Welcome to the latest newsletter from your local Amnesty International group. This is relatively brief as we’ve yet to receive new updates from the Europe and South America teams (one consequence of changing to the first Thursday of the month!). But we meet a week today on Thursday 4th November 2021 7.30pm at Moordown Community Centre Its very nice to be back at Moordown. One event that we will be discussing on Thursday is:…

Write for Rights 2021 We are delighted to announce that Bournemouth library have welcomed us back to hold Write for Rights (W4R) in their foyer.. We are booked for Saturday 11th December 2021 W4R is Amnesty International’s annual campaign, sending greetings cards to prisoners of conscience and other human rights defenders around the world.  In 2019, more than 6.5 million messages of support and appeal letters were sent during the W4R campaign. They made a big difference to the people and communities confronting injustice and facing human rights violations. We have tried numerous venues around Bournemouth over past 20 years, most outside and invariably cold or wet, sometimes both. Our W4R in Bournemouth library in 2019 was by far our most successful. So after last years enforced break it will be great to be back. We’ve yet to finalise the times, but the more help we have the longer we can stay. Please let us know if you would like to help.

Stop the Rights Raid There are several Bills currently progressing through the UK Parliament which could see devastating damage to fundamental human rights protections if passed in their current forms. These proposed changes would increase the marginalisation of some of the most discriminated against in our society, and also threaten the UK’s international reputation as an upholder of international human rights principles. Amnesty International are deeply concerned about the UK Government’s intention to ‘update’ the flagship UK human rights protection – the Human Rights Act – following the review launched in December 2020. The new Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, has already vowed to end the “nonsense” of the Human Rights Act, The Act enshrines our freedoms into UK law, is binding on public bodies and means people can go to UK courts to have their rights upheld. It is our strong view that it must remain untouched. There is a detailed briefing from AIUK on our website. There is also a proforma latter so you can write to your MP. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/stop-the-rights-raid Currently there is a petition you can add your name to on the AIUK site relating to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/uk-government-stop-assault-our-freedoms

First a reminder that our next meeting will be on Thursday 7th October 2021, 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre (MCC). This will be our first face to face meeting for 18 months. The agenda will be updates on campaigns, letter writing and planning. We are guests of MCC, who have only just reopened. Both MCC and the group are having to make decisions on how to maintain safety in light of the ongoing risk from COVID-19. If you intend coming, please read this. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/event

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We have 2 very urgent Actions on Poland : one about the suffering of refugees trapped at the border of Poland and Belarus. Please sign and circulate the online petition
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-actions/protect-afghans-stranded-polish-border?fbclid=IwAR0K6hedXLdi1EKceHBYFBrW32yCpuiDQjD_f1EQheny-5Q-ZGjjC-EDTVs
and write personal emails and letters as well. The Urgent Action can be downloaded here. (includes model letter)
The other Urgent Action is about Ela, Anna and Joanna , the three brave LGBTI Rights defenders who are on trial again on 10th November . Please take Action :
https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/poland-activist-elzbieta-podlesna/
We also have a very important trial coming up in Turkey ,
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/demand-justice-turkish-students-defending-lgbtq-rights
And of course our preparations for the demonstration and Days of Action to support and defend refugees in Europe and the UK are shaping up. 

20th & 23rd October Demonstrations  and  Days of Action

The preparations for the demonstration and day of Action on 23rd October are shaping up. There will be 2 demonstrations in London : One organised by different organisations on Wednesday  20th October outside Parliament protesting against the Nationality and Borders bill (see picture), and on Saturday the 23rd October our Amnesty Europe demonstration starting at 12noon outside the Embassy of Italy (see poster below). We are campaigning against the criminalisation of refugees and Human Rights defenders who are involved in Search & Rescue and against the cooperation of Frontex and Italy with the Libyan coastguard returning refugees to torture, rape and extortion in Libyan DCIM camps. [Read more…]

Welcome to the latest newsletter. We are delighted to announce that our next meeting will be Thursday 7th October 2021, 7.30pm  at Moordown Community Centre. We last met there in March 2020, little knowing we would have such a long break. We have had a mix of Zoom meetings and a speaker since. But as we’ve unable to hold events, most of us have found this very unsatisfactory. So do join us for this relaunch. We have taken this opportunity to switch from the 2nd Thursday to the 1st. The agenda will be updates on campaigns, letter writing and planning. Egypt: Young Women Jailed for “Indecency” In Egypt, Haneen Hossam and Mawada el-Adham, social media influencers in their early twenties, have been sentenced to years in prison for ‘encouraging’ young women to share supposedly ‘indecent’ content on social media. Amnesty International believes that they are being punished for the way they dance, talk and dress, amid a crackdown on women’s freedom of expression, and attempts to police women’s conduct online. They are both being held in al-Qanater Prison for women. If enough people take action, it will send a message to Egyptian authorities that the world is watching, and will put pressure on them to release Haneen and Mawada. Sign the petition calling on the authorities to release them https://action.amnesty.org.au/act-now/iar/egypt-release-young-women-jailed-for-indecency South America Newsletter September 2021 Since the last newsletter there have been two newsletters from the hard working South America volunteers. The latest edition has updates on developments in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. In our last newsletter we highlighted that indigenous Brazilians are 68% more likely to catch Covid-19 and their mortality rate is 58% higher than for the rest of the country. According to official counts, 523,000 Brazilians have died from Covid-19 as of 3 July. This newsletter draws attention again to the police in the state of Rio de Janeiro killing with impunity. Rio police killed 1,814 people in 2019, a new high. Black Brazilians are almost three times as likely to be killed by the police as white Brazilians. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-september-2021 Gustavo Gatica, shot in both eyes with rubber bullets, by police, and blinded. Send a Tweet to Boris and Dom In their report “Eyes on Chile“, Amnesty International exposed widespread violations by police officers in Chile for at least a month and a half following the protests that began in October 2019. If you use Twitter, Instagram or Facebook would you post or tweet to Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab? President Sebastian Piñera is currently touring Europe and visit the United Kingdom at the end of this week.  Amnesty UK regards this tour as an opportunity to raise awareness of the widespread human rights violations that took place almost two years ago. During the protest in which Gustavo Gatica was blinded; others were killed, seriously injured and raped. Here are details of how to take digital action. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Digital-Plan-Sebastian-Pinera-UK-Social-Media.docx Europe Newsletter August 2021 There is a very comprehensive newsletter,  with many of the reports relating to the treatment and abuses suffered by refugees around the continent. So the team are organising a Demonstration and Day of Action for the 23rd of October, campaigning for safe and legal routes for refugees, the right to asylum and respect for the dignity and human rights of refugees. Demonstration: Defend the Right to Asylum Saturday 23rd October Assemble 12 noon at Embassy of Switzerland Finish at 3.30 pm at the Home Office. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/europe-newsletter-august-2021

This month, we update you on developments in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.  There is a new Urgent Action on behalf of a Colombian journalist under threat.  In Venezuela, attacks continue against Human Rights Defenders.  In Brazil, mass killings of black residents continue in Rio de Janeiro and there is concern about government policies to strip indigenous communities of their autonomy.  An imminent visit by the President of Chile provides an opportunity to lobby the British Government to press for justice for those killed and injured in protests that were repressed by the authorities.   Indigenous communities in Peru are under threat from illegal land grabbers.  Ecuador has held its first National Day against Sexual Violence in Schools.  An independent investigation has found that the recent interim government in Bolivia persecuted opponents with systematic torture and summary executions by security forces.

COLOMBIA

Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action on behalf of the journalist Jose Alberto Tejeda. Since 28 April, Tejeda has faced more than 14 security incidents including surveillance by unidentified men and a security forces official who threatened to kill him. His work has been crucial in denouncing human rights violations and crimes under international law by the security forces during the Colombian National Strike in the city of Cali. We urge the National Protection Unit of the Ministry of Interior to provide him with appropriate protection measures with his agreement.

Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office is seeking to indict General Mario Montoya for his role in the murders of civilians who were then disguised as guerrillas killed in combat. Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace has found that at least 6,402 civilians were murdered by the army between 2002 and 2008 in these circumstances, known as ‘false positives’. The General is the highest-ranking officer to be directly implicated in the killings.

Peace Brigades International reports on anti-personnel mines located near the indigenous community of Chageradó in the department of Antioquia. ‘The territory of the municipality of Murindó, and especially its two indigenous reservations, is now deeply affected by the installation of land mines by different armed actors. The mines violate the right to life and mobility of community members, forcing them to confine themselves to the resguardos, so as not to put their own lives at risk.’ According to the Red Cross, 352 people were killed or wounded by landmines in Colombia in 2019, while Insight Crime reports that the use of landmines is increasing as land dedicated to coca cultivation increases.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre records that 1,440 people in Chocó fled their homes and land in August to escape the fighting between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and successor paramilitaries. A further 2,600 people fled their homes and land in the south of Bolivar department to escape fighting between armed groups. 106,000 Colombians were forcibly driven off their land and homes in 2020.

VENEZUELA

Penal Forum NGO confirmed the death of political prisoner Gabriel Medina Díaz, one of the political prisoners of the Nicolás Maduro administration, who died after suffering a respiratory arrest since he did not have the medical attention he needed, according to the vice president of the organisation, Gonzalo Himiob.

Attacks against human rights defenders in Venezuela continue.  During July, the Center for Defenders and Justice registered around 140 attacks against human rights defenders. In its report, the organization has denounced that the State has hardened the criminalization of defense groups.

The Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has demanded the guarantee of the rights of human rights organisations.  The IACHR warned that forcing NGOs to disclose information about their donors and beneficiaries can promote the stigmatisation of these organisations, due to the context surrounding the imposition of the new registration measures by Nicolas Maduro’s government.

Venezuela’s Attorney General has rejected an International Criminal Court (ICC) Report Finding Evidence of Human Rights Violations.  The ICC report found that there was a reasonable basis to believe that “civil authorities, members of the Armed Forces and pro-government individuals have committed crimes against humanity” in Venezuela, at least since April 2017. [Read more…]