Kategorie: Humans

• Older people killed and injured at higher rates than other groups
• Older people living in damaged houses and dangerous conditions
• Russia’s invasion has led to thousands of displaced older people living in overstretched state institutions

Older people in Ukraine have been disproportionately impacted by death and injury during Russia’s invasion and are unable to access housing on an equal basis with others after being displaced, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

The report, ‘I used to have a home’: Older people’s experience of war, displacement, and access to housing in Ukraine, documents how older people often remain in or are unable to flee conflict-affected areas, exposing them to harm and dangerous living conditions in severely damaged housing. Those who do flee often cannot afford to cover rental costs, while thousands have had to stay in overstretched state institutions, which do not have enough staff to provide the necessary level of care.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has had a devastating impact on civilians of all ages, threatens the physical security of older people and has forced millions from their homes. Ultimately, the most expedient way to protect the rights of older civilians in Ukraine is for Russia to end its unlawful war.

Russia’s devastating invasion is having a disproportionate impact on older people in Ukraine

Laura Mills, Thematics Researcher at Amnesty International

“Russia’s devastating invasion is having a disproportionate impact on older people in Ukraine, with many staying behind in areas where they regularly come in harm’s way from relentless ground and air attacks,” said Laura Mills, researcher on older people and people with disabilities at Amnesty International.

“Older people are often either staying in unsafe homes or, when they are able to flee, end up in shelters that do not have adequate resources to meet their needs, particularly if they have disabilities. From there, they risk being placed in state institutions. As the harsh grip of winter takes hold, the international community must urgently take action to bolster support for this group.”

© Amnesty International

The Ukrainian government has made significant efforts to evacuate people from conflict-affected areas, including by announcing the mandatory evacuation of around 200,000 people from Donetsk region in July.

The cost and logistics of ensuring housing for older people displaced by the war, however, should not be Ukraine’s alone. Amnesty International is calling on other countries to facilitate the evacuation of older people — with special attention paid to older people with disabilities — to accessible accommodation abroad where possible.

International organizations should do more to financially support older people so that they can afford to rent homes and, working together with the Ukrainian authorities, include them among those prioritized for placement in any newly-built accommodation.

Disproportionate risks

In Ukraine, people over 60 years old comprise nearly one-fourth of the population. Older people are disproportionately vulnerable to attacks: according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which collects data on civilian casualties in Ukraine, people over 60 made up 34% of civilians killed from February to September 2022 for cases in which an age was recorded.

Older people, who more frequently have health conditions, are also at a greater risk in occupied areas, where Russian forces have severely restricted the access of humanitarian aid, in flagrant violation of international law.

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Svitlana*, 64, who was in a Russian-occupied village near Kharkiv, said that her 61-year-old brother collapsed from a stroke in April 2022. He was hospitalized, but the hospital did not have electricity or running water. He was discharged the next day.

“They couldn’t do anything, they couldn’t do an electrocardiogram, they couldn’t do an encephalogram, they had no medications,” Svitlana said. Less than a week later, her brother died from a second stroke, according to a death certificate seen by Amnesty International.

Displacement and rising institutionalization

Many displaced older people have struggled to find suitable accommodation. Pushed out of the private market by increased rental prices and pensions that are well below subsistence levels, many older people are at heightened risk of losing access to housing altogether.

Nina Silakova, 73, who was displaced from Luhansk region, was evicted twice from rental apartments: once in August after she had a heart attack and her landlady feared having to care for her, and again in October. Nina was worried she wouldn’t be able to find a third apartment: “There are no places for that price in the city because there are so many [displaced people]… I don’t know where to turn… Should I go out into the street, stand there and ask people? People will just pass by and think I am an ill old grandmother.”

© Amnesty International

Amnesty International found that shelters were often physically inaccessible to older people with disabilities and did not have enough staff to support them. As a result, older people with disabilities often had no choice but to live in a state institution. Between February and July 2022 alone, at least 4,000 older people were placed in state institutions after losing their homes during the conflict, according to statements released by Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy.

They can’t afford to rent housing, to pay for utilities, to eat. And so we have to send them to nursing homes

Olha Volkova, who runs a shelter for displaced older people with disabilities in Dnipro

Olha Volkova, who runs a shelter for displaced older people with disabilities in Dnipro, said: “About 60% of the people [get sent to institutions]. They can’t afford to rent housing, to pay for utilities, to eat. And so we have to send them to nursing homes.”

Amnesty International visited seven institutions for older people and people with disabilities in Ukraine, and found these facilities were unable to provide the requisite level of care – particularly for older people with limited mobility – in part because they do not have enough staff to care for them. Independent Ukrainian monitors reported that such conditions were common before the invasion, which has only exacerbated staffing shortages.

We’re abandoned here

 Liudmyla, 76, lives in an institution in Kharkiv region

“They turn me over only once when they change my diaper in the morning, once when they change my diaper in the evening… We’re abandoned here,” said Liudmyla, 76, who lives in an institution in Kharkiv region.

“In a nursing home there is basically no rehabilitation,” said Olha Volkova. “A person will lie down there until they die.”

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, civilian infrastructure and services have come under intense pressure. However, the Ukrainian government must do all it can to ensure monitors are able to access state institutions, and ensure that older people living in them are among those prioritized for alternative housing as soon as it becomes available.

Dangerous housing

Some older people have chosen to stay behind in their homes. Others told Amnesty International that they were unable to flee because information about evacuations was less accessible to them.

© Amnesty International

Liudmyla Zhernosek, 61, lives in Chernihiv with her 66-year-old husband, who uses a wheelchair. She said: “I saw every day younger people walking alongside my building with backpacks on. Only later I found out from others in the stairwell that they were going to the centre of the city, there were still evacuations from there. But that would have been 40 minutes on foot, I couldn’t get there with my husband. Nobody told us about evacuations, I always found out only afterwards.”

 Nobody told us about evacuations, I always found out only afterwards

Liudmyla Zhernosek, 61, who lives in Chernihiv

Amnesty International also documented older people living in housing without electricity, gas or running water. Windows or roofs damaged during the conflict no longer provided protection from rain, snow or cold temperatures.

When Amnesty International interviewed Hanna Selivon, 76, in Chernihiv, only the bathroom, where volunteers had put a mattress in the bathtub to allow her to sleep, had covering overhead.

Amnesty International

Hanna said: “Everyone on our street left. The only people left were me and two other older women… One had a disability. We just had nowhere to go. I would hide in a hole in my cellar… On 29 March, there was a lot of shelling, and when I came out [from the cellar] I just saw that flames were flying… that [my house] was burning. My legs wouldn’t move.”

Amnesty International is calling on governments and international organizations to step up support for older people in Ukraine by facilitating the voluntary evacuation of older people abroad, ensuring that older people are among those prioritized in cash assistance, and by supporting the creation of physically accessible housing for older people with disabilities.

Older people must be evacuated to accessible shelters, and the repair of their homes must be prioritized

Laura Mills

“As the freezing winter months have arrived, older people must be evacuated to accessible shelters, and the repair of their homes must be prioritized,” said Laura Mills.

Methodology

Amnesty International interviewed 226 people for this report, including during in-person visits to seven state institutions. The research was carried out between March and October 2022, and included a four-week trip to Ukraine in June and July 2022.

Accountability for war crimes

Amnesty International has been documenting war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed during Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. All of Amnesty International’s outputs are available here. 

Amnesty International has repeatedly called for members of Russian forces and officials responsible for the aggression against Ukraine and for violations of international law to be held to account, and has welcomed the ongoing International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine. Comprehensive accountability in Ukraine will require the concerted efforts of the UN and its organs, as well as initiatives at the national level pursuant to the principle of universal jurisdiction.

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Responding to the news that Judge Najat Abou Chakra has indicted five State Security members on charges of torture in the case of Syrian refugee Bashar Abdel Saud, who died in custody, Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

“The fact that Lebanon is finally taking a step towards implementing its anti-torture law is an encouraging development that offers a ray of hope to Bashar Abdel Saud’s family and other victims. For years, systematic practices of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and violations in detention centres have gone unpunished.

The judiciary must continue on its path towards justice and act on these cases promptly to prevent similar abuses from occurring in the future.

Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International.

“The Lebanese authorities must now transfer this case from the inherently unfair military courts to the ordinary criminal courts. Both Lebanese law and international legal standards affirm that trials for human rights violations should be conducted in regular courts to ensure that justice is delivered.

“Meanwhile, dozens of complaints citing the anti-torture law remain uninvestigated, including the case of Lebanese actor Ziad Itani, who was subjected to torture by members of State Security in 2017. The judiciary must continue on its path towards justice and act on these cases promptly to prevent similar abuses from occurring in the future.”

Background

Members of State Security, one of Lebanon’s intelligence agencies, allegedly tortured Bashar Abdel Saud, 30, after his arrest on 30 August 2022. He died from his injuries a day later.

On 2 September, the Military Prosecutor arrested a State Security officer and four other members on torture charges before referring them to Najat Abu Chakra, a Military Investigative Judge. On 29 November, Abu Chakra indicted five State Security members on torture charges under the 2017 anti-torture law. The decision was only publicly reported on 4 December.

Amnesty International regularly documents the use of torture and other ill-treatment in Lebanese detention centres. In March 2021, Amnesty International released a report documenting an array of violations, including torture, against 26 Syrian refugees, including four children, held on terrorism-related charges between 2014 and 2021.

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Former prosecutor Virginia Laparra, who was head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI) in Quetzaltenango, is a prisoner of conscience who has been unjustly imprisoned for more than nine months because of her work investigating corruption cases in Guatemala, said Amnesty International today.

The trial of former prosecutor Laparra is due to begin today, 28 November, before the Eighth Criminal, Drug and Environmental Court in Guatemala City. She is charged with ongoing abuse of authority, a crime for which she could face up to nine years in prison.

“Following a thorough review of the criminal case, we have found serious shortcomings as regards the charges against former prosecutor Virginia Laparra, as well as multiple irregularities in the handling of the case. Not only is there no solid evidence that she has committed any crime, but it is clear that the reasons given by the court for rejecting her requests to be released while proceedings continue are arbitrary,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Following a thorough review of the criminal case, we have found serious shortcomings as regards the charges against former prosecutor Virginia Laparra, as well as multiple irregularities in the handling of the case. Not only is there no solid evidence that she has committed any crime, but it is clear that the reasons given by the court for rejecting her requests to be released while proceedings continue are arbitrary

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

As part of FECI, former prosecutor Laparra led large-scale investigations into corruption and crime. The criminal proceedings against her began in 2018, after she reported a judge to the Disciplinary Board of the Judiciary for possible inappropriate behaviour as a sitting judge, namely leaking confidential information about a case he was dealing with. In retaliation, this same judge filed two criminal complaints against her on the same grounds: the first in July 2018 in Quetzaltenango and the second in August 2019 in Guatemala City.

Virginia Laparra was arrested on 23 February 2022 as she left work in Quezaltenango and she has been unjustly held in pre-trial detention ever since.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned about shortcomings and irregularities in the proceedings against Virginia Laparra, which include the lack of substantiation of the alleged offence, the pursuit of criminal prosecutions against the former prosecutor on the same grounds before two different judges and the instrumentalization of the criminal process to deprive her of her liberty without grounds, among others. The organization concludes that the rights of former prosecutor Laparra to due process and a fair trial have been violated, which also constitutes arbitrary detention for her work investigating corruption cases. These factors, together with the virulent smear campaigns on social media, are characteristic of patterns of criminalization in the country that Amnesty International has documented for years.

“Virginia Laparra is being persecuted solely for independently exercising her function as a prosecutor and therefore, Amnesty International considers her to be a prisoner of conscience and calls for her immediate and unconditional release. It is inexcusable that the highest Guatemalan authorities have allowed this case to be instrumentalized by those opposed to the fight against impunity and corruption. The baseless criminal prosecution of those responsible for the administration of justice who have played a prominent role in this struggle must end immediately,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

Virginia Laparra is being persecuted solely for independently exercising her function as a prosecutor and therefore, Amnesty International considers her to be a prisoner of conscience and calls for her immediate and unconditional release

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

Amnesty International will be following the trial of former prosecutor Virginia Laparra in the coming days. The organization calls on the Public Prosecutor’s Office to drop the charges against her and to request her immediate and unconditional release.

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

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Cuba’s new Penal Code, which was approved in May but came into force on 1 December, risks further entrenching long-standing limitations on freedom of expression and assembly and is a chilling prospect for independent journalists, activists, and anyone critical of the authorities, said Amnesty International today.

“Over many decades, the Cuban authorities have consistently used the criminal law — or the threat of it — to silence dissent. The new Criminal Code contains a suite of chilling provisions that give the authorities even greater powers to continue smothering freedom of expression and assembly in 2023 and beyond,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Over many decades, the Cuban authorities have consistently used criminal law — or the threat of it — to silence dissent. The new Criminal Code contains a suite of chilling provisions that give the authorities even greater powers to continue smothering freedom of expression and assembly in 2023 and beyond

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

Cuba’s new 141-page Penal Code replaces the previous one, which dates back to 1987, and contains a number of new and old provisions that are concerning for human rights. It takes effect at a time when many hundreds remain in prison for protesting in July 2021, and after waves of protests in October this year were also repressed.

Here are five alarming aspects of the new Penal Code:

1. Many provisions of the criminal code that have been used to silence and imprison activists for decades remain

Following the crackdown on protests in July 2021, Amnesty International named six prisoners of conscience — just a few emblematic cases that represent only a tiny fraction of the total number of people who likely deserve the designation. Three of those prisoners of conscience remain imprisoned, while the others, according to the information available to Amnesty International, were forced into exile by the authorities.

All of Amnesty International’s prisoners of conscience, and many hundreds of others criminalized in the context of protests, were charged under several provisions of the Penal Code that have historically been used to silence dissent. These include “public disorder,” “resistance,” and “contempt.” For example, the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was convicted of “public disorder”, “contempt” and “insulting national symbols.” The leader of Cuba’s unofficial political opposition group, José Daniel Ferrer García, who has frequently been held with limited access to the outside world since his detention in July 2021, was charged with “public disorder.”

All these provisions remain in the new Criminal Code, with some changes to the wording, but with increased minimal penalties. For example, “contempt”, “public disorder”, and “resistance” now carry minimum penalties of six months in prison to a year and/or a fine, compared with a minimum of three months to a year in prison and/or a fine under the previous penal code. Similarly, “insulting national symbols”, which includes defiling or other acts that show contempt for the flag or national anthem, now includes a penalty of imprisonment for two to five years or a large fine or both, compared with a penalty of three months to a year or a fine under the previous criminal code.

In a context where the judiciary continues to be neither independent nor impartial and allows criminal proceedings to be brought against those critical of the government as a mechanism to prevent, deter or punish them from expressing such views, this could result in human rights activists or critical actors being imprisoned for even longer periods of time. 

Additionally, Amnesty International believes that public officials should tolerate more criticism than private individuals. The use of criminal defamation laws with the purpose or effect of inhibiting legitimate criticism of government or public officials violates the right to freedom of expression. Amnesty International also opposes laws prohibiting insult or disrespect of heads of state or public figures, the military or other public institutions or flags or symbols (such as lèse-majesté and desacato laws). Amnesty International opposes laws criminalizing defamation, whether of public figures or private individuals, which should be treated as a matter for civil litigation.

2. The new Penal Code penalizes anyone who “endangers the constitutional order and the normal functioning” of the government

Article 120.1 of the new law allows anyone who “endangers the constitutional order and normal functioning of the State and the Cuban government” to be punished with imprisoned from four to 10 years. 

According to international human rights law, the right to freedom of expression can only be restricted in very limited circumstances. Any restrictions must meet all elements of a strict three-part test: they must be provided by law, necessary and proportionate for the purpose of protecting national security, public order, or public health or morals, or the rights or reputations of others. Additionally, to prevent abusive impositions of restrictions, there must be an effective appeal process in place to an independent body, or judicial review. Vaguely worded provisions, such as “endangering the constitutional order” and “normal functioning of the State and the Cuban government” are incompatible with international standards and laws on the right to freedom of expression.

3. It criminalizes receipt of funding, further stifling independent journalists and activists 

Article 143 of the new criminal code stands to further stifle the ability of civil society organizations, activists, and independent journalists to operate in the country, by prohibiting any receipt or use of finances that are deemed to “fund activities against the Cuban state and its constitutional order.” Anyone found guilty of being in possession of funds deemed to be used in this way faces a punishment of four to 10 years in prison.

Under international human rights law, the criminalization of human rights defenders based on receiving foreign funding is prohibited. Such restrictions on foreign funding are contrary to the right of association as they constitute an impediment for human rights defenders to perform their duties, as funding is an essential tool for the existence and effective operation of any association.

This new provision is already creating a chilling effect on independent journalists, who according to the NGO Article 19, have been pressured to resign ahead of the new penal code coming into effect.

4. It severely limits freedom of expression online

For the first time, Cuba’s new penal code explicitly allows the authorities to severely limit freedom of expression on social media and creates a range of vaguely worded offences related to “telecommunications, information and communication technologies” which in a context where freedom of expression has historically been squashed by the authorities, risk being abused.

Additionally, under the new law (Article 391.1) anyone who knowingly shares “fake information” (hechos falsos) can face six months to two years in prison or a fine, or both, and is subject to higher penalties, among other things, if the information is shared on social media or in online or offline media. Similarly, anyone who intentionally “offends another person in their honor”, either in writing or drawing or through acts or gestures, can also face six months to a year in prison or a fine, or both. This offence is also considered aggravated if the information is shared on social media.

According to international human rights law, vague and overly broadly worded laws, for example, which prohibit spreading “fake information”, or which penalize a person for offending someone’s “honor”, do not meet the three-part test described above and are incompatible with the right to freedom of expression. 

5. The new penal code retains the death penalty for 23 different crimes

As most countries in the world move towards abolition of the death penalty, Cuba’s new penal code moves against that trend by retaining the death penalty for severe crimes. 

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception — regardless of who is accused, the nature or circumstances of the crime, guilt or innocence, or method of execution.

“As we approach the end of 2022, hundreds of Cubans remain in prison for peacefully expressing their beliefs, protest continues to be repressed, and we are seeing one of the biggest waves of forced migration out of Cuba in recent history, as people seek to build new lives with greater freedom overseas,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas. “We will be watching the authorities carefully in 2023 and calling on the international community to condemn in the strongest terms abuses of the criminal law to silence dissent.”

As we approach the end of 2022, hundreds of Cubans remain in prison for peacefully expressing their beliefs, protest continues to be repressed, and we are seeing one of the biggest waves of forced migration out of Cuba in recent history, as people seek to build new lives with greater freedom overseas

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was convicted of “public disorder”, “contempt” and “insulting national symbols”. Amnesty International continues to campaign for Luis Manuel’s release and to defend the rights of many others who have been criminalized for being critical of the Cuban authorities.

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

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Amnesty International calls on the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) armed group to cease targeting civilians following the unlawful killing of dozens of civilians in towns in the east of the country in recent days in indiscriminate attacks and, in some cases, summary killings.

Those killed during attacks in and around the communities of Bambo and Kishishe, among others, between November 28 and December 1 included elderly men and children.

Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and Great Lakes region said: “The M23 rebel group must immediately end deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. We urge all forces in the area, including the Congolese army and the East African Community Regional Force, to take all necessary measures to protect the civilian population while respecting international humanitarian law.

The M23 rebel group must immediately end deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians

Flavia Mwangovya, Deputy Director, East Africa, the Horn and Great Lakes Region

“Even if M23 had assumed that some of the civilians it captured were fighters of another armed group, M23 should have treated them humanely as prisoners. They should not have been killed. The deliberate killing of captives – whether civilians or fighters — is a war crime. Indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians are also war crimes. These killings and other human rights abuses must be investigated, and perpetrators must be made accountable. Parties to this conflict must adhere to international humanitarian law and send a clear message to those under their command that war crimes and other abuses will not be violated.”

“All forces have an obligation to protect civilians in this conflict. They should take every feasible precaution to ensure their own actions do not cause further harm to civilians, including avoiding, to the maximum extent feasible, the deployment of military forces or equipment within densely populated civilian areas.”

All forces have an obligation to protect civilians in this conflict.

Flavia Mwangovya

BACKGROUND

The M23 rebel group sprung from elements within the Congolese army in 2012, claiming to defend the rights of the Congolese Tutsi ethnic group.

The group was defeated by the Congolese army and the UN Force Intervention Brigade in November 2013, and its members fled to Rwanda and Uganda. In November 2021, the group began operating again in North-Kivu province with support from the Rwandan army, according to a leaked report in June 2022 from the UN Group of Experts. After a truce, fighting resumed in October between the M23 and the Congolese army, with M23 managing to capture much of the Rutshuru area of North-Kivu.

Although fighting with the Congolese army and M23 has abated in the last two weeks,  clashes have been regularly reported between the M23 and other armed groups, including the FDLR.

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