UK Athletics: Has UKA Welfare cost Declan his voluntary position with children and adults with learning disabilities? (WITH UPDATE 18/8/2018)

Utter absurdity
Seems like the world is falling into a mad insane asylum!!
-Don Collins, President of ISAF, an NGO dedicated to helping women

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population." Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).

Declan is a former physical education teacher, who has taught in one of Ireland's top schools (Glenstal Abbey). Last June he qualified as an assistant coach with UK Athletics (UKA). Since 13 June, he has been volunteering twice a week with children and adults with learning disabilities. He has only been allowed to spectate, with very minimal involvement, pending the manager's receipt yesterday of his Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate. Declan had to request an Escalation with the Metropolitan Police before finally receiving his Enhanced Certificate 77 days after UKA sent his application to the DBS for checking. (The Enhanced DBS process can take 21 days or less, according to UKA Welfare.) But the enhanced certificate Declan has received only clearly allows him to work with children because it says clearance to work with adults was "not requested". He is waiting for UKA to confirm whether or not he needs to go through the whole process again before the disability club reconvenes on 12 September after a holiday break. The club is affiliated to Special Olympics GB. There is no other club like it in the London Borough of Newham. This is Declan's Stage 1 complaint to UKA yesterday:

For the attention of UKA Complaints

David Brown
Welfare Manager
UK Athletics

Address removed for email


16 August 2018

Dear Mr Brown,

Please find attached my enhanced DBS certificate, received today. I have just spoken with Steve Gordon, UKA Welfare Administrator, who is cc'd on this email.

Please can you confirm that my DBS certificate clears me to work with adults with learning disabilities.

Please note that the position I applied for was not "Child Workforce Assistant Coach". I applied to work as a Coaching Assistant for children and adults (with learning disabilities).

Nowhere in my application did I specify children alone.

Yours sincerely,

Declan Heavey

6 August: DAY 67 UKA DBS check: Declan has to raise an Escalation with the Metropolitan Police if he wants to keep volunteering with children and adults with learning disabilities (WITH UPDATE - DAY 68 7/8/2018)

UPDATE 18 August (10.12am): UKA Welfare assures Declan that his DBS certificate clears him to work with adults with learning disabilities, even though clearance to work with adults was "not requested". We can only assume that when the disability club reconvenes on 12 September, Declan will not be told otherwise. I have just updated my previous blog post of 16 August, British Telecom: Tonight we are cut off the Internet for a record-breaking 1 1/4 hours. BT tell Declan that it will take them a minimum of 5 days to replace our hub (WITH UPDATE - DAY 3 18/8/2018). We pay BT £70 per month (£850 per year) for BT Infinity 2 fibre optic broadband. Yesterday we were cut off the internet for an unprecedented total of 3 3/4 hours. We've already been cut off the internet once this morning, and have absolutely no idea for how many hours we will be cut off the internet today, or for the next three days for that matter.

Re: Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)

Paragraph 12 of Declan's updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

12. It is important to underscore that the discriminatory surveillance suffered by the Applicant and his wife is not an isolated event. Rather, it is emblematic of a larger pattern of surveillance by law enforcement officials in the UK that has been well-documented by international and domestic human rights bodies. For example, GCHQ's Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) specialises in the "4 D's": deny, disrupt, degrade, deceive. It has been branded by the press as the spy agency's "deception unit". Though its existence was secret until 2014, JTRIG has developed a distinctive profile in the public understanding, after documents from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the unit had engaged in "dirty tricks" like deploying sexual "honey traps" designed to discredit targets, launching denial-of-service attacks to shut down Internet chat rooms, pushing veiled propaganda onto social networks and generally warping discourse online. Previous reporting on GCHQ established its focus on what it regards as political radicalism. Beyond JTRIG's targeting of Anonymous, other parts of GCHQ targeted political activists and groups deemed to be "radical", even monitoring human rights NGOs. Simon Davies, founder of the London-based Privacy International, asks: "If spying on human rights NGOs isn't off limits for GCHQ, then what is?"

Is Edward Snowden a Hero or Criminal? This is a solid documentary called #Citizenfour that may influence your thinking either way:



JOIN THE CONVERSATION #CITIZENFOUR

From My Picks:

8 May 2018: Threat to life: Updated complaint to the United Nations under Article 19 (freedom of expression) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today we are cut off the internet for a half an hour


http://churchandstate.org.uk/honorary-associates/