in the private car park in the town of noto a local mare has launched a rescue mission to transfer those visitors now stranded to more safer ground firefighters have been deployed to various districts on the merchants and control centers been set up to monitor the situation across the region. that's a global news update for this hour but don't forget you can always have to our website or to dot com for the details on all those stories and many more. join me every thursday on the elec simon show and i'll be speaking to guests of the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

time after time we're going underground as the u.n. human rights council convenes to hear a report in the u.k. racism and xenophobia fuelled by conservative liberal democrats will stare at a coming up on the show will a predicted post-breakfast house price crash and to the age of property speculation the un special rapporteur on the right to housing they learn a foreign explains why you can't afford a home of your own and is no experience really required we investigate whether tory government outsourcing and incompetence is promoting sex trafficking and slavery in 21st century britain plus within days of the shed your old one and a half 1000 for us execution since its 1976 really is ation the artist on death row who created after to prevent the color being taken from his mind all the small coming up in today's going on to grab a 1st while a fraction of a percent of british electors choose who will be britain's next prime minister it

is arguably important to remember the warnings join the u.k. leadership crisis made by the all surrounds his foreign secretary jeremy hunt on an imminent threat to democracy itself our country and our party are in peril while we've been arguing about a norway or canada. labor has been planning a venezuelan or a cuban britain arguably venezuela has been unusually important in the race for number 11 contender accused of wanting to shut the houses of parliament down mrs attributed the whole caracas assembly as he criticised a competitor i don't know what the citizens assimilate well i mean look at madeira where they went that's not championing democracy is former cabinet minister dominic rab they're suggesting that president maduro of venezuela back to the assembly of washington either supported pretender. on why do away from the tory leadership crisis venezuela is also up for discussion at today's un human rights council that

was venezuela under good chavez that instituted missions a more an integrated mass land redistribution program for the dispossessed the housing policies in one contrast to say the neo liberalism of chile or of canada spain sweden or britain joining me now is the united nations special report to an adequate housing may not be far who features in a new documentary with nobel laureate joe stiglitz and others and it's called push special so much for coming on let's just start with why people watching this right now can no longer afford to rent or buy homes in their cities and why these cities appear to be emptying of people certainly at night. yeah well we are in a new world i would say. there is a new housing landscape and what's happened really it's since the global financial crisis the big financial actors have moved into residential real estate and have really started to buy up properties especially properties that are affordable where

everyday people are living in you know paying their rent they're buying those up they're renovating them modestly and then they're jacking up their rents and people are being forced out there either being a dick did because they can't afford to pay the rent anymore or they're self the victim because they know they won't be able to pay their rent anymore and once out of an affordable unit there's nowhere else to go there are no other affordable units and so they're being pushed out of their communities now with one private equity company and i know you appeared to believe that private equity companies and hedge funds a big beneficiaries from the 2008 financial crash how has that related to the house as in crisis itself you have blacks own a representative jonathan gray himself saying that they need it a crisis that really you know affected so many families and households across the u.s. and the world in order for them to benefit and profit so if this is

a story about using human misery really to accumulate wealth what happened was after the crisis in 08 basically blackstone moved in after a few years after developing the necessary technology moved in and bought up what was at that time cheap debt so foreclosed mortgages you know there were thousands and thousands across the u.s. and in parts of europe and they were able to purchase those mortgages at a reduced cost they then went in and turned those homes into rental accommodation renting back to that to former. her owner is basically at high rental relatively high rental rates and so they made a very good return on that investment and so that's basically how blackstone and other asset management firms benefited from this horrible crisis that ruined many people's lives since then they've moved on and their business

model has been a little bit different where now they're going after existing housing stock that's affordable social housing buying up social housing in spain for example with a view to increasing those rents and slowing profits back to their investors is the the c.e.o. of blackstone stephen schwarzman disputes all these claims that go making the defacto the claims of the united nations is it really the business of the united nations to talk about firms that see themselves as entrepreneurial companies that give jobs and actually pay salaries to pay rent. 1st of all i don't think blackstone disagrees about the buy it fix it sell it model that they developed i mean they're very proud of that model that they profit from human misery now that that's true i think that's where we part part ways it is my role as u.n. rapporteur to monitor whether people are enjoying the right attitude housing across

the world and whether governments are meeting their obligations and whether private actors are meeting their obligations under international human rights laws and principles and so it is it is my job to do this and to figure out who's responsible i while i do point the finger at blackstone let's be clear i also point my finger at governments and states around the world who have not turned a blind eye blind eye to this as some would suggest but who in fact have enabled this to happen they've set up regulatory frameworks and tax laws that are very beneficial to the to what we call the financialization of housing or the you know this business model that blackstone has come up with and we know that players like blackstone have a lot of political weight so they're working in concert with government i mean you'll recall that when president trump was 1st elected he appointed a economic advisory committee and the chair of that he can economic advisory

committee which is now disbanded was mr schwarzman the c.e.o. of blackstone so you see how comfortable government is with these big financial actors and and so there's a complicity there and i am pointing my finger at both because no one is then protecting tenants who are being forced out of their homes and communities and forced into homelessness i mean he's in the news here on mainstream media including the british government and the b.b.c. because of his generosity one of the biggest donations to oxford university. in its history since they're in they thought 500 years or so why do you think of the appears to be this mismatch between what you are saying about private hedge funds and what the media often talk about is the great philanthropist of ata housing is a kind of private thing and people don't always talk about their housing circumstances with each other and people don't always know who their landlord is especially in this day and age so it's kind of an untold story this sort of dirt

the dirty money angle a private equity firms investing in residential real estate so you know in that way it didn't surprise me i suppose that the coverage about this huge granted donation to oxford university wasn't paying any heed or attention to the fact that the money that was being granted came off the backs of low income people off the backs of renters around the world and that's a story that i think needs to be told and i actually am surprised oxford university didn't do their due diligence i understand that they actually have a social impact fund and i would have liked to have seen them for example say to mr schwartz when yes please give us your money we're very happy to accept it and we're going to put it instead of using it for research into the ethics of artificial intelligence we're going to put it into our social impact fund that might have been

a way to cleanse that money and i'll just say i'll just add this it's pretty ironic that that blackstone should give money for research into the ethics of artificial intelligence a big aspect of what blackstone has been able to do buying up thousands of properties like that lickety split you know in 30 seconds that it seems they can buy you know 40000 properties they were able to do that through the development of new technologies so it's pretty ironic to be looking at artificial intelligence and it's ethics and supporting that research and not actually looking within your own house. to look at the ethics of what you're doing with big data and when with new technologies and it's really ok that a un special rapporteur can ask these questions because some people might be surprised you think oaks of us would consider giving giving the money back then since they have said it is for the artificial intelligence program yeah i mean i think oxford university should be having a conversation among you know amongst themselves about the origins of this money

and what this means for after a high reputed institution like oxford union risk university to accept money that has come off of the backs of low income renters that has that has money that has actually come from the creation of homelessness and affordability in cities around the world especially in the most major cities in the world london why do you maintain that in a sense granville tower in kensington and chelsea is a kind of narrative of the entire world it is a narrative of the entire world. the grantor 1st of all i will say the grand tragedy is something that has deeply affected me an affected my work and i visited i visited there a year after the fire but i have been tracking it you know from the minute it happened until today. it is symbolic the residents of

grenfell knew that the cladding was problematic and they had tried to express that to the local council they have no had no and have no political voice and this is the issue of our age where the schwarzman zz of the world and the black stones of the world have political voice the b.b.c. the picture that they showed when when mr schwarzman gave the grant to oxford had him sitting beside donald trump that shows his political voice you don't. have the same political voice when you're living in poverty or low income in social housing right and so the fact that the there is not an understanding that people who are low income or homeless actually are experts in their own lives is hugely problematic and i think that our housing policies have been tailored in

a way and developed in a way that doesn't recognize the the expertise that individuals have in their own lives in their own housing and that's what's unique about a human rights approach a human right approaching the called human rights for reason they put humans at the center of human dignity human expertise the idea that people should be participants in their own lives in their own realities as robida thank you thank you for the brick why did such a job its home office free a survivor of sex trafficking only just send it back to the same brothel where she had been forced into prostitution and why is the united states still threatening to kill the artist kenneth reams painter of love life hope violence and execution all the support i have about you of going on the ground. my objection to brag that is not that i like to hear you but it without the

mollifying influence of the e.u. the brits are going to be exposed face on head on to people like boris johnson and jacob riis mog who are who are bit as a certified lance. welcome

back well we heard from u.n. repertoire in part one but as the u.n. convenes in geneva today for more allegations of u.k. human rights abuses at these reporters and now it is allowed to do their work here in britain under the lib dems conservative coalition the un report or in violence against women claimed she was denied access to even investigated notorious outsourced detention center 60 miles north of london called yarl's wood that was when outgoing prime minister dres m a was home secretary and as she prepares to leave office she has been defending her legacy on the so-called issue of modern slavery joining me now from the biggest legal aid firm in the country specializing in what may cause burning injustices is surely patel surely welcome to going underground so one of tourism is burning injustices and she talked about them as she resigned famously not particularly remembered by boris johnson the contender to be the next prime minister modern slavery that was the burning injustice she wanted

to achieve something on how well it's you don't she hasn't done much at all a lot more needs to be down and i'm seeing cases day in day out where they have got clients victims of trafficking and have been subjected to just harangued. decision making by the high in most cases on looked out on a case by case basis and it is just a shame. of competence that i'm seeing on every single case you said case by case basis because i was actually said when considering a combination. all requests are considered almost case by case basis reflecting each individual circumstances that's what so general another contender for to be experience so that's what. they that's absolutely not true this particular case that i was dealing with i had made numerous to requests even before the decision was made is this this case where i was referred the case through at that party

which is very common my client was a victim of trafficking from china she arrived in the u.k. a few years prior to being referred to myself she does it initially disclosed that she was a victim of trafficking which is very common so they'll they might not disclose fully that they have been sexually exploited so this particular client had been sexually exploited on arrival to the u.k. promised a certain lifestyle and then trips to college dragons' which which happens all the time they arrive in the u.k. with the help of age and and then they're held in all sexually exploited it's not always possible but more often than not you'll see some sort of sexual exploitation if they manage to escape the lender in restaurants and i felt powerless and she ends up being yarl's wood which is internationally famous as a detentions and drug coverage on this show before and then given an indefinite she

gets indefinite detention is that common i mean detention is always indefinite it's not like a criminal sentence where someone knows how long they're going to be in prison and that's what makes detention such a horrible place to be for these people who come to the u.k. for a better life and then they're held in detention not knowing when they're ever going to get out it was very difficult to take instructions from have because there's such a mistrust of authorities finally she told us we informed the competent authority in the home of s. day to day that their. guidance says that they should make a decision within 5 days it took them 11 days to make a decision despite me continuously chasing she was not fit fit for detention had high blood pressure it was clearly a well from the medical records i've seen. they finally make a positive decision and as soon as a positive decision is made that a client is a potential victim of trafficking there is no reason for them to still remain in

detention yet she remained in detention for her further 5 days on the 5th day she's released and i get a phone call from her saying i've been released i'm thinking fantastic only to find out she's being released to go back to the same address where she was picked up and where the home office were completely aware that it was a running thing with the home office who are these people you're talking about because really they have to be trained in these particularly sensitive subjects and the areas psychology all the different skills you might need they are not trying to their decisions that i see. that's the problem there's such incompetence in the home of recently i saw. an advertisement and it was going around on twitter where they were recruiting for the trafficking unit at minimum wage no experience required 6 month contracts i don't think 6 months is even enough to train somebody on how to deal with

a trafficking case because there was so complex and different now someone's making a lot of money out of this arguably g 4 s. were running yarl's wood detention center and understand the latest. thing they said 4000000000 pounds of taxpayers' money went to them in different justice contracts who would now the detention center we've recently done a free to now of information requests because we wanted to find out whether these women who are detained at yarl's wood are getting fair medical treatment and we found out that g 4 s. up contract to a company called dr p.a. after doing some searches on companies how i feel where lies that dr p.s.a. is actually own and by 2 male g.p.'s that do the report in you also. it they were running to the best actions and subcontracting is a big problem presumably leave for the legal services in trying to figure out what exactly is happening in the back to say yes because this information required we're

not going to get easily because we don't know where we're meant to be going and i guess the problem is the responsibility just goes further down the line here is actually responsible for the wrong doing and it should be added of course of the subcontracting your idea was in labor and conservative governments now we have this other scandal brookhouse and you've got like airport that's also g 4 s. high court has just as mayors rule compulsory witness attendance from former employees and there was a saying they'll consider this ruling very carefully because they they can't hands out say we've messed up they're obviously going to have to look into where and try and make amends how that's possible i'm not quite sure because now we have the un special rapporteur on racism. calling up only acceptable unlawful reality of race ethnicity religion disability gender status determining life chances will being of

people in britain. different special operators who come under attack by british government authorities would you would you make of that and they obviously referring to tourism is all style environment it's a really sorry state of affairs i think it goes to colonialism and it's still here in this day and age in the u.k. are breach of the human rights obligations how could it be this long been going on again when it started this show we were interviewing people because i think the pregnant women shackled in these detention centers they have ended that i think who exactly can stop it. i guess it's up to people like me in the firm that we work for that to make sure that we get the right cases out there i guess it's up to the courts at the end of the day because the government isn't going to do anything for people like custom romney's challenge is and make sure that the government are held liable at the end of the day our challenges are all against the sexual state the home to parchman regional thank you. within the

past few days clemency was denied in the state of georgia preparing for the one of thousands of execution in the usa since the death penalty was reinstated there united 76 and this is a country which imprisons proportionately more than mao or stalin with a new field investigates just one of the u.s. justice systems millions the artist kenneth reams joining me now is the director of the film free men and frederick whitman thanks although for coming on the show just tell me about the film i know it's out on the moment of a little of this film is that about kenneth reams and this guy is an incredible guy has been sitting on death row for 2026 years he was 18 years old when he was locked in and he's been living on solitary confinement in a cell the size of your bathroom or perhaps even smaller. and despite of those really harsh circumstances this guy has been able to create a world for himself to really push back the walls of his this small cell to have

a person a purposeful life and that's the story i wanted to tell about you know it's also a story about the power the incredible power of human beings but to be clear he's not even accused of killing anyone and yet he's on death row how is that possible so this candidate didn't even fire by that he didn't kill anybody he was part of a crime and his full partner they were both 18 they were looking for $50.00 to rent the cap and gown you know his friend needed for his graduation ceremony and so they went to rob an a.t.m. machine and his friend alford panicked and killed a guy what happened next is that the arkansas justice system trial both teenagers for the same crime only one bullet was fired and both were sentence for the same crime as murder the only difference is that alfred he pleaded guilty he said yes i killed the man which was the truth. and so he got life without parole and kenneth

he was 18 and he said how can i plead guilty i haven't killed anybody i'm going to go to trial he went to trial and he had a very bad lawyer because he didn't have the means you know the money to hire a good one. and jury was 11 white one african-american we found out lately that that jury was picked according to racial you know conferred with yeah and he was sentenced to death in 2 hours. what got you interested in this particular case because you have broken the film this area rock and so bill clinton state pine bluff what will get you excited about this particular case about the injustice of the case as you see it you know the 1st time i drove through pine bluff i couldn't believe my eyes i thought i was in the film the day after i mean downtown pine bluff is like really a war zone then what got me really interested is when i met kenny so the 1st time i

met him i was close in the cage with him i mean really literally in a cage and that's where the contact is it happened in that maximum security prison and you know i thought ok perhaps he's going to talk about being innocent or you know and complain or not at all he said i'm taking responsibility for being part of that crime and he starts talking about his art show he was doing in our chosen london you know it's like are you sure you're going to make an arch only and then said yeah watch me i'm going to do it and that's really the film i wanted to make you know if you make of itself and the way that it it seems unflinching about the justice system original escapist way means so kenny is a very talented artist and he really thought i found in art a way to escape from his cell and that's you know the incredible power power of art but also he wants it to be useful and he has this in my opinion great brilliant idea he says the usa has no museum on the history of the death penalty we should

have won because that history is really important and so he goes from he went from the 1st exam and i think he wants to go to the last one you know up to the last one he painted the 1st little kid who was sentenced to die when i think she was 14 and one of the piece i really like i think it's really good it's called the last mile and the last mile is how desperate inmates call the. the last meters they walk you know from their cell to the execution chamber and they call it the last mile he then got one of the top defense lawyers in the united states and then in the film he says that. well one of the worst obviously the worst outcome is he will be executed in the next 3 or 4 years yeah that's 4 lawyers among them george kendall which is one of the best defense lawyers in america and they've been working pro bono for 20 years on this case can you believe that 20 years and he's

still not out but last fall the arkansas supreme court really i mean accepted the fact that the jury had been picked and also that he was not well defended a good attorney and so the chances are still high that he could get out now what we think is that it's important to really bring this story out in the world you know we need it we need people to be interested we need perhaps the celebrity like kim cardassian or johnny depp of people like this to get involved in really fight because it's kenneth life at stake but it's also you know justice the justice system and also fight against racism and so we hope this is going to happen and he's going to be free one day and frederick with me thank you thank you it's on the platforms you can see the film everywhere wrong is a the veil that's over the show will be back on wednesday when u.s.

presidential hopeful to see god would face off establishment democratic candidates in miami primaries 20 twentieth's rule that he talked about socially just you know when. with 10 minutes to spare trump pulled back from attacking iran reception of this new split down the middle depending on how you deal with the president but it's not top. that is why the u.s. feels compelled to go to war washington's obsession with iran is hardly over. the. top of. the.

major sanctions later on monday look at how washington stance on iran seems to be pulling in different directions. the trump administration's middle east peace plan is rejected by palestine but critics accusing washington of trying to bribe arabs and to making political concessions to the israelis. also this hour the parents of critically ill palestinian infants taken from gaza to better hospitals in israel are being denied access to their children acts of that time it's much harder to obtain for adults. and italy and the e.u. are at loggerheads over the country is mounting.