Russian forces must face justice for a series of war crimes committed in the region northwest of Kyiv, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing following an extensive on-the-ground investigation.

The briefing, ‘He’s Not Coming Back’: War Crimes in Northwest Areas of Kyiv Oblast, is based on dozens of interviews and extensive review of material evidence. Amnesty International documented unlawful air strikes on Borodyanka, and extrajudicial executions in other towns and villages including Bucha, Andriivka, Zdvyzhivka and Vorzel.

An Amnesty International delegation, led by the organization’s Secretary General, has been visiting the region in recent days, speaking with survivors and families of victims, and meeting with senior Ukrainian officials.

“The pattern of crimes committed by Russian forces that we have documented includes both unlawful attacks and wilful killings of civilians,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“We have met families whose loved ones were killed in horrific attacks, and whose lives have changed forever because of the Russian invasion. We support their demands for justice, and call on the Ukrainian authorities, the International Criminal Court and others to ensure evidence is preserved that could support future war crime prosecutions.

“It is vital that all those responsible, including up the chain of command, are brought to justice.”

In Borodyanka, Amnesty International found that at least 40 civilians were killed in disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks, which devastated an entire neighbourhood and left thousands of people homeless.

In Bucha and several other towns and villages located northwest of Kyiv, Amnesty International documented 22 cases of unlawful killings by Russian forces, most of which were apparent extrajudicial executions.

During 12 days of investigations, Amnesty International researchers interviewed residents of Bucha, Borodyanka, Novyi Korohod, Andriivka, Zdvyzhivka, Vorzel, Makariv and Dmytrivka, and visited sites of numerous killings.

In total, they interviewed 45 people who witnessed or had first-hand knowledge of unlawful killings of their relatives and neighbours by Russian soldiers, and 39 others who witnessed or had first-hand knowledge of the air strikes that targeted eight residential buildings.

© Amnesty International

It is vital that all those responsible, including up the chain of command, are brought to justice.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

VIEW THE EVIDENCE IN 360 DEGREES

Find out more about the attacks on apartment buildings in Borodyanka and see the evidence for yourself.

ENTER

©Amnesty International

Unlawful air strikes in Borodyanka

On 1 and 2 March, a series of Russian air strikes hit eight residential buildings in the town of Borodyanka, approximately 60 kilometres northwest of Kyiv, which were home to more than 600 families.

The strikes killed at least 40 residents and destroyed the buildings, as well as dozens of surrounding buildings and houses. Most of the victims were killed in the buildings’ basements, where they had sought shelter. Others died in their apartments.

On the morning of 2 March, a single strike killed at least 23 people in Building 359 on Tsentralna Street. The victims included five of Vadim Zahrebelny’s relatives: his mother Lydia, his brother Volodymyr and wife Yulia, and her parents Lubov and Leonid Hurbanov.

Vadim told Amnesty International: “We [Vadim and his son] left Building 359 just after 7am. However, my mother and my brother and his wife and her parents insisted on staying in the basement because they were afraid of getting shot by Russian soldiers if they went out on the streets. About 20 minutes after we left, Building 359 was bombed and they were all killed, together with other neighbours.”

Vasyl Yaroshenko was close to one of the buildings when it was hit. He said: “I left my apartment to go do some work in the garage, as my wife was about to take a couple of older neighbours down to the basement. When I reached the garage, about 150 metres from the building, there was a huge explosion. I ducked behind the garage. When I looked, I saw a large gap in the building. The whole middle section of the building had collapsed – exactly where residents were sheltering in the basement. My wife Halina was among those killed. I still see her by the door of our apartment, the home where we lived for 40 years.”

On 1 March, a series of air strikes targeted six other buildings nearby. At least seven people were killed in Building 371 on Tsentralna Street, including Vitali Smishchuk, a 39-year-old surgeon, his wife Tetiana, and their four-year-old daughter Yeva.

Vitali’s mother Ludmila told Amnesty International: “As the situation deteriorated, it became too dangerous to move from one part of the town to another. There were tanks on the streets… People were frightened to be outside.

“I was speaking to my son and telling him to leave, but he was worried about going outside. They sheltered in the basement for safety – but the bomb destroyed the middle section of the building, where the basement was.”

No fixed Ukrainian military targets are known to have been located at or around any of the buildings which were struck, though at times armed individuals supporting Ukrainian forces reportedly fired on passing Russian military vehicles from or near some of those buildings. Knowingly launching direct attacks on civilian objects or disproportionate attacks constitute war crimes.

Amnesty International has created a new interactive 360-degree representation of the extensive damage caused by the air strikes in Borodyanka, which can be viewed here.

©Amnesty International

The whole middle section of the building had collapsed – exactly where residents were sheltering in the basement. My wife Halina was among those killed. I still see her by the door of our apartment, the home where we lived for 40 years.

Vasyl Yaroshenko

Unlawful killings northwest of Kyiv 

The town of Bucha, approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Kyiv, was occupied by Russian forces in late February. Five men were killed in apparent extrajudicial executions by Russian forces in a compound of five buildings set around a courtyard close to the intersection of Yablunska and Vodoprovidna streets, all between 4 and 19 March.

Yevhen Petrashenko, a 43-year-old sales manager and father-of-two, was shot dead in his apartment on Yablunska Street on 4 March.

Yevhen’s wife Tatiana told Amnesty International that she was in their building’s basement, while Yevhen had remained in their apartment. He had gone to help a neighbour when Russian soldiers were conducting door-to-door searches. Tatiana lost contact with Yevhen, whose body was then found in his apartment by a neighbour the next day.

At her request, Russian soldiers allowed Tatiana to visit the apartment. She said: “Yevhen was lying dead in the kitchen. He had been shot in the back, [near his] lungs and liver. His body remained in the apartment until 10 March, when we were able to bury him in a shallow grave in the courtyard.”

Amnesty International researchers found two bullets and three cartridge cases at the scene of the killing. The organization’s weapons investigator identified the bullets as black-tipped 7N12 armour-piercing 9x39mm rounds that can only be fired by specialized rifles used by some elite Russian units, including units reported to have been operating in Bucha during this time.

A collection of Russian military papers recovered in Bucha, which Amnesty International researchers analysed, gives further indications as to the units involved. They included conscription and training records belonging to a driver-mechanic of the 104th Regiment of the VDV, the Russian Airborne Forces. Notably, some VDV units are equipped with specialized rifles that fire the armour-piercing 9x39mm round.

On 22 or 23 March, Leonid Bodnarchuk, a 44-year-old construction worker who lived in the same building as Yevhen Petrashenko, was also killed. Residents who were sheltering in the basement told Amnesty International that Russian soldiers shot Leonid as he was walking up the stairs, then threw a grenade into the stairwell. They later found his maimed body slumped in a pool of blood on the stairs.

Amnesty International researchers found large blood stains over several steps on the stairs leading to the basement, as well as burn marks and a pattern of damage on the wall consistent with a grenade explosion.

In neighbouring towns and villages, Amnesty International collected further evidence and testimony of unlawful killings, including apparent extrajudicial executions: some victims had their hands tied behind their back, while others showed signs of being tortured.

In the village of Novyi Korohod, Viktor Klokun, a 46-year-old construction worker, was killed. Olena Sakhno, his partner, told Amnesty International that some villagers brought her Viktor’s body on 6 March. She said: “His hands were tied behind his back with a piece of white plastic, and he had been shot in the head.”

Oleksii Sychevky’s wife Olha, 32, and father Olexandr, 62, were killed when the car convoy they were travelling in was fired upon by what they believed were Russian forces.

Oleksii told Amnesty International: “The convoy was all fleeing civilians. Almost all of the cars had kids inside. When our car had just reached a line of trees, I heard shots – first single shots, then a burst of gunfire.

“The shots hit the first vehicle in the convoy, and it stopped. We were the second vehicle and we had to stop, too. Then we were hit. At least six or seven shots hit our car. My dad was killed instantly by a bullet to the head. My wife was hit by metal shrapnel, and my kid [son] was also hit.”

Amnesty International researchers who visited Bucha, Borodyanka and other nearby towns and villages in April, after victims had been exhumed (either from the rubble of collapsed buildings, or from the shallow, temporary graves in which many had been buried), found that many family members were unhappy with treatment of victims’ remains. Family members were concerned that the processing of remains was chaotic, that they were not kept properly informed, and that remains in some cases were not being correctly identified.

©Amnesty International

The convoy was all fleeing civilians. Almost all of the cars had kids inside. When our car had just reached a line of trees, I heard shots – first single shots, then a burst of gunfire.

Oleksii Sychevky

©Amnesty International

Pursuing justice for war crimes

Extrajudicial executions committed in international armed conflicts constitute wilful killings, which are war crimes. Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks carried out with criminal intent are also war crimes.

All those responsible for war crimes should be held criminally responsible for their actions. Under the doctrine of command responsibility, hierarchal superiors – including commanders and civilian leaders, such as ministers and heads of state – who knew or had reason to know about war crimes committed by their forces, but did not attempt to stop them or punish those responsible, should also be held criminally responsible.

Any justice processes or mechanisms should be as comprehensive as possible, and ensure that all perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression in Ukraine, from all parties to the conflict, are brought to justice in fair trials, without recourse to the death penalty. In addition, the rights of victims must be at the forefront of investigating and prosecuting international crimes, and all justice mechanisms should adopt a survivor-centred approach.

Amnesty International’s documentation of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed during the war in Ukraine is available here.

STOP THE AGGRESSION AND PROTECT CIVILIANS IN UKRAINE

Right now, people in Ukraine are facing a catastrophic human rights crisis. People are dying, including children, and many thousands of lives are at risk. Take action to demand that the Russian authorities stop this act of aggression and protect civilians now.

ACT NOW

The post Ukraine: Russian forces must face justice for war crimes in Kyiv Oblast – new investigation appeared first on Amnesty International.

Allow those Barred from Leaving to Return to Canada

(Beirut, May 6, 2022) – Algerian authorities have imposed arbitrary travel bans on at least three activists from the Algerian diaspora, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. Although one of the three was finally permitted to leave on 5 May 2022 after being blocked for three months, the authorities should immediately lift the bans on the other two.

Between January and April, the authorities prevented at least three Algerian-Canadian citizens, only one of whom has been charged, from returning to their homes in Canada and interrogated them about their links to the Hirak, a mass protest movement calling for political change. Lazhar Zouaimia, Hadjira Belkacem, and a third person, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said that they had not been notified of any legal basis for the travel restrictions, making them difficult to challenge in court. The travel bans are the latest tactic in a crackdown on Algerians suspected of criticizing the government or participating in protests.

“It is appalling that the Algerian authorities are preventing activists from going back to their country of residence, without even providing a legal basis for this refusal or a written justification,” said Amna Guellali, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Amnesty International. “All arbitrary travel bans should immediately be lifted.”

On February 19 and again on April 9, border police prevented Lazhar Zouaimia, 56, a member of Amnesty International in Canada who works as a technician at a public electricity utility in Quebec, from boarding a plane to Montreal.

In his April attempt at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, Zouaimia was accompanied by two representatives from the Canadian embassy and his lawyer. An Algerian law enforcement officer took Zouaimia aside and kept him in an office at the airport for hours, then released him. The authorities also blocked Zouaimia from boarding another flight the same day to Barcelona.

After Zouamia’s earlier attempt to leave Algeria in February, a court initially charged him with terrorism and later changed the charge to “harming the integrity of the national territory,” a vague accusation that authorities have used extensively to punish peaceful Hirak activists. He spent five weeks in detention before a court provisionally released him pending his trial.

One of Zouaimia’s lawyers, Abdel Halim Khairedine, said that a clerk at the Court of Constantine, where Zouaimia is being prosecuted, informed Khairedine that the court had imposed no travel restrictions on his client. 

The notification of release for Zouaimia from the General Directorate of the Administration of Prisons and Rehabilitation, reviewed by Amnesty International, does not indicate that he is subjected to a court-ordered travel ban.

Another of Zouaimia’s lawyers filed a request with the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Algiers on April 13 to check whether another court had imposed a travel ban on him but had received no reply as of April 29.

When Zouaimia tried to leave in February, law enforcement officers in civilian clothes detained him at Constantine airport. An officer from the judicial police at the airport told Zouaimia to hand over his phone, without showing him an order from the prosecutor. Zouaimia gave the officer his phone, which was not password protected.

Police then transferred Zouaimia to the military barracks in Constantine. They questioned him about his participation in Montreal in the Hirak protest movement and his alleged connections with the Movement for the Self-determination of Kabylie (MAK) and Rachad, an opposition political movement. The authorities have used broadly worded terrorism-related charges to criminalize the activities of these two political organizations by designating them “terrorists.”

On February 22, a judge in the Court of Constantine ordered Zouaimia’s pre-trial detention on charges of praising and funding a terrorist organization, under article 87 bis of the Penal Code. Zouaimia was provisionally released on March 30. On April 6, a judge in the same court changed the accusation to “harming the integrity of the national territory” under article 79 of the Penal Code. His trial is scheduled for May 31. The authorities have not returned his phone.

Zouaimia was finally able to leave Algeria to return to Canada on May 5.

In another case, Hadjira Belkacem, 52, traveled to Algeria on January 19. On February 25, the border police at the Houari Boumediene Airport prevented her from leaving the country for Montreal. Belkacem told Human Rights Watch that she has not taken part in the Hirak but is known as an activist among Algerians living in Montreal. Law enforcement officers in civilian clothes at the airport interrogated her and held her for several hours.

Belkacem was then transferred to the headquarters of the National Police in Algiers to be questioned again. Police officers there asked about her alleged connections to the Hirak protest movement and to Rachad, and about the Association of Muslim Burial in Quebec (l’Association de la Sépulture musulmane au Québec), a charity that she founded in Canada. They released her at 2:30 am the following morning, she told Human Rights Watch.

Belkacem hired a lawyer, who found no charges pending against her. He contacted the prosecutor of the Dar Beida court in Algiers to ask about the travel ban, but has not received an answer, she said on May 3.

Belkacem has been living in Canada with her family for 16 years and works as a childcare educator.

On February 10, border police at the Algiers airport prevented a third person, who asked not to be identified, from boarding a plane. He was transferred to a police station in Algiers, where he was interrogated in the office of the counterterrorism unit about his family, his personal relationships, and if he had collected money to support the Hirak. The police then released him without telling him that there were any charges against him.

On March 24, in response to a request filed by his lawyer, the first instance tribunal of the eastern city of Setif issued a notice, reviewed by Amnesty International, confirming that no formal ban to leave the national territory had been issued against him. He is awaiting more information from his lawyer before he attempts to leave the country again.   

Law enforcement officers in civilian clothes had previously arrested him on January 28 with his brother on a street in Setif. The officers took the men to an unknown location, where security service officers interrogated him for a few hours about the Hirak, his personal finances, and the reasons he was protesting for political change in Algeria. The two men were released later that day, but he was summoned for questioning to the central police station of Setif again on January 29 and 30. 

“The Algerian authorities are using arbitrary travel bans as a means to pressure diaspora activists in Canada and elsewhere,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These unjustified measures put diaspora Algerians who go home to visit in a precarious situation with no clear legal remedies.”

For more information, please contact:

For Human Rights Watch, in North Africa, Eric Goldstein (English, French): +1-917-519-4736 (mobile); or goldstr@hrw.org. Twitter: @goldsteinricky  
For Amnesty International, in North Africa, Amna Guellali (English, French, Arabic): +216-53-033-079 (mobile/WhatsApp/Signal); or amna.guellali@amnesty.org. Twitter @aguellaa

The post Algeria: Lift Arbitrary Travel Bans on Diaspora Activists appeared first on Amnesty International.

Dwindling international aid to north-west Syria this past year has left approximately 3.1 million people, including 2.8 million internally displaced people, facing a health crisis as hospitals and other medical facilities struggle to operate on low resources, Amnesty International said today.

Medical facilities in this part of the country, which is under the control of the armed opposition group Hay’at Tahrir al Sham, rely entirely on funding from the international community to provide free health services and medication. Over the past ten months, international aid to the health sector, dropped by more than 40% due to the overall reduction of international assistance to Syria.

“It should go without saying and, particularly after two years of the pandemic, that healthcare systems are critical services that people need for survival. This past year’s massive funding drop has immediately translated into the closure of hospitals and vital services, and has left millions of Syrians – who have already suffered conflict and violence – struggling to access medication and other essential health care,” said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“International donors meeting in Brussels next week should prioritize ensuring adequate funding for health and other essential services as millions of people face the appalling prospect of being denied access to health care amid a worsening crisis. Everyone’s right to health must be protected, which means being able to access health services when needed, without worrying about the financial cost.”

Amnesty International interviewed eight doctors and health workers, four people who recently sought medical care and four humanitarian aid workers, each of whom described how the funding cuts have led to a shortage of resources and medication, leading to a scaling-down of operations and vital services.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that only 25% of the required funds for Syria’s health sector had been secured as of December 2021, compared to 67% in July 2021. According to Idlib’s health directorate, 10 out of 50 hospitals, including six gynaecology and pediatric hospitals, 12 primary healthcare centres and three specialist medical centres have lost funding in 2022.  Other healthcare facilities that have longer contracts for the next few months or years, will also be at risk of closure if their contracts are not renewed.

Reduced capacity and supplies place health and lives at risk

Shortages in staff, medicines, equipment, and reduced operational capacities prompted hospitals to scale back their services putting people’s lives at risk. Four hospital managers told Amnesty International that their facilities face imminent risk of closure if funding is not secured urgently.

“Before the funding cuts in December 2021, we used to receive about 500 outpatients and inpatients a day. Today, we can receive 10% of that number, because we suspended all services except for basic treatment in the emergency room,” the manager of an obstetrics and paediatrics hospital said.

The manager of another obstetrics and paediatrics hospital said they had to close the neonatal intensive care unit and operate only four out of eight incubators. He described a distressing incident that took place shortly after the funding cuts early this year, when he couldn’t offer respiratory support to an infant who needed a ventilator: “His parents begged me for help, but I had no choice but to turn them away.”

His parents begged me for help, but I had no choice but to turn them away.

Manager of obstetrics and paediatrics hospital in north-west Syria

Another doctor told Amnesty International how shortages in health care services were threatening lives: “On one occasion this year, a patient with a heart attack was rushed to our emergency unit. We did not have oxygen for a ventilator, so we tried to transfer him to another hospital in an ambulance, but he passed away before getting there.”

A doctor working in another hospital that lost funding in August 2021 shared a similar story, saying: “In January [2022], we received a five-month-old baby in the emergency unit with severe malnutrition and respiratory failure. He needed intensive care support, but we didn’t have a spot for him due to lack of capacity and staff shortages. We intubated him in the emergency unit and gave him manual respiratory support for four hours as we tried to find him a spot in another hospital. Unfortunately, we were not able to find any and he passed away.”

All doctors and health system users interviewed by Amnesty International said they had seen a shortage in essential medications, especially for chronic illnesses. One doctor said his hospital had even struggled to obtain anaesthetics.

A midwife said that the lack of medication and supplies deterred women from seeking antenatal care. She said: “Women told me they wouldn’t go all the way to a health centre that wouldn’t offer them the needed medications for free. Sometimes even the most basic supplements for pregnant women, like folic acid, are not available.”

A woman who had recently given birth told Amnesty International: “I could not afford the medicines the doctor prescribed me, so I did not buy them. The hospital used to provide us with such medication for free before it lost funding.”

A lack of funding also means that health workers, whose salaries were covered by aid contracts, now work at multiple facilities simultaneously to secure a sufficient income. Other health workers have not been paid due to a lack of funding. Seven medical workers told Amnesty International that they have been working without pay for months.

Inaccessible, unaffordable healthcare

Hospital closures coupled with a reduction in services and the high cost of private healthcare services make accessing healthcare extremely difficult for many people in north-west Syria. Patients now have to travel longer distances to find a hospital or a medical centre. Public transportation is often limited and, for many, the cost of transportation is unaffordable.

The father of a child who suffers from asthma said: “A while back, my son had an asthma attack. As usual, I rushed him to a nearby hospital, but found out the hospital lost funding… The one available doctor in the emergency room told me the child needed urgent admission to a hospital. I had to borrow money and take him in a private car to a hospital in Idlib, around 60 kilometres away.”

A pregnant woman had been receiving antenatal care in a local hospital, but struggled to find a hospital in which to give birth after the local facility suspended its operations due to funding cuts.

She told Amnesty: “I was in severe pain. My husband asked around until someone told him there is an available spot in Jisr Al-Shughour, which is an hour away. We went all the way there. But then it turned out there were only midwives available, not an obstetrician, and I needed a C-section. Eventually, I had to go to a private hospital. We borrowed money and paid every penny we had to cover the costs.”

“Donors have the power to rectify this devastating situation. Their decisions have a direct impact on people’s access to healthcare at a time when they are suffering more than ever. What is happening in north-west Syria right now is a terrible humanitarian crisis,” said Lynn Maalouf.

What is happening in north-west Syria right now is a terrible humanitarian crisis.

Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International

The post Cuts in international aid create severe ‘health crisis’ in north-west Syria appeared first on Amnesty International.

QUOTE

Responding to the news that atleast 12 peaceful protesters were unlawfully arrested today by police officers for demonstrating outside the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Director, said:

“These protesters have the right to demonstrate peacefully outside the Parliament of Sri Lanka and to express themselves and speak with their MPs as the country’s economy crumbles. The charges against all the protesters must be dropped as they were detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights.

“Sri Lankan authorities must respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and allow people to freely exercise their human rights.

Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Director

“Any restrictions placed on these rights must be necessary, proportionate and provided by law. Today’s arrests were undoubtedly arbitrary and unlawful. After they arrested protesters recently in Mirihana, the Sri Lankan authorities subjected them to ill-treatment in police custody and refused to allow access to legal counsel. It is crucial that the authorities do not commit the same rights violations with the protesters arrested today.”

“Excessive use of force, intimidation and unlawful arrests seem to be a pattern in which the Sri Lankan authorities’ respond to dissent and peaceful assembly. These repressive actions clearly do not meet Sri Lanka’s obligations under international human rights law.”

Background

On 4 April, the police arrested 12 people near the Parliament of Sri Lanka for allegedly obstructing the vehicles of MPs.

In footage seen by Amnesty International, a small group of protesters can be seen holding up placards that called for MPs to support a motion of no confidence that was tabled in parliament today. The protesters were then forced into a police bus.

The protestors were later released on bail.

Contact: press@amnesty.org   

The post Sri Lanka: Drop all charges against peaceful protesters appeared first on Amnesty International.

Legislation, policies and extractive projects without consent have affected Indigenous territories

Authorities and companies in Ecuador threaten the Amazon through legislation, policies and extractive projects (mainly oil and mining) that have not obtained the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples or that have affected their territories, environment, health, water or food, Amnesty International said today, as it released the report Ecuador: Amazon at risk.

“Ecuador must guarantee the consent of Indigenous Peoples to legislation, policies and projects that may put their existence at risk. The Amazon is also a critical ecosystem for overcoming the climate crisis that threatens all life on our planet, and Indigenous Peoples have protected it for centuries. We cannot turn our backs on them,” said Fernanda Doz Costa, deputy director of research for the Americas at Amnesty International.

In this regard, the organization welcomed the victory of the A’i Cofán community of Sinangoe before the Constitutional Court on 27 January 2022. In its ruling, which has not yet been complied with by the relevant authorities, the Court confirmed that the state had violated the community’s “rights to prior consultation, to nature, to water, to a healthy environment, to culture and to territory” by granting 20 mining concessions without their consent and processing 32 others that affected their territory. In addition, the Court ordered comprehensive reparation measures for the community.

Ecuador must guarantee the consent of Indigenous Peoples to legislation, policies and projects that may put their existence at risk

Fernanda Doz Costa, deputy director of research for the Americas at Amnesty International

In addition, the authorities have yet to promptly, thoroughly, and impartially investigate the oil spills that occurred on 7 April 2020 and 28 January 2022 in the Amazon, establish the relevant administrative and criminal responsibilities, and guarantee truth, justice and reparation for the affected communities.

This year the Constitutional Court is expected to rule on the sentences issued in the case of the oil spill of 7 April 2020, and on the extraordinary protection action filed by the affected communities.

In this report – presented in the context of Ecuador’s Universal Periodic Review before the UN Human Rights Council this year – Amnesty International also analyses the excessive restrictions in the law regulating abortion in cases of rape; the lack of a policy to protect human rights defenders and investigate attacks and threats against them; and impunity for human rights violations committed during the protests of October 2019.

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Duncan Tucker at: duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

The post Ecuador: Authorities and companies threaten the Amazon and its Indigenous Peoples appeared first on Amnesty International.