Kategorie: Humans

Reacting to the Russian government’s decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe, and its declared intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“Russia’s withdrawal from the Council of Europe comes on the heels of its act of aggression against Ukraine, where its troops have committed possible war crimes and serious human rights violations. Though it came ahead of a vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe leading to its departure, Russia’s preemptive decision to leave Europe’s principal guardian of human rights and the rule of law and denounce the European Convention on Human Rights is a tragedy for the victims of the Kremlin’s human rights abuses.

Russia’s preemptive decision to leave Europe’s principal guardian of human rights and the rule of law and denounce the European Convention on Human Rights is a tragedy for the victims of the Kremlin’s human rights abuses

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

“Outside the Council of Europe and given the further degradation of Russia’s rule of law, some of the last safeguards against human rights abuses will be off limits to those who need them most in today’s Russia.  

“All stakeholders in Russia, including its legislators, should take steps to oppose this reckless move and prevent the country sliding ever deeper into an abyss defined by a total disregard for human rights.”

Background

During an emergency session on 15 March 2022, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted in favour of Russia’s departure from the organization. Earlier the same day, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) of the Russian Federation’s withdrawal from the organization, under Article 7 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, as well as its intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights.

Earlier, on 25 February, the CoE Committee of Ministers suspended the Russian Federation from its rights of representation in with immediate effect as a result of the Russian Federation’s military invasion of Ukraine. The CoE Committee of Ministers described Russia’s actions as “a breach of peace of unprecedented magnitude on the European continent since the creation of the Council of Europe” and a breach of Article 3 of the Statute.

Only one state, Greece, has withdrawn from the Council of Europe, in 1969, during the Regime of the Colonels. In 1974, after the fall of the Greek junta, the country was re-admitted to the Council of Europe.

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Responding to the arrest of Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka, a former armed group leader suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity who has now been surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the Chadian authorities, Alice Banens, a Legal Advisor at Amnesty International’s, said:

“Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka’s arrest is a crucial step forward in the fight against impunity in the Central African Republic. He stands accused of using child soldiers and committing murder, torture and extermination in his role as leader of the anti-Balaka armed group. He must face trial.

“CAR authorities and the MINUSCA must step up their efforts to arrest other individuals wanted for war crimes by the ICC or the Special Criminal Court, many of whom remain in the country and have long evaded legal consequences for their actions.”

Background

On 14 March 2022, Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka was surrendered to the ICC by the Chadian authorities and transferred to The Hague. He is suspected of criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the anti-Balaka armed group in CAR in 2013 and 2014, while he was the national coordinator of their operations.

Since 2014, the ICC has been investigating the crimes, which were allegedly committed amid the armed conflict that has raged in CAR since 2012. The SCC, a UN-backed hybrid court that began operating in 2018, is also able to investigate and prosecute crimes under international law committed in CAR since 2003.

The delay in executing arrest warrants, often due to practical difficulties or a lack of political will, remains one of the biggest obstacles to pursuing justice for crimes under international law in CAR. Amnesty International documented the issue in its briefing ‘One step forward, two steps back’, published in December 2021.

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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will examine the widespread unlawful surveillance using Pegasus spyware against journalists and civil society in El Salvador at a hearing on Wednesday.

Amnesty International, Access Now and Citizen Lab will provide expert opinion at a hearing.

NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware is being used as a weapon to silence journalists in El Salvador and across the world.

Belissa Guerrero Rivas, Regional Advocacy Coordinator for the Americas at Amnesty International

The moves follows a joint investigation by Access Now, and the Citizen Lab, published in January, which identified the use of NSO Group’s notorious Pegasus spyware against journalists and members of civil society organizations in El Salvador.

Technical experts from Amnesty International’s Security Lab peer-reviewed the findings and independently verified forensic evidence showing that Pegasus has been abused in the country.

“NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware is being used as a weapon to silence journalists in El Salvador and across the world. The IACHR hearing is a key step towards accountability for people who have been unlawfully targeted by spyware,” said Belissa Guerrero Rivas, Regional Advocacy Coordinator for the Americas at Amnesty International.

“The unlawful use of Pegasus in El Salvador is part of a wider pattern of harassment and threats against journalists and human rights defenders, who work in an increasingly hostile environment. This underscores the need for a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the unlawful use of this technology in the country. There also needs to be an immediate moratorium on the use of spyware technology until a regulatory framework that protects human rights is implemented.”

Wednesday’s hearing is the first by the IACHR on cyber-surveillance in the country. The hearing was requested by the Asociación de Periodistas de El Salvador Periódico Digital El Faro, Revista Gato Encerrado, Fundación para el Debido Proceso and the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional), following January’s revelations.

The IACHR hearing will be available to watch here

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Responding to a UK Supreme Court decision refusing to grant Julian Assange permission to appeal against the previous High Court ruling permitting his extradition, Amnesty International’s Deputy Research Director for Europe Julia Hall, said: 

“Today’s decision is a blow to Julian Assange and to justice. The Supreme Court has missed an opportunity to clarify the UK’s acceptance of deeply flawed diplomatic assurances against torture. Such assurances are inherently unreliable and leave people at risk of severe abuse upon extradition or other transfer.  

“Prolonged solitary confinement is a key feature of life for many people in US maximum security prisons and amounts to torture or other ill treatment under international law. The ban on torture and other ill-treatment is absolute and empty promises of fair treatment such as those offered by the USA in the Assange case threaten to profoundly undermine that international prohibition. 

“The refusal is also bad news for press freedom since it leaves intact the nefarious route the US has employed to attempt to prosecute publishers for espionage. Demanding that states like the UK extradite people for publishing classified information that is in the public interest sets a dangerous precedent and must be rejected. The US should immediately drop the charges against Julian Assange.” 

Background 

The High Court ruled in December 2021 that Assange could be extradited, based on alleged US promises to safeguard him in prison. The US had submitted written assurances that, if extradited, Assange would not be placed in a maximum security prison or subjected to special administrative measures (including prolonged solitary confinement, which can amount to torture or other ill-treatment under international law); and would receive adequate health care. But the US included a caveat: if Assange did something in the future that required him to be subjected to SAMs or placed in a maximum security prison, then it reserved the right to do so.  

For more on diplomatic assurances in the Assange case: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur45/4450/2021/en/ 

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: stefan.simanowitz@amnesty.org 

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Responding to the UK organization Hong Kong Watch saying it has been threatened with criminal sanctions by the Hong Kong Police Force’s National Security Department, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Erwin van der Borght said:

“The targeting of Hong Kong Watch is the latest example of the Hong Kong government attempting to curb the freedoms of expression and association under the auspices of its draconian national security law.

“But perhaps even more significantly, it also signals a disturbing expansion of this crackdown into attacks on groups operating outside of Hong Kong – highlighting the threat that this law can theoretically be used to prosecute anyone on the planet.

“Meanwhile, the shutdown of the Hong Kong Watch website inside the city shows how the authorities are increasingly turning to internet censorship to wipe out opposing views – a tactic routinely used by the Chinese central authorities.

“Human rights activists, inside or outside of Hong Kong, should never be intimidated or prosecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression. The Hong Kong government must end its relentless campaign against civil society groups with its ever-expanding application of the national security law.”

Background

Hong Kong Watch said today that it had received a letter fromthe National Security Departmentaddressed to its Chief Executive Benedict Rogers, accusing the group ofengaging in activities “jeopardising national security” such as “lobbying foreign countries to impose sanctions” and “other hostile activities”.

Hong Kong Watch said it was accused of violating Article 29 of the national security law, which criminalizes collusion with foreign forces, and that Rogers could face between three years in jail and life imprisonment for the offence.

Police confirmed they had blocked Hong Kong Watch’s website in Hong Kong as a result.

The Hong Kong government increasingly criminalizes the work of civil society organizations, accusing groups who form international partnerships or do peaceful international activism of “colluding with foreign forces.”

More than a hundred civil society organizations operating in Hong Kong have been forced to disband or relocate facing similar threats posed by the city’s national security law.

These included the Civil Human Rights Front, the umbrella group behind many of Hong Kong’s largest protests; the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (Hong Kong Alliance), which organized the city’s 1989 Tiananmen crackdown commemoration vigil; several union groups and independent media outlets.

The wording of the Hong Kong national security law asserts jurisdiction over people who are not residents of Hong Kong, including those who have never even set foot there. This means anyone in the world, regardless of nationality or location, can technically be deemed to have violated this law and face arrest and prosecution if they are in a Chinese jurisdiction, even for transit.

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