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South America Newsletter December 2024
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
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
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.
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…]
Group Newsletter November 2024
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South America Newsletter November 2024
This month we bring you news from Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador.
- Peru – Amnesty is bringing two Human Rights Defenders to the UK and you may book here to join them at the Human Rights Action Centre on 11 November evening and you can sign a petition.
- Colombia – Amnesty has issued a new Urgent Action demanding that the authorities investigate the attacks on Fundación Nydia Erika Bautista.
- Argentina – Joel Paredes is in this year’s Write For Rights campaign, you can sign an online petition
- Argentina – Amnesty has issued a new report Muted: The impact of digital violence against women journalists.
- Venezuela – Amnesty welcomes the two-year extension of the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.
- Chile – On the 5th anniversary of the protests, Amnesty demands reparations for victims of the protests and reform of the Carabineros
- Brazil – As the trial of the killers of Marielle Franco begins, Amnesty demands that the master minds behind the killings be apprehended.
- Paraguay – Amnesty has issued an updated Urgent Action aimed at stopping the enactment of a bill that endangers work for human rights in Paraguay.
- Ecuador – Amnesty issued a briefing setting out its concerns about the decline in human rights protections under the current administration
PERU
Two Peruvian Human Rights Defenders will visit 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. Yovana Mendoza Huarancca, Vice-President of the Ayacucho Victims Association, and Mario Iquita Chambi, Representative of the Juliaca Victims Association, will be speak at an event that we are organising at the Human Rights Action Centre on 11 November from 6pm to 8pm. Space will be limited to a maximum attendance of 40. You can book here. Their programme includes a meeting at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and an event at Parliament. You can still sign our petition here.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has found that the policy of forced sterilisation in Peru, which took place during the 1990s, amounted to sex-based violence and intersectional discrimination, particularly against Indigenous, rural, and economically disadvantaged women. The decision was a response to a joint complaint filed by five victims who were forcibly sterilised between 1996 and 1997 as part of the State-led birth control policy. [Read more…]
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