules. What was not to be resold was to be treated according to British rules.
Northern Ireland also had to follow certain EU rules to ensure the smooth flow of food, livestock and industrial goods across the Irish border. A joint British-European committee was to oversee the whole thing and resolve any disputes.
Now Amal Clooney is in Norway
So now the British have put this scheme in danger with a new bill. This allows British ministers to decide certain issues on trade between the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland on their own.
The EU has rejected the allegations as nonsense and warned Johnson that he must comply with the commitments he himself made in the Brexit agreement last year to remove controversial parts of the new bill by the end of September. The British government admits that the bill violates international law, but calls it an insurance in case the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.
Now you can go on a date with the Clooney couple
Criticism from party colleagues
It went hot during Monday’s debate in the House of Commons, echoing the years of political tug-of-war that followed the referendum in 2016 where a narrow majority said yes to leaving the EU.
Several of Johnson’s own conservative party colleagues were concerned about violating international law. Former Minister of Finance Sajid Javid and former government lawyer Geoffrey Cox were among the parliamentarians who have said in advance that they will not support the bill as it currently stands.
All the country’s prime ministers who are still alive – John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May from the Conservative Party, and Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from the Labor Party, have warned that Britain’s global reputation could be destroyed.
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