Amnesty International Bournemouth Poole Christchurch Group

local news & events Amnesty International group for Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch

South America Newsletter February 2025

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This month we bring you news from Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Suriname

Highlights are:

  • Regional: AI Directors in the region have shared concerns about President Trump’s agenda and the implications for human rights in the region and more widely
  • Venezuela: There is a new Urgent Action calling for the release of four unfairly detained Human Rights Defenders
  • Colombia: There is a new Urgent Action calling for the protection of the civilian population of Catatumbo, where armed violence has led to dozens of civilian deaths and massive forced displacements
  • Argentina: Tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest against the threat to diversity rights arising from President Milei’s recent pronouncements
  • Chile: Two police officers have been sentenced to imprisonment for an unprovoked attack in 2019 that led to a 24-year-old student and athlete losing vision in one eye
  • Suriname: Plans for a major mining project in western Suriname have sounded alarms in nearby Indigenous communities

REGIONAL

The executive directors of all Amnesty International Americas sections have joined to share concerns about President Trump’s agenda and possible threats to human rights in the U.S. and around the world and especially the impacts on the Americas region.  Amnesty International Directors also reminded the incoming U.S. administration of its international human rights obligations in a challenging and polarised environment.

VENEZUELA

Relatives of political prisoners light candles during a vigil

We have launched a new Urgent Action calling for the release of Javier Tarazona, Rocio San Miguel, Carlos Julio Rojas, and Kennedy Tejeda. Carlos Correa, who we have also been campaigning for, has now been released. Correa had been detained for eight days after being intercepted by hooded individuals dressed in black, without his friends or family knowing his whereabouts. There are reports of him to be soon facing criminal charges, although no evidence of criminal wrong-doing has been presented.

Javier Tarazona has been unfairly detained since 2 July 2021, Rocio San Miguel since 9 February 2024, Carlos Julio Rojas since 15 April 2024, and Kennedy Tejeda since 2 August 2024. Rocio San Miguel has not received complex surgery and rehabilitation for an injury sustained months back whilst in custody. [Read more…]

South America Newsletter January 2025

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This month we bring you news from Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador.

Highlights are:

  • Colombia: Amnesty has released a new report which documents the reality experienced by the women who dedicate their lives to searching for the victims of enforced disappearance.
  • Peru: Amnesty has published the stories of four of the survivors of the repression of the 2022/23 protests, highlighting how the authorities have failed to ensure their health and recovery.
  • Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in to the Presidency, prompting outrage amongst non-governmental organisations and in other countries.
  • Chile: Amnesty has issued a new Urgent Action, calling on the Senate to reject draft legislation that poses a grave threat to the rights of migrants.
  • Argentina: Amnesty Argentina have published a report on the human rights situation during 2024. This explores how the economic policies and reforms have negatively impacted the lives of millions of people, especially the most vulnerable.
  • Ecuador: Amnesty has published an article on how communities in the city of Guayaquil and along the country’s coast have stepped up their activism in the face of the hostile environment created by the authorities.

 COLOMBIA

Amnesty has released a new report Transforming pain into rights: Risks, threats and attack on women searchers in Colombia.  The report documents the reality experienced by the women who dedicate their lives to searching for the victims of enforced disappearance in Colombia, and the need for society to recognize these women and for the authorities to guarantee their rights, given the serious obstacles they face in demanding truth and justice.  The report has been prepared as part of Amnesty International’s #SearchingWithoutFear campaign, which calls for the recognition and protection of women searchers across the Americas. [Read more…]

Group Newsletter December 2024

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Welcome to the latest newsletter,
sending you our best wishes for 2025. Our next meeting  is on Thursday 6th February 2025, 7.30pm – 9.00pm at Moordown Community Centre. We decided not to meet on January 2nd

Write for Rights 2024

We had successful events at the Social Canteen and St John’s Church, Parish of Four Saints, in Bournemouth. Also at our meeting in Moordown. We sent over 90 cards and messages of support to the 9 people and groups featured this year. Its not too late to send messages of support or add your voice to the campaigns.
Read more about Write for Rights, and take action. Or see the last article in this newsletter.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/write-for-rights-2024

South America Newsletter

The latest South America Newsletter has updates on Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador. In Venezuela  there is a new Urgent Action calling on the Venezuelan authorities to stop their attacks in the media and through the judicial system on the non-governmental organisation Provea. And in Brazil Amnesty International has launched a petition for Brazil to put in place an effective national policy of protection of Human Rights Defenders, Communicators and Environmentalists.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-december-2024

Europe Newsletter

In the latest Europe Newsletter there is a new Urgent Action calling for the immediate release of prominent human rights defender Nimet Tanrıkulu, who was remanded in pretrial detention on 30 November and is currently held at the Sincan Women’s prison in Ankara, accused of ‘membership of a terrorist organisation.’
Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Nimet Tanrıkulu is being maliciously investigated due to her human rights work. The authorities in Türkiye frequently misuse counter-terrorism investigations to silence those who defend human rights, and Nimet Tanrıkulu has herself faced such malicious investigations on at least two past occasions. There is a sample letter and you can email it as well as post.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/europe-newsletter-december-2024
Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı

Write 4 Rights (W4R)

W4R is Amnesty International’s annual campaign, sending greetings cards to prisoners of conscience, their families and other human rights defenders around the world.  Worldwide several million messages of support and appeal letters are now sent during a W4R campaign. They made a big difference to the people and communities confronting injustice and facing human rights violations.
One case featured is forensic medicine expert and human rights defender Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı. She has dedicated her life to eradicating torture and defending human rights. Trying to silence her, the Turkish authorities have subjected Şebnem to baseless criminal investigations. In 2023, she was convicted for allegedly “making propaganda for a terrorist organization” after she had called for an investigation into allegations that the Turkish military was using chemical weapons in Iraq. Şebnem is appealing against her conviction but could be imprisoned for almost two years if unsuccessful. More comprehensive details, a sample appeal letter and links are on our website.
Another person featured in the W4R campaign is  Argentinian Joel Paredes. See the video about him below and read comprehensive details, a sample appeal letter and links on our site.
https://amnestyat50.co.uk/write-for-rights-2024
Joel Paredes

South America Newsletter December 2024

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This month we bring you news from Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador.

  • As foreshadowed in our November newsletter, two Peruvian Human Rights Defenders visited the UK from 10-13 November to raise international pressure in the search for justice for those who were killed or seriously injured during the repression of protests in Peru in 2022-2023.
  • Colombia – The Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was gang raped and tortured by paramilitaries in 2000 and received her latest death threat just days ago, explains why she opposes the government’s ‘total peace’ plan for the reintegration of rapists and violence against female reporters.
  • Argentina – Buenos Aires dedicated a week to celebrating diversity, ending with thousands attending a Pride March on November 2nd.
  • Chile – The trial against former Carabineros lieutenant colonel Claudio Crespo has now begun; its expected to last up to a year.
  • Amnesty International has launched a petition for Brazil to put in place an effective national policy of protection of Human Rights Defenders, Communicators and Environmentalists.
  • Amnesty International has published a new Urgent Action calling on the Venezuelan authorities to stop their attacks in the media and through the judicial system on the non-governmental organisation Provea.

COLOMBIA

Jineth Bedoya, Colombian journalist

The Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was gang raped and tortured by paramilitaries in 2000 and received her latest death threat just days ago, explains why she opposes the government’s ‘total peace’ plan for the reintegration of rapists and violence against female reporters. “I do not understand how you can sit in front of a rapist and give him guarantees in the framework of a social peace, knowing that it is one of the worst crimes.” Bedoya has just launched her documentary on sexual exploitation in Cartagena, titled It’s Not Time to Remain Silent.

The US NGO WOLA reports that the Afro-Colombian Afrorenacer del Micay Community Council in Cauca is losing its rights over its territories, which will be destroyed by a huge dam it did not agree to. ‘Since March 2020, dissident FARC-EP factions have murdered community leaders and internally displaced residents.’ Once the rightful owners of the land were taken out, farmers and community boards not connected to the Afrorenacer del Micay Community Council took over. While the rightful owners have won a court judgement, it has not been enforced by the Colombian authorities.

Colombia Reports that Ivan Marquez, the leader of the FARC dissident group Segunda Marquetalia (SM), has denounced their lead negotiator and deputy leader of the SM who is in peace talks with the government. The SM continues fighting in the south west of Colombia. ‘In a response, President Gustavo Petro said that the “division in the violent groups is a step ahead for peace.”’

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances will visit Colombia from 21 November to 5 December 2024 to strengthen accountability and protections against enforced disappearances. The experts will attend exhumations and other proceedings to search for disappeared people, as conducted by the authorities. In addition, the delegation will visit places of deprivation of liberty, such as prisons and detention centres, to examine how they operate their registration system, which is a critical safeguard to prevent enforced disappearances. It will present its report in March. [Read more…]

Europe Newsletter December 2024

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The recent election of Trump in the US and the surge of the far right and increasing acceptance of far-right ideas across Europe are a threat to the human rights of many people. At the sharp end of the hate and the demonisation of the “other” are refugees who have been forced from their homes and communities by violence, war and destruction. Over 75 % of the world’s refugees are hosted by poor and middle income countries. Only a fraction, lured by the talk of human rights try to find safety in Europe. Refugees have contributed immensely to the UK and other European countries. But for racist ideologues and politicians in search of a scapegoat they make easy targets. As human rights defenders we have to stand up against the hate and push back against the demonisation of refugees. Seeking asylum is a universal human right and we need to defend it. This Saturday at Amplify Festival we are going to discuss the implications of Fortress Europe. On 16th January we are showing the film “Green Border” at the Human Rights Action Centre. Hope to see many of you there.

Again please contact us for any questions or if you would like us to give talks in your communities.

Poland

by Lucja Jastrzebska

Women’s Rights

A year after Tusk came to power, why is access to safe and legal abortion still a distant dream in Poland?

While abortion had already been severely restricted in Poland since 1993, a ruling from Poland’s discredited Constitutional Tribunal in 2020, which went into effect the following year, removed one of the legal grounds for abortion – in cases of fetal impairment – and leaving a near-total ban.

If elected, Doland Tusk promised he would make access to free, safe and legal abortion for all a reality within 100 days of coming into power.

And yet those 100 days have come and gone and a year after Tusk swept to power, the possibility of Poland providing access to safe and legal abortion for all who need it, seems as distant as ever.

Read more of Anna’s story here- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/10/a-year-after-tusk-came-to-power-why-is-access-to-safe-and-legal-abortion-still-a-distant-dream-in-poland/

Refugee Rights:

Amnesty deems Poland’s Plans to suspend the right to seek asylum ‘flagrantly unlawful’

States refer to the “instrumentalisation” of migration to designate actions by third states or other actors that facilitate irregular migration movements into another country in an attempt to destabilise it.

The plans for the suspension of asylum applications form part of Poland’s strategy on migration for 2025-2030, approved by the Government on 15 October 2024.

These plans are the latest in the Polish government’s efforts to undermine the human rights of refugees and migrants arriving at the Polish-Belarussian border.

‘Suspending the right to seek asylum is flagrantly unlawful and Prime Minister Tusk knows this. EU member states like Poland are playing politics with the rights of refugees and migrants. From Poland to Finland, Greece and Germany, so-called emergencies are being weaponized to enact laws that gravely undermine access to asylum and protection from befoulment’. – Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake.

Read more: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/10/poland-plans-to-suspend-the-right-to-seek-asylum-flagrantly-unlawful/

Playing with ‘electoral rocket fuel’: How Poland’s Donald Tusk hopes to weaponize migration – POLITICO

Rise of Populism and far-right anti-immigration policies – EU backs call to ban asylum seekers in Poland | World | News | Express.co.uk [Read more…]

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