Kategorie: Humans

Responding to the execution of Malaysian national Nagaenthran Dharmalingam in Singapore, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Erwin van der Borght said:

“The execution of Nagaenthran is a disgraceful act by the Singapore government – ruthlessly carried out despite extensive protests in Singapore and Malaysia and an outcry across the world.

“Nagaenthran’s hanging highlights the deep flaws of the death penalty in Singapore and the horror of its continued use. He was executed after he was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking, amid concerns about his mental health state and despite having a diagnosed intellectual disability – in violation of international law and standards.  

“Having carried out two executions in the space of a month, and with another man scheduled to be hanged on Friday, Singapore’s government is pursuing a cruel path that is severely at odds with the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty.

“There is no evidence to back up the government’s claim that the death penalty is the answer to tackling drug-related problems in the country.  The Singapore authorities must immediately stop the current wave of executions and urgently review legislation on the use of the death penalty, with a view towards abolition, in light of this shocking case.”

Background

Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was convicted and sentenced to the mandatory death penalty on 22 November 2010 for importing into Singapore 42.72 grams of diamorphine (heroin) in April 2009. His conviction and death sentence were upheld in July 2011. International law and standards prohibit the imposition of mandatory death sentences as these deny judges the possibility of taking into account the mitigating circumstances in the case. Moreover, international law and standards require that the imposition of the death penalty be restricted to the “most serious crimes” involving intentional killing.

Medical experts who assessed Nagaenthran in 2013, 2016 and 2017 found that he has borderline functioning intelligence and concurrent cognitive deficits, which “may have contributed toward his misdirected loyalty and poor assessment of the risks in agreeing to carry out the offence”. The Court of Appeal dismissed the concern, stating that “[h]is alleged deficiency in assessing risks might have made him more prone to engage in risky behaviour; that, however, does not in any way diminish his culpability.” The treaty bodies for the Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), to which Singapore is a party to, prohibits the imposition of the death penalty on people whose mental and intellectual disabilities have impeded their effective defence. Nagaenthran’s other motions and appeals were subsequently rejected including a last-minute appeal by his mother who filed a criminal motion on Tuesday, in the absence of a lawyer.

Nagaenthran’s case resulted in unprecedented protests in Malaysia and Singapore days before his execution. On 25 April, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Singapore’s only space for public protest, Hong Lim Park, for a three-hour vigil. On 26 April, a demonstration outside the Singapore High Commission in Kuala Lumpur also drew large numbers before it was shut down by police. Nagaenthran’s case has received widespread attention internationally, including from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other UN experts.

Malaysian man Datchinamurthy Kataiah is set to be executed on 29 April for drug-related offences, despite a legal challenge he has pending at a Singapore court, for which there is a hearing in May. International safeguards guaranteeing protections of the rights of those facing the death penalty state that executions may not be carried out pending any appeal or other recourse procedure.

Singapore commonly cites the death penalty as a way to deter people from committing crime and solving problems associated with drugs. This claim has been repeatedly discredited, and there is no evidence that the death penalty is any more effective in reducing crime than life imprisonment.  Punitive drug policies mandating harsh punishments have been shown to harm, rather than protect people from problems caused by drugs.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.

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Following the adoption at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of a landmark resolution which requires the Assembly to meet every time a veto is used in the Security Council, Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International said:

“This resolution, and the enormous support from member states, sends an unequivocal message – no longer can members of the Security Council evade accountability for abusing their veto power. No longer can they simply hold up their hand and block measures that could have saved lives without expecting any recriminations.”

“The UN Charter states clearly that the Security Council works on behalf of the entire UN membership. Now the membership will get to hold the Security Council to task when it fails in its mandate, as we have seen it do too many times in the past. “

“This initiative is not about sanctioning one country or situation. It is a way of addressing the acute failure of the Security Council to take effective action on various situations as result of the veto. Much more needs to be done to address the paralysis, but this resolution is a first step towards increasing the cost of using the veto – and it could not have come soon enough.”

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:        

Alison Abrahams on alison.abrahams@amnesty.org or +32 483 680 812        

Out of hours contact details        

+44 20 7413 5566        

email: press@amnesty.org         

twitter: @amnestypress  

The resolution was adopted by consensus. Effective immediately, the President of the General Assembly will have ten working days after a veto is used to call a meeting of the General Assembly to discuss the issue at hand, and invite the veto wielding power to speak in front of the entire UN membership.

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Investors in companies manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines must use their influence to ensure that supplies of urgently needed life-saving vaccines reach low- and lower-middle-income countries, Amnesty International said today ahead of the Annual General Meetings (AGM) of Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer on 28 April and AstraZeneca on 29 April.  

With the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global target of a 70% vaccination rate in every country by July 2022 on course to be missed by a significant margin, pharmaceutical companies continue to obstruct fair access to Covid-19 vaccines by monopolizing technology, blocking and lobbying against the sharing of intellectual property, charging high prices for vaccines, and prioritizing supplies to wealthy countries.  

Amnesty International is urging all institutional investors, including Baillie Gifford, Bank of America, Bank of NY Mellon, BlackRock, Capital Group, Morgan Stanley, State Street, UBS, Vanguard Group and Wellington Management, to use the AGMs to demand that AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer meet their human rights responsibilities. They should also vote in favour of shareholder resolutions designed to facilitate the universal distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and ask the boards of each company about the steps that they are taking towards achieving the WHO vaccination target. 

Institutional investors have reaped rich rewards from this profiteering and short sightedness, but are duty bound to ensure that their money does not contribute to human rights abuses

Mark Dummett, Head of Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights team

“Pharmaceutical companies have human rights responsibilities yet continue to play a pivotal role in the scandalously unequal distribution of vaccines around the world. While they and their investors have enjoyed bumper profits from Covid-19 vaccines, low-income countries have received a tiny fraction of global supply and suffered a disproportionate number of deaths,” said Mark Dummett, Head of Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights team. 

“Institutional investors have reaped rich rewards from this profiteering and short sightedness, but are duty bound to ensure that their money does not contribute to human rights abuses. These AGMs represent a golden opportunity for them to correct course by bringing their considerable influence to bear on these companies. They should question each company’s board and support shareholder resolutions that could kickstart a long-awaited policy shift that puts people before profit.” 

Amnesty International is calling on all institutional investors in Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer to vote in favour of the shareholder resolution tabled by Oxfam America, which calls for the commissioning of shareholder reports on the transfer of Covid-19 vaccine technology that would enable manufacturers in low- and lower-middle-income countries to produce vaccines. This would be an important step to press the boards of each of these companies that they need to change direction and do more to ensure that vaccines reach low- and lower-middle-income countries, where vaccination rates remain very low.  

According to Our World in Data, as of 25 April 2022, 65.1% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but only 15.2% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. 

Amnesty International is also calling on institutional investors to conduct comprehensive human rights due diligence on their investments, including by monitoring the impacts of the companies’ Covid-19 vaccine allocation policies on an ongoing basis. They must also take immediate action to prevent adverse impacts, mitigate risks, remedy any harm identified, and publicly disclose the results. 

Background 

In February 2022, Amnesty International published the report Money Calls the Shots: Pharma’s response to the Covid-19 vaccine crisis, which featured a scorecard assessment of the leading vaccine manufacturers: AstraZeneca plc, BioNTech SE, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Inc., and Pfizer Inc. Pfizer and Moderna fared worst of all.  

In 2021, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna projected revenues of up to US$54 billion, yet supplied less than 2% of their vaccines to low-income countries. Johnson & Johnson’s record on distribution was better, with 50% of their stock reaching low- and lower-middle-income countries, although many of these doses were provided as “donations” from upper-income countries, not as part of sales agreements. The company still refuses to share its technology and intellectual property through World Health Organization-coordinated initiatives and is abandoning its not-for-profit pricing model. 

In advance of the AGMs in April 2022, Amnesty International wrote to more than 30 institutional investors in Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, calling on them to use their considerable leverage to pressure the pharmaceutical companies to remove obstacles to reaching the WHO’s 70% vaccination target. The total investments in the vaccine providers owned or managed by these ten financial institutions amounts to more than US$250 billion.  

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An Amnesty International delegation met with President Gabriel Boric today to discuss the human rights situation in the country and to deliver a document setting out priority issues in the agenda for dialogue between the Chilean government and the organization.

The delegation was led by Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director, and Rodrigo Bustos, executive director of Amnesty International Chile. The priority issues they discussed with President Boric included: access to justice and police reform, sexual rights and reproductive justice, migration and refugee policy, inequality and access to the right to health, and Chile’s role in the protection of human rights in the region – particularly in the human rights crisis in Venezuela. The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Marcela Ríos, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonia Urrejola.

“President Gabriel Boric’s government has a historic opportunity to put rights at the center of state action in Chile and leave behind the previous government’s dismal legacy in terms of the serious and widespread human rights violations committed during the period of social unrest,” said Rodrigo Bustos.

“We welcome the new government’s willingness to take responsibility for its human rights obligations and to play a leading international role in this regard. President Boric’s administration has the opportunity to show an effective form of collaboration between states based on the protection of human rights. In the most unequal continent in the world, the Chilean state and other states in the region must focus on a just recovery that leaves no one out,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

President Gabriel Boric’s government has a historic opportunity to put rights at the center of state action in Chile and leave behind the previous government’s dismal legacy in terms of the serious and widespread human rights violations committed during the period of social unrest

Rodrigo Bustos, executive director of Amnesty International Chile

During the meeting, President Boric pledged to keep open a space for constant collaboration, maintaining the human rights agenda as a pillar of his government’s policies. In response to Amnesty International’s concerns about the lack of a comprehensive policy of reparations, the president expressed his commitment to ensure that victims of human rights violations are central to his government’s priority actions. He was also firm in his conviction to exercise a different kind of leadership and to condemn human rights crises in the rest of the region, without double standards or being influenced by the interests of the governments in power.

The delegation also met with the Minister of Health, Dr María Begoña Yarza Sáez, this morning to present her with a new joint report by Amnesty International and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (CESR). The report, “Unequal and Lethal: Five key actions to recover from the human rights crisis unleashed by the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean” will be published on Wednesday 27 April. The delegation will also hold a meeting this week with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonia Urrejola.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Duncan Tucker (Amnesty International Americas): duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

Ilsen Jara (Amnesty International Chile): ilsen.jara@amnistia.cl

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Responding to the news that Minsk City Court today started considering the case against human rights defenders Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapyuk, alongside eight co-defendants, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapyuk are victims of a wave of repression that has swept across Belarus over the last two years as the authorities seek to expunge the nation’s civil society. Their case reflects a bleak reality in the country, where critical NGOs have been shuttered, peaceful protesters arbitrarily detained, and human rights activists ruthlessly imprisoned.

Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapyuk are victims of a wave of repression that has swept across Belarus over the last two years as the authorities seek to expunge the nation’s civil society

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

“Marfa Rabkova and Andrei Chapyuk should never have been charged in the first place. They must be immediately and unconditionally released. The Belarusian authorities must urgently end their campaign of repression against civil society activists. All others who have already been thrown behind bars simply for carrying out their human rights work must also be released.”

Background

Founded in 1996, Viasna is a leading human rights organization in Belarus that among other things documented human rights violations following the August 2020 disputed presidential election.

Marfa Rabkova worked as a volunteer coordinator for Viasna, and Andrei Chapyuk volunteered for the organization in Minsk. Rabkova and Chapyuk have been charged with organizing and working with an “extremist group.”

Rabkova was initially detained in Minsk on 17 September 2020 and accused of training people to participate in mass riots. In late November 2021, prosecutors also accused her of “damage to property,” “hooliganism,” and “inciting hatred”, among other charges.

Andrei Chapyuk was detained on 2 October 2020 and charged with “participating in mass riots” and “damage to property.”

If found guilty, Rabkova faces up to 12 years in prison, while Chapyuk faces up to eight years.

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