Politics

Responding to reports that journalist Raman Pratasevich and his partner Sofya Sapega have been moved from pre-trial detention to house arrest in Belarus, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said: “While under house arrest, Raman Pratasevich and Sofya Sapega remain wrongfully detained by Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s government. They have been unlawfully arrested and arbitrarily prosecuted for non-existent crimes, and justice will not be served until they are unconditionally released. “This looks like a cynical ploy by the Belarusian authorities to secure the lifting of international sanctions which were imposed after Raman and Sofya’s arrests. Over the past…

More than a million people in north-west Syria risk being cut off from food, water, Covid-19 vaccines and life-saving medication if the UN Security Council (UNSC) does not renew authorization for UN cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Turkish border, Amnesty International said today. The UNSC is due to decide whether to extend the resolution in the next two weeks. In 2020, China and Russia vetoed UNSC resolutions that would have allowed two other crossing points – Bab al-Salam in the north-west and al-Yarubiyah – to remain open. Bab al-Hawa is therefore the only…

At the 47th Session of the Human Rights Council, Amnesty joined 50 other organisations in calling on the Council to establish an independent monitoring mechanism on pushbacks and collective expulsions, and the accompanying violations used to enact them. The call is driven by the serious, systematic and widespread nature of human rights violations and abuses at international borders. The call engages with and builds off of the report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants on the human rights impact of pushbacks of migrants on land and at sea (A/HRC/47/ 30), which documents a deeply concerning global…

The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank must ensure that the investigation announced into the death Nizar Banat, an activist from Hebron who died in their custody this morning, is independent, impartial, effective, and transparent Amnesty International said. Nizar Banat was a prominent activist and an outspoken critic of corruption within the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank. At around 3.30 am on 24 June, a joint unit of Palestinian Preventive and Intelligence forces stormed the house where he was staying beat him and took him away in a military vehicle.   “The fact that Nizar Banat died so soon…

 Sweeping arrests targeting Palestinian activists Unlawful use of force against Palestinian protesters Torture of Palestinian detainees Failure to protect Palestinians from planned attacks by groups of Jewish supremacists Israeli police have committed a catalogue of violations against Palestinians in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, carrying out a discriminatory repressive campaign including sweeping mass arrests, using unlawful force against peaceful protesters, and subjecting detainees to torture and other ill-treatment, during and after the armed hostilities in Israel and Gaza, Amnesty International said today. Israeli police have also failed to protect Palestinian citizens of Israel from premeditated attacks by groups of armed…

The Algerian authorities launched a repressive crackdown that has seen scores of people detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, opposition political parties and civil society groups harassed, and the independence of the judiciary undermined, in the months ahead of the June legislative elections, Amnesty International said today. Source / Read More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde28/4264/2021/en/

Years after Amnesty International first reported pushbacks of refugees and migrants from Greece in 2013, Greece is still violently and illegally returning people to Turkey, in contravention of their human rights obligations under EU and international law. Amnesty International documented 21 new incidents of summary, unlawful returns from Greece to Turkey, often accompanied by arbitrary detention and violence, in some case amounting to torture. The EU has also repeatedly failed to hold Greece to account for these serious violations, ultimately reinforcing the practice and tacitly giving permission for it to continue by way of inaction. Source / Read More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur25/4307/2021/en/

Responding to reports that that four environmental activists affiliated with Mother Nature Cambodia – Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth, Yim Leanghy and Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson – have been  charged variously with “plotting” and “insulting the King” (lèse majesté), Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, said: “These outrageous charges are a blatant attempt to silence and intimidate not only Mother Nature Cambodia, but an entire generation of Cambodian youth who have dared to stand up for human rights and environmental justice. These charges should be dropped immediately and Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth and Yim Leanghy should be released immediately…

Only in his first few months in office, US President Joe Biden is already sending his top officials to Mexico. Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Mexico on her first official trip abroad. Then came Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security, to Mexico City on 14 and 15 June.  In his first official travel outside of the United States, Mayorkas planned to “meet with his counterparts in the Government of Mexico on areas of mutual interest.” Tragically, these “areas of mutual interest” include the mass deportations of unaccompanied children into harm’s way. In a new report published before…

This oral statement to the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council reflects on the OHCHR report on state response to pandemics reflects on the urgent need for a waiver of certain intellectual property rights for Covid-19 products, and support for the WHO Covid-19 Technology Access Pool. It also calls for comprehensive debt cancellation for all states that need it and the need for strengthened social protection provisions. Source / Read More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/4315/2021/en/

Amnesty International welcomes the call of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for submissions in relation to its day of discussion on the rights of Indigenous women and girls, subsequent to which it will draft a General Recommendation on the issue. The comments below focus on specific issues that we hope the Committee will address in the draft, in relation to the application of an intersectionality perspective, the impact of large-scale resource development projects on Indigenous women and girls, forced evictions, forced and coerced sterilization, and violence, including sexual violence, against Indigenous women and girls. This…

The announcement that Ebrahim Raisi will assume the presidency of Iran, instead of being investigated for crimes under international law, is a grim reminder of the international failure to address a crisis of systematic impunity in Iran. Source / Read More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/4314/2021/en/