Kategorie: Humans

Responding to FIFA’s threats to sanction players who planned to wear ‘One Love’ armbands to show support for the LGBTI community, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice said:

“Last minute threats to sanction players for wearing messages in support of human rights and equality is the latest example of FIFA failing to fully uphold its own values and responsibilities. Sport does not happen in a vacuum and these are issues on which FIFA should be leading, not cracking down on. Agreements on armbands, and better protections for LGBTI communities, should have been reached a long time ago.

“We applaud the courage of teams and players who have spoken out about human rights and we hope they continue to do so. Fans, players and FAs want to ensure that football can be a vehicle to promote human rights, and FIFA needs to heed these calls quickly. It must not only encourage messages of equality, but take proactive action to ensure LGBTI people are protected.

“And let’s not forget the migrant workers who made the tournament possible. They must be compensated in full for the unspeakable abuse they suffered.”

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Responding to Gianni Infantino’s recent comments, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice said:

“In brushing aside legitimate human rights criticisms, Gianni Infantino is dismissing the enormous price paid by migrant workers to make his flagship tournament possible – as well as FIFA’s responsibility for it. Demands for equality, dignity and compensation cannot be treated as some sort of culture war – they are universal human rights that FIFA has committed to respect in its own statutes.

“If there is one tiny glimmer of hope, it is that Infantino announced that FIFA would establish a legacy fund after the World Cup. This cannot be mere window dressing, however. If FIFA is to salvage anything from this tournament, it must announce that it will invest a significant part of the $6 billion the organisation will make from this tournament and make sure this fund is used to compensate workers and their families directly.”

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Responding to the USA government’s legal submission calling on a US Court to grant Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immunity from a lawsuit filed by murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said: 

“The US government should hang its head in shame. This is nothing more than a sickening, total, deep betrayal. First the evidence of the Crown Prince’s involvement in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was disregarded by President Trump, then President Biden’s fist bump – it all suggests shady deals made throughout.

“For the Saudi government to seek to extend immunity to Mohammed bin Salman simply by declaring him Prime Minister is beyond cynical. It is disappointing that the US government has given effect to this legal ruse. This sends a deplorable message that those in power – be they heads of state, government officials with blood on their hands, generals commanding war crimes, ministers ordering abduction and torture, corrupt executives – are free to operate above the law with total impunity.”

“Mohammed bin Salman must face a court of law to answer these serious allegations and we hold out hope that the US court system will reject the department of justice argument and ensure that the matter proceeds to trial. No one should be assured immunity for such heinous crimes and we, and the international human rights movement as a whole, will not rest until those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s murder are brought to justice.”

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Thai authorities should drop charges against child protesters after they took part in mass demonstrations between 2020 and 2022, Amnesty International said today, in the lead-up to World Children’s Day on 20 November. 

Amnesty International has been closely monitoring and documenting the impact of the ongoing, years-long crackdown on child protesters, which has included intimidation, surveillance, and criminalization of their activities.  

The organization has recorded instances of Thai police and other government officials following and monitoring dozens of child protesters, pressuring their family members and school authorities to discourage them from joining protests, and directly threatening to file charges against them and their parents. 

“Many of the people who took part in these unprecedented mass demonstrations starting in 2020 were children at the time, who felt a need to express themselves about matters affecting their futures,” said Katherine Gerson, Thailand campaigner for Amnesty International. 

“Thai authorities must take the opportunity of World Children’s Day to create a safe and enabling environment for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. We urge authorities to let these young people get on with their lives without unwarranted legal cases hanging over them and impeding their economic, educational and professional opportunities.” 

We urge authorities to let these young people get on with their lives without unwarranted legal cases hanging over them and impeding their economic, educational and professional opportunities.

Katherine Gerson, Amnesty International Thailand Campaigner

Since 2020, an estimated 283 protesters under the age of 18 have been charged with a range of offenses, the majority under an Emergency Decree Act passed during the pandemic that has since been repealed. Others face charges of royal defamation, sedition and the dissemination of what authorities deem to be “false” information. Nearly 200 of these cases are still active. 

“People have been accused of violating a pandemic-related Emergency Decree that no longer exists. This is nonsensical. Thai authorities should immediately drop all charges and refrain from bringing any additional cases against people, including children, for violating this defunct law,” Gerson said. 

On November 22, the Nonthaburi Provincial Juvenile and Family Court will deliver its ruling in the first case of royal defamation involving a child protester named Thanakorn “Petch” Phiraban, an LGBTI+ activist charged for peacefully participating in a protest on 10 September 2020 when they were 17 years old. In this case, Petch faces the maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.  

“As recent reports in the lead-up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit held in Bangkok suggest, groups of children are still taking to the streets to peacefully express themselves despite the potential risks involved in exercising their human rights. Thai authorities must refrain from violating the right to protest and take steps to actively facilitate children’s full enjoyment of this right.” 

Background: 

In 2020, tens of thousands of young people took to the streets in mass protests against the military-dominated government led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Peaceful “flash mob” demonstrations began to take place at university campuses and high schools around the country. 

The protest movement rapidly expanded through social media platforms, especially Twitter, where protesters organically coordinated gatherings via hashtags. An overwhelming number of participants at the start of the protests were secondary school students under 18 years old.  

In total, more than 1,800 individuals have been charged for taking part in the protests and expressing their opinions, most of them under the Emergency Decree Act, which was repealed in October 2022.  

Currently, Amnesty International is running the global campaign “Protect the Protest” to ensure people around the world can peacefully demand change without persecution.   

Amnesty International is a global human rights movement, independent of any government, political ideology or economic interest. Raising concerns about human rights violations against individual persons or organizations advocating a particular political position does not imply that Amnesty International supports that person or organization’s platform. 

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Features of Venezuelan human mobility:

• As of September 2022, approximately 7.1 million Venezuelans have left their country.
• Ecuador is the receiving country with the third highest number of Venezuelans in the world, after Colombia and Peru, with 502,214 Venezuelan refugees in the country.
• By the end of 2022, it is expected that there will be 803,000 Venezuelans in Ecuador, 551,000 with Ecuador as their destination and 252,000 in transit.
• Women make up approximately 50% of the Venezuelan refugees in Ecuador.

General figures on gender-based violence in Ecuador:

• According to figures from the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), 65 out of every 100 women in Ecuador have experienced some type of violence during their life.
• According to figures provided to Amnesty International by the Attorney General’s Office, between January and August 2022, 19,359 complaints of violence against women were filed in Ecuador.

Figures on gender-based violence against Venezuelan refugee women:

• 72% of the Venezuelan women surveyed by Plan International believed that this population faces some type of gender-based violence in Ecuador.
  • The most common forms of violence are psychological violence in public and private spaces (51%), sexual harassment in the workplace (41%), physical aggression within the home (32%) and income control (10%).
• Signs of under-reporting: The Ecuador Attorney General’s Office registered 64 Venezuelan women victims of physical violence, 521 victims of psychological violence and 4 victims of sexual violence between January and August 2022.
• In transit, particularly in the border areas between Colombia and Peru, Venezuelan women face a high risk of being victims of multiple forms of gender-based violence, including sexual violence and human trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation.
• The visa requirements for Venezuelans who want to enter Ecuador from August 2019, in addition to the closure of borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2022, meant that Venezuelans were forced to enter Ecuadorian territory through irregular crossing points mostly controlled by criminal groups that act with impunity.

Lack of access to migration documents

• The majority of Venezuelan women in Ecuador have an irregular migration status. Only 13.37% of the Venezuelan population has regular status (67,185 people).
• Recognition of refugee status
  • Between 2018 and 2022, 27,889 Venezuelans applied for refugee status in Ecuador. In these years, only 1,100 Venezuelans, 555 of them women, have been recognized as refugees. 18,934 applications have been rejected and 7,855 are still being processed.
  • Of the 1,100 refugees recognized between 2018 and 2022, 1,006 have been recognized under the 1951 Convention definition, 60 under the Cartagena Declaration and 34 were unspecified.
• Alternatives to migratory regularization: VERHU and VIRTE visas
  • In August 2019, the state began to require visas for Venezuelan nationals and established the possibility of granting an exceptional temporary residence visa for humanitarian reasons, also known as VERHU.
    • From 26 August 2019 to 27 July 2022, the Ecuadorian state granted a total of 58,425 VERHU visas to Venezuelans. 29,867 visas were granted to women and 28,558 were granted to men.
  • In June 2022, the government announced a new regularization process for Venezuelans through the granting of the Exceptional Temporary Residence Visa for Venezuelan Citizens (VIRTE).
    • The process once again excludes Venezuelan who entered irregularly after 26 August 2019 and requires payment of a fee of 50 US dollars.

Obstacles for Venezuelan women in accessing protection mechanisms

• Lack of information about existing reporting and protection mechanisms
  • Institutional efforts to spread information lack a focus on refugee women
  • Lack of knowledge of care routes is especially prevalent in places where state institutions with a mandate for handling cases of gender-based violence have less presence, such as the southern border of the country.
    • In Huaquillas, the Domestic Violence Department of the National Police (DEVIF) has only two officers for several districts, the Ombudsman’s Office has no permanent staff on the ground and the Attorney General’s Office has no staff specialized in gender-based violence.
• Fear and mistrust of the authorities
  • According to Plan International, 71% of Venezuelan women in Ecuador believe that cases of violence against women are not usually reported, compared with 29% who believed that they were. 27% mentioned mistrust of public institutions as one of the main reasons for not reporting.
  • Venezuelan women reported being afraid to approach state institutions to request help or report acts of violence for fear of being fined money they cannot afford to pay, or even being expelled from the country.
  • Not having received information about their rights, many Venezuelan women are unaware that Ecuadorian law allows them to seek protection or file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office even if they do not have an identity document.

Shortcomings in the state’s response to gender-based violence

• Shortcomings in frontline services to identify and respond to gender-based violence cases, such as the National Police and the health service:
  • Sexist and xenophobic stereotypes by public officials towards Venezuelan women
  • Illegal practices, such as mediation attempts, in cases of violence
  • Lack of human and financial resources
    • According to international standards, Ecuador should have 1,700 shelters for its population. The Human Rights Secretariat has identified the existence of 12 civil society shelters, 4 of which are currently funded by the central government. In 2022, 18.46% of the budget for shelters was cut, leading to the closure of shelters and a reduction in staff.
• Shortcomings in the justice system:
  • Stereotypes towards Venezuelan women
  • Lack of knowledge of applicable regulations, which allow all foreigners to file complaints without restrictions
  • Court proceedings that are slow, re-victimizing and costly in practice

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