Responding to the media reports of killing of at least one person and more than 60 others sustaining injuries following a clash between supporters of the opposition party and the police in Dhaka on Wednesday, Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia, said:
“This incident shows that the Bangladesh authorities have very little regard for the sanctity of human life and sends a chilling message that those who dare to exercise their human rights will face dire consequences. Authorities must put an end to excessive use of force when responding to large-scale demonstrations and only respond in a manner that is consistent with international standards.
This incident shows that the Bangladesh authorities have very little regard for the sanctity of human life and sends a chilling message that those who dare to exercise their human rights will face dire consequences.
Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia
“In recent weeks, we have seen an alarming escalation of repression by the authorities, who are carrying out mass arrests of political activists, raising serious concerns about violence, intimidation and harassment ahead of the parliamentary elections next year. It’s imperative that the government shows the political will to uphold the human rights of everyone, including guaranteeing that people can fully exercise their rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly in the country.
“Authorities must end impunity for repression of peaceful protests, and promptly, thoroughly and effectively investigate cases of excessive use of force by the police. They must ensure that suspected perpetrators are brought to justice, and that victims are provided with access to justice and effective remedies.”
BACKGROUND
On 7 December, activists and supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the largest opposition party, and the police clashed outside the party headquarters in Dhaka’s Paltan area after the BNP announced a major political rally on December 10.
Women and girls face re-traumatization trying to remove explicit content from internet
Google’s inadequate reporting system fails to deliver swift and transparent responses
Survivors of online sexual abuse in South Korea have told Amnesty International their suffering has been compounded by Google’s slow and convoluted system for processing content takedown requests.
Women and girls targeted with digital sex crimes said the process for reporting non-consensual explicit content on Google was so difficult to navigate that videos of sexual abuse have ended up proliferating online.
“As a wave of digital sex crimes in South Korea causes severe harm to the women and girls who have been targeted, Google’s inadequate system for reporting non-consensual explicit content is making matters even worse,” said Jihyun Yoon, Director of Amnesty International Korea.
“Google must do more to prevent the spread of online gender-based violence – not just in Korea, but everywhere. Survivors around the world are forced to use this same flawed reporting system when they try to get harmful content removed, so it is highly likely this issue extends way beyond Korea.”
Amnesty International today launched a global petition calling on Google to address the flaws in its reporting system.
Digital sex crimes rise despite “Nth Room” case
In March 2020, a group of South Korean journalists exposed the existence of eight secret chat rooms on messaging app Telegram where thousands of videos of women and girls containing explicit non-consensual sexual content, were being sold using cryptocurrency without their consent. Korean police said more than 60,000 people participated in the crimes by entering these rooms, collectively known as the “Nth Room” case.
In October 2021, one of the “Nth Room” case chat operators was sentenced to 42 years in jail. However, digital sex crimes are continuing, and what distinguishes them from other instances of sexual violence is the additional harm caused by the ease of repeated sharing and distribution.
Recent criminal cases show that perpetrators habitually threaten survivors with existing video content to force them into producing more sexually abusive content. This shows that unless the non-consensual content and personal information of survivors is deleted, women and girls are subjected to further harm or crimes even when the original perpetrators are punished.
“Deleting non-consensual explicit content circulated online is essential for restoring the survivors’ daily lives. These women have no choice but to put their faith in removal requests to tech companies, despite the painful process of having to repeatedly search for and collect the non-consensual explicit content they are featured in,” said Jihyun Yoon.
“When these requests are not processed quickly and the abusive content can be re-distributed at any time, survivors are exposed to prolonged physical and mental harm.”
Google’s poorly functioning reporting system
Google says non-consensual explicit content can be removed on request. However, the survivors and activists who spoke with Amnesty International Korea said Google’s reporting categories and procedures were confusing and difficult to follow. The appropriate forms were difficult to find, and they contained ambiguous categories about the type of content being reported.
After a complaint had finally been successfully submitted, users then faced a lack of communication on the progress of their claim – often for months on end.
Google has a lot of advantages – you can easily get the information you want. But to the victims, Google is nothing more than a huge distribution website. It is the worst website in terms of secondary victimization.
Survivor Hyun-jin
Amnesty International Korea carried out a survey of 25 survivors and activists – and all 11 of those who made complaints via Google said it was difficult to confirm whether their requests had been properly processed. This was mainly due to a lack of communication from Google during the reporting process.
Survivor *Hyun-jin waited just over a year between receiving a confirmation receipt from Google and finally being informed of the outcome of a series of removal requests she had sent.
Google also appeared to fail to take into account survivors’ trauma when crafting its takedown procedures. When reporting content, users must tick a box saying they recognize they can be punished if the submission is not true, while Google states it will not process incomplete complaints.
Hyun-jin said these guidelines heightened her anxiety: “I submitted it with difficulty, but rather than being convinced that it would be deleted, I became more anxious because I thought that if it didn’t work, it would be my responsibility.”
She has since prepared a 600-word model response explaining in detail why the content is unlawful, and she has shared it with other survivors to help them make removal requests.
One of the reporting forms provided by Google also requires a “photo ID” to be attached when submitting a report, failing to take into account the fact that survivors who have had explicit material distributed without their consent fear sharing their image online.
“Asking survivors to post photo IDs online, where videos of victims are circulating, is nothing short of traumatic,” said Dan of activist group Team Flame.
Google ‘the worst website in terms of secondary victimization’
Amnesty International interviewed four survivors of online gender-based violence along with six activists who have been supporting them. All survivors reported damage to their physical and mental health, including a need to isolate themselves from society to avoid stigma.
While the sexual abuse and its dissemination online already caused immense harm to these survivors, this was exacerbated when they were confronted with the slow and confusing process of trying to remove the content from the internet.
“It was so easy [for the perpetrator] to upload a video, but it took months to get it removed,” survivor Hyun-jin told Amnesty International.
She had gone to the police after a non-consensual video of her, containing sexually explicit content, was distributed online. She wrongly assumed the video would soon be deleted.
“When you are victimized like this, you have no idea what to do. I was looking at my phone and googling my name the whole day. I could barely sleep an hour a day, spending most of my time searching. I had constant nightmares, but reality itself was more of a nightmare.
“In order to delete videos, images and search keywords, I had to take hundreds of screenshots and report these to Google. I couldn’t ask someone else to do all this for me because I had to attach these harmful images depicting myself when I reported them. I had to face it all alone.
“Google has a lot of advantages – you can easily get the information you want. But to the victims, Google is nothing more than a huge distribution website. It is the worst website in terms of secondary victimization. The other day, I checked the URLs with the distributed content, and [the search results] were over 30 pages long. They weren’t even easily removed on request. [Yet] I can’t help but continue making removal requests.”
Responsibility of tech companies to prevent harm on their services
Google’s inadequate reporting system is difficult to navigate, inconsistent and hard to track, resulting in a failure to deliver swift and transparent responses to survivors.
The responsibility of all companies to respect human rights has been well articulated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which state that all business enterprises are required to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities, and to address such impacts when they occur.
“By responding inconsistently and slowly to removal requests by survivors of digital sex crimes, Google is failing to respect human rights. It must adopt a survivor-centered reporting system that prevents re-traumatization and is easy to access, navigate and check on,” Jihyun Yoon said.
“Google must ensure that online gender-based violence does not occur on its services. Survivors of digital crimes need to be helped by Google’s reporting mechanisms, rather than having their suffering needlessly prolonged by them.”
Amnesty International wrote to Google on 11 November requesting a response to its findings. Google did not provide an official response but stated in a private meeting that this issue is of importance and the company wants to improve how it responds to it.
*All survivors’ real identities have been protected at their request.
A proposal to commit states to declare 30% of the Earth’s land and sea mass protected for conservation and biodiversity by 2030, the so-called 30 x 30 proposal, will be a major focus of discussions at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), in Montreal from 7-19 December.
Amnesty International stresses the urgent need to address the loss of biodiversity as an essential step towards climate justice and of the realization of the right to live in a safe, clean and sustainable environment for all, as recently recognized by the United Nations General Assembly. Failure to address biodiversity loss will have severe repercussions for future generations that will inherit its irreversible results.
However, Amnesty International insists that any biodiversity commitment, including the so-called 30 x 30 proposal, places the rights of Indigenous peoples at its heart, including by protecting the livelihoods and rights of subsistence land users.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, who will be in Montreal during COP15, said: “The loss and degradation of biodiversity threatens human and non-human life and is a major source of human rights violations, including the right to life. The so-called 30 x 30 proposal could provide the needed action to slow down and stop biodiversity loss, but in its current form it presents a grave risk to the rights of Indigenous peoples.
“Current practice in protected areas often follows a model known as ‘fortress conservation’ which requires the complete removal of human presence from the area, usually by force, so that territory can be thrown open to tourists, conservation researchers and, in some cases, big game hunters.
Current practice in protected areas often follows a model known as ‘fortress conservation’ which requires the complete removal of human presence from the area, usually by force, so that territory can be thrown open to tourists, conservation researchers and, in some cases, big game hunters.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General
“There is an overwhelming weight of research showing that Indigenous peoples are the best conservators of biodiversity, which is reflected in the fact that 80% of the world’s biodiversity is to be found on Indigenous-managed lands.
“Without respect and protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples at the heart of the agreement, coupled with thorough and transparent assessment of the social impacts, the 30 x 30 target is not only bad for human rights, it is bad for conservation too.”
Amnesty International urges parties to ensure that any decision on biodiversity protection places Indigenous peoples’ right to their lands at its heart, requiring states to consult with them to obtain their free, prior and informed consent, as currently enshrined in international human rights law.
The agreement must also guarantee that subsistence land-users have access to land, are protected from forced evictions, enjoy an adequate standard of living, and are consulted on all decisions that impact their rights. Provisions in the proposal which call into question states’ commitments to legally recognized human rights, by making them subject to national legislation, must be removed.
Indigenous peoples are currently unable to effectively take part in the drafting of the 30 x 30 plans. Their representatives at the convention negotiations have only the right to speak and make suggestions. But despite several drafting sessions, states have not yet committed to guaranteeing the human rights safeguards that Indigenous peoples are demanding.
Background
The UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) is the latest meeting to discuss the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity, an agreement adopted in 1992 and ratified by 196 countries that sets out how to safeguard animal and plant species and ensure resources are used sustainably.
The aim of COP15 is to adopt a globally agreed framework (the ‘Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’) for halting and reversing biodiversity loss and ‘living in harmony with nature’, setting specific goals for 2030 and targets to 2050. Despite previously agreed targets for 2020, biodiversity is declining worldwide and is projected to worsen without remedial action.
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity was adopted following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, together with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. COP15 is the biodiversity equivalent of the COP27 climate negotiations, which concluded last month in Egypt.
The Iranian authorities’ vague and conflicting statements on the supposed disbanding of Iran’s so-called “morality police” must not deceive the international community about the continuing violence against women and girls embedded in compulsory veiling laws and fuelled by ongoing impunity for those violently enforcing them, said Amnesty International today.
During a press conference on 3 December 2022, Iran’s Prosecutor General, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, said: “The ‘morality police’ (gasht-e ershad) has nothing to do with the judiciary and it was closed by whichever [body] that established it in the past.” He then qualified his statement, adding: “The judiciary will continue to regulate people’s behaviour in society,” indicating that the policing of women’s bodies under compulsory veiling laws will continue. State media outlets reported the next day that “No official authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran has confirmed the closure of the morality police”.
Until the day all these laws and regulations are scrapped, the same violence that resulted in the arrest and death in custody of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini will continue against millions of other women and girls.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International
“The Prosecutor General’s statement was deliberately vague and failed to mention the legal and policy infrastructure that keeps the practice of compulsory veiling against women and girls firmly in place. To say that the ‘morality police’ has nothing to do with the judiciary distorts the reality that, for decades, the criminalization of women and girls under abusive and discriminatory compulsory veiling laws has been rubber-stamped by judiciary. In the face of outrage in Iran and globally over this extreme form of gender-based discrimination and violence, the Iranian authorities are simply passing the buck to each other to evade responsibility,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The international community and global media must not allow the Iranian authorities to pull the wool over their eyes. Compulsory veiling is entrenched in Iran’s Penal Code and other laws and regulations that enable security and administrative bodies to subject women to arbitrary arrest and detention and deny them access to public institutions including hospitals, schools, government offices and airports if they do not cover their hair. Until the day all these laws and regulations are scrapped, the same violence that resulted in the arrest and death in custody of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini will continue against millions of other women and girls.”
Iran’s “morality police” is a sub-branch of the country’s police force, which falls under the mandate of the Ministry of Interior. Despite the Prosecutor General’s statement attempting to distance the judiciary from the “morality police”, under Iran’s Code of Criminal Procedure, police officials are considered “judicial officials” (zabetan-e qazai) who may carry out arrests and interrogations under the supervision and instruction of the Prosecutor.
Forced veiling laws violate a whole host of rights, including the rights to equality, privacy and freedom of expression and belief. They also degrade women and girls, stripping them of their dignity, bodily autonomy, and self-worth.
Under Article 638 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, any act that is deemed “offensive” to public decencies is punished with an imprisonment term of 10 days to two months, or 74 lashes. An explanatory note to the article states that women who are seen in public without veiling are to be punished with an imprisonment term of 10 days to two months or a cash fine. The law applies to girls as young as nine, which is the minimum age of criminal responsibility for girls in Iran. In practice, the authorities have imposed compulsory veiling on girls from the age of seven when they start elementary school.
“It is important to remember that protesters in Iran are not calling just for the dismantling of the ‘morality police’ but for the transition of Iran to a new political and legal system that would respect their basic human rights and freedoms. The popular uprising taking place across Iran reflects nationwide rage over decades of oppression against the people of Iran, many of whom continue to be unlawfully killed on a daily basis simply for wanting freedom, democracy and human rights,” said Heba Morayef.
Older people killed and injured at higher rates than other groups
Older people living in damaged houses and dangerous conditions
Russia’s invasion has led to thousands of displaced older people living in overstretched state institutions
Older people in Ukraine have been disproportionately impacted by death and injury during Russia’s invasion and are unable to access housing on an equal basis with others after being displaced, Amnesty International said in a new report today.
The report, ‘I used to have a home’: Older people’s experience of war, displacement, and access to housing in Ukraine, documents how older people often remain in or are unable to flee conflict-affected areas, exposing them to harm and dangerous living conditions in severely damaged housing. Those who do flee often cannot afford to cover rental costs, while thousands have had to stay in overstretched state institutions, which do not have enough staff to provide the necessary level of care.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has had a devastating impact on civilians of all ages, threatens the physical security of older people and has forced millions from their homes. Ultimately, the most expedient way to protect the rights of older civilians in Ukraine is for Russia to end its unlawful war.
Russia’s devastating invasion is having a disproportionate impact on older people in Ukraine
Laura Mills, Thematics Researcher at Amnesty International
“Russia’s devastating invasion is having a disproportionate impact on older people in Ukraine, with many staying behind in areas where they regularly come in harm’s way from relentless ground and air attacks,” said Laura Mills, researcher on older people and people with disabilities at Amnesty International.
“Older people are often either staying in unsafe homes or, when they are able to flee, end up in shelters that do not have adequate resources to meet their needs, particularly if they have disabilities. From there, they risk being placed in state institutions. As the harsh grip of winter takes hold, the international community must urgently take action to bolster support for this group.”
An older woman with a disability being evacuated in Kharkiv region, Ukraine; October 2022.
The Ukrainian government has made significant efforts to evacuate people from conflict-affected areas, including by announcing the mandatory evacuation of around 200,000 people from Donetsk region in July.
The cost and logistics of ensuring housing for older people displaced by the war, however, should not be Ukraine’s alone. Amnesty International is calling on other countries to facilitate the evacuation of older people — with special attention paid to older people with disabilities — to accessible accommodation abroad where possible. International organizations should do more to financially support older people so that they can afford to rent homes and, working together with the Ukrainian authorities, include them among those prioritized for placement in any newly-built accommodation.
Disproportionate risks
In Ukraine, people over 60 years old comprise nearly one-fourth of the population. Older people are disproportionately vulnerable to attacks: according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which collects data on civilian casualties in Ukraine, people over 60 made up 34% of civilians killed from February to September 2022 for cases in which an age was recorded.
Older people, who more frequently have health conditions, are also at a greater risk in occupied areas, where Russian forces have severely restricted the access of humanitarian aid, in flagrant violation of international law.
Olha Kot in front of her home which was heavily damaged during attacks in Chernihiv, Ukraine; October 2022.
Svitlana*, 64, who was in a Russian-occupied village near Kharkiv, said that her 61-year-old brother collapsed from a stroke in April 2022. He was hospitalized, but the hospital did not have electricity or running water. He was discharged the next day.
“They couldn’t do anything, they couldn’t do an electrocardiogram, they couldn’t do an encephalogram, they had no medications,” Svitlana said. Less than a week later, her brother died from a second stroke, according to a death certificate seen by Amnesty International.
Displacement and rising institutionalization
Many displaced older people have struggled to find suitable accommodation. Pushed out of the private market by increased rental prices and pensions that are well below subsistence levels, many older people are at heightened risk of losing access to housing altogether.
Nina Silakova, 73, who was displaced from Luhansk region, was evicted twice from rental apartments: once in August after she had a heart attack and her landlady feared having to care for her, and again in October. Nina was worried she wouldn’t be able to find a third apartment: “There are no places for that price in the city because there are so many [displaced people]… I don’t know where to turn… Should I go out into the street, stand there and ask people? People will just pass by and think I am an ill old grandmother.”
An older man without electricity or gas boils water on a canister in Kharkiv region, Ukraine; October 2022.
Amnesty International found that shelters were often physically inaccessible to older people with disabilities and did not have enough staff to support them. As a result, older people with disabilities often had no choice but to live in a state institution. Between February and July 2022 alone, at least 4,000 older people were placed in state institutions after losing their homes during the conflict, according to statements released by Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy.
They can’t afford to rent housing, to pay for utilities, to eat. And so we have to send them to nursing homes
Olha Volkova, who runs a shelter for displaced older people with disabilities in Dnipro
Olha Volkova, who runs a shelter for displaced older people with disabilities in Dnipro, said: “About 60% of the people [get sent to institutions]. They can’t afford to rent housing, to pay for utilities, to eat. And so we have to send them to nursing homes.”
Amnesty International visited seven institutions for older people and people with disabilities in Ukraine, and found these facilities were unable to provide the requisite level of care – particularly for older people with limited mobility – in part because they do not have enough staff to care for them. Independent Ukrainian monitors reported that such conditions were common before the invasion, which has only exacerbated staffing shortages.
We’re abandoned here
Liudmyla, 76, lives in an institution in Kharkiv region
“They turn me over only once when they change my diaper in the morning, once when they change my diaper in the evening… We’re abandoned here,” said Liudmyla, 76, who lives in an institution in Kharkiv region.
“In a nursing home there is basically no rehabilitation,” said Olha Volkova. “A person will lie down there until they die.”
As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, civilian infrastructure and services have come under intense pressure. However, the Ukrainian government must do all it can to ensure monitors are able to access state institutions, and ensure that older people living in them are among those prioritized for alternative housing as soon as it becomes available.
Dangerous housing
Some older people have chosen to stay behind in their homes. Others told Amnesty International that they were unable to flee because information about evacuations was less accessible to them.
An older man in his home that was damaged by attacks in Kharkiv region, Ukraine; October 2022.
Liudmyla Zhernosek, 61, lives in Chernihiv with her 66-year-old husband, who uses a wheelchair. She said: “I saw every day younger people walking alongside my building with backpacks on. Only later I found out from others in the stairwell that they were going to the centre of the city, there were still evacuations from there. But that would have been 40 minutes on foot, I couldn’t get there with my husband. Nobody told us about evacuations, I always found out only afterwards.”
Nobody told us about evacuations, I always found out only afterwards
Liudmyla Zhernosek, 61, who lives in Chernihiv
Amnesty International also documented older people living in housing without electricity, gas or running water. Windows or roofs damaged during the conflict no longer provided protection from rain, snow or cold temperatures.
When Amnesty International interviewed Hanna Selivon, 76, in Chernihiv, only the bathroom, where volunteers had put a mattress in the bathtub to allow her to sleep, had covering overhead.
Amnesty International
Hanna Selivon in her destroyed home in Chernihiv, Ukraine; October 2022.
Hanna said: “Everyone on our street left. The only people left were me and two other older women… One had a disability. We just had nowhere to go. I would hide in a hole in my cellar… On 29 March, there was a lot of shelling, and when I came out [from the cellar] I just saw that flames were flying… that [my house] was burning. My legs wouldn’t move.”
Amnesty International is calling on governments and international organizations to step up support for older people in Ukraine by facilitating the voluntary evacuation of older people abroad, ensuring that older people are among those prioritized in cash assistance, and by supporting the creation of physically accessible housing for older people with disabilities.
Older people must be evacuated to accessible shelters, and the repair of their homes must be prioritized
Laura Mills
“As the freezing winter months have arrived, older people must be evacuated to accessible shelters, and the repair of their homes must be prioritized,” said Laura Mills.
Methodology
Amnesty International interviewed 226 people for this report, including during in-person visits to seven state institutions. The research was carried out between March and October 2022, and included a four-week trip to Ukraine in June and July 2022.
Accountability for war crimes
Amnesty International has been documenting war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law committed during Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. All of Amnesty International’s outputs are available here.
Amnesty International has repeatedly called for members of Russian forces and officials responsible for the aggression against Ukraine and for violations of international law to be held to account, and has welcomed the ongoing International Criminal Court investigation in Ukraine. Comprehensive accountability in Ukraine will require the concerted efforts of the UN and its organs, as well as initiatives at the national level pursuant to the principle of universal jurisdiction.
