This month we cover the impact of Covid-19 on human rights in the region as well as more general human rights news. Amnesty has issued the human rights responsibilities for state response to Covid-19 for the Americas. This includes a paper which sets out four things governments should do and four things they should not. States should:

• Not discriminate
• Not leave behind high-risk groups
• Not use repression or excessive force in enforcing public health measures.
• Not censor or limit access to evidence-based information or prevention

States should:

• Guarantee workers’ rights and social security
• Guarantee access to adequate water, sanitation and health for all
• Ensure a gender-focused response to the pandemic
• Protect people’s rights to privacy

We also have 2 Urgent Actions for Venezuela, a petition for Peru and Amnesty statements on recent events in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.

VENEZUELA

Venezuelan National Assembly opposition members and those near them continue to suffer attacks. Representative Ismael Léon was detained from 21 – 23 January 2020 then conditionally released. In this Urgent Action, you can call on President Maduro to put an immediate stop to this repression. Any letters should be addressed to the Venezuelan Ambassador in London as there is still no postal service in or with Venezuela.

On 21 March 2020, journalist Darvinson Rojas was arrested by the Special Action Forces (FAES) of the National Police in an apparent attempt to silence his reporting on the spread of COVID-19 in Venezuela. Darvinson is in the custody of FAES custody, who have an appalling record of committing grave human rights violations. In this Urgent Action, you can demand his immediate and unconditional release.

This article from Human Rights Watch questions how the country’s collapsing health system will cope with the COVID-19 outbreak and the consequences for Venezuelans’ right to health and for the rest of Latin America. [Read more…]

Welcome to the latest newsletter. Happy International Women’s Day. Sadly, all over the world, activists are being imprisoned, tortured and even killed just because they’re women. More on this below. Our next meeting  is on Thursday 12th March, 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. On the agenda  –  Review of campaigns and letter writing. Its also our AGM – don’t let that put you off, its mainly a brief review of 2019.

Ted Stevens Last month many of our group attended the funeral of our long time chairman Ted Steves. Alongside his wife May, who died a year ago, they were among the founder members of the group in 1986. For many years Ted and May were the mainstay of the group and its activities. There will be a fuller tribute to Ted appearing on the blog later this week. We will also discuss how the group can mark the work of May and Ted at our meeting on Thursday.

Marielle Franco – Message from her family Last months newsletter featured our case file Marielle Franco. Next Saturday marks the 2nd anniversary or the murder of Marielle and her driver Anderson Gomes. Amnesty Brazil have released a video from Marielles family thanking everyone for their support in the campaign to get justice for Marielle. In the video you hear from Antônio and Marinete (her parents), Anielle (sister), Luyara (daughter) and Mônica (partner).  More than 30.000 thousand letters of support from around the world have been delivered to the family of Marielle Franco; she featured in Write 4 Rights 2018 and many groups and individuals have continued to campaign. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/marielle-franco-message-from-her-family

[Read more…]

This report includes an urgent action regarding Ecuador, an online petition regarding  Venezuelan refugees in Peru, a forthcoming event  regarding Chile and the  petition signatures obtained regarding Ecuador and Argentina.  There is  an introduction to an AI annual report for the Americas and continuing concerns regarding Venezuela, including the prevention of a visit of a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and abuses by armed groups. There are opportunities to meet a human rights defender (HRD) from Venezuela.  Concerns for the safety of refugees in Peru, an event in London regarding Chile and the delivery of a petition regarding Ecuador are also covered. The Colombia section contains continuing  concerns  regarding HRDs, violence and  refugees; and Richard’s meeting with the ambassador. The problems faced by journalists in Brazil and regionally, the forthcoming actions  regarding the killing of Brazilian HRD Marielle Franco, the killing of a possible suspect/witness in this case and proposed legislation affecting indigenous rights are discussed.

COLOMBIA

The IDC Monitoring Centre reports that 5,400 people have been forcibly displaced by armed groups in three different departments in the 17 days ending 5 February.

The UN Office for human rights said it was “deeply troubled by the staggering number of human rights defenders (HRDs) killed in Colombia” last year. It noted that at least 107 HRDs were killed in 2019. ‘The vast majority of last year’s killings happened in rural areas, 98 per cent of which occurred in municipalities with black market economies, and where criminal groups or armed groups hold sway.’

Armed groups include various paramilitary groups, the ELN (National Liberation Army), ELP (Popular Liberation Army), dissident FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and organised crime. They are mainly fighting over the cultivation of coca, the laboratories where it is processed into cocaine and the shipment routes to the coast from where it is exported. Since the end of aerial spraying in 2015, land under coca cultivation doubled to 200,000 hectares in 2018. The huge income from the cocaine trade feeds corruption, undermining legal, political and security institutions.

According to the Colombian ambassador (who Richard met recently), the cultivation of coca is almost entirely in areas that lack infrastructure. The long-term plan is to build infrastructure, which would also greatly benefit rural communities, as it has in Peru. In the meantime the government has decided to return to aerial spraying (subject to restraints set out by the Constitutional Court) while continuing with crop substitution. However, aerial fumigation comes with its own problems – cost effectiveness, health risks, damage to other crops, environmental damage all discussed by WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America). It concludes, ‘There is ultimately no substitute for a comprehensive effort to bring the state into ungoverned territories.’

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 3,000 Venezuelans arrive every day in Colombia and Colombia currently hosts 1.63 million. A study by the Brookings Institution estimates this could increase to 2.8 million by the end of 2020. A recent article in the Financial Times looks at the consequences for the stability of Colombia.

Amnesty International is planning to launch a new report on Territorial, Land and Environmental Rights Defenders at the end of May.

ARGENTINA

Over 200,000 people signed Amnesty’s petition asking Congress to decriminalise abortion. Thanks to all of you who signed it! [Read more…]

Since sending out the newsletter, (see below), that features the murder of Marielle Franco, almost two years ago, there have been two developments.  Amnesty Brazil have released a video from Marielles family thanking everyone for their support in the campaign to get justice for Marielle. In the video above you hear from Antônio and Marinete (her parents), Anielle (sister), Luyara (daughter) and Mônica (partner).  More than 30.000 thousand letters of support from around the world have been delivered to the family of Marielle Franco; she featured in Write 4 Rights 2018 and many groups and individuals have continued to campaign.

Less good news is that Adriano da Nóbrega – a notorious hitman, whose gang of contract killers is suspected of involvement in Marielle’s assassination – has been gunned down by police in the north-east of the country. Read more about this in the Guardian:-

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/09/hitman-with-links-to-marielle-francos-killed-by-police