Europe Newsletter July 2023

July 31, 2023 by zarganar

Here is our latest Newsletter with updates and actions. Chris Ramsey, Türkiye; Jovana Bosnjak Western & Northern Europe; Ulrike Schmidt, Central & Eastern Europe and Balkans

Türkiye

Post Election overview

As reported in the June, the second round of the presidential elections took place on 28 May. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won a relatively narrow victory and will therefore be in power for the next 5 years. In addition, in the parliament the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost ground but remains the largest party with 268 seats. Their coalition partner the ultra- right wing National Movement Party (MHP) won 50 seats and so together this “Peoples Alliance” has maintained control of the parliament. Whilst formally there has been no immediate impact on the Human Rights situation in the country our researcher reports that the police and security services appear to feel empowered to deal even more harshly with any form of dissent or attempts by individuals or groups to exercise their rights to freedom of assembly or freedom of expression.

For an interesting discussion of why, despite inflation in Türkiye soaring above 40% and widespread publicity of the government’s culpability in the scandalous collapse of so many relatively new apartment buildings in the recent earthquakes the Erdoğan government managed to retain power go to the London Review of Books podcast “Why did Erdoğan win”:-

https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/why-did-erdogan-win

Following the triumph of the AKP it was no surprise that the annual Pride marches in Türkiye were yet again banned.

amnesty international Nevertheless on 26 June hundreds of LGBTQ+ activists sought to evade the ban in Istanbul by gathering in the Nisantasi neighbourhood outside the city centre. As in previous years the police sought to disperse them and 93 were arrested with one person receiving head injuries while being arrested.

Police in the western Turkish city of Izmir also cracked down on those attending Pride, detaining at least 48 people, according to the organisers.

Büyükada: Justice prevails as four human rights defenders finally acquitted

On 6 June the convictions of four human rights defenders collectively known as the Büyükada 4, including Taner Kılıç, Amnesty Türkiye’s Honorary Chair, and Idil Eser, Amnesty Türkiye’s ex-director, were quashed . [Read more…]

South America Newsletter July 2023

July 3, 2023 by zarganar

This month we bring you news from Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. Amnesty has issued three Urgent Actions: Calling on the President and Defence Minister to enact Police Reform in Colombia; calling for the provision of care and release of Guillermo Zárraga, who is seriously ill in prison in Venezuela; and calling on the Bolivian authorities to allow Amparo Carvajal, an 84-year-old human rights defender and his team, to return to their office. Please follow the links in the country sections below to sign these actions.

REGIONAL

In an open letter to heads of state attending the 53rd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), Amnesty has called on States in the region to address the closure of civic space, end repressive policies and respond to the social demands of their populations. Amnesty’s concerns include the excessive use of force to suppress social protests (seen most recently in Peru), restrictive and inhumane migration policies towards people fleeing human rights abuses (for example in Peru and Chile), intensified use of the armed forces for public security tasks (such as in Ecuador) and killings of Indigenous leaders (including in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador) in the context of land-related conflicts. Amnesty noted that Colombia was the world’s deadliest country for human rights defenders in 2022, with at least 186 killings, with Brazil in third place with at least 26.

COLOMBIA

Herbert Mosquera Hurtado, Community Leader Guaviare. Killed by FARC dissidents 24 July 2022

Amnesty International continues its campaign to reform the National Police, which Amnesty holds responsible for the death, torture, blinding, disfigurement, rape, and sexual violence against numerous demonstrators during the 2021 National Strike. Amnesty International and its allies, members of the Police Reform Roundtable, urge President Petro and Defence Minister Velásquez to initiate structural reform of the police with the participation of Colombian civil society. Please sign the letter here. Please send copies to: Nancy Benítez Páez, Chargée d’Affaires, Embassy of Colombia, 3 Hans Crescent, London SW1X 0LN; email: elondres@cancilleria.gov.co

197 human rights defenders and social leaders were killed in 2022, a 42% increase on 2021, reports Programa Somos Defensores (We are Defenders Programme) in its annual report. Multiple armed groups are fighting over territory, illicit mining and the drug trade, which was more restrained in 2021 when the security forces were heavily deployed to counter the massive demonstrations during the National Strike. Indigenous communities were particularly hard hit by this violence in 2022. President Petro’s policy of Total Peace, which started well by negotiating ceasefires with several armed groups and a new policy which pivots the security forces prime objective to protect civilians and their leaders, has yet to bear fruit on the ground. Somos Defensores cites Crisis Group saying ‘If there is no military pressure then it is all a romantic dream’.

Prosecutors have charged 25 military officials of ‘killing protected persons’ over the raid that killed 11 people in the village of El Remanso, Putumayo, on 28 March 2022. The army claimed that they had killed FARC guerrillas, when in fact they were unarmed local civilians. The cases are filed under the civilian justice system rather than its military equivalent, an important measure to ensure judicial independence. [Read more…]

South America Newsletter June 2023

June 6, 2023 by zarganar

This month, we have updates on Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina. Amnesty has issued the full findings of its investigation of human rights abuses during the protests in Peru. There is a petition that you can sign demanding fundamental reform of the Colombian National Police. You can tweet calling for the Brazilian Senate to defeat a proposed new law that would open up the Amazon to huge new infrastructure projects. Other updates include the continuing persecution of human rights activists in Venezuela, the Chilean Government’s intention to nationalise the country’s lithium industry and the investigation into the involvement of the Catholic Church in Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship of 1976-83.

PERU

amnesty International On 25 May, Amnesty launched its full report on the illegitimate use of lethal force by the security forces in Peru that resulted in 49 deaths during the protests from December to February. Titled Lethal Racism: Extrajudicial Executions and unlawful use of force by Peru’s security forces, the report analyses 52 cases of people killed or wounded during the protests. It calls on the Attorney General’s office to investigate all those involved, up to the highest level.

On the Amnesty Peru website there is an email action you can take. Basically this demands that the National Prosecutor’s Office get to the truth and investigate those most responsible for the repression in Peru. You’re browser should translate into English; the option above send is asking is you want further information from Amnesty Peru (Sí) or not (No). Please also share our Facebook post and Tweet, if you use such platforms.

In a report released on 10 May, Human Rights Watch have reconstructed the events of 9 January, the single deadliest day of repression, when eighteen protestors and bystanders were killed, concluding that the security forces used disproportionate and indiscriminate force. The report, They, The Policemen, Killed My Brother, refutes official accounts provided to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and in public statements.

COLOMBIA

Amnesty International issued its submission with recommendations to the UN’s Human Rights Committee’s Universal Periodic Review of Colombia due November 2023. Major concerns are persistent violence against human rights defenders and lack of structural measures to protect them; lack of protection for refugee women regarding gender-based violence, and persistent impunity for human rights violations, including cases of unlawful use of force by the police in the context of protests. It notes that while some progress has been made on many of these issues there is a failure to implement them. [Read more…]

Europe Newsletter June 2023

June 5, 2023 by zarganar

From Monday the 19th of June to Sunday 25th June Refugee Week takes place across the World. The theme of this years Refugee Week is compassion. While many ordinary people across the world show compassion and solidarity to refugees who have lost everything due to war, oppression and violence, governments across Europe particularly at the borders of Fortress Europe :Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia are using violence against refugees who are simply trying to find a place of safety.

Often this results in loss of lives. At least 37 died at the Mellila border last year (+77 missing) and at least 94 people died at sea close to the coast of Italy because Frontex and the Italian authorities did not attempt to rescue them. And those people who are rescuing refugees from drowning in the sea are criminalised and threatened with long prison sentences for their humanity. Sarah and Sean are back in court again on baseless charges. The trial against the crew of the Juventa , who saved several thousand lives before being impounded, is on-going. And Tommy Olson from Norway is threatened with 25 years in prison for documenting how refugees and migrants are treated in Greece. Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, while welcoming refugees from Ukraine are still violently pushing back or detaining and deporting refugees from other wars and violence.

And our government is trying to get rid of the Universal Human Right to asylum from persecution altogether. If the „illegal“ immigration bill becomes law refugees fleeing war, oppression and violence will not be able to claim asylum in the UK any more if they have arrived „illegally“. There are no safe and legal routes for people seeking asylum to enter the UK. The bill will apply to people arriving in the UK on or after 7 March 2023 (the day the bill was published), and anyone caught by it would be permanently barred from the UK. Their partners and children will face the same fate, regardless of whether they arrived without permission – even if they were born here.

This would mean that many British children would be robbed of their rights to British citizenship. We have to fight this bill. Please join the digital action

STOP THE CRUEL BILL: Email Rishi now (amnesty.org.uk) And please write personal letters to Rishi Sunak as well as your MP.

Refugee Week Take part in International Actions

EUROPEAN BORDER ACTION WORLD REFUGEE DAY 20TH OF JUNE 2023

On World Refugee Week 19th-25th of June we come together to commemorate the challenges faced by refugees all over the Europe and the incredible courage they show. Find out below when it is and how we mark this important day.

#SafeAndLegalRoutesNow #AmnestyUKEurope

We are planning a mixed action, where the groups themselves can decide whether they want to demonstrate loudly, join digitally, join in creative and artsy ways or by making informational events. What we all will have in common are our demands.

Use #SafeAndLegalRoutesNow #AmnestyUKEurope and tag @amnestyukeurope

Actions Collect signatures for the Melilla case 19th-25th of June

For groups who want to collect signatures: Print the petition for the Melilla case and organise joint signing

Spain and Morocco: Demand justice for dead and missing at Melilla

On 24 June 2022, people attempting to cross into Melilla through a border crossing between Spain and Morocco were met with a shocking display of unlawful force by Moroccan and Spanish security forces. At least 37 Black people – mostly from sub-Saharan Africa – died unlawfully and 77 are missing. Their loved ones still don’t have answers about what happened to them.

Join us to demand truth, justice and reparations for the victims and their families.

Sign the petition here https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/justice-for-dead-and-missing-at-melilla/,

[Read more…]

Jamnesty at Chaplins Bar

Saturday 2nd September 2023.