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Wet’suwet’en land defenders in Canada are at risk of serious human rights violations as the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline has reportedly begun under the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River), said Amnesty International today. 

“The decision to allow the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is a brazen violation of the community’s right to self-determination and a lamentable step backwards in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Moreover, expansion of fossil fuels extraction and infrastructure is against Canada’s obligation to protect human rights from the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (English-Speaking). “Amnesty International Canada calls on the governments of Canada and B.C. to halt pipeline construction in the traditional, unceded territories of the Wet’suwet’en.”

Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs – the traditional authorities of the Nation according to Wet’suwet’en Law as well as the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1997 Delgamuukw ruling – have never consented to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, even though some elected First Nations governments have signed benefit agreements with the company. The Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) is one of the last remaining clean sources of drinking water and salmon spawning grounds in the territory, and Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have raised concerns that the pipeline project would damage the river.

The decision to allow the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is a brazen violation of the community’s right to self-determination and a lamentable step backwards in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples

Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada

Peaceful protestors and land defenders occupied the drill pad site in September 2021. British Columbia’s Minister of Public Safety authorized militarized police forces to arrest and forcibly remove land defenders from the territory in order to enforce an injunction obtained by the company. Wet’suwet’en and other land defenders faced three raids by heavily armed police, and 19 people are currently facing criminal contempt charges for defying a court injunction that authorizes the police to remove people occupying permitted work sites.  

Wet’suwet’en land defenders say they are harassed, intimidated, forcibly removed, and criminalized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the company’s private security guards solely for peacefully defending their traditional lands over which they have title. In May, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a third letter to Canada noting its concern over the escalating use of force, surveillance, and criminalization of land defenders and peaceful protestors by the RCMP, its Community-Industry Response Group and private security firms. 

“The Canadian government must immediately withdraw security and policing forces from Wet’suwet’en territory and investigate all allegations of harassment, intimidation, threats and forced evictions of land rights defenders and others peacefully protesting against the pipeline. Continuing with the construction of this pipeline in Indigenous territory will further endanger human rights defenders, Wet’suwet’en communities and ultimately our planet,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Chief Na’Moks said, “Even though they have started to illegally drill with illegal permits from the government of BC, the Hereditary Chiefs have never been supportive nor have given consent for this project. We will continue to oppose this pipeline using all means necessary, as it is our Traditional law. No elected official nor an industry can overrule nor ignore our decisions as a nation who have never ceded, surrendered nor signed a treaty.”

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On 3 October, top EU officials will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in the first high-level meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council in over ten years. Ahead of the meeting, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office, said:

Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians. This is a crime against humanity requiring the EU to hold Israel’s leaders to account, and to ensure it in no way supports their apartheid system. Any cooperation must focus on dismantling Israel’s cruel system of oppression and domination

Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office

“Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians. This is a crime against humanity requiring the EU to hold Israel’s leaders to account, and to ensure it in no way supports their apartheid system. Any cooperation must focus on dismantling Israel’s cruel system of oppression and domination.

“The Israeli authorities are subjecting Palestinians to land seizures, unlawful killings, forcible transfers and severe movement restrictions while denying their humanity, equal nationality and status. The EU cannot claim shared human rights commitments with a state perpetrating apartheid and which has in recent months shuttered the offices of renowned Palestinian civil society organizations, scaled up the demolition of homes in the occupied West Bank, and carried out apparently unlawful attacks in the Gaza Strip.

“Discussions around EU-Israel’s relations have been on hold for the past decade amid EU concerns over Israel’s disregard for international law and its unlawful settlement policy, which continues unabated. By paying lip service to human rights while prioritising political relations and energy supplies, the EU risks further entrenching impunity for crimes under international law and Israel’s cruel system of oppression and domination against Palestinians, weakening its credibility to hold other rights-abusing governments across the globe to account. EU leaders must recognize that the reality in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is one of apartheid and take concrete steps to address it.”

Background

Ahead of the EU-Israel Association Council, Amnesty International has outlined its key human rights concerns and recommendations to EU leaders in a letter sent to the EU High Representative and the foreign ministers of EU member states.

In recent days, worrying signals have emerged that EU representatives are going to water down language on key human rights concerns in their Association Council statement.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: press@amnesty.org

Out of hours contact details : +44 20 7413 5566 .

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In order to fight inequality and discrimination, governments in the Americas must adopt all measures necessary to ensure full enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights in the region, Amnesty International said today in an open letter to the heads of state who will attend the 52^nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). In addition, they must guarantee protection for refugees and migrants who face high levels of violence and discrimination based on their gender, race, or nationality, among other factors.

“The main theme of the OAS General Assembly is ‘together against inequality and discrimination’, but it is time for governments to move from words to urgent action to tackle the systemic failures that are preventing the full realization of human rights for all people in the region. This requires comprehensive action to dismantle inequality, racism, and discrimination,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

As Amnesty International has documented, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated the deep structural inequalities in the Americas that are rooted in economic, racial and gender-based factors. Many people in the region, among them women, Indigenous people, and people of African descent, suffered disproportionately in terms of rights to life, health, social protection, and the rights to an adequate standard of living and to work.

Emergency measures adopted by governments to deal with the pandemic have not been sufficient insofar as complying with their duty to eradicate discrimination and actively promote substantive equality in the enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic and social rights.

The main theme of the OAS General Assembly is ‘together against inequality and discrimination’, but it is time for governments to move from words to urgent action to tackle the systemic failures that are preventing the full realization of human rights for all people in the region.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

Furthermore, the structural problems in the health systems in the Americas in terms of free and universal access and adequate budgetary and human resources mean that the healthcare systems do not comply with the requirements of accessibility, availability, quality, and cultural relevance established by the right to health.

Almost every country in the region spends less than 6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public health, which is the standard set by the Pan-American Health Organization to achieve universal health coverage. Governments in the Americas must, at the very least, ensure that public spending on health is at least 6% of GDP as established by PAHO. To achieve this, they must organize their tax policies, both in revenue collection and expenditure, in order to progressively seek to significantly reduce discrimination and inequality.

The American continent is the location of some of the world’s most important cross-border movements of people. The human rights crisis in Venezuela has forced more than 6.8 million people to flee the country in search of international protection. Meanwhile, the political and humanitarian crisis in Haiti has led to the movement of thousands of people who are trapped at different borders in the region. In addition, as a result of the situation of generalized violence, compounded by natural disasters associated with climate change in Central America, tens of thousands of people from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have set off for the north of the continent.

For women refugees and migrants, their migration status is a risk factor that increases their vulnerability, exposing them to gender-based violence throughout the migration route or in the cities where they decide to stay. A recent Amnesty International investigation revealed that figures on gender-based violence against Venezuelan women refugees in Colombia and Peru have increased alarmingly in recent years. 

In the case of Haiti, Amnesty International concluded that the mass or collective expulsions of Haitian asylum seekers by US authorities under Title 42 form part of a practice of detention, exclusion, and deterrence based on systematic discrimination against people of African descent. The treatment of Haitians by US authorities constitutes race-based torture under international human rights law.

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Responding to the deaths of at least 130 people following a stampede at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java on 1 October, Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid said:

“We express our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. No one should lose their lives at a football match.”

“We call on authorities to conduct a swift, thorough, and independent investigation into the use of tear gas at the stadium and ensure that those who are found to have committed violations are tried in open court and do not merely receive internal or administrative sanctions.”

“We also call on the police to review policies on the use of tear gas and other ‘less-lethal weapons’ to ensure that such a heartbreaking tragedy never occurs again.”

“This loss of life cannot go unanswered. The police themselves have stated that the deaths occurred after police use of tear gas on the crowd resulted in a stampede at the stadium exits.”

This loss of life cannot go unanswered. The police themselves have stated that the deaths occurred after police use of tear gas on the crowd resulted in a stampede at the stadium exits.

Usman Hamid, Executive Director, Amnesty International Indonesia

“Tear gas should only be used to disperse crowds when widespread violence has occurred and when other methods have failed. People must be warned that tear gas will be used and allowed to disperse.” 

“Tear gas should also never be fired in confined spaces. FIFA’s stadium safety guidelines also prohibit the carrying or use of ‘crowd control gas’ by pitchside stewards or police.”

Background:

On the night of 1 October 2022, after a football match between Arema and Persebaya in the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java, ended in defeat for Arema, dozens of Arema supporters invaded the pitch and attacked players and police. To disperse the crowd, police fired tear gas into the stands. 

East Java police chief Insp. Gen. Nico Afinta told the press that the tear gas caused supporters to head to one exit. “There was a crush and because of that crush people were asphyxiated,” Nico said.

As of the time of writing, at least 130 people have been reported dead, including two police officers. At least 180 more have been injured.

The UN Human Rights Committee is clear in their General Comment 37 that in all cases the law enforcement rules on use of force must be strictly followed. The use of teargas will only be proportionate in responding to incidence of widespread violence, and only where other methods of dispersing an assembly have failed or would fail. 

The type of equipment used to disperse an assembly must be carefully considered and used only when necessary, proportional and lawful. Policing and security equipment – such as tear gas, often described as “less-lethal” weapons – can result in serious injury and even death.

The use of force directly impacts on the right to life, which is protected under Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia is obliged to comply with as a state party. The use of force is therefore subject to strict human rights safeguards as set out in the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (1979) and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (1990). The use of force by law enforcement officials in Indonesia is further regulated by the Indonesian Chief of Police Regulation on the Use of Force in Police Action (No. 1/2009).

While Amnesty International acknowledges the complex environment law enforcement officials often find themselves in when carrying out their duty, they must ensure full respect for the right to life and security of all persons, including those suspected of crime.

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