SUMMARY

In this month’s newsletter we have an urgent action on Colombia where 500 Yukpa indigenous people crossed into the country and are being threatened with return to Venezuela. We have sad news from several countries in the region. In Colombia, Javier Bernardo Cuero Ortíz, the son of Bernardo Cuero was sadly killed on 19 March. In Brazil, a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman and prominent rights advocate was killed in what appears to have been a targeted assassination. In Paraguay, a 14-year-old rape victim died during childbirth. And in Venezuela, 68 people were killed in one of the country’s worst jail fires. Meanwhile, Martin Vizcarra was sworn in as Peruvian President following the resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, and Argentina was up for review at the Human Rights Council. Finally, in London last month Amnesty UK partnered with Human Rights Watch for the presentation of the film Women of the Venezuelan Chaos; while this month Graham will attend a meeting with the Chilean Ambassador to raise human rights issues.

COLOMBIA

Amnesty issued an Urgent Action on behalf of the 500 Yukpa indigenous people that crossed to Colombia and are facing the threat of being sent back to Venezuela. This violates their rights as a binational population. The Yukpa people settled in Cucuta have been evicted twice since 1 October 2017 following the city mayor’s directive. They are currently living in highly precarious conditions lacking basic services such as drinking water, food and access to health or education. Please take action and download the UA.

Amnesty issued a public statement condemning the murder of Javier Bernardo Cuero Ortíz, son of Bernardo Cuero Bravo, on 19 March 2018. His brother Silvio Dubán Ortíz was also killed during the events. The murder of Javier Bernardo took place just nine months after the murder of his father Bernardo Cuero, human rights defender and victims’ leader of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians in June 2017. The murders occurred just weeks after the trial hearing set to press charges against the perpetrators of the crime.

14 million Colombians elected a Congress and Senate on 18 March. Although President Santos’s party saw heavy losses, a small majority in both houses are comprised of parties favouring the peace accord with the FARC. The FARC’s party ran candidates for the first time, but received only 0.4% of the vote. However, as the Peace Accord guaranteed them 5 seats in each of the Congress and the Senate, the FARC will have a presence in both houses. The first round of Presidential elections takes place 17 May with the second round on 17 June. After 2 terms in office, President Santos is ineligible for re-election.

President Santos has said peace talks with the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) will resume after a six-week halt. Mr Santos suspended talks with the ELN in Ecuador on 29 January after a series of deadly attacks on police stations.

Colombia Peace Monitoring reports the National Coordinator of Cultivators of Coca, Poppy, and Marijuana warns the government that it’s crop substitution program, part of Chapter 4 of the FARC peace accord, is not going well. The government had abandoned aerial eradication for crop substitution, resulting in an increase in cultivation of narcotic plants. Drug money finances much of the ongoing conflict in Colombia, with rival groups concentrating their firepower in coca growing and cocaine processing areas. Participants in crop-substitution efforts have been among a growing wave of social leaders killed in post-conflict Colombia. [Read more…]

 

The latest newsletter from the South America Team:-

SUMMARY

We have good news from Brazil, Venezuela and Peru. However, the security situation in Rio de Janeiro continues to deteriorate, while the number of Human Rights Defenders killed in Colombia in 2017 has risen by 32% and other victims of the ongoing conflict in Colombia continue to accumulate as well. Please continue to write in response to recent Urgent Actions on Brazil and Colombia. The film Women of the Venezuelan Chaos will be showing in London March 13 and 15. We hope to see you there.

BRAZIL

At least 14 people were shot dead and another nine were injured at a party in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará State, on 27 January. Media reports that were confirmed by the Secretary of Public Security state that this event is the biggest mass killing in the history of Ceará state, though the total number of victims could be higher, according to people living in the area. Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action on 31 January, calling on the authorities to ensure a prompt and thorough investigation into the killings. You can find it here.

President Michel Temer on 16 February signed a decree which put the military in charge of security in Rio de Janeiro amid a continued deterioration in security. Although the army has operated there during the last year, as well as during the Olympics and World Cup, this will put them in charge of the city’s police force — the first time Brazil has taken such a decision since the end of the military dictatorship. The director of Amnesty International Brazil stated that the actions of the army in the Rio de Janeiro have already aggravated human rights violations. For the Huffington Post’s account, click here.

An investigation revealed that more than one in ten of Brazil’s high-ranking politicians received campaign donations from companies linked to modern-day slavery. President Temer was amongst the 51 politicians. Brazilian law stipulates that four conditions are used to categorise ‘slave-like labour’, and include being forced to work and degrading conditions that put workers’ health or dignity at risk. To read The Guardian’s account, click here.

Good news. The Supreme Court issued a ruling that pregnant women, mothers of children up to 12 years of age and of people with disabilities, accused of non-violent crimes, should not be held in pre-trial detention. Instead, they should await trial under house arrest. Although a positive step, Human Rights Watch reported that the ruling highlights the country’s overuse of pre-trial detention, in violation of human rights law. Their assessment can be found here.  [Read more…]

 

Welcome to the latest newsletter. The next meeting  is on Thursday 8th February 2018, 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. On the agenda  –  Review of campaigns; Tapestry exhibition; AIUK AGM resolutions (if available) Library Photography Exhibition We are delighted to announce that the Mayor, Councillor Lawrence Williams, and Mayoress of Bournemouth will be opening our exhibition at Bournemouth Library. This will be on Tuesday 3rd April – the first day of the exhibition – at 3.15pm. The exhibition closes on 28th April. The main focus of the exhibition is the historic plight of refugees and will feature 30 photographs taken by photographers from the Magnum agency over the past 70 years. The photographs document some of the issues surrounding refugees from the mass upheaval and displacement of the post-war years to the present-day crisis in Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan. It will also tie in with AIUK’s current “Refugees Welcome” campaign. The exhibition will also include the Tapestry, above, created by Amnesty groups in the South depicting the 30 articles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR). This was originally created to mark the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215 and to highlight the continuing importance of the protections afforded by the UNDHR. The Tapestry spent 6 months adjacent to the Magna Carta at Salisbury cathedral. Since then it has travelled to other venues around the south. As this year also marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of UNDHR, we think this is a great opportunity to display the Tapestry and bring attention to the 30 articles. The Spring Quiz is now organised for Friday April 20th, 7.30 for 8.00 prompt at the Brunswick Hotel, 199 Malmesbury Park Road, Charminster, Bournemouth BH8 8PX. David Brown will again be our host. For those unfamiliar, our quizzes are informal but competitive! Teams of up to 6 (some get arranged on the night), entrance £5 a person. Due to popularity, and past overcrowding. We are now obliged to limit total numbers to 54. Please get your tickets here. This system worked very well for our last quiz.  This will let you print off tickets once booked – you will still need to pay on the night!  Please book as soon as you can as we can promote the event more widely if numbers are low. Any problems, please leave a message (with contact details) on 07787350946, or reply to this newsletter. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/amnesty-international-bournemouth-group-quiz-night-tickets-42842612407 Wareham Street Collection After quite a low turnout and return from the Bournemouth and Christchurch collections in 2017, this year we are just going to focus on Wareham (where traditionally they have been very generous.) If you wish to help please let us know, by replying to this newsletter, rather than just turning up. Wareham Street Collection (High Street)  Saturday (am only) 12th May 2018 Courtlye Music The Southampton Amnesty Group announces a concert of vocal and instrumental music from Tudor and Elizabethan times, in aid of Amnesty International. Courtlye Music (who have been viewed and enjoyed by at least one of our group!) will present “Time to Pass with Goodly Sport’ Date: Saturday 10 March at 7.30 p.m. Venue:- Christ Church. Waterloo Road, Freemantle, Southampton SO15 3BT. Tickets: £8 on the door. Taner Kılıç Taner Kılıç (above) is one of the founding members of the Turkish section of Amnesty International and its president since 2014. Along with 22 others he was arrested last June and charged with belonging to a “terrorist organisation”. The others have gradually been released.  On 31 January Taner Kılıç was finally released after eight gruelling months in jail. While his family excitedly waited for him to walk out of prison and into their arms, he was re-arrested and taken back into custody. He now remains jailed pending the next hearing in June. This is hugely upsetting and disappointing – and completely unacceptable. Please email the Turkish Minister of Justice now demanding Taner Kılıç  is released. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/free-taner-kilic Jorge Lázaro Samba Nunes dos Santos A case file is an AI action that focus on one individual or situation. This long term narrow focus ensures a constant pressure on authorities to take action. We have been writing to authorities in Bahia State, Brazil on behalf of Jorge Lázaro, for about two years now. Two of his seven children have been murdered. Jorge Lázaro has been under huge pressure since the first murder in 2008 : he is seeking justice for the killings of his sons, trying to keep himself and his family safe, and providing necessary minimum living conditions such as a home and food. To add to the tragedy of two murdered sons, on July 10th 2016 Jorge’s youngest son, Denilson was shot whilst walking home.  Luckily Denilson survived and is currently recovering. There are downloadable letters you can adapt on our take action page.There is also a link so you can send him a message of support via AIUK.

SUMMARY

This month, we highlight concern over the worsening situation in parts of Colombia where rival armed groups are fighting for control, leading to the displacement of thousands of civilians.  There is a new Urgent Action on Brazil, following the killing of 14 people at a party, and a report of a disturbing increase in deaths directly related to homophobia.  In Venezuela, the police have again used excessive lethal force in an operation to quell an uprising, leaving nine people dead and five injured.   We encourage you to support our social media campaign to ensure that pardoned ex-Peruvian President Fujimori is made accountable for a massacre committed during his presidency; and we remind you of an Urgent Action about a human rights defender under threat in Ecuador.

COLOMBIA

We would like to thank all of those who mobilized for our global twitter action for Bernardo Cuero.  However, it saddens us to announce that the hearing was postponed, because the judge left on vacations and the new judge assigned was not available.

Richard has just sent out an Urgent Action calling on the authorities to act in the face of the worsening situation in Chocó where the Gaitenista paramilitaries and the ELN rebels are fighting for its control. Amnesty has also issued a press release New tragedy looming in Bojayá and Bajo Atrato. “Currently, despite a Peace Agreement signing with the FARC, the armed conflict has intensified in this area. Statistics on murders and forced displacement, among other forms of violence that have arisen after the Peace Agreement was signed, are evidence of the re-victimization occurring in this area.” Urgent Action here and press release attached.

In an earlier press release (also attached but only available in Spanish) Amnesty drew attention to displacement of more than 1,000 people in 4 days in Colombia due to armed confrontations between various armed groups in the departments of Cordoba, Nariño, Antioquia and Boyacá.

The last early warning for the region was issued by the Ombudsman on 24 January. Early warnings anticipate serious human rights violations and are meant to be acted upon by the Colombian authorities. For a number of reasons, the authorities have not been successfully reacting to early warnings in the region. [Read more…]