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South America Newsletter July 2021
This month, we update you on developments in Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela,and Chile.
Amnesty International reviews the victims of excessive use of force by Colombia’s security services during the National Strike and analyses the killing of 199 Human Rights Defenders in 2020, a new record. We report on the high death rate from Covid-19 among the indigenous community in Brazil, as well as extrajudicial killings and political developments in the country. We have a new Urgent Action on Venezuela and reports on the humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses there. A Mapuche leader, Elisa Locon, has been elected to lead the drafting of the new constitution in Chile, and we cover allegations of human rights abuses by Chile’s national police force.
COLOMBIA
Demonstrators in Cali during the National Strike
1. National Strike – excessive use of force by the security services
Amnesty International reports on the victims of excessive use of force by Colombia’s security services during the National Strike. Between 28 April and 2 June there had been 76 homicides, 34 of which were allegedly caused by the actions of the security forces in the context of the demonstrations. 988 people sustained injuries as a result of the excessive use of force by riot police; 74 of those wounded had eye injuries. There have been 151 attacks against human rights defenders in the context of demonstrations. At the end of a month of mobilizations, the Working Group on Forced Disappearances had recorded 775 people feared disappeared, the whereabouts of 327 of whom remain unknown.
Amnesty adds: ‘The statements of President Duque and other high-ranking officials about the alleged “terrorist purposes” of the peaceful marches must stop. The militarized response to the protests in Colombia, provided for by Decree 575, issued on 28 May, is in breach of Colombia’s international human rights obligations.’
According to The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) 102 journalists were assaulted, 45 threatened, 14 had their equipment seized, 17 harassed, and 11 illegally detained by the security forces during the strike.
Human Right Watch calls on the Colombian authorities ‘to protect human rights, initiate a comprehensive police reform effort to ensure that officers respect the right of peaceful assembly, and bring those responsible for abuses to justice.’ British police officers have been training the Colombian police for 15 years.
Colombia Peace Monitoring notes that while the organisations that convoked the National Strike are now working with Congressmen on a raft of bills and have called for an end to the strike, groups of mostly young people continued to take to the streets in Bogotá’s poorer southern neighbourhoods, in “resistance” sites around Cali, and in Medellín, Bucaramanga, Pasto, and Popayán. While demonstrations and blockades were mostly peaceful, violence between police and protesters broke out several times during the week.
2. Human Rights Defenders under threat
Programa Somos Defensores (‘We are Defenders Programme) reports that despite Covid-19 lockdowns last year 60% more human rights defenders were killed (199) in 2020 than in 2019, when the overall number of homicides declined by 7% in Colombia.
More HRDs were killed in 2020 – 199 – than in any year since records began.
25 were women and 174 men. Social leaders in rural areas distant from the centre of the state, and therefore invisible, are the principal victims of the violence. They are the community, campesino (field-worker), indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders. These communities are vulnerable to the armed groups who roam the territory and are principally financed by the drug trade and illicit mining. Conflict with these largely isolated communities is often over land rights, coca and marijuana cultivation and recruitment of boys and girls into their ranks.
Activity of victims
Number killed in 2020
Community Leaders 91
Indigenous Leaders 41
Campesino (field-workers) leaders 29
Afro-descendant leaders 11
Environmental leaders 7
Union leaders 6
LGBTI Leaders 5
Other leaders 9
TOTAL KILLED 199
Very few of the perpetrators have been brought to justice. From the Prosecutors’ Office’s own data, Somos Defensores reckons only 0.2% of all threats against HRDs have been officially clarified between January 2015 and February 2021. Of the 2,962 cases investigated by the public prosecutor only 6 have resulted in a conviction.
Amnesty International continues with its action on behalf of Human Right Defenders. Please sign the petition to Congress to ensure that they are protected.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs states that the number of mass displacements between January and May 2021 has doubled since the same period last year. 80% of the forced displacements are the result of communities fleeing their homes following threats or armed attacks from non-state actors. [Read more…]
Europe Newsletter July 2021
A lot has happened since our last newsletter in June. Two new reports : One on Greece and one on Switzerland have been released. Please see further details below. Turkey has pulled out of the Istanbul Convention. A Roma man has died at the hands of the police in Czech Republic.
3 Demonstrations in four weeks : The vigil commemorating the forced expulsion of Roma from Kosovo on 13th June, the demonstration outside the Danish Embassy on 20th June (International Refugee Day) protesting at Denmark’s policy of forced return of asylum seekers to Syria, for tomorrow ( Sunday 4th July) I have called a vigil outside the Embassy of Czech Republic to protest about the death of Stanislav Tomas who died while handcuffed with a policeman pushing his knee onto his neck until he stopped breathing. Please find further details in the Newsletter.
Turkey
Compiled by Chris Ramsey
Büyükada case
At the time of writing we are still waiting anxiously for the decision of the Court of Cassation decision regarding the convictions of the four human rights defenders in the Büyükada case. As we have reported in past newsletters, the prosecutor at the Court of Cassation has issued his opinion asking for the conviction of former Chair of Amnesty Turkey, Taner Kılıç’s, to be upheld while requesting that the convictions of Günal Kurşun, İdil Eser and Özlem Dalkıran be overturned.
We expect a decision very soon, potentially within the coming weeks or months. Unfortunately, it is impossible to be more precise; however, we know that during the judicial holiday between 20 July and 31 August (dates to be confirmed), it is highly unlikely that the Court of Cassation decision would be issued.
This case is emblematic of the deteriorating human rights situation in Turkey and in particular the efforts of the state to neuter civil society NGOs in order to minimize their ability to criticize the government. In order to ensure that the government of Turkey is reminded of the importance of the case the International Secretariat and AIUK are currently working on new campaigning and advocacy materials which we will be sending you in the next few weeks so that you can help to maintain the profile of the case.
Istanbul Convention: Show solidarity with our colleagues in Amnesty Turkey at the government’s decision to pull out of the convention on 1 July
The Istanbul Convention is the most comprehensive international convention against violence against women and domestic violence. Now Turkey has exited the convention Amnesty Turkey is determined to show that people all around the world deplore this decision and want to stand in solidarity with women in Turkey.
Using the hashtag #arkasındayım , which means I stand in Turkish, please join their social media campaign.
Post on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram messages of support along the following lines:
Turkey should reverse its decision to leave the Istanbul Convention on July 1! To put an end to violations of rights and discrimination based on gender, we must all stand together in support of the Istanbul Convention #arkasındayım
#IstanbulConventionSavesLives @aforgutu
NB: You will need to copy and paste #arkasındayım because of the use of some Turkish letters in the word.
You could use the image below created by Amnesty Turkey to support your messages.
Please see a statement from new Amnesty International Secretary, General Agnes Callamard on the deteriorating situation for women in Turkey:- [Read more…]
Group Newsletter June 2021
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South America Newsletter June 2021
HIGHLIGHTS
This month, we update you on developments in Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile and Ecuador. Amnesty has issued a report, several statements and an Urgent Action in response to the human rights violations committed during the current National Strike and protests in Colombia. We report further indiscriminate shootings by police in Brazil and continuing attacks on indigenous communities. Amnesty has launched a new campaign calling on the Government of Peru to protect indigenous communities at risk from toxic metal contamination. In Venezuela, thousands have fled to Colombia to escape intense clashes between the Venezuelan army and Colombian rebel groups, while there has also been an increase in repression of Human Rights Defenders.
COLOMBIA
As the National Strike moves into its second month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for an end to all forms of violence. In only the last three days, 14 people have died, and 98 people have been injured, 54 of them by firearms during violence that erupted in Cali where demonstrations were taking place to commemorate a month of the strike.
On 29 May, President Duque ordered the militarisation of part of the country in response to ongoing anti-government protests and popular uprisings. This increased military control over seven departments. The president also ordered the “maximum deployment of military assistance for the National Police” in Cali and 12 other cities.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General has written an open letter to President Duque, cataloguing human rights abuses committed by the security forces using excessive force against mainly peaceful demonstrators during the National Strike. Amnesty denounces the use of inflammatory language and stigmatising social protest from political leaders and public officials. Amnesty calls on the authorities to ‘Prosecute, and punish all those responsible for human rights violations, including members of the security forces and armed civilians’ groups in fair trials before ordinary civilian courts.’
Amnesty has issued an Urgent Action calling on President Duque to end the violent response of the security forces to protestors, who are calling for better social and economic measures.
Amnesty is calling on the United States to ‘immediately cease the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of equipment used for repression such as small arms, shotguns, and related ammunition; less-lethal equipment, such as tear gas, riot control projectiles and launchers; armoured vehicles, dual-use surveillance technologies, training, and any other technical or financial assistance.’ This is in light of verified visual evidence that United States weapons and equipment are being misused to commit human rights violations against protesters in Colombia
Amnesty has issued a report, Colombia: Concerning reports of disappearances and sexual violence against protesters, including a video showing how the security forces used excessive force against protesters during the early stages of the National Strike.
In another statement, Amnesty has focussed on the violence against indigenous peoples. ‘The attacks by armed civilians, some in the presence of the police, against the Indigenous Minga (gathering) in Cali are a reflection of the ceaseless dynamics of violence in Colombia that have been accentuated during the social protests related to the National Strike.’ Several members of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) were injured.
According to The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 106,000 Colombians were forcibly displaced in 2020 despite spending most of last year in Covid-19 lockdown. The Colombian NGO Programa Somos Defensores reports that killings of human rights defenders increased from 124 in 2019 to 199 in 2020, an increase of 60%. We will be analysing who were the targets and who were the perpetrators and why in next month’s newsletter. [Read more…]
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