Following a new wave of island-wide protests in Cuba over the past several days, there are worrying indicators that the authorities are repeating the repressive tactics they used for decades and also during the crackdown on protesters on 11 July last year, said Amnesty International today.

“In the latest wave of protests that have lasted several days, Cubans are exercising their simple but historically repressed rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Alarmingly, it seems the authorities are repeating the tactics of repression they used last year to detain and silence protesters, hundreds of whom remain in prison,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

“The international community must condemn the cycles of repression we are seeing in Cuba in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable for authorities to keep intimidating, threatening, detaining, stigmatizing, and attempting to silence anyone who demands necessities like electricity, food, and freedom.”

Since the start of protests in late September, Amnesty International has received reports of on-going internet interference, deployment of police and military, including cadets, to repress the protests, and arbitrary detentions.

Starting on the evening of 29 September, the Cuban authorities appear to have intentionally shut down internet access throughout the country. The internet outage lasted for at least two consecutive nights.

Cuban authorities control the country’s only telecommunication network and have often restricted internet access during politically sensitive times or moments of protests.

Alarmingly, it seems the authorities are repeating the tactics of repression they used last year to detain and silence protesters, hundreds of whom remain in prison.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

Amnesty International has heard that the latest internet outages have made it hard for families to communicate following the passage of hurricane Ian, at a time when many people have had their homes damaged. They have also impacted the ability of independent human rights observers, including Amnesty International, and independent journalists to document the human rights situation in the country. Journalist Luz Escobar told Amnesty International that her internet was cut three nights in a row, impacting her ability to work, and that as of 4 October, several other journalists working at her independent online newspaper, 14 y medio, were without internet.

Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab has also analysed several videos that did not appear online before these protests. One video which Amnesty International analysed was filmed on Street 41, at the corner of 66 in Havana, Cuba, and appears to show the deployment of plain-clothed military cadets, armed with baseball bats, chanting pro-government slogans, including “I am Fidel.”

Another video, which also first appeared online in the context of the protests, and which is consistent with other videos Amnesty International has verified from the protests, appears to also show cadets with baseball bats chasing and then detaining protesters.

The Cuban authorities have developed a sophisticated machinery for controlling any form of dissent and protest, as previously documented by Amnesty International. While state security officials often carry out surveillance and arbitrary detentions of critics, the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution (local members of the Communist Party who collaborate with state officials and law enforcement agencies) also provide the state with information about, what is considered,  “counter-revolutionary activity.” “Acts of repudiation” – demonstrations led by government supporters with the alleged participation of state security officials – are also commonplace and aimed at harassing and intimidating government critics.

While communication with Cuba remains stunted due to internet interference, Justicia J11, a group established following the crackdown on protesters in July 2021 – has reported 26 detentions since 30 September, mostly of young people and artists, 19 of whom they reported remained in detention as of 4 October 2022.

Cuban authorities criminalized nearly all those who participated in the protests in July 2021, including some children, but flatly denied any human rights violations, and placed the blame for the economic situation almost exclusively on the US economic embargo. Similarly, on 2 October 2022, President Díaz-Canel downplayed the widespread nature of the latest protests and suggested that a minority of “counter-revolutionaries” with connections outside Cuba, had carried out “acts of vandalism such as blocking roads or throwing rocks” and would be dealt with with the “force of the law.”

Background

Following the passage of hurricane Ian, the electricity has been cut in multiple parts of the island, adding to the frequent electricity outages in recent months. NASA night-time light data showed a significant decrease in lights between 23 September, before the passing of Ian, and after, on 30 September.

Electricity outages have exacerbated violations of economic and social rights in the country, as in recent months Cubans have had to line up for many hours to buy food and other necessities, in the context of widespread food shortages.

The recent protests have occurred just 14 months after the similar widespread protests on 11 July 2021, which were followed by a crackdown on dissent. Hundreds remain imprisoned for the 11 July protests, including three prisoners of conscience: artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Pérez, as well as leader of the non-official opposition, José Daniel Ferrer García. Other prisoners of conscience named by Amnesty International at the time were released on the condition of going into exile.

The post Cuba: Tactics of repression must not be repeated appeared first on Amnesty International.

The post Sri Lanka: Human rights compliant recovery measures critical to stop spiraling hunger and poverty  appeared first on Amnesty International.

Wet’suwet’en land defenders in Canada are at risk of serious human rights violations as the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline has reportedly begun under the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River), said Amnesty International today. 

“The decision to allow the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is a brazen violation of the community’s right to self-determination and a lamentable step backwards in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Moreover, expansion of fossil fuels extraction and infrastructure is against Canada’s obligation to protect human rights from the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (English-Speaking). “Amnesty International Canada calls on the governments of Canada and B.C. to halt pipeline construction in the traditional, unceded territories of the Wet’suwet’en.”

Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs – the traditional authorities of the Nation according to Wet’suwet’en Law as well as the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1997 Delgamuukw ruling – have never consented to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, even though some elected First Nations governments have signed benefit agreements with the company. The Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) is one of the last remaining clean sources of drinking water and salmon spawning grounds in the territory, and Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have raised concerns that the pipeline project would damage the river.

The decision to allow the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is a brazen violation of the community’s right to self-determination and a lamentable step backwards in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples

Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada

Peaceful protestors and land defenders occupied the drill pad site in September 2021. British Columbia’s Minister of Public Safety authorized militarized police forces to arrest and forcibly remove land defenders from the territory in order to enforce an injunction obtained by the company. Wet’suwet’en and other land defenders faced three raids by heavily armed police, and 19 people are currently facing criminal contempt charges for defying a court injunction that authorizes the police to remove people occupying permitted work sites.  

Wet’suwet’en land defenders say they are harassed, intimidated, forcibly removed, and criminalized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the company’s private security guards solely for peacefully defending their traditional lands over which they have title. In May, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a third letter to Canada noting its concern over the escalating use of force, surveillance, and criminalization of land defenders and peaceful protestors by the RCMP, its Community-Industry Response Group and private security firms. 

“The Canadian government must immediately withdraw security and policing forces from Wet’suwet’en territory and investigate all allegations of harassment, intimidation, threats and forced evictions of land rights defenders and others peacefully protesting against the pipeline. Continuing with the construction of this pipeline in Indigenous territory will further endanger human rights defenders, Wet’suwet’en communities and ultimately our planet,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Chief Na’Moks said, “Even though they have started to illegally drill with illegal permits from the government of BC, the Hereditary Chiefs have never been supportive nor have given consent for this project. We will continue to oppose this pipeline using all means necessary, as it is our Traditional law. No elected official nor an industry can overrule nor ignore our decisions as a nation who have never ceded, surrendered nor signed a treaty.”

The post Canada: Construction of pipeline on Indigenous territory endangers land defenders appeared first on Amnesty International.

On 3 October, top EU officials will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in the first high-level meeting of the EU-Israel Association Council in over ten years. Ahead of the meeting, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office, said:

Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians. This is a crime against humanity requiring the EU to hold Israel’s leaders to account, and to ensure it in no way supports their apartheid system. Any cooperation must focus on dismantling Israel’s cruel system of oppression and domination

Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU office

“Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians. This is a crime against humanity requiring the EU to hold Israel’s leaders to account, and to ensure it in no way supports their apartheid system. Any cooperation must focus on dismantling Israel’s cruel system of oppression and domination.

“The Israeli authorities are subjecting Palestinians to land seizures, unlawful killings, forcible transfers and severe movement restrictions while denying their humanity, equal nationality and status. The EU cannot claim shared human rights commitments with a state perpetrating apartheid and which has in recent months shuttered the offices of renowned Palestinian civil society organizations, scaled up the demolition of homes in the occupied West Bank, and carried out apparently unlawful attacks in the Gaza Strip.

“Discussions around EU-Israel’s relations have been on hold for the past decade amid EU concerns over Israel’s disregard for international law and its unlawful settlement policy, which continues unabated. By paying lip service to human rights while prioritising political relations and energy supplies, the EU risks further entrenching impunity for crimes under international law and Israel’s cruel system of oppression and domination against Palestinians, weakening its credibility to hold other rights-abusing governments across the globe to account. EU leaders must recognize that the reality in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is one of apartheid and take concrete steps to address it.”

Background

Ahead of the EU-Israel Association Council, Amnesty International has outlined its key human rights concerns and recommendations to EU leaders in a letter sent to the EU High Representative and the foreign ministers of EU member states.

In recent days, worrying signals have emerged that EU representatives are going to water down language on key human rights concerns in their Association Council statement.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: press@amnesty.org

Out of hours contact details : +44 20 7413 5566 .

The post EU-Israel Summit: Apartheid is no basis for cooperation appeared first on Amnesty International.

In order to fight inequality and discrimination, governments in the Americas must adopt all measures necessary to ensure full enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights in the region, Amnesty International said today in an open letter to the heads of state who will attend the 52^nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). In addition, they must guarantee protection for refugees and migrants who face high levels of violence and discrimination based on their gender, race, or nationality, among other factors.

“The main theme of the OAS General Assembly is ‘together against inequality and discrimination’, but it is time for governments to move from words to urgent action to tackle the systemic failures that are preventing the full realization of human rights for all people in the region. This requires comprehensive action to dismantle inequality, racism, and discrimination,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

As Amnesty International has documented, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated the deep structural inequalities in the Americas that are rooted in economic, racial and gender-based factors. Many people in the region, among them women, Indigenous people, and people of African descent, suffered disproportionately in terms of rights to life, health, social protection, and the rights to an adequate standard of living and to work.

Emergency measures adopted by governments to deal with the pandemic have not been sufficient insofar as complying with their duty to eradicate discrimination and actively promote substantive equality in the enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic and social rights.

The main theme of the OAS General Assembly is ‘together against inequality and discrimination’, but it is time for governments to move from words to urgent action to tackle the systemic failures that are preventing the full realization of human rights for all people in the region.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

Furthermore, the structural problems in the health systems in the Americas in terms of free and universal access and adequate budgetary and human resources mean that the healthcare systems do not comply with the requirements of accessibility, availability, quality, and cultural relevance established by the right to health.

Almost every country in the region spends less than 6% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on public health, which is the standard set by the Pan-American Health Organization to achieve universal health coverage. Governments in the Americas must, at the very least, ensure that public spending on health is at least 6% of GDP as established by PAHO. To achieve this, they must organize their tax policies, both in revenue collection and expenditure, in order to progressively seek to significantly reduce discrimination and inequality.

The American continent is the location of some of the world’s most important cross-border movements of people. The human rights crisis in Venezuela has forced more than 6.8 million people to flee the country in search of international protection. Meanwhile, the political and humanitarian crisis in Haiti has led to the movement of thousands of people who are trapped at different borders in the region. In addition, as a result of the situation of generalized violence, compounded by natural disasters associated with climate change in Central America, tens of thousands of people from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala have set off for the north of the continent.

For women refugees and migrants, their migration status is a risk factor that increases their vulnerability, exposing them to gender-based violence throughout the migration route or in the cities where they decide to stay. A recent Amnesty International investigation revealed that figures on gender-based violence against Venezuelan women refugees in Colombia and Peru have increased alarmingly in recent years. 

In the case of Haiti, Amnesty International concluded that the mass or collective expulsions of Haitian asylum seekers by US authorities under Title 42 form part of a practice of detention, exclusion, and deterrence based on systematic discrimination against people of African descent. The treatment of Haitians by US authorities constitutes race-based torture under international human rights law.

The post Americas: Governments in the region must take urgent measures to address inequality and discrimination appeared first on Amnesty International.