This month we bring you updates on human rights issues in Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Ecuador. A request to sign Amnesty International’s petition on Colombia, asking the Attorney General to investigate the murder of Kevin Agudelo and other violations committed during the national strike. And Amnesty’s new Urgent Action to protect human rights defenders in the Magdalena Medio region of southeastern Colombia.
Also Amnesty International’s new report on human rights violations in Venezuela. The letter that Amnesty International sent to President Fernandez about the fires in the province of Corrientes in Argentina. The situation of the former Carabinero, Claudio Crespo, who was accused by the Chilean National Prosecutor’s Office of shooting Gustavo Gatica. The murders that occurred in Rio de Janeiro by the police in Brazil, and violence against the LGBT+ community in the country. The decision of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador on mining in the territory of the Aí Cofán indigenous people.
COLOMBIA
Kevin Agudo, allegedly killed by police, Cali 3 May 2021
On 3 May 2021 a joint raid by National Police officers, members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) and the Special Operations Group of the Colombian National Police (GOES) used lethal weapons and tear gas against people who were holding a memorial service for the killing of a young man near the roundabout in Siloé district the previous day. Three people lost their lives the night of 3 May, among them Kevin Agudelo, a young football player. Please sign Amnesty International’s petition (UK is Reino Unido) asking the Attorney General to investigate this murder and other human rights violations during the National Strike.
Amnesty International has issued a new report, Repression in the Spotlight, with a video showing the police using lethal weapons, such as Tavor 5.56 mm rifles, against peaceful protestors in Siloé district, Cali. The reconstruction uses more than 200 audiovisual assets analysed by Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab and SITU Research, as well as witness testimony to verify and illustrate the details of the incursion and the events leading to Kevin’s death.
Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action to protect human rights defenders in the Magdalena Medio region in southeast Colombia who have been subject to multiple threats in recent weeks. On 9 February unknown men broke into the house of the environmental defender Yuvelis Morales. She had received a death threat the day before and was forced to leave Colombia. On 7 February several human rights defenders of the region were also targeted in a ordering them to leave the area or face the consequences. We urge the authorities ensure the safety of all human rights defenders in the region. Columbia – Environmental Defenders at Risk
Good news! Amnesty International welcomes the decision by Colombia’s Constitutional Court to decriminalise abortion. Abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy is decriminalised. After 24 weeks, legal abortion will continue to be permitted only in cases of a risk to the life or health of the pregnant person; the existence of life-threatening foetal malformations; or when the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest or non-consensual artificial insemination.
In a press release on the killing of human rights defenders and journalists in the Americas, Amnesty International notes that 13 Colombian human rights defenders were killed in January this year. ‘The protection of Indigenous, campesino and Afro-descendant communities in Colombia is ineffective because it does not address the structural causes of violence and often occurs without the proper participation of those at risk. Defenders of communities at risk are constantly unprotected, and threats, attacks and killings are constant in the country considered the most dangerous in the world for defending human rights.’ [Read more…]
In the January newsletter we reported that Amnesty International had published a new briefing document, Turkey, Turn Words Into Actions setting out the increasingly worrying situation regarding violence against women in Turkey and reminding the government there of its obligations. As we move towards this year’s International Women’s Day, on 8 March we are working with colleagues in AI Germany to send a common message to the Turkish government focussing particularly on the role of the judicial authorities and police.
