Schlagwort: human rights

Ahead of the two-year anniversary of northern Ethiopia’s ongoing armed conflict, which broke out on 3 November 2020 and has since led to appalling violations by parties on all sides, Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for campaigns East Africa, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes regions, said:

All parties have been responsible for serious violations, encompassing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extrajudicial executions and summary killings of thousands of people and sexual violence against women and girls.

Flavia Mwangovya, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for campaigns, Horn of Africa

“Since the start of the conflict in northern Ethiopia, millions of civilians have been displaced and thousands killed. All parties have been responsible for serious violations, encompassing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extrajudicial executions and summary killings of thousands of people and sexual violence against women and girls.

“The international community must show solidarity with the victims and survivors of atrocity crimes in Ethiopia’s two-year conflict. Despite restrictions on access and communication shutdowns, Amnesty has repeatedly documented unspeakable abuses by all parties to the conflict, yet the response from the international community, including the African Union, has been dismal.”

The international community must show solidarity with the victims and survivors of atrocity crimes in Ethiopia’s two-year conflict.

Flavia Mwangovya

“On the second anniversary of the start of the conflict, Amnesty International will launch a global campaign to underscore the gravity on the human rights crisis in Ethiopia, while also detailing how the African Union and the international community have offered a completely inadequate response to one of the deadliest conflicts in the world.”

Background

All parties to the armed conflict in Ethiopia, which pits forces aligned with Ethiopia’s federal government, including the Eritrean army, against those affiliated with Tigray’s regional government led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), have committed serious human rights violations and abuses, including extrajudicial executions, summary killings and sexual violence against women and girls. The abuses we documented in this conflict include war crimes and crimes against humanity, which are among the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. Ethnic violence has claimed thousands of lives.

Due to the ongoing conflict, the region has been largely cut off from the outside world. Millions of people have been internally displaced, while humanitarian aid has also been denied to millions of people in Tigray.

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Brazil’s presidential election ended on the night of Sunday, 30 October. According to the official information published by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the candidate Luiz Inácio da Silva was elected with 50.90% of the votes, against 49.10% for reelection of the candidate Jair Messias Bolsonaro. Blank and invalid votes represented 4.59% of the total.

Amnesty International warns that human rights must be a priority in the government transition period.  

The election was marked by threats to the civil rights of the Brazilian people. There were serious complaints that the Federal Highway Police did not comply with TSE decisions and carried out at least 560 inspection operations against vehicles carrying out public transportation of voters on Sunday.

In addition to impediments to the free transit of citizens, the elections were marked by the dissemination of false news, statements by President Jair Bolsonaro and the actions of other public authorities that generated fears over the integrity of state institutions and respect for the outcome of the elections. Episodes of political violence were recurrent.

People denounced electoral harassment in their workplaces, members of religious communities denounced situations of coercion for demonstrating in defense of human rights, candidates and ordinary citizens suffered physical aggression or were killed for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Journalists were also assaulted and intimidated, and indigenous communities were deprived of their right to political participation.

This scenario points to challenges that go beyond the electoral period and pose risks to the human rights of citizens in Brazil. Amnesty International monitored and denounced episodes of intimidation and political violence throughout the country during the electoral period and will continue to monitor the transition process of the federal government. This process must take place in accordance with the Federal Constitution, rule of law institutions and international human rights standards.

During this period, two documents were published that reveal the political violence to which the Brazilian population was subjected. On the eve of the first round of the 2022 elections, Amnesty International presented the document “Political violence: human rights violations in the 2022 electoral period.” The organization collected 42 human rights violations that occurred in the 90 days leading up to the first day of voting.

In the campaign period preceding the second round of the elections, Amnesty International identified two cases of political violence per day. The cases are collected in the document “Intimidation as a method: violence and threats against male and female voters in 2022“.

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The armed group Al-Shabaab must end its indiscriminate attacks against civilians and the Somali authorities must also ensure that civilians are protected, Amnesty International said today, after a twin car bombing in Mogadishu on Saturday, claimed by Al-Shabaab, killed at least 100 people and injured more than 300 others.

Al-Shabaab’s callous actions are crimes under international law and it is absolutely crucial that all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this crime face justice in fair trials

Muleya Mwananyanda, Director for East and Southern Africa

The bombings, claimed by the armed group Al-Shabaab, targeted the ministry of education building and took place on a busy market intersection in the Somali capital. Numerous children and elderly people were among the victims. On Saturday evening, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud warned that the death toll could rise further.

“Amnesty International sends its condolences to all those who have lost loved ones following Saturday’s appalling and senseless attacks. Al-Shabaab’s callous actions are crimes under international law and it is absolutely crucial that all those suspected of criminal responsibility for this crime face justice in fair trials,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.

“Al-Shabaab specifically designed the attack to inflict massive civilian casualties. Intentionally targeting civilians in an armed conflict is a war crime and, as such, all states are permitted to exercise jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute. Al-Shabaab must immediately stop carrying out attacks on civilians, and the Somali authorities must ensure that victims’ families are offered justice, truth and reparation.”

Following the bombings, devastated friends and relatives of victims shared accounts of what happened on social media. Many are still searching for missing family members. Mogadishu’s hospitals are currently overwhelmed as they seek to support those injured in the attacks.

Al-Shabaab must immediately stop carrying out attacks on civilians, and the Somali authorities must ensure that victims’ families are offered justice, truth and reparation

Muleya Mwananyanda

No accountability

The ongoing conflict between the government of Somalia and Al-Shabaab continues to have a devastating impact on the country’s civilian population, with all parties to the conflict continuing to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law — with no justice, truth or reparation.

In May 2022, Somalia’s new government identified maintaining national security and combatting Al-Shabaab as its top priority. Since then, the armed group has responded with both indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, as well as assassinations and summary killings of those it perceives to be linked to the government. In August, Al-Shabaab carried out an attack on Hotel Hayat in Mogadishu, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 50 others.

Of 428 civilian casualties reported by the UN in Somalia between February and May this year, 76 percent are believed to be the result of indiscriminate attacks by Al-Shabaab.

Saturday’s attack came five years after another bombing in the same location, which killed almost 600 people and injured more than 300 others in what is believed to be Africa’s deadliest truck bombing. Although widely assumed to have been carried out by Al-Shabaab, the group has not claimed responsibility for it.

Since 2011, Al-Shabaab has increasingly targeted locations frequented by civilians, including hotels and restaurants, for attacks that have killed and injured thousands of civilians.

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The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing is the latest human rights expert to recognize that Israel is committing apartheid against Palestinians. At the UN General Assembly today, Special Rapporteur Balakrishnan Rajagopal presented a report on housing rights worldwide which states that the system of racial oppression and discrimination that has led to the destruction of Palestinian homes “is nothing short of apartheid”. 

Military incursions, closures, state-backed settler attacks, home demolitions, and destruction of property are all manifestations of Israel’s apartheid system

Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

Amnesty International welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s report, which comes amid an escalation in attacks on Palestinians and their property across the occupied West Bank. In recent weeks Palestinian families participating in the annual olive harvest have been subjected to violent attacks by Israeli settlers, who have the direct backing of the Israeli military. Meanwhile the military has imposed a closure on the city of Nablus and surrounding villages since 12 October, severely disrupting the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The closure – ostensibly a response to several shooting attacks targeting Israeli soldiers – amounts to unlawful collective punishment.

“Israeli authorities’ domination and control of the Palestinian population, including through discriminatory land, planning and housing policies, is well documented, and extends to Palestinians wherever Israel has control over their rights,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.  

“There is growing recognition among human rights experts that Israel is committing apartheid, and the presentation of this report today could not be more timely. As well as the ongoing threat of forced eviction, demolition, and forcible transfer, there has recently been an alarming escalation in attacks on Palestinians in their homes and towns throughout the occupied West Bank. Military incursions, closures, state-backed settler attacks, home demolitions, and destruction of property are all manifestations of Israel’s apartheid system.” 

Living in constant fear 

In his report, the Special Rapporteur cites several examples of Israeli government laws and policies which are used to confiscate Palestinian land and property, such as the Absentee Property Law and land registration procedures.  

Israeli authorities also use the designation “firing zone” or “closed military zone” to confiscate Palestinian lands. Approximately 20% of the occupied West Bank has been designated as “firing zones”, and Palestinian presence is banned there without permission from the Israeli army. This affects more than 5,000 Palestinians from 38 communities, who are hit with eviction orders, threatened with displacement, or forced to leave their homes while the military conducts training exercises. In the community of Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, more than 1,000 people are facing forcible eviction due to this policy.  

I watch the army jeeps drive up twice a day and I dread that they are coming to demolish again

Nitham Abu Kbash

On 13 October, Amnesty International researchers visited Palestinian shepherding communities in the northern Jordan Valley, including the hamlet of Humsa which is in a designated “firing zone”. Nitham Abu Kbash, a shepherd from the community, told Amnesty International how his home and animal pens were destroyed repeatedly by the Israeli army last year. 

Three families were made homeless, and had to move to another area that was also officially forbidden. Since then, the Israeli military has carried out regular patrols and confiscated humanitarian aid donated to make the families’ homes more stable. 

“I watch the army jeeps drive up twice a day and I dread that they are coming to demolish again,” said Nitham Abu Kbash. “Not even the European diplomats could protect us – the military confiscated the aid from under their noses.” 

In the nearby community of Makhul, Amnesty International spoke to two brothers who described their fear whenever settlers approach in tractors and 4-wheel-drive vehicles: 

“The children are terrified because these men shine strong lights into our homes at night, set their dogs on us and on the sheep, and they drive all over our yard,” said Yusef Bisharat. “Some of the ewes miscarried their lambs this season, from the stress.” 

The right to housing is also under attack inside Israel. On 24 October, Israeli forces demolished the Palestinian Bedouin village of Al-Araqeeb in the Negev/Naqab for the 208^th time. 

In Gaza, thousands of houses destroyed by Israeli air strikes in previous offensives have not been rebuilt because of the Israeli blockade and restrictions on entry of construction material.  

State-backed settler attacks

Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank have recently faced a surge of Israeli military incursions, restrictions on access to land and water, and the destruction of their crops by Israeli settlers in line with patterns documented in previous years during the annual olive harvest.  According to Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, a group of settlers last week attacked olive farmers in villages including Burin and Kisan in the northern West Bank.

The olive harvest is a time when Palestinian families should be celebrating[…] This year, once again, it has been violently disrupted by Israeli military closures and state-backed settler violence. 

Heba Morayef

On 19 October, a group of settlers attacked international and Israeli activists who had come to support the Palestinian farmers. According to the UN, 194 Palestinians have been injured as a result of settler attacks so far in 2022, and three Palestinians have been killed. The Israeli authorities have failed to bring those responsible to justice – for example, in August Israeli police dropped their investigation into the killing of Ali Hassan Harb, who was stabbed to death in his olive grove on 21 June 2022. 

Many Palestinian farming communities have come to expect such violence every harvesting season. The military’s evictions and the settlers’ violence take place in a culture of impunity and act in tandem to displace Palestinians to benefit illegal Israeli settlements.  

“Israeli authorities are violating Palestinians’ right to housing in every way imaginable – bulldozing homes, making it impossible for Palestinians to build on their own land, and protecting settlers who burn the ancestral olive groves of Palestinian families,” said Heba Morayef. 

“The olive harvest is a time when Palestinian families should be celebrating and reaping the fruits of their labour after carefully tending their crops for a year. But this year, once again, it has been violently disrupted by Israeli military closures and state-backed settler violence.” 

More than 175,000 people around the world have so far signed Amnesty International’s Demolish Apartheid Not Palestinian Homes petition, which calls on the Israeli government to immediately end home demolitions and forced evictions. 

Background 

In a research briefing released earlier this week, Amnesty International highlighted how 1,700 Palestinian homes were destroyed or damaged during Israel’s August 2022 offensive on Gaza, leading to the internal displacement of some 450 Palestinians. 

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Responding to media reports of escalating episodes of politically motivated violence and threats in the context of the elections in Brazil, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:

“The news of escalating violence and threats against people exercising their civil and political rights is alarming. Among them, the exponential increase in reports of electoral harassment against working people who are under pressure to define or declare their vote, including threats of losing their jobs if they fail to do so, is very worrying.”  

“Electoral intimidation has been particularly prominent in religious centers and it has flooded social media, where more and more people, including public figures, assault and persecute those who express an opinion different from their own.”

The news of escalating violence and threats against people exercising their civil and political rights is alarming

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

“President Jair Bolsonaro and his administration must ensure that they disseminate reliable information, counter false statements and do everything in their power to prevent and condemn any attacks and intimidation in the days leading up to the presidential runoff vote.”

“It’s also imperative that all state institutions function properly and with complete respect for human rights, including the public security forces and the justice system, to guarantee that the Brazilian population can fully exercise their civil and political rights before, during and after the 30 October presidential elections.”

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