Dear Amnesty Activists and supporters. The fear, terror and despair of Afghan women men and children trying to flee the Taliban regime has brought the plight of refugees back into our view and conscience. War, oppression and persecution are forcing people to flee and find a place of safety. Those braving to cross the Mediterranean in little unseaworthy boats are doing so because there is no way back, behind them is death and the hell of Libyan detention camps. But instead of compassion most refugees are met with violence when they try to cross into Fortress Europe. I am attaching the latest Amnesty report on Libya:
Libya: ‘No one will look for you’: Forcibly returned from sea to abusive detention in Libya
The report is detailing the torture, rape, abuse and extortion inflicted on refugees, and the complicity of Frontex the European border agency collaborating with the Libyan coastguard . But even those who managed to get into Europe are suffering violence at the hands of border police, and abuse in detention or asylum centres as in Switzerland.
It is time to show compassion and solidarity with refugees. We 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 !
Refugees Welcome !
Saturday 23rd October
Assemble 12 noon at Embassy of Switzerland
Finish at 3.30 pm at the Home Office.

Complicit in Torture, Rape, Extortion and Murder-Fortress Europe kills!

War, oppression and persecution are forcing people: men, women, children to leave their homes and seek safety and a future for their children in another country. The vast majority of refugees are hosted in developing countries.
Few take the perilous and dangerous journey to reach Europe lured by the promise of democracy , rule of law and respect for Human Rights. They are let down badly.
At the external borders in Greece, Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary refugees experience brutality at the hands of the border police , who are briefed to keep refugees out. Families and unaccompanied children are languishing in overcrowded tents which are frequently flooded with little water and sanitation on the Greek islands.
Worst : the European Union and Frontex are cooperating with Libya at keeping refugees out of Europe no matter what the human cost. Surveillance drones and planes are directing the Libyan coastguard to the little boats full of refugees desperate to escape the hell of Libyan detention camps. Once caught a terrible fate awaits most. Women and girls are abused and raped . All face inhuman conditions in overcrowded detention camps with little food, water and sanitation. Many are forced to work under inhuman conditions, torture and extortion are rife. Some refugees die, we don’t know how many.
“No-one will look for you “ said a refugee who managed to escape.

El Hiblu 3

Before they were known as the El Hiblu 3, they were three teenagers with a passion for football and basketball. Aged 15, 16 and 19 at the time, they wanted what we all do: a safer, better life. That common goal brought them from Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire to Libya. Desperate to escape the violence and torture cells reserved for refugees and migrants there, they boarded a dinghy with over 100 others bound for Europe. The dinghy soon ran into trouble and was rescued by the El Hiblu, an oil transporter. The El Hiblu’s crew then tried to return those rescued to Libya –which was unlawful –despite promising that they wouldn’t. A protest broke out. The three youths were asked to help calm the situation. Acting as interpreters, they defended the right of those rescued not to face torture again in Libya. The crew turned the ship towards Europe. However, as it entered Malta’s waters, the Maltese authorities stormed the ship, claiming the three had taken it by force. They charged the youths with offences so serious that they could be jailed for life. This despite finding almost no evidence to support the charges. The three youths had simply tried to defend their safety and to protect those rescued with them. Now they’re in the dock.
For several years members of Ngo’s and charities like “Jugend rettet” “Medicines sans Frontieres”, “Save the children” as well as Individuals who save lives have been criminalised ,ships impounded, the crew taken to court.
But even those refugees who made it into Europe are not safe. Federal asylum centres in Switzerland are rife with abuse against asylum seekers.
Denmark is deporting or forcibly returning refugees to countries where their lives are in danger. Of particular concern is the coerced removal of Syrian refugees into removal centres where they are under pressure to “voluntarily” return while Denmark waits for the diplomatic situation to enable them to deport directly.
In the UK the Nationality and Borders bill is awaiting its third reading in Parliament. If this bill goes through it will make vulnerable people even more vulnerable and set a terrible example. Criminalising people just for trying to reach a place of safety is morally and legally indefensible. People cross the
Channel and put themselves in serious danger because there are simply no safe alternatives open to them. [Read more…]

This month we bring you news from Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. There is good news from Venezuela, Brazil and Chile and Gustavo Gatica. We have a new Amnesty report on the National Strike in Colombia and another from Human Rights Watch on abortion rights in Ecuador. We look at the secret activities of the UK’s National Crime Agency and question its role in the excessive use of force by the Colombian police, whom it has trained. Updates include police killings in Brazil, inmate deaths in Ecuadorian prisons and forced displacements and killings of human rights defenders and social leaders in Colombia.

COLOMBIA

 Amnesty International’s new report Cali: In the epicentre of repression examines how the Colombian authorities violated the human rights of peaceful demonstrators in Cali and elsewhere during the National Strike. The security forces, in particular members of the police’s Mobile Anti-Riot Squad, used excessive and unnecessary force to disperse them. Under the pretext of restoring order, terrible injuries were inflicted on hundreds of people and dozens of young people lost their lives.

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) trained the Colombian police in a multi-million pound 5-year programme shrouded in secrecy. The NCA programme in Colombia “engaged” with “Colombian law enforcement agencies to improve their capability”, according to UK government documents seen by Declassified. The aims included “specialist cadres of police to be trained in priority areas of intervention” alongside “trusted relationships formed with key units and individuals”. The NCA’s lack of transparency is particularly worrying, raising questions over its involvement with police in their excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators in Colombia.

28 human rights defenders/social leaders were killed in the January-March quarter of 2021, according to Programa Somos Defensores (We are Defenders Programme) Nine of them were indigenous leaders. Most of the known perpetrators were successor paramilitaries, while the ELN (National Liberation Army) guerrillas and Security Forces were also responsible for killings. Many of the killings occurred in regions where armed groups are fighting over illegal and legal economic activities.

Commenting on the 106,000 people forcibly displaced in 2020, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre states: ‘Clashes between FARC dissidents, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and paramilitaries took place throughout the year in the Pacific coast departments of Chocó, Nariño and Cauca, and in Antioquia and Norte de Santander. The same departments recorded most internal displacement. African-Colombian and indigenous people represented the majority of those newly displaced.’

VENEZUELA

Venezuelan migrants have been deported from Chile: The Chilean government must end summary deportations of Venezuelans and ensure that all deportations comply with international human rights law. The government announced that it planned to deport 1,500 people during 2021. According to the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM), the government had deported 294 people; in most cases, without judicial control. Most were Venezuelan women.

Good news! Defender for the rights of women and girls is free: Venezuelan professor and human rights defender Vannesa Rosales was released on July 21, after spending nine months in detention, six of which were under house arrest. She was criminalized for her work as a defender of sexual and reproductive rights in Venezuela. During the preliminary hearing held on July 21, the court dismissed the accusation and closed the case against Vannesa. Thank you very much to all who sent appeals!

The International Criminal Court and Venezuela: The situation in Venezuela, a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC), is under review. The final decision will determine whether a formal court investigation is warranted. The prosecution reported that, based on the information to which it had access during its preliminary examination, it had found reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity had been committed in Venezuela. [Read more…]