Schlagwort: human rights

Côte d’Ivoire’s next president must seize the opportunity of their mandate to prioritize the human rights of everyone in the country, Amnesty International said as it launched a manifesto setting out six key priorities for the next administration. The official list of candidates for the 25 October election was published on 9 September.

“Over the next five years, the president should address violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. They should end forced evictions and support affected people, ensure respect for the right to truth, justice and reparation for victims of electoral violence, protect the rights of women and children and the right to a healthy environment,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

These elections offer an opportunity to strengthen respect for human rights in Côte d’Ivoire. We call on all candidates to commit to this.

Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

Ensure and protect freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly  

The Criminal Code criminalizes the dissemination of ‘false information’ and provides for prison sentences for organizers of or participants in undeclared protests. These provisions are often used to silence critical voices. Furthermore, the authorities can currently dissolve organizations by a simple decree, without the possibility of appeal.

It is essential to amend the law on the organization of civil society to guarantee the right to freedom of association, to revise the Penal Code to reduce the penalties for disseminating false information and to ensure its compliance with international human rights standards.

“The future president must commit to ending abusive legal proceedings and all forms of intimidation, harassment or violence against individuals and legal entities simply for exercising their human rights,” said Marceau Sivieude.

End forced evictions and fairly compensate victims

Although support measures for the tens of thousands of victims of forced evictions have been announced, they remain insufficient and have not been implemented for all victims.

Amnesty International calls on the next president to put an end to forced evictions, in accordance with the country’s obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by Côte d’Ivoire in 1992. All victims should be guaranteed fair compensation and adequate and secure rehousing.

Ensure right to truth, justice and reparations 

The 2018 amnesty law benefited hundreds of people prosecuted or convicted for offences related to the 2010–2011 post-election violence. In the violence that followed the 2020 elections, 85 people were killed and hundreds injured. Victims and their families are still waiting for justice and reparations. Since 2020, individuals and non-governmental organizations can no longer bring cases directly before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights because the authorities withdrew the declaration that made this possible.

“Efforts towards national reconciliation must not compromise the rights of victims and families of victims of electoral violence. Domestic justice mechanisms must be strengthened, and the jurisdiction of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights to receive complaints must be restored,” said Marceau Sivieude. 

Tackle gender-based violence

Despite progress, sexual violence survivors continue to face obstacles in accessing justice and support services. For instance, a paid medical certificate is still required when filing rape complaints, and the Penal Code establishes a presumption of consent between spouses.

There is an urgent need to ensure the enforcement of laws against gender-based violence and to guarantee that survivors have access to medical care and forensic examinations, psychological counselling and shelters without delay or financial barriers.

Children’s rights should be protected

The president should prioritize the fight against child labour, which despite some progress persists as noted by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery. The authorities should conduct investigations and bring alleged perpetrators to justice. They must ensure access to justice and effective remedies to victims.

It is also essential to facilitate access to civil registration for all children to ensure their human rights.

Ensure and guarantee right to a healthy environment

Already vulnerable rural communities are seeing their land reduced or seized, sometimes without adequate consultation or fair compensation, due to the expansion of agricultural land and illegal logging. The chemicals used in gold mining are making water sources unfit for consumption and agriculture.

There is an urgent need to enforce laws against illegal deforestation, unsustainable logging and land grabbing, to establish consultation and compensation mechanisms, and to facilitate communities’ access to information and remedies when their human rights are violated through environmental degradation, including climate change impacts. The communities’ initiatives must be supported and integrated into public policy.

“The recommendations in our manifesto are not exhaustive, but they provide the future president with a roadmap. These elections offer an opportunity to strengthen respect for human rights in Côte d’Ivoire. We call on all candidates to commit to this,” said Marceau Sivieude.

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Reacting to the release of 52 people imprisoned under politically motivated charges, including journalists, independent trade union leaders and activists, in Belarus, Anna Wright, Regional Researcher for Amnesty International, said:

“The release of 52 people locked up prison in Belarus for exercising their right to freedom of expression is welcome, but long overdue. While their walk to freedom is a relief, more than 1,000 people unjustly criminalized remain behind bars in the country.

“The Belarusian authorities continue their vicious crackdown on dissent. Anyone who dares criticize or protest against the government risks arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other ill-treatment, as well as unfair trial. The climate of repression in Belarus remains all-pervasive.  

“The depth of ongoing abuse is exemplified by the outrageous treatment of opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich – who, alongside the other released prisoners, was brought to the Lithuanian border, where he had to fight for his right not to be exiled.

“The only acceptable resolution to the ongoing human rights crisis in Belarus is the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained solely for exercising their human rights.”

Background

On 1 September 2025, 52 people were freed from arbitrary detention as part of a deal between Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka and US President Donald Trump.

In exchange, the US has said it will ease some sanctions on Belarus. The prisoner release coincided with a joint military exercise between Russia and Belarus, and followed an earlier incident which Poland called an unprecedented Russian drone incursion into its airspace.

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As Amnesty International and six other international human rights organizations released a joint statement calling on the Government of India to immediately release human rights defender and student activist Umar Khalid, ahead of the five-year anniversary of his continued unjust detention without trial, Amnesty India’s chair of the board, Aakar Patel said:

“The Government of India must immediately and unconditionally release human rights defender and student activist Umar Khalid who has been incarcerated for five long years without trial on politically motivated charges. Starved of justice, Khalid’s prolonged persecution exemplifies the derailment of justice in India as it makes a mockery of international human rights principles. The repeated bail denials combined with persistent delays, and the continued absence of trial proceedings, amount to a violation of Khalid’s right to a fair and speedy trial, guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party, as well as under the Constitution of India. 

“In India, the overbroad Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) is routinely and selectively used against human rights defenders including journalists, civil society activists and students who remain imprisoned without trial such as Khalid. The application of bail standards in such cases is also discriminatory as similarly situated accused have been granted bail while Khalid continues to be repeatedly denied relief. All this really demonstrates India’s deep fear of human rights defenders like Umar Khalid who dare to dissent.

“Khalid’s detention is not an isolated case and is emblematic of a broader pattern of repression faced by those who dare to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Other students and human rights activists, including Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Shifa-ur-Rehman and Meeran Haider, also remain in detention for their peaceful opposition to CAA, while police officials and political leaders responsible for incitement or complicity in violence that followed the anti-CAA protests in 2020 continue to enjoy impunity. These are clear cases of selective prosecution aimed at criminalizing and chilling dissent in India.”

Starved of justice, Khalid’s prolonged persecution exemplifies the derailment of justice in India as it makes a mockery of international human rights principles.

Aakar Patel, Amnesty India’s chair of the board

Background:

In December 2019, the Government of India introduced CAA, which alongside the proposed National Population Register prompted nationwide peaceful protests. In February 2020, communal violence erupted in the context of the protests, leaving 53 dead – 38 of them Muslims – and hundreds injured. The Delhi Police failed to bring perpetrators to justice. Instead, they arrested peaceful protesters, including at least 18 students and activists, the majority of them Muslims, including Khalid. Authorities accused them of instigating violence and conspiring to defame the Indian government. 

Khalid was arrested on 13 September 2020 and subsequently charged under the Indian Penal Code with offences including sedition, murder, promoting enmity between religious groups, unlawful assembly, and rioting amongst others. He was also charged under the UAPA for alleged unlawful and terrorist activities and conspiracy and under the Prevention of Damage to Property Act and the Arms Act.

Over the past five years, his bail applications have been denied at least four times by trial and appellate courts, most recently on 2 September and his petition before the Supreme Court of India was adjourned at least 14 times in eleven months ultimately leading Khalid to withdraw his petition.

On 12 September, a joint statement asking for Umar Khalid’s immediate release was issued by Amnesty International, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Forum Asia, Front Line Defenders, and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders 

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The undersigned organisations call for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights defender and student activist Umar Khalid, who was arrested on 13 September 2020 on politically motivated and spurious charges, including for alleged terrorism-related offences, and who remains in detention without trial five years later.

In December 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The law discriminates on the basis of religion by explicitly excluding Muslims from expedited access to citizenship and from legislative protection against deportation and imprisonment. The passage of the CAA, alongside the proposed National Population Register, prompted nationwide peaceful protests over fears that millions of Muslims could be excluded in their access to citizenship. These concerns were reinforced by the precedent of a similar exercise previously undertaken in Assam under a BJP-led state government. Khalid had actively voiced his protest against the CAA on X (formerly Twitter) and through his speeches in Delhi, Mumbai and Bihar amongst others.

In February 2020, following legislative assembly elections in Delhi, communal violence erupted in the context of the protests, leaving 53 people dead – 38 of them Muslims – and hundreds injured. The Delhi Police failed to conduct effective investigations and bring perpetrators to justice, thereby fostering impunity. Instead, they arrested peaceful protesters, including at least 18 students and activists, the majority of them Muslims, including Khalid. Authorities accused them of instigating violence and conspiring to defame the Indian government.

Khalid was arrested on 13 September 2020 and subsequently charged under the Indian Penal Code (since replaced by Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) with offences including sedition, murder, promoting enmity between religious groups, unlawful assembly, and rioting amongst others. He has also been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for alleged unlawful and terrorist activities and conspiracy, and under the Prevention of Damage to Property Act and the Arms Act. In December 2022, a Delhi court acquitted Khalid in the case involving rioting, property damage, and vandalism. However, he has remained arbitrarily detained – and continues to be detained in Delhi’s Tihar Jail – in connection with the broader conspiracy case under the UAPA, in which eight other activists have also been charged and remain behind bars after having their own bail applications rejected.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, with its overbroad definition of “terrorist act” coupled with stringent bail provisions and lengthy investigation, contributes to prolonged, and in many cases, indefinite detention, contravening international human rights law guaranteed the right to liberty, including on presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. The legislation is rampantly and selectively used against human rights defenders including journalists, civil society activists and students who remain imprisoned without trial such as Khalid. In 2024, the Financial Action Task Force in India’s Mutual Evaluation Report highlighted that the delays in prosecutions under the UAPA are “resulting in a high number of pending cases and accused persons in judicial custody waiting for cases to be tried and concluded.” The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and several independent experts of the United Nations Human Rights Council (special procedures) have consistently raised concerns about the vague and overly broad provisions of the UAPA and its use to criminalise legitimate human rights work in India. They have repeatedly called on the Government of India to end the use of the UAPA to curtail human rights and fundamental freedoms. Amnesty International has also echoed these concerns, noting the poor conviction rate under the UAPA and the prolonged detentions, which illustrate how the process itself has become a form of punishment, and has therefore called for its repeal. However, the Indian authorities have not responded to these calls.

In Khalid’s case, the prosecution has primarily rested the invocation of India’s counter-terrorism law on his speech in the Amravati town of Maharashtra state in India on 17 February 2020 that referred to phrases like ‘inquilabli salam’ (revolutionary salute) and ‘krantikari istiqbal’ (revolutionary welcome). While referring to these phrases, Khalid praised the attendees of the event for daring to peacefully dissent against the discriminatory law in the prevailing political context. This did not constitute incitement to violence in any way, and instead showed Khalid exercising his right to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly.

However, over the past five years, his bail applications have been denied at least four times by trial and appellate courts, most recently on 2 September 2025. His petition before the Supreme Court of India was adjourned at least 14 times in eleven months due to requests for adjournment by the state, scheduling delays, and judicial recusals, ultimately leading Khalid to withdraw his petition. In the latest order denying bail, the Delhi High Court described five years of his pre-trial detention as the “natural pace” of proceedings, despite the fact that the trial has yet to begin and the evidence has not been substantively examined. The Court further characterized Khalid’s speeches, mere membership in WhatsApp groups and his role in mobilising protests as part of a “well-orchestrated conspiracy” without demonstrating substantial links to the incitement of violence. These repeated bail denials combined with persistent delays, and the continued absence of trial proceedings, amount to a violation of his right to a fair trial, including speedy trial, guaranteed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which India is a state party, as well as under the Constitution of India.

We are further concerned about the discriminatory application of bail standards in cases arising from the violence surrounding the CAA protests and more broadly in cases involving the UAPA. While similarly situated accused have been granted bail, Khalid continues to be denied relief. Such unequal treatment violates the principle of equality before the law and sets a deeply troubling precedent.

Independent investigations, including by Amnesty International India, Human Rights Watch and Delhi Minorities Commission, have documented the role of the Delhi Police in human rights violations during the CAA protests and the ensuing violence. Police officers were recorded engaging in beatings, torture and other ill-treatment, and arbitrary arrests, and in some cases standing by as mobs attacked protesters. Courts in India have repeatedly criticised the quality of the police investigations, describing them as “very poor,” “callous,” and “fraught with multiple flaws,” and have noted instances of fabricated cases and manipulated records. At the same time, senior political leaders employed inflammatory hate speech, branding protesters as “traitors” or “anti-national” and openly incited violence. Despite the existence of video and documentary evidence, no meaningful accountability measures have been taken against implicated political figures or police officials.

Khalid’s detention is not an isolated case; it is emblematic of a broader pattern of repression faced by those who dare to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and association. Other students and human rights activists, including Gulfisha Fatima, Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Shifa-ur-Rehman and Meeran Haider, also remain in detention for their peaceful opposition to the CAA, while police officials and political leaders responsible for incitement or complicity in violence continue to enjoy impunity. This selective prosecution erodes public trust in the justice system, entrenches impunity for state actors, and criminalises free expression.

• Immediately and unconditionally release Umar Khalid and all others detained solely for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression;
• Ensure quality in the application of bail standards and end the discriminatory treatment of human rights defenders;
• Hold accountable police officials and political leaders against whom there is credible evidence of incitement of and complicity in violence;
• Repeal the UAPA or amend it to bring it into full conformity with international human rights law;
• Respect, protect, and promote the rights to liberty, fair trial, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

SIGNED BY:

Amnesty International

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

FORUM-ASIA

Front Line Defenders

International Commission for Jurists

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

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Responding to the unlawful three-day blanket ban on all protests issued by the Istanbul governor and reports of unlawful use of force by police against protestors, Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Research in Europe, said:

“The Turkish authorities’ crackdown on protestors in Istanbul on Sunday and Monday is the latest chapter in an ongoing pattern of police violence that has marred the country for over a decade.

“Blanket bans on protest are a disproportionate restriction on the right of peaceful assembly. Moreover, according to evidence seen by Amnesty International, police used both unnecessary and disproportionate force – deploying water cannons, kinetic impact projectiles and pepper spray against largely peaceful protesters.  

“Turkish authorities must immediately lift the blanket ban and refrain from imposing these bans in future. Authorities have a duty to protect and facilitate the right of peaceful assembly, not to prevent or restrict it. The authorities must also investigate the allegations of unlawful police use of force, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure victims receive redress for the harms they were subjected to.”

Background

Last week, an Istanbul court ruled to suspend the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Istanbul provincial leadership from duty. The court appointed a temporary board in their place.

On 7 September, the Istanbul governor issued a three day blanket ban on meetings and demonstrations. Hundreds of police officers were deployed to block roads leading to and surrounding the Istanbul headquarters of the CHP. That evening, largely peaceful protesters tried to gather at the headquarters to protest the court order but faced police barriers.

According to internet watchdog NetBlocks, late on Sunday evening internet speed became limited and major social media platforms and messaging services such as X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp were restricted for at least 21 hours.

According to media reports, a number of protesters were detained.

Three people are also being held in pre-trial detention for their social media posts in relation to the protests. The General Directorate of Security announced that a total of 103 accounts were identified as having shared “provocative and disinformation content.”

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