This month we report on the continued undermining of human rights and threats to the environment posed by the Brazilian government and updates on the ongoing crisis in Venezuela. While aggressions and killings of human rights defenders in Colombia continue to mount, British MPs ask questions during President Duque’s visits the UK. There’s good news from Ecuador, where same-sex marriage is now legal. Plus we have news from Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

REGIONAL

The Organisation of American States (OAS) held its General Assembly in Medellin, Colombia, on 26-28 June. The Venezuelan crisis dominated the discussions, complicated by the continuing dispute over who should be recognised as President. In 2017, Nicolás Maduro had announced Venezuela’s withdrawal from the OAS, but Juan Guaidó sent a representative.  Member States were divided by his presence and Uruguay withdrew from the Assembly in protest.  20 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, the United States and Peru backed recognition of Guaidó’s representation until Venezuela holds its next elections. Eight countries voted against, including Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua and several Caribbean nations, while six abstained.

In advance of the Assembly, Amnesty published an open letter calling on OAS members to move beyond stale political debate and strengthen their focus and commitment to human rights protection.  It highlighted in particular its concerns over the situation in Nicaragua and Venezuela, the situation of Human Rights Defenders in the Americas, and its concern that some States were seeking to undermine the independence and autonomy of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.  The Final Declaration has not yet been published.

In a public statement on 20 June, Amnesty called on States in the Americas to protect those fleeing human rights violations in their own countries and to promote a coherent regional response.  It expressed concern that some States had taken steps back in their international obligations to welcome and protect Venezuelan refugees.  The statement also addressed those fleeing Nicaragua and those seeking safety and protection in the USA.

BRAZIL

A statement by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) on 12 June said that the decision by the Brazilian Government to cripple its key national anti-torture body will have devastating effects on the situation of people deprived of liberty.

In a Presidential Decree published on 11 June 2019, the Brazilian President dismissed the eleven members of the National Mechanism to Prevent and Combat Torture (MNCPT), an institution established in 2013 whose role is to inspect the prisons in Brazil and monitor the situation of persons deprived of liberty and the respect of their human rights. The Decree also establishes that the new MNCPT will now function on a voluntary and unpaid basis. Torture is endemic in prisons and police stations in Brazil.

The Guardian, Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon Surges to Record High, reports that environmentalists fear 2019 will be one of worst for deforestation in recent memory. Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon surged last month to the highest May level since the current monitoring method began, prompting concerns that President  Bolsonaro is giving a free pass to illegal logging, farming and mining. Aljazeera reports that the head of Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency(FUNAI) was dismissed amid a push to develop the Amazon. He said he was fired after being pressured by Bolsonaro to open up reservation lands to commercial activity.

Front Line Defenders states that imminent mass evictions increase risks to human rights defenders in Pará.  Since 1985, 466 conflicts have been recorded by the Brazilian Catholic NGO CPT, which have resulted in 702 killings of rural workers and human rights defenders. The evictions’ hearings planned for June, July and August 2019 will increase the vulnerability of local leaders, social movements, human rights defenders and organizations that support land redistribution processes. These could leave more than 2000 families with no place to live and without land to work on. Front Line Defenders learned of at least 11 communities that face imminent eviction in the south and southeast of Pará.

David attended the London premiere of the new TV series Aruanas, which is supported by Amnesty International. It’s a fictional environmental thriller about three courageous women human rights defenders and climate activists in Brazil defending the environment and the Amazon and the risks they face by doing so. Although fictional, this series relates to the stark reality that in Brazil the great majority of the killings of human rights defenders have occurred in the context of conflicts over land and natural resources. Global Witness documented the killings of over 80 people in conflicts over land and natural resources in 2018. To find out more and to watch the trailer click here [Read more…]

Welcome to the latest newsletter. The next meeting  is on Thursday 13th June 2019, 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. On the agenda  –  Review of campaigns; letter writing, planning events.  We haven’t had a meeting since the last newsletter; this is mainly a reminder of upcoming events and asking for your support…

We are planning our third AmnesTea. This will be on Sunday the 30th June 2019, 3pm to 5pm. Our secretary, Lucy Freeman has offered to host this event again at her home in Southbourne – obviously we were well behaved last time! What is an AmnestyTea? Well you, and any friend come along – possibly bringing cake 🙂 – and drink tea (or coffee, or whatever your comparable  beverage) To make this more exciting, and more of a fundraiser, we are proposing a book stall. So baiscally bring along (1) people (2) cake (3) books (4) cash to spend.. You can read more about the previous events here   https://amnestyat50.co.uk/amnesttea-in-southbourne-june-2016  and https://amnestyat50.co.uk/amnestea-in-southbourne

For the 5th year running we will be holding a stall, and taking part in the parade, at BourneFree. This will be on Saturday 13th July. This is Bournemouth’s LGBTI Pride event and the stalls are in Bournemouth Gardens. 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. You can read more about last years event here   https://amnestyat50.co.uk/bournefree-2018 We need to have people running the stall from 8am till 5pm, so any help will be very welcome.

South American Newsletter June 2019 The latest edition of the South America Regional Newsletter is now on the blog and worth a read as this continent has so many issues relating to human rights violations.  In particular the deteriorating situation in Venezuela. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-june-2019

Justice for Venezuela As reported in the Guardian last week, “more than 4 million Venezuelans have now fled economic and humanitarian chaos in what the UN’s refugee agency called a “staggering” exodus that has swelled by 1 million people since last November alone.”  As mentioned in the South American Newsletter, Amnesty International produced two reports and is focussing two campaigns on Venezuela. Amnesty has called on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean not toimpose barriers that hinder the entry of those fleeing the crisis or to return anyone to Venezuela given the risk they run of suffering human rights violations. There is an online petition that you can sign here. In the second report (Hunger for Justice), Amnesty highlight the selective extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, and deaths and injuries caused by the excessive use of force by Maduro’s government. This has been part of a systematic and widespread policy of repression since at least 2017 and may constitute crimes against humanity. Amnesty International has called for a vigorous response from the international justice system. There is an online petition for this too – sign here. At our meeting on Thursday we will write to the Venezuelan authorities about the fate and whereabouts of Gilber Caro, an opposition member of the National Assembly. He was reported to have been taken away by intelligence officers on 26 April 2019 while he was at a restaurant in Caracas. Nothing has been heard of him since…

As the crisis in Venezuela continues, Amnesty has issued two new reports, an Urgent Action and two petitions on that country. We report on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Colombia and Brazil, but there’s good news from Peru. We’re asking you to sign petitions on Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Ecuador.

VENEZUELA

Amnesty issued two reports on Venezuela in May.

In the first (Welcome Venezuela), Amnesty explained that Venezuela’s unprecedented human rights crisis is not only affecting millions of people inside the country but has forced one in every ten people in Venezuela to leave their homes in the last four years. It has called on the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean not to impose barriers that hinder the entry of those fleeing the crisis or to return anyone to Venezuela given the risk they run of suffering human rights violations. There is an online petition that you can sign here.

In the second (Hunger for Justice), Amnesty argues that selective extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, and deaths and injuries caused by the excessive use of force by Maduro’s government as part of a systematic and widespread policy of repression since at least 2017 may constitute crimes against humanity. It has called for a vigorous response from the international justice system. There is an online petition for this too – sign here.

Amnesty has issued an Urgent Action calling on the Venezuelan authorities to reveal the fate and whereabouts of Gilber Caro, an opposition member of the National Assembly, who was, according to reports, taken by intelligence officers on 26 April 2019 while he was at a restaurant in Caracas.  Gilber Caro was arbitrarily detained from January 2017 until June 2018 under unfounded accusations of treason and stealing military equipment but eventually conditionally released. You can take action here.

COLOMBIA

7,000 members of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Chocó face death threats and are at risk of forced displacement. Most have been forcibly confined to their territories for more than a year because of the ongoing confrontations between illegal armed groups. Amnesty has set up a petition asking the state to immediately implement a comprehensive protection plan for people in Chocó and ensure that victims receive reparations and guarantees that human rights violations will be prevented. Please sign it here!

The Colombian NGO Somos Defensores (We are defenders) issued a damning report on the killings of Human Rights Defenders in 2018. 155 HRDs were killed in 2018, an increase of 46% on 2017, the highest figure since the NGO started its reports in 2009. Many leaders of rural communities were killed either because they supported the government’s plan to replaces coca and marijuana with other crops or because they refused to plant coca or marijuana. Although in 72% of the cases the perpetrators are unknown, of the remainder that are known, paramilitaries were responsible for 36%, FARC dissidents for 29% and the ELN and state security forces 17.5% each. You can download this extensive report in the English version here.

Documents seen by Associated Press into investigations into extrajudicial killings allegedly show that the recently appointed head of the Army was involved in the cover-up of the killings of civilians by the Army ten years ago. The military killed up to 5,000 civilians, reporting them to be guerrilla rebels in what became known as ‘False Positives’, in response to incentives (pay and perks) from their superiors.

Fuerza de Mujeres (Women’s Force) of the Wayuu indigenous people have denounced death threats from a paramilitary group that have forced some of their members to flee their homes in La Guajira. Although they have informed the authorities of these threats since October 2018, they say that they have not been offered any protection. You can view their statement in Spanish here. In response to these death threats the huge Cerrejon coal mine, which is located in La Guajira and whose operations are opposed by the Wayuu, publicly called on the authorities to protect Fuerza de Mujeres and bring to justice those responsible. [Read more…]

Welcome to the latest newsletter. For a variety of reasons this newsletter is between meetings. Our next meeting  is on Thursday 13th June 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. In this newsletter we wanted to highlight some of our upcoming events to ensure as many of you as possible can get involved (don’t worry, you’ve missed the street collection!)

South American Newsletter May 2019 This is usually buried near the bottom of the newsletter, but there are several South American issues to bring to your attention.  The latest edition of the South America Regional Newsletter is now on the blog and worth a read as this continent has so many issues relating to human rights violations.  There are more South American posts below. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-may-2019

We are planning our third AmnesTea. This will be on Sunday the 30th June 2019, 3pm to 5pm. Our secretary, Lucy Freeman has offered to host this event again at her home in Southbourne – obviously we were well behaved last time! What is an AmnestyTea? Well you, and any friend come along – possibly bringing cake 🙂 – and drink tea (or coffee, or whatever your comparable  beverage) To make this more exciting, and more of a fundraiser, we are proposing a book stall. So basically bring along (1) people (2) cake (3) books (4) cash to spend.. You can read more about the previous events here   https://amnestyat50.co.uk/amnesttea-in-southbourne-june-2016  and https://amnestyat50.co.uk/amnestea-in-southbourne

[Read more…]

In this month’s newsletter, we report on a disturbing regional development as five governments seek to limit the scope of action of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.  There are updates on the situation in Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia, where human rights remain under serious threat, as well as details of a new campaign to defend the rights of women human rights defenders in the Ecuadorian Amazon.  There are three options for action, which are highlighted in red.

REGIONAL

The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Chile have signed and delivered a statement to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calling on “the organs of the Inter-American system”, when taking action, to take into account: the critical importance of the principle of subsidiarity; the measure of autonomy enjoyed by States “to decide the most appropriate way of ensuring rights and guarantees, in order to give effect to their democratic processes”; the strict application of the law in resolving cases brought to their attention; and consideration of the “political, economic and social realities of States”.

Amnesty has described this as a major blow for the victims of human rights violations in the Americas  “because it seeks to reduce the independence and autonomy of the organs of the Inter-American system” and a blatant attempt to weaken and shackle the Inter-American system.

VENEZUELA

Amnesty has been documenting the grave human rights violations and crimes under international law that have taken place in Venezuela since the crisis worsened in January.  It has documented extrajudicial executions, unlawful use of lethal force, arbitrary mass arrests and ill-treatment of people who speak out against Maduro’s government.

Amnesty has confirmed that at least four people have been killed, more than 200 injured and 205 arrested during state repression of protests across Venezuela since 30 April.  It has called on Maduro to put an immediate end to his policy of repression.

Amnesty is calling on the UN Human Rights Council to set up an international, independent and impartial investigative mechanism, such as a Commission of Inquiry, into the abuses and violations committed during the crisis and we are urging the UK Government to work towards this.  Please sign the petition here.

Amnesty has launched a new campaign calling for the international protection of Venezuelan migrants and refugees who have fled the massive human rights violations in Venezuela.  The campaign seeks to ensure that no Latin American or Caribbean country puts up entry barriers to Venezuelan migrants and refugees and that they refrain from returning people to Venezuela. You can download a copy of Amnesty’s report Welcome Venezuela here..

[Read more…]