Kategorie: Humans

Charges against an activist facing up to three years in prison for helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills in Poland must be dropped said Amnesty International today ahead of the resumption of her trial in Warsaw tomorrow.

In November 2021 human rights defender, Justyna Wydrzyńska, was charged with “helping with an abortion” and “possession of medicines without authorisation for the purpose of introducing them into the market”. The case marks the first in Europe in which an activist is being prosecuted for aiding an abortion by providing abortion pills.

“The trial of Justyna Wydrzyńska comes at a time when the threat to abortion rights has been brought into sharp focus by the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. It is a reminder that our rights to life, to health, to bodily integrity and autonomy cannot be taken for granted. We must and we are be prepared to fight for our rights for as long as it takes, when and where required.” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Anything less than all charges against Justyna Wydrzyńska being immediately dropped would set a dangerous precedent in Poland. It will also send a chilling message to other governments seeking to curtail the activities of abortion rights activists, who are campaigning for bodily autonomy and the right to access safe abortions.

“No one should be criminalized, let alone prosecuted, for helping someone to get a safe abortion. Around the world, prohibition of safe abortion kills thousands of women and girls every year.”

Abortion is only legal in Poland when the health or the life of the woman is at risk or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Performing your own abortion or the possession of abortion pills for a self-managed abortion is not a crime under Polish law, but any person or doctor who helps with an abortion outside the two permitted grounds may face up to three-years in prison.

“A woman contacted me in a desperate situation. She told me that her violent husband was trying to stop her from having an abortion. Her story touched my heart as I had had a similar experience. I felt I had to help her,” said Justyna Wydrzyńska.

“People who need an abortion in Poland must get reliable and unbiased information about safe abortions and they should access help and support. No one should be prosecuted for showing compassion and acting in solidarity. Not me. Not anyone.”

Background

Justyna Wydrzyńska is a doula who supports others through pregnancy and one of the founders of Abortion Dream Team, an activist collective that campaigns against abortion stigma in Poland and offers unbiased abortion advice following World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

Abortion Dream Team forms part of Abortion Without Borders , a cross European network that provides information, counselling, funding and practical support to people in Poland and other countries who need an abortion abroad or access to reliable online sources of abortion medicines.

Between January 2021 and January 2022, Abortion Without Borders was contacted by more than 32,000 people in Poland, which is a fivefold increase from the previous year. It supported more than 1,500 individuals to travel abroad for an abortion. In recent months, calls for help have increased as thousands of refugees fleeing Ukraine arrive in Poland in need of sexual and reproductive healthcare.

More than 110,000 people in 18 countries have taken action to call on the Polish Prosecutor General to drop all charges against Justyna Wydrzyńska, decriminalise abortion and ensure access to safe and legal abortion without discrimination.

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Responding to the BBC investigation of repeated killing of unarmed men in suspicious circumstances in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011 by the UK Special forces, Zaman Sultani, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher, said:

“Amnesty International demands an effective and transparent investigation into the allegations made against the UK Special forces in Afghanistan, that delivers justice for victims and holds the perpetrators accountable.”

“Amnesty International demands an effective and transparent investigation into the allegations made against the UK Special forces in Afghanistan, that delivers justice for victims and holds the perpetrators accountable.”

Zaman Sultani, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher

“The BBC’s findings are horrifying, and clearly depict an alarming level of impunity and lack of accountability of UK troops who operated in Afghanistan. The BBC’s reporting outlines unlawful killings, including deliberate killing of individuals after they were detained, targeting of civilians and fabricating evidence to justify the killing of unarmed men, pointing to potential war crimes having been committed. The suggestion that there’s been a high-level cover-up compounds the moral outrage and suggests an unwillingness on the part of the UK to pursue independent and effective investigations into the allegations.’

“The UK is obligated to urgently commence investigations into all allegations of war crimes involving its Special Forces, and any UK nationals who are suspected of individual criminal responsibility must be brought to justice in UK courts. If the UK is unwilling to bring cases against its own military, as it has shamefully demonstrated in relation to war crimes committed by its forces in Iraq, the ICC should do so.’

“The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also opened an investigation in Afghanistan and the Prosecutor must urgently investigate, without fear or favour, allegations of war crimes committed by all parties to the conflict as soon as possible. However, despite harrowing reports of war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed in Afghanistan by western militaries, including the USA, the ICC has not initiated any investigations, other than into the Taliban – leading to accusations of double standards in its approach.”

‘This episode also underscores just how damaging any move to remove human rights protections and responsibility from troops operating overseas would be. The UK Government must step away from the reprehensible proposal to replace the Human Rights Act before any more damage is done.’

Background:

On 12 July, 2022, the BBC published their report on investigation into the role of SAS operatives in Afghanistan who repeatedly killed detainees and unarmed men in suspicious circumstances. The reports suggest that the unit may have unlawfully killed 54 people in one six-month tour.

Since 2001, the UK along with other international forces were in Afghanistan, and had been conducting operations against the Taliban for over a decade. The Taliban captured Kabul by 15 August 2021, the Afghan President fled the country, and the last international forces left the country by the end of August. The Taliban now control Afghanistan.

Since 2003 Afghanistan has been a member state of the International Criminal Court, granting jurisdiction to the Court to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, committed on Afghan territory or by its nationals. The UK ratified the Rome Statute in 2001, granting the ICC jurisdiction over UK nationals and territory since 2002.

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Egyptian authorities should ease their grip on civic space and uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly to enable a successful climate summit, known as the COP27, in Egypt, 36 organizations said today. 

COP27 brings together state parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as thousands of experts, journalists, and representatives from businesses and non-governmental groups. COP27, to be held in November 2022, is an important opportunity for the international community to meet and discuss ambitious, rights-based climate action.

In an interview with The Associated Press on May 24, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that his government is planning to designate “a facility adjacent to the conference centre” in Sharm El-Sheikh, in the Sinai peninsula, where the meeting will be held,  where activists can hold protests and voice their opinions. He also said that the government will provide participants “access, as is traditionally done on one day of the negotiations, to the negotiating h[all] itself.”

The organizations are concerned about the implications of Shoukry’s comments on the right to peaceful activism at the COP27. Given existing restrictions on protest and assembly in Egypt that amount to their effective criminalization, the Foreign Minister’s comments imply that the Egyptian authorities will not tolerate protest outside this “government-designated” space.

Under international human rights law and standards, demonstrations should be facilitated as a general rule within “sight and sound” of their target audience. The Egyptian authorities should unconditionally allow peaceful protests and gatherings around the time of COP27, including in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, and other cities.

Egyptian authorities should also end the relentless assault on human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and the independent media. Their tactics include unfounded criminal investigations, arbitrary detention, summons for coercive questioning, threats to close independent organizations, travel bans, and other restrictive measures that risk undermining the ongoing civil society participation needed for a positive outcome of COP27.

Robust and rights-respecting climate action requires the full and meaningful participation of all stakeholders including states, activists, civil society and representatives of Indigenous peoples and groups most vulnerable to the harm of climate change. Activists play an important role in the global climate debate by providing relevant information to policymakers and the media. And nongovernmental groups can only carry out their important work where they can effectively exercise their right to freedom of assembly.

International and Egyptian civil society groups fear that the restrictions imposed by the Egyptian authorities would hinder the full and meaningful participation of activists, human rights defenders, civil society, and Indigenous peoples’ representatives at COP27. Concerns are heightened by the Egyptian authorities’ abysmal record of cracking down on civil society organizations and punishing human rights activism and independent journalism.

Civil society organizations and the UN human rights mechanisms have long documented the Egyptian authorities’ crackdown on freedom of peaceful assembly. In 2013, the authorities passed Law No. 107/2013 on Organizing the Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Protests, which grants security forces free rein to ban protests and to use unnecessary and excessive force against peaceful protesters.

The authorities have used this law, in addition to the draconian colonial era Law No.10/1914 on assemblies, to prosecute thousands of peaceful protesters in grossly unfair mass trials. Additionally, security forces have consistently used unlawful force, sometimes lethal, and mass arrests to disperse protests. No security or military official has been brought to justice for the deaths of hundreds of people during the dispersal of sit-ins in Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda squares in Greater Cairo on 14 August 2013.

The crackdown sent a chilling message across Egypt, instilling fear and deterring people from exercising their right to peaceful assembly. The rare protests that have taken place in recent years have been met again with unlawful use of force and mass arrests, including the September 2019 and September 2020 anti-government protests. Security forces rounded up thousands of protesters, activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and bystanders, including children, some of whom were subject to enforced disappearance.

The Egyptian authorities have equally shown little tolerance even toward protests not directed at or critical of the authorities. In November 2020, Egyptian authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained 70 Sudanese migrants and refugees engaged in a peaceful protest following the killing of a Sudanese child by an Egyptian man. Police beat protesters and used racial and xenophobic slurs, witnesses said. In December 2021 and January 2022, Egyptian security forces detained at least 30 Sudanese activists who organized protests at the Cairo headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and subjected them to forced labour and beatings.

The Egyptian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release anyone arbitrarily detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights or for their religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. The authorities should also amend legislation so that it is in line with Egypt’s obligations under international law, including by repealing or substantially amending laws that unduly restrict and criminalize the exercise of human rights, including Law No.107/2013 on protests, Law No.10/1914 on assemblies, and the 2019 NGO law.

The authorities should pledge to uphold the right to freedom of peaceful assembly at all times, including during international events, and refrain from unduly limiting protests to a specific designated area. UN member states, particularly those attending COP27, should urge the Egyptian authorities to end limitations on freedom of assembly, association, and expression and take other meaningful steps to address concerns by civil society and ensure their safe and meaningful participation that can contribute to a successful COP27.

Signatories:

1. Alliance for Rural Democracy
2. Amnesty International
3. Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
4. Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE)
5. Cairo Institute for Human Rights (CIHRS)
6. CIVICUS
7. Committee for Justice (CFJ)
8. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
9. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)
10. Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR)
11. Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
12. Egypt Wide for Human Rights
13. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
14. El Nadeem against violence and torture
15. EuroMed Rights
16. Freedom House
17. Friends of the Earth Scotland
18. Global Witness
19. Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
20. Green Advocates International
21. Human Rights Watch (HRW)
22. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
23. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
24. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
25. Mano River Union Civil Society Natural Resources Rights and Governance Platform
26. MENA Rights Group
27. Natural Resources Women Platform
28. People in Need
29. PEN International’s
30. Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
31. Scotland’s International Development Alliance
32. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
33. The Freedom Initiative
34. The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN)
35. WoGEM Uganda
36. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

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Following today’s European Court of Human Rights judgment condemning Turkey for failing to ensure implementation of the Court’s 2019 ruling demanding Osman Kavala’s immediate release, concluding that the Court “considered that the measures indicated by Türkiye [Turkey] did not permit it to conclude that the State Party had acted in ‘good faith’, in a manner compatible with the ‘conclusions and spirit’ of the Kavala judgment”, Julia Hall, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s Europe office, said:

“This ruling shames Turkey’s authorities. For almost three years, they have refused to implement the European Court of Human Rights’ 2019 judgment and release Osman Kavala. Today’s ruling lays bare yet again the failure of the government to abide by a legally binding obligation. Turkey’s continuing inaction compounds the egregious suffering of Osman Kavala and his family.”

“Kavala’s case is emblematic of the clampdown on civil society and the rollback in human rights protections that affects everyone in Turkey. If Turkey persists in its stubborn refusal to release Osman Kavala, it will further debase itself as one of the Council of Europe’s founding members. The Council of Europe, its member states and the European Union must urge Turkey to finally free Osman Kavala and the many others detained in similar circumstances.”

Background

In 2019, the European Court of Human Rights found that Osman Kavala’s right to liberty was violated and was underpinned by the government’s intention to silence him. The judgment called for his immediate release. Instead of implementing the ruling, Turkey’s authorities have subjected Kavala to further prosecution, on farcical charges without any evidence.

In February 2022, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, in charge of monitoring the implementation of ECtHR rulings, initiated infringement proceedings against Turkey for its lack of implementation of the Court’s ruling, under Article 46, paragraph 4, of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Infringement proceedings for failure to implement judgments of the ECtHR have been initiated only once before in the case of Ilgar Mammadov v Azerbaijan.

In June, Amnesty International declared Osman Kavala and six co-defendants prisoners of conscience, following their imprisonment after unjust convictions in the Gezi trial on 25 April 2022.

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11 July marks the first anniversary of massive and emblematic protests in Cuba. A year on, here are five things you should know about what has happened since and why we must pay attention.

1. The protests were a desperate cry for change in the country.

On July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans spontaneously took to the streets in dozens of cities to protest, in numbers not seen in decades. People participated in the protests to demand a change in living conditions in Cuba. The protests responded not only to the shortages of food, personal hygiene items and medicine, the constant blackouts and lack of electricity, but also to the restrictive measures taken by the government to “control” Covid-19 transmission, and to the state’s historic policy of repression, which has violated freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for years.

2. Despite the demonstrations being peaceful, the authorities responded with repression and criminalization, in varying degrees, against almost everyone they encountered protesting.

During the protests, and in the weeks following them, the authorities arbitrarily detained hundreds of people without informing their families of their whereabouts, kept activists and independent journalists under extreme surveillance, and cut off the population’s internet access.

3. Cuban authorities repressed the protests using well-worn tactics of control.

One of the main tactics the authorities employed to repress the protests, and silence people who think differently, was the use of arbitrary detentions. The situation of artist and human rights defender Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, one of six people named prisoner of conscience last year, is emblematic of how these tactics are employed, as he was detained after announcing that he would join the protests and, almost a year later, was sentenced to five years in prison just for exercising his right to freedom of expression.

These tactics to silence criticism of the government are not new, but rather reflect decades of repressive policies implemented by Cuban authorities. In addition to arbitrary detentions, other tactics include the interruption of internet service, violations of due process, ill-treatment, and unfair trials held behind closed doors. The Cuban authorities also resort to constant intimidation and surveillance using security agents for these purposes, as we documented in November 2021, in the context of the November 27 protests. Their attempts to silence diverse voices go so far as to exchange freedom for exile, as happened to Esteban Rodriguez and Hamlet Lavastida, who Amnesty International also named prisoners of conscience.

4. The Cuban government erroneously maintains that its actions are legitimate.

Despite using crimes inconsistent with international law (such as “public disorder”, “contempt”, and “instigation to commit a crime”) to criminalize those who protested, Cuban authorities insist that the manner in which they repressed the protests was appropriate. President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself called on the “defenders of the regime” to violently combat the people who had joined the demonstrations in the streets, because, according to the official version of events, the protests undermined “the constitutional order and the stability” of the socialist state. However, the facts speak for themselves: currently at least 701 people are known to remain deprived of their freedom, just for expressing their dissatisfaction with the situation in the country.

5. The international community continues to denounce the worrying lack of freedom of expression in Cuba.

However, despite vigorous efforts by governments and international organizations, the Cuban government refuses to allow international and independent human rights organizations into the country to document the state of human rights, and especially the situation faced by those arbitrarily detained. 

While conditions inside Cuba have not improved a year on from the protests, stories have come to light that illustrate the courageous resistance of hundreds of activists, journalists, relatives of unjustifiably detained protesters, and people from all walks of life who have united their voices to continue fighting for their rights. Mothers of the victims have created viral videos demanding authorities to act to solve the deep economic crisis facing the country. Relatives have stood firm in the face of arbitrary arrests, threats and fines. Journalists and activists have left their homes to continue fulfilling their role of defending and protecting rights.

This 11 July anniversary reminds us that freedom of expression and the exercise of human rights could be a reality in Cuba. We reiterate our invitation to President Díaz-Canel and his cabinet to change repression for dialogue, and to promote plural and participatory spaces where the Cuban people can make decisions about the future of their country collectively, making the protection of human rights a priority.  

Until that future arrives, Amnesty International will not stop defending those who raise their voices to build it.

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