Schlagwort: Amnesty International

The Taliban are steadily dismantling the human rights gains of the last twenty years, said Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in a new briefing published today, which documents the group’s wide-ranging crackdown since their seizure of Kabul little more than five weeks ago.

Contrary to the Taliban’s repeated claims that they will respect the rights of Afghans, the briefing, Afghanistan’s fall into the hands of the Taliban, details a litany of human rights abuses including targeted killings of civilians and surrendered soldiers and the blockading of humanitarian supplies in the Panjshir Valley, which constitute crimes under international law. Restrictions have also been reimposed on women, freedom of expression and civil society.

“In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights. We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for South Asia.

In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights

Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for South Asia

“Given the prevailing climate of fear, lack of mobile connectivity in many areas, and internet blackouts enforced by the Taliban, these findings are likely to represent just a snapshot of what’s happening on the ground. The UN Human Rights Council must establish a robust, independent mechanism with a mandate to document, collect and preserve evidence of ongoing crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations and abuses across Afghanistan.”

Climate of fear for Human Rights Defenders

Attacks on human rights defenders have been reported on a near-daily basis since 15 August. The Taliban are conducting door-to-door searches for human rights defenders, forcing many into hiding.

Researchers spoke to Mahmud*, an Afghan human rights defender who managed to get out of the country. Mahmud described how, on the day the Taliban entered Kabul, he received a call asking him to hand over his organizations’ vehicles, equipment and money. The caller knew his name and warned him he had no choice but to cooperate.

Over the following days, Mahmud received further phone calls and WhatsApp messages, asking for his home address and requesting to meet him at designated locations. Two colleagues at his NGO had been beaten by the Taliban. Images shared by one of his co-workers and verified by Amnesty International and a forensic pathologist show classical assaultive ‘whipmarks’ to the back and yellowing bruising to the victim’s left arm. 

“The threat faced by human rights defenders stranded in Afghanistan is real. They are under attack on all fronts as they are seen as enemies of the Taliban. Their offices and homes have been raided. Their colleagues have been beaten. They are forced into permanent hiding. They live under the constant threat of arrest, torture or worse. Those who managed to leave the country are now stranded in military camps or in neighbouring countries, not knowing their final destination nor how they will be able to rebuild their lives that have been shattered overnight,” said Delphine Reculeau, Human Rights Defenders Programme Director at the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).

“The international community must uphold its moral and political commitments and not fail the people who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights, gender equality, the rule of law and democratic freedoms in their country, but protect them at all costs.”

Persecution of journalists

Two Kabul-based female journalists that Amnesty International spoke to, shared the threats and intimidation they faced following the Taliban takeover. Ayesha*, who has now fled the capital following warnings from her employer that her life was at risk, said her family had since been visited by the Taliban, and threatened after they informed the group that she was not at home.

Aadila* described the first two weeks of Taliban rule as a time of fear and uncertainty. She had initially decided to stay in Afghanistan and continue her work, until the Taliban came to her home one night asking for her. Upon the insistence of relatives, she left the country shortly afterwards.

Abdul, a male journalist said that editors, journalists and media workers had received instructions from the Taliban that they could work only under the terms of Sharia law and Islamic rules and regulations.

“I have not reported to my job since the fall of the republic. Taliban came to my house several times, but I hid myself. From the time of the collapse, our office is closed” he said

Women and girls and the right to protest

As a result of a climate of fear bred by the Taliban’s takeover, many Afghan women are now wearing the burka, refraining from leaving the house without a male guardian, and stopping other activities to avoid violence and reprisals. Despite the myriad threats now presented to women’s rights, women across the country have been holding protests.

While some protests have been allowed to continue peacefully, many were violently repressed by the Taliban. On 4 September, approximately 100 women at a protest in Kabul were dispersed by Taliban special forces, who fired into the air and reportedly fired tear gas. 

Nazir*, a human rights defender, told Amnesty International how his male friend Parwiz* was severely beaten by the Taliban after attending a women’s rights protest on 8 September.

The international community must not turn a blind eye to the violations being committed by the Taliban

Juliette Rousselot, FIDH’s Program Officer for South Asia

“Parwiz was detained during women’s protests on 8 September. He was severely tortured. He had his arm broken. He was taken inside the Police district [district number withheld]. When the Taliban released him, they made him wear new clothes because his clothes had become wet from his blood.”

On 8 September, the now Taliban controlled Ministry of Interior issued an order banning all demonstrations and gatherings across Afghanistan “until a policy of demonstration is codified.”

“The international community must not turn a blind eye to the violations being committed by the Taliban. Taking concrete action at the UN Human Rights Council will not only send the message that impunity will not be tolerated, but also contribute to preventing violations on a broader scale. This should go hand in hand with support for the ongoing investigation at the International Criminal Court, in order to secure accountability for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by all parties,” said Juliette Rousselot, FIDH’s Program Officer for South Asia.

Background

*To protect people’s identities, all names used are aliases. The briefing is available here.

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Commenting after Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan opposition leader, was found guilty of terrorism and sentenced to 25 years in prison in the Rwandan capital Kigali today, Amnesty International cited numerous violations in the pre-trial period which impacted the fairness of the trial.

“Amnesty International noted numerous fair trial violations, including Rusesabagina’s arrest under false pretenses and unlawful transfer to Rwanda, enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention following his rendition to Rwanda. These fair trial violations must be effectively remedied,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes.

“Victims and survivors of attacks attributed to the National Liberation Forces deserve justice. Fair trial violations in the case were a disservice to the course of justice and to the victims and survivors of the attacks for which Rusesabagina and others were accused of being responsible.”

Fair trial violations in the case were a disservice to the course of justice and to the victims and survivors of the attacks for which Rusesabagina and others were accused of being responsible.

Sarah Jackson

In a public statement, Amnesty International listed other violations of fair trial rights, including that Rusesabagina was initially denied the right to be represented by a lawyer of his choice, prison authorities confiscated privileged and confidential legal documents from him, and that President Paul Kagame’s public comments on the case, including when he told CNN TV that the Rusesabagina had “done something terribly wrong, committed a crime”, may have prejudiced the defendant’s right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Background

Paul Rusesabagina is credited with being instrumental in protecting the lives of around 1,200 people who sought refuge at the Hotel des Milles Collines in Kigali during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He left Rwanda in 1996 and over time became increasingly critical of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) government. He later founded an opposition political party – Party of Democracy in Rwanda (PDR-Ihumure) in 2006. In 2018, he co-founded the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), a coalition of opposition groups of which he was president at the time of his arrest.

Paul Rusesabagina and 20 other individuals were tried in connection with armed attacks in 2018 and 2019 in southern Rwanda attributed to the armed wing of the MRCD, known as the National Liberation Forces (FLN), in which nine people were killed. Rusesabagina was charged with nine terrorism-related charges: formation of an irregular armed group, membership of a terrorist group, financing terrorism, murder as an act of terrorism, abduction as an act of terrorism, armed robbery as an act of terrorism, arson as an act of terrorism, attempted murder as an act of terrorism and assault and battery as an act of terrorism.

Amnesty International’s monitoring of the pre-trial period and the case focused on procedural adherence to international fair trial standards.

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Investigations by the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office into feminicides preceded by disappearances are seriously flawed due to the inaction and negligence of the authorities leading to evidence being lost, all lines of inquiry not being investigated, and a gender perspective not being applied correctly. These shortcomings hamper the judicial process and increase the likelihood that cases will remain unpunished, said Amnesty International in a new report released today.

Justice on trial: Failures in criminal investigations of feminicides preceded by disappearance in the State of Mexico documents how these failings are consistent with those found in other investigations highlighted by civil society organizations and by rights holders, as well as with cases such as the feminicides committed in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, more than 20 years ago. This indicates that feminicidal violence and the failures in investigating and preventing them are part of a broader reality in the country.

“State-level authorities must prevent, investigate and punish feminicides with due diligence. As part of the Mexican state, they are obliged to comply with the international treaties to which Mexico is a state party, including the Belem do Pará Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women and the judgments issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in respect of Mexico, which establish a set of norms, standards and principles to guarantee women’s rights”, said Edith Olivares-Ferreto, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mexico.

“Each feminicide has an appalling impact on the victims’ families, who, in their search for access to the truth, justice and reparation for the harm done, also suffer re-victimization by the authorities. For this reason, Amnesty International continues to insist that the issue of violence against women must be a high priority on the agenda of the federal and local governments.”

In 2020 alone, 3,723 killings of women were registered in Mexico, of which 940 were investigated as feminicides in the country’s 32 states. Not one state was free of feminicides.

In the report, Amnesty International documents four emblematic cases of feminicide preceded by disappearance, specifically detailing the failings in the criminal investigations into each killing. The cases documented were those of Nadia Muciño Márquez, who was killed in 2004; Daniela Sánchez Curiel, who disappeared in 2015 and whose whereabouts remain unknown and whose family assumes she was a victim of feminicide; Diana Velázquez Florencio, who disappeared and was killed in 2017; and Julia Sosa Conde, who disappeared and was killed in late 2018.

The report shows that state authorities fail to examine the crime scene properly; store the evidence collected securely; or carry out forensic tests or processes, resulting in loss of data, objects or substances and testimonies.

The authorities do not always pursue all lines of inquiry and their failure to act results in the victims’ relatives – generally women – taking on leading the investigations and using their own resources to do so. In some instances, the authorities threaten and harass families so that they do not bring the case to the attention of their superiors. The authorities do not always apply a gender perspective throughout the criminal process, in contravention of protocols on investigating killings of women.

At Amnesty International we will continue to raise our voices together with those of victims’ families.

Edith Olivares-Ferreto, Executive Director of Amnesty International Mexico

The report also shows that the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office officials do not have the necessary conditions to enable them to carry out investigations: their workload is excessive and they lack the material resources to carry out some procedures. In addition, personnel have to pay for some of the materials needed to carry out investigations themselves and their offices do not have anywhere to store evidence securely, which increases the risk of contamination and destruction. They also require further specialized training to carry out investigations appropriately.

The failings documented in the investigations result in violations of women’s human rights to life and physical safety and their families’ rights to judicial protection and access to justice. In order to protect the rights of victims, Amnesty International makes the following recommendations.

• To the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office: Ensure that the Central Attorney General’s Office on Crimes Linked to Gender-Based Violence has the human and financial resources necessary to carry out its function efficiently and with decent working conditions and design and deliver training on how to investigate disappearances and killings of women from a gender perspective.

• To the Congress of the State of Mexico: Ensure that the State of Mexico Attorney General’s Office, especially the Central Attorney General’s Office on Crimes Linked to Gender-Based Violence, has the human and financial resources to carry out its functions properly.

• To the State of Mexico Human Rights Commission: Investigate the problem of failures in criminal investigations of crimes of violence against women, especially feminicides and disappearances, and issue recommendations that address the issues highlighted in this report.

• To the federal authorities: Publicly acknowledge the scale of the problem of feminicides and disappearances in Mexico, as well as the failings in the investigations into these crimes.

In parallel with the publication of the report, Amnesty International has launched the #HastaSerEscuchadas (Until They Are Heard) campaign which aims to ensure that the authorities publicly acknowledge the failings in the investigations of feminicides, comply with the movement’s recommendations and initiate a process to provide reparations for the harms caused by these failings.

“At Amnesty International we will continue to raise our voices together with those of victims’ families and support them in their search for truth, justice and reparation for the harm suffered, until they are heard”, said Edith Olivares-Ferreto.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Alejandro Juárez Gamero (Amnesty International Mexico): prensa@amnistía.org.mx

Duncan Tucker (Amnesty International Americas): duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

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Responding to the United States military’s admission that it killed 10 people, including seven children, in a drone strike in Kabul on 29 August, Brian Castner, Senior Crisis Advisor with Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme, said:

“This admission is an important step towards accountability for the killings in Kabul, but much more remains to be done.

“The US must now commit to a full, transparent, and impartial investigation into this incident. Anyone suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial. Survivors and families of the victims should be kept informed of the progress of the investigation and be given full reparation.

“It should be noted that the US military was only forced to admit to its failure in this strike because of the current global scrutiny on Afghanistan. Many similar strikes in Syria, Iraq, and Somalia have happened out of the spotlight, and the US continues to deny responsibility while devastated families suffer in silence.

“The US must ensure that it ends unlawful strikes, consistently and thoroughly investigates all allegations of civilians harmed in attacks, and publicly discloses its findings.”

The US must now commit to a full, transparent, and impartial investigation into this incident

Brian Castner, senior crisis advisor at Amnesty International

Background

On 29 August 2021, a drone strike by the US military killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in a residential neighbourhood in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Amnesty International is calling for full reparations for the relatives of those killed in the strike, as well as remedy for decades of civilian casualties as a result of US military operations – including compensation, restitution and rehabilitation.

Amnesty International is also calling on the US authorities to abide by international law in its future military conduct, not least as the President Biden administration is reportedly examining a policy on possible airstrikes outside of armed conflict.

CONTACT: Mariya Parodi, media@aiusa.org

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