Kuwaiti authorities have arrested 18 people in Kuwait, including three candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections, for taking part in a peaceful demonstration the previous week in support of Kuwait’s stateless Bidun community, Amnesty International said today.
On 31 August 2022, the Office of Public Prosecution summoned them for investigation on charges that could lead to up to nine months imprisonment and ordered their pre-trial detention pending further investigation.
“This is a blatant attempt by the Kuwaiti authorities to intimidate people who are exercising their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. Instead of listening to the demonstrators’ calls for the rights of stateless Bidun people to nationality, education and healthcare, the authorities are seeking to silence and punish them,” said Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The authorities must drop any and all legal action against these peaceful protesters. Ahead of parliamentary elections in September, the Kuwaiti authorities must respect the rights of everyone in Kuwait to participate freely and peacefully in public affairs, which includes the right to join peaceful demonstrations and to freely express their demand for basic rights.”
On 30 and 31 August, Kuwaiti officials from the Ministry of Interior summoned 18 people and brought them before the Office of Public Prosecution for interrogation in relation to their participation in a 26 August demonstration. Four were summoned on the night of 30–31 August and the other 14 were summoned the next day, 31 August. All remain in detention for further questioning by the Office of Public Prosecution.
Instead of listening to the demonstrators’ calls for the rights of stateless Bidun people to nationality, education and healthcare, the authorities are seeking to silence and punish them.
Amna Guellali, Amnesty International
The 18 individuals face prosecution under Kuwait’s Law on Public Meetings and Gatherings for participating in an unauthorized demonstration and failing to disperse from the gathering after being ordered to do so. Under Articles 16 and 20 of that law, together these two charges carry a sentence of up to nine months in prison.
In addition to the Bidun organizers of the demonstration on 26 August, six legally recognized Kuwaiti nationals took part and are among those brought before the Office of Public Prosecution. The demonstration in the Taima area of al-Jahra province, west of Kuwait City, was organized by Bidun activists calling for the dissolution of the government agency which regulates Bidun affairs, the Central System for the Remedy of the Situation of Illegal Residents, which Bidun activists accuse of perpetuating their statelessness and increasing restrictions on their access to education, healthcare and other services.
The Central System accuses the Bidun of being “non-natives” who entered the country “illegally”. ‘Bidun’ (also bedoon or bidoon) means ‘without’, short for ‘without nationality’. However, tens of thousands have been born in Kuwait, many have documents showing that their parents and grandparents were born in Kuwait, and under international law such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Kuwait is a party, all children have the right to a nationality. There are tens of thousands of stateless Bidun people in Kuwait, who lack access to the same level of services as recognized Kuwaiti nationals. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Kuwait has ratified, protects the right to freedom of expression (Article 19) and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (Article 21). It also recognizes the rights of all to education and to the highest attainable standard of health.
The Huthi de facto authorities must end their mahram (male guardian) requirement, which bans women from travelling without a male guardian or evidence of their written approval across governorates under Huthi control or to other areas of Yemen, Amnesty International said today.
Increasingly since April, tightened Huthi restrictions have hindered Yemeni women from carrying out their work, especially those who are required to travel. The restraints imposed by the mahram requirement also apply to Yemeni female humanitarian workers who have struggled to conduct fieldwork, thereby directly impacting access to aid for Yemenis in need and particularly for women and girls.
“The Huthi de facto authorities must immediately lift the mahram requirement. This restrictive rule constitutes a form of gender-based discrimination and entrenches the discrimination faced by women in Yemen on a daily basis. Yemeni women urgently need to be able to move around the country freely in order to work, to seek health care and to give or receive humanitarian aid,” said Diana Semaan, Acting Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa.
“The international community should pressure the Huthis to stop imposing mahram restrictions on women. Yemen is already facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, and there is now a very real risk that women and girls will stop receiving aid if women humanitarian workers continue to be banned from travelling without a male guardian.”
Under international humanitarian law, all parties to the armed conflict in Yemen, including the Huthis, must facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of impartial humanitarian assistance to civilians in need and ensure the freedom of movement of humanitarian relief personnel without discrimination. The mahram restriction is contrary to this obligation.
The mahram requirement, which is not part of Yemeni law is being enforced by the Huthis through verbal directives. Since April, the Huthi de facto authorities have increasingly insisted on the mahram requirement to restrict the movement of women across areas they control in northern Yemen, including Saada, Dhamar, Hodeidah and Hajjah governorates, and Sanaa.
This [mahram requirement] restrictive rule constitutes a form of gender-based discrimination and entrenches the discrimination faced by women in Yemen on a daily basis.
Diana Semaan, Amnesty International
Amnesty International interviewed five women activists and members of local organizations, all of whom were subjected to the mahram requirement when attempting to travel for work between April and August, and seven experts with knowledge of how mahram restrictions have impacted the delivery of humanitarian aid.
‘They are suffocating us’
In early August, multiple car rental companies told Afrah*, 36, that she could not rent a car to travel from Sanaa to Aden governorate for work unless she travelled with a male guardian.
“My husband had to take leave from his work, and I had to take my daughter out of her school so that I could meet the mahram requirement and be able to travel to Aden for my work,” she told Amnesty International. “We had to submit to the authorities copies of our IDs, the family record that proves we are married, and a birth certificate for my daughter to be able to rent a car and travel.
“The mahram restriction gives men more control over our lives and allows them to micromanage our movement and activities. They are suffocating us.”
Noura*, 48, was blocked from renting a car to travel across governates in July unless she could provide written approval from her younger brother.
“My brother, who is supposed to be my mahram, is 10 years younger than me,” she told Amnesty International. “When he gave me his written approval note, he apologized that he had to do this for me.”
When Eman*, 35, was travelling in a rental car from Sanaa to Aden governorate in April, she was stopped at a security checkpoint in Sanaa for six hours. Despite presenting written approval from her mahram, the checkpoint officer verbally harassed her and threatened to physically assault her if she got out of the car.
She told Amnesty International: “The man in charge of the checkpoint was yelling at me. He said ‘where is your mahram? Aren’t you ashamed of travelling alone? How did your parents allow you?’ … Then, he took all my documents and my bag, and asked me where I was going and if I worked with an NGO… He said ‘I will not let you go without a problem’.”
Impeding access for humanitarian aid workers
According to seven experts with knowledge of the humanitarian situation and a recent report on humanitarian access in Yemen by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the mahram requirement became prevalent across Huthi controlled areas in the second quarter of 2022, which made the travel of female national staff very challenging for all humanitarian agencies and led to the repeated cancellation of humanitarian aid deliveries.
The experts told Amnesty International that women aid workers who do not have a mahram for travel purposes are increasingly unable to carry out their work. This reality has particularly limited women and girls’ access to desperately needed aid and healthcare services that are only provided by female aid workers. They added that mahram restrictions could lead to women aid workers leaving their positions at humanitarian organizations and consequently struggling to support their families.
One expert told Amnesty International: “The mahram requirement impedes the ability of humanitarian organizations to access all parts of the community and country to deliver aid in a timely manner, and this affects all humanitarian programming, which requires female humanitarian workers to work closely with women and girls. If female staff can’t get access to different parts of the country, it not only stops them from being able to do their lifesaving work, but it negatively impacts the quality of the humanitarian response.”
A second expert added: “The mahram requirement is not only affecting protection programmes but also health care and reproductive programmes and any humanitarian assistance that requires local female staff to be present and deliver aid to women and girls.”
Background
According to local rights organization Mwatana for Human Rights, Huthi restrictions for women have grown increasingly repressive since 2017. Women and girls have been denied access to reproductive health care, banned from working in some governorates, forced into gender segregation in public spaces, and required to follow the mahram restrictions.
Responding to the long-awaited release of the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report on serious human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:
“This 46-page document lays bare the scale and severity of the human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang – which Amnesty International previously concluded amounted to crimes against humanity. There can be little doubt why the Chinese government fought so hard to pressure the UN to conceal it.
This 46-page document lays bare the scale and severity of the human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang – which Amnesty International previously concluded amounted to crimes against humanity.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General
“The inexcusable delay in releasing this report casts a stain on the OHCHR’s record, but this should not deflect from its significance. It mirrors reporting by Amnesty and other credible organizations documenting patterns of torture or ill-treatment as well as incidents of sexual and gender-based violence. Crucially, it finds that the “‘extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups … may constitute … crimes against humanity.’”
“Now that the OHCHR has finally made its findings public, it is time for the UN Human Rights Council to set up an independent international mechanism to investigate these crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations in Xinjiang.
“All member states have a moral obligation to support proposals to discuss the report and establish an investigatory mechanism, or else be left on the wrong side of history. There must be accountability for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity, including through the identification and eventual prosecution of those individuals suspected of responsibility.
“Beijing’s repeated denial of the human rights crisis in Xinjiang rings ever-more hollow with this further recognition of the evidence of ongoing crimes against humanity and other human rights violation in the region.
“The Chinese authorities must immediately release all individuals arbitrarily detained in camps or prisons, end the persecution of Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, and immediately allow true unfettered access to independent human rights monitors and investigators.”
Now that the OHCHR has finally made its findings public, it is time for the UN Human Rights Council to set up an independent international mechanism to investigate these crimes under international law.
Agnès Callamard
Background
The OHCHR’s assessment on Xinjiang was released today, almost a year after High Commissioner Bachelet informed the UN Human Rights Council, in September 2021, that it was being “finalized”.
In May 2022, Bachelet made an official visit to China, including Xinjiang, but she failed to acknowledge serious human rights violations in the country. Her statement at the end of her trip undermined efforts to advance accountability in the region, instead giving the impression she had walked straight into a highly predictable propaganda exercise for the Chinese government.
She admitted afterwards that she could not speak to any detained Uyghurs or their families while in Xinjiang, and was accompanied by state officials at all times in the region.
In a draft letter to Bachelet leaked by the media last month, Chinese authorities reportedly urged the High Commissioner “not to publish” her office’s assessment of Xinjiang.
Since 2017, there has been extensive documentation of China’s crackdown against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism. In 2021, a comprehensive report by Amnesty International demonstrated that the systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution perpetrated by Chinese authorities amounted to crimes against humanity.
Amnesty International’s Free Xinjiang Detainees campaign has, to date, profiled 120 individuals who are among the perhaps one million or more people in arbitrary detention in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang.
States, in line with their human rights obligation of international co-operation and assistance must support Pakistan as floods devastate lives and impact a range of human rights
The floods serve as a stark warning of the devastating impact of climate change and states most responsible for the climate crisis must provide compensation and remedy for the loss and damage caused by the climate crisis.
Wealthier states that have responsibility for climate change must remedy historic injustices and support low-emitting countries like Pakistan after deadly floods have shown the devastating impact of climate change, said Amnesty International.
“States that have enriched themselves using fossil fuels and other unsustainable practices must meet their international obligations. They must provide compensation and other forms of remedy for the loss and damage people are suffering in Pakistan,” said Rimmel Mohydin, Amnesty International’s Pakistan Campaigner.
Since 1959, Pakistan has accounted for 0.4% of historic emissions and yet it is listed as one of the most climate vulnerable places in the world, according to joint findings by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. These floods alone have by early estimates, cost the country USD 10 billion. The recent floods are a devastating reminder that the consequences of climate change are intensifying, underscoring the importance of states catching up with their adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Pakistan response
According to government reports, the flood damage in Pakistan is far-reaching, leaving close to three quarters of a million people without access to safe and adequate housing. Large swathes of agricultural lands have been flooded, destroying crops and threatening the country’s food supply. The Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said on Monday that a “third of the country is under water,” dubbing it a “crisis of unimaginable proportions.” Damage to infrastructure and internet and phone connectivity is severely hampering rescue and relief operations.
Climate change involves not only rising temperatures, but also extreme weather events. While flooding can be caused by a variety of factors, rising temperatures can make the likelihood of extreme rainfall much higher, overwhelming Pakistan’s river embankments in some areas. The 2010 floods, which killed 1,700 people, were also found to be largely attributable to rising global temperatures.
“The destruction and death in Pakistan has shown how these floods risk entrenching existing inequalities and putting millions at risk of homelessness, hunger, ill-health and even premature death. The government must uphold the human rights of the affected communities and take preventive measures to protect those most at-risk from the impacts of the disaster,” said Rimmel Mohydin.
Poverty and gender affect impact of floods
The floods have had a particularly devastating impact on people living in poverty as many of them live in inadequate and poor-quality housing along riverbanks, low-lying areas and areas that are difficult to reach due to lack of adequate infrastructure. Little has been done so far to protect these communities from the impacts of climate change.
Women are particularly adversely affected by the floods. According to the United Nations Population Fund, there are almost 650,000 pregnant women in the flood-affected areas, with almost 73,000 women expected to deliver in the next month. More than 1,000 health facilities are either partially or fully damaged in Sindh province, whereas 198 health facilities are damaged in affected districts in Balochistan.
There is also a heightened possibility of women and girls being at risk of gender-based violence, according to UNICEF, owing to the breakdown of order and social protection mechanisms during a crisis. Menstrual hygiene must also be given its due consideration when developing relief programs, with the UNFPA estimating the victims of the floods to include 8.2 million women of reproductive age.
“Existing inequalities based on people’s gender, socio-economic status, age, and other identities will no doubt be exacerbated by the floods. Marginalized groups, such as people living in poverty are bound to be much worse off. The newly-formed National Flood Response and Coordination Centre must take into account the needs and requirements of different communities as it plans its strategy on how to protect people from the distressing effects of the floods,” said Rimmel Mohydin.
Iranian and Turkish security forces have repeatedly pushed back Afghans who attempt to cross their borders to reach safety, including by unlawfully opening fire on men, women and children, Amnesty International said today. In a new report, They don’t treat us like humans, the organization also documents numerous instances – mostly at the Iranian border – where security forces have shot directly at people as they climbed over walls or crawled under fences. Afghans who do manage to enter Iran or Turkey are routinely arbitrarily detained, and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment before being unlawfully and forcibly returned.
Amnesty International researchers visited Afghanistan in March 2022, and conducted interviews in Herat City and Islam Qala border town. They interviewed 74 Afghans who had been pushed back from Iran and Turkey, 48 of whom reported coming under fire as they attempted to cross the borders. None of the people Amnesty International spoke to had been able to register an asylum claim in either country, and the majority were returned to Afghanistan in violation of international law.
One year after the end of airlift evacuations from Afghanistan, many of those left behind are risking their lives to leave the country.
Marie Forestier, Researcher on Refugee and Migrants Rights
“One year after the end of airlift evacuations from Afghanistan, many of those left behind are risking their lives to leave the country – Afghans who have travelled to the Iranian and Turkish borders over the past year, in search of safety, have instead been forcibly returned under fire. We documented how Iranian security forces have unlawfully killed and injured dozens of Afghans since last August, including by firing repeatedly into packed cars. Turkish border guards have also unlawfully used live ammunition against Afghans, firing into the air to repel people, and also shooting at them in some cases,” said Marie Forestier, Researcher on Refugee and Migrants Rights at Amnesty International.
“The dangers don’t end at the borders. Many Afghans we spoke to had spent time in arbitrary detention, either in Turkey or in Iran, where they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment before being unlawfully returned. We are calling on Turkish and Iranian authorities to immediately end all pushbacks and deportations of Afghans, end torture and other ill-treatment, and ensure safe passage and access to asylum procedures for all Afghans seeking protection. Security forces must immediately end the unlawful use of firearms against Afghans at the borders, and perpetrators of human rights violations, including unlawful killing and torture, must be held accountable.”
Amnesty International also calls on the international community to provide financial and material support to countries which host large numbers of Afghans, including Iran and Turkey. They must ensure that this funding does not contribute to human rights violations – this is critical, as the European Union has already provided funds for Turkey’s new border wall, as well as for the construction of several ‘removal centres’ where Amnesty International documented Afghans being detained. Other countries must also increase resettlement opportunities for Afghans who need international protection.
A long and risky journey
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have fled their country since the Taliban took power in August 2021. Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries have closed their borders to Afghans without travel documents, leaving many people with no choice but to travel irregularly. This means entering Iran through informal border crossings – such as through crawling under a fence near an official crossing in Afghanistan’s Herat Province, or climbing over a two-metre-high wall in Nimroz province.
My nephew arrived at the wall of the border, climbed it and he raised his head up over the top. [Iranian forces] shot him in the head.
Ghulam*
Those who are not immediately detained by Iranian border guards then travel on to various cities in Iran, or to the Turkish border nearly 2000 km away in north-western Iran. At both the Afghan-Iranian and Turkish-Iranian borders, Afghans are subjected to violent and unlawful pushbacks – from Iran back into Afghanistan, or from Turkey into Iran.
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Amnesty International researchers travelled to Afghanistan and Turkey in March and May 2022. They interviewed doctors, NGO workers and Afghan officials, as well as 74 Afghans who had attempted to cross into Turkey or Iran. Some people had made multiple attempts, and some had travelled in groups; based on their accounts, Amnesty International documented a total of 255 instances of unlawful return between March 2021 and May 2022.
Killed trying to enter Iran
Amnesty International interviewed the relatives of six men and a 16-year-old boy who were killed by Iranian security forces as they attempted to cross into Iran between April 2021 and January 2022.
In total, the organization documented 11 killings by Iranian security forces, though the true death toll is likely to be significantly higher. The lack of comprehensive reporting procedures means there are few publicly available statistics, but humanitarian workers and Afghan doctors told the organization they recorded at least 59 deaths and 31 injuries between August and December 2021 alone.
I saw that my son was dead. I was next to his body in a taxi.
Sakeena*
Ghulam* described how his 19-year-old nephew was shot and killed in August 2021:
“He arrived at the wall of the border, climbed it and he raised his head up over the top. They shot him in the head, in the left temple. He fell to the ground on the [Afghan] side of the border.”
Some of the documented shootings took place inside Iranian territory. Sakeena, 35, told Amnesty International how her 16-year-old son was shot dead as they walked away from the Iranian border:
“I heard my son screaming for me. He had been hit by two bullets in his ribs. I don’t know what happened after I fainted […] When I gained consciousness, I was in Afghanistan. I saw that my son was dead. I was next to his body in a taxi.”
Shootings by Turkish security forces
Amnesty International interviewed 35 people who had attempted to cross into Turkey, 23 of whom reported coming under fire. Researchers interviewed one Afghan man who said he had witnessed the killings of three teenage boys by Turkish security forces. Other witnesses described the injury of six men and three boys by Turkish security forces, and Amnesty International interviewed two men who had sustained gunshot wounds at the Turkish border.
A two-year-old child was shot in the kidney, and a six-year-old child was shot on his hand. I was very scared.
Aref*
Aref, a former Afghan intelligence officer who fled after receiving death threats from the Taliban, said he witnessed young children being injured by Turkish security forces:
“They shot directly at us, not in the air (…) I witnessed a woman and two children who were injured. A two-year-old child was shot in the kidney, and a six-year-old child was shot on his hand. I was very scared.”
None of those killed or injured appear to have represented any imminent threat to security forces or others – let alone a threat of death or serious injury -meaning the use of firearms would have been unlawful and arbitrary. In some cases, Iranian security forces appear to have used firearms in a manner that demonstrated an intention to kill, for example by shooting directly at individuals from close range.
“Any killings resulting from deliberate and unlawful use of firearms by agents of the state must be investigated as potential extrajudicial executions,” said Marie Forestier.
A crisis of systemic impunity for widespread patterns of torture, extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings prevails in Iran. Amnesty International therefore reiterates its call on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative and accountability mechanism to collect and analyze evidence of the most serious crimes under international law committed in Iran, including against Afghans in the context of pushbacks, to enable future prosecutions.
Detained and tortured
Almost all interviewees who were intercepted once inside Iran or Turkey, and not immediately pushed back, were arbitrarily detained. Detention time ranged from one or two days to two-and-a-half months. Twenty-three people described treatment that would amount to torture or other ill-treatment while in detention in Iran, as did 21 people detained in Turkey.
The policeman sat on my friend, as if he was sitting on a chair. He sat there and lit a cigarette.
Hamid*
Hamid described how Turkish security forces beat him and his friend in detention:
“One of the policemen beat my friend with the butt of his gun, and then the policeman sat on my friend, as if he was sitting on a chair. He sat there and lit a cigarette. Then he hit me on my legs with his gun as well.”
Several people Amnesty International interviewed were detained in Iran after sustaining gunshot wounds.
Amir was injured when a bullet fired by Turkish security forces grazed his head. After being pushed back to Iran, Amir was detained by Iranian security forces who beat him on his head:
“They would beat me directly on the wound, and it would start bleeding again… One time I said, ‘please don’t beat me on my head,’ and the guard [at the detention facility] said, ‘Where?’ When I showed him, then he beat me in that same spot,” Amir said.
If the EU continues funding detention centres where Afghans are held before being unlawfully returned, it risks being complicit in these violations.
Marie Forestier
Eleven Afghans unlawfully returned by Turkish authorities had been detained in one of the six removal centres in Turkey whose construction the EU has partially funded.
“The European Commission must ensure that migration and asylum related funding to Turkey does not contribute to human rights violations. If the EU continues funding detention centres where Afghans are held before being unlawfully returned, it risks being complicit in these appalling violations,” said Marie Forestier.
Denied international protection
None of the Afghans interviewed by Amnesty International was able to register a claim for international protection, either in Iran or in Turkey. Interviewees said they attempted to tell authorities they would be at serious risk of human rights violations if returned to Afghanistan, but their fears were dismissed.
Iranian security forces transferred detainees by bus to the Afghan border, while Turkish security forces usually transferred them back to Iran at irregular crossings. Ten of those deported from Turkey were sent straight back to Afghanistan by plane. Turkey resumed charter flights to Afghanistan in late January 2022. At the end of April, the Turkish migration authority announced on its websites that charter flights had already returned 6805 Afghan citizens.
They beat me, pushed me to the wall. Two men held my legs and one was sitting on my chest. Two others [made me sign] the paper.
An Afghan man who was returned from Turkey
All interviewees who had been returned said that Turkish and Iranian authorities coerced them to leave. Amnesty International heard how detainees sobbed and fainted when they heard they were being returned to Afghanistan, and how a man attempted to take his own life by jumping out of a window.
Eight people detained and then deported on charter flights from Turkey said Turkish authorities pressured them to sign documents stating they were leaving voluntarily. One man said:
“I told [security forces] that I was at risk in Afghanistan. They didn’t care. They beat me, pushed me to the wall. I fell down on the ground. Two men held my legs and one was sitting on my chest. Two others put my fingers on the paper.”
“The international legal principle of non-refoulement prohibits states from returning anyone to a territory where they are at risk of persecution and other serious human rights violations. We urge the Turkish and Iranian authorities to abide by this obligation and stop forcing people back to danger in Afghanistan,” said Marie Forestier.
“The international community must also arrange safe passage and evacuations for Afghans who are at risk, and step up with a coordinated response to share the responsibility of hosting Afghan refugees.”
