Date: September 22, 2012
To: Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, ICC Prosecutor
Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
International Criminal Court
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
E-Mail: otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int
Subject: Austerity deaths of sick and disabled people in the U.K.
Dear Mrs. Bensouda,
I am a 56-year-old Disability Studies specialist from Montreal, Canada who has been reporting frequently for the past year to the United Nations on the crisis for the United Kingdom’s sick and disabled. Austerity measures, consisting of draconian welfare reforms and “sham” means-testing (Atos Healthcare U.K. and the Department for Work and Pensions) are ostensibly to blame for their plight—with disability hate crime and inflammatory media attacks factored into this mix.
I have a plethora of evidence but for the purpose of brevity, see:
1) Early day motion 295 http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/295
2) The attached British Medical Journal Article by Dr. Margaret McCartney.
3) http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/04/32-die-a-week-after-failing-in.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
4) http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/22/epileptic-colin-traynor-29-had-massive-seizure-and-died-3-months-after-dwpatos-fit-for-work-ruling-michael-meacher-mp/
5) http://www.twitlonger.com/show/jcsufp
6) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/15/austerity-measures-uk-a-thousand-cuts_n_1670711.html
7) https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4DDIATl4FpJS1dNWEVHTkUzWXc
8) https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4DDIATl4FpJdktNYi1HOTM5S3M
9) http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/08/leveson-willful-blindness-disabled-people
10) http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/aug/14/disability-hate-crime-increase-reported-incidents-data
11) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/14/disability-hate-crime-benefit-scrounger-abuse?intcmp=239
12) http://www.scope.org.uk/sites/default/files/pdfs/Campaigns_policy/Scope_Hate_Crime_Report.pdf
13) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yRaBth9w6Q
14) http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/22/paralysed-teenager-on-life-support-since-birth-told-to-attend-dwpatos-work-capability-assessment-or-lose-his-benefits/
15) http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/22/disabled-people-collateral-damage-in-the-governments-austerity-war/
16) http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/22/atos-scandal-victims-speak-to-the-scottish-daily-record/
17) http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/22/disabled-people-are-being-unfairly-targeted-in-what-amounts-to-collective-punishment-prohibited-under-1949-geneva-conventions/
18)http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120904/halltext/120904h0001.htm#12090423000002
19) Please note the comments of MP Dame Anne Begg in item #18.
I am interested in filing an ICC complaint against several British Ministers—namely, Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling, and Maria Miller for their role in the draconian welfare reforms and the resultant deaths of their society’s most vulnerable.
My questions are as follows: Are austerity deaths of the sick and disabled in the U.K. considered a crime against humanity by the ICC? Would the UNCRPD be taken into consideration by the court?
I am aware of a submission to the ICC by psychologists Olga and Tanya Yeritsidou regarding a request for a Greek austerity trial at the Hague—so there appears to be precedent in this matter. Based on the preliminary evidence that I have submitted with this letter, do you believe that the sick and disabled of Britain have a justiciable ICC case?
I look forward to hearing from you at the earliest possible convenience. My personal information is on file with the UN CRPD Secretary, Jorge Araya. My street address follows below.
Best wishes.
Samuel Miller.
–
Samuel Miller
E-Mail: disabilityinliterature@gmail.com
Blog: Hephaestus: Disability Studies
http://illnessandcivilization.blogspot.com/
Blog: My Disability Studies Blackboard
http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7
(Montreal, Canada)
