Kategorie: Humans

The Tunisian authorities must urgently address the country’s worrying human rights record, which has been significantly eroded in the year since President Kais Saied claimed sweeping powers on 25 July 2021, and revoke all new measures and laws that are inconsistent with international human rights standards, Amnesty International said today.

In a new briefing, Tunisia: A year of human rights regression since President’s power-grab, the organization details how President Saied has dismantled or weakened key safeguards for human rights since consolidating power last July, despite repeatedly pledging to ensure that authorities respect human rights. The briefing describes how the Tunisian authorities, while not carrying out a mass crackdown have targeted prominent critics and perceived enemies of the President.

“The one-year anniversary of President Saied’s power grab serves as a signpost of an ever-growing dismantling of human rights protections. Ruling by decree and without oversight or review, the president has undermined several key human rights achievements that the country has made in the ten years following the 2011 revolution that ended the rule of former President Ben Ali,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“The actions of the Tunisian authorities raise serious concerns about the future of human rights in Tunisia. President Saied and others have dealt blow after blow to human rights and undermined the independence of the judiciary in particular. While not resorting to mass crackdowns, the authorities have targeted high-profile critics and political opponents through criminal investigations, prosecutions, and in some cases even arrests, sending a clear signal about how the President feels about dissent.”

On 30 June 2022, President Saied put forward a draft constitution that would further consolidate his powers and imperil human rights. The draft constitution was issued after an obscure and fast-tracked drafting process without meaningful consultation of civil society organizations or political parties. If adopted by referendum on 25 July 2022, it would weaken judicial independence, grant the president the right to declare an open-ended state of emergency and rule unchecked, and could allow the authorities to restrict human rights based on vaguely-worded religious grounds.

The one-year anniversary of President Saied’s power grab serves as a signpost of an ever-growing dismantling of human rights protections.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International

Dismantling human rights safeguards 

On 22 September 2021, President Saied issued Presidential Decree 2021-117, granting him sweeping powers to issue new laws by decree without review or oversight by any other authority. The decree allows him to use decree-laws to regulate nearly every aspect of public life, including political parties, the courts, trade unions, civil society, the media and human rights.

In the first half of 2022, President Saied issued two decree-laws granting himself the power not only to appoint judges and prosecutors, but also to dismiss them on vague grounds and without the right to immediate appeal. On June 1, he dismissed 57 judges citing accusations including the obstruction of terrorism-related investigations, financial corruption, “moral corruption”, adultery, and participation in “alcohol-fuelled parties.”

Under international human rights law, states have an obligation to ensure fair trial rights by guaranteeing the independence of the courts and protecting judges from political influence.

In February 2022, the President also accused civil society groups of serving foreign interests and said he intended to ban “funding from abroad.” Furthermore, a leaked draft of a restrictive new law on associations would, if adopted, reverse many hard-fought protections of freedom of association by amending Decree-Law 2011-80, which regulates civil society and guarantees the rights of civil groups to exist and operate freely.

Prosecuting critics of President Saied

While the Tunisian authorities have refrained from broad crackdowns against opponents of President Saied, they have targeted public figures such as MPs and other political figures, journalists, and a former president through criminal proceedings on charges that criminalize legitimate speech, or through arbitrary travel bans and, in some cases, even detention.

In the two months following the President’s power grab in 2021, Amnesty International documented 50 cases of arbitrary travel bans, imposed without evidence of court orders or other judicial proceedings, on Tunisian judges, senior state officials and civil servants, businessmen, and members of parliament. After increasing public criticism of the travel bans, President Saied issued a statement on 17 September 2021 calling on border police to bar only people subject to judicial proceedings from travelling abroad. However, since June 2022, authorities have imposed new arbitrary travel bans on at least three members of the dissolved parliament from parties that oppose President Saied.

Prosecutions of civilians by military courts have also increased significantly, with at least 12 individuals tried since 25 July 2021. In comparison, Amnesty International and other human rights groups found that military courts had prosecuted at least six civilians during the previous ten years.

Courts also investigated or prosecuted at least 29 people for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, the majority of whom are former members of the dissolved parliament.

In a significant escalation, on 31 December 2021, the authorities arbitrarily detained two men —Noureddine Bhiri, a former justice minister and a leading figure of the Ennahda party, which opposes President Saied — and Fathi Bledi, a former security official outside their homes in Tunis, before physically assaulting one of them and transferring both to secret locations. Authorities subsequently transferred one man to detention in hospital. They were both held in detention for over two months without charge and denied access to lawyers.

“President Saied must acknowledge that his efforts to dismantle the institutions of human rights and the rule of law will only lead to repression and impunity in Tunisia. He must urgently ensure that authorities align all measures and laws with Tunisia’s obligations under international human rights law,” said Heba Morayef.

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The Ethiopian authorities must urgently launch an impartial investigation into the summary killing of over 400 Amhara residents of Tole Kebele in Oromia region on 18 June, Amnesty International said today.

“These horrific killings in Tole, allegedly at the hands of the Oromo Liberation Army, reveal its perpetrators’ utter disregard for human life

Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa

Hundreds of people were killed and scores injured in an attack that survivors and victims’ family members say was committed by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).

The organization interviewed 10 people, including five eyewitnesses as well as survivors, victims’ family members and a local official. Interviewees consistently recounted summary killings, burning of homes and looting. Satellite imagery analysis by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab also corroborates claims that fires erupted in villages in Tole Kebele on 18 June.

“These horrific killings in Tole, allegedly at the hands of the Oromo Liberation Army, reveal its perpetrators’ utter disregard for human life. This callous massacre, which also saw women and children lose their lives, must be independently and effectively investigated,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“Ethiopian authorities must leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the perpetrators of these killings are brought to justice in fair trials.”

‘They suddenly came and attacked us’

The attack began at around 9am on 18 June after many adults in the area had left home to work on farms or take care of other business, according to nine witnesses who told Amnesty International they were in Tole or on the outskirts of the area as the attack unfolded. Witnesses said OLA forces surrounded villages in the locality, before a gunshot signaled the start of the attack. Most of those who had stayed behind in the villages were mothers and children who were unable to flee the attackers.

All of the witnesses Amnesty International interviewed said they lost multiple relatives in the massacre, most of whom were women and children.

Jamila*, who survived the attack after sustaining bullet wounds, told Amnesty International that: “I was on the farm ploughing around 9 am when they suddenly came and attacked us. They hit me with bullets, and they slaughtered my husband. I was lying among six dead bodies until I was rescued. They slaughtered my husband with banga. The others were killed with banga and bullet.”

This callous massacre, which also saw women and children lose their lives, must be independently and effectively investigated

Deprose Muchena

Hussein*, a 64-year-old relative of victims in the attack, told Amnesty International he lost 22 children and grandchildren. He said he ran for his life when the shooting started, as the women and children stayed at home assuming they would be spared. He said: “They killed 42 people at one place. There was only one adult male among them, the rest were women and children. We found their bodies piled up at one place. Among those dead were newborns. Among those 42, 22 of them are my children and grandchildren. One of my daughters died with her five children, the other one with four, the other with five, the other with two children, one newlywed daughter and one boy.”

Jemal*, a local administration official, lost his three children and his wife, who was seven months pregnant. He said: “As I was searching [for] them on the street and [in] the bushes… I found 28 dead bodies in addition to my wife and children. I found them in the compound of the Silsaw Mosque.”

He added: “At Chekorsa [neighborhood], 104 people were killed. Only five of them are male adults. The rest are women and children. At Silsaw neighborhood, 112 people were killed… many of the victims were children, even newborns and toddlers.” He said their bodies were riddled with bullets.

Abdi*, a resident who was on his farm when the attack happened, said: “My farm is a bit far and I couldn’t return home since the attackers blocked the route to the village. I was watching from a nearby hill. The attack started around 8:30am and continued until around 3pm in our village. In other villages they stayed until 4 and 5pm.”

According to witnesses, some residents who stayed in the villages were armed, but they were outnumbered by the OLA fighters and unable to defend themselves. Most of those killed were unarmed women and children.

Witnesses said they knew the attackers were OLA fighters because of their distinctive long braided hair, their military camouflage, and because they spoke the Oromiffa language. They also said that the OLA had operated in the area for at least four years.

A local administrative official interviewed by Amnesty International said at least 450 people were killed in the attack.

‘They torched the house of my neighbour’

In addition to the mass killing of Amhara residents, OLA fighters also burned homes and looted cattle, cash and cereals from houses.

Dawud* said he witnessed OLA forces attacking his neighbour: “They also torched the house of my neighbour [Shambel Mohammed] while the family with his children and grandchildren and others were inside (12 people in total). One of them was seven months pregnant and was with her two children. They were buried in the compound since they were completely charred.”

Another witness, Abdi*, said the attackers looted four oxen and ETB 70,000 cash (approximately $1000USD) from his home.

“This is not the first time that ethnic Amhara residents have been attacked in Oromia region. The Ethiopian government must protect ethnic Amhara in Oromia from unlawful killings and other human rights abuses,” said Deprose Muchena.

Authorities failed to respond

According to a local official interviewed by Amnesty International, the attack was immediately reported to district and zonal officials, who said they were unable to respond because the road was closed.

Government forces did not intervene during the five-hour period in which the perpetrators killed residents and burned and pillaged homes in Tole, according to nine witnesses. Gimbi town, where the local district administration is based, is just 49kms away from Tole by road.

Residents said government forces arrived hours after OLA fighters had left; survivors were already collecting the bodies of their relatives.

The pervasive culture of impunity in Ethiopia is driving cycles of violence

Deprose Muchena

“The pervasive culture of impunity in Ethiopia is driving cycles of violence. The authorities must urgently order a credible and independent investigation into all atrocities committed in the country and facilitate access for the International Commission of Human Rights Experts established by the UN Human Rights Council,” said Deprose Muchena.

Background

The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) armed group splintered from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) after the OLF entered politics in 2018. Government authorities refer to OLA as OLF Shane. Since 2018, there have been frequent armed confrontations between OLA forces and government forces in western and southern Oromia.

Amnesty International has previously documented attacks on ethnic Amhara, allegedly carried out by OLA forces. However, OLA officials repeatedly rejected allegations of abuses by their forces including the attack in Tole and instead blame government forces.

*Names concealed to protect their identities.

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Responding to the government notification for emergency regulations released online as a new President was voted to power today in Sri Lanka, Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Researcher, said:

“The emergency regulations brought into operation in the name of public security should not become a pretext for more human rights violations. Amnesty International is very concerned such regulations will serve as a springboard for further crackdown on people’s fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, right to personal security, liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention.”

The emergency regulations brought into operation in the name of public security should not become a pretext for more human rights violations.

Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Researcher

“The emergency regulations give sweeping powers to the police and the armed forces to search and make arrests of ‘suspects’ without due process safeguards. It levies hefty penalties including life imprisonment for ordinary penal offences like causing ‘mischief’. Detainees can be kept in custody for up to seventy-two hours without being produced before a Magistrate and guaranteed access to lawyers. This prolonged period of custody without timely judicial oversight or the ability to challenge their detention heightens the risk for detainees to be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.”

“As the new President takes power, he must ensure the people of Sri Lanka can exercise their right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including to express dissent and demand respect for their rights. Such emergency regulations have a chilling effect on society. It’s time for authorities in Sri Lanka to stand with its people and not repeat the mistakes of the past.”

Background:

On 17 July 2022, a proclamation of emergency was brought into force by the then acting President of Sri Lanka.

On 18 July 2022, Government of Sri Lanka issued notification under Public Security Ordinance for the Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions and Powers) Regulations, 2022. The English translation for same was posted online recently.

On 20 July, upon the request of law enforcement authorities, a court in Colombo has issued an order prohibiting people from assembling in certain areas of what has been apeaceful protest site since April 2022.

The Sri Lankan authorities have carried out a number of arrests of largely peaceful demonstrators since the beginning of the current wave of protests in Sri Lanka.

Torture or other ill-treatment in custody in Sri Lanka has been documented before by Amnesty International in Mirihana.

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Polish authorities have targeted LGBTI people with stigmatising and harmful rhetoric, and refused or frustrated their attempts to protest, Amnesty International Poland has found in a new report.

They treated us like criminals: From shrinking space to harassment of LGBTI defenders finds that LGBTI people and their allies who take to the streets to protest against the assault on their rights are frequently left unprotected from verbal and physical attack by homophobic counter protesters or subjected to heavy-handed police tactics and criminal prosecutions.

“Authorities in Poland are not only responsible for persistent hateful rhetoric against LGBTI people but for the failure to protect these communities from the violent and discriminatory consequences of their words and policies,” said Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak, Director of Amnesty International Poland.

“Unlawful restrictions, requirements and harsh sanctions imposed on LGBTI people and their allies have shrunk the space for them to freely exercise their human rights, and created an atmosphere of fear. Those who do courageously protest are targeted by police or not protected from attacks by counter-protestors, in a country where such attacks are not even legally considered hate crimes.”

The report finds that over the last five years, authorities have intentionally weaponized onerous and complex notification requirements to arbitrarily and discriminatorily ban, limit or disperse LGBTI protests.

The situation for LGBTI people rapidly deteriorated after 2019 with a sharp increase in hostile and stigmatising rhetoric against LGBTI people, including by high-level officials. This was combined with the adoption of homophobic local government resolutions, also known as ‘LGBTI-free zones’, that – although not legally binding – are harmful and fuel the atmosphere of hostility towards LGBTI people living in those regions.

Peaceful ‘equality marchers’ in Bialystok, Gniezno and Lublin were attacked by violent counter-demonstrators and the police regularly failed to adequately protect them. In some instances, excessive use of force also was used by police against LGBTI people and their allies during protests.

“We don’t know where this campaign of hate will stop. Vehicles with homophobic slogans drive on the streets with impunity, but it’s us who are to be punished and suffer. It is because of this long-standing activism that I am in a such bad state today” Jacek, a long-time activist and organizer of Equality Marches told Amnesty International.

The situation is particularly dangerous for those who act for the rights of LGBTI people and openly oppose systemic homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Poland face multiple reprisals, including criminal charges. Prosecutions have resulted in years of grueling and costly trials that restrict activists from engaging in an already shrinking space for civil society.

“The Polish government must act now to turn this deplorable situation around,” said Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak.

“Rather than target the LGBTI people and rights defenders, the authorities should respect, protect, and promote their rights and act urgently to ensure and end to all discrimination on the basis of people’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”.

Background
Amnesty International has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the actions of the authorities in Poland which have shrunk the space for civil society around the country, undermined the rule of law, attacked women’s and LGBTI people’s rights and those who defend them, particularly over the last five years.

Poland: Free courts, free people, judges standing for their independence
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/0418/2019/en/

Poland: The Power of ‘the Street’, Protecting the Right to Peaceful Protest in Poland
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/8525/2018/en/

Poland: Targeted by hate, forgotten by law: Lack of a coherent response to hate crimes in Poland
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/2147/2015/en/

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• Inherently indiscriminate landmines kill and injure civilians
• Military laid landmines in homes, on farming lands and on church grounds
• Myanmar increasingly isolated globally in its use of antipersonnel landmines

The Myanmar military is committing war crimes by laying antipersonnel landmines on a massive scale in and around villages in Kayah (Karenni) State, Amnesty International said today after an on-the-ground investigation in conflict-affected parts of the state.

Antipersonnel landmines are inherently indiscriminate and their use is internationally banned. The landmines laid by the Myanmar military have killed and seriously injured civilians and will have significant long-term consequences, including on displaced people’s ability to return home and to farm their lands.

“The Myanmar military’s use of landmines is abhorrent and cruel. At a time when the world has overwhelmingly banned these inherently indiscriminate weapons, the military has placed them in people’s yards, homes, and even stairwells, as well as around a church,” said Matt Wells, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Deputy Director – Thematic Issues.

The Myanmar military’s use of landmines is abhorrent and cruel.

Matt Wells, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Deputy Director – Thematic Issues

“The world must urgently respond to the military’s atrocities against civilians across Myanmar. Countries around the world must cut off the flow of weapons to Myanmar and support all efforts to ensure those responsible for war crimes face justice.”

From 25 June to 8 July, Amnesty International researchers interviewed 43 people in Kayah State’s Demoso, Hpruso, and Loikaw Townships. These areas have been at the centre of fighting between the military and Karenni armed groups since May 2021, when conflict in Kayah State re-ignited following the military coup.

The organization interviewed landmine survivors and other witnesses, as well as health professionals who treated landmine injuries and people who had discovered and deactivated landmines in villages. It also visited several recently demined villages.

The Myanmar military is laying several types of landmines that it manufactures itself. These include the M-14, which typically blows off the victim’s foot at the ankle, and the more powerful MM-2, which often blows off the victim’s leg at the knee and causes injuries to other parts of the person’s body, with severe risk of death due to blood loss.

Antipersonnel landmines, including the M-14 and MM-2, are inherently indiscriminate and their use is banned under customary international humanitarian law, as well as the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which 164 states have joined. According to Landmine Monitor, Myanmar’s military is the only state armed forces confirmed to have used antipersonnel landmines in 2020-21.

Civilians killed and injured

Lu Reh, 62, and his family were displaced from Daw Thea village in Demoso Township in late February 2022 after a Myanmar military air strike killed two people in a neighbouring village. On 10 June, he and others returned to collect things from their property.

As he walked along a dirt path to collect jah fruit, Lu Reh stepped on a landmine that ripped off his right leg just below the knee, leaving the bone exposed at the calf. According to a witness and another person with direct knowledge of the incident, it also wounded his left leg and right hand and caused significant blood loss. Lu Reh died on the way to the hospital.

The Myanmar military has controlled that area since February 2022 and soldiers from the 66th Light Infantry Division (LID) have based themselves out of several nearby villages.

The Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG) has documented at least 20 civilians killed or seriously injured by landmines in Kayah State since June 2021. According to activists, local aid workers, and people without formal training who have tried to demine villages, the military’s use of landmines there has soared in recent months, especially as they retreat from certain areas.

In early April 2022, Rosie, 52, and her daughter Ma Thein Yar Lin, 17, were trying to return to their home in Loikaw town after being displaced by fighting in January. Rosie parked their motorbike near a rocky path, and Ma Thein Yar Lin walked a short distance away to go to the bathroom.

I heard the explosion, then I looked and saw a lot of smoke. I heard my daughter yelling, ‘Mama, Mama,’ and I went to look and saw her lying on the ground…my daughter had no leg anymore.

Rosie, whose daughter was injured in a landmine incident

“I heard the explosion, then I looked and saw a lot of smoke,” Rosie recalled. “I heard my daughter yelling, ‘Mama, Mama,’ and I went to look and saw her lying on the ground.”

“I noticed that my daughter had no leg anymore… I went searching for [her leg], but the man who [was passing by and stopped] to help us said, ‘Stop! There will be another landmine. The most important thing is to stop the bleeding.’”

Ma Thein Yar Lin lost her right leg from the mid-calf down and had landmine fragments throughout her left leg. She now uses a wheelchair donated by a friend. She and her mother cannot return to their home partly because the house and bathroom are not accessible.

She told Amnesty International that she wants to continue her studies; she had reached Grade 11 before the Covid-19 pandemic and the coup stopped her schooling. She said she also wants to ensure her leg recovers so that she can be fitted with a quality prosthetic.

Attack on a church

On 27 June 2022, Amnesty International researchers visited St Matthew’s church in Daw Ngay Khu village in Hpruso Township. The military had planted at least eight landmines on church grounds in mid-June, when there was fighting in the area.

Amnesty International photographed areas where landmines had been removed, including along the main entrance path and behind the church. People involved in demining the church believed there were more landmines there that had yet to be discovered.

© Amnesty International

On the afternoon of 15 June, soldiers also burned down the church and the priest’s house next door. When Amnesty International researchers visited 12 days later, the grain stored in the priest’s house was still smouldering.

A 41-year-old woman from Daw Ngay Khu told Amnesty International: “That church was the centre of our village. We worried about our things [when the military started coming], so we brought them to the church to keep [them] there. We thought the Myanmar military would not attack the church, that it was a hallowed place.”

Researchers saw a discarded uniform of the 66th LID on the church grounds, along with bullet casings and a used round from a 40mm grenade launcher.

Amnesty International previously implicated the 66th LID in war crimes and likely crimes against humanity in Kayah State, in a report published in June 2022.

In addition to the church, Myanmar soldiers laid landmines in and near homes in Daw Ngay Khu village, according to six people who lived there as well as people who had demined parts of the village. Other areas of Daw Ngay Khu likely remain contaminated.

Widespread displacement and fear

Amnesty International received credible information that the Myanmar military has laid landmines in at least 20 villages in Hpruso, Demoso, and Loikaw Townships in recent months. There are likely many more contaminated villages across Kayah and southern Shan States.

The military appears to be systematically laying landmines near where it is based as well as in areas from which it retreats. The region along the main road between Moe Bye in southern Shan State and Hpruso town in Kayah State is particularly contaminated. The military systematically burned homes in the same area from February to April 2022, as Amnesty International reported previously.

Soldiers have placed landmines in people’s yards, at the entrance of homes, and outside toilets. In at least one documented case, soldiers boobytrapped a house stairwell with a trip-wire improvised explosive device (IED). They have also placed landmines on paths to rice fields, and credible evidence indicates that at least one civilian was seriously injured recently from stepping on a landmine when going to their field.

Displaced civilians across these areas of Kayah State told Amnesty International that fighters from ethnic armed groups had warned them about the military’s use of landmines in their villages and said they should not go back. The warnings have helped to limit civilian casualties so far, but many people are desperate to see their property and to work their fields during the planting season.

© Amnesty International

Paulina, 20, a teacher from Daw Ngay Khu village, said her house was damaged by a military mortar during fighting and that soldiers then based themselves in the village. She said:

“Last year we could move back and forth and get things from our village. But this year we dare not go back… We are worried about landmines, because they plant them anywhere.”

Limited demining is overwhelmingly being undertaken by members of armed groups, who do it by hand with only rudimentary equipment and without any professional training. Contamination remains widespread.

The threat to lives and livelihoods posed by landmine contamination remains an issue in other parts of Myanmar where the military has engaged in conflict with armed groups. In 2017, Amnesty International documented several incidents of landmines injuring Rohingya women, men and children along the border of Myanmar’s Rakhine State and Bangladesh.

The military’s depraved use of landmines in homes and villages will continue to have devastating effects on civilians in Kayah State for years to come.

Rawya Rageh, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International

“The military’s depraved use of landmines in homes and villages will continue to have devastating effects on civilians in Kayah State for years to come. We know from bitter experience that civilian deaths and injuries will mount over time, and the widespread contamination is already blocking people from returning to their homes and farmland,” said Rawya Rageh, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International.

“Myanmar’s military leadership should immediately end its use of landmines and join the majority of the world in supporting the Mine Ban Treaty, which includes provisions for demining and victim assistance. “There is an urgent need for a scaled-up humanitarian response that addresses rising food insecurity and ensures proper rehabilitative, psychosocial, and other needed care for landmine survivors, as well as adequate planning for and resourcing of post-conflict demining operations to clear contaminated areas.”

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