The situation for Human Rights worldwide is not improving, but campaigning pays a vital role in protecting and improving human rights. Please continue the great and vital work you are doing ! There are a number of very urgent Actions in this Newsletter. Please take action and distribute as far and wide as you can.

Also check our Facebook page : AmnestyUKEurope and our twitter page @AIUKEuropeTeam for always the latest news and actions.

First some good news ! Thank you for all who wrote letters in support of refugees held on boats on the sea at the coast of Malta. All the refugees have now been accommodated in reception centres.

Poland

While rightly the eyes of the world are set on Human Rights violations in the US, at home in Europe, the Polish government continues its relentless crackdown on critical voices of dissent.

Please take action for two Polish activists who are threatened with up to 10 years in jail for a poster campaign accusing the government of manipulating Covid 19 statistics.

Please read the Urgent Action for letter writing.

 The solidarity campaign for Elzbieta Podlesna is still on-going. This year she is going to speak on-line together with Vitalina Koval from Ukraine about the challenges of LGBT activism in Eastern Europe. Tune in on Wednesday 1.July at 7pm on www.prideinside.uk    

Launching 28th June (include URL which will be live on 19th June) www.prideinside.uk

  

Hungary

Hungary is implementing legislation that makes gender recognition for Trans and Intersex people impossible, enshrining in law that only the gender assigned at birth can be recognized. This is exposing individuals to constant discrimination, harassment and attacks. Amnesty International’s Researcher, Krisztina Tamás-Sáróy said:

“This decision pushes Hungary back towards the dark ages and tramples the rights of transgender and intersex people. It will not only expose them to further discrimination but will also deepen an already intolerant and hostile environment faced by the LGBTI community.”

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/05/hungary/

Please take Urgent Action !

Please sign and share the digital action. I am attaching a paper version as well. Please send letters before 24^th June. In addition I am attaching a blog by Amnesty activist Eva Hibbs from the Southwark group.

Further on Hungary Amnesty International is presenting a new report about discrimination and job insecurity in the workplace due to the COVID-19 crisis.

See the article published by our researcher Krisztina Tamas Saroy

Please also see the full report :-

No working around it: Gender-based discrimination in Hungarian workplaces [Read more…]

This month, we inform you of two new regional campaigns aimed at addressing the impact of COVID-19 on human rights in the Americas. We also report specific COVID-19-related developments and concerns in individual countries.  In Colombia, there are reports of further forcible displacements and the targeting of Human Rights Defenders by the security forces.  In Brazil, we report on police killings and their encouragement by government figures, including President Bolsonaro. An International Donors Conference has pledged financial support for Venezuelan refugees and migrants.  In Venezuela itself, 46 prisoners were killed in an outbreak of violence in a prison. On World Environment Day (5 June), watch out for a new series of stories and videos about Women Human Rights Defenders in Peru battling against toxic contamination. There is concern about the serious situation faced by communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon whose food and water sources have been affected by a recent oil spill. There are Urgent Actions on Colombia, Venezuela and Peru. We say a sad farewell to our Brazil Coordinator, David Palmer.

REGIONAL

Amnesty has launched a new campaign aimed at persuading authorities across the Americas to avoid resorting to repressive and overreaching measures that unduly restrict human rights in the name of “protecting” people from COVID-19. Amnesty’s Crisis Evidence Lab and regional experts have verified almost 60 incidents in the region that point to governments using arbitrary, punitive and repressive tactics. We have written to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, urging them (a) to use their influence to persuade these countries to stop the repression and (b) to support them so that they can ensure that the most vulnerable populations have access to basic services.

Amnesty has also released a report on the dire state of the rights of health workers in the Americas. The report urges countries in the region to prioritise and protect health workers’ rights during and beyond the pandemic.

COLOMBIA

Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action on behalf of the indigenous community ASEINPOME in central Colombia. They occupy an area which is under exploration for oil and have seen armed men lurking on their land. The community has received intimidating and extortion calls and has faced racist accusations. These situations were reported to the National Police, but to date no investigation has been started and the security forces have not been present in the locality. The Office of the Prosecutor has been informed of the complaints, however since July 2019 the community has not received any further information from the Prosecutor and their requests have not been answered.

Several organisations have written to the US State Department about the revelations that Colombian Army intelligence units compiled detailed dossiers on the personal lives and activities of at least 130 reporters, human rights defenders, politicians, judges, union leaders, and possible military whistle-blowers. In the recent past, the surveillance is far worse than a massive invasion of privacy.  The targeting of political opposition, judicial personnel, human rights defenders, and journalists leads to threats, attacks, and killings. The organisations ask for an independent international enquiry, protection by the Colombian authorities for those under surveillance, purging of the relevant files and that the Colombian government reveal publicly the full extent of illegal intelligence operations.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports that 382 people in three different locations were forcibly displaced in the last 2 weeks of April, as violence in rural areas continues through the national quarantine for Covid-19.

Colombia reports 25,366 cases and 822 deaths from Covid-19. Although this is a small proportion for its population of 46 million, the number of cases is growing exponentially and has not been contained by the early establishment of quarantine measures. 5.4 million people became unemployed in April as a result  of the lockdown, which has been relaxed, except for the elderly who must remain in quarantine until at least 30 August. [Read more…]

As you can see from the last three posts, we have been somewhat focussed on Europe during the lockdown. This has led to some of us attending Ulrike Schmidt‘s talk from the Hammersmith group (via Zoom) on the 13th May, then our own Zoom meeting on the 20th. So we thought it useful to start posting the Europe Newsletter, put together by Ulrike, in the same way we publish the South America one.

Newsletter   Europe   May 2020

Campaigning works ! Thank you to everyone who signed and circulated the petitions, contacted their MP and wrote to the Home Office. Several countries have now resettled vulnerable children (Portugal took 500 last week) and the UK has now relented and accepted 50 refugees to be reunited with families.

Content                                                                                     page

Turkey  Updates and Actions	2-3
Hungary Action Drop #33       Trans Rights are Human Rights	4-5
Hungary courts :   Great News   and worries for the future	6-8
Roma communities threatened by vigilante and police violence	8-9
Punishing Compassion   Introduction to a very important report	10-12
UK concerns over data security	13

Page 2

URGENT ACTIONS FOR TURKEY     By Helen Clarke Bury 

 Hello, and thank you for continuing your work to fight for the human rights of others during this time and thank you for keeping up to date with the situation in Turkey. As the country coordinator for this region I wanted to share with you 2 actions we are currently working on.

CASES

1. Eren Keskin – a prominent campaigner who has been harassed by the police in Turkey and subject to completely unfounded charges and arrests for simply speaking out against human rights abuses.

Eren Keskin is on our Individuals at Risk file. Groups who are interested in working long term on this case please email Helen

2. Turkish Prisoners – as Turkey passes a law to release up to 90,000 prisoners due to the covid19 situation – we believe these should include those in pre-trial detention centres – held inhumanely in captivity before they have even seen a court room; losing their right to a free trial.

ACTIONS

Eren Keskin – Email Action & SOCIAL

Eren Keskin Action #HumanRighstHeroes is a PDF of the action we are asking you to take to help Eren – simply sending an email as an individual or as a group – the more emails the better! Tag us at @amnestyeuropeuk on Twitter or @amnestyukeurope on Facebook.   If you have taken this action please let me know.

[Read more…]

Last September we had an excellent talk from Ulrike Schmidt – Shrinking Spaces in Europe. We delighted to announce Ulrike is giving a Zoom talk to Hammersmith & Fulham AI Group, “Human rights in Hungary, Poland and Central Europe” It’s open to everyone on Wednesday 13th May at 7.30pm. The only problem is, it clashes with our first Zoom meeting, which is also going to focus on the current state of human rights in Europe! If you would like to attend Ulrikes talk, please email the chair/secretary of their group on secretaryhammersmithamnesty@outlook.com  by 4pm on Wednesday 13th. The talk starts at 7.30pm. We have postponed our meeting till Wednesday 20th (8.0pm). Please reply to this email for a link.

Ted Stevens As we announced in an earlier newsletter, one of our founder members and long time Chairman Ted Stevens died in January. We are pleased to announce that the Bournemouth Echo published a marvellous obituary to Ted at the weekend. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18437704.ted-stevens-obituary-magistrate-labour-activist-chairman-amnesty-international/

The next meeting  is on Wednesday 13th May 2020, 8pm, – on ZOOM.  After a bit of experimentation we have decided to try and hold a virtual “meeting” – more of a discussion. More details below, but please reply if you would like an invite.

Human Rights in Europe after COVID-19 At the start of the pandemic Amnesty International produced a document “Europe at a Crossroads“.  Amnesty International doesn’t take a position on the type of public health measures governments should take. But the document spells out that governments should ensure that all such measures are consistent with their human rights obligations. It lists eleven  “Dos” and “Don’ts”. You can download the document on our blog; we’ve also posted a summary (although the document itself is quite short). We are planning to use this as a starting point for our Zoom discussion next Wednesday. Lucy-Ann Pope has also agreed to share more recent updates, concerns and actions from one of AIUK’s Europe coordinators. However, we aim to start putting more of this information on the blog – we won’t overwhelm you with information next week! So please join us. The call is booked but we need to invite you prior to the call – so do reply to this newsletter asap. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/europe-at-a-crossroads

South America Newsletter The May edition of the South America Regional Newsletter is now on the blog. Our group has focused on South America since its inception. The 3 volunteers who run the network for AIUK – and produce the newsletter – do a huge amount of work on our behalf. The Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on human rights is discussed in relation to several countries. Plus updates on many other ongoing issues. https://amnestyat50.co.uk/south-america-newsletter-may-2020