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Europe Newsletter August 2024
Dear Amnesty activists and supporters. The Olympic games should be a time of celebrating diversity, but the French ban prohibiting Muslim women from wearing sports hijabs is excluding French athletes from taking part. Please join the on-line campaign to end discrimination in France. For any inquiries about France please contact our coordinator for Western Europe Jovana Bosnjak Jovana.Bosnjak@amnesty.org.uk
We also have a postcard action supporting the Saturday mothers in Turkiye. Please print the attached postcard templates and send cards to the Interior Ministry of Turkiye. For further questions please contact Chris Ramsey country coordinator for Turkiye chris.ramsey@amnesty.org.uk
How we respond to refugees fleeing wars and oppression defines us as a society and civilization. On 14th of June vigils and demonstrations were held in many European countries including Greece, Denmark, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Turkey, UK and others to call for justice for the 600 people who drowned when the “Adriana”, a clapped out fishing boat packed with refugees including many children, sank near Pylos Greece. Investigations by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the BBC point to the culpability of the Greek authorities particularly the Hellenic coastguard for this horrendous and preventable loss of life. Just this week Amnesty released a report investigating the suffering of people detained in the EU-funded Closed Controlled Access Centres in Samos Greece. And in Finland a new law on migration is a green light for violence and pushbacks at the border. For more information please contact Ulrike Schmidt Balkan and regional team coordinator Ulrike.schmidt@amnesty.org.uk
In Poland refugees are still dying in the forests pushed back and forth by Belarussian and Polish border guards. Refugees from Afghanistan, who have often helped Western troops and are persecuted by the Taliban are not receiving the welcome that Ukrainian refugees rightly receive. Used by Belarus and forcibly returned by Polish border guards refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other oppressive and war-torn countries are forced back and forth over the border. Many, including children have died in the swampy and unforgiving forests. Our new coordinator for Central Europe Lucja Jastrzebska is giving us overview and updates. For further information please contact lucja.jastrzebska@amnesty.org.uk
Finally Amnesty has released a detailed report called “Under protected and over restricted“ about the right to protest in 21 countries. Chris Ramsey, our coordinator for Turkey has worked through the 209 pages of the report for us and produced a more digestible summary for us. For further inquiries please contact chris.ramsey@amnesty.org.uk.
Malta
El Hiblu update :
Apologies to all the groups who expressed an interest in adopting the El Hiblu 3. The Action circular on the case has still not been issued, and I finally received an answer from the research team: The courts in Malta are currently hearing preliminary issues, following the attorney generals decision to indict the El Hiblu 3. The first preliminary issue is that they are examining whether Malta has jurisdiction over the case. At the moment all we can do is wait. I will keep you updated as soon as I receive more information. In the mean-time all we can do is continue to write solidarity messages. [Read more…]
South America Newsletter August 2024
Dear Friends,
This month we bring you news from Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Brazil.
Highlights are:
- Colombia and others: Amnesty has a new petition directed at governments to support a Torture-free Trade treaty.
- Argentina: An Urgent Action demands that charges against 33 people opposed the controversial ‘ley de bases’ be dropped.
- Argentina: A second Urgent Action demands that charges against Pierina Nochetti for painting graffiti be dropped.
- Peru: A new report with an Urgent Action identifies the former President’s responsibility for the killings and injuries in last year’s protests.
- Paraguay: Amnesty has issued an Urgent Action calling on the Chamber of Deputies to reject a bill limiting freedom of assembly..
- Venezuela: following the controversial re-election of President Maduro, Amnesty is calling on a commitment to human rights and the release of three political prisoners.
- Chile: Amnesty is calling on the government to decriminalize voluntary abortion in all circumstances.
- Ecuador: Human Rights Watch have released a new report calling on the Ecuadorian Government to accelerate measures to end sexual violence in schools.
- Brazil: Amnesty is denouncing the dropping of charges against 3 policemen accused of murder of a child.
COLOMBIA
Amnesty International has launched a campaign to demand that governments support a Torture-Free Trade Treaty to regulate the trade in policing equipment to ensure it does not end in the hands of abusive police forces. They cite the excessive use of violence using non-lethal weapons by Colombia’s police in response to the National Strike in 2018. Please sign the petition, which for UK residents will be redirected to the British government. Accompanying this demand is the first hand account by Leidy Cadena, the first person to be blinded by police in 2018, who has been forced to leave Colombia.
The Washington based human right advocacy group WOLA condemns the ‘vile attack’ on indigenous Wayuu leader Javier Rojas Uriana 2 July. They demand that the Colombian authorities and the National Protection Unit guarantee the protection of Mr. Rojas Uriana, his family, and the Association of Shipia Wayuu members. ‘They should guarantee that these crimes’ intellectual and material authors are brought to justice. Additionally, these entities should investigate why the regional prosecutor’s office of Cesar and the SIJIN have refused to accept the complaint the victim tried to file.’
Leaders of dissident FARC guerrillas known as the EMC, who were travelling in armoured cars provided by the National Protection Unit, were arrested at a military checkpoint in Cisneros. They were on their way to peace talks. Seven remain in custody. The EMC has been blamed for a series of bombings and shootings around Cali and they threatened to disrupt the COP 16 negotiations which are due to begin in Cali in October. They have since withdrawn this threat and have called for the arrest warrants to be revoked.
Peace Brigade International Colombia’s annual report records the NGO’s invaluable role in protecting communities at risk in Colombia. This includes the presence of 26 field volunteers, some of whom protect Amnesty’s IAR Casefile Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. The report includes the testimony of one field worker in the country. They note that ‘Even though violence and human rights violations decreased slightly in 2023 according to figures from Indepaz, there were still 188 murders of human rights leaders and defenders, 94 massacres with 303 victims and 167,540 victims of forced displacement.’ [Read more…]
South America Newsletter July 2024
This month we bring you news from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Highlights are:
- Amnesty has raised an alarm about the proliferation of legal initiatives to curtail the work of civil society organisations in Latin America and which seriously threaten the efforts of these organisations to promote and defend human rights in the region.
- In Argentina, a violent police operation during protests on 12 June resulted in 33 people being arbitrarily detained and charged with several offences, including attacks on constitutional order and democratic life. Amnesty International has issued an Urgent Action urging the prosecutor to immediately drop the charges against them.
- Following reports of a failed coup attempt in Bolivia, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk expressed deep concern at the news, calling on Bolivian authorities, including the armed forces, to ensure full respect for human rights under all circumstances
- El Pais (English version) reports on the findings of the Gamboa case in Brazil where three police officers are charged with the killing of three young Black individuals during Carnival in 2022.
- Yuly Velásquez, President of FEDESPAN (Federation of Artisanal, Environmental, and Tourist Fisherfolk of Santander Department), received AI Germany’s human rights award on 4 June.
- Amnesty has submitted a briefing to the UN Committee against Torture setting out its main concerns with regard to the current crisis within Ecuador’s prisons.
- There will be a new Amnesty report this month focusing on demanding justice and accountability for the victims of the military and police repression of the 2022/23 Peruvian protests.
- According to a report from Dialogue Earth, Suriname is the only remaining country in South America that has yet to enshrine Indigenous land rights in its constitution.
- The United Nations published an update denouncing the growing restriction of civil liberties in Venezuela, especially before the election later this month.
REGIONAL
Amnesty has raised an alarm about the proliferation of legal initiatives to curtail the work of civil society organisations in Latin America and which seriously threaten the efforts of these organisations to promote and defend human rights in the region. Taking cues from questionable, regressive and authoritarian measures that certain countries in the region have adopted, the parliaments of Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela are currently considering passing laws that would arbitrarily restrict and unduly interfere with civil society organizations, associations, and groups. These measures threaten to silence criticism, compromise the pursuit of justice and undermine progress on human rights. [Read more…]
Group Newsletter July 2024
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