Kategorie: Humans

This month marks 60 years since the UN General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), one of the first foundational international human rights treaties. 

The way the story is often told is that Western countries gifted human rights to the world and are the sole guardians of it. It may come as a surprise for some, then, that the international legal framework for prohibiting racial discrimination largely owes its existence to the efforts of states from the Global South.

In 1963, in the midst of the decolonisation wave, a group of nine newly independent African states presented a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) calling for the drafting of an international treaty on the elimination of racial discrimination. As the representative from Senegal observed: “Racial discrimination was still the rule in African colonial territories and in South Africa, and was not unknown in other parts of the world … The time had come to bring all States into that struggle.”

The groundbreaking ICERD was unanimously adopted by the UNGA two years later. The convention rejected any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation as “scientifically false, morally condemnable and socially unjust”.

So, what has happened since then?  

Today, as we mark 60 years since its adoption, millions of people around the world continue to face racial discrimination – whether in policing, migration policies or exploitative labour conditions.

In Brazil, Amnesty International documented how a deadly police operation in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas this October resulted in the massacre by security forces of more than 100 people, most of them Afro-Brazilians and living in poverty.

In Tunisia, we have seen how authorities have for the past three years used migration policies to carry out racially targeted arrests and detentions and mass expulsions of Black refugees and asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Kenyan female domestic workers face racism and exploitation from their employers, enduring gruelling and abusive working conditions.

In the United States, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives aimed at tackling systemic racism have been eliminated across federal agencies. Raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting migrants and refugees are a horrifying feature of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and detention agenda, rooted in white supremacist narratives.

Migrants held in detention centres have been subjected to torture and a pattern of deliberate neglect designed to dehumanise and punish.

Elsewhere, Amnesty International has documented how new digital technologies are automating and entrenching racism, while social media offers inadequately moderated forums for racist and xenophobic content. For example, our investigation into the United Kingdom’s Southport racist riots found that X’s design and policy choices created fertile ground for the inflammatory, racist narratives that resulted in the violent targeting of Muslims and migrants.

Even human rights defenders from the Global South face racial discrimination when they have to apply for visas to Global North countries in order to attend meetings where key decisions are made on human rights.

Haunting legacy of European colonialism 

All these instances of systemic racism have their roots in the legacies of European colonial domination and the racist ideologies on which they were built. This era, which spanned nearly four centuries and extended across six continents, saw atrocities that had historical consequences – from the erasure of Indigenous populations to the transatlantic slave trade.

The revival of anti-right movements globally has led to a resurgence of racist and xenophobic rhetoric, a scapegoating of migrants and refugees, and a retrenchment in anti-discrimination measures and protections.

All these instances of systemic racism have their roots in the legacies of European colonial domination and the racist ideologies on which they were built.

Melissa Hendrickse and Rym Khadhraoui.

At the same time, Western states have been all too willing to dismantle international law and institutions to legitimise Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and shield Israeli authorities from justice and accountability.

Justice and reparations 

Just as the creation of the ICERD was driven by African states 60 years ago, Global South countries continue to be at the forefront of the fight against racial oppression, injustice and inequality. South Africa notably brought the case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and cofounded The Hague Group – a coalition of eight Global South states organising to hold Israel accountable for genocide.

On the reparations front, it is Caribbean and African states, alongside Indigenous peoples, Africans and people of African descent, that are leading the pursuit of justice. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been intensifying pressure on European governments to reckon with their colonial past, including during a recent visit to the United Kingdom by the CARICOM Reparations Commission.

As the African Union announced 2026-36 the Decade of Reparations last month, African leaders gathered in Algiers for the International Conference on the Crimes of Colonialism, at which they consolidated demands for the codification of colonialism as a crime under international law.

States still need to confront racism as a structural and systemic issue, and stop pretending slavery and colonialism are a thing of the past with no impact on our present.

Melissa Hendrickse and Rym Khadhraoui.

But this is not enough. States still need to confront racism as a structural and systemic issue, and stop pretending slavery and colonialism are a thing of the past with no impact on our present.

Across the world, people are resisting. In Brazil, last month, hundreds of thousands of Afro-Brazilian women led the March of Black Women for Reparations and Wellbeing against racist and gendered historic violence. In the US, people fought back against the wave of federal immigration raids this year, with thousands taking to the streets in Los Angeles to protest and residents of Chicago mobilising to protect migrant communities and businesses against ICE raids.

Governments need to listen to their people and fulfil their obligations under ICERD and national law to protect the marginalised and oppressed against discrimination.

We will not stop fighting for our voices to be heard and until racism really is a thing of the past,

This story was originally published in Al-Jazeera here.

The post 60 years ago, the world tried to outlaw racial discrimination. Global action is still needed appeared first on Amnesty International.

Preparations for this weekend’s first round of junta-imposed elections in Myanmar have resulted in unlawful attacks that may amount to war crimes as well as a drastic increase in arbitrary detentions and further crackdowns on freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today.

The military’s passage in July of the Law on the Protection of Multiparty Democratic General Elections criminalizes speaking out or inciting violence against the election or election workers. Jail sentences under the law range from three years to a maximum of life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

“This junta-organized election contrasts starkly with Myanmar’s nationwide democratic elections in 2015 and 2020. Whereas 2015 was a period of hope, promising peace and respect for human rights, the current era is one of hopelessness, where war crimes, arrests and surveillance are a feature of daily life,” said Joe Freeman, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.

“Many in Myanmar are opposed to this election because they fear it will leave the same people who have been unlawfully killing Myanmar civilians for five years in a position of entrenched power, outside the bounds of accountability and justice that they must face.”

Election law weaponized by military rulers

The junta has claimed its election law is designed to protect workers, equipment and the election process itself. But in the weeks leading up to the first round of voting on 28 December, the junta has weaponized it to intensify repressive tactics, homing in on criticism of any kind, even social media reactions, messages and posts.

In the months since the law was passed, at least 229 people have been charged under the law for “attempting to sabotage election processes,” according to military-controlled media.  Those detained include artists and people putting up anti-election stickers.

In September, a man in Myanmar’s Shan State was sentenced to seven years with hard labour for criticizing the election. In early December, a man was arrested near Yangon for a Facebook message condemning the vote, while another was arrested for damaging an election billboard. There are also reports of people in camps for Internally Displaced Persons being pressured to vote under threat of losing aid.

Out of a total of 330 townships nationwide, there are an estimated 56 under martial law throughout the country where no voting will take place, according to the UN human rights office. The winner of the previous elections in 2015 and in 2020, the National League for Democracy, has been dissolved and its leaders Aung San Suu Kyi, Win Myint and others remain detained.

In 2025, air strikes in Myanmar are on track to reach record levels compared to any year since the 2021 coup. In areas of armed conflict, where the junta is trying to gain control of places so as to hold voting there, attacks have also risen since the election date announcement. The UN said this month that these attacks “seem intentioned to regain key contested areas where elections have been announced to take place”.

In one such attack, Amnesty International documented a deadly manned paraglider bombing at a festival in central Myanmar, where people had also gathered to publicly demonstrate against the election. Civilians including children were killed after the motorized paragliders dropped mortars in the middle of a crowd. On 10 December, the military bombed a hospital held by the ethnic resistance organization, the Arakan Army, in Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U township. This continued a pattern of attacking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure throughout the country since the coup.

Amnesty International calls on the international community to focus on the human rights abuses that are a feature of this election process and to prioritize accountability in Myanmar. It should refocus its attention on suspending jet fuel shipments to the country and on bringing suspected perpetrators to justice. Amnesty International also urges the International Criminal Court (ICC) to proceed with arrest warrants for Min Aung Hlaing, the senior general who is positioning himself to emerge as civilian leader after this election, as well as other Myanmar junta officials under the ICC’s investigation.

Background

After seizing power in a coup almost five years ago, the Myanmar junta – presently known as the State Security and Peace Commission – is now attempting to entrench its rule through the ballot box, with a first round of voting on 28 December, followed by additional rounds starting in January.

The staggered voting process is a result of the coup itself, as the military’s attempt to take full power on 1 February 2021 was met with nationwide resistance, leaving large parts of the country under the control of armed groups and pro-democracy forces. The military has killed at least 7,000 civilians since the coup. The true figure is likely much higher.

Increased hostilities between the Myanmar military and armed resistance groups have meant that many Rohingya and other marginalized groups have been caught in the crossfire, further eroding their rights.

The post Myanmar: Repressive tactics intensify before junta-imposed elections appeared first on Amnesty International.

My family and I have always been reindeer herders. It’s an integral part of the Sami culture. We see the value of nature and we make an income from it. We’re proud of who we are and what we do. 

I grew up in a in a small place called Tana, where there were just 12 people in my school class. Of the five of us who were Sami, two came from families who were reindeer herders. I thought the rest were Norwegian. While I was at school, the Norwegian government wanted all Sami people to be known as Norwegian and they demanded we speak the national language, rather than our own.

We’ve struggled to achieve the rights we deserve

We weren’t allowed to speak Sami at school or sing Sami songs. At one point, the Norwegian church decided that we weren’t allowed to use the drum to connect with nature’s spirits. And these stories are true in other countries where Sami people live, such as the USA and New Zealand.

Later, I found out that everyone in my class was actually Sami, but their parents had thought they had to be something different. They didn’t have the opportunity to learn the language. Thankfully, I’ve always been proud of my heritage, and I am thankful my parents allowed me to speak the speak the forbidden language.

The government is taking our land

I decided early on that I wanted to be a reindeer herder. It felt like a natural path for me, and I remember feeling so inspired by the life we were living. My husband and I married when we were young, and we wanted to follow in our ancestors’ footsteps. We lived a peaceful existence, and I saw myself doing the same as my ancestors.

However, life hasn’t been very peaceful. Lately, it has been hard work for numerous reasons, and I haven’t been able to live the life I want.

Now the Norwegian government is taking our land from us, which will affect our income hugely and affect the herding patterns of the reindeer. From winter to spring, our reindeers graze in one area, before they migrate for summer. They migrate by themselves and give birth in the same place every year. It’s our job to follow them. 

Our ancient reindeer herding traditions are at great risk. In 2023, several hundred wind turbines were suddenly proposed directly on our summer grazing lands in Čorgaą, threatening to damage grazing land, break migration routes and destroy our culture. Despite fierce opposition, the authorities are rushing approvals.

For us, we know the effect of the wind turbines and what impact it will have on the reindeer – they won’t be able to use the land anymore. And while the land belongs to the Norwegians, we were granted the right to use it hundreds of years ago. Now we’re at risk of losing our land to this industry, and our children will be left with nothing.

We’re at risk of losing everything

The reindeer provide many resources for our community, such as meat and materials for handicrafts. My family and I have a company, where we offer knowledge about Sami culture. Every year, around 4,000 people from all the world come and visit us, and we tell them about our lifestyle and sell our products. If these wind turbines go ahead, we’re at risk of losing everything.

It’s frustrating as they just want more and more electricity – and for what?  They have enough electricity. Why don’t they value nature in the same way? We’re the ones who are experiencing climate change and its impacts. When I was growing up, the winter periods would be as low as minus 40 degrees. Today it’s not like that anymore. Sometimes it rains in winter, and when that happens, the reindeer can find it difficult to find food – the snow turns into ice and the reindeer can’t break through the ice to graze. We need this land for the future.

We are alone in this fight

For over a year, I have been defending my land and community. I arrange meetings with these companies to explain the effect wind turbines will have on our livelihoods and how it will harm the animals. We are trying to explain our case to the government, by attending as many meetings as we can, but it’s not easy.

I am so happy to have the support of people who do this work every day. This is our life – I don’t know another way of living.

Ellinor Guttorm Utsi

Today I feel there is no one listening. We are alone in this fight. They’ve decided to implement seven wind farm projects, consisting of several hundred wind turbines now, and I’ve tried to explain the devastating impact it will have, but no one cares. I am losing my life, trying to fight these processes so I can protect our land.

I have another life I want to live. I have three children and eight grandchildren, and I am sad about the impact it will have on them. I’m worried for the young people who have to grow up facing all these fights.

I’m doing this for all the community

It is tough and now I’m still processing how to make things good in my head, and how I can survive the impact on my mental health. My community supports me the best they can, they tell me I am strong, which makes me feel stronger. They tell me I am doing good work and hug me. It means a lot as I am not just doing this for my children, I’m doing for all the community.

I am determined to carry on though. I take part in protests outside the Norwegian government buildings with my friends and there’s always a group of us that go together. I cannot just sit down and watch them take this land from us. While I still have power to fight, I will.

I’ve always been an activist. I remember when I was six, how I fought to speak Sami at my school. I wanted it to be the first language, not the second – and I wasn’t afraid to share my opinion with my mum and teachers. I am so pleased Amnesty International, an organization focused on activism, is supporting my campaign today. I am so happy to have the support of people who do this work every day. This is our life – I don’t know another way of living. We need to fight for our land, to protect future generations.

This story was originally published by Al Jazeera.

The post Ellinor: “While I still have power to fight for Indigenous rights in Norway, I will” appeared first on Amnesty International.

In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), across a vast swathe of mountainous terrain, a conflict is raging that the world has forgotten.

The Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State-linked armed group commonly called the ADF, are abducting and killing civilians with alarming frequency, and abusing women and girls as sexual slaves in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. The vast majority of these incidents barely make news headlines.

As a researcher with Amnesty International’s team tasked with investigating war crimes and abuses in crises, I visited North Kivu last month to document the abuses committed by the ADF. Even as I was traveling from one city to another to speak to witnesses of recent attacks, new hit-and-run incursions were taking place in real time.

Men, women and children told me how they ran for their lives as fighters armed with blades and guns descended on their villages. Several shared horror stories about watching loved ones being killed and abducted. Released hostages talked of agonizing spells – sometimes months and years – spent in captivity, practically starved and forced to do various tasks in ADF camps scattered in the region’s thick forests.

However, global media coverage about these attacks has been minimal. While I was in eastern Congo, the steady stream of headlines about DRC focused mostly on the US and Qatari-mediated peace processes in relation to the conflict with the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23). Meanwhile, the territory of Lubero in North Kivu was experiencing a week-long assault during which ADF fighters went from village to village, hacking people to death with machetes and burning down homes and vital facilities.

ADF attacks on civilians

ADF, which originated in Uganda, has been targeting Congolese civilians since the early 2000s when it moved to eastern DRC. In 2019, the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, officially becoming part of an international enterprise. The DRC’s armed forces (FARDC) and their Ugandan counterpart (UPDF) have been engaged in a joint operation against the group since 2021. The UN mission, MONUSCO, has provided support to various Congolese state bodies over the years, though its direct involvement in facing off with the group has had its limitations.

With international and domestic attention shifting to M23’s advances in early 2025, the ADF has seized on the diversion of troops and focus. ADF’s signature ruthlessness expanded both in intensity and geographic reach, further accelerating since August, with civilians rather than security forces primarily being on the receiving end.

I started my investigation in Beni city, the now de facto capital of North Kivu province that has long suffered from ADF violence. Given the group’s deeper push into Lubero Territory, I also traveled to the city of Butembo to speak with survivors who witnessed one of ADF’s bloodiest attacks this year, the 8 September massacre in Ntoyo village.

In that attack, fighters killed more than 60 people, many of whom were attending a funeral wake. Witnesses told me how ADF members had discretely mingled among mourners for hours, before suddenly starting to strike people’s heads with hammers. Throngs of other camouflage-clad fighters soon joined, burning homes and killing more civilians in the village with machetes and guns.

On the way to Butembo, I started receiving messages from sources about a new attack in Lubero’s Byambwe village. We reached out to community leaders and human rights defenders to help connect us to witnesses to gather their testimony.

Witnesses told me that, as they had in Ntoyo, ADF fighters initially arrived as a nondescript group that included women and children, this time asking for directions to the local hospital.  Then suddenly gunshots rang out at the medical facility. An older person, who managed to escape from the hospital alongside a grandchild, described crawling out of the facility: “You couldn’t stand; they shot at anything that moved.” In total, the fighters killed more than 30 people, including 17 at the health facility.

The fighters did not stop at Byambwe; their rampage continued for days. We held our interviews in Butembo at a medical facility and bodies of ADF victims kept arriving at its morgue during our visit. At one point, we saw relatives packing a body bag into a casket to take it for burial. Grief engulfed not only the mourners, but also the hospital staff who told me of their horror at the string of killings. One said: “Tell everyone we are being massacred.” 

The sense of helplessness was clear in the hospital worker’s tone. It echoed the sentiments of scores of victims with whom I spoke. One group that particularly felt abandoned were the girls and women abducted by the group and forced into “marriages” with ADF fighters. I spoke to six survivors – the “choice”, they were told, was to accept or be killed.

Most escaped from a life of sexual slavery and domestic servitude after operations by FARDC and UPDF that targeted their camps. But they remained shackled by suspicious looks and whispers from their neighbors in their villages, they said.

Those who came home with children described how their own families have rejected the little ones. One woman said pressure by family members to kill her own child almost drove her to taking her own life. These testimonies highlighted the prolonged impact of the group’s violence and the hidden struggle of thousands of victims who need significant and multifaceted support and do not have it.

Civilians must be protected

The international community must step up efforts to support the Congolese authorities to assist survivors, protect civilians and investigate and prosecute ADF’s pervasive war crimes. Despite shortcomings, MONUSCO’s support to Congolese authorities should continue – something the UN Security Council, led by France as the penholder on this file, must bear in mind when the mission’s mandate is up for renewal this month.

In UN hallways, there are whispers that not much shocks anymore when it comes to DRC. But civilians being systematically abducted and murdered with such frequency should not be seen as just another day in eastern DRC.

A comprehensive approach to security, justice and accountability is needed. The world cannot continue to ignore the brutality being meted out by the ADF in eastern DRC. As one survivor told me: “How much more must we suffer before this ends?”

The post “Tell everyone we are being massacred”: overlooked war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo appeared first on Amnesty International.

“When I arrived in Vindoulou, I quickly realized the danger we were in. The air was unbreathable!

Black dust and fumes were spreading and invading our homes. Sometimes, when we went out, we couldn’t even see our nearest neighbour. The plant staff discharged oil and wastewater in front of our houses. Metal debris from the plant’s chimney fell onto our roofs. Once, I went to walk along the wall of the plant and debris fell on me like hail.

Right from the start, I had doubts about the legality of this activity in the middle of a populated area. I couldn’t understand how a substance as dangerous as lead could be recycled using processes that were, in my view, contrary to the standards and regulations in force.

‘My whole family was ill’

We arrived in Vindoulou in August 2019 and by January 2020 my whole family was ill. Our children were found to have the beginnings of pneumonia, bronchitis and bronchopneumonia. We also had diarrhoea and abdominal pains.

Across the neighbourhood, people had the same problems. I was told that the children who had moved away from Vindoulou no longer suffered from those symptoms.

The residents believed that nothing could make this company leave. For the community, it was David against Goliath. Some even called me King David.

I went door-to-door to convince people that something serious was going on. Everywhere I went, I reminded people of article 41 of our Constitution: every citizen has the right to live in a healthy environment.

I explained to people the benefits of getting organized together and taking up the fight. Today, our collective has over a hundred members.

© Amnesty International

From survivor to human rights defender

We tried to meet the directors of Metssa Congo. We met the plant’s manager, who said he was not authorized to comment on the subject. He promised us an audience with the CEO, but it never took place. They wouldn’t talk to us, simply saying that they had authorization to operate. We couldn’t even consult their environmental impact report, which is a document that we were entitled to access under the current legislation. After calling in a bailiff, I was finally able to consult another type of document, their environmental audit report produced after they had already begun operations.

In 2022, I went to meet Amnesty International’s representatives to alert them. From 2023 onwards, Amnesty investigated and provided funds to carry out blood tests on a sample of the population. We then had proof that people tested had high levels of lead in their blood.

At the time, the workers were against what I was doing. Now, most of them have joined us in our fight.

Cyrille Traoré Ndembi

I took two blood tests, in March and September 2023. They showed blood lead levels above 400 µg/L. For the 17 other people tested, the levels were alarming. When the ministry carried out other tests in 2024, some ex-workers had levels of 1,000 µg/L – that’s enormous!

My youngest daughter just turned four. Of the nine children tested, she had the highest lead level, above 530 µg/L. I’m worried about her. She’s running fevers even though she has no infection.

Amnesty also helped us take legal action in 2023, to publicize our situation and, in the face of the administration’s inaction, to make a plea to the authorities. As a result, the minister [of Environment] came here and spoke to the population in December 2024. We as a collective did not have a formal audience with the minister. The authorities received Metssa Congo’s managers for an audience in Brazzaville [the Republic of Congo’s capital] several times, but never our collective! I’m not being heard. Ideally, we should be able to talk directly to the authorities.

© Amnesty International

Facing intimidation

I’ve been under pressure. Metssa filed a complaint against me alleging defamation in May 2024. I went to court, but Metssa didn’t show up. They were bolstered by the decision of the Supreme Court’s public prosecutor that allowed them to resume their activities after a suspension ordered by an administrative judge in April 2024.

One night, some young people came and threatened me. It was stressful, but I didn’t back down. At the time, the workers were against what I was doing. Now, most of them have joined us in our fight.

When the company’s operations were suspended again in June 2024 by the Ministry of Environment, we continued to fight because the word suspension meant nothing to us. We wanted to hear the word closure. When the decision was taken on 11 December 2024 to close and dismantle the plant, we were relieved, but the fight was far from over.

We have to join hands. It’s up to citizens to fight.

Cyrille Traoré Ndembi

We are worried the soil may be contaminated. There may be a risk of groundwater contamination, and we drink the water from the borehole. The Ministry of Environment has taken samples, but we have not been made aware of the results.

Today, we need to know how many people are ill. People need to be screened, treated and moved out of harm’s way. In July, the Ministry of Health announced that it would conduct blood tests on an additional 100 people. It still hasn’t been done; we haven’t heard anything.

Things are moving too slowly. Why not carry out systematic screening of all those who may have been exposed? There are far more than 100 of us. Since the minister of Environment’s visit, people are worried. Some wanted their entire families screened.

The most important thing is people’s health. I fight to save lives. I’d like to set up an NGO to defend the environment beyond Vindoulou. We’re not the only ones in these situations. Anyone who can help communities in difficulty, now is the time to take action, because sometimes those communities have no recourse and are left to fend for themselves. We have to join hands. It won’t fall from the sky. It’s up to citizens to fight.”

Before setting up the plant in 2013, Metssa Congo had not carried out an environmental impact assessment, in violation of Congolese law. Despite this, the Ministry of Industry permitted Metssa to operate. The company claimed to have obtained an operating licence in 2018 and a certificate of compliance in 2023, and claimed that the emissions from the plant were not toxic.

Following the publication of Amnesty’s report on the state’s failure to protect the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in Congo including in Vindoulou, the authorities decided to suspend Metssa Congo’s operations on 17 June 2024, and launched a technical investigation by the Ministry of Environment on 8 August 2024. The plant began being dismantled on 19 December 2024 with the removing of the roof and some furnaces by Metssa Congo, but the process stopped before completion.

The government ordered Metssa Congo to set up a solidarity fund, but this has yet to materialize, according to Cyrille Traoré Ndembi. The residents of Vindoulou continue to claim for compensation after 10 years of exposure to lead.

The post “The most important thing is people’s health. I fight to save lives” appeared first on Amnesty International.