Schlagwort: Amnesty International

“When I arrived in Vindoulou, I quickly realized the danger we were in. The air was unbreathable!

Black dust and fumes were spreading and invading our homes. Sometimes, when we went out, we couldn’t even see our nearest neighbour. The plant staff discharged oil and wastewater in front of our houses. Metal debris from the plant’s chimney fell onto our roofs. Once, I went to walk along the wall of the plant and debris fell on me like hail.

Right from the start, I had doubts about the legality of this activity in the middle of a populated area. I couldn’t understand how a substance as dangerous as lead could be recycled using processes that were, in my view, contrary to the standards and regulations in force.

‘My whole family was ill’

We arrived in Vindoulou in August 2019 and by January 2020 my whole family was ill. Our children were found to have the beginnings of pneumonia, bronchitis and bronchopneumonia. We also had diarrhoea and abdominal pains.

Across the neighbourhood, people had the same problems. I was told that the children who had moved away from Vindoulou no longer suffered from those symptoms.

The residents believed that nothing could make this company leave. For the community, it was David against Goliath. Some even called me King David.

I went door-to-door to convince people that something serious was going on. Everywhere I went, I reminded people of article 41 of our Constitution: every citizen has the right to live in a healthy environment.

I explained to people the benefits of getting organized together and taking up the fight. Today, our collective has over a hundred members.

© Amnesty International

From survivor to human rights defender

We tried to meet the directors of Metssa Congo. We met the plant’s manager, who said he was not authorized to comment on the subject. He promised us an audience with the CEO, but it never took place. They wouldn’t talk to us, simply saying that they had authorization to operate. We couldn’t even consult their environmental impact report, which is a document that we were entitled to access under the current legislation. After calling in a bailiff, I was finally able to consult another type of document, their environmental audit report produced after they had already begun operations.

In 2022, I went to meet Amnesty International’s representatives to alert them. From 2023 onwards, Amnesty investigated and provided funds to carry out blood tests on a sample of the population. We then had proof that people tested had high levels of lead in their blood.

At the time, the workers were against what I was doing. Now, most of them have joined us in our fight.

Cyrille Traoré Ndembi

I took two blood tests, in March and September 2023. They showed blood lead levels above 400 µg/L. For the 17 other people tested, the levels were alarming. When the ministry carried out other tests in 2024, some ex-workers had levels of 1,000 µg/L – that’s enormous!

My youngest daughter just turned four. Of the nine children tested, she had the highest lead level, above 530 µg/L. I’m worried about her. She’s running fevers even though she has no infection.

Amnesty also helped us take legal action in 2023, to publicize our situation and, in the face of the administration’s inaction, to make a plea to the authorities. As a result, the minister [of Environment] came here and spoke to the population in December 2024. We as a collective did not have a formal audience with the minister. The authorities received Metssa Congo’s managers for an audience in Brazzaville [the Republic of Congo’s capital] several times, but never our collective! I’m not being heard. Ideally, we should be able to talk directly to the authorities.

© Amnesty International

Facing intimidation

I’ve been under pressure. Metssa filed a complaint against me alleging defamation in May 2024. I went to court, but Metssa didn’t show up. They were bolstered by the decision of the Supreme Court’s public prosecutor that allowed them to resume their activities after a suspension ordered by an administrative judge in April 2024.

One night, some young people came and threatened me. It was stressful, but I didn’t back down. At the time, the workers were against what I was doing. Now, most of them have joined us in our fight.

When the company’s operations were suspended again in June 2024 by the Ministry of Environment, we continued to fight because the word suspension meant nothing to us. We wanted to hear the word closure. When the decision was taken on 11 December 2024 to close and dismantle the plant, we were relieved, but the fight was far from over.

We have to join hands. It’s up to citizens to fight.

Cyrille Traoré Ndembi

We are worried the soil may be contaminated. There may be a risk of groundwater contamination, and we drink the water from the borehole. The Ministry of Environment has taken samples, but we have not been made aware of the results.

Today, we need to know how many people are ill. People need to be screened, treated and moved out of harm’s way. In July, the Ministry of Health announced that it would conduct blood tests on an additional 100 people. It still hasn’t been done; we haven’t heard anything.

Things are moving too slowly. Why not carry out systematic screening of all those who may have been exposed? There are far more than 100 of us. Since the minister of Environment’s visit, people are worried. Some wanted their entire families screened.

The most important thing is people’s health. I fight to save lives. I’d like to set up an NGO to defend the environment beyond Vindoulou. We’re not the only ones in these situations. Anyone who can help communities in difficulty, now is the time to take action, because sometimes those communities have no recourse and are left to fend for themselves. We have to join hands. It won’t fall from the sky. It’s up to citizens to fight.”

Before setting up the plant in 2013, Metssa Congo had not carried out an environmental impact assessment, in violation of Congolese law. Despite this, the Ministry of Industry permitted Metssa to operate. The company claimed to have obtained an operating licence in 2018 and a certificate of compliance in 2023, and claimed that the emissions from the plant were not toxic.

Following the publication of Amnesty’s report on the state’s failure to protect the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in Congo including in Vindoulou, the authorities decided to suspend Metssa Congo’s operations on 17 June 2024, and launched a technical investigation by the Ministry of Environment on 8 August 2024. The plant began being dismantled on 19 December 2024 with the removing of the roof and some furnaces by Metssa Congo, but the process stopped before completion.

The government ordered Metssa Congo to set up a solidarity fund, but this has yet to materialize, according to Cyrille Traoré Ndembi. The residents of Vindoulou continue to claim for compensation after 10 years of exposure to lead.

The post “The most important thing is people’s health. I fight to save lives” appeared first on Amnesty International.

Content warning: The following text contains descriptions and images depicting violence, death, police brutality, and police killings. Reader discretion is advised.

Tanzanian security forces used unnecessary or disproportionate force, including lethal force, to suppress election protests between 29 October and 3 November 2025, showing a shocking disregard for the right to life and for freedom of peaceful assembly as hundreds of people were reported killed or injured across the country, Amnesty International said today.

New research details how security forces fired live ammunition and teargas directly at protesters and other individuals who posed no imminent threat of death or serious injury. The organization found that security forces used firearms recklessly, injuring and killing bystanders, and abusively deployed tear gas in residential areas and into people’s homes.

The violence that security forces inflicted on protesters and other people who were just going about their daily lives was shocking and unacceptable, and yet another sign of growing intolerance in Tanzania.

Agnès Callamard
Amnesty International’s Secretary General

Amid a nationwide internet shutdown, security officials subjected individuals to beatings and other forms of ill-treatment, denied the wounded access to healthcare, arrested some still in need of care, and collected bodies of victims of their brutality from mortuaries, taking them to unknown places.

“The violence that security forces inflicted on protesters and other people who were just going about their daily lives was shocking and unacceptable, and yet another sign of growing intolerance in Tanzania,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

The formation of the commission is the first of many steps that must be followed to deliver accountability. The authorities must now ensure that all investigations are independent, thorough and impartial.

Agnès Callamard

On 14 November, Tanzania’s president announced a commission of inquiry into the killings of protesters. However, civil society members have expressed concerns about its independence.

“The formation of the commission is the first of many steps that must be followed to deliver accountability. The authorities must now ensure that all investigations are independent, thorough and impartial. No one should be shielded from justice: those who ordered, enabled and used unlawful force must be held accountable regardless of their position. Every grieving family deserves answers, justice and the chance to seek reparations. Anything less would be an exercise in whitewashing abuses,” said Agnès Callamard.

Between 3 and 28 November, Amnesty International interviewed 35 people, including survivors of gunshot and teargas canister injuries, eyewitnesses, lawyers assisting arrested protesters and healthcare professionals who treated injured victims, as well as relatives of those killed. Amnesty International’s digital investigations team, the Evidence Lab, verified 26 videos and six photos posted on social media between 2 and 18 November or shared directly with Amnesty International staff by trusted sources.

Tanzanian authorities did not respond to Amnesty’s request for comment.

‘Crows were eating flesh from the dead bodies’

Three healthcare professionals in public hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Mwanza told Amnesty International that hundreds of people with gunshot wounds were admitted for treatment between 29 and 31 October. Most were young men, but the injured also included children and women. They had suffered injuries to the head, groin, legs, neck, stomach, buttocks, back and chest.

Since I started working over 15 years ago, I had never seen something like this. I had never seen so many people shot like this, and so many dead bodies piled up and crows eating their flesh.

Dar based healtcare worker

Healthcare workers from Arusha and Dar es Salam said hundreds of dead bodies were brought to their hospitals, with some left outside due to lack of space in the morgues.

The Evidence Lab verified one video showing at least 70 bodies piled up on the floors and on stretchers in the morgue at Mwananyamala Regional Referral Hospital in Dar es Salaam. It also verified two videos and one photo showing at least 10 bodies piled over three stretchers outside Sekou Toure Region Referral Hospital in Mwanza.

“Since I started working over 15 years ago, I had never seen something like this. I had never seen so many people shot like this, and so many dead bodies piled up and crows eating their flesh,” a Dar es Salaam-based healthcare professional told Amnesty.

Reckless use of firearms and teargas

Maria*, 28, said police shot her husband in Dar es Salaam’s Magomeni area on 29 October 2025 and he died two days later while receiving treatment for internal bleeding.

“The police didn’t launch any teargas. They just used live bullets. They were standing behind the car. After a short while, I came out and heard people shouting, ‘He has killed him, he has killed him.’ I saw from a distance the collar of the shirt of the person lying on the ground and I noticed it was my husband,” she said.

Paulo Kingi*, 46, fled to Kenya after being shot at his home in Goba in Dar es Salaam on 29 October. He recalled seeing armed people, whom he believed to be security officers, driving by his house.

“They aimed and fired; I felt pain on my left lower leg near the ankle. That pain brought me down to the ground, when I touched it, I saw blood oozing out. That’s when I realised, I had been shot. From the ground I could hear more firing,” he said.

Amnesty International received reports that some protesters threw stones, burnt tyres to block roads, damaged government vehicles, set administrative offices ablaze, engaged in acts of vandalism or attended protests holding wooden sticks. However, in the cases the organization documented, protesters or bystanders who did not appear to pose an imminent threat to the lives of police officers or others were targeted with lethal force.

Eyewitnesses told Amnesty International that police and plain-clothed security officers resorted to firing live ammunition without warning to disperse crowds, almost immediately or shortly after using teargas against them. 

One witness said that, around noon on 30 October, men in police uniforms threw tear gas canisters into the street near Sirare market and then opened fire in front of a shop, where he was sitting with his friend. They killed the friend on the spot, while he suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

Digital evidence of misuse of lethal force

Amnesty’s Evidence Lab also verified footage indicating the apparent misuse of lethal force. In one video, a woman is among a group of people seen running down a street in Arusha as sounds consistent with gunshots are heard. At one point, the woman who is holding a wooden stick falls, briefly gets up with the help of another person before collapsing again. A small red mark appears on her back, while a larger red stain appears on her chest.

Three other verified videos show her lying motionless on the pavement as more gunshots are heard. In those videos, her top is covered in larger stains consistent with blood on both the back and the front. Another man is seen being carried away, apparently lifeless, bleeding from his head.

A forensic pathologist who reviewed photos provided by a medical source in a hospital in Arusha and a video of an injured man in a street in Dar es Salam concluded that “photographs and videos… of the injured showed compelling evidence of high velocity gunshot wounds, of a type produced by military rifles.”

“Using live ammunition against unarmed protesters and bystanders posing no imminent threat to the lives of others is a blatant violation of the right to life. The evidence is clear: state security officials showed total disregard for people’s lives,” said Agnès Callamard.

Security officers also repeatedly deployed tear gas in an unlawful manner to quash peaceful demonstrations. In other instances, they launched teargas cannisters directly at bystanders or residents in areas affected by protests and the ensuing crackdown.

One witness told Amnesty International that teargas was thrown into his home on 29 October, while his one-month-old baby was present.

Torture and other ill-treatment

Amnesty International verified six videos showing separate incidents near Tabata primary school in Dar es Salaam in which security forces and men dressed in plain clothes carried out acts of torture or other ill-treatment. The victims – all men – were forced to roll over on the ground, crouch-walk, or sit by the side of the road, while being beaten with batons, punched, whipped, kicked or dragged by their limbs.

Wounded denied adequate healthcare

Tanzanian security forces interfered with injured people’s access to healthcare in some regions. A Dar es Salam-based healthcare professional reported that officers ordered medical staff to hand over at least five severely injured patients who had gunshot wounds, while they were still bleeding, ostensibly for interrogation. The five were wearing the opposition CHADEMA party uniforms or T-shirts. He never saw those patients again.

As per our tradition, since we didn’t find his body, we decided to bury his clothes and picture.

Relative of a victim

Security officers also instructed medical staff to prioritize the treatment of some patients over others and warned medical staff against speaking out or recording what they saw at their hospitals.

One healthcare worker described a heavy police presence in his hospital in Mwanza, with officers instructing nurses to stop treating some of the injured. “They took people who were still breathing and could be saved, to the morgue,” he said.

The healthcare worker said a senior state official came to the hospital on 2 or 3 November and ordered medical staff to place all patients with gunshot wounds in separate wards, where they were to be handcuffed and placed under police watch, stating they would be charged with treason for participating in protests. Amnesty International also received reports that wounded protesters and bystanders either discharged themselves prematurely or avoided medical treatment in hospitals altogether, for fear of arrest.

‘We decided to bury his clothes and picture’

Amnesty International interviewed the families and friends of eight people killed in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, Tunduma, Moshi and Mbeya who were unable to find their loved ones’ bodies, even after searching in various morgues, and who fear that security forces took them away to conceal evidence of killings.

They took people who were still breathing and could be saved, to the morgue.

Healthcare worker

Sources who knew Stephano China, 19, whose body was taken to Tunduma Referral Hospital mortuary after he was killed on 29 October, told Amnesty that the following day they went to view his remains, but his body was missing: “They (hospital officials) said police came to carry all the bodies. We couldn’t do anything.”

The family of 38-year-old Daudi Ndone, who was shot and killed in Dar es Salaam’s Mazense area on 29 October, also could not find his body despite frantically searching several mortuaries for over a week. “As per our tradition, since we didn’t find his body, we decided to bury his clothes and picture,” one of his relatives said.

“Even in death, these victims of police brutality cannot rest in peace. Amnesty International calls on the authorities to hand over the remains of all those killed in the protests and their aftermath to their relatives for a decent burial and the necessary rites,” said Agnès Callamard.

The post Tanzania: Security forces used unlawful lethal force in election protest crackdown and ‘took away’ dead bodies appeared first on Amnesty International.

Like many people, I grew up without human rights education in school. I’d always thought of human rights as an abstract concept rather than a practical necessity of everyday life.  But in my previous life as a teacher and since working for Amnesty International, I can’t stress enough how essential human rights education is for recognizing rights violations, confronting injustice, and building the foundations of a rights-respecting society.

As we witness fresh assaults on universal human rights and the rise of authoritarian practices across the world, human rights education is more important than ever. A new CIVICUS Monitor report reveals a sharp global decline in fundamental freedoms, with only 7% of the world’s population now living in countries with ‘open’ or even ‘narrowed’ civic space.

As threats to our rights and freedoms continue to intensify, we must ensure that our resistance to them grows even stronger. For many young people, it is easy to feel overwhelmed or discouraged by the direction the world seems to be heading. But human rights education offers hope, community, and provides an alternative vision of the future – one worth believing in, and one worth fighting for.

The Human Rights Education Youth Forum, which I had the chance to participate in from 9 to 11 December in Budapest, showed that young people care deeply about the future of human rights. We believe that human rights education is a right, not a privilege, and a vital tool for challenging the anti-rights rhetoric and policies of many European governments. This means celebrating and promoting our human rights story locally – in schools and youth spaces – and globally in traditional and social media.

Together with educators, activists, advocates, and representatives of governmental institutions and civil society, we developed a shared global agenda for human rights education: one that aims to advance gender equality, address environmental injustice, respond to the challenges of digitalization, and protect the rights of marginalized communities, including LGBTI people, refugees and migrants. Among the many concerns raised by young representatives from around the world, the calls to decolonize human rights education and to make it accessible to all were among the most prominent.

On 10 December, as we gathered to celebrate Human Rights Day and explore ways to strengthen the current human rights system, a number of European governments were proposing reforms to weaken the protections of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the context of migration during the Council of Europe justice ministers meeting.  These proposals risk scapegoating migrants and refugees, and any attempt to weaken the ECHR must be resisted. Amnesty International works to demonstrate its importance to young people by transforming ECHR jurisprudence into accessible 20-minute learning modules. These real-life cases show how upholding the rights protected by the ECHR can have a profound, life-changing impact on individuals.

Last week, the EU also proposed unprecedented rules on detention, deportations, and the stripping of rights based on migration status. These divisive policies, which risk tearing families apart and paving the way for discriminatory surveillance and profiling, are exactly what push me to act.

I want to act with kindness and solidarity, and work towards a society that guarantees protection for all. When my government in Lithuania began forcibly removing and arbitrarily detaining people seeking asylum at the Lithuania–Belarus border in 2021, volunteering with affected communities became one of the most meaningful ways for me to stand up against the injustice I was witnessing. It was my way of saying, “Not in my name”, and demonstrating the transformative power of compassion.

Seeing people deprived of their rights at my country’s borders moved me to take action, which eventually led me to study human rights, research violations, and work with people who are impacted. Becoming more involved in civil society and volunteering with migrant communities was especially meaningful because it gave me the opportunity to apply human rights theory in real-life situations.

Through learning about human rights and sharing this knowledge with others, I witnessed people claim their rights and saw how it restored a sense of agency during difficult times. Rather than feeling powerless, they came to see themselves as rights-holders who could take action.  At the same time, recognizing that others face similar struggles helped build solidarity within communities.

Choosing to work in human rights has been my most rewarding and empowering decision so far, and I encourage those who feel isolated, dissatisfied, or frustrated to turn to compassion and justice over aggression and destruction, remembering that hope is not a naive but a courageous choice.

Human rights were forged for moments of uncertainty like the one we face today. It is our shared responsibility to defend them and build on what we have achieved. Human rights education is a powerful tool for shaping the future, so take the first step by learning about your rights, explore courses from Amnesty’s Human Rights Academy in over 20 languages, get involved with a local organization, and speak up or act when someone’s rights are being violated.

The post Aureja: “To claim our rights, first we must know them” appeared first on Amnesty International.

Reacting to today’s ruling by the European Court of Justice that the Danish law on parallel societies (known as the “ghetto law”) is incompatible with the EU’s directive on equal treatment, Dina Hashem, Senior Legal Advisor at Amnesty International Denmark, said: 

“Today’s ruling is an important step in protecting human rights and respecting the equality of all people. The European Court of Justice found that the ghetto law could potentially lead to direct discrimination based on ethnicity and is therefore potentially in violation of EU law prohibiting discrimination. Now the Danish High Court has the final say.

The ghetto law must be changed so that it no longer discriminates

“The right to equal treatment regardless of ethnic origin is a fundamental principle that EU member states are obliged to respect in their national legislation. The ruling by the European Court of Justice clearly states, that national law cannot allow discrimination in either legislation or the legal system.”

“It is surprising that Danish politicians have ignored warnings about discrimination in the ghetto law for so long – while residents in areas covered by the ghetto law have been forcibly relocated and apartment blocks demolished. The law must be changed so that it no longer discriminates.”

Background

The Danish law on parallel societies targets residential areas with large numbers of residents of an ethnic minority.

Denmark has been widely criticized, including by Amnesty International, for violating the EU directive on equal treatment by discriminating based on ethnic origin.

The case judged by the Court of Justice of the European Union was raised by residents who had been evicted from social housing in Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen and in Schackenborgvænge in the city of Ringsted, based on criteria set out in the ghetto law.

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