Schlagwort: Amnesty International

The Egyptian authorities must immediately halt all deportations of Eritrean nationals to Eritrea where they would face serious human rights violations including torture, said Amnesty International. 

In the past two weeks alone, the Egyptian authorities have deported 31 Eritreans in violation of the prohibition of refoulement under international law. A group of up to 50 people including a baby and three children under seven, detained in the southern city of Aswan are now at imminent risk of deportation. The group has had no access to asylum procedures or the possibility to challenge their expulsion orders.

“These deportations would be a grave breach of Egypt’s obligations under international law and must be halted immediately. There is a well-documented pattern of those forcibly returned to Eritrea being interrogated, arbitrarily detained and tortured. Egyptian authorities must grant this group access to asylum procedures, and stop sending people back to danger,” said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International.

“We are also calling on Egyptian authorities to put an end to the prolonged arbitrary detention of Eritreans and ensure that, pending their release, current detainees are held in conditions that meet international standards.” 

Arbitrarily detained Eritreans, including children, are held without charge or trial in cruel and inhuman conditions, and denied access to adequate medical care, items for personal hygiene including sanitary napkins, clothes, and sufficient food. 

The authorities also frequently refuse to grant detained Eritreans access to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) thereby obstructing their right to an asylum process. 

Amnesty International has documented how, ahead of deportation, Egyptian authorities forcibly transport Eritreans to their embassy for travel documents, before taking them for PCR tests in preparation for their deportation.  Many are held with no or limited contact with the outside world, making it difficult to verify information about deportation plans.

Worrying rise in deportations

In recent months, Amnesty International has observed an alarming increase in deportations from Egypt, with 31 Eritrean nationals, including children, deported between 15 and 17 March. At least 40 Eritreans were deported between October and December 2021. 

Deportations of Eritreans violate the principle of non-refoulement, which guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face persecution, torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, or other irreparable harm.

One of the main reasons Eritreans flee their country is to escape human rights abuses and a harsh indefinite military conscription. The UN has documented how Eritreans who are forcibly returned are at high risk of torture and other ill-treatment and forcible disappearance. 

In November 2021, UN human rights experts issued a statement condemning deportations from Egypt, describing how returnees are considered “traitors” and are often “detained upon arrival to Eritrea, questioned, tortured, held in extremely punitive conditions and disappeared.”

Background 

In November 2021, there were 20,778 Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees registered with UNHCR in Egypt. The number of those in need of protection is likely to be much higher as not all Eritreans in Egypt are documented and/or registered with UNHCR. 

Egyptian authorities routinely arrest Eritreans who irregularly enter the country from its southern borders. According to Refugees Platform, an independent NGO, dozens of Eritreans were detained in police stations in Aswan and Red Sea governorates during 2021. 

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Today, 24 March 2022, Bernardo Caal Xol was released from the penitentiary centre in Cobán after more than four years of imprisonment. The defender’s lawyers reported that a judge had ordered his release for good behaviour.

“It’s great news for Bernardo, his family and Guatemala’s Indigenous Mayan Q’eqchi’ communities that he can leave prison and be reunited with his loved ones after more than four years of being a prisoner of conscience. However, Bernardo remains convicted of a crime he did not commit and thus the Guatemalan authorities continue to criminalize him for his work in defence of human rights and the environment,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

After reviewing the criminal case against Bernardo Caal Xol, Amnesty International found that there was no evidence of the crimes he was accused of. The proceedings against him show similar patterns of criminalization that the organization has documented against other human rights defenders in Guatemala. Amnesty International therefore considers Bernardo Caal Xol a prisoner of conscience and has been campaigning globally for years for his immediate and unconditional release.

It’s great news for Bernardo, his family and Guatemala’s Indigenous Mayan Q’eqchi’ communities that he can leave prison and be reunited with his loved ones after more than four years of being a prisoner of conscience

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

“It’s regrettable that in Guatemala unfounded criminal prosecutions aimed at harassing and obstructing the work of human rights defenders – particularly environmentalists and Indigenous people, and those who fight against impunity and corruption – are such a common tactic. The people of Guatemala have suffered an unprecedented regression in human rights in recent years. The authorities have tried to dismantle the justice system and the social fabric, criminalizing everyone who fights for a more just and dignified country,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

Additional information

Bernardo Caal Xol, a 50-year-old indigenous teacher, trade unionist and defender of the rights of the Indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ people and of land, territorial and environmental rights, has been wrongfully imprisoned since 30 January 2018 for defending the rights of the Maya Q’eqchi’ communities affected by the construction of a hydroelectric project on the sacred Cahabón river, in the department of Alta Verapaz, northern Guatemala. Despite the lack of factual evidence to support the charges, on 9 November 2018, the court in Cobán sentenced him to 7 years and 4 months in prison for the crimes of aggravated robbery and aggravated illegal detention.

It’s regrettable that in Guatemala unfounded criminal prosecutions aimed at harassing and obstructing the work of human rights defenders – particularly environmentalists and Indigenous people, and those who fight against impunity and corruption – are such a common tactic

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

On 16 July 2020, Amnesty International named Bernardo Caal a prisoner of conscience. The Guatemalan human rights defender was one of the individuals included in Amnesty International’s annual and global Write for Rights campaign in 2021, during which people around the world took around half a million actions calling for Bernardo Caal’s release.

Bernardo Caal and his lawyers filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court in September 2021 to review the sentence for human rights violations, but the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court rejected it. Immediately afterwards, Bernardo Caal and his lawyers filed an injunction against this decision, which has not yet been resolved.

In Guatemala, local and international organizations have recorded high levels of attacks against human rights defenders, especially those involved in the fight against impunity and corruption, as well as journalists. The Unit for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders – Guatemala (UDEFEGUA) recorded 839 attacks against human rights defenders from January to November 2021. Guatemala is also one of the most dangerous countries in the world for defenders of land, territory and the environment, according to the latest Global Witness report. Thirteen environmental activists were killed in 2020, again the fourth highest rate of killings of land and environmental defenders per capita.

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

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In recent months, Cubans of all ages and walks of life have been charged, put on trial, or sentenced for participating in last July’s nationwide protests, in largely unfair and opaque proceedings mostly held behind closed doors, said Amnesty International today, as it calls on the authorities to allow it and other human rights observers access to the country to monitor the ongoing trials.

“Through a series of unfair and opaque proceedings and trials of protesters in recent weeks, Cuban authorities have continued to wage a campaign of criminalization with the sole aim of re-establishing the culture of fear that was ruptured last year when people took the streets to express themselves,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

“As is commonplace in Cuba, where the judiciary is firmly under government control, the proceedings have lacked transparency and independent journalists and human rights observers have been denied access to the trials.”

Two of those who face upcoming trials, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez, were named prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International last year. Authorities detained Otero Alcántara, an artist and member of the San Isidro Movement, on 11 July just after he posted a video indicating his intention to join the protests. Prior to the protests, in May, authorities also detained Castillo Pérez, co-author of “Patria y Vida” a popular song adopted as a protest anthem for which he and other artists won a Latin Grammy last year.

On 8 March, the Central Havana Popular Municipal Tribunal announced that oral hearings would begin for both prisoners of conscience and indicated that they had been charged with various vague provisions of the Criminal Code including: “ultraje a los símbolos de la patria” (insulting national symbols), “desacato” (contempt), “difamación a las instituciones y organizaciones y de los héroes y mártires” (defamation of national institutions, organizations, heroes and martyrs of the nation), “atentado” (assault), “resistencia” (resistance), and “desórdenes públicos” (public disorder).

Amnesty International has documented for decades how these exact public disorder crimes have been used to silence dissent. According to the court documents, pending the trial, both Otero Alcántara and Castillo Pérez will remain in provisional prison, where they have already spent more than seven months.

Through a series of unfair and opaque proceedings and trials of protesters in recent weeks, Cuban authorities have continued to wage a campaign of criminalization with the sole aim of re-establishing the culture of fear that was ruptured last year when people took the streets to express themselves

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

While authorities never responded to Amnesty International’s letter requesting information about how many people were detained in the contexts of the 11 July protests, NGO Cubalex has monitored the situation and estimates some 700 people remained in detention for protesting last year. The majority of them have been charged with provisions of the Criminal Code historically used to silence dissent.

On 16 March, in an unusual move in a context where defence lawyers are tightly controlled by the state and access to court documents is rare, Cuban authorities made public at least six sentences related to approximately 129 people, including some teenagers, who had been charged with more severe penalties for protesting. They were mainly accused of throwing rocks or bottles at law enforcement officials, and some were given sentences of 30 years.

In one case, 21 people, many in their early twenties, were formally charged with “sedition” and given harsh sentences ranging from nine years, for among other things, aiming to alter the socialist order (alterar el orden social socialista), inciting violence, breaking Covid-19 social distancing regulations, and throwing stones and flammable bottles. As is common in judgements in Cuba, the sentence described some individuals as having ties with anti-social people (se vincula con elementos antisociales) or poor relations with their neighbours, and indicated if they worked or not. Such language is often used to describe people deemed critical of the Cuban authorities, but should have little bearing on a criminal case.

Amnesty International reiterates its previous request to the Cuban authorities to grant it access to monitor the upcoming trials of Otero Alcántara and Castillo Pérez and many others who have been charged and remain imprisoned for protesting on 11 July.

“The Cuban authorities are using well-worn tactics of repression to send a message to a new generation of critical and well-connected thinkers: that dissent of any kind will continue not to be tolerated,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

“We reiterate our call on the international community to condemn in the strongest terms the criminalization of peaceful protesters and insist on greater transparency and access for international observers. These are simple and reasonable demands for a government that has charged and/or locked up some 700 people simply for expressing themselves.”

Cuba remains in the only country in the Americas that does not permit Amnesty International to visit to carry out human rights monitoring work.

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

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This document outlines Amnesty International’s main concerns and recommendations in view of the 24-25 March European
Council discussion on the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a manifest violation of the United Nations Charter and an act of aggression that is a crime
under international law.1 One month since the invasion, Amnesty International has documented an escalating pattern of
violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, with catastrophic consequences for the Ukrainian people
and the entire civilian population.
There are now over 6.5 million internally displaced persons and over 3.5 million refugees2
, the majority of whom are women
and children.
Meanwhile, as the war rages on in Ukraine, the Russian authorities have unleashed an unprecedented, nationwide
crackdown on independent journalism, anti-war protests and dissenting voices in an attempt to stifle any criticism of its
actions at home. This clampdown has decimated Russia’s already beleaguered civil society, following nearly a decade of
legislative restrictions designed to quell dissenting voices and shrink civic space. Following Russia’s exit from the Council
of Europe, and its declared intention to denounce the European Convention on Human Rights, some of the last safeguards
against human rights abuses will be off limits to those who need them most in Russia.

Recommendations to European Union leaders ahead of EU Council meeting – Ukraine and Russia

The post UKRAINE AND RUSSIA: Amnesty International’s Key Recommendations for EU leaders appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) leader and student activist Umar Khalid being denied bail yet again while facing charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) simply for peacefully voicing his dissent against the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board, Aakar Patel, said:

The repeated denial of bail to Umar Khalid is a huge blow to everyone exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country. Umar’s continued detention for over 18 months comes against the backdrop of a rapidly shrinking space for critical voices and sets a chilling precedent for anyone whose views the authorities disagree with.

Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board

“The repeated denial of bail to Umar Khalid is a huge blow to everyone exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country. Umar’s continued detention for over 18 months comes against the backdrop of a rapidly shrinking space for critical voices and sets a chilling precedent for anyone whose views the authorities disagree with.”

“Khalid’s continued detention under UAPA runs absolutely counter to the international human rights law and standards. Amnesty International India calls on the Indian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Khalid and all other human rights defenders arbitrarily detained solely for expressing their opposition and peacefully protesting against the CAA.”

Background

On Thursday, a Delhi Court denied bail to student activist Umar Khalid in connection with a case alleging a larger conspiracy into the February 2020 Delhi riots.

Khalid was arrested on 13 September 2020. He was charged with allegedly damaging public property, committing unlawful activities, raising funds for terrorist acts, and conspiring to defame the Indian government.

In 2021, he was granted bail in other criminal cases but continued to be imprisoned due to charges under the Unlawful Prevention (Activities) Act (UAPA) – India’s draconian anti-terror law which is characterized by slow investigative processes and stringent bail provisions.

Indian government routinely uses UAPA to intimidate and harass those who are critical of the authorities. It is a tool that effectively criminalizes peaceful dissent by ensuring human rights defenders and other critical voices face many years behind bars.

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