Thomas Probert
@thomasprobert.com
Researcher on human rights and development. Formerly @UNHumanRights. Writes slowly on the politics of human rights. Posts slower.
London • Cambridge • Pretoria • Geneva
London • Cambridge • Pretoria • Geneva
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Amazing how a few TikToks of e-bike thieves can create a completely false impression observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
‘Lawless London’ is safer than it’s been in decades
Official data suggests the capital may be safer than at any time in the past half century, comfortably beating other major cities
observer.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Amazing how a few TikToks of e-bike thieves can create a completely false impression observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Grateful to Juliana Miranda, from CELS for the UNGA 1C statement on Torture-Free Trade.
This is a human rights issue, and an export control trade issue - at the heart of it though is the prevention of torture - more action is needed from states to end the trade in tools of torture.
This is a human rights issue, and an export control trade issue - at the heart of it though is the prevention of torture - more action is needed from states to end the trade in tools of torture.
October 24, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Grateful to Juliana Miranda, from CELS for the UNGA 1C statement on Torture-Free Trade.
This is a human rights issue, and an export control trade issue - at the heart of it though is the prevention of torture - more action is needed from states to end the trade in tools of torture.
This is a human rights issue, and an export control trade issue - at the heart of it though is the prevention of torture - more action is needed from states to end the trade in tools of torture.
Reposted by Thomas Probert
I’m sorry, why are we using “critics accuse” language here? These are factually, unambiguously, extrajudicial killings. It’s not an opinion. It’s not a disputed or disputable claim.
October 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I’m sorry, why are we using “critics accuse” language here? These are factually, unambiguously, extrajudicial killings. It’s not an opinion. It’s not a disputed or disputable claim.
Excellent post from @davidallengreen.bsky.social on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match.
Underlines for me the importance of an understanding of “peaceful assembly” that incorporated sporting events.
And the importance of understanding that no limitation can be an “absolute” priority
Underlines for me the importance of an understanding of “peaceful assembly” that incorporated sporting events.
And the importance of understanding that no limitation can be an “absolute” priority
October 21, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Excellent post from @davidallengreen.bsky.social on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match.
Underlines for me the importance of an understanding of “peaceful assembly” that incorporated sporting events.
And the importance of understanding that no limitation can be an “absolute” priority
Underlines for me the importance of an understanding of “peaceful assembly” that incorporated sporting events.
And the importance of understanding that no limitation can be an “absolute” priority
Reposted by Thomas Probert
NEW
Either public safety is an absolute priority at sporting events or it is not.
Reflections on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match
By me
emptycity.substack.com/p/either-pub...
Either public safety is an absolute priority at sporting events or it is not.
Reflections on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match
By me
emptycity.substack.com/p/either-pub...
Either public safety is an absolute priority at sporting events or it is not.
Reflections on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match
emptycity.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 8:54 AM
NEW
Either public safety is an absolute priority at sporting events or it is not.
Reflections on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match
By me
emptycity.substack.com/p/either-pub...
Either public safety is an absolute priority at sporting events or it is not.
Reflections on the Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv match
By me
emptycity.substack.com/p/either-pub...
Very exciting to have unboxed these earlier. Available in hard copy from next week - so do reach out to your libraries or departments to get it on their shelves, but all of the chapters are available online from @oxfordacademic.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
#PeacefulProtest
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
#PeacefulProtest
October 17, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Very exciting to have unboxed these earlier. Available in hard copy from next week - so do reach out to your libraries or departments to get it on their shelves, but all of the chapters are available online from @oxfordacademic.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
#PeacefulProtest
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
#PeacefulProtest
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Thanks to everyone who came and supported our first seminar of the series on #AlgorithmicGovernance last night. There are still tickets available for the forthcoming seminars. Register here: shorturl.at/l2GPO
October 16, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Thanks to everyone who came and supported our first seminar of the series on #AlgorithmicGovernance last night. There are still tickets available for the forthcoming seminars. Register here: shorturl.at/l2GPO
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Au Burkina Faso, deux journalistes et trois magistrats « enlevés » ou « portés disparus »
Au Burkina Faso, deux journalistes et trois magistrats « enlevés » ou « portés disparus »
La junte du capitaine Ibrahim Traoré est régulièrement accusée de réprimer des personnalités considérées comme hostiles, certaines étant mobilisées de force pour combattre les djihadistes.
www.lemonde.fr
October 14, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Au Burkina Faso, deux journalistes et trois magistrats « enlevés » ou « portés disparus »
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Restitution row: how Nigeria’s new home for the Benin bronzes ended up with clay replicas
Restitution row: how Nigeria’s new home for the Benin bronzes ended up with clay replicas
The public display of artefacts looted by British colonial forces at the new Museum of West African Art was supposed to be the crowning glory of a decades-long restitution effort. What went wrong?
www.theguardian.com
October 12, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Restitution row: how Nigeria’s new home for the Benin bronzes ended up with clay replicas
Reposted by Thomas Probert
✍ 7TH EDITION OF DRAW ME THE ABOLITION : REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN ! ✍
To mark the 23rd World Day Against the Death Penalty, young people from around the world are invited every three years to take part in the international graphic poster competition ‘Draw Me Abolition’.
@afd-france.bsky.social
To mark the 23rd World Day Against the Death Penalty, young people from around the world are invited every three years to take part in the international graphic poster competition ‘Draw Me Abolition’.
@afd-france.bsky.social
October 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
✍ 7TH EDITION OF DRAW ME THE ABOLITION : REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN ! ✍
To mark the 23rd World Day Against the Death Penalty, young people from around the world are invited every three years to take part in the international graphic poster competition ‘Draw Me Abolition’.
@afd-france.bsky.social
To mark the 23rd World Day Against the Death Penalty, young people from around the world are invited every three years to take part in the international graphic poster competition ‘Draw Me Abolition’.
@afd-france.bsky.social
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Another important statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture in favour of a new global treaty to regulate the trade in law enforcement equipment
#Torture-FreeTrade
#Torture-FreeTrade
Torture weapons are being used on Europe's streets to put down protests
Torture weapons are being used on Europe's streets to put down protests
Rubber bullets, chemical substances, experimental acoustic weapons have been used recently by various police on Europe's streets against peaceful protests, writes the UN special rapporteur on torture.
euobserver.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Another important statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture in favour of a new global treaty to regulate the trade in law enforcement equipment
#Torture-FreeTrade
#Torture-FreeTrade
Another important statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture in favour of a new global treaty to regulate the trade in law enforcement equipment
#Torture-FreeTrade
#Torture-FreeTrade
Torture weapons are being used on Europe's streets to put down protests
Torture weapons are being used on Europe's streets to put down protests
Rubber bullets, chemical substances, experimental acoustic weapons have been used recently by various police on Europe's streets against peaceful protests, writes the UN special rapporteur on torture.
euobserver.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Another important statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture in favour of a new global treaty to regulate the trade in law enforcement equipment
#Torture-FreeTrade
#Torture-FreeTrade
Always a pleasure to listen to Albie Sachs, this evening in conversation with @abbottkingsley.bsky.social at the @icws-sas.bsky.social
His passion for the struggle is infectious, and we were delighted that he contributed a moving dedication at the start of our Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly
His passion for the struggle is infectious, and we were delighted that he contributed a moving dedication at the start of our Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly
October 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Always a pleasure to listen to Albie Sachs, this evening in conversation with @abbottkingsley.bsky.social at the @icws-sas.bsky.social
His passion for the struggle is infectious, and we were delighted that he contributed a moving dedication at the start of our Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly
His passion for the struggle is infectious, and we were delighted that he contributed a moving dedication at the start of our Oxford Handbook of Peaceful Assembly
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Some people here love to dismiss ‘sportsball’ but S. African teams being banned from international competition was an important factor in ending Apartheid because it made their crimes real for non-political folk.
It appears that there is an increasingly high chance Israel will be banned next week from UEFA due to its genocide in Gaza, which would in turn effectively end its hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.
I have heard this independently confirmed from another source.
www.thetimes.com/article/11e9...
I have heard this independently confirmed from another source.
www.thetimes.com/article/11e9...
September 25, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Some people here love to dismiss ‘sportsball’ but S. African teams being banned from international competition was an important factor in ending Apartheid because it made their crimes real for non-political folk.
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
September 23, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
Reposted by Thomas Probert
CPS guidance is here. Includes section on ECHR Freedom of Expression. www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidan...
September 17, 2025 at 1:53 PM
CPS guidance is here. Includes section on ECHR Freedom of Expression. www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidan...
Reposted by Thomas Probert
“We believe the progress states have made in their discussions means that the international community can now move to negotiating a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems” – our Policy Manager @elizabethminor.bsky.social takes the floor at #CCWUN
September 1, 2025 at 10:44 AM
“We believe the progress states have made in their discussions means that the international community can now move to negotiating a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems” – our Policy Manager @elizabethminor.bsky.social takes the floor at #CCWUN
Reposted by Thomas Probert
Not sure I agree with @chrisgiles.ft.com over the delay of tax rises - especially if it implies delay in spending on improving services - but overall this is a much better analysis of the UK's fiscal state than most of the rest you'll read
September 2, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Not sure I agree with @chrisgiles.ft.com over the delay of tax rises - especially if it implies delay in spending on improving services - but overall this is a much better analysis of the UK's fiscal state than most of the rest you'll read
Reposted by Thomas Probert
I go. I try. And I will keep trying, even though it feels like a losing battle. Because I remember the whole point of the far-right astroturfing of social media is to make it feel like a losing battle, to make us give up.
Anyway, a few snippets on small boat crossings and immigration.
Anyway, a few snippets on small boat crossings and immigration.
August 26, 2025 at 8:01 AM
I go. I try. And I will keep trying, even though it feels like a losing battle. Because I remember the whole point of the far-right astroturfing of social media is to make it feel like a losing battle, to make us give up.
Anyway, a few snippets on small boat crossings and immigration.
Anyway, a few snippets on small boat crossings and immigration.
This is a very lengthy piece, but a very interesting journey…
‘The CPS got the result it wanted, at enormous cost, but it failed to get Marten and Gordon to accept the legitimacy of the court, or to acknowledge responsibility for what happened.’
Clair Wills reports from the trials of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Clair Wills reports from the trials of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Clair Wills · The Price of Safety: Constance Marten’s Defiance
The trials of Constance Marten and Mark Gordon were held to determine their criminal responsibility for their daughter...
www.lrb.co.uk
August 16, 2025 at 11:55 AM
This is a very lengthy piece, but a very interesting journey…
Using draconian penalties from broadly-cast counter-terrorism legislation to restrict basic protest rights? We should know by now where this leads
‘This is lawfare’: Kenya ‘weaponising the law’ to silence critics and protesters
Those swept up in mass arrests of demonstrators in July faced punitive bail terms and draconian charges under terrorism laws
www.theguardian.com
August 8, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Using draconian penalties from broadly-cast counter-terrorism legislation to restrict basic protest rights? We should know by now where this leads
Reposted by Thomas Probert
📢 Last week the EU expanded its pioneering Anti-Torture Regulation, adding more equipment used for torture and other ill-treatment to the trade ban and control lists – a key move to protect detainees, protesters and human rights defenders.
EU: Welcome changes to the EU’s Anti-Torture Regulation should inspire more ambitious global efforts against torture – European Institutions Office
On 31 July, the European Union (EU) extended the scope of goods covered by its pioneering Anti-Torture Regulation, strengthening its region-wide measures preventing the transfer of law enforcement equ...
www.amnesty.eu
August 5, 2025 at 12:28 PM
📢 Last week the EU expanded its pioneering Anti-Torture Regulation, adding more equipment used for torture and other ill-treatment to the trade ban and control lists – a key move to protect detainees, protesters and human rights defenders.
Reposted by Thomas Probert
🎉🇪🇺 🎉
Great news from the EU as it significantly strengthens its measures preventing the transfer of law enforcement equipment to those who would use it for torture & other ill-treatment.
🔗: omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/europea...
#torturefreetrade
Great news from the EU as it significantly strengthens its measures preventing the transfer of law enforcement equipment to those who would use it for torture & other ill-treatment.
🔗: omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/europea...
#torturefreetrade
July 31, 2025 at 3:39 PM
🎉🇪🇺 🎉
Great news from the EU as it significantly strengthens its measures preventing the transfer of law enforcement equipment to those who would use it for torture & other ill-treatment.
🔗: omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/europea...
#torturefreetrade
Great news from the EU as it significantly strengthens its measures preventing the transfer of law enforcement equipment to those who would use it for torture & other ill-treatment.
🔗: omegaresearchfoundation.org/news/europea...
#torturefreetrade
Reposted by Thomas Probert
The arrest of Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri in Germany, wanted by the ICC, marks a significant step toward accountability for grave international crimes in Libya. Authorities should transfer him to the Hague without delay. www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...
Joint Statement: Arrest of El Hishri in Germany a Breakthrough for International Justice
States must ensure prompt surrender of suspects and full cooperation with the ICC’s Libya investigation
www.hrw.org
July 31, 2025 at 4:27 PM
The arrest of Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri in Germany, wanted by the ICC, marks a significant step toward accountability for grave international crimes in Libya. Authorities should transfer him to the Hague without delay. www.hrw.org/news/2025/07...