Europe Newsletter September 2022

September 30, 2022 by zarganar

Here is our latest Newsletter with updates and actions.

MALTA: EL HIBLU 3

The prosecution against the El Hiblu 3 has rested its case. That means that the court has finished hearing testimonies in the pre-trial period & the Attorney General will soon decide
which charges to bring against the El Hiblu 3.
We need to continue to push the Attorney General to DROP ALL THE CHARGES AGAINST ABDALLA, AMARA AND KADER!
To help us fight for their justice, an open letter to Malta Attorney General Dr Victoria Buttigieg was signed by supporters and sent to her on 28 September . The link to the open letter can be found here: https://elhiblu3.info/openletter.
Read Abdalla’s story here: https://elhiblu3.info/abdalla.
Read Amara’s story here: https://elhiblu3.info/amara.
Read Kader’s story here: https://elhiblu3.info/kader.
Further actions in support of the El Hiblu 3 will be sent to you as they appear.

Türkiye

Saturday Mothers

As I reported in the last edition of the newsletter the next (5th) hearing of the Saturday Mothers case was due to take place on 21st September.

Several colleagues from AI Türkiye were present, as were representatives of Turkish civil society organisations, Article 19 and some other human rights organisations, members of parliament and others.

On Monday 19 September, Saturday Mothers/People issued an appeal on social media announcing that they will issue a press statement outside the courthouse at 12.30. As result, the district governorate issued a decision to ban the gathering for one day, providing for reason the following: ‘in order to protect the rights and freedoms of others, because it represents a threat to public order, also because of the sensitive period our country is in and that it would create uproar, hurt national, conscience and human values, threatening societal peace, considering also that there may be the possibility of physical and verbal provocative actions between the organisers and citizens, in order to ensure public order, prevent the commission of crime and for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others might be threatened, that the planned events might need to unwanted outcomes..’
In the event, on the 21st the Saturday Mothers/People group and their lawyers and supporters were kettled outside the court by police both in uniforms and civilian clothes.

MP Alper Tas Republican Peoples Party [CHP] arrested outside courthouse

Even though they agreed not to read the press statement, they were then prevented from leaving the space, and 16 relatives, including three lawyers and supporters were detained with police apparently using excessive force – the footage in the link below shows the detention of one of the participants, Alper Tas a member of parliament from the CHP Party.
https://twitter.com/t24comtr/status/1572531900249423872?s=20&t=Vb4DcDDZbnes8T4-mFO4lg

Eventually the interim decision taken by the court was that of the 46 defendants, those who have yet to appear in the trial are called in one last time, the requests for criminal complaint regarding the police intervention to be rejected, with the next hearing set for 3 February 2023 at 2pm. The day after the latest hearing the European Parliament Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sánchez Amor paid a visit to the Istanbul Branch of the Human Rights Association to show solidarity with the Saturday Mothers. The link below contains video of a statement he made after that visit.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1573658477637107714

It is very important that as a Human Rights movement, we increase our solidarity with the Saturday Mothers and continue to challenge the denial of their rights to peaceful assembly. We will pass on further actions on this case as they requested by the International Secretariat. [Read more…]

South America Newsletter September 2022

September 4, 2022 by zarganar

Welcome to the latest South America newsletter. Several illegal armed groups in Colombia have agreed to talks after the new President proposed a conditional ceasefire, while new figures have revealed the huge numbers of deaths, kidnappings and disappearances in the civil war. Brazilian police have arrested five more suspects of the killing of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, while UN experts have called on the government to take steps to put an end to police violence. 125 organisations including Amnesty have called for the renewal of the mandate of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela. Human Rights Watch have highlighted the scale of sexual violence in schools in Ecuador.

COLOMBIA

Amnesty international — Wilmar Ascanio Angarita, leader of Alto Cañabraval, San Pablo, Bolivar, killed by ELN 23 December 2021

Colombia’s recently inaugurated President Gustavo Petro has proposed a multilateral ceasefire with illegal armed groups that agree to negotiate their demobilization and disarmament. According to Colombia Reports, opposition armed groups that have agreed to talks include the ELN (National Liberation Army) two dissident FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commands and dissident AUC (United Self-defence forces of Colombia) paramilitaries.

Colombia’s Truth Commission has issued its final report and executive summary on the six decades long civil war in Colombia. Its estimates for the number of victims are much higher than previously thought.

450,000 fatalities. Those responsible for deaths were mainly paramilitaries (45%), guerrillas (27%) and state agents (12%).
Over 110,000 forcibly disappeared. Main perpetrators were paramilitaries (52%), FARC (24%) and state agents (8%).
At least 50,000 kidnappings. Main perpetrators FARC (40%), paramilitaries (24%), ELN (19%).
At least 8 million people have been forcibly displaced. 70% of the perpetrators are not recorded.
Recruitment of child soldiers exceeded 30,000. 40% by the FARC, 13% by paramilitaries and 9% by the ELN.

You can download the Executive Summary with a commentary by the UK’s ABColombia here.

WOLA Colombia Peace report that investigative journalists at Blu Radio allege that corrupt officials in Colombia abused their positions to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in peace accord implementation funds, which were meant for some of the country’s poorest, most violent, and least governed territories. They estimate that 12% of the funds never reached their destination. Three investigations by the Attorney General, the Internal Affairs Office and the Supreme Court are under way. Corruption is endemic in Colombia.

Following their visit to Colombia, the international lawyers group Colombia Caravana is deeply concerned about serious threats to the rule of law that limit access to justice, the repression of political participation and social protest, and the lack of security guarantees for those carrying out vital human rights work in Colombia. They denounce the stigmatisation of legal defence work by conflating lawyers with their clients, the criminalisation of human rights defenders, lawyers and
judges through vexatious litigation [Read more…]

Europe Newsletter August 2022

August 20, 2022 by zarganar

Human and civil rights continue to be under attack inside and outside Europe and need defending. This autumn Amnesty will launch a new campaign focusing on the right to protest. We know that here at home the right to protest is severely threatened by the Police , Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 , which received royal assent on 29^th April 2022. Our first international action is focusing on France (see on-line petition below) and we will be working on the UK later in the year. Another toxic piece of legislation, the Nationality & Borders Bill became law on 28^th June 2022, scrapping the right to asylum.

Care for Calais, Detention Action and PCS Union are challenging the government decision to deport refugees who arrived in the UK by boat over the channel to Rwanda. Seeking asylum is a human right, and the UK can not dodge its responsibility facilitate fair asylum hearings and to grant asylum to refugees by deporting desperate people elsewhere. UNHCR stated that the vast majority of asylum seekers arriving via the channel are having a valid claim. We are calling for safe and legal routes for refugees to enter Europe and the UK, so that no-one has to risk their lives in order to reach safety. Read more below.

In January we protested against the inhuman conditions refugees from war-torn Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Congo and other places were suffering at the border of Belarus and Poland. In Amnesty’s new report on Lithuania we read chilling evidence of abuse and torture in the detention centres where refugees from outside Europe are detained. Please take action and write to the Interior Minister of Lithuania (Sample letter included).

But last not least some good news ! Please read how activists standing up for LGBT rights in Hungary outsmarted the so-called referendum, designed to further marginalise and criminalise LGBT+ people and communities

Right to protest under threat in Western Europe

MILITARISATION OF POLICING in FRANCE

While governments have long relied on aggressive tactics to police protests, security forces have increased the amount of force they use in recent years.

So-called less lethal weapons, including batons, pepper spray, tear gas, stun grenades, water cannons, and rubber bullets are routinely misused by security forces. And, since the early 2000s, Amnesty International has documented a trend towards the militarisation of state responses to protests, including the use of armed forces and military equipment. In countries including France security forces in full riot gear are often backed by armoured vehicles, military-grade aircraft, surveillance drones, guns and assault weapons, stun grenades and sound cannons.

France: Abusive and illegal use of force by police

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO CONFRONT UNPRECEDENTED WORLDWIDE THREAT TO THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

In the coming months we will focus on the Right to protest in Western Europe as part of the Amnesty´s global campaign to confront worldwide threat to the right to protest.

Amnesty International’s “Protect the Protest” campaign will challenge attacks on peaceful protest, stand with those targeted and support the causes of social movements pushing for human rights change.

Protect the Protest! Why we must save our right to protest

At the moment you can join online to demand our freedoms and pledge your support to protect the protest.

Please sign the petition here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/protect-the-protest/

We are considering at the moment further actions that can be taken from the UK in order to campaign for the right to protest in Western and Northern Europe, and we will announce those actions in our next newsletter.

“Our campaign comes at a critical juncture. The precious right to protest is being eroded at a terrifying pace, and we must do all we can to push back.” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty [Read more…]

South America Newsletter August 2022

August 10, 2022 by zarganar

This month we bring you news from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela and a new Urgent Action on Colombia. We report on the plight of female Venezuelan refugees in Colombia and Peru, and the ongoing serial killings of human rights defenders in Colombia. We review Amnesty’s two new updates on human rights in Argentina and Peru relating to their UN Universal Periodic Reviews, ongoing issues with impunity in Uruguay and a new report on extreme violence in Ecuador’s prisons. There has been another mass killing by Rio police in one of the favelas, a killing of an indigenous leader in Venezuela, and attacks on indigenous peoples by police in Brazil. There is good news from Colombia’s Senate which has started the country’s ratification of the Escazú Agreement.

VENEZUELAN REFUGEE WOMEN IN COLOMBIA AND PERU

In a new report, Amnesty has accused the Colombian and Peruvian states of being largely absent when it comes to guaranteeing, protecting and respecting the right to a life free of violence and discrimination for Venezuelan refugee women, who face gender-based violence in all areas of life, Unprotected: Gender-Based Violence Against Venezuelan Refugee Women in Colombia and Peru. Colombia and Peru have received the largest numbers of Venezuelans fleeing human rights abuses in their own country, together hosting more than 50% of all those who have fled Venezuela.

COLOMBIA

Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action on Colombia. On July 5th, Yuli Velásquez, President of the Federation of Santander Fishers for Tourism and Environment (FEDEPESAN), was the victim of an armed attack. Two unknown assailants shot at her, harming her bodyguard. Members of FEDEPESAN have previously suffered other armed attacks and threats. We urge Colombia’s National Protection Unit (UNP) to grant protective measures to Yuli that adequately respond to the level of risk Yuli and FEDEPESAN members are facing.

Amnesty’s report Unprotected (see above) finds that in Colombia Venezuelan women face multiple forms of violence in public spaces, at home and at work. Despite this, they are denied access to justice and health services because of stereotypes related to their gender, nationality and gender identity, among other factors, which also mean they experience new forms of violence and discrimination when they try to file a complaint.

Accompanying the report Unprotected is Amnesty’s Facts and Figures on this gender-based violence against Venezuelan refugee women. In Colombia, 122,000 cases of gender-based violence were reported in 2020 alone. One in four said they had experienced discrimination and of these over half said they had suffered violence in the street.

Programa Somos Defensores (Programme We Are Defenders) report 53 killings of Human Rights Defenders and Social Leaders in the first quarter of 2022, almost double compared to the same period for 2021. Of those perpetrators identified, ex-Paramilitaries were most numerous followed by FARC Dissidents and the Armed Forces. Killings occurred across over half the country’s departments. Indigenous leaders were again especially targeted.

Colombia’s Senate has ratified the Escazú Agreement, a first step which would give local communities much more say over the environment and control over extraction of resources. These include the rights of access to information about the environment, public participation in environmental decision-making, environmental justice, and a healthy and sustainable environment for current and future generations. The approval brings the agreement one step closer to being ratified in Colombia as a whole, pending two more debates and votes in the House of Representatives, the Commission and in the plenary. Finally, the agreement would be signed by the President. [Read more…]

Bourne Free and AmnesTea 2022

July 22, 2022 by zarganar

AmnesTea

In June, at the start of Refugee week, Lucy Freeman hosted another AmnesTea at her home in Southbourne. This was an excuse to drink tea, eat cake and but some of the many donated books. Like Bourne Free, this was the first for a few years. But the weather was kind and we raised £100. Many thanks to Lucy for hosting (and doing alot of baking!) and everyone who turned up and donated.

Bourne Free

We had doubts. Having attended successful Bourne Free’s in the Lower Gardens for 5 years until the pandemic hit, we were surprised at the move to Meyrick Park. Also that it was no longer a free event and it would cost £20 for anyone to access the site. We knew at least one local charity had decided against attending because of this.

But the organisers knew what they were doing. It was them who wanted the large expanse of Meyrick Park – and the crowds flocked in. With an afternoon and evening of live entertainment, plus many stalls and other attractions, you could argue that £20 was good value.

The weather was dry and very hot. There was a constant steam of people passing our stall, many stopped to have a “Love is a Human Right” selfie or a sticker. But we got many to sign our petitions – 190 signatures. These were for the release of Zahra Sedishi-Hamadani and Yulia Tsvetkova

An Iranian gender nonconforming human rights defender Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, known as Sareh, has been arbitrarily detained in Urumieh, West Azerbaijan province, since 27 October 2021 due to her real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity as well as her social media posts and statements in defence of LGBTI rights.

Feminist activist and artist Yulia Tsvetkova, who was charged with “disseminating pornography” for creating body-positive illustrations of female sexual organs, a crime punishable by up to six years in prison, At the time of Bourne Free her trial was in progress. On 15th July she was acquitted of these absurd charges. It has since been reported that Russian prosecutors have now appealed that decision.

Bourne Free 2022