Kategorie: Humans

Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, Amnesty International said today in a damning new report. The investigation details how Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights. This includes Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as well as displaced refugees in other countries.

The comprehensive report, Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime against Humanity, sets out how massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians are all components of a system which amounts to apartheid under international law. This system is maintained by violations which Amnesty International found to constitute apartheid as a crime against humanity, as defined in the Rome Statute and Apartheid Convention.

Amnesty International is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider the crime of apartheid in its current investigation in the OPT and calls on all states to exercise universal jurisdiction to bring perpetrators of apartheid crimes to justice.

Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

“There is no possible justification for a system built around the institutionalized and prolonged racist oppression of millions of people. Apartheid has no place in our world, and states which choose to make allowances for Israel will find themselves on the wrong side of history. Governments who continue to supply Israel with arms and shield it from accountability at the UN are supporting a system of apartheid, undermining the international legal order, and exacerbating the suffering of the Palestinian people. The international community must face up to the reality of Israel’s apartheid, and pursue the many avenues to justice which remain shamefully unexplored.”

Amnesty International’s findings build on a growing body of work by Palestinian, Israeli and international NGOs, who have increasingly applied the apartheid framework to the situation in Israel and/or the OPT.

Identifying apartheid

A system of apartheid is an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination by one racial group over another. It is a serious human rights violation which is prohibited in public international law. Amnesty International’s extensive research and legal analysis, carried out in consultation with external experts, demonstrates that Israel enforces such a system against Palestinians through laws, policies and practices which ensure their prolonged and cruel discriminatory treatment.

In international criminal law, specific unlawful acts which are committed within a system of oppression and domination, with the intention of maintaining it, constitute the crime against humanity of apartheid. These acts are set out in the Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute, and include unlawful killing, torture, forcible transfer, and the denial of basic rights and freedoms.

Amnesty International documented acts proscribed in the Apartheid Convention and Rome Statute in all the areas Israel controls, although they occur more frequently and violently in the OPT than in Israel. Israeli authorities enact multiple measures to deliberately deny Palestinians their basic rights and freedoms, including draconian movement restrictions in the OPT, chronic discriminatory underinvestment in Palestinian communities in Israel, and the denial of refugees’ right to return. The report also documents forcible transfer, administrative detention, torture, and unlawful killings, in both Israel and the OPT.

Amnesty International found that these acts form part of a systematic and widespread attack directed against the Palestinian population, and are committed with the intent to maintain the system of oppression and domination. They therefore constitute the crime against humanity of apartheid.

The unlawful killing of Palestinian protesters is perhaps the clearest illustration of how Israeli authorities use proscribed acts to maintain the status quo. In 2018, Palestinians in Gaza began to hold weekly protests along the border with Israel, calling for the right of return for refugees and an end to the blockade. Before protests even began, senior Israeli officials warned that Palestinians approaching the wall would be shot. By the end of 2019, Israeli forces had killed 214 civilians, including 46 children.

In light of the systematic unlawful killings of Palestinians documented in its report, Amnesty International is also calling for the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. This should cover all weapons and munitions as well as law enforcement equipment, given the thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been unlawfully killed by Israeli forces. The Security Council should also impose targeted sanctions, such as asset freezes, against Israeli officials most implicated in the crime of apartheid.

Palestinians treated as a demographic threat

Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy of establishing and then maintaining a Jewish demographic majority, and maximizing control over land and resources to benefit Jewish Israelis. In 1967, Israel extended this policy to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Today, all territories controlled by Israel continue to be administered with the purpose of benefiting Jewish Israelis to the detriment of Palestinians, while Palestinian refugees continue to be excluded.

Amnesty International recognizes that Jews, like Palestinians, claim a right to self-determination, and does not challenge Israel’s desire to be a home for Jews. Similarly, it does not consider that Israel labelling itself a “Jewish state” in itself indicates an intention to oppress and dominate.

However, Amnesty International’s report shows that successive Israeli governments have considered Palestinians a demographic threat, and imposed measures to control and decrease their presence and access to land in Israel and the OPT. These demographic aims are well illustrated by official plans to “Judaize” areas of Israel and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which continue to put thousands of Palestinians at risk of forcible transfer.

Oppression without borders

The 1947-49 and 1967 wars, Israel’s ongoing military rule of the OPT, and the creation of separate legal and administrative regimes within the territory, have separated Palestinian communities and segregated them from Jewish Israelis. Palestinians have been fragmented geographically and politically, and experience different levels of discrimination depending on their status and where they live.

Palestinian citizens in Israel currently enjoy greater rights and freedoms than their counterparts in the OPT, while the experience of Palestinians in Gaza is very different to that of those living in the West Bank. Nonetheless, Amnesty International’s research shows that all Palestinians are subject to the same overarching system. Israel’s treatment of Palestinians across all areas is pursuant to the same objective: to privilege Jewish Israelis in distribution of land and resources, and to minimize the Palestinian presence and access to land.

Amnesty International demonstrates that Israeli authorities treat Palestinians as an inferior racial group who are defined by their non-Jewish, Arab status. This racial discrimination is cemented in laws which affect Palestinians across Israel and the OPT.

For example, Palestinian citizens of Israel are denied a nationality, establishing a legal differentiation from Jewish Israelis. In the West Bank and Gaza, where Israel has controlled the population registry since 1967, Palestinians have no citizenship and most are considered stateless, requiring ID cards from the Israeli military to live and work in the territories.

Palestinian refugees and their descendants, who were displaced in the 1947-49 and 1967 conflicts, continue to be denied the right to return to their former places of residence. Israel’s exclusion of refugees is a flagrant violation of international law which has left millions in a perpetual limbo of forced displacement.

Palestinians in annexed East Jerusalem are granted permanent residence instead of citizenship – though this status is permanent in name only. Since 1967, more than 14,000 Palestinians have had their residency revoked at the discretion of the Ministry of the Interior, resulting in their forcible transfer outside the city.

Lesser citizens

Palestinian citizens of Israel, who comprise about 19% of the population, face many forms of institutionalized discrimination. In 2018, discrimination against Palestinians was crystallized in a constitutional law which, for the first time, enshrined Israel exclusively as the “nation state of the Jewish people”. The law also promotes the building of Jewish settlements and downgrades Arabic’s status as an official language.

The report documents how Palestinians are effectively blocked from leasing on 80% of Israel’s state land, as a result of racist land seizures and a web of discriminatory laws on land allocation, planning and zoning.

The situation in the Negev/Naqab region of southern Israel is a prime example of how Israel’s planning and building policies intentionally exclude Palestinians.  Since 1948 Israeli authorities have adopted various policies to “Judaize” the Negev/Naqab, including designating large areas as nature reserves or military firing zones, and setting targets for increasing the Jewish population. This has had devastating consequences for the tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins who live in the region.

Thirty-five Bedouin villages, home to about 68,000 people, are currently “unrecognized” by Israel, which means they are cut off from the national electricity and water supply and targeted for repeated demolitions. As the villages have no official status, their residents also face restrictions on political participation and are excluded from the healthcare and education systems. These conditions have coerced many into leaving their homes and villages, in what amounts to forcible transfer.

Decades of deliberately unequal treatment of Palestinian citizens of Israel have left them consistently economically disadvantaged in comparison to Jewish Israelis. This is exacerbated by blatantly discriminatory allocation of state resources: a recent example is the government’s Covid-19 recovery package, of which just 1.7% was given to Palestinian local authorities.

Dispossession

The dispossession and displacement of Palestinians from their homes is a crucial pillar of Israel’s apartheid system. Since its establishment the Israeli state has enforced massive and cruel land seizures against Palestinians, and continues to implement myriad laws and policies to force Palestinians into small enclaves. Since 1948, Israel has demolished hundreds of thousands of Palestinian homes and other properties across all areas under its jurisdiction and effective control.

As in the Negev/Naqab, Palestinians in East Jerusalem and Area C of the OPT live under full Israeli control. The authorities deny building permits to Palestinians in these areas, forcing them to build illegal structures which are demolished again and again.

In the OPT, the continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements exacerbates the situation. The construction of these settlements in the OPT has been a government policy since 1967. Settlements today cover 10% of the land in the West Bank, and some 38% of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem was expropriated between 1967 and 2017.

Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem are frequently targeted by settler organizations which, with the full backing of the Israeli government, work to displace Palestinian families and hand their homes to settlers. One such neighbourhood, Sheikh Jarrah, has been the site of frequent protests since May 2021 as families battle to keep their homes under the threat of a settler lawsuit.

Draconian movement restrictions

Since the mid-1990s Israeli authorities have imposed increasingly stringent movement restrictions on Palestinians in the OPT. A web of military checkpoints, roadblocks, fences and other structures controls the movement of Palestinians within the OPT, and restricts their travel into Israel or abroad.

A 700km fence, which Israel is still extending, has isolated Palestinian communities inside “military zones”, and they must obtain multiple special permits any time they enter or leave their homes. In Gaza, more than 2 million Palestinians live under an Israeli blockade which has created a humanitarian crisis. It is near-impossible for Gazans to travel abroad or into the rest of the OPT, and they are effectively segregated from the rest of the world.

For Palestinians, the difficulty of travelling within and in and out of the OPT is a constant reminder of their powerlessness. Their every move is subject to the Israeli military’s approval, and the simplest daily task means navigating a web of violent control

Agnès Callamard

“The permit system in the OPT is emblematic of Israel’s brazen discrimination against Palestinians. While Palestinians are locked in a blockade, stuck for hours at checkpoints, or waiting for yet another permit to come through, Israeli citizens and settlers can move around as they please.”

Amnesty International examined each of the security justifications which Israel cites as the basis for its treatment of Palestinians. The report shows that, while some of Israel’s policies may have been designed to fulfil legitimate security objectives, they have been implemented in a grossly disproportionate and discriminatory way which fails to comply with international law. Other policies have absolutely no reasonable basis in security, and are clearly shaped by the intent to oppress and dominate.

The way forward

Amnesty International provides numerous specific recommendations for how the Israeli authorities can dismantle the apartheid system and the discrimination, segregation and oppression which sustain it.

The organization is calling for an end to the brutal practice of home demolitions and forced evictions as a first step. Israel must grant equal rights to all Palestinians in Israel and the OPT, in line with principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must recognize the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to homes where they or their families once lived, and provide victims of human rights violations and crimes against humanity with full reparations.

The scale and seriousness of the violations documented in Amnesty International’s report call for a drastic change in the international community’s approach to the human rights crisis in Israel and the OPT.  

All states may exercise universal jurisdiction over persons reasonably suspected of committing the crime of apartheid under international law, and states that are party to the Apartheid Convention have an obligation to do so. 

The international response to apartheid must no longer be limited to bland condemnations and equivocating. Unless we tackle the root causes, Palestinians and Israelis will remain locked in the cycle of violence which has destroyed so many lives

Agnès Callamard

“Israel must dismantle the apartheid system and start treating Palestinians as human beings with equal rights and dignity. Until it does, peace and security will remain a distant prospect for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

Please see the full report for detailed definition of apartheid in international law.

For more information please contact press@amnesty.org

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On 19 October 2001, the human rights defender Digna Ochoa was killed in her offices in Mexico City. The heinous crime shocked Mexican society and the international community. Digna was one of the most emblematic leaders in the defence of human rights in Mexico, in a particularly complex context.

Despite the global alarm, the state’s response to her death was unbelievable. Not only did the investigation lack impartiality and integrity, but the conclusion that Digna had “committed suicide” was a slap in the face of truth and justice for her and her family, as well as for hundreds of other human rights defenders who have since faced multiple forms of violence and persecution. Digna’s killing and the apathy of the authorities were not isolated occurrences, but part of a pattern of violence and impunity against human rights defenders at the time which sadly remains a legacy that today continues to seriously threaten human rights defenders and their organizations in Mexico, one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders. 

It is in this context that the recent judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the case of Digna Ochoa, condemning the Mexican state for serious failings in the investigation of her death, is a very important milestone for justice and human rights, and particularly for Digna and women human rights defenders.

The Inter-American Court documented the multiple flaws in the investigations into her death, which in addition to showing the manipulation of evidence, including the crime scene, were plagued by gender stereotypes, and “intimate and personal aspects of the defender” were used to question her credibility and damage her image and reputation in order to minimize the impact of her killing. This is a recurrent issue in cases of killings and violence against women defenders in Mexico. The lack of a gender perspective in dealing with reports of violence perpetrated against women defenders and journalists, and attacks on the legitimacy of their defence work are a common denominator, not only in the few investigations that are carried out, but also in state discourse.

During the hearing before the Court, as an expert witness, I presented an analysis of the context of violence that human rights defenders in Mexico have been facing from the time of Digna’s killing until now. At Amnesty International we reported the threats against Digna and repeatedly demanded her protection from the authorities. Sadly this was not the only case as for years we have documented various cases of attacks and threats against women human rights defenders in the country. Emblematic cases of threats, such as those of Esther Chávez in 2002 and Obtilia Eugenio Manuel, who since 2004 has suffered multiple threats and even kidnapping; of sexual torture such as that of Lydia Cacho; or of killings such as those of Marisela Escobedo in 2010, Susana Chávez in 2012 and Zenaida Pulido in 2019, are proof that the Mexican state has not only failed to protect women human rights defenders, but that it fuels the impunity that guarantees that the violence will continue.

In the cases that Amnesty International has investigated, death threats, attacks, smear campaigns, disappearances and other forms of violence are almost never investigated, and the few investigations that are carried out, including into the killings of women defenders, are slow and lack specific protocols that focus on defence work or a gender perspective. In many cases the Mexican authorities and security forces themselves who are identified as responsible for the attacks, threats and aggressions, hence the investigations often lack impartiality and credibility.

One of the biggest obstacles for human rights defenders is that Mexico lacks truly comprehensive public protection policies. Although it has had a law and mechanism for the protection of human rights defenders and journalists since 2012, this has been clearly insufficient. Defamation and criminalization campaigns by public officials, the lack of firm measures to address the structural causes of violence, and the lack of investigation and punishment of those responsible for violence against defenders contribute to the hostile environment for the defence of rights.

The crisis of violence against human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico is monumental. The government itself acknowledges that from December 2018 to September 2021, 94 defenders have been killed, 23 of them women. The violence against the press merits its own analysis due to the severity of the situation, but to give an example, so far this year, three journalists have already been murdered. 

In the face of this crisis, and with all the problems identified with the protection mechanism, it is contradictory that, in October 2020, the Mexican Congress, with the approval of President López Obrador himself, eliminated the independent trust fund that financed part of the mechanism’s protection programmes. 

The Court’s judgment against Mexico in the Digna Ochoa case also recognizes this crisis and the state’s inability to provide protection. This is why in its judgment it orders the Mexican state to comply with reparation measures, both individually with the reopening of the investigation into Digna’s killing and compensation measures, and collectively, ordering the strengthening of the protection system with the adoption of investigation and protection protocols, training plans, recognition and prevention campaigns, and the allocation of adequate financial resources.

Mexico should not rely on a protection mechanism as the only state response for the protection of defenders. The state has an obligation to adopt a comprehensive perspective on the protection of defenders with a differentiated approach that takes into account specific needs, including those of women defenders.

Unless crimes against defenders and journalists are adequately investigated and punished, attacks will simply continue. Therefore, the state must strengthen the institutions responsible for prosecution and the administration of justice, as well as internal administrative oversight bodies, to ensure that all attacks are promptly, thoroughly, independently and impartially investigated, that perpetrators are brought to justice, and that victims receive full reparation and adequate assistance. The deadline for empty promises has long passed. President López Obrador must act urgently and put an end to this violence that deeply harms all of society in his country. A first step is to stop his stigmatizing discourse and publicly recognize the work of human rights defenders in the construction of a more just and dignified Mexico. A Mexico where we no longer have to grieve for the Digna Ochoas that the violence takes from us.

This article was originally published in El País

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Over 82 000 refugees and migrants returned to Libya since deals were struck

Conditions for refugees and migrants in Libya ‘hellish’

The European Union must stop helping to return people to hellish conditions in Libya, Amnesty International said today as the bloc marks five years of formal cooperation to intercept refugees and migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The number of people intercepted at sea and returned to Libya in the last five years is over 82 000.

Men, women and children returned to Libya face arbitrary detention, torture, cruel and inhuman detention conditions, rape and sexual violence, extortion, forced labour and unlawful killings. Instead of addressing this human rights crisis, the Libyan Government of National Unity (GNU) continues to facilitate further abuses and entrench impunity, as illustrated by its recent appointment of Mohamed al-Khoja as director of the Department for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM). Al-Khoja was previously in effective control of the Tariq al-Sikka detention centre, where extensive abuses have been documented.

“EU leaders’ cooperation with Libyan authorities is keeping desperate people trapped in unimaginable horrors in Libya. Over the past five years, Italy, Malta and the EU have helped capture tens of thousands of women, men and children at sea, many of whom ended up in horrific detention centres rife with torture, while countless others were forcibly disappeared.”

Matteo de Bellis, Researcher on Migration and Asylum at Amnesty International

“It is high time to put an end to this callous approach, which shows a complete disregard for people’s lives and dignity. Instead, rescue efforts must ensure people are taken to a place of safety, which, as reiterated by the UN Secretary-General just days ago, cannot be Libya.”

The EU started assisting the Libyan Coast Guard in 2016, and interceptions began the same year. Cooperation increased with the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Libya on 2 February 2017 and the adoption of the Malta Declaration signed by EU leaders in Valletta just a day later.

The agreements provide the bedrock for continuing cooperation that outsources the patrolling of the central Mediterranean to Libyan coastguards by providing speedboats, a maritime coordination centre, and training. The agreements were followed by the establishment of a large sea area where the Libyan Coast Guard is responsible for coordinating search and rescue operations. These arrangements, overwhelmingly funded by the EU, have since enabled Libyan authorities to disembark people intercepted at sea in Libya, despite it being unlawful to return anyone to a place where they face serious abuse.

Migrants and refugees both in and outside of detention in Libya are systematically subjected to a litany of abuses by militias, armed groups and security forces with impunity. On 10 January 2022, militias and security forces fired live ammunition at refugees and migrants camped in front of the Community Day Centre of UNHCR in Tripoli, and arbitrarily arrested hundreds. They are held in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in the Ain Zara detention centre in Tripoli, where guards subject them to further abuses and deny them adequate food and water. The migrants and refugees had been staging a sit-in outside the Community Day Centre building since October 2021 calling for protection in response to a previous raid by militias and security forces that saw thousands rounded up and many others left homeless.

“Italy and the EU must stop aiding these appalling abuses and start ensuring that people at risk of drowning in the central Mediterranean are rescued promptly and treated humanely,” said Matteo de Bellis.

“The EU and its Member States must suspend any cooperation leading to the containment and human rights abuses of people in Libya, and instead focus on opening urgently needed legal pathways for the thousands trapped in Libya in need of international protection.”

Matteo de Bellis

Background

In 2021, Libyan coastguards — supported by Italy and the EU — captured 32,425 refugees and migrants at sea and returned them to Libya. This is by far the highest figure on record and three times the number recorded the previous year. During the year, 1,553 people died or disappeared at sea in the central Mediterranean.

Libya: ‘No one will look for you’: Forcibly returned from sea to abusive detention in Libya

Europe: Plan of Action – Twenty steps to protect people on the move along the central Mediterranean route

In a report dated 17 January 2022, the Secretary-General of the United Nations said he felt “grave concern” at continuing human rights violations against refugees and migrants in Libya, including instances of sexual violence, trafficking and collective expulsions. The report confirms that “Libya is not a safe port of disembarkation for refugees and migrants” and reiterates a call to relevant Member States “to re-examine policies that support interception at sea and return of refugees and migrants to Libya”. The report also confirms that the Libyan Coast Guard has continued to operate in ways that put the lives and well-being of migrants and refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea at grave risk.

Despite acknowledging this, an internal report by the Commander of the EU naval operation Eunavfor Med Irini, leaked by the Associated Press on 25 January 2022, confirms plans to continue capacity-building programmes for Libyan coastguards.   

Italy’s current deal with Libya expires in February 2023 but will renew automatically for another three years unless authorities cancel it before this November, as Amnesty International is calling on the Italian government to do.

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  

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With the threat of Russia using military force looming, Amnesty International warns that another escalation of the armed conflict in Ukraine will have devastating consequences for human rights in the region; threatening civilian lives, livelihoods and infrastructure; driving acute food shortages; and potentially causing mass displacement.

Economic and social rights have already been negatively impacted. Rising prices for basic foods and goods, including medical supplies, are affecting people’s right to healthcare and to an adequate standard of living in Ukraine.  This is particularly felt by the very old, the very young, and those on low incomes. The right to education has also been affected with schools closing intermittently over the past two weeks amid security concerns. In Russia itself, the rouble has dropped in value and prices are rising.

“The threat of the use of military force by Russia is already affecting the human rights of millions of people in Ukraine and beyond,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“The consequences of actual military force are likely to be devastating. Ukraine’s recent history is punctuated by conflicts involving Russian troops in Donbas and the illegal annexation of Crimea. These episodes have torn communities and lives apart, as military forces have trampled on the rights of civilians with impunity; it’s time to break that vicious cycle.” 

The consequences of actual military force are likely to be devastating

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

In military conflict, civilians must be protected and anyone who commits abuses must be held to account. Amnesty International will be monitoring the situation closely to expose violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) and international human rights law by all parties.

In 2014-2015, at the peak of the armed conflict in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, all sides violated international humanitarian law leading to the displacement of over a million people. More than 13,000 people died and the toll is still rising.

Russia’s military – a litany of abuse

Based on the lack of respect for international law by Russian troops in other settings in recent years, which has been met with impunity, Amnesty International is extremely concerned about the likelihood of history repeating itself.

For example, in Syria in 2015 a series of Russian air strikes on residential areas in Homs, Idlib and Aleppo between September and November killed at least 200 civilians. And in 2020, Amnesty International reported that Russian aircraft were targeting both schools and hospitals in Syria, some of which the UN had specified should be protected from any attacks.

In the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia-backed separatist forces violated international humanitarian law by using imprecise explosive weapons in populated civilian areas, as did Ukrainian forces. They also stationed and fired these weapons from homes and civilian infrastructure.  

“The history of Russia’s military interventions – be it in Ukraine or Syria, or its military campaign at home in Chechnya – is tainted with blatant disregard for international humanitarian law. The Russian military repeatedly flouted the laws of war by failing to protect civilians and even attacking them directly. Russian forces have launched indiscriminate attacks, used banned weapons and sometimes apparently deliberately targeted civilians and civilian objects – a war crime,” said Agnès Callamard.

The history of Russia’s military interventions – be it in Ukraine or Syria, or its military campaign at home in Chechnya – is tainted with blatant disregard for international humanitarian law

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

Amnesty International is also particularly concerned by the prospect of the creation of new militias on Ukrainian territory. Such Russia-backed armed groups in Donbas are notorious for their disregard of the rules of international humanitarian law and lack of accountability, as were the Ukrainian pro-government paramilitaries.

Potential refugee crisis

The conflict in eastern Ukraine provoked a full-blown human rights crisis in 2014-2015, the consequences of which continue to be acutely felt to this day. Millions of people were forced to leave their homes, and those who returned or remain in the conflict zone have lived a hand-to-mouth existence, since the region’s economy has been devastated. Hundreds fell victim to extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, torture, abductions, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions committed by separatist, as well as government, forces.

According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, about 1.45 million people are still internally displaced after fleeing the conflict in Donbas and from occupied Crimea.

“It is frightening to imagine what scale the refugee crisis could reach in the event of escalating hostilities in Ukraine. It will be a continent-wide humanitarian disaster with millions of refugees seeking protection in neighbouring European countries,” said Agnès Callamard.

It is frightening to imagine what scale the refugee crisis could reach in the event of escalating hostilities in Ukraine. It will be a continent-wide humanitarian disaster

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

“Ukraine is currently the destination for those seeking protection when fleeing from Russia, Belarus and Central Asian countries. Should Russia use military force against Ukraine, this will no longer be the case and they will have to seek refuge in other countries.”

Impact on region and beyond

The conflict will further undermine human rights in the region through the likelihood of protracted guerrilla warfare in Ukraine, accompanied by illicit outflows of weapons, an influx of unaccountable private military contractors, and an overall increase in violence and impunity. The economic devastation and its repercussions for the region, including wider Europe that relies on Russian gas passing through Ukrainian territory, may be huge.

“A further armed conflict in the very centre of Europe involving a nuclear power and potentially drawing in other countries threatens to disrupt the entire system of geopolitical checks and balances with unpredictable implications on human rights globally,” said Agnès Callamard.

A further armed conflict in the very centre of Europe involving a nuclear power and potentially drawing in other countries threatens to disrupt the entire system of geopolitical checks and balances with unpredictable implications on human rights globally

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

“If the West and Russia enter into a more bitter confrontation, this could potentially lead to more active intervention of the parties in regional conflicts throughout the world, weaponization of energy policy, and more countries prepared to use force as part of their foreign policy.”

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Kuy people in Prey Lang and Prey Preah Roka rainforests affected

Illegal logging of protected forests is undermining the human rights and erasing the traditions of Indigenous peoples in Cambodia, new research by Amnesty International has revealed.

In a new report, ‘Our Traditions Are Being Destroyed’: Illegal Logging, Repression, and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Violations in Cambodia’s Protected Forests, Kuy people tell how deforestation and government restrictions on access have harmed their spiritual practices, land rights, livelihoods, and ability to protect the forest.

Cambodia has experienced one of the highest rates of deforestation worldwide in recent decades, losing approximately 64% of its tree cover since 2011 alone. New data analyzed by Amnesty International and remote sensing agency Space4Good revealed extensive recent deforestation in the two protected areas. 

Rampant illegal logging in Cambodia is posing an existential threat to the country’s remaining primary forests

Richard Pearshouse, Amnesty International’s Head of Crisis and Environment

An analysis using currently available remote sensing data sources estimates at least 6,271 hectares (an area in size equivalent to 8,784 soccer pitches) were deforested across both protected areas in 2021. Further deforestation is also likely to be revealed as more datasets offering additional insights become available.

“Rampant illegal logging in Cambodia is posing an existential threat to the country’s remaining primary forests, and the Indigenous peoples who depend on them for their livelihoods, their culture and their spiritual practices,” said Richard Pearshouse, Amnesty International’s Head of Crisis and Environment.

“Time and time again, government officials who are supposed to be protecting these precious forests are instead profiting from their destruction by allowing the illegal logging trade to flourish.

“The Cambodian authorities must stop illegal logging by immediately clamping down on this rampant corruption. The rights of the Kuy people must be protected in all conservation efforts.”

The report is based on interviews with 20 community activists involved in the protection of Prey Lang and Prey Preah Roka, both of which are home to significant Kuy populations and which also contain protected Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Under both domestic and international human rights law, the Cambodian authorities have legal obligations to protect Indigenous peoples’ human rights, including their cultural rights.

Cultural and spiritual connection

Cambodia is home to approximately 24 different Indigenous peoples, and the Kuy people are one of the largest of these groups. 

Indigenous peoples in Cambodia often maintain a close connection with the traditional forested lands on which their livelihoods and cultural practices depend. Illegal logging, therefore, not only threatens biodiversity and climate, but also significantly undermines Indigenous peoples’ cultures and human rights.

All of the Kuy people interviewed by Amnesty International expressed concern that their cultural survival was threatened by extensive deforestation of both forests.

Huot* said: “The forests around us are a part of the health of our community – our connection to the spirits, and the forest they live in, is what maintains our wellbeing as a community, and our sense of friendship and solidarity to one another. When the forest is lost, and we no longer maintain our connections to the spirits, we lose that sense of wellbeing.”

Thyda* described the detrimental impact of deforestation for the next generation: “I feel like there is almost nothing left of our culture. The younger generation will never get to know all the important places for us in the forests…There are ancient villages that were once inside the forest, and we still pay our respects to spirits of our ancestors. Now, these places have been destroyed because of logging.”

Economic impact of deforestation

Kuy people around Prey Lang and Prey Preah Roka depend largely on the sustainable use of the forests for their livelihoods, including through resin tapping, a practice that does not ultimately harm trees and can continue for decades.  

The resin is sold and used domestically for low-grade lighting, and commercially for boat caulks, paints and varnishes. However, illegal loggers have increasingly targeted resin trees for use in timber production.

Many people from outside… come and steal our trees when we are not in the forest

Thyda*

Two species of resin trees found in Prey Preah Roka are particularly sought after by loggers because of their suitability for furniture production and are commonly used in making tables, doors, chairs, beds and ceiling beams. 

Thyda* told Amnesty International that an estimated 70% of resin trees have been lost in Prey Preah Roka in recent years, and added: “Many people from outside… come and steal our trees when we are not in the forest – especially during the rice season when we are planting saplings or harvesting rice. This is when they get stolen the most, because people know we are busy in our fields which are far from Prey Preah Roka. Sometimes in one day, 30 or 40 resin trees will be cut.” 

Interviewees in Prey Lang also told how loggers would sometimes offer to buy resin trees from community members, who said they felt they had little choice but to accept whatever price was on offer, as the tree would be felled regardless.

Bribery and corruption

Across both forests, Kuy people consistently described how police officers and Ministry of Environment officials demanded and accepted bribes in return for ignoring illegal logging.

One interviewee familiar with the situation in Prey Lang said: “The big problem is that the authorities, especially the Ministry of Environment, are only interested in collecting money. I have tried many times and gone directly to the ministry’s provincial office and told them about logging and given them photos and other evidence. They go to investigate it – but they only investigate it to collect [bribes] from the loggers.”

Cambodia’s approach to conservation is characterized by official corruption and a complete disregard for Indigenous peoples’ rights

Richard Pearshouse

All interviewees told Amnesty International they had witnessed police from local posts blatantly accepting money from loggers as they transported their hauls from the parks, and that police had several checkpoints set up solely to extract money from loggers.

Amnesty International has also previously documented how Cambodian authorities have denied environmental activists access to the rainforests, and how their ongoing ban on community patrols is allowing illegal logging to continue unchecked.

“Cambodia’s approach to conservation is characterized by official corruption and a complete disregard for Indigenous peoples’ rights. If the Cambodian authorities don’t change course soon, the country’s protected forests will be illegally logged into oblivion,” said Richard Pearshouse. 

“It is essential that Indigenous-led community groups are enabled and empowered to engage in forest patrols and other protection activities. Indigenous peoples are widely recognized as the most effective protectors of their traditional lands, and Cambodia’s ongoing ban on community groups’ access is a blatant violation of their human rights.”

Methodology

Amnesty International conducted interviews with 20 community members engaged in forest protection activities in Prey Lang and Prey Preah Roka between June and October 2021. The majority of those interviewed identified as Indigenous Kuy, and all interviewees came from communities based in or around the forests. 

The report also draws on information from open sources, including relevant national law and international human rights standards, reports from civil society organization, articles published in domestic and international news media, and academic journals.

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Note: *Names have been changed.

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