This month, we update you on developments in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Chile

In Colombia, a new government has been elected: Gustavo Petro will become the first radical left-wing President of Colombia in its history, and his Vice-President, Francia Marquez, the first black coloured woman in this office. Also, Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action for the human rights defender organization FEDEPESAN, and Colombia’s Truth Commission has published its final report. In Brazil, Amnesty International and 17 Brazilian NGOs have issued a petition to the state’ Public Prosecutors and the President of the National Council of Justice to hold the police responsible for violations of human rights for killings committed in 2021. Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action for Ecuador, calling on President Lasso to stop criminalizing peaceful protests. In Venezuela, Marino Alvarado and Alfredo Infante, the subjects of an Urgent Action last month, have reached a settlement with Carabobo State Governor, to drop his defamation lawsuit against them. A new constitution is getting ready for approval in Chile.

COLOMBIA

Gustavo Petro was voted in as the first radical left-wing President of Colombia in its history, while his Vice-Presidential running mate, Francia Márquez, is the first Black Colombian to hold this office. As his party won just 20 of 108 seats in the Senate and 28 of 169 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, he will have to negotiate with other parties to pass his government’s legislation.

Francia Márquez, human-rights and environmental activist and lawyer, has promised to give priority to the human rights of women, indigenous and ethnic minorities and environmental rights defenders.  They will take office on 7 August.

 Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action on behalf of the Colombian human rights defender organization FEDEPESAN. On May 31st, four environmental defenders from the Federation of Santander Fishers for Tourism and Environment (FEDEPESAN) were victims of an attack with firearms by unknown people while assessing possible environmental harm in the Magdalena Medio region. We urge the Ministry of the Interior to adopt immediate measures to guarantee the life and right to defend human rights of members of FEDEPESAN. You can take action here

 Colombia’s Truth Commission, part of the Peace Accord that ended the civil war with the FARC, has published its final report [pending English version], which has been well-received by President-elect Petro. The report calls for major changes to Colombia’s military and police forces. Military objectives should be re-evaluated, and all human rights violations committed by security forces should be tried by civilian courts. The report called on the nation’s government to regulate the drug trade so that its profits go to government agencies and not drug trafficking groups. It suggests that Colombia restart peace negotiations with the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia’s largest remaining rebel groups.  [Read more…]

Welcome to the latest newsletter. The next meeting  is on Thursday 7th July 2022 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. But next Saturday 9th July we have a stall at….

BourneFree 2022

This is Bournemouth’s Gay Pride event; an annual celebration of all diversities that live in Bournemouth and surrounding areas. We had a stall at BourneFree for 5 consecutive years until lockdown ended all events in 2020. In many countries the LGBTI+ community are persecuted and, sadly, there are always cases we can feature. Unlike some events we do, its relatively easy to get cards signed and have conversations about Amnesty International and the work we do. Previous Pride events were in Bournemouth Gardens, and attendance was free. This year its held in Meyrick Park and there is a charge to enter. Hopefully it will be as successful as previous years. https://bournefree.co.uk/

[Read more…]

20th to 26th of June is dedicated to the Refugee Week, a week to celebrate the contributions Refugees make to enrich our communities and keep vital services like the NHS and social care functioning.

• The first vaccine against coronavirus was developed by a refugee in Germany. Refugee Week should also remind us that seeking asylum from persecution is a Human Right. But this right is under constant attack.
• In Italy Human Rights defenders from several NGO’s including ‘’Save the Children’’ , ‘’Jugend Rettet’’and ‘’Médecins sans Frontieres’’ are on a trial for saving lives in the Mediterranean sea. Italy and Frontex, the EU border agency are collaborating with the Libyan coastguard to intercept refugees at sea and return them to torture and abuse in the notorious Libyan detention camps.
• The war in Ukraine forced millions to flee and for once, the response from neighbouring countries and the EU was generous, compassionate and non-bureaucratic. Poland registered over a million refugees from Ukraine. But at the other border to Belarus there are still refugees fleeing war and violence from Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan trapped in the forests without support or locked into overcrowded detention centres in some cases 20 -24 people had to share a room of 8 square metre.
• Denmark forces Syrian refugees to return to Syria despite the detailed Amnesty report: You are going to your death!
• According to Amnesty International’s research carried out between June 2018 and January 2019, migrants and refugees have been subject to systemic and deliberate pushbacks and collective expulsions by the Croatian border police.
• Find out more about Refugee week actions later in this newsletter

Italy, Iuventa case

On 21^st of May the preliminary hearing in the case against 21 human rights defenders accused of facilitating irregular migration for saving refugees and migrants at sea started at the court of Trapani, Sicily. The accused are 4 Iuventa crew members and 17 people involved in the rescue operations of Medicines sans Frontiers and Save the Children.

Amnesty applied to observe the hearing, together with other lawyers’ organisations (ECCHR, EDHL and Giuristi Democratici), we are hopeful we might be admitted to observe at future sessions of the preliminary hearing before the summer break. The preliminary hearing is expected to last for several months.

Amnesty and many other activists, went to Trapani to support the 4 Iuventa crew and the other defenders. The show of support and solidarity was much appreciated by the Iuventa crew, who said the collective participation to the day and the mobilisation outside the court, online and in other cities were just what they had hoped for.

Please join us online (20th of June) on Instagram, facebook and twitter in raising the level of attention to the case.

Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders already tweeted that she is monitoring the case.

@amnestyukeurope facebook.com/AmnestyUKEurope [Read more…]

The next meeting  is on Thursday 7th July 2022 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. But next Sunday is our 4th AmnesTea…

AmnesTea Is on…. Sunday the 19th June 2022, 3pm to 5pm. Our secretary, Lucy Freeman has offered to host this event again at her home in Southbourne.What is an AmnestyTea? Well you, and any friend come along – possibly bringing cake  – and drink tea (or coffee, or whatever your favourite beverage) We will also have a book stall. So basically bring along (1) people (2) cake (3) books to donate (4) cash to spend.. June 19th also happens to be Fathers Day, so celebrate in style! On a more serious note its at the start of Refugee Week. The theme for 2022 is ‘healing’. With the Nationality and Borders Bill now passed, the desperate situation with people crossing the Channel, the treatment of people seeking asylum in the UK including the appalling deal to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda and the war in Ukraine, now is a really important time to show support for refugees. We aim to have some action you can participate in at the AmnesTea. Please respond to this newsletter if you would like to attend and want more details.

[Read more…]

This month we bring you news from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Peru.  Amnesty has two Urgent Actions on individuals in Venezuela and opposes a proposal that could force the closure of NGOs in that country. We report on the plight of indigenous Amazonian communities in Brazil and Ecuador and the continued spate of police killings in Brazil. There’s been a new prison massacre in Ecuador. A new report on aggressions against Colombian human rights defenders and community leaders takes the government to task. The first round of the Colombian presidential election resulted in a surprise.

REGIONAL 

In a Newsweek article highlighting Amnesty’s report “Unequal and Lethal”, Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s Secretary General, and Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director, have called for a post-Covid economic recovery that is rights based, inclusive and fair, and addresses the region’s structural inequality.

VENEZUELA 

Amnesty has issued two new Urgent Actions.

Carlos Debiais, a photographer, was filming in Falcón state when he was questioned by security personnel of the state-owned oil company and detained on 12 November last year by military counterintelligence officers.  After his detention, his fate and whereabouts were unknown on several occasions.   A release warrant was issued in his name on 12 April, but prison authorities are refusing to release him.  You can take action here.

On 16 May, human rights defenders Marino Alvarado and Alfredo Infante received notification of a defamation lawsuit filed against them by the governor of Carabobo state. The lawsuit comes as a response to a report published in March by the NGOs Provea and Centro Gumilla, which exposes possible extrajudicial executions in Carabobo state and the governor’s failure to enforce accountability.  Amnesty is calling for the lawsuit to be dropped and, more widely, for a safe working environment for human rights defenders.  You can take action here.

500 civil society organizations, including Amnesty, and 250 activists have signed a public statement rejecting a proposed International Cooperation Law, currently under debate in the National Assembly, which could criminalize NGOs, or at least seriously hinder the work of human rights organisations in the country.  If passed, the bill could be used to justify the control, persecution or suspension of these organizations and leave them without access to external financing.

COLOMBIA

The Colombian NGO Programa Somos Defensores (We are defenders programme PSD) has published its annual report on aggressions against human rights defenders (HRDs) and social leaders in Colombia in 2021, including the killings of 139. While the perpetrators of 82 killings are unknown, of the remainder perpetrators of 21 killings were identified as ex-paramilitaries, 18 as FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) dissidents, 9 as the ELN (National Liberation Army), 5 as state security forces and 4 as others. The two groups who suffered most losses were communal/community leaders and indigenous leaders. [Read more…]