Welcome to the latest newsletter. The next meeting  is on Thursday 7th April 2022 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. At the next meeting we will be campaign updates, letter writing and planning for future events.

Ukraine Since our last newsletter the we’ve had the human rights catastrophe of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The UK government must do its part to help those fleeing the war. AIUK are calling for the UK Government to urgently:-     Strengthen international efforts to protect civilians, provide humanitarian relief and help bring suspected perpetrators of crimes under international law to justice.     Press for parties to the conflict to create & respect humanitarian corridors to safe havens, for all civilians to have access to transportation and time to leave, and for international observers to be granted access to monitor their safe passage.     Fulfil the commitment to provide sanctuary to 200,000 Ukrainian refugees in the UK by providing safe routes to travel here, such as by a temporary visa waiver.     Abandon measures which will do serious damage to the UK’s asylum system. You can email the Prime Minister to urge him to help people fleeing the war https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/UkraineCrisis There is a template letter to send to Members of Parliament, with an accompanying briefing, that can be downloaded from the AIUK website. Please let us know if you write to your MP, so we can track which MPs have been contacted. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/invasion-ukraine-resources Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof Also since the last newsletter Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have been reunited with their families in the UK after years of detention in Iran.  But Amnesty continues to campaign for Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof, who are still arbitrarily detained in Iran. Please continue to campaign with us, and contact your local MP to:- ask them to raise Morad’s and Mehran’s cases with the Foreign Secretary, asking for them to not be forgotten and calling for their release ask them to raise their cases publicly and mention Morad and Mehran in Parliament. There is a template letter you can download here.

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…]

Turkey

Support women in Turkey on International Women’s Day, 8th of March 2022

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.

Attached with this newsletter are two documents that you could use to join this campaign.

1. A letter to the Minister of Interior, to be copied to the Turkish Ambassador in London. Please print and sign as soon as possible so it will arrive before 8 March (download here).

2. A pdf file that you can use to print campaigning postcards yourselves or arrange to have multiple copies printed at your local printers. This postcard has been worded so that it can be used beyond International Women’s Day as we will certainly be campaigning on this issue for some considerable time to come (download here).

Ukraine

We are commending Poland and the Polish people for welcoming refugees from Ukraine and are asking our government to help too!

Dear Amnesty Activists and supporters,
We are all in shock watching the invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s army. Bombs raining on blocks of flats, a Kindergarten, over 100000 people trying to flee to neighbouring countries Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania. Poland is preparing reception centres to welcome refugees from Ukraine.
We are commending Poland and the Polish people for welcoming refugees from Ukraine and are asking our government to help too: Many Ukrainians in the UK are desperately worried for friends and family in the Ukraine. [Read more…]

Welcome to the latest newsletter from your local Amnesty International group. For a variety of reasons we won’t be meeting in March. We next meet Thursday  April 7th, at Moordown Community Centre, 7.30 – 9.30pm.

Stop the People Smuggling Business Booming The people smuggling business is booming, and thanks to the UK government it’s about to get another boost – unless we act now. The government is pushing through damaging legislation called the Nationality & Borders Bill. If passed, it would mean more people seeking safety will be forced into the hands of people smuggling gangs – who value profit over safety. Providing asylum for those fleeing conflict and persecution is a responsibility shared by all countries – including the UK. But if this Bill is passed into law – it would mean the current policy of refusing any safe routes to seek asylum would be extended. UK rules require asylum claims to be made in this country – and yet there are no visas available for anyone to come to the UK to seek asylum. Learn more and email the Prime Minister now – and ask him to revise the Bill and stop the people smugglers from profiting even more. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/smugglers

South America Newsletter February 2022 Ther latest newsletter from the South American team is on the website. This month there are updates on developments in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia, including some good news from Peru and Paraguay. Demonstrations have taken place in Colombia to condemn the many people killed or disappeared in clashes near the Venezuelan border. Since the newsletter was published there is a new urgent action from Columbia (see below) https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-february-2022

[Read more…]

This month, we update you on developments in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia, including some good news from Peru and Paraguay.  Demonstrations have taken place in Colombia to condemn the many people killed or disappeared in clashes near the Venezuelan border.  A family of human rights defenders have been killed in Brazil.  The United Nations have reviewed the human rights situation in Venezuela.  We met the British Ambassador to Paraguay to discuss Amnesty’s report about sexual violence against children and adolescents.  In Chile, the new cabinet has a majority of women.  The Guardian has a report on the impact of mercury contamination on indigenous people in Bolivia.

COLOMBIA

In the first weekend of January, at least 33 people were killed, others disappeared and hundreds forcibly displaced in Arauca Department, near to the border with Venezuela, according to WOLA Colombia Peace Monitoring. They provide the background to the continued fighting between former guerrilla groups ELN (National Liberation Army) and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) dissidents over the control of the cultivation, production and trafficking of cocaine in this region and possible measures that should be taken by the Colombian authorities.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports that 871 people were forcibly displaced in Chocó Department 12 to 25 January. This followed fighting between ELN former guerrillas and former paramilitaries in an area where drug trafficking is widespread. A further 1,230 people were confined to their homes and two of them killed by indiscriminate gunfire.

To commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Peace Accord, the UN Verification Commission reports on human rights and the Peace Process in Colombia. They examine all the interrelated issues, including its implementation, the work of the Truth Commission, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, reintegration of former combatants, security guarantees, gender and child violence and ethnic affairs. They evaluate recent actions by the International Criminal Court, the USA, the Colombian Congress and the Colombian government intended to help resolve these issues.

In its annual report on Colombia, Human Rights Watch covers issues ranging from climate change to human rights abuses by the police and prison officers. The report notes that while violence subsided following the Peace Accord, ‘conflict-related violence has since taken new forms, and abuses by armed groups [ELN, FARC dissidents, former paramilitaries] including killings, massacres, and massive forced displacement increased in many remote areas of Colombia in 2021’.

Update, New Urgent Action – Columbia – Environmental Defenders at Risk

[Read more…]