Schlagwort: human rights

In response to today’s Global Covid-19 Summit: Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better, where US President Biden and EU President von der Leyen announced new commitments to donate an additional 900 million to low and lower-middle income countries by September 2022, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard, said:

“Fair access to Covid-19 vaccines across the world is our only pathway out of this crisis so we welcome the news that the USA and the EU have committed to new targets in the fight against this pandemic.

“Ensuring everyone in all countries, rich and poor, can be vaccinated is an essential goal to keep us all safe, but the world is already miles off track from the World Health Organization’s current target of ensuring 40% of people in lower-income countries are vaccinated by the end of this year.

“Yes, today’s summit produced large pledges of vaccines that will eventually save lives, but inexplicably delays delivering the vast majority of them until well into 2022. Why wait to act when hundreds of millions of doses are available today and people are dying right now?

Why wait to act when hundreds of millions of doses are available today and people are dying right now?

Agnès Callamard

“The US and EU have together pledged over 1.6 billion vaccine doses – but not until far into 2022. With the right level of urgency and political will, a huge number of these doses could be shared in the next few months – especially as they are projected to be sitting on around 900 million surplus doses by the end of the year.

“Other countries such as UK, Canada and Japan must also step up and make much more ambitious contributions if they are to get serious about meeting the WHO goal for 2021.

“It is essential states and companies work together to deliver 2 billion vaccines to lower-income countries by the end of this year and Amnesty International is calling for a concrete plan detailing when the vaccines are going to be shared and where. If immediate action isn’t taken now, millions more lives will be lost.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

Today marks 100 days until the end of the year and Amnesty International is launching its’ new campaign, 100 Day Countdown: 2 billion Covid-19 vaccines now!.

The organization is calling on states and pharmaceutical companies to deliver 2 billion vaccines to those who need it most starting now, to ensure that the World Health Organisation’s target of vaccinating 40% of the population of low and lower-middle income countries by the end of the year is met.

Projections from data science company Airfinity estimate that the EU, UK, US, Canada, Japan and China are currently sitting on over 500 million surplus vaccine doses – a figure that will rise to over 1.5 billion by the end of the year on current trends.

Over 5 billion vaccines are projected to be produced worldwide between September and December 2021.

The post COVID-19: States must take immediate action and deliver surplus vaccines now, not next year appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to the arrest of prominent Thai rights activist Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul today for alleged sedition and computer-related crimes, Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, said:

“As Thailand’s protest movement resumes, the Thai authorities continue to abuse their powers to detain and penalize peaceful protesters. For many years, the Thai authorities have tried to systematically silence the voices of activists and human rights defenders.  The arrest of Panusaya today marks just the latest example of the government’s long-running campaign of repression.”

“Panusaya is a student and a prominent protest leader who has been repeatedly targeted by authorities. She is a vocal voice in youth-led calls to uphold freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Thailand. Arresting Panusaya shows the government has no intention of ending its vilification of human rights defenders and those who call for political reform.”

“To press arbitrary charges against Panusaya under the vaguely-worded Computer Crime Act and the overbroad sedition offence is a disgrace and a clear abuse of powers. The Thai authorities must immediately drop these charges. These laws enable the criminalization of freedom of expression and must be amended or repealed.”

“The continued support of the protests in Bangkok shows that the people of Thailand value their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The Thai government must allow individuals to have their voices heard in peaceful assemblies.”

“Amnesty International calls on the authorities to immediately drop all charges against all peaceful protesters, release those still detained and commence meaningful dialogue with demonstrators.”

Background

Thai rights activist Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul was arrested today by Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division and charged with sedition and computer-related crimes under Section 116 of the Criminal Code and the Computer Crime Act. Panusaya was later granted bail for 35,000 Baht (approx. USD 1,050).

She faces multiple criminal charges for her peaceful activism and may face up to life imprisonment if convicted.

Panusaya has campaigned tirelessly to promote social justice, equality, democracy and human rights. Authorities have repeatedly detained her and denied other student protesters the right to release on bail. Panusaya was detained from October 15-30, 2020 and from March to May 2021, during which time she contracted Covid-19.

Panusaya took part in groundbreaking, youth-led demonstrations with tens of thousands of mostly students last year that called for social and political reforms. Her arrest today comes amid years-long efforts by the Thai authorities to silence criticism and repress freedom of expression.

In March 2021, the Thai authorities proposed a draft law to regulate non-profit groups as part of efforts to pass repressive legislation that further muzzle civil society groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In the latest iteration, the bill would give the government the power to arbitrarily ban groups, invade organizations’ privacy and infringe on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

In response to tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets to demand democratic reforms throughout 2020 and into 2021 in Bangkok, the capital, and in provinces across Thailand, police have frequently used unlawful, excessive and unnecessary force to disperse peaceful protestors and enacted criminal proceedings against hundreds of demonstrators. 

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, from July 2020 to 20 September 2021, at least 1,341 individuals (182 of them children) have faced criminal charges – including sedition, royal defamation, computer-related crime, violation of the Public Assembly – in 1,040 lawsuits for joining protests.

The post Thailand: Immediately drop unjustified charges against protest leader appeared first on Amnesty International.

Following a decision by a District Court in The Hague to reject a claim brought by Amnesty Netherlands and a coalition of NGOs and individual claimants that the use of ethnicity in stop and searches by Dutch border police was discriminatory, Amnesty Netherlands’ Director, Dagmar Oudshoorn said:

“Today’s ruling that the Dutch border police can continue to use ethnic profiling not only throws international human rights law out of the window, but also tramples Article 1 of the Dutch constitution.

“By ruling that police can target people based on skin colour and race the court has allowed a practice that is in a clear violation of the prohibition against discrimination to continue. We will appeal this decision.”

The post The Netherlands: Decision to allow continued use of ethnic profiling “throws international human rights law out of the window” appeared first on Amnesty International.

Release Political Prisoners, Respect Right to Peaceful Assembly 

Cameroon’s authorities should ensure accountability for their security forces’ crackdown on opposition leaders, supporters and peaceful protesters in September 2020, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. 

They should immediately and unconditionally release all those held for expressing their political views or for exercising their right to peaceful assembly and end the campaign of repression against peaceful protesters and critics.

“Last September, Cameroonians courageously challenged their government over their crackdown on peaceful dissent, and they were met with violence and contempt.

llaria Allegrozzi, Senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“Last September, Cameroonians courageously challenged their government over their crackdown on peaceful dissent, and they were met with violence and contempt,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“One year on, the repression continues, with more protests banned and peaceful protesters still behind bars.”

On September 22, 2020 security forces fired teargas and water cannons to disperse peaceful protests across Cameroon. They arrested over 500 people, mainly opposition party members and supporters. The authorities beat many people during those arrests and in custody.

These protests had been organized following calls by the opposition party, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (Mouvement pour la renaissance du Cameroun – MRC), other opposition parties, and civil society organizations to take to the streets over the government’s decision to organize regional elections.

Opposition parties had expressed concerns that the elections could not be conducted freely and fairly without reforming the electoral code and addressing the lack of security in the Anglophone regions.

Maurice Kamto, the MRC leader, was arrested in January 2019 after countrywide peaceful protests and released following a presidential decree in October 2019. He was rearrested on September 20, 2020  and was held under de facto house arrest until  December 8, with heavy security apparatus  outside his residence. The authorities never charged Kamto or provided an explanation for his house arrest.

According to a committee of MRC lawyers, at least 124 MRC members and supporters, including the prominent leaders Olivier Bibou Nissack and Alain Fogue Tedom remain in arbitrary detention, in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital; Douala, in Littoral region; Bafoussam, in West region; and Mfou, in Centre region.

In all, 116 face trial before military courts, on charges stemming from their participation in protests or for their activism. Eight have been convicted before a civilian court on similar charges and are serving two-year prison sentences.

On August 3, the prosecutor of the Yaoundé military court dismissed a complaint filed by Alain Fogue Tedom’s lawyers on January 13 alleging that he was tortured in detention between September 22 and November 3, 2020 at the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’Etat à la défense, SED), a detention facility in Yaoundé. Human Rights Watch has documented routine use of torture at the SED facility.

“It has become abundantly clear that civilians cannot get a fair trial before military courts, which lack independence,” a Cameroonian human rights lawyer, Michelle Ndoki, told Human Rights Watch.

It has become abundantly clear that civilians cannot get a fair trial before military courts, which lack independence.”

Michelle Ndoki, Cameroonian human rights lawyer

“The use of military courts to try civilians violates international law, and Cameroon should once and for all reverse this troubling trend.”

In a statement on September 9, 2, the committee of MRC lawyers declared that it decided “to withdraw from the ongoing legal proceedings,” as “it cannot associate itself with arbitrariness and illegality.”

 In a separate statement, issued the same day, the 124 detainees, calling themselves “Paul Biya’s political hostages,” referring to the country’s president, said they would no longer appear before Cameroonian jurisdictions because they do not want to support “a parody of justice.”

In a separate incident, on September 18, 2020, gendarmes arrested four members of the civil society platform Stand Up for Cameroon who had attended a meeting at the headquarters of the opposition Cameroon People’s Party in Douala.

A year later they remain arbitrarily detained at Douala New Bell prison, facing trial before a military court, on charges of attempted conspiracy, revolution and insurrection. On September 15, the Douala military court adjourned the trial for the sixth time, until October 13.

The Cameroonian authorities have not opened an investigation into the violations by security forces and other government personnel during the September 2020 crackdown, and no one has been held accountable. Indeed, government repression of opposition and dissent continues. Authorities prohibited an MRC demonstration planned for July 25  in Yaoundé, citing concerns around Covid-19 and general public order. On the same day, however, a demonstration by supporters of the ruling party took place in Bertoua, Eastern region.

On  August 9,  gendarmes arbitrarily arrested the prominent  tech entrepreneur and vocal critic of President Biya, Rebecca Enonchong, in Douala. She was detained   for “contempt of a magistrate,” until August 13, then  was released  and all charges against her were dropped. She had previously supported human rights campaigns and denounced violations by government forces.

The European Union noted that “civil and political rights continue to be subject to limitations” in Cameroon, in a statement to the Human Rights Council on September14.

“One year after violently quashing peaceful demonstrations, Cameroonian authorities are still resorting to their old repressive tactics,” said Fabien Offner, Amnesty International’s Central Africa researcher.

“The African Union, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Economic Community of Central African States, and Cameroon’s other regional and international partners should press the government to ensure accountability for security forces’ violations and demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained and the respect of free speech and peaceful assembly.”

One year after violently quashing peaceful demonstrations, Cameroonian authorities are still resorting to their old repressive tactics.”

Fabien Offner, Amnesty International’s Central Africa researcher.

The post Cameroon: Repression marks crackdown anniversary appeared first on Amnesty International.

• AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer refused to participate in initiatives to boost global vaccine supply
• Less than 1% of people in low-income countries are fully vaccinated, compared to 55% in rich countries
• BioNTech, Moderna and Pfizer set to earn US$130 billion by the end of 2022
• Ahead of President Biden’s global Covid-19 summit, Amnesty International throws down gauntlet and calls for 2 billion vaccines to be delivered to low and lower-middle income countries before end of the year

Six companies at the helm of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out are fuelling an unprecedented human rights crisis through their refusal to waive intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology, with most failing to prioritise vaccine deliveries to poorer countries, Amnesty International said today.

In a new report, A Double Dose of Inequality: Pharma companies and the Covid-19 vaccines crisis, the organization assessed six of the companies that hold the fate of billions of people in their hands: AstraZeneca plc, BioNTech SE, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Inc., Novavax, Inc. and Pfizer, Inc. It paints a dismal picture of an industry that is woefully failing to respect human rights.

“Vaccinating the world is our only pathway out of this crisis. It should be time to hail these companies, who created vaccines so quickly, as heroes. But instead, to their shame and our collective grief, Big Pharma’s intentional blocking of knowledge transfer and their wheeling and dealing in favor of wealthy states has brewed an utterly predictable and utterly devastating vaccine scarcity for so many others” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Its plunging parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia into renewed crises, pushing weakened health systems to the very brink and causing tens of thousands of preventable deaths every week. In many low-income countries not even health workers and people at-risk have received the vaccine.”  

“Against the backdrop of these gross inequalities BioNTech, Moderna and Pfizer are set to make US$130 billion combined by the end of 2022. Profits should never come before lives.”

Failing to meet human rights responsibilities

In order to assess their response to the crisis, Amnesty International reviewed each company’s human rights policy, vaccine pricing structure, their records on intellectual property, knowledge and technology sharing, the fair allocation of available vaccine doses, and transparency. It found that to differing degrees, the six vaccine developers had failed to meet their human rights responsibilities.

Out of 5.76 billion doses administered worldwide, a paltry 0.3% have gone to low-income countries with over 79% going to upper-middle and high-income countries. Despite calls to prioritise and collaborate with COVAX Facility, the international instrument aiming to ensure a fair global vaccine allocation, some of the assessed companies have continued to stock up vaccine supplies for states known to be hoarding the vaccine.

All the companies assessed have so far refused to take part in internationally coordinated initiatives designed to boost global supply by sharing knowledge and technology. They have also opposed proposals to temporarily lift intellectual property rights, such as the World Trade Organization Trade Related Intellectual Property Rules (TRIPS) Waiver proposed by India and South Africa.

Further findings included:

• Pfizer and BioNTech have so far delivered nine times more vaccines to Sweden alone than to all low-income countries combined – less than 1% of their production so far. High prices mean the companies are set to earn over $86 billion in revenues by the end of 2022.
• Moderna has not yet delivered a single vaccine dose to a low-income country, has provided just 12% of its vaccines to lower-middle income countries, and will not deliver the vast majority of its orders for COVAX until 2022. Higher prices mean it is set to earn over $47bn in revenues by the end of 2022
• Johnson & Johnson has developed the world’s only single dose vaccine and sells at cost price, yet it will not deliver the vast majority of its commitments to COVAX and the African Union until 2022. They have also refused to grant a license to a Canadian manufacturer offering to manufacture millions more doses.
• Astrazeneca has delivered the most vaccines to lower income countries, sells at cost price, and has issued some voluntary licenses to other manufacturers. However, it has refused to openly share its knowledge and technology with WHO initiatives and has opposed the TRIPS Waiver.
• Novavax has yet to be approved for use, but currently plans to provide almost two-thirds of its production to supply COVAX. However, like others, it has refused to share its knowledge and technology and has opposed the TRIPS Waiver.

Despite most companies receiving billions of dollars in government funding and advance orders, vaccine developers have monopolized intellectual property, blocked technology transfers, and lobbied aggressively against measures that would expand the global manufacturing of these vaccines. Their continued inaction has caused human rights harms suffered by the billions of people still unable to access a lifesaving Covid-19 vaccine.

100-day countdown

“Today marks 100 days until the end of the year. We’re calling on states and pharmaceutical companies to drastically change course and to do everything needed to deliver 2 billion vaccines to low and lower-middle income countries starting now. No one should spend another year suffering and living in fear,” said Agnès Callamard.

“Today marks 100 days until the end of the year. We’re calling on states and pharmaceutical companies to drastically change course and to do everything needed to deliver 2 billion vaccines to low and lower-middle income countries starting now.”

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General

To coincide with the publication of today’s report, Amnesty International is launching a global campaign – backed by the World Health Organisation and High Commissioner for Human Rights – to hold states and big pharma to account. The 100 Day Countdown: 2 billion Covid-19 vaccines now! is demanding that the World Health Organisation’s target of vaccinating 40% of the population of low and lower-middle income countries by the end of the year is met. We are calling upon states to urgently redistribute the hundreds of millions of excess doses currently sitting idle and for vaccine developers to ensure that at least 50% of doses produced go to these countries. If states and pharma companies continue down their current path, there will be no end in sight for Covid-19.

“Armed with billions of dollars of tax-payers money and expertise from research institutions, pharmaceutical companies have played a pivotal role in developing life-saving vaccines. But now they must take immediate action to provide billions more people with the chance to be inoculated. To achieve a fair and rapid roll-out, vaccine developers must prioritise deliveries to countries that need them most and suspend their intellectual property rights, share their knowledge and technology and train qualified manufacturers to ramp-up production of Covid-19 vaccines,” said Agnès Callamard.

As President Biden is set to announce new commitments to fight the coronavirus pandemic including fully vaccinating 70 percent of the world’s population by next September, at a summit today (22^nd Sept), Agnès Callamard said:

“Covid-19 vaccines must be readily available and accessible for all. It is up to governments and pharma companies to make this a reality. We need leaders like President Biden, to put billions of doses on the table and deliver the goods, otherwise this is just another empty gesture and lives will continue to be lost.”

Amnesty International is also calling on states to ensure that health facilities and medicines, are available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality to everyone. They must adopt laws and policies to ensure pharmaceutical companies conform with human rights standards.

Amnesty International wrote to each company before publication. Five companies – AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson – responded. The companies acknowledge that fair and equitable distribution, particularly in low-income countries, is essential, but all companies have failed to meet these aspirations and fulfil their human rights responsibilities.

Background

Amnesty International’s report did not assess in detail the Russian and Chinese companies that are producing billions of doses, as these companies disclose less corporate information. This lack of transparency makes it impossible to conduct a full assessment. However, like all companies, they also have human rights responsibilities. They, too, have not distributed their vaccines equitably, reserving the majority of doses for domestic consumption, and failed to join knowledge and technology sharing pools.

Data on the distribution of vaccines, projected production and revenue forecasts for each company was drawn from Airfinity, a data science company. Data on vaccination rates in different countries was taken from Our World In Data.

Using data from these sources, Amnesty has calculated that an additional 1.2 billion people in low and lower-middle income countries would need to be vaccinated by the end of the year to meet the WHO’s target of vaccinating 40% of the population in these countries. This would require over 2 billion vaccines. If just 50% of the world’s projected vaccine production until the end of the year was distributed to low and lower-middle income countries, it would provide 2.6 billion vaccines.

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