Scotland’s census will be continuing for many weeks after “Census Day” (Sunday 27 March). Reminders from the Register Office will be going out soon. If you haven’t yet filled in your census from, here are 7 reasons to do so:
The Sunday Herald, 27 March 2011 Text © The Sunday Herald. Illustrations added by EthicalCensus Thousands of people say they will boycott the census because of Iraq abuse claims against the parent company of a data processing firm CAMPAIGNERS vowing to boycott today’s census over its ties to a firm implicated in the Abu Ghraib torture scandal in Iraq are unlikely to face prosecution, according to the man in charge of today’s population count. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald, Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, said securing prosecutions against census dodgers was a “bore” and admitted only enough fines were given out to act as a deterrent.
by (Dr) Alistair Duff University Lecturer and Writer on Information Policy March 27 is Census Day, but I and others (e.g. Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, Count Me Out) are refusing to co-operate — on conscientious grounds. This is because the General Register Office for Scotland has used CACI (UK), part of American company CACI International, to produce the printed and online census forms.
Mar 262011
People will be demonstrating in unprecedented numbers in London today, Saturday 26 March, to defend jobs and public services. The General register Office of Scotland (GROS) says the census is essential for planning public services. But public services won’t sprout from the database. The way to defend public services is to fight for them. We should begin our defence of public services by defending the census from the arms and intelligence industry. Keep the Con-Dem axe-men, the arms dealers and the spooks away from our services – About the demonstration
The London Guantánamo Campaign is concerned about the involvement in the upcoming UK-wide Census of two private companies that were contracted to carry out coercive prisoner interrogations at the notorious US military detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
Registrar General Duncan Macniven has replied to SACC’s letter asking him to stop misrepresenting the facts about CACI’s human rights record. He has still not addressed the issues and is plainly not going to set the facts before the public in a fair way.
Census Controversies Special Intelligence Operations The Big Issue Scotland, March 21-27 2011, No. 828 A Hand Up not a Handout – Please buy a Big Issue from a vendor Protesters are up in arms as US defence contractors are awarded lucrative census contracts by the Scottish and UK governments. Adam Forrest reports.
Mar 212011
Anas Sarwar MP (Glasgow Central) says he is “sceptical” about the Scottish Government’s position over the census.
Mar 202011
Scotland’s Registrar General Duncan Macniven persists in complaining that the arguments against CACI’s involvement in the census are founded on “allegations” that he describes as “unproven” and “unfounded.” He is is misrepresenting the argument. Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) has made it clear since 2008 that our primary concern is the undisputed presence of CACI interrogators at Abu Ghraib in 2003-2004. Long-term detention without charge or trial, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation and intimidation by dogs were officially-sanctioned elements of the Abu Ghraib regime of which CACI International was a part. These practices are human rights violations. CACI International’s involvement in them is a matter of record, not an allegation.
The excerpt below is taken from the amended complaint in the case Al Shimari v. CACI, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in September 2008. The lawsuit has been brought by four Iraqi torture victims against private US-based contractor CACI International Inc., and CACI Premier Technology, Inc. It asserts that CACI participated directly and through a conspiracy in torture and other illegal conduct while it was providing interrogation services at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
