Schlagwort: Amnesty International

Wealthy states colludedwithcorporate giants in 2021 to dupe people with empty slogans and false promises of a fair recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic while many people from Africa were denied life-saving vaccines, in what amounts to one of the greatest betrayals of our times, said Amnesty International today, as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world.

Covid-19 should have been a decisive wake-up call to deal with inequality and poverty. Instead, we have seen deeper inequality and greater instability in Africa exacerbated by global powers, especially rich countries, who failed to ensure that big pharma distributed vaccines equally between states

Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa

Amnesty International Report 2021/22: The State of the World’s Human Rights finds that these states, alongside corporate titans, have in fact driven deeper global inequality, with most African countries left struggling to recover from Covid-19 due to high levels of inequality, poverty and unemployment exacerbated by unequal distribution of vaccines.

“Covid-19 should have been a decisive wake-up call to deal with inequality and poverty. Instead, we have seen deeper inequality and greater instability in Africa exacerbated by global powers, especially rich countries, who failed to ensure that big pharma distributed vaccines equally between states to ensure the same level of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“As things stand now, most African countries will take long to recover from Covid-19 due to high levels of inequality and poverty. The after-effects of Covid-19 have been most damaging to the most marginalized communities, including those on the front lines of endemic poverty from Angola to Zambia, Ethiopia to Somalia and the Central Africa Republic to Sierra Leone.”

Corporate greed and self-interested nationalism undercuts vaccination in Africa

Multiple waves of the pandemic tore through Africa, having a devastating impact on human rights. Governments’ efforts, in countries such as Somalia, South Africa, Zambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone, to stem its tide were hindered by the global vaccine inequality created by pharmaceutical companies and wealthy nations. By the year’s end, less than 8% of the continent’s 1.2 billion people had been fully vaccinated.

Nearly 9 million cases and more than 220,000 deaths were recorded during the year. South Africa remained the epicenter of the pandemic, in terms of reported cases and deaths.

Meanwhile, wealthy states such as EU member states, the UK and the USA stockpiled more doses than needed, whilst turning a blind eye as Big Pharma put profits ahead of people, refusing to share their technology to enable wider distribution of vaccines. In 2021, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna projected eye-watering profits of up to US$54 billion yet supplied less than 2% of their vaccines to low-income countries. Vaccination distribution continues to be painfully slow across the continent, igniting fears of deepening poverty and a prolonged economic recovery.

Rich and powerful countries used money and their political influence to procure hundreds of millions of doses, shutting poor countries out of the market.

Samira Daoud, Amnesty International's West and Central Africa Director

“Rich and powerful countries used money and their political influence to procure hundreds of millions of doses, shutting poor countries out of the market,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International West and Central Africa Director.

“The result was inequitable distribution of these much-needed vaccines, meaning that most people in low-income countries would become the last to be inoculated, as if one’s financial status or nationality was the qualifying criteria to get vaccinated.”

Pandemic lays bare poor healthcare infrastructure, and inequality, while gender-based violence continued to increase across Africa

The devastating consequences of collusion between corporate giants and western governments was compounded by health systems and economic and social support crumbling under the weight of decades of neglect. The result was rising poverty, inequality and food insecurity. Nowhere was this felt more clearly and cruelly than in Africa, which is why Amnesty International launches its report today from South Africa.

With less than 8% of the continent’s population fully vaccinated by the end of 2021, it holds the lowest vaccination rate in the world, beleaguered by insufficient supplies provided to the COVAX facility, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Trust and through bilateral donations.

Too often, supplies were insufficient, or their arrival times unpredictable, making it hard for governments to build trust among their populations and structure effective roll out campaigns. In countries like DRC, Malawi and South Sudan vaccine deliveries arrived with short expiry dates forcing authorities to destroy supplies or return the bulk for reallocation to other countries.

The Covid-19 pandemic also highlighted the region’s chronic lack of investment in health sectors over many decades. The already inadequate healthcare systems in most countries were severely strained, especially during the pandemic’s third wave. In Somalia, only one hospital in Mogadishu, the capital, handled all Covid-19-related cases across south central regions for much of the year. Allegations of corruption, including in relation to Covid-19 funds, further undermined health sectors in many countries, including Cameroon and South Africa.

The pandemic has also resulted in many people across Africa left behind in terms of education, including Uganda, which will result in cementing inequality going forward. In South Africa, approximately 750,000 children had dropped out of school by May, over three times the pre-pandemic number.

Gender discrimination and inequality remained entrenched in African countries. Major concerns documented in the region included spikes in gender-based violence, limited access to sexual and reproductive health services and information, the persistence of early and forced marriage, and the exclusion of pregnant girls from schools.

Conflict continues across Africa amidst weak regional and international response

The global failure to build a global response to the pandemic mirrored the global and African Union’s failure to address human rights violations in conflicts on the African continent.

The global failure to build a global response to the pandemic mirrored the global and African Union’s failure to address human rights violations in conflicts on the African continent.

Amnesty International

Human rights abuses in the conflicts on the continent continued unabated in 2021 partly because of the inaction of the African Union Peace and Security Council. Its failure to act on atrocities was most evident in relation to the conflicts in Ethiopia and Mozambique. Despite harrowing accounts of human rights violations that continuously emerged from the conflicts in the two countries, the Peace and Security Council remained disturbingly silent.

New and unresolved conflicts erupted or persisted in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Mozambique, with warring parties violating international human rights and humanitarian law. In their wake, civilians were made collateral damage, millions were displaced, thousands killed, hundreds subjected to sexual violence, and already fragile healthcare and economic systems were brought to the brink.

In the conflict in northern Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government forces alongside the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), and the Amhara police and militia continued to fight against the Tigrayan forces in a conflict that started in November 2020, affecting millions. During the conflict, members of the EDF, as well as Ethiopian security forces and militia, committed serious human rights violations, including sexual violence against women, unlawful killings, and forced displacement. Tigrayan forces also were responsible for serious violations, including unlawful killings, rape and other sexual violence constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Humanitarian aid was denied to millions of people in Tigray, resulting in many facing life-threatening conditions. Detainees in West Tigray were subjected to torture, extrajudicial execution, starvation, and denial of medical care.

In Mozambique, civilians continued to be caught between three armed forces in the conflict in Cabo Delgado, in which more than 3,000 people have died since the conflict began in October 2017. Nearly 1 million people (primarily women, children and older people) were internally displaced as a result of the war.

In Central African Republic, unlawful attacks, including killings and other violations and abuses of international humanitarian and human rights law, some of which amount to war crimes, were committed by all parties to the conflict. According to the UN, members of the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) attacked and looted health centres in Mbomou prefecture in January.

In Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, hundreds of civilians were killed by various armed groups. 

Governments hiding behind security and Covid-19 to stifle dissent

Global trends to stifle independent and critical voices gathered steam in 2021 across Sub-Saharan Africa as governments deployed a widening gamut of tools and tactics.

Measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 provided additional pretext for the repression of peaceful dissent across the region, with the first instinct of many governments to ban peaceful protests, citing health and safety concerns, including in Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

Amnesty International

Measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 provided additional pretext for the repression of peaceful dissent across the region, with the first instinct of many governments to ban peaceful protests, citing health and safety concerns, including in Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Lesotho and Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, in countries like Eswatini and South Sudan, organizers were arrested, and the internet disrupted to derail planned protests. Security forces used excessive force to break up peaceful protests of hundreds or thousands of people who defied bans. In over 12 countries, including Angola, Benin, Senegal, Chad, Eswatini, Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Sudan, many people died when security forces fired live ammunition. In Eswatini, the violent dispersal of pro-democracy protests resulted in 80 deaths and more than 200 injuries over five months. In Sudan, at least 53 people died when security forces used live ammunition to disperse protests against the October military coup.

In Chad, at least 700 people protesting against the electoral process and later against the establishment of the transitional government were arrested. In DRC, three activists arrested in North Kivu for organizing a peaceful sit-in to protest mismanagement in a local healthcare administration remained in detention. In Eswatini, at least 1,000 pro-democracy protesters, including 38 children, were arbitrarily arrested.

“Instead of providing room for discussion and debate so sorely needed on how best to meet the challenges of 2021, many states redoubled efforts to muzzle critical voices.”

Human rights wins against all odds

Nevertheless, 2021 was not all doom and gloom. Some key human rights wins were recorded across Sub-Saharan Africa after persistent campaigning for freedoms.

In 2022, if governments are intent on building back broken – then we are left with little option.  We must fight their every attempt to muzzle our voices and we must stand up to their every betrayal.

Amnesty International

Following months of relentless pro-democracy protests by the people of Eswatini, King Mswati conceded to calls for dialogue to negotiate the future of the country with pro-democracy protesters. This offers new hope for a country where political reforms were not up for negotiations with the monarch.

In Sudan, we saw people’s power in full display when civilians took to the streets in October to reject a military takeover of power by soldiers and reversals of human rights gains during the transitional period.

In Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea, dozens of members or sympathizers of opposition parties as well as members of civil society organizations who were arbitrary arrested for having simply exercised their freedoms of expression or peaceful assembly were released.

Reclaiming our freedoms

In 2022, if governments are intent on building back broken – then we are left with little option.  We must fight their every attempt to muzzle our voices and we must stand up to their every betrayal. It is why, in the coming weeks, we are launching a global campaign of solidarity with people’s movements, a campaign demanding respect for the right to protest. We must build and harness global solidarity, even if our leaders won’t.

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Schoolgirls in Afghanistan told Amnesty International that the Taliban’s backtrack on reopening schools for girls has left them “shattered” and “traumatized”.

On 23 March, female students of secondary schools were returning to classrooms for the first time in seven months. While many girls were waiting to start their lessons, at 9 a.m. the Taliban leadership announced it had decided to keep girls’ schools closed ‘until school uniforms are designed in accordance with the Afghan customs, culture, and Sharia and all these girls were told to immediately leave the schools.

Denying girls the right to education will have a far-reaching impact on Afghanistan’s prospects of social rebuilding and economic growth

Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director

“The Taliban’s citing of Sharia and Afghan culture is an old trick designed to deny women and girls their rights. It is a completely unacceptable justification for their devastating U-turn this week, which is a blatant violation of the right to education and casts a shadow over the futures of millions of Afghan girls. Denying girls the right to education will have a far-reaching impact on Afghanistan’s prospects of social rebuilding and economic growth,” said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director.

“Amnesty International is calling on the international community to make women’s and girls’ rights to education a red line during negotiations with the Taliban de-facto authorities. The Taliban must, without further delay, allow girls of all ages to attend school and stop using cynical pretexts to further its discriminatory agenda.”

‘We were all shattered’

Students, teachers, school principals and women activists in Afghanistan were left devastated when within hours of reaching schools they were informed about Taliban’s new order and were once again facing the reality of being denied education.

Since taking over Afghanistan seven months ago, the Taliban has made several commitments to respect girls’ right to education. The Taliban de-facto Ministry of Education circulated a statement on 20 March, announcing that all schools would re-open after the winter break on 23 March. However, secondary schools for girls remained closed for girls. In Herat province secondary schools were open only for two days and on the third day, female students were told that schools shall remain closed for them.

17-year-old Nadia is a Grade 12 student in Badakshan province. On 24 March, she told Amnesty International: “I was extremely excited. I went to school with huge hopes. I met my classmates and teachers. Everyone was happy. Everyone was excited for the start of the classes. However, after few minutes, our principal came and told us that we need to leave. She was ordered to shut down the girls’ schools. We were all shattered. Some started crying, some stood silent. As much as I did not want to leave the school, I forced myself to move towards the exit gate. It broke my heart to once again leave the school not knowing if I will ever be allowed to return.”

Since 23 March, residents, students, women’s rights activists in Kabul, Nangarhar, Badakhshan have held several protests demanding the Taliban to immediately open secondary schools for girls. On Saturday, several young women took to the streets in Kabul. In verified videos accessed by Amnesty, women activists were seen warning that this will lead to the schoolgirls’ loss of talent as well as that their isolation will mean trauma and no future.

‘We showed our pen to the Taliban and told them education is our right. We continued chanting we want to learn.’

Various high schools across the city of Kabul reported that girls had returned to campuses but were quickly ordered to return to their homes. Nakisa, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student in Kabul was one of those who went to school on 23 March. She said: “Despite all the fear and uncertainty, I went to school. I was hoping I would be allowed to start my classes but at 9 am, some men entered our school premises and brought the letter from Ministry of Education. In the past, no men were allowed to enter our school without prior coordination with management. However yesterday, the Taliban entered without permission and asked our principal to send all girls back home and shut down the school. She started crying.”

Nakisa told Amnesty International how students had bravely protested the U-turn, which resulted in physical abuse from Taliban authorities. “We started protesting […] We showed our pens to the Taliban and told them education is our right. We continued chanting; we want to learn. They started abusing us and pushing us to stop the protest. They also threatened our school principal for provoking us to protest. It was disrespectful and heartbreaking to see these militant men disrespecting a senior leader of our school”

The bravery of the girls and women who continue to protest, demanding their right to education and a better future, is humbling. They are fighting for hope, and the international community must not abandon them at this critical time

Yamini Mishra

“The bravery of the girls and women who continue to protest, demanding their right to education and a better future, is humbling. They are fighting for hope, and the international community must not abandon them at this critical time,” said Yamini Mishra.

Nawida Khorasani, a women’s rights activist, called on the international community to seek accountability from the Taliban to follow through on the assurances it has been making on women’s rights. “The Taliban’s latest action is a clear breach of the commitments it made on womens’ rights, and the international community must hold it to account.”
The Taliban appear to be slowly and steadily returning to the repressive policies of the 1990s, when all girls’ schools were banned, and women were not allowed to appear in public.

“The right to education is a fundamental human right, which the Taliban – as the de facto authorities of Afghanistan – are duty-bound to uphold,” said Yamini Mishra. “The policies currently being pursued by the Taliban are discriminatory, unjust and violate international law.”

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In response to the humanitarian truce announced by the Ethiopian Federal Government in the conflict-affected Tigray region which Tigrayan authorities have said they will respect if sufficient aid reaches Tigray within a reasonable timeframe, Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes region said:

“The humanitarian truce is a positive step for millions of people trapped in the conflict in Tigray region, where meagre humanitarian aid supplies have left people starving – with insufficient food, water and other essentials.

“Amnesty International urges all actors in the conflict to seize this opportunity to avoid worsening the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in Tigray. Children and women are dangerously malnourished, and media reports suggest many are already dying of starvation.

“All parties to the conflict must immediately allow humanitarian aid workers uninterrupted access to all conflict-affected areas of northern Ethiopia, including Afar and Amhara regions. This includes opening the flow of aid through the Afar-Tigray land route, which has been closed following the renewed fighting in the border area, and resumption of critical services such as banking, power, and mobile and internet communication.

“The truce also needs to include unfettered and non-discriminatory humanitarian aid, including medical care, to Western Tigray, which is currently under the control of Amhara and Eritrean forces.”

Background

Reports indicate that more than 5.2 million people need food aid in Tigray, but humanitarians were able reach only 784,000 people since May 2021. The Ethiopian government’s shutdown of phone and internet communication, and of banking services, as well as restrictions on cash delivery to Tigray and fuel shortages have crippled humanitarian operations.

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A new law issued by President Kais Saied as part of what he has described as a campaign against goods speculators poses a serious threat to freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today. Decree-Law 2022-14, which went into effect on 21 March 2022, contains vaguely worded provisions that could lead to prison terms of between ten years and life including for public debate of the economy. 

The decree-law criminalises the deliberate spread of “false or incorrect news or information” that would cause consumers to refrain from buying, or to disrupt the supply of goods to markets and thereby cause prices to rise. While acts to influence markets through fraudulent means are legitimate grounds for concern, sweeping laws such as decree-Law 2022-14 open the door to unfair and abusive prosecutions.  

Tunisia is facing growing shortages of goods, including staple foods such as grain and sugar. Food supplies are under further pressure from the ongoing war in Ukraine, from which Tunisia imports much of its wheat.  

“Tunisia is already suffering a long-standing economic and financial crisis. It is more important than ever that people in the country be free to discuss and debate the issues that affect them, including food security and goods supplies, without fear of prosecutions,” said Amna Guellali, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. 

“Instead of seeking to criminalize those who express themselves freely about good supplies, the authorities should step up their efforts to ensure that they disseminate reliable, accessible, and trustworthy information as the best way to counter misinformation and protect human rights.” 

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Tunisia is a state party, guarantees the right to freedom of expression. While governments may restrict expression to protect specified public interests, restrictions must be provided by a law formulated with sufficient precision to enable individuals to regulate their conduct accordingly, and must be demonstrably necessary and proportionate to achieve the specified purpose. 

Blanket prohibitions on the dissemination of information, based on vague and ambiguous concepts such as spreading false or incorrect information, fail this test and are therefore incompatible with international human rights law. Such measures put in jeopardy the right of freedom of expression itself and are not the least restrictive means to achieve the desired objective.

“Decree-Law 2022-14 risks creating a chilling effect that dissuades people from openly discussing food supplies and food security for fear of reprisal.  The new decree-law is the latest in a string of blows to human rights since President Saied suspended parliament last July and began concentrating power in the executive branch,” said Amna Guellali.

Decree-Law 2022-14 risks creating a chilling effect that dissuades people from openly discussing food supplies and food security for fear of reprisal. 

Amna Guellali, Amnesty International

Background

Article 2 of decree-law 2022-14 states that its provisions apply to those engaged in economic activities. Article 17 provides for prison terms ranging from 10 years to life in prison, depending on the circumstances, for acts defined as goods speculation. 

On 25 July 2021, President Saied suspended parliament and dismissed then-Head of Government Hichem Mechichi, citing emergency powers he said were granted to him by Tunisia’s constitution. He has since suspended most of the constitution and granted himself the exclusive right to legislate by decree-laws. 

On 12 February, President Saied undermined judicial independence by granting himself broad powers to intervene in the appointment and career tracks of judges and prosecutors, and to initiate dismissal proceedings against them.

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