As the Referendum on Scottish Independence has got closer, the words “solidarity” and “self- determination” have come into my head time and time again. I guess like many on the Left in England, for a long time I reckoned my commitment to principle of self-determination meant that I should hold back. Surely, I thought, independence was a matter for people in Scotland to decide, not something for …
Nobody can fail to have been affected by the TV images that we have seen of Yazidis stranded without shelter on Mount Sinjar in Northern Iraq. The brutal persecution of Yezidis, Christians, Shia Turkmen and other minorities by The Islamic State Group (formerly known as ISIS) is nothing short of horrific. So too is the totalitarian rule they are imposing on the areas they currently control. A …
Responding to the expiry of the ceasefire on the 8 August 2014 Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Britain-Palestine Richard Burden MP said: “The expiry of the latest ceasefire means that civilians will once again be those who will suffer most. Those in Israel will again take to shelters from rockets, and those in Gaza will again have nowhere to go which is safe from missiles and …
Richard Burden MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Britain-Palestine sets out what the international community must to do to stop carnage continuing in Gaza.
On 17 July 2014 there was a backbench debate on the current situation in the Middle East in the House of Commons. Given the number of constituents who have written to me about what is is going on in Gaza I wanted to share the speech I gave that afternoon.
Richard Burden MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Britain - Palestine, responding to the news of Scarlett Johansson's resignation as a Global Ambassador for Oxfam, said:
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.