Kategorie: Humans

Responding to comments made today by FIFA President Gianni Infantino that the organization has made record revenues from the World Cup in Qatar, Stephen Cockburn, Head of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International, said:  

“Gianni Infantino has announced that FIFA made $7.5 billion from the 2022 World Cup cycle, more than $1 billion more than expected. He also forecast FIFA to make in excess of $11 billion over the next four years.

“Yet he offered nothing new to so many workers and their families who continue to be denied compensation for stolen wages and lost lives.

“The migrant workers behind this World Cup have contributed hugely to FIFA’s incredible wealth, and FIFA has a clear responsibility to compensate them for their losses.

“Rather than continue to ignore workers’ calls for justice. The organization’s proposed new Legacy Fund must ensure remedy to everyone who made this tournament possible, as well as the families of those who lost loved ones as a result.” 

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Saudi authorities are forcibly returning hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian migrants after arbitrarily holding them in indefinite detention in inhuman and cruel conditions solely because they do not have valid residency documents, a situation exacerbated by Saudi’s abusive kafala system, Amnesty International said today. The organization is calling upon the Saudi authorities to investigate cases of torture as well as at least ten deaths in custody between 2021 and 2022.

The new briefing, “It’s like we are not human”: Forced returns, abhorrent detention conditions of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia, details the situation of Ethiopian men, women and children arbitrarily held in the overcrowded Al-Kharj and Al-Shumaisi detention centres in dire and abusive conditions and forcibly returned to Ethiopia between June 2021 and May 2022.

“Since 2017, Saudi Arabia has arbitrarily detained and forcibly returned hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian migrants in conditions so abusive and inhuman that many developed serious long-term physical and mental conditions as a result. Now, more than 30,000 Ethiopian nationals are detained in those same conditions and are at risk of facing the same fate. Just because a person does not have legal documents does not mean they should be stripped of their human rights,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Saudi Arabia has been aggressively investing in re-branding its image…but beneath this glitzy veneer is a story of horrific abuse against migrants who have been toiling away to help Saudi Arabia realize its grand vision.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International

“Saudi Arabia has been aggressively investing in re-branding its image as part of its ambitions to attract foreign businesses and investors, but beneath this glitzy veneer is a story of horrific abuse against migrants who have been toiling away to help Saudi Arabia realize its grand vision.” 

There are an estimated 10 million migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International chose to focus on the situation suffered by undocumented Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia due to plans announced in March 2022 by Ethiopian and Saudi authorities to return at least 100,000 Ethiopian men, women and children back to Ethiopia by the end of 2022 .

Between May and June 2022, Amnesty International spoke to 11 Ethiopian migrants who were detained in Saudi Arabia before being forcibly returned, as well as a family member of a former detainee, humanitarian workers and journalists with knowledge of the situation inside the migrant centres.

Amnesty International confirmed the location of Al-Kharj and Al-Shumaisi detention centres through satellite verification, and geo-verified videos from inside both centres, which reveal the dire conditions of the facilities.

Forced returns

Since 2017, Saudi Arabia has ramped up the arrest and forced returns of Ethiopian migrants as part of a crackdown on undocumented migrant workers in the country. Under Saudi Arabia’s abusive “kafala” system, undocumented migrant workers often have no pathway to regularizing their residency, and even documented workers risk losing their legal residency if they leave abusive employers.

In March 2022, the Ethiopian authorities announced that they would cooperate in the repatriation of over 100,000 of their nationals detained in Saudi Arabia by the end of 2022. Today, at least 30,000 Ethiopian migrants remain detained in Saudi Arabia solely for lack of legal residency and continue to suffer in overcrowded detention centres.

Faced with indefinite arbitrary detention under abusive conditions, with no recourse to challenge their detention, many of the detained migrants felt they had no choice but to agree to return to Ethiopia.

It is Amnesty International’s assessment that the migrants’ coercive environment makes it impossible for them to make a truly voluntary decision in line with the principle of free and informed consent, and that their returns to Ethiopia amount to forced returns. The Saudi authorities’ failure to ensure a case-by-case assessment of any potential protection needs of the detained migrants also creates the risk that individuals will be returned to face abuse, a breach of the principle of non-refoulement. 

‘Inhuman’ conditions

The Saudi authorities have violated the basic principle under the Nelson Mandela Rules of treating prisoners “with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings.”

Former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International described overcrowding and the unsanitary conditions in both Al-Kharj detention centre in Riyadh and Al-Shumaisi detention centre, near the city of Jeddah, as “inhuman”. They recounted torture and beatings, and said there was inadequate food, water, bedding and no access to adequate medical care, including for children, those who are pregnant or severely sick.

Amnesty also found that unaccompanied minors and pregnant women were among those forcibly returned.

Bilal, a former detainee held in Al-Shumaisi detention centre for 11 months, said he shared a room with 200 other people, yet there were only 64 beds. Detainees had to take turns sleeping on the floor. He told Amnesty International: “It is like we are not human.”

Mahmoud, another detainee who was held in both detention centres, said their daily food allowance was barely sufficient for one person.

Two other former detainees said the authorities gave each detainee just half a litre of water per day, despite persistently scorching temperatures in the overcrowded facilities.

Inadequate healthcare, death and disease

All former detainees told Amnesty International that the spread of lice and skin diseases were rampant. They also said that when lice spread among the migrants, they had to purchase plastic trash bags to use as blankets for protection and burn the hair off their scalps to remove the lice, because the authorities offered no other treatment.

Two humanitarian workers told Amnesty International that a significant number of people who were returned to Ethiopia from Saudi Arabia’s prisons suffered from respiratory and infectious diseases such as Tuberculosis.

Amnesty International also documented cases of deaths in custody in the Al-Kharj and Al-Shumaisi detention centres. Former detainees reported ten deaths between April 2021 and May 2022, many of which occurred after the denial of critical medical care, including in one case after injuries sustained from beatings. Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to investigate these deaths in custody and to what extent they are linked to the denial of adequate medical care.

Mahmoud, a former detainee who shared a cell with a man who was vomiting blood, said the authorities had only offered him paracetamol. The man died the day he arrived back in Ethiopia after being forcibly returned.

One video, verified by Amnesty International, shows a group of men gathered around what appears to be a body wrapped in a plastic bag, as the men perform salat al-janaza, a Muslim funeral rite.

Beatings and torture

Six former detainees told Amnesty International they suffered beatings and torture, including being beaten with metal sticks and cable wires, slapped in the face, punched, and forced to stand outside in extreme heat on asphalt roads until their skin burned.

The detainees said they were tortured after they protested the conditions of their detention, or when they tried to get medical attention for a sick cellmate.

Hussein, a former detainee, said a fellow cellmate died after the two of them were beaten: “He had pain in the ribs and was not taken to a hospital. We begged prison guards to take his body after he died…They took out his body two days later.” 

Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world, yet it is cramming migrants in dirty detention centres and refusing to provide them with proper medical care, food, and water.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International

“Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world, yet it is cramming migrants in dirty detention centres and refusing to provide them with proper medical care, food, and water. The ongoing abuse, in some cases leading to deaths of migrants, signals the unwillingness of Saudi authorities to improve the treatment of migrant workers. The authorities must urgently investigate the deaths and torture of detained migrants. Better still, they should stop detaining them in the first place,” said Heba Morayef.

To see the full briefing, please click: “It’s like we are not human”: Forced returns, abhorrent detention conditions of Ethiopian migrants in Saudi Arabia.

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Reacting to the severe flooding and landslides in Kinshasa, which claimed 120 lives on 12 and 13 December and left thousands homeless, Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns in East Africa, Horn of Africa, and the Great Lakes regions said:

Amnesty International sends its condolences to all those affected by the recent flooding and landslides in Kinshasa

Flavia Mwangovya, Deputy Regional Director Campaigns, East Africa, Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region

“Amnesty International sends its condolences to all those affected by the recent flooding and landslides in Kinshasa. It is absolutely devastating that such tragic losses of human life occur so often in the DRC after natural disasters strike the country.

“The DRC authorities must urgently assist those affected by the flooding and landslides, and ensure they can access food, housing, and health care. They must also take steps to ensure Kinshasa is better planned and well-resourced and prepared to deal with natural disasters.

“Climate change is known to exacerbate extreme weather events. The DRC authorities, however, have failed to learn from previous disasters, which means these catastrophes continue to have a shocking, fatal impact on the residents of Kinshasa.

Authorities must take steps to ensure Kinshasa is better planned and well-resourced and prepared to deal with natural disasters.

Flavia Mwangovya

The right to live in a safe, clean and sustainable environment must be protected and upheld.”

Background

Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is home to an estimated 15.6 million people. Floods and landslides are common in the city and across the country during the rainy season, often leading to devastating consequences.

Experts believe the consequences would be much less harmful if Kinshasa and other cities were better planned, with adequate infrastructures including for water channeling, and a better waste management. Kinshasa and other cities lack the means to respond quickly to such disasters.

At the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington this week, President of the DRC Felix Tshisekedi blamed the deadly flooding and landslides in Kinshasa solely on climate change.

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Reacting to Indigenous peoples calling on states to ensure that a deal to declare 30% of the world protected by 2030 at the COP15 talks in Montreal respects their rights, Chris Chapman, Amnesty International’s Adviser on Indigenous Rights, said:

“Any 30 x 30 deal being negotiated in the final days of COP15 must recognize that conservation is more effective on Indigenous lands than in state-run protected areas. States must include Indigenous peoples’ territories and customary lands and waters as a category of conservation area in any agreement, as called for by the Indigenous Biodiversity Forum.

“States must also ensure that any agreement addresses human rights violations in protected areas and requires states to respect the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, including by obtaining their free, prior and informed consent for all actions.

“Negotiators on the 30 x 30 deal at COP15 should also remove the requirement for a significant proportion of protected areas to be ‘strictly protected’, as the wording could lead to ‘fortress conservation’ methods that forcibly evict human populations from these areas, including Indigenous peoples and other traditional land users who have cultivated the land for generations.”

Background

COP15, the UN Biodiversity Conference running from 7-19 December in Montreal, marks the latest meeting to discuss the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, an agreement adopted in 1992. The talks aim to set specific goals for 2030 and targets to 2050.

Amnesty International stresses the urgent need to address the loss of biodiversity as an essential step towards climate justice and to protect the right to live in a safe, clean and sustainable environment.

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The Sierra Leone government must continue to ensure that the human rights of people living close to the diamond mine exploited by Meya Mining in eastern Kono district are protected, Amnesty International said today. The organization also urged Meya Mining to fulfil its commitments to respond to community concerns. 

Between 2018 and 2021, Amnesty International delegates conducted research in the Kono district on the impact of Meya Mining’s mining activities. This research revealed several concerns, including unsafe water in boreholes constructed by Meya, dangers to communities living in the vicinity of the mine, and other violations of the socio-economic rights of local people.

After Amnesty International raised these concerns with the Sierra Leonean authorities and Meya Mining, Amnesty International received the company’s reply in August 2022 to outline the measures it has taken to consult neighboring communities, and prevent any harmful impacts from its mining operations, such as water pollution.  To date, Amnesty International has not received a substantive response from the Sierra Leonean authorities.

The authorities must ensure that all issues raised have already been addressed. Although, on 9 August, the Sierra Leonean Parliament passed the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022, which aims to improve the welfare of communities affected by future mining exploration, the government of Sierra Leone must ensure that anyone whose human rights have been violated by any mining company has access to justice, an effective remedy mechanism and reparations”.

Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.  

In 2018, Amnesty International started research into mining activities in Kono District.  According to the testimonies collected by Amnesty International, many residents claimed that they were not engaged in a process of genuine consultation before the mining operations began.    Amnesty International recalls that international human rights norms, including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, clearly state that communities must give their prior consent for all forms of resource exploitation on their traditional lands and must also benefit accordingly.  

‘Everything is gone now’ 

“The place where the Meya Mining’s plant is located used to be a swamp. [We] had a plantation there. Everything is gone now. I used to survive on my plantation, to feed myself and get money to pay school fees for my children…  We do not benefit from any of their activities. They gave me only USD 98 for the swamp and the plantation. […].” said a woman from the Simbakoro community.  

In 2019, Amnesty International also took water samples for testing from two boreholes constructed by Meya Mining in the Koaquima community. The results revealed high levels of nitrates in both samples (110 mg/l for the sample 1 and 120 mg/l for the sample 2), which were well above safe levels (50 milligrams per liter) recommended by the World Health Organization.  

At that time residents from the community were complaining about Meya’s borehole: “We cannot use the borehole water provided by Meya for drinking. It contains Spirogyra [a type of algae]. We see them in the water. It is poisonous. We use the water for washing and cooking because it has a taste, it is salty,” said a resident of Kaoquima community, located in an area where Meya Mining operates.

Meya Mining confirms that they also tested the water in the boreholes the same year and they did not contest the high level of nitrate in the water at this time.

Forced to shelter from explosions 

After the communities receive notification from the company, the explosions of the mines take place. Before these explosions start, inhabitants explained that they are forced to evacuate their homes and take shelter in the different structures made by the company until the blasting is over.  

In the Simbakoro community, at the time of the investigation made by Amnesty International, the wood-and-tarpaulin structure constructed by Meya Mining in which inhabitants sought shelter was covered in holes and in a state of disrepair. It also could not hold more than 300 people, when the community has more than 2,000 members. Simbakoro residents did not feel safe under this structure when blasting was taking place. As one of its members says: “The shelter is not safe. The shelter is not suitable for human use. It is like a pig shelter. It’s for animals.” 

Amnesty International is also concerned that no sufficient steps were taken to ensure the safety of the mine sites despite their proximity to local communities including children.

What Meya Mining says  

Reacting to the concerns raised by Amnesty International, Meya Mining said it had taken measures to mitigate some of the impacts of diamond mining.  

According to the reply received by Amnesty International in August 2022, fences will be built around the mining site to increase the safety of residents. Still on the security side, a permanent blast shelter will be built to replace the temporary one whose shortcomings were highlighted in the Amnesty International findings. 

It also asserts that it has put in place water filtration and purification systems to reduce the level of nitrate in the boreholes. Meya Mining also argued that they made sufficient consultation with the local community and notified Amnesty International that a socio-environmental impact assessment has been carried out to better mitigate the societal and environmental impacts on local communities. 

While welcoming Meya’s commitment and new measures to improve community rights, Amnesty International encourages the Sierra Leone authorities and the mining company to do everything possible, together with the local communities, to alleviate their suffering related to the mine’s activities ensuring that United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are always implemented”.

Samira Daoud

Background 

On 19 July 2019, the Government of Sierra Leone granted Meya Mining, a diamond mining firm, 35% owned by Sierra Leone-incorporated Germinate (SL) Limited and 65% by Namibian-incorporated Trustco Group Holdings, a license company covering a period of 25 years to extract an estimated around USD 850 million worth of diamonds.   

During its research, Amnesty International interviewed 128 people in nine communities affected by Meya Mining’s operations. The organization also spoke to national and local authorities, as well as senior employees of Meya Mining. 

The organization has twice written to the government — in August 2019 and February 2022 — to raise concerns about the human rights impact of Meya Mining activities. In July 2022, we also contacted Meya Mining giving them the right to reply to Amnesty International’s findings about their activities.  

On 2 March 2022, Meya Mining received a request from the Senior Permanent Secretary at the Sierra Leone Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources regarding the concerns raised by Amnesty International.

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