South America Newsletter May 2023

May 4, 2023 by zarganar

This month, we bring you news that –

In Argentina, the Mapuche indigenous people continue to fight for their land rights in the face of the denial of those rights by provincial governments
Amnesty International has published its Annual Report on Brazil, highlighting the role of racism in state violence, the killing of human rights defenders and journalists, and the occurrence of politically motivated violence in the run up to the elections last year
Regarding Chile, Amnesty International has published a new Urgent Action demanding a halt to a proposed bill criminalizing refugees and migrants
In Colombia, Amnesty International has published a new Urgent Action calling on President Petro to protect the human rights organization CREDHOS, after an explosive device was found at the entrance to their offices
For Ecuador, Amnesty International has published an Urgent Action calling for the protection of Pablo Fajardo Mendoza, a lawyer accused by the government of being an “international criminal” for defending the rights of indigenous peoples
Human Rights Watch have published their report regarding the oppression of protests in Peru late last year
Amnesty International has published a new Urgent Action for Emirlendris Benitez, who has suffered torture and mistreatment in Venezuela – the Urgent Action joins those already published for the falsely imprisoned Javier Tarazona and for the repressive NGO bill
Amnesty International has reminded the Peruvian and Chilean governments to protect the human rights of around 300 people stranded at the Peruvian and Chilean border

ARGENTINA

THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES IN MENDOZA VOTED A RESOLUTION WHICH MAINTAINS THAT “THE MAPUCHES SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED ORIGINAL ARGENTINE PEOPLES.” | CEDOC-PERFIL

Tens of thousands of Mapuches, members of an indigenous people established on both sides of the Andes in the Chilean and Argentine territory, are claiming the return of their ancestral lands and assets. The Mapuche are the most populous indigenous people in Argentina. However, the group is facing significant backlash from provincial governments.

The Chamber of Deputies in Mendoza (in the province of Mendoza) voted a resolution which maintains that “the Mapuches should not be considered original Argentine peoples.” This resolution comes just days after the Supreme Court suspended the distribution of land in Bariloche (in the province of Río Negro), to a Mapuche community.

While the resolution was going to the vote in Mendoza, a demonstration of human rights movements and members of indigenous peoples took place outside. The protestors all sung in unison as they criticised the chamber’s actions. The Centre of Professionals for Human Rights expressed its “deep rejection of the denialist and racist opinion.”

In passing the resolution, the chamber also rejected a decree signed by President Fernández to suspend “judgments, procedural or administrative acts, whose object is the eviction or vacating of lands.”

This comes a few weeks after a critical report by a United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, an independent monitoring program of the Human Rights Council. This denounced the “structural discrimination” affecting the Indigenous population in Argentina. In particular the UN delegation highlighted the unequal effects of Argentina’s high poverty rate:-

“Poverty is concentrated in certain regions, with indigenous peoples being especially affected by social inequality, economic marginalisation and structural racism”

The report had other criticisms of the treatment and stigmatisation of indigenous peoples and communities, referring to the “exacerbation of a highly racist discourse” in the media. It also highlights that they were subject to repeated “evictions and violent interventions”.

On a separate issue, the report also criticised the management of a number of fast-growing industries – including so-called “mega-mining” of shale gas and lithium – for their tendency to perpetuate human rights abuses.

BRAZIL

Pataxó leader, Brazil

Amnesty International has published its annual report on Brazil. In summary: ‘Racism continued to drive state violence. Mass killings by public security officials were frequent, disproportionately affecting Black people in marginalized neighbourhoods. Cis and transgender women, especially Black women, were targets of various forms of violence. In an election year, the dissemination of fake news and statements by President Bolsonaro incited politically motivated violence, threatened state institutions and undermined the functioning of judicial institutions. Many journalists and human rights defenders were threatened and killed. The social, political and economic situation continued to deteriorate, leading to violations of the rights to food, health, housing, work and social assistance, among others. Investigations into human rights violations documented by the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic were shelved. The historic failure of the state to confront structural racism continued to result in Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants being disproportionately impacted by failings in institutional measures and actions.’

According to Greenpeace, London listed Canadian Serabi Gold stands accused of illegally mining gold in the Amazon without the permission of Brazil’s federal land agency, on disputed land, with licences contested by state agencies, and before a nearby Indigenous community has properly been consulted. The Company claims its mine is legal. This illustrates the tangled web of agencies and interests in Brazil’s Amazon.

The OAS’s International Commission of Human Rights has ordered the Brazilian state to take measures to protect the indigenous Pataxó people in Bahia state. Some of the Pataxó live in a contested area and since October 2022 they have been subject to ‘continuous violence’ including threats, harassment, shootings and defamation that culminated in the killing of three of their members with the connivance of the security forces. Members of the Military Police suspected of participating in these killings have been detained. But there is inadequate protection for this community.

[Read more…]

Chow Hang-tung

May 2, 2023 by zarganar

March 2024

Hong Kong: Overturning of Chow Hang-tung Tiananmen acquittal another blow to rule of law

‘I yearn to see you’ – Valentine’s letters to activists detained in mainland China and Hong Kong

September 2023

Chow Hang-tung remains in prison waiting for her appeal against her conviction in March. Other charges remain against her.

In June The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the U.N. Human Rights Council found that Chow Hang-tung’s imprisonment is a breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998. The U.N. group has sharply criticized the new national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong, and under which Ms. Chow is being prosecuted. The group concluded Ms. Chow should be freed. On 4th June Chow Hang-tung went on hunger strike in prison for 34 hours to mark the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.

Chow Hang-tung was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights by the South Korean May 18 Memorial Foundation in May 2023. The Gwangju Prize is awarded to individuals and organizations who have contributed significantly to the development of human rights, unification, solidarity, and peace.

March 2023

Chow Hang-tung, 38, a prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China is back in prison. This is her third prison sentence. Along with Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong she was sentenced to four-and-a-half months.

Chow Hang-tung, along with six other Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, were found guilty of “not complying with a national security police request for information”, under the city’s controversial national security law.

The activists were charged in connection with the annual vigil held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The vigil had been banned by Hong Kong authorities in 2022, citing concerns over the spread of Covid-19, but many Hong Kongers defied the ban and attended the event anyway.

The convictions have been widely criticized by human rights groups and democracy advocates around the world. Many see them as part of a broader crackdown by the Chinese government on Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy, which were promised to the city under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework.

Chow also faces a further ten years in prison under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law, for allegedly endangering national security through her actions.

Tiananmen Square

Protests in China were largely student-led demonstrations calling for political and economic reforms – including free speech and a free press. An armed suppression ordered by the Chinese authorities, on June 4 and 5, 1989 led to a massacre of the unarmed demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Reporters and Western diplomats in Beijing that day estimated that hundreds to thousands of protesters were killed, and as many as 10,000 were arrested. Despite efforts by the Chinese government to erase this event from history, it has inspired millions around the world to fight for human rights and democracy.

Annual Commemorations

The first commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre took place in Hong Kong in 1990, and Chow has been involved in recent annual commemorations, organizing the vigil on behalf of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Each year on June 4th, people would gather in Victoria Park to light candles and demand accountability for those killed.

But in 2021, everything changed for Chow. After urging people on social media to light a candle at home in remembrance of Tiananmen, she was arrested. Chow became one of the victims of Hong Kong’s new National Security Law, a sweeping piece of legislation that has eroded human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, and essentially eliminated the right to peaceful protest.

In December 2021 and January 2022, Chow was initially convicted respectively for inciting and taking part in an unlawful assembly (the vigil in 2020) and sentenced to 12 months. A 15 month sentence was then added for organizing the vigil in 2021. She served a total of 22 months in prison

Chow Hang-tund was featured in Amnesty’s Write for Rights 2022

[Read more…]

Europe Newsletter April 2023

April 30, 2023 by zarganar

Türkiye

Türkiye: People with disabilities neglected in humanitarian response to devastating earthquakes

As you will all be aware, southern Türkiye and northwest Syria were hit by devastating earthquakes in February. More than 48,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 were injured many of whom lost limbs and sustained other life-changing injuries. An estimated 3.3 million people have been displaced, with approximately 2.3 million people currently sheltering in tent camps and container settlements.

According to a joint Turkish government and United Nations assessment as many as 70 percent of injured earthquake survivors are expected to have a disability. In a shocking report, published by Amnesty International last Thursday 27 April it was revealed that people with disabilities living in displacement camps after the earthquakes in Türkiye are being overlooked in the humanitarian response to the disaster.

Three Amnesty International researchers undertook research from 9-22 March, in four of the provinces that have been most affected by the earthquakes in southeast Türkiye. Those were Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Hatay and Adiyaman. Research was undertaken in urban and rural areas. Amnesty International met with people from a mix of ethnic backgrounds. In total, the team interviewed 131 people, including survivors who have been living in displacement camps and aid workers. Interviewees included Turkish nationals and Syrian refugees.

Amnesty International did not have access to Syria for this report – which does not address the situation in Syria.

During the visit to Türkiye, Amnesty International researchers identified that persons with disabilities were among those particularly at-risk of being marginalised or left behind with regards to access to assistance, and who also experienced unequal access to their human rights in the aftermath of the earthquake. They found that there were significant gaps in humanitarian response programmes, which included barriers to equally accessing sanitation, food, water and specialist support.

As result of this work Amnesty has made a number of wide ranging recommendations to the Turkish government, humanitarian agencies and organisations and countries donating aid for earthquake victims (see report).

ELECTIONS 2023

On 14 May, in what are being described as the most important elections in the history of the Republic since it was founded in 1923, the people of Türkiye will go to the polls to elect their president for the next 5 years and a new parliament, the 600 member Grand National Assembly.

Standing for re-election is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who has been in office since 2014 and was Prime Minister from 2003.

[Read more…]

South America Newsletter April 2023

April 12, 2023 by zarganar

Dear friends

This month we bring you news from Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. Plus we have the regional highlights from Amnesty International’s annual report on human rights worldwide.

In Colombia Amnesty International, together with many local NGOs, has published its detailed proposals for police reform. Whilst in Brazil, Amnesty and other civic society organisations have launched the campaign “The Ministry Has to Be Public”. This is an attempt to tackle the severe problem of police violence. Amnesty has marked the 100th day since the start of social protests in Peru.

In Venezuela Amnesty has decided to extend the deadline for its Urgent Action on “Venezuelan NGOs at risk” for another eight weeks. They have also highlighted the ongoing arbitrary detention, and health deterioration, of Javier Tarazona, director of an NGO, who was imprisoned and charged with inciting hatred, treason, and “terrorism” in July 2021.

In Argentina the remaining aircraft used to carry out “death flights” during the military dictatorship is being returned to the country. Amnesty has published a new report, based on the testimonies of female Venezuelan refuges in Chile, outlining the difficulties they experience.

REGIONAL

Amnesty has issued its annual report on human rights worldwide. It found, among other things, that:

An additional 15 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean have begun to live in poverty since the Covid-19 pandemic began, raising the total to 201 million;
The Americas remained the region with most fatalities from Covid, with more than 2.9 million confirmed deaths, while Peru has the highest death rate from Covid in the world;
At least 67 people have died since widespread protests began across Peru in December, including at least 49 deaths from state repression;
The Americas accounted for 273 of 327 trans and gender-diverse people reported murdered worldwide, while Brazil recorded more killings (96) than any other country on earth
More than 7.17 million Venezuelans have left the country, mostly since 2015, over 6 million of whom are living in other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached the second highest annual figure since 2006.

COLOMBIA

José Eduardo Cardenas Sanchez, community leader,
killed 19 March 2023 in Quibdó, Chocó.

Following Amnesty International’s reports on the excessive use of force by the National Police during the 2021 National Strike, Amnesty International, together with many local NGOs, has published its detailed proposals for police reform. These include removing the police from the Defence Ministry, re-orientating its objectives and changing its recruitment and training to enable it to serve the people and fully recognise their human rights, including the right to protest. (See attached proposal). Please sign the petition supporting these proposals.

Amnesty has submitted its findings to the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly. Between 2018 and 2022 Amnesty International documented worrying trends of excessive use of force by Colombian security forces when intervening in protests and mobilizations. Among the most commonly used repertoires of violence were extrajudicial executions, injuries (including severe eye trauma) and gender-based violence (including sexual violence).

The UN Commissioner on Human Rights reports on his visit to Colombia. While noting the many advances on human rights and the 2016 Peace Accord’s transitional justice under the new administration, he calls on ‘the Attorney General’s Office to advance accountability for violations reportedly committed by security forces during protests. The charges of serious offenses, such as terrorism, against protestors, needs to be reviewed.’ The Attorney General is independent of the Government.

[Read more…]