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Category: Human Rights

  • Profile in Persecution: Husain Ali Muhana

    Updated: Husain Ali Muhana was a 21-year-old Bahraini student when Bahraini authorities arrested him without presenting an arrest warrant at his friend’s house on 14 December 2017. During his detention, he was subjected to torture, isolation, solitary confinement, enforced disappearance, denial of access to his lawyer during interrogation, unfair trials, and medical negligence. He is currently serving his life sentence in Jau Prison.

     

    Husain has been targeted by Bahraini officials since 2016. While he was out of the country undergoing eye surgery, officers from the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) raided his family’s house and searched his computers. Four months later, Husain returned to the country, and Bahraini officers again raided the house, but he was not present at the time. The officers did not present a warrant or provide an explanation for the raid but told Husain’s parents that he had to turn himself in. After learning of this, Husain went into hiding for a year, during which several homes of family members were raided. Husain was shot by the authorities but was able to avoid arrest at the time.

     

    On 14 December 2017, officers and helicopters belonging to the Special Security Force Command (SSFC) of the Ministry of Interior (MOI), along with officers from the CID, surrounded the town of Al Bilad Al Qadeem, chased Husain, and arrested him at his friend’s house. The officers did not present a warrant nor did they give a reason for the arrest. Officers transferred Husain to the CID, where they held him for 40 days. While at the CID, officers insulted, beat, and tortured Husain, coercing him to confess to crimes he did not commit. His lawyer was prevented from attending the interrogations. 

     

    In 2017, Husain was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault, but his prison sentence was reduced after appeal to five years. Subsequently, on 22 July 2018, he was transferred to Jau Prison. On 26 September 2018, the court sentenced him to one year in prison for attempting to evade arrest. Both trials were also conducted on the basis of confessions made by Husain under duress and without any evidence.

     

    On 16 April 2019, Husain was sentenced to life imprisonment, revocation of his Bahraini citizenship, and a fine of 10,000 dinars in a mass trial along with 168 other defendants in the “Bahraini Hezbollah” case. He was one of 69 individuals sentenced to life in prison. Husain’s sentence was upheld on 30 June 2019, but his nationality was reinstated on 20 April 2019 by Royal Order.

     

    Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention involving Husain and eight others sentenced in the Bahraini Hezbollah case. The Working Group issued an opinion on 18 September 2020, in which it considered that all nine prisoners had been unlawfully convicted and arbitrarily detained. 

     

    On 10 August 2022, Husain was one of 14 prisoners transferred to the isolation building after alleged charges of attempting to escape from prison. There, they were subjected to numerous abuses, such as beatings, torture, and denial of contact with their families. On 6 September 2022, a delegation from the Ombudsman visited the isolated prisoners in Jau Prison to investigate complaints of violations. However, the fourteen prisoners remained in isolation, and no results emerged from the visit. On 21 September 2022, an entity affiliated with the CID escalated the malicious violations against those in isolation after they announced a hunger strike to protest the violations against them. The punishment of solitary confinement was imposed against the fourteen prisoners, who were divided into two batches: seven prisoners were held in solitary confinement for seven days, followed by the second batch after the first was released.

     

    In October 2022, the prison administration summoned Husain for a quick interrogation, and the next day, he was transferred to the CID. After returning to Jau Prison, he was deprived of personal hygiene items for six days. Throughout this period, the 14 prisoners were subjected to enforced disappearance and denied contact with the outside world, leaving their families unaware of their fate, condition, or reason for their disappearance. After a series of demands and actions by Husain’s father, he was allowed to make a censored phone call to ensure he did not reveal details about his detention conditions. More than 50 days later, the family was allowed to visit Husain. His father confirmed that Husain had been tortured and stated that prisoners were handcuffed for a week, depriving them of their normal lives. 

     

    On 22 November 2022, 10 political prisoners, including Husain, out of 14 were referred to the High Criminal Court on fabricated charges of attempting to smuggle convicts from the Reform and Rehabilitation Center. They were specifically accused of developing a terrorist plot to target the Reform and Rehabilitation Center with firearms to smuggle a number of prisoners sentenced for terrorist crimes and to life imprisonment.

     

    On 3 January 2023, an officer and several police officers, namely Officer Ahmed AlEmadi, Policeman Hasan Juma’a, Hamid Farraj, and Husain AlFasouli, transferred the 14 prisoners from their cell to another cell that did not contain beds, televisions, or cleaning materials. When the prisoners refused and said, “We are not animals to sleep on the floor”, they were beaten and tortured. Officers stomped on their necks, pepper-sprayed them, and stripped one prisoner naked. They also confiscated their personal belongings. The officers refused to film the incident at the request of one of the prisoners. The prisoners have been isolated ever since.

     

    During their transfer to solitary confinement, Husain approached one of the officers and asked him to command the other officer to stop beating the prisoners. However, another officer attempted to punch him. Husain’s testimony about this incident was published through an audio recording. The audio recording in this post was read by another inmate at the Jau Prison, Husain Ghazwan, who was placed in solitary confinement on 8 January 2023, after delivering the testimony in a phone call to Husain’s father.

     

    On 31 January 2023, Husain was sentenced to an additional seven years in prison for an attempted escape, and in March 2023, the Court of Appeals confirmed the verdict. In July 2023, the Public Prosecution Office (PPO) referred Husain to trial after charging him with insulting a police officer. In August 2023, he was sentenced to one month in prison, despite denying the charges and insisting that he did not know the officer and had never seen him before. Thus, the total sentences in the malicious cases for which he was convicted reached 13 years and one month, in addition to his previous life sentence.

     

    These prisoners continue to face violations as their hands are constantly shackled to restrict their movement when going to the outdoor yard. Calls and visits are strictly monitored, and they are intermittently deprived of their rights to communicate with their families. For example, they went 45 days without being able to contact their families.

     

    Husain’s father stated that communication with his son was cut off five times: from 10 to 30 August 2022, from 3 to 12 January 2023, from 13 to 21 February 2023, from 9 to 18 February 2023, and from 23 to 28 March 2023. On 23 March 2023, Husain was placed in solitary confinement before the communication was cut off. He contacted his family on 28 March 2023 and informed them that he was no longer in solitary confinement.

     

    Husain’s father, activist and teacher Ali Muhana, filed several complaints regarding the situation of his son and fellow inmates in isolation. He also submitted a complaint to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) on 11 January 2022 but received no follow-ups or responses to the complaints he filed. On 5 February 2023, Husain’s father stated that the Ombudsman acknowledged their presence in isolation when he met with the Secretary-General, yet no action was taken.

     

    On 15 February 2023, Mr. Ali, Husain’s father, submitted two additional complaints to the Ombudsman and the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) to allow him to communicate with his son. On 2 March 2023, Mr. Ali contacted the SIU to follow up on the complaint, and they responded that it was still under investigation. On 8 March 2023, Mr. Ali posted that he had been trying to contact the SIU to follow up on the complaint, but they did not answer his calls.

     

    In April 2024, communication with Husain was cut off once again, and this violation remains in place as of the date this file was last updated.

     

    His father contacted various state institutions, including the MoI, the Prime Minister’s office, and the Jau Prison administration, demanding to reconnect with his son. Initially, they were unresponsive to his inquiries, but now they are punishing him with repeated summonses and imprisonment. Husain’s father also reached out to the NIHR and the Ombudsman multiple times, receiving promises that have yet to be fulfilled.

     

    Husain suffered multiple wounds in prison due to being shot with birdshot pellets in his legs and knees. Despite his requests, he was denied access to a doctor. His family repeatedly contacted relevant institutions, such as the Ombudsman and the NIHR. However, each time, he was only permitted a single visit to the prison clinic, where the doctor asked him several questions without providing genuine medical treatment.

     

    Husain’s warrantless arrest, torture aimed at extracting coerced confessions, denial of access to legal counsel during interrogation, unfair trials, solitary confinement, enforced disappearance, and medical neglect all constitute clear violations of the Convention against Torture and Other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (CAT), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

     

    Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Husain. ADHRB also urges the Bahraini government to investigate allegations of arbitrary arrest, torture, denial of access to legal counsel during the interrogation period, solitary confinement, enforced disappearance, and medical neglect. ADHRB further calls on the Bahraini government to provide compensation for the injuries that Husain has suffered due to his arrest and torture, or at the very least, to ensure a fair retrial leading to his release.

    The post Profile in Persecution: Husain Ali Muhana appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • French President Emmanuel Macron lands in Nouméa amid unrest

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    French president Emmanuel Macron has landed in Nouméa.

    The French Ambassador to the Pacific Véronique Roger-Lacan was on the flight.

    “The unrest in New Caledonia is absolutely unacceptable,” Roger-Lacan told RNZ Pacific in an interview.

    She had just arrived back from Caracas where she represented France at this week’s United Nations seminar on decolonisation.

    “As far as the French state is concerned, our door is open, we are welcoming everyone for dialogue, in Paris or in Nouméa. It’s up to everyone to join further dialogue,” Roger-Lacan said.

    Roger-Lacan said the unrest had been provoked by very specific parts of the New Caledonian establishment.

    She said she made a plea for dialogue at the United Nations decolonisation seminar in light of the deadly protests in New Caledonia.

    ‘Up to all the parties’
    “Well, what I want to say is that the Nouméa agreement has enabled everyone in New Caledonia to have a representation in the French National Assembly and in the Senate,” Roger-Lacan said.

    “And it is up to all the parties, including the independantistes, who have some representatives in the National Assembly and in the Senate, to use their political power to convince everyone in the National Assembly and in the Parliament.

    “If they don’t manage [this], it is [an] amazingly unacceptable way of voicing their concerns through violence.”

    While the French government and anti-independence leaders maintain protest organisers are to blame for the violence, pro-independence parties say they have been holding peaceful protests for months.

    They say violence was born from socio-economic disparities and France turning a deaf ear to the territorial government’s call for a controversial proposed constitutional electoral amendment to be scrapped.

    Roger-Lacan said while “everyone” was saying this unrest was called for because they were not listened to by the French state, France stands ready for dialogue.

    She said just because one group failed to “use their political power to convince the Assembly and the Senate”, it did not justify deadly protests.

    Composition questioned
    A long-time journalist reporting on Pacific issues said the composition of the French President’s delegation to New Caledonia would anger pro-independence leaders.

    Islands Business correspondent Nic Maclellan said Macron would be accompanied by the current Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin and Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

    “They will no doubt be welcomed by supporters of the French republic, anti-independence politicians who want to stay with France but Lecornu and Darmanin have been responsible for key decisions taken over the last three or four years that have lead to this current crisis,” Maclellan said.

    President Macron has said the main objective of the trip is to resume political talks with all stakeholders and find a political solution to the crisis.

    United Nations decolonisation
    This year Véronique Roger-Lacan represented France at the table at a seminar which took place in the lead up to the UN Committee on Decolonisation in New York in June.

    The right to self determination is a constitutional principle in the French constitution as much as it is in the UN Charter, Roger-Lacan explained.

    The meeting she has just been at in Caracas, “prepares a draft, UN General Assembly resolution, that is being examined in the committee, which is called the C-24,” she said.

    Roger-Lacan was appointed to the role of French ambassador to the Pacific in July last year.

    Various groups have been calling for the United Nations to head a delegation to New Caledonia to observe the current situation.

    Roger-Lacan said the New Caledonia coalition government representative and the FLNKS representative both called for a UN mission at the meeting.

    “Then there were five representatives of the loyalists and they all made the case of the fact that a third referenda had been in compliance with the two UN General Assembly resolutions determining the future status of New Caledonia,” she said.

    As the representative of the French state, she made the case that France had always been the only administrative power to sit in the C-24 — “and to negotiate and cooperate,” she said.

    “The United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom never did that,” Roger-Lacan said.

    She also welcomed the UN, “whenever they want to visit”, she said.

    “That’s the plea that I made on behalf of the French government, a plea for dialogue.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Human rights violations against Indigenous Sami systemic across Northern Europe

    Two new reports have spotlighted the systemic violation of Sami Indigenous rights across Northern Europe.

    First, Sweden’s authorities published a scathing report on hate crimes against the Sami community in the Scandinavian country. Now, Finland has also released the findings of a damning new report on rights violations of its Sami Indigenous community.

    Both underscore the ongoing battle for Indigenous rights in Europe, against a backdrop of human rights abuses worldwide.

    Abuse of Sami Indigenous community

    The Sami people live in the northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, and across the Kola Peninsula. Their communities span Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia.

    According to the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), their total population is somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000.

    On 10 May, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) released its first report on hate crimes against the Sami community on a national level.

    As Radio Canada reported:

    The deliberate targeting of reindeer in Sami areas is one example that sets these incidents apart from typical hate crime patterns, the report said, with perpetrators— often landowners, hunters or farmers—believing they are limited by reindeer herding rights and don’t want the animals in certain areas.

    It was the most common crime we saw in the police reports, Lisa Wallin, the study’s project leader, told Eye on the Arctic. “We saw deliberate hit-and-runs, dogs sent to chase or attack reindeer, or reindeer deliberately run over by snowmobiles or shot.”

    These incidents usually happen in remote forested areas of northern Sweden and remain unsolved given the lack of eye-witnessesses, the report said.

    Moreover, Radio Canada detailed how the report revealed that institutions subject Sami to “increased racist incidents”. Specifically, it identified this in the context of legal proceedings on Indigenous rights.

    Truth and reconciliation

    Following this, Finnish authorities have since produced a similar report exposing rights violations.

    On 20 May, the Sami Truth and Reconciliation Commission dropped its report on the situation for the Indigenous group across Finland.

    The government had established the commission in 2021. Specifically, it sought to investigate historical injustices against the Sami, with the aim of preventing their reoccurence.

    Crucially, the report noted that the Finnish state continues to repeatedly violate the Sami people’s right to self-determination. This is at the core of indigenous people’s rights.

    Martin Scheinin is a human rights professor who compiled the report. He told a press conference that:

    In the Supreme Administrative Court, Sami rights have been given a cold shoulder in many respects

    Significantly, he noted how regression had occurred over the past decade. Moreover, the report stated that:

    Although Finland is still recognised in the UN as a supporter of indigenous rights, positive developments for the Sami people in Finland seem to have stalled or become less consistent

    Electoral rights under threat

    Sweden is home to over 20,000 Sami people. Meanwhile, some 10,000 Indigenous Sami live in Finland, speaking three different Sami languages.

    In 1997, the Swedish parliament acknowledged the Sami. Similarly, since 1995, the Finnish constitution has recognised the Sami as an Indigenous people with a right to maintain and develop their culture.

    However, the commission’s report showed how Indigenous rights are still under threat. For instance, Scheinin highlighted that the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court has since 2011 rejected the Sami parliament’s view on who qualifies as eligible to stand and vote in Sami parliamentary elections.

    Finland’s legal definition of who can be included in the Sami electoral roll has been deemed outdated by human rights experts. Notably, this is because it does not correspond with the Sami parliament’s own view of eligibility. Specifically, Sami parliament emphasises a person’s connection to one of the Sami languages as the most important criteria.

    Next year, Sweden will release a similar report from its truth commission into Sami Indigenous rights.

    Green colonialism

    Additionally, courts have “rejected the Sami view and often even failed to investigate complaints” in other cases too. In particular, it has done so in cases concerning the Sami people’s traditional livelihoods such as fishing and reindeer herding and plans for new industrial projects in Sapmi – the Sami Indigenous territory.

    Crucially, governments and companies have been ramping up green colonialist projects on Sami Indigenous lands across the region. For instance, Norway’s supreme court ruled that wind farms in Sami lands breached their rights under international conventions.

    Meanwhile the race for transition minerals – the raw critical materials for the energy transition – has exposed the Sami to more threats. In 2023, Sweden’s state-owned mining company LKAB discovered more than 1 million tonnes of critical minerals under Sami lands. The community now fears this could lead to violations of their rights.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera – Youtube

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Front Line Defenders launches Global Analysis 2023/24 on human rights defenders

    On 22 May 2024 Front Line Defenders launched its Global Analysis 2023/24 on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) at risk around the world, an in-depth annual publication detailing the variety of risks, threats and attacks faced by HRDs around the world.

    The Global Analysis gives a panorama of the threats faced by HRDs in all regions of the world. Despite an assault on human rights and the rule of law in many countries, human rights defenders (HRDs) showed remarkable courage and persistence in advocating for more democratic, just and inclusive societies in 2023. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/04/04/front-line-defenders-just-published-its-global-analysis-2022-new-record-of-over-400-killings-in-one-year/]

    At least 300 HRDs killed in 28 countries

    The report also reveals statistics gathered and verified by the HRD Memorial initiative – which Front Line Defenders coordinates – documenting the killings of at least 300 HRDs in 28 countries in 2023. Almost a third of those killed (31%) were Indigenous people’s rights defenders. This brings the total documented killings of HRDs in the last decade to nearly 3,000.

    “This appalling wave of attacks on human rights defenders is a direct result of an international human rights framework left in tatters and governments’ double standards when it comes to respecting human rights,” said Alan Glasgow, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders. “A quarter decade after the UN adopted a Declaration on human rights defenders, not enough progress has been made to ensure defenders are valued and protected. In this time, thousands of defenders have paid with their lives and many more face ongoing attacks and intimidation for their peaceful work. Urgent action is needed to change this.”

    Wide-ranging risks to HRDs

    Globally, the violation most commonly cited by HRDs was arbitrary arrest/detention (15%), followed by legal action (13%), continuing an ongoing trend of criminalisation as the most-reported risk. This was followed by death threats (10.2%), surveillance (9.8%) and physical attacks (8.5%). Trans and non gender-conforming HRDs reported slightly higher rates of physical attacks, and a much greater risk of smear campaigns. Globally, the five most targeted areas of human rights defence were: LGBTIQ+ rights (10.2%); Women’s rights (9.7%); Human rights movements (8.5%); Indigenous peoples’ rights (7.1%); and Human rights documentation (5.2%).

    The statistics in the Global Analysis are derived from Front Line Defenders’ casework and approved grant applications between 1 January and 31 December 2023. The statistics are based on 1,538 reported violations in 105 countries. Front Line Defenders documents multiple violations per case or grant, as this is the reality of the situation for human rights defenders. For more details on how these and the HRD Memorial data are gathered, please refer to the Methodology section at the end of the report.

    Download the full Global Analysis 2023/24

    https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/resource-publication/global-analysis-202324

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • LUSH and EachOther stage ‘shower’ protest to wash away toxic Tory rhetoric on human rights

    On 21 May, EachOther and LUSH activists took action over the Tories increasing toxic rhetoric on human rights.

    Toxic Tory rhetoric on human rights

    Over the past four years, government ministers have increasingly ramped up rhetoric demonising human rights campaigners. For instance, former prime minister Boris Johnson coined the phrase ‘‘lefty lawyer’ to malign law firms fighting the government’s corruption. Meanwhile, Suella Braverman referred to human rights campaigners as ‘tofu-eating wokerati”. There have been other cases of government ministers accusing lawyers of being ‘un-british’ and an enemy of the people.

    Now as some politicians try to make human rights a dirty word, activists have gathered at Parliament Square to wash away the stigma.

    The activists were from award-winning human rights charity EachOther, as well as high street cosmetics brand LUSH.  Protesters took a shower outside the Houses of Parliament, next to giant boxes of shower powder labelled Human Rights.

    LUSH and EachOther activists stage a shower protest in parliament square. Two activists stand having a shower in their swimming costume and trunks, while others hold a shower head over them and big box mock ups of LUSH's 'human rights' product that reads: "human rights for everyone"

    LUSH and EachOther countering dangerous disinformation

    Their action is part of a new campaign to educate the public and counter disinformation on human rights ahead of the next general election.

    As the Canary previously reported, EachOther and LUSH launched the campaign in light of the fact that:

    In the last five years, the UK has witnessed an increase in threats to minimise, remove or replace human rights laws in the UK – by the government. These are laws that currently protect all of our day-to-day lives and are there as a safety net should we ever need them.

    Over the last decade, the UK government has proposed withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – which is now a genuine threat.

    Moreover, as EachOther and LUSH have pointed out, Sunak hasn’t ruled out of the UK leaving the ECHR. Of course, this would be an unprecedented move. Specifically, it would spell the first time a nation party to the ECHR has jumped ship on rules it helped to create.

    Now, this alarming rhetoric is on the rise as the general election creeps ever closer.

    Since Sunak stated that he won’t allow ‘foreign courts’ – referring to the ECHR – to block the controversial Rwanda migration partnership, there has been growing misinformation about the European Court of Human Rights. The European Convention protects over 800 million people, and the European Court has considered over 800,000 cases since it was formed.

    EachOther and LUSH have teamed up to set the record straight.

    Protecting rights for future generations

    Notably, their campaign highlights that the ECHR isn’t in fact, a “foreign court”. In reality, it was a British Conservative politician and future Lord High Chancellor called Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, who was central to drafting the Convention. Winston Churchill was one of its biggest cheerleaders. Importantly, every member has its own judge, including the UK.

    Alongside their action in parliament square, the pair have created a product, shower-powder (showder), called ‘Human rights’, which will be available in UK LUSH stores between 16 May to 2 June. ‘Human rights’ sold out in Oxford street in the first two days of launching. LUSH is donating the total sales revenue (minus VAT) from the product to the campaign.

    Additionally, EachOther has published a briefing paper, which outlines the damaging rhetoric used in recent years surrounding human rights.

    Editor in chief of EachOther Emma Guy stated:

    The majority of the public (two-thirds) say they have little or no confidence that they have a say on the decisions made by the government – this is a growing concern for decision making on human rights issues in the UK. Over the past four years, human rights have increasingly been presented in a negative light.

    Guy continued:

    The way we talk about certain issues is important because it can be used for political gain, to fuel misinformation or to misrepresent something or someone. Today is the start of reminding ourselves that collectively, we can recognise our rights, invoke them and continue to educate each other about them – to protect them for future generations.

    Feature image and in-text image via Anna Fuchs/EachOther

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Transnational repression: a tool that extends authoritarian government’s capacity for repression

    Perhaps not-so-well-known, transnational repression constitutes a threat to human rights that has been going on for decades. The phenomenon, which entails governments reaching beyond their borders to silence or deter dissent by committing human rights abuses against their nationals or former nationals, has been extensively documented by Human Rights Watch. The 2018 murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabia brought this issue to popular awareness.

    Alongside killings, the methods of transnational repression include unlawful removals (expulsions, extraditions, and deportations), abductions and forced disappearances, targeting of relatives, abuse of consular services, and digital transnational repression. Government critics, dissidents, human rights defenders, civil society activists, journalists, opposition party members, and their families and friends are the main victims of this type of repression. In addition, women as a group are specially targeted when attempting to flee their families or their government´s restrictive laws. Several cases reported in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain exemplify this burdensome reality.

    In January 2022, after the Bahraini authorities issued a Red Notice through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), Ahmed Jaffer Muhammad, a Bahraini critic of the government, was extradited from Serbia, the country he had previously fled after suffering torture and ill-treatment when detained in Bahrain. Serbia did so while ignoring an order from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) pending more information on the risks of mistreatment. Now, the critic is serving life in prison in Bahrain following allegations that he was tortured while in custody.

    Saudi women are among those who have tried to flee their families to escape the rules of a strict male guardianship system that denies them the autonomy to make decisions about their own lives. Families of these women, supported by Saudi authorities, had tried to bring them back, sometimes successfully. In April 2017, Dina Ali Lasloom aimed to flee their family by flying to Australia, but when transiting in Manila, she was prevented from boarding the plane to her final destination. Apparently, two airline security officials and two men -later confirmed as Lasloom’s uncles- were seen carrying her with duct tape on her mouth, feet, and hands. According to Bloomberg, after being sent back to Saudi Arabia, Lasloom was held without charge under protective custody in a detention facility for women under 30 years until the authorities could resolve the case. In January 2019, Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun also attempted to flee her family by traveling to Australia. During a connection in Thailand, however, she was stopped by the Thai authorities, who planned to put her on a flight back home. Global pressure on the Asian country was essential to allow her to travel to Canada, where she finally received asylum.

    It is also worth emphasizing the government’s punishment of the families of individuals who abandon the country following persecution. In this sense, there are instances where relatives have been harassed, threatened, arbitrarily arrested, banned from traveling abroad, and even killed. In Bahrain, authorities have targeted the wife, son, and brother and mother-in-law of the founder of the Bahrain Institute for Human Rights and Democracy –Sayed al-Wadaei-, in exile in the UK. The families of Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi dissident based in Canada, and of Saad Al-Jabri, a former top Saudi intelligence official, suffered similar repression in Saudi Arabia.

    Although mostly understood as referring to authoritarian governments, cases of transnational repression have also been assisted by democratic administrations, as seen in Serbia’s involvement in the extradition of a Bahraini dissident. Furthermore, this case also highlights governments’ misuse of Interpol’s red notices to target human rights activists abroad. Red notices, formal requests of the National Central Bureaus (NCBs) in the organization, are issued to locate wanted individuals for detention, arrest, or restriction of movement. When put to the wrong use, these notices represent a major concern, especially in countries with authoritarian regimes. In the Arab Gulf region, for example, this has become a political strategy used by governments to suppress dissent and target political opponents. With this, a need for increased vigilance and reform within Interpol’s operational framework has emerged.

    Sometimes downplayed, the phenomenon of transnational repression should be as disturbing as the efforts of some governments to silence dissent or target human rights defenders at home. Also, this practice demands putting pressure on compliant democratic countries, which should be easier to hold accountable. However, more scrutiny must be exerted around this reality to accomplish this endeavor.

    The post Transnational repression: a tool that extends authoritarian government’s capacity for repression appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • Solidarity action group calls on NZ to support Kanak, Papuan independence

    Asia Pacific Report

    A New Zealand solidarity action group has called on the New Zealand government to back indigenous independence calls in the Pacific and press both France to grant Kanaks sovereignty and Indonesia to end its rule in West Papua.

    Catherine Delahunty, a former Green Party MP and spokesperson for West Papua Action Aotearoa, said today it would be good timing to exert pressure on Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron visiting the New Caledonian capital Nouméa this week.

    “France is not living up to its commitments under the Noumea Accord and not meeting its responsibilities towards a country listed on the UN Decolonisation Committee,” she said in a statement.

    The West Papua Action Aotearoa network was standing in solidarity with the Kanak people who were struggling for independence from French rule, she said.

    “The New Zealand government could show support for both the end of French rule in Kanaky and Indonesian rule in West Papua.

    “Both these countries should withdraw their military and prepare to hand over executive power to the indigenous citizens of Kanaky and West Papua.”

    Nouméa rioting ‘unsurprising’
    Delahunty said that the rioting last week against the French authorities in Kanaky New Caledonia was “completely unsurprising” as the threats to an independent future by pushing through a a constitutional electoral bill to include more non-indigenous residents of Kanaky had caused outrage.

    “Much like West Papua the colonial control of resources and government in Kanaky is oppressive and has created sustained resistance,” she said.

    “Peace without justice maybe be temporarily restored but our government needs to call on France to do more than dialogue for the resumption of French control.

    “Kanaky and West Papua deserve to be free.”

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • ‘France lost the plot’ – journalist David Robie on Kanaky New Caledonia riots

    By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist

    Liberation “must come” for Kanaky New Caledonia, says one of the few New Zealand journalists who have worked consistently on stories across the French Pacific territories.

    Journalist David Robie was arrested at gunpoint by French police in January 1987, and is no stranger to civil unrest in New Caledonia.

    Writing his first articles about the Pacific from Paris in 1974 on French nuclear testing when working for Agence France-Presse, Robie became a freelance journalist in the 1980s, working for Radio Australia, Islands Business, The Australian, Pacific Islands Monthly, Radio New Zealand and other media.

    The Asia Pacific Report editor, who has been on the case for 50 years now, arrived at his interview with RNZ Pacific with a bag of books packed with images and stories from his days in the field.

    “I did get arrested twice [in Kanaky New Caledonia], in fact, but the first time was actually at gunpoint which was slightly unnerving,” Robie explained.

    “They accused me of being a spy.”

    David Robie standing with Kanak pro-independence activists and two Australian journalists at Touho, northern New Caledonia, while on assignment during the FLNKS boycott of the 1984 New Caledonian elections. (David is standing with cameras strung around his back).
    Dr David Robie standing with Kanak pro-independence activists and two Australian journalists at Touho, northern New Caledonia, while on assignment during the FLNKS boycott of the 1984 New Caledonian elections. (Robie is standing with cameras strung around his back). Image: Wiken Books/Back Cover

    Liberation ‘must come’
    Robie said liberation “must come” for Kanaky New Caledonia.

    “It’s really three decades of hard work by a lot of people to build, sort of like a future for New Caledonia, which is part of the Pacific rather than part of France,” Robie said.

    He said France has had three Prime Ministers since 2020 and none of them seem to have any “real affinity” for indigenous issues, particularly in the South Pacific, in contrast to some previous leaders.

    “From 2020 onwards, basically, France lost the plot,” after Édouard Philippe was in office, Robie said.

    He called the current situation a “real tragedy” and believed New Caledonia was now more polarised than ever before.

    “France has betrayed the aspirations of the indigenous Kanak people.”

    Robie said the whole spirit of the Nouméa Accord was to lead Kanaky towards self determination.

    New Caledonia on UN decolonisation list
    New Caledonia is listed under the United Nations as a territory to be decolonised — reinstated on 2 December 1986.

    “Progress had been made quite well with the first two votes on self determination, the two referendums on independence, where there’s a slightly higher and reducing opposition.”

    In 2018, 43.6 percent voted in favour of independence with an 81 percent voter turnout. Two years later 46.7 percent were in favour with a voter turnout of 85.7 percent, but 96.5 percent voted against independence in 2021, with a voter turnout of just 43.8 percent.

    Robie labelled the third vote a “complete write off”.

    Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific
    Dr David Robie’s book Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific, the Philippines edition. Image: APR

    France maintains it was legitimate, despite first insisting on holding the third vote a year earlier than originally scheduled, and in spite of pleas from indigenous Kanak leaders to postpone the vote so they could properly bury and mourn the many members of their communities who died as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

    Robie said France was now taking a deliberate step to “railroad” the indigenous vote in Kanaky New Caledonia.

    He said the latest “proposed amendment” to the constitution would give thousands more non-indigenous people voting rights.

    “[The new voters would] completely swamp indigenous people,” Robie said.

    ‘Hope’ and other options
    Robie said there “was hope yet”, despite France’s betrayal of the Kanaks over self-determination and independence, especially over the past three years.

    French President Emmanuel Macron is under increasing pressure to scrap proposed constitutional reform by Pacific leaders which sparked riots in New Caledonia.

    Pacific leaders and civil society groups have affirmed their support for New Caledonia’s path to independence.

    Robie backed that call. He said there were options, including an indefinite deferment of the final stage, or Macron could use his presidential veto.

    “So [I’m] hopeful that something like that will happen. There certainly has to be some kind of charismatic change to sort out the way things are at the moment.”

    “Charismatic change” could be on its way with talk of a dialogue mission.

    One of Dr David Robie's books, Och Världen Blundar ("And the World Closed its Eyes") - the Swedish edition of his 1989 Blood on their Banner book.
    A masked Kanak militant near La Foa in western Grande Terre island during the 1980s . . . this photo is from the cover of the Swedish edition of David Robie’s 1989 book Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific. Image: Lydia Lewis/RNZ Pacific

    Having Édouard Philippe — who has always said he had grown a strong bond with New Caledonia when he was in office until 2020 — on the mission would be “a very positive move”, said Robie.

    “Because what really is needed now is some kind of consensus,” he said.

    ‘We don’t want to be like the Māori in NZ’
    New Caledonia could still have a constructive “partnership” with France, just like the Cook Islands has with New Zealand, Robie said.

    “The only problem is that the French government doesn’t want to listen,” New Caledonia presidential spokesperson Charles Wea said.

    “You cannot stop the Kanak people from claiming freedom in their own country.”

    Despite the calls, Wea said concerns were setting in that Kanak people would “become a minority in their own country”.

    “We [Kanak people] are afraid to be like Māori in New Zealand. We are afraid to be like Aboriginal people in Australia.”

    He said those fears were why it was so important the controversial constitutional amendments did not go any further.

    Robie said while Kanaks were already a minority in their own country, there had been a pretty close parity under the Nouméa Accord.

    Vote a ‘retrograde step’
    “Bear in mind, a lot of French people who’ve lived in New Caledonia for a long time, believe in independence as well,” he said.

    But it was the “constitutional reform” that was the sticking point, something Robie refused to call a “reform”, describing as “a very retrograde step”.

    In 1998, there was “goodwill” though the Nouméa accord.

    “The only people who could participate in New Caledonian elections, as opposed to the French state as a whole, were indigenous Kanaks and those who had been living in New Caledonia prior to 1998,” something France brought in at the time.

    Robie said a comparison can be drawn “much more with Australia”, rather than Aotearoa New Zealand.

    “Kanak people resisting French control a century and a half ago were executed by the guillotine,” he said.

    To Robie, Aotearoa was probably the better example of what New Caledonia could be.

    “But you have to recall that New Caledonia began colonial life just like Australia, a penal colony,” he said.

    Robie explained how Algerian fighters were shipped off to New Caledonia, Vietnamese fighters were also sent during the Vietnam War, among other people from other minority groups.

    “A lot of people think it’s French and Kanak. It’s not. It’s a lot more mixed than that and a lot more complicated.”

    The media and the blame game
    As Robie explained the history, another issue became apparent: the lack of media interest and know-how to cover such events from Aotearoa New Zealand.

    He said he had been disappointed to see many mainstream outlets glossing over history and focusing on the stranded Kiwis and fighting, which he said was significant, but needed context.

    He said this lack of built-up knowledge within newsrooms and an apparent issue of “can’t be bothered, or it’s too problematic,” was projecting the indigenous population as the bad guys.

    “There’s a projection that basically ‘Oh, well, they’re young people… looting and causing fires and that sort of thing’, they don’t get an appreciation of just how absolutely frustrated young people feel. It’s 50 percent of unemployment as a result of the nickel industry collapse, you know,” Robie explained.

    When it came to finger pointing, he believed the field activist movement CCAT did not intend for all of this to happen.

    “Once the protests reached a level of anger and frustration, all hell broke loose,” said Robie.

    “But they [CCAT] have been made the scapegoats.

    “Whereas the real culprits are the French government, and particularly the last three prime ministers in my view.”

    Dr David Robie’s updated book on the New Caledonia troubles, news media and Pacific decolonisation issues was published in 2014, Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific (Little Island Press).

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • More than half the world cannot speak freely, report finds

    Sharp rise in number of people facing a crisis in freedom of speech, while authors particularly alarmed by deterioration in India under Narendra Modi

    Half the world’s population cannot freely speak their mind according to a new report on freedom of expression.

    In its annual report, the advocate group Article 19 found the number of people facing a “crisis” in freedom of speech and information was the highest this century after a sharp rise from 34% in 2022 to 53% in 2023.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • RSF calls on French authorities to guarantee journalist safety in Kanaky New Caledonia

    Pacific Media Watch

    The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for guaranteed safety for journalists in the French Pacific territory of Kanaky New Capedonia after an increase in intimidation, threats, obstruction and attacks against them.

    After a week of violence that broke out in the capital of Nouméa following a controversial parliamentary vote for a bill expanding the settler electorate in New Caledonia, RSF said in a statement that the crisis was worrying for journalists working there.

    RSF called on the authorities and “all the forces involved” to ensure their safety and guarantee the right to information.

    While covering the clashes in Nouméa on Friday, May 17, a crew from the public television channel Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, consisting of a journalist and a cameraman, were intimidated by about 20 unidentified hooded men.

    They snatched the camera from the cameraman’s hands and threatened him with a stone, before smashing the windows of the journalists’ car and trying to seize it.

    “The public broadcaster’s crew managed to escape thanks to the support of a motorist. France Télévisions management said it had filed a complaint the same day,” RSF reported.

    According to a dozen accounts gathered by RSF, working conditions for journalists deteriorated rapidly from Wednesday, May 15, onwards.

    Acts of violence
    As the constitutional bill amending New Caledonia’s electoral body was adopted by the National Assembly on the night of May 14/15, a series of acts of violence broke out in the Greater Nouméa area, either by groups protesting against the electoral change or by militia groups formed to confront them.

    The territory has been placed under a state of emergency and is subject to a curfew from which journalists are exempt.

    RSF is alerting the authorities in particular to the situation facing freelance journalists: while some newsrooms are organising to send support to their teams in New Caledonia, freelance reporters find themselves isolated, without any instructions or protective equipment.

    “The attacks on journalists covering the situation in New Caledonia are unacceptable. Everything must be done so that they can continue to work and thus ensure the right to information for all in conditions of maximum safety, said Anne Bocandé,
    editorial director of RSF.

    “RSF calls on the authorities to guarantee the safety and free movement of journalists throughout the territory.

    “We also call on all New Caledonian civil society and political leaders to respect the integrity and the work of those who inform us on a daily basis and enable us to grasp the reality on the ground.”

    While on the first day of the clashes on Monday, May 13, according to the information gathered by RSF, reporters managed to get through the roadblocks and talk to all the forces involved — especially those who are well known locally — many of them are still often greeted with hostility, if not regarded as persona non grata, and are the victims of intimidation, threats or violence.

    “At the roadblocks, when we are identified as journalists, we receive death threats,” a freelance journalist told RSF.

    “We are pelted with stones and violently removed from the roadblocks. The situation is likely to get worse”, a journalist from a local media outlet warned RSF.

    As a result, most of the journalists contacted by RSF are forced to work only in the area around their homes.

    “In any case, we’re running out of petrol. In the next few days, we’re going to find it hard to work because of the logistics,” said a freelance journalist contacted by RSF.

    Distrust of journalists
    The 10 or so journalists contacted by RSF — who requested anonymity against a backdrop of mistrust — have at the very least been the target of repeated insults since the start of the fighting.

    According to information gathered by RSF, these insults continue outside the roadblocks, on social networks.

    The majority of the forces involved, who are difficult for journalists to identify, share a mistrust of the media coupled with a categorical refusal to be recognisable in the images of reporters, photographers and videographers.

    On May 15, President Emmanuel Macron declared an immediate state of emergency throughout New Caledonia. On the same day, the government announced a ban on the social network TikTok.

    President Macron is due in New Caledonia today to introduce a “dialogue mission” in an attempt to seek solutions.

    To date, six people have been killed and several injured in the clashes.

    Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Inquiry to begin into DWP’s treatment of ill and disabled people on benefits

    Some eligibility decisions have been linked to deaths of vulnerable claimants, and EHRC will examine if ministers acted unlawfully

    The treatment of chronically ill and disabled people by welfare officials, including benefits decisions subsequently linked to the deaths of vulnerable claimants, is to be formally investigated by Britain’s human rights watchdog.

    The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it would examine whether ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had acted unlawfully by failing to protect claimants with learning disabilities or severe mental illness.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Guardian view on peaceful protests: the high court has preserved a fundamental right | Editorial

    Ministers should think again after judges ruled the authoritarian move to constrain demonstrations was unlawful

    Judges in the high court have found that the former home secretary Suella Braverman acted unlawfully in making it easier for the police to criminalise peaceful protest. That is a very good thing for society and democracy. The rights of non-violent assembly are among our fundamental freedoms, providing a touchstone to distinguish between a free society and a totalitarian one. Liberty, the civil rights campaigners who took the government to court, ought to be congratulated for standing up for all our rights. At the heart of this case was whether a minister could, without primary legislation, decide what words meant in law. The court, thankfully, thought that such matters were best left to the dictionary.

    During protests by environmental groups in the summer of 2023, Ms Braverman had decided to rule by diktat. Consulting only the police, and not the protesters who would have been affected, she used so-called Henry VIII powers that the government had conferred upon itself a year earlier. These allowed her to lower the threshold at which the police would intervene to impose conditions on public protest, defining “serious disruption” as anything “more than minor”. There’s an ocean of difference between the two. But Ms Braverman was unconcerned that she was shamefully pursuing a nakedly authoritarian move to constrain the right of peaceful protest by stripping words of their meaning.

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Summary of advice that UK arms sales to Israel not unlawful to be released

    Andrew Mitchell preparing to share details of assessment that there is no clear risk in breaching international human law

    The British government is preparing to publish a summary of its legal advice stating there are no clear risks that selling arms to Israel will lead to a serious breach of international humanitarian law (IHL).

    In a pre-prepared concession to the business select committee, the deputy foreign secretary, Andrew Mitchell, said: “In view of the strength of feeling in the IHL assessment process, I will look to see what more detail we could offer in writing on the IHL assessments in relation to Israel and Gaza both in process and substance.”

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • NZ’s first New Caledonia evacuation flight lands in Auckland

    By Maia Ingoe, RNZ News journalist

    A NZ Defence Force plane carrying 50 New Zealanders evacuated from New Caledonia landed at Auckland International Airport last night.

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it would be working with France and Australia to ensure the safe departure of several evacuation flights amid civil unrest in the island state.

    The efforts came as RNZ Pacific’s French Pacific correspondent Patrick Decloitre reported that President Emmanuel Macron would be flying to New Caledonia within hours to install a “dialogue mission” in the French Pacific dependency in the wake of violent riots for the past eight days.

    The first flight took off from the capital of Nouméa after a short turnaround at Magenta local airport at 7pm, and landed in Auckland at about 10pm.

    Those arriving to Auckland Airport on the NZ Defence Force plane said they were relieved to be back.

    Many reunited with loved ones, while others were sent onto hospital for urgent medical treatment.

    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport.
    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport. Image: RNZ/Marika Khabazi

    Chris and Mike Riley were arriving back from New Caledonia from what was meant to be a week-long trip.

    ‘Fireworks and gunfire’
    Chris Riley said they heard lots of explosions, fireworks and gunfire from where they were.

    “We were in a lovely place actually, it was quite peaceful, but we were trapped because we couldn’t get through because of all the troubles that were there,” she said.

    Mike Riley said they were both relieved to be home.

    “We’re not in a hurry to go anywhere apart from Kerikeri,” he said.

    Carl, who did not provide a last name, was in a tourist area of New Caledonia for the past two weeks, which he said was sheltered from the riots.

    He said it felt great to get on the Defence Force flight.

    “It was a bit of a different type of trip back to New Zealand, but it was fun.”

    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport.
    Some of the passengers on the special flight out of New Caledonia, after they had landed at Auckland Airport. Image: RNZ/Marika Khabazi

    La Tontouta still closed
    Noumea’s La Tontouta International Airport remains closed.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the New Zealanders on the flight would have had a security escort to the airport.

    Pacific Island nations were among those which had sought New Zealand’s help to evacuate citizens, he said.

    Peters said there would be more flights over the next few days to get all 250 New Zealanders out of the French Pacific territory, which has been in the grip of riots and political unrest between anti- and pro-independence groups.

    He hoped another flight would leave for New Caledonia this morning.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • South Korea: Climate Inaction Hearing Could Set Precedent in Case Brought by Children – and An Unborn Baby

    south korea climate change case
    5 Mins Read

    South Korea’s constitutional court today held its final hearing on four landmark cases brought by the public against the government’s inaction on climate change. Experts say this could set a precedent.

    The South Korean government is facing four citizen petitions accusing it of a failure to protect over 200 people – including over 60 children under five and an unborn child (at the time) – by not tackling climate change.

    Today, the country’s constitutional court held its second and final hearing of the case (which is merging the four petitions), following the first hearing last month. While a decision is expected later this year, as the first case in East Asia to challenge climate change policies, it could set a major human rights precedent.

    The plaintiffs argue that the government’s climate targets are too weak and threaten their right to live in a healthy environment. The hope is for a ruling that would force South Korea to be more ambitious in its next decade-long climate plan (known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs), which all countries are set to update next year.

    “The climate crisis is already upon us but the effects will be felt even more intensely by future generations. Cases like this are vital to safeguarding citizen’s rights,” said Jiyoun Yoo, climate justice campaigner at Amnesty International Korea.

    Why South Koreans are suing their country over climate change

    climate change litigation
    Courtesy: Chung Taekyong

    One of the cases is widely referred to as Woodpecker vs South Korea, a reference to the name given to the unborn child of would-be parents who filed the suit in June 2022. It’s partially based on the Enforcement Decree of the Carbon Neutrality Act, which mandates the country to set its NDC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 (from a 2018 baseline).

    The other cases were from 2020. One argues against South Korea’s Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth, another claims that the aforementioned Carbon Neutrality Act violates the constitution, and the other accuses the government of failing to respect fundamental rights.

    These include the right to life, right to pursue happiness, right to general freedom, right to property, and right to a healthy environment. The 200-plus plaintiffs also feel the state is failing to fulfil its obligation to protect them from disasters.

    The four cases were merged into one earlier this year, with the first hearing taking place in April. “Carbon emission reduction keeps getting pushed back as if it is homework that can be done later,” Woodpecker’s mother, Lee Donghyun, said at the time. “But that burden will be what our children have to bear eventually.”

    Lee Jongseok, the president of the court, said: “The court recognises the importance and public interest of this case and will make efforts to ensure that deliberations are conducted thoroughly.”

    What the case could mean for climate litigation

    korea climate lawsuit
    Courtesy: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

    Next year, governments are expected to revise their NDCs, a key tenet of the 2015 Paris Agreement that sought to limit global temperature rises to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, with an upper limit of 2°C. At present, the policies in place are on track to result in an increase of about 2.7°C. Even the NDCs at present will only limit warming to 2.5°C.

    According to the Climate Action Tracker, South Korea’s NDC (with a net zero target for 2050) is “highly inefficient”. In fact, its current climate policies are currently only compatible with up to 4°C of temperature rises, compared to modelled domestic pathways. And if all countries held its level of ambition, the global heating would hike up to 3°C by 2100 – it’s a figure many climate scientists fear we’ll reach.

    Sejong Youn, a legal counsel for the case, told the Nature journal: “If we have a constitutional ruling on the insufficiency of the current NDC [this year], we will be able to enhance the government’s climate ambitions while they’re working on the 2035 target.”

    In East Asia, litigation is usually seen as a last resort, but that’s what makes this such an important case. “Taking legal action against a state is often a long and arduous process which requires patience and perseverance and the courage of these pioneering plaintiffs is to be admired and applauded,” said Amnesty’s Jiyoun.

    If the plaintiffs lose, the constitutional court may be less likely to agree to hear climate cases again. But Mingzhe Zhu, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, said: “Even if you lose this time, you can lose beautifully in the sense that you provoked social awareness. The very fact that this case went to the constitutional court – that is already a certain sense of success.”

    But a win could have ripple effects, setting a precedent for future climate cases in the region. “If we have a favourable precedent in South Korea, I think that will really be a trigger in spreading this trend,” said Youn. “It will send a message: all countries need to take action in order to tackle this global crisis, and there are no exceptions.”

    Globally, legal cases over climate change have spread like wildfire (pun unintended),  spanning countries like the Netherlands, Pakistan, the UK, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, Peru, South Korea, New Zealand and India. Last month, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a landmark ruling in favour of a group of Swiss women who accused their government of human rights violations due to climate inaction. Switzerland now has a legal duty to take greater action, failing which, it could face further litigation and financial penalties.

    And in another case involving the youth, climate activists in Montana, US registered a legal victory after a judge ruled that the state’s fossil fuel policy was violating their right to a clean and healthful environment

    The post South Korea: Climate Inaction Hearing Could Set Precedent in Case Brought by Children – and An Unborn Baby appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Gordon Campbell: Israel’s political split, and the New Caledonia crisis

    COMMENTARY: By Gordon Campbell

    The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

    It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open.

    What Gallant wanted from Netanyahu was a plan for how Gaza is to be governed once the fighting ends and an assurance that the Israel Defence Force will not end up being Gaza’s de facto civil administrator.

    To that end, Gallant wanted to know what Palestinian entity (presumably the Palestinian Authority) would be part of that future governing arrangement, and on what terms.

    To Gallant, that is essential information to ensure that the IDF (for which he is ultimately responsible) will not be bogged down in Gaza for the duration of a forever war. By voicing his concerns out loud, Gallant pushed Gantz into stating publicly what his position is on the same issues.

    What Gantz came up with was a set of six strategic “goals” on which Netanyahu has to provide sufficient signs of progress by June 8, or else Gantz will resign from the war Cabinet.

    Maybe, perhaps. Gantz could still find wiggle room for himself to stay on, depending on the state of the political/military climate in three weeks time.

    The Gantz list
    For what they’re worth, Gantz’s six points are:

    1. The return of the hostages from Gaza;
    2. The overthrow of Hamas rule, and de-militarisation in Gaza;
    3. The establishment of a joint US, European, Arab, and Palestinian administration that will manage Gaza’s civilian affairs, and form the basis for a future alternative governing authority;
    4. The repatriation of residents of north Israel who were evacuated from their homes, as well as the rehabilitation of Gaza border communities;
    5. The promotion of normalisation with Saudi Arabia; and
    6. The adoption of an outline for military service for all Israeli citizens. [Gantz has already tabled a bill to end the current exemption of Hadadim (i.e. conservative Jews) from the draft. This issue is a tool to split Netanyahu away from his extremist allies. One of the ironies of the Gaza conflict is that the religious extremists egging it on have ensured that their own sons and daughters aren’t doing any of the fighting.]

    Almost instantly, this list drew a harsh response from Netanyahu’s’ office:

    “The conditions set by Benny Gantz are laundered words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandonment of most of the hostages, leaving Hamas-rule intact and the establishment of a Palestinian state.

    “Our soldiers did not fall in vain and certainly not for the sake of replacing Hamastan with Fatahstan,” the PM’s Office added.

    In reality, Netanyahu has little or no interest in what a post-war governing arrangement in Gaza might look like. His grip on power — and his immunity from criminal prosecution — depends on a forever war, in which any surviving Palestinians will have no option but to submit to Gaza being re-settled by Israeli extremists. (Editor: ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has today filed an application for arrest warrants for crimes against humanity by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders for war crimes.)

    Gantz, no respite
    Palestinians have no reason to hope a Gantz-led government would offer them any respite. Gantz was the IDF chief of staff during two previous military assaults on Gaza in 2012 and 2014 that triggered accusations of war crimes.

    While Gantz may be open to some minor role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in helping to run Gaza in future, this would require the PA to be willing to duplicate in Gaza the same abjectly compliant security role it currently performs on behalf of Israel on the West Bank.

    So far, the PA has shown no enthusiasm for helping to run Gaza, given that any collaborators would be sitting ducks for Palestinian retribution.

    In sum, Gantz is a centrist only when compared to the wingnut extremists (e.g. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich) with whom Netanyahu currently consorts. In any normal democracy, such public dissent by two senior Cabinet Ministers crucial to government stability would have led directly to new elections being called.

    Not so in Israel, at least not yet.

    Counting the cost in Nouméa
    A few days ago, the Chamber of commerce in Noumea estimated the economic cost of the ongoing unrest in New Caledonia — both directly and to rebuild the country’s trashed infrastructure — will be in excess of 200 million euros (NZ$356 million).

    Fixing the physical infrastructure though, may be the least of it.

    The rioting was triggered by the French authorities preparing to sign off on an expansion of the eligibility criteria for taking part in decisive votes on the territory’s future. Among other things, this measure would have diluted the Kanak vote, by extending the franchise to French citizens who had been resident in New Caledonia for ten years.

    This thorny issue of voter eligibility has been central to disputes in the territory for at least three decades.

    This time around, the voting roll change being mooted came hard on the heels of a third independence referendum in 2021 that had been boycotted by Kanaks, who objected to it being held while the country was still recovering from the covid pandemic.

    With good reason, the Kanak parties linked the boycotted 2021 referendum — which delivered a 96 percent vote against independence — to the proposed voting changes. Both are being taken as evidence of a hard rightwards shift by local authorities and their political patrons in France.

    An inelegant inégalité
    On paper, New Caledonia looks like a relatively wealthy country, with an annual per capita income of US$33,000 __ $34,000 estimated for 2024. That’s not all that far behind New Zealand’s $US42,329 figure, and well in excess of neighbours in Oceania like Fiji ($6,143) Vanuatu $3,187) and even French Polynesia ($21,615).

    In fact, the GDP per capita figures serve to mask the extremes of inequality wrought since 1853 by French colonialism. The country’s apparent prosperity has been reliant on the mining of nickel, and on transfer payments from mainland France, and both these sources of wealth are largely sealed off from the indigenous population;

    The New Caledonian economy suffers from a lack of productivity gains, insufficient competitiveness and strong income inequalities… Since 2011, economic growth has slowed down due to the fall in nickel prices… The extractive sector developed relatively autonomously with regard to the rest of the economy, absorbing most of the technical capabilities. Apart from nickel, few export activities managed to develop, particularly because of high costs..[associated with] the narrowness of the local market, and with [the territory’s] geographic remoteness.

    No doubt, tourism will be hammered by the latest unrest. Yet even before the riots, annual tourism visits to New Caledonia had always lagged well behind the likes of Fiji, and French Polynesia.

    Over the past 50 years, the country’s steeply unequal economic base has been directly manipulated by successive French governments, who have been more intent on maintaining the status quo than on establishing a sustainable re-balance of power.

    History repeats
    The violent unrest that broke out between 1976-1989 culminated in the killing by French military forces of several Kanak leaders (including the prominent activist Eloï Machoro) while a hostage-taking incident on Ouvea in 1988 directly resulted in the deaths of 19 Kanaks and two French soldiers.

    Tragically in 1989, internal rifts within the Kanak leadership cost the lives of the pre-eminent pro-independence politician Jean-Marie Tjibaou and his deputy.

    Eventually, the Matignon Accords that Tjibaou had signed a year before his death ushered in a decade of relative stability. Subsequently, the Noumea Accords a decade later created a blueprint for a 20-year transition to a more equitable outcome for the country’s various racial and political factions.

    Of the 270,000 people who comprise the country’s population, some 41 percent belong to the Kanak community.

    About 24 percent identify as European. This category includes (a) relatively recent arrivals from mainland France employed in the public service or on private sector contracts, and (b) the politically conservative “caldoches” whose forebears have kept arriving as settlers since the 19th century, including an influx of settlers from Algeria after France lost that colony in 1962, after a war of independence.

    A further 7.5 percent identify as “Caledonian” but again, these people are largely of European origin. Some 11.3% of the population are of mixed race. Under the census rules, people can self-identify with multiple ethnic groups.

    In sum, the fracture lines of race, culture, economic wealth and deprivation crisscross the country, with the Kanak community being those most in need, and with Kanak youth in particular suffering from limited access to jobs and opportunity.

    Restoring whose ‘order’?
    The riots have been the product of the recent economic downturn, ethnic tensions and widely-held Kanak opposition to French rule. French troops have now been sent into the territory in force, initially to re-open the international airport.

    It is still a volatile situation. As Le Monde noted in its coverage of the recent rioting, New Caledonia is known for its very high number of firearms in relation to the size of the population.

    If illegal weapons are counted, some 100,000 weapons are said to be circulating in a territory of 270,000 inhabitants.

    Even allowing for some people having multiple weapons, New Caledonia has, on average, a gun for every three or four people. France by contrast (according to Franceinfo in 2021) had only 5.4 million weapons within a population of more than 67 million, or one gun for every 12 people.

    The restoration of “order” in New Caledonia has the potential for extensive armed violence. After the dust settles, the divisive issue of who should be allowed to vote in New Caledonia, and under what conditions, will remain.

    Forging on with the voting reforms regardless, is now surely no longer an option.

    Republished with permission from Gordon Campbell’s column in partnership with Scoop.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • France to blame for ‘constructing’ Kanaky crisis, says Kia Mau

    Pacific Media Watch

    A Māori supporter of Pacific independence movements claims the French government has “constructed the crisis” in New Caledonia by pushing the indigenous Kanak population to the edge, reports Atereano Mateariki of Waatea News.

    A NZ Defence Force Hercules is today evacuating about 50 New Zealanders stranded in the French Pacific island territory by riots that broke out last week over a plan to give mainland settlers voting rights after 10 years’ residence.

    Sina Brown-Davis from Kia Mau Aotearoa said Kanak leaders had worked patiently towards independence since the last major flare-up in the 1980s, but the increased militarisation of the Pacific seemed to have hardened the resolve of France to hang on to its colonial territory.

    “Those rights to self-determination, those rights to independence of the Kanak people as an inalienable right are the road block to the continued militarisation of our region and of those islands,” she said.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Déjà vu in New Caledonia: why decades of political failure will make this uprising hard to contain

    ANALYSIS: By David Small, University of Canterbury

    With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the Pacific island territory’s history are experiencing an unwelcome sense of déjà vu.

    When I first visited the island territory in 1983, I interviewed Eloï Machoro, general secretary of the largest pro-independence party, L’Union Calédonienne. It was a position he had held since his predecessor, Pierre Declercq was assassinated less than two years earlier.

    Machoro was angry and frustrated with the socialist government in France, which had promised independence while in opposition, but was prevaricating after coming to power.

    Tension was building, and within 18 months Machoro himself was killed by a French military sniper after leading a campaign to disrupt a vote on France’s plans for the territory.

    I was in New Caledonia again last December, 40 years after my first visit, and Kanak anger and frustration seemed even more intense. On the anniversary of the 1984 Hienghène massacre, in which 10 Kanak activists were killed in an ambush by armed settlers, there was a big demonstration in Nouméa.

    Staged by a new activist group, the Coordination Unit for Actions on the Ground (CCAT), it focused on the visit of French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who was hosting a meeting of South Pacific defence ministers.

    This followed the declaration by French president Emmanuel Macron, during a visit in July 2023, that the process set out in the 1998 Nouméa Accords had been concluded: independence was no longer an option because the people of New Caledonia had voted against it.

    The sense of betrayal felt by the independence movement and many Kanak people was boiling over again. The endgame at this stage is unclear, and a lot will ride on talks in Paris later this month.

    End of the Nouméa Accords
    The Nouméa Accords had set out a framework the independence movement believed could work. Pro- and anti-independence groups, and the French government, agreed there would be three referendums, in 2018, 2020 and 2021.

    A restricted electoral college was established that stipulated new migrants could still vote in French national elections, but not in New Caledonia’s provincial elections or independence referendums.

    The independence movement had reason to trust this process. It had been guaranteed by a change to the French constitution that apparently protected it from the whims of any change of government in Paris.

    The 2018 referendum returned a vote of 43 percent in favour of independence, significantly higher than most commentators were predicting. Two years later, the 47 percent in favour of independence sparked jubilant celebrations on the streets of Nouméa.

    Arnaud Chollet-Leakava, founder and president of the Mouvement des Océaniens pour l’Indépendance (and member of CCAT), said he had seen nothing like the spontaneous outpouring after the second referendum.

    It was a party atmosphere all over Nouméa, with tooting horns and Kanak flags everywhere. You’d think we had won.

    There was overwhelming confidence the movement had the momentum to achieve 50 percent in the final referendum. But in 2021, the country was ravaged by covid, especially among Kanak communities. The independence movement asked for the third referendum to be postponed for six months.

    President Macron refused the request, the independence movement refused to participate, and the third referendum returned a 97 percent vote against independence. On that basis, France now insists the project set out in the Nouméa Accords has been completed.

    Consensus and crisis
    The current turmoil is directly related to the dismantling of the Nouméa Accords, and the resulting full electoral participation of thousands of recent immigrants.

    France has effectively sided with the anti-independence camp and abandoned the commitment to consensus that had been a hallmark of French policy since the Matignon Accords in 1988.

    Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) president Jean-Marie Tjibaou returned to New Caledonia after the famous Matignon handshake with anti-independence leader Jacques Lafleur. It took Tjibaou and his delegation two long meetings to convince the FLNKS to endorse the accords.

    The Ouvéa hostage crisis that claimed 19 Kanak lives just weeks earlier had reminded people what France was capable of when its authority was challenged, and many activists were in no mood for compromise. But the movement did demobilise and commit to a decades-long consensus process that was to culminate in an independence vote.

    With France unilaterally ending the process, the leaders of the independence movement have emerged empty-handed. That is what has enraged Kanak people and led to young people venting their anger on the streets.

    A new kind of uprising
    Unlike those of the 1980s, the current uprising was not planned and organised by leaders of the movement. It is a spontaneous and sustained popular outburst. This is also why independence leaders have been unable to stop it.

    It has gone so far that Simon Loueckhote, a conservative Kanak leader who was a signatory of the Nouméa Accords for the anti-independence camp, wrote a public letter to Macron on Monday, calling for a halt to the current political strategy as the only way to end the current cycle of violence.

    Finally, all this must be seen in even broader historical context. Kanak people were denied the right to vote until the 1950s — a century after France annexed their lands.

    Barely 20 years later, New Caledonia’s then prime minister, Pierre Messmer, penned a now infamous letter to France’s overseas territories minister. It revealed a deliberate plan to thwart any potential threat to French rule in the colony by ensuring any nationalist movement was outnumbered by massive immigration.

    And now France has brought new settlers into the country, and encouraged them to feel entitled to vote. Until a lasting solution is found, either by reviving the Nouméa Accords or agreement on a better model, more conflict seems inevitable.The Conversation

    David Small, senior lecturer, above the bar, School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury.  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Liberation for New Caledonia’s Kanak people ‘must come’, says educator

    RNZ Pacific

    A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia.

    Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 and wrote the book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior.

    He has also been arrested at gun point in New Caledonia while on a mission reporting on the indigenous Kanak uprising in the 1980s and wrote the book Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific.

    The Asia Pacific Report editor told RNZ Pacific’s Lydia Lewis France was “torpedoing” any hopes of Kanaky independence.

    Professor David Robie
    Professor David Robie before retirement as director of the Pacific Media Centre at AUT in 2020. Image: AUT

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • No signal from helicopter that crashed killing Iran’s president, Turkish minister says

    Initial investigation by rescue group finds ageing aircraft either did not have transponder fitted or had it turned off

    The helicopter that crashed killing the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, either did not have a transponder fitted or had it turned off, according to an initial investigation by the Turkish rescue group that found the wreckage.

    The Turkish transport minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, told reporters that on hearing news of the crash, Turkish authorities had checked for a signal from the helicopter’s transponder that broadcasts height and location information. “But unfortunately, [we think] most likely the transponder system was turned off or that the helicopter did not have one,” he said.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Ebrahim Raisi obituary

    Ruthless prosecutor behind thousands of executions who rose through the theocratic ranks to become the president of Iran

    The career of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, who has been killed in a helicopter crash aged 63, was defined by violent events. His initiation into politics was triggered by the 1979 Iranian revolution, one of the most cataclysmic and epoch-shaping events of the late 20th century, which unfolded with headline-grabbing drama as Raisi was just turning 18.

    Given the heady fervour of that revolutionary period, with daily mass street demonstrations eventually leading to the toppling of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country’s once seemingly invincible western-allied monarch, followed by the return from exile of the messianic cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to ecstatic acclaim, it is perhaps no surprise that a militant, impressionable young activist was sucked into the political system that took shape in the aftermath, was moulded by it – and later participated in some of its more unsavoury actions.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • How Palestine fights ecocide with biodiversity and sustainability resistance

    Asia Pacific Report

    For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

    Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature.

    Nestling in an Al-Karkarfa hillside at the University of Bethlehem is the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS), a remarkable botanical garden and animal rehabilitation unit that is an antidote for conflict and destruction.

    “There is both a genocide and an ecocide going on, supported by some Western governments against the will of the Western public,” says environmental justice advocate Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, the founder and director of the institute.

    It has been a hectic week for him and his wife and mentor Jessie Chang Qumsiyeh.

    On Wednesday, May 15 — Nakba Day 2024 — they were in Canberra in conversation with local Palestinian, First Nations and environmental campaigners. Nakba – “the catastrophe” in English — is the day of mourning for the destruction of Palestinian society and its homeland in 1948, and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people (14 million, of which about 5.3 million live in the “State of Palestine”.)

    Three days later in Auckland, they were addressing about 250 people with a Palestinian Christian perspective on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and the war in the historic St Mary’s-in-Holy-Trinity Church in Parnell.

    This followed a lively presentation and discussion on the work of the PIBS and its volunteers at the annual general meeting of Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) along with more than 100 young and veteran activists such as chair John Minto, who had just returned from a global solidarity conference in South Africa.


    Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh’s speech at Saint Mary’s-in-Holy-Trinity Church in Parnell.  Video: Radio Inqilaab 

    Environmental impacts less understood
    While the horrendous social and human costs of the relentless massacres in Gaza are in daily view on the world’s television screens, the environmental impacts of the occupation and destruction of Palestine are less understood.

    As Professor Qumsiyeh explains, water sources have been restricted, destroyed and polluted; habitat loss is pushing species like wolves, gazelles, and hyenas to the brink; destruction of crops and farmland drives food insecurity; and climate crisis is already impacting on Palestine and its people.

    The PIBS oasis as pictured on the front cover of the institute's latest annual report
    The PIBS oasis as pictured on the front cover of the institute’s latest annual report. Image: David Robie/APR

    The institute was initiated in 2014 by the Qumsiyehs at Bethlehem University along with a host of volunteers and supporters. After 11 years of operation, the latest PIBS 2023 annual report provides a surprisingly up-to-date and telling preface feeding into the early part of this year.

    “In 2023, there were increased restrictions on movement, settler and soldier attacks on Palestinians throughout the occupied territories, combined with the ongoing siege and strangulation of the Gaza Strip, under Israel’s extreme rightwing government.

    “This led to the Gaza ghetto uprising that started on 7 October 2023. The Israeli regime’s ongoing response is a genocidal campaign in Gaza.

    Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh
    Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh . . . In contrast to false perceptions of violence about Palestinians, “these methods have been the exception to what is a peaceful and creative.” Image: Del Abcede/Pax Christi

    “[Since that date], 35,500 civilians were brutally killed, 79,500 were wounded (72 percent women and children) and nearly 2 million people displaced. Thousands more still lay under the rubble.

    “An immense amount – nearly two-thirds – of Gaza’s infrastructure was destroyed , including 70 per cent of residential buildings, hospitals, schools, universities and government buildings.

    Total food, water blockade
    “Israel also imposed a total blockade of, among other things, fuel, food, water, and medicine.

    “This fits the definition of genocide per international law.

    “Israel also attacked the West Bank, killing hundreds of Palestinians in 2023 (and into 2024), destroyed homes and infrastructure (especially in refugee camnps), arrested thousands of innocent civilians, and ethnically cleansed communities in Area C.

    “Many of these marginalised communities were those that worked with the institute on issues of biodiversity and sustainability.”

    This is the context and the political environment that Professor Qumsiyeh confronts in his daily sustainability struggle. He is committed to a vision of sustainable human and natural communities, responding to the growing needs for education, community service, and protection of land and environment.

    Popular Resistance in Palestine cover (2011)
    Popular Resistance in Palestine cover (2011). Image: Pluto Press/APR

    In one of his many books, Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment, he argues that in contrast to how Western media usually paints Palestine resistance as exclusively violent: armed resistance, suicide bombings, and rocket attacks. “In reality,” he says, “these methods have been the exception to what is a peaceful  and creative

    Call for immediate ceasefire
    An enormous global movement has been calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, to end decades of colonisation, and work toward a free Palestine that delivers sustainable peace for all in the region.

    Professor Qumsiyeh reminded the audience at St Mary’s that the first Christians were in Palestine.

    “The Romans used to feed us to the lions until the 4 th century,” when ancient Rome adopted Christianity and it became the Holy Roman Empire.

    He spoke about how Christians had also paid a high price for Israel’s war on Gaza as well as Muslims.

    PSNA's Billy Hania
    PSNA’s Billy Hania . . . a response to Professor Qumsiyeh. Image: David Robie/APR

    Christendom’s third oldest church and the oldest in Gaza, the Greek Orthodox church of Saint Porphyrius in the Zaytoun neighbourhood — which had served as a sanctuary for both Christians and Muslims during  Israel’s periodic wars was bombed just 12 days after the start of the current war.

    There had been about 1000 Christians in Gaza; 300 mosques had been bombed.

    He said “everything we do is suspect, we are harassed and attacked by the Israelis”.

    ‘Don’t want children to be happy’
    “They don’t want children to be happy, they have killed 15,000 of them in Gaza. They don’t want us to survive.”

    Palestine action for the planet
    Palestine action for the planet . . . a slide from Professor Qumsiyeh’s talk earlier in the day at the PSNA annual general meeting. Image: David Robie/APR

    He said colonisers did not seem to like diversity  — they destroy it, whether it is human diversity, biodiversity.

    “Palestine is a multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious country.”

    “Diversity is healthy, an equal system. We have all sorts of religions in our part of the world.

    “Life would be boring if we were all the same – that’s human. A forest with only one kind of  trees is not healthy.’

    Professor Qumsiyeh was critical of much Western news media.

    “If you watch Western media, Fox news and so on, you would be told that we are people who have been fighting for years.”

    That wasn’t true. “We had the most peaceful country on earth.”

    “If you go back a few years, to the Crusades, that is when political ideas from Europe such as principalities and kingdoms started to spread.”

    Heading into nuclear war
    He warned against a world that was rushing headlong into a nuclear war, which would be devastating for the planet – “only cockroaches can survive a nuclear war.”

    "Humanity for Gaza"
    “Humanity for Gaza” . . . a slide from Professor Qumsiyeh’s talk earlier in the day. Image: David Robie

    Professor Qumsiyeh likened his role to that of a shepherd, “telling the world that something must be done” to protect food sovereignty and biodiversity as “climate change is coming to us with a vengeance. So please help us achieve the goal.”

    The institute says that they are leaders in “disseminating information and ideas to challenge the propaganda spread about Palestine”.

    It annual report says: “We published 17 scientific articles on areas like environmental justice, protected areas, national parks, fauna, and flora.

    “Our team gave over 210 talks locally, only and abroad, and over 200 interviews (radio and TV).

    “We produced statements responding to attacks on institutions for higher education, natural areas, and cultural heritage.

    “We published research on the impact of war, on Israel’s weaponisation of ‘nature reserves’ and ‘national parks, and a vision for peace based on justice and sustainability.”

    When it is considered that Israel destroyed all 12 universities in Gaza, the sustaining work of the institute on many fronts is vital.

    Professor Qumsiyeh also appealed for volunteers, interns and researchers to come to Bethlehem to help the institute to contribute to a “more liveable world”.

    Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh
    Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh . . . an appeal for help from volunteers to contribute to a “more liveable world”. Image: David Robie/APR


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Bedoon situation in Kuwait

    Bedoon, meaning “without nationality” in Arabic, is a stateless Arab minority in Kuwait who were not granted citizenship at the time of the country’s independence or shortly thereafter. The government currently labels Bedoon as “illegal residents,” despite many having no tangible connections to any country other than Kuwait, and notwithstanding decades of social discourse depicting Bedoon as intertwined with Kuwaiti territory.

    Due to their stateless status, Bedoons encounter difficulties in obtaining civil documents, securing employment, and accessing healthcare, education, and other social services available to Kuwaiti citizens. Consequently, many live in relative poverty and are confined to working in the informal sector.

    Therefore, it would be beneficial if the international community took action in support of the Bedoons, but it remains largely silent. This issue concerns the international community as it cannot be disregarded simply because it is occurring in a foreign country. Moreover, some Bedoons who fled Kuwait crossed borders illegally due to a lack of identification papers. While this is not their fault, these individuals enter countries without asylum applications and lack protection from any government, unable to be repatriated as they are not citizens of their home country. Consequently, European countries such as France and Great Britain are faced with Bedoons arriving in their territories without viable solutions to the problem. Hence, countries worldwide must denounce the situation and take action to protect Bedoons from Kuwait’s atrocities. The silence on this matter may be attributed to the economic relations Kuwait maintains with the rest of the world, particularly European countries heavily dependent on oil production. It seems countries are hesitant to denounce human rights abuses and align with protecting their relations with Kuwait.

    Kuwait should take immediate action to resolve this situation by granting Bedoons Kuwaiti citizenship, protecting them from human rights abuses, and ceasing violations of their rights without delay.

    Click below to read the full briefing paper:

    The Bedoon situation in Kuwait

    The post The Bedoon situation in Kuwait appeared first on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

    This post was originally published on Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain.

  • There’s already a shortage of critical minerals for renewable energy just as the industry’s human rights abuses come to light

    A shortage of the critical minerals vital to the world’s green transition is brewing. Just as a key international energy body warns of the impending crisis, a rights group has exposed the sector’s soaring scale of human rights abuses.

    IEA critical minerals: a looming shortage

    On Friday 17 May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of a looming shortage of critical minerals. Notably, these are materials that manufacturers use for renewable energy technologies. For instance, this includes minerals for battery and other components to produce EVs and wind turbines – such as iron, lithium, and zinc.

    However, the IEA has now said that the sharp drop in prices for these minerals is masking an upcoming shortfall. Specifically, it has attributed this to inadequate levels of investment.

    For example, the IEA calculated that announced projects will be able to meet only 70% of copper and 50% of lithium requirements in 2035. This applies to a scenario in which countries worldwide meet their national goals for tackling the climate crisis. Of course, both metals are key for manufacturing electric vehicles.

    The IEA forecasts the combined market size of key energy transition minerals is set to more than double to $770bn by 2040 as countries target net zero emissions by mid-century.

    IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement that:

    The world’s appetite for technologies such as solar panels, electric cars and batteries is growing fast –- but we cannot satisfy it without reliable and expanding supplies of critical minerals

    However, a separate report from corporate accountability group has shed light on the toll the expansion is already wreaking on communities across the planet.

    Indigenous communities and workers bear the cost

    The IEA’s report tentatively applauded progress on community involvement in the critical mineral sector. However, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s (BHRRC) research on Thursday 16 May hotly contests this.

    The group produces an annual Transition Minerals Tracker report. This records allegations of human rights abuse for critical mineral operations. Gathering these since 2010, the BHRRC has now collated over 630 reports of alleged rights violations in the sector globally. Companies, authorities, and other perpetrators carried out nearly a hundred of these in 2023 alone.

    Specifically, the BHRRC has tracked these for seven key minerals: bauxite, cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel and zinc. Companies and countries need these for renewable energy technology, and electrification of transport.

    Workers and Indigenous communities bore the brunt of these abuses. Alarmingly, one in four of these allegations related to workers. A further one in four were attacks against human rights defenders (HRDs). Indigenous Peoples reported a disproportionate share of these, with 10% of cases.

    Companies swimming in complicity

    Damningly, the BHRRC identified that of all the companies associated with at least one allegation of abuse, only 39% have a human rights policy in place.

    Of course, some companies were particularly complicit. Notably, BHRRC found that ten companies were associated with more than 50% of all allegations tracked since 2010. These include companies among the most established in the sector. For instance, mining giants China Minmetals, Glencore, Grupo Mexico, First Quantum Minerals, and Solway Group routinely featured in allegations.

    On top of this, more than two-thirds of allegations were associated with just 20 companies.

    Yet while companies are reaping profits at communities’ expense, these groups are also not benefitting from the global green transition.

    Adam Anthony, from financial transparency group Publish What You Pay said companies were rushing to Africa to dig up critical minerals but there was little to show for that on the ground.

    For example, Tanzania is extracting manganese and graphite. However, he pointed out that it is producing none of the higher-value green tech items like electric cars or batteries that need these minerals. As such, Anthony argued that:

    When we talk about critical minerals, it is also very important to ask – who are they critical for? We don’t receive any value from the extraction at the moment.

    IEA’s warnings should prompt “urgent action” on human rights

    In light of its report, the Canary spoke to the BHRRC on the IEA’s findings. Caroline Avan is head of natural resources and just transition at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. She told the Canary that:

    The IEA’s warning of a looming shortage should prompt even more urgent action to ensure any new mining is done in a way that respects communities’ and Indigenous Peoples’ rights. It is indisputable that we need transition minerals, but policies for demand reduction in new mining are insufficient. We must not – and we don’t need to – forget about human rights in the fight against climate change.

    Avan also highlighted the IEA’s advice that companies and countries should shift emphasis to mineral recycling to meet the growing demand. She said:

    As the IEA notes in their Global Critical Minerals Outlook, published today, ‘stepping up efforts to recycle, innovate and encourage behavioural change is vital to ease potential strains on supply’.

    Notably, the IEA has estimated that some $800bn of investment in mining is required by 2040 to put the world on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. However, it warned that:

    without the strong uptake of recycling and reuse, mining capital requirements would need to be one-third higher.

    For instance, a UN report in October 2023 calculated the waste of critical minerals from disposed electronics. Significantly, the world squanders nearly US $10bn in critical minerals through these. Instead of ramping up extractive, environmentally destructive mining that harms people and the planet, countries could invest in better recycling infrastructure for the green transition. Avan concluded that:

    New extraction should not come at the expense of local communities and their environment. We need an energy transition that is fast, but also fair.

    In short, as countries scramble for these vital minerals to power their green transition, workers, Indigenous People, and local communities should not be put in the crosshairs.

    Feature image via International Energy Agency – YouTube

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: Young people will ‘never give up’ – journalist

    Young people on the streets in New Caledonia are saying they will “never give up” pushing back against France’s hold on the Pacific territory, a Kanak journalist in Nouméa says.

    Pro-independence Radio Djiido’s Andre Qaeze told RNZ Pacific young people had said that “Paris must respect us” and what had been decided by Jacques Lafleur and Jean-Marie Tjibaou, who were instrumental in putting an end to the tragic events of the 1980s and restoring civil peace in the French territory.

    In 1988, Tjibaou signed the Matignon Accords with the anti-independence leader Lafleur, ending years of unrest and ushering in a peaceful decolonisation process.

    Qaeze — speaking to RNZ Pacific today as the week-old crisis continued — said the political problem, the electoral roll, was the visible part of the iceberg, but the real problem was the economic part.

    He said they had decided to discuss the constitutional amendments to the electoral roll but wanted to know what were the contents of the discussions.

    They also wanted to know the future of managing the wealth, including the lucrative mining, and all the resources of New Caledonia.

    “Because those young people on the road, plenty of them don’t have any training, they go out from school with no job. They see all the richness going out of the country and they say we cannot be a spectator,” he said.

    ‘Rich become richer, poor become poorer’
    “The rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and they say no, we have to change this economic model of sharing.

    “I think this is the main problem,” he added.

    Qaeze said the old pro-independence generation used to say to the young generation: “You go and stop”.

    “Then we are trying to negotiate for us but negotiate for ‘us’. The word ‘us’ means only the local government is responsible not everybody.

    “And now, for 30 years the young generation have seen this kind of [political] game, and for them we cannot continue like this.”

    He believed it was important for the local pro-independence leaders to take care of the content of the future statutes not only political statutes.

    According to French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, almost 240 rioters had been detained following the violent unrest as of Monday.

    Qaeze said every year about 400 indigenous young people left school without any diploma or any career and these were the young people on the streets.

    He added there was plenty of inequality, especially in Nouméa, that needed to change.

    “Our people can do things, can propose also our Oceanian way of running and managing [New Caledonia].”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.


    This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: NZ student in Nouméa taught to use fire extinguishers

    RNZ News

    A New Zealander studying at the University of New Caledonia says students have been taught to use fire extinguishers as firefighters are unlikely to come help if there is an emergency.

    It comes as days of unrest followed a controversial proposed constitutional amendment which would allow more French residents of New Caledonia to vote — a move that pro-independence protesters say would weaken the indigenous Kanak vote.

    Six people have been confirmed dead so far in the state of emergency and there are reports of hundreds of people injured, numerous fires and looting in New Caledonia’s capital Nouméa.

    Emma Royland is one of several international students at the university in Nouméa and said everyone was getting a bit “high-strung”.

    “There’s this high-strung suspicion from every noise, every bang that ‘is that somebody coming to the university?’”

    Royland said a roster had been set up so that someone was constantly up overnight, looking over the university campus.

    Nights had become more quiet, but there was still unrest, she said.

    Concern over technology
    The vice-president of the university had visited yesterday to bring students some cooking oil and expressed the concern the university had for its expensive technology, Royland said.

    “They are very worried that people come and they burn things just as a middle finger to the state.

    A New Zealand student studying at the University of New Caledonia says the unrest in Noumea is leaving her and other students high-strung and suspicious of every little bump or noise. They have been taught to use fire extinguishers in case rioters sets anything at the university of fire as firefighters are unlikely to come help.
    Smoke wafts over the harbour near Nouméa. Image: Emma Royland/RNZ

    “We’ve been told that ‘if you see a fire, it’s unlikely that the firefighters will come so we will try and manage it ourselves’.”

    Royland said water to the part of Nouméa she was in had not been affected but food was becoming an issue.

    The university was providing food when it could but even it was struggling to get access to it — snacks such as oreos had been provided.

    But the closest supermarket that was open had “queues down the block” that could last three or four hours, Royland said.

    Seeing ‘absolutely crazy things’
    She was seeing “absolutely crazy things that I’ve never seen in my life”.

    A New Zealand student studying at the University of New Caledonia says the unrest in Noumea is leaving her and other students high-strung and suspicious of every little bump or noise. They have been taught to use fire extinguishers in case rioters sets anything at the university of fire as firefighters are unlikely to come help.
    Food supplies are delivered to the University of Caledonia campus. Image: Emma Royland/RNZ

    That included people holding guns.

    “It is quite scary to know just 20 seconds down from the university there are guys with guns blocking the road.”

    Yesterday, the NZ Defence Force (NZDF) said it would fly into New Caledonia to bring home New Zealanders while commercial services were not operating.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand was waiting for the go-ahead from French authorities, based on safety.

    “Ever since the security situation in New Caledonia deteriorated earlier this week, the safety of New Zealanders there has been an urgent priority for us,” Peters wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

    “NZ authorities have now completed preparations for flights using NZDF aircraft to bring home New Zealanders in New Caledonia while commercial services are not operating.

    ‘Ready to fly’
    “We are ready to fly, and await approval from French authorities as to when our flights are safe to proceed.”

    A New Zealand student studying at the University of New Caledonia says the unrest in Noumea is leaving her and other students high-strung and suspicious of every little bump or noise. They have been taught to use fire extinguishers in case rioters sets anything at the university of fire as firefighters are unlikely to come help.
    Businesses and facilities have been torched by rioters. Image: Emma Royland/RNZ

    Royland praised the response from New Zealand, saying other countries had not been so quick to help its citizens.

    She said she had received both a call and email from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade asking her if she was in immediate danger and if she needed assistance straight away.

    Everyone she had spoken to at the university seemed impressed with how New Zealand was responding, she said.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Rwanda denies entry to senior human rights researcher

    Human Rights Watch says Clementine De Montjoye’s case raises fresh questions about UK’s asylum seeker scheme

    The Rwandan government has barred a senior human rights researcher from entering the country, prompting accusations that officials are seeking to dodge independent scrutiny just weeks before the UK government is due to send asylum seekers there for the first time.

    Rwandan immigration authorities denied entry to Clementine de Montjoye, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division, when she arrived at Kigali International Airport on 13 May.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Kanaky New Caledonia unrest: French politics rocked as leaders plead for end

    NC La Première television reports on the clearing of barricades after a week of protests and rioting in the capital Nouméa.   Video: NC 1ère TV

    By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk

    With New Caledonia about to enter its second week of deadly riots, French authorities have mounted a massive law enforcement operation to regain control of the main roads in and around the capital Nouméa.

    The riots were sparked by a proposed constitutional amendment which would allow more French residents of New Caledonia to vote — a move that pro-independence protesters say would weaken the indigenous Kanak vote.

    French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal — after a 12-day presidential state of emergency was declared mid-week — is now chairing daily meetings of an “inter-ministerial crisis cell”, also involving Home Affairs and Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin, his deputy Marie Guévenoux, Army Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti.

    Attal also hosted a parliamentary “liaison committee” on the crisis in New Caledonia meeting on Friday. The meeting involved parliamentary representatives of New Caledonia and parliamentary groups specialising in the French Pacific archipelago.

    French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, centre, hosts a parliamentary liaison committee on the situation in New Caledonia.
    French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal hosts a parliamentary liaison committee on the crisis in New Caledonia. Image: RNZ/Le Monde

    A ‘dialogue mission’ for New Caledonia
    It emerged after the conference that a “dialogue mission” was now very likely to be set up and to travel to New Caledonia in order to restore dialogue and trust between Paris and its South Pacific dependency.

    The notion of the mission, which would have to be “impartial” and “bipartisan”, had been called by several key players within the French political scene.

    This high-level dialogue mission could involve Senate President Gérard Larcher or National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet.

    Also mentioned have been former prime ministers such as Lionel Jospin (who signed the Nouméa Accord in 1998 on behalf of France) or Edouard Philippe, who has always said he had grown a strong bond with New Caledonia when he was in office (until 2020).

    The constitutional amendment was endorsed by the French Senate on April 2 and the National Assembly on May 14.

    However, a joint sitting of both upper and lower houses of the French parliament, which President Emmanuel Macron intended to convene before the end of June to endorse the amendment, was “unlikely to take place within this timeframe”, Braun-Pivet and Larcher told French media on Friday.

    French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc speaks at a press conference on Sunday.
    French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc speaks at a press conference today . . . trust broken between indigenous Kanaks and the French State. Image: French Highcom/Facebook

    Feeling of ‘disrespect’
    Several high-level experts and officials said that the spirit of the Matignon Accords — an agreement between loyalists and pro-independence groups which was signed in 1988, a decade before the Nouméa Accord — had been lost along the way. The breach of that consensus had led to a loss of trust and growing defiance between New Caledonian pro-independence players and the French State.

    They also said the Kanak people felt “disrespect” when a request to delay the third independence referendum at the end of 2021 was ignored. That ended in a boycott of the final consultation on New Caledonia’s self-determination.

    They also resented the fact that at one stage, Loyalist Party leader Sonia Backès had been appointed the French government’s Secretary of State (associate minister) for citizenship.

    She was forced to resign in September 2023 after losing her bid for a seat at the senatorial elections.

    More recently, tensions arose when another prominent pro-France leader, Nicolas Metzdorf, was appointed rapporteur for the the debates on the proposed constitutional amendment at the National Assembly.

    Since the beginning of the unrest, there have been calls for the issue to be transferred back to the Prime Minister’s Office, as had been an unwritten rule since peace was restored back in the 1980s through negotiations with then-prime minister Michel Rocard.

    Experts said this “special bond” was broken in 2020, after French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was replaced by Jean Castex and the Overseas portfolio was transferred to Sébastien Lecornu, who is now France’s minister of armed forces.

    Attal was also tasked to set a date for talks to be held in Paris with New Caledonian politicians for inclusive talks on the territory’s political future, but several players have refused, saying the time was not appropriate as yet.’We have pierced all the roadblocks’

    ‘We have broken through all the roadblocks’
    Tonight, an operation involving about 600 security personnel was launched in the outskirts of the capital to regain control of the highway between Nouméa and Tontouta International Airport, French High Commissioner Louis Le France said.

    The main objective was to “restore republican order”, he said, adding that he now had sufficient numbers of law enforcement officers after reinforcements had arrived from France.

    “We have broken through all the roadblocks . . .  Now to restore normal traffic, we have to clean the debris,” he said.

    Overnight, French special forces would “carry out harassment operations” throughout the greater Nouméa area, he said.

    All schools would remain closed this week from tomorrow, New Caledonia’s government said in a release.

    A roadblock at Tamoa close to Tontouta International Airport
    A roadblock at Tamoa close to Tontouta International Airport. Image: APR screenshot from “X”

    “This time will be used to work on the best scenarios to prepare the resumption and integrate all of the material, security, human and psychological implications.”

    Nouméa’s archbishop Michel-Marie Calvert, speaking at the Catholic Sunday mass for Pentecost, said the community had “betrayed our faith, our baptism and Jesus” through its divisions.

    “Our island, once known as ‘closest to paradise’, has now become closest to hell. So many political voices are disqualified. They are no longer audible or credible.

    “Let’s sound a strong signal to say ‘no’ to violence. Let’s call for a stop to violence, let’s demand from our elected leaders an obligation of results for a shared peaceful future, of lost and found fraternity.”

    More buildings were destroyed by fire on Saturday night in Nouméa, including a media centre in Rivière Salée.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Indonesian human rights lawyer Haris Azhar speaks out

    Haris Azhar

    On 17 May 2024 – in Global Voices – Lawyer Haris Azhar shares how the law has been used to intimidate human rights defenders in Indonesia..

    Haris Azhar is an advocate, human rights defender, and lecturer in Indonesia who has been involved in human rights work for over 25 years. In January 2024 Azhar, along with another human rights defender, Fatia Maulidiyanti, were acquitted of defamation charges . [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2023/11/14/defamation-indictment-for-fatia-maulidiyanti-and-haris-azhar-two-human-rights-defenders-in-indonesia/]

    Here Haris Azhar shares how and why he believes the law can be used as a powerful tool to deal with repression of democratic voices and their rights. Read more from our In My Own Words series here.

    My name is Haris Azhar. I would say I’ve been working, in general terms, on human rights issues for the last 25 years. I work across the country in Indonesia on some human rights, issues or situations, and in some conflict areas such as in Papua.

    I have been working for and dealing with some vulnerable groups such as labour groups, as well as the indigenous people and victims from the violence as well. These days I practise as a lawyer, I do pro bono and also professional for-profit work where I use the profits work to subsidise the pro bono and public interest legal work. I have also joined some organisations, and I was director for two human rights organisations. So that’s why I’ve been very human rights focused.

    In early 2024 me and my friend Fatia were brought to court. We won, and we got a good decision from the court. But this is not the final one, because the attorney general has appealed to the Supreme Court. I think this whole process was meant to serve as an example.

    The whole process, especially last year, was intended to be intimidation. The litigation or the pre-trial process was intended to intimidate me [and] not to not say more about the practice of business oligarchs in this country. But myself, lawyers, and groups here said, we would not say sorry. We would not stop speaking, and that those in power could continue their judicial harassment of us and that we would fight them.

    And during the fight, a lot of things happened [such as] intimidations, negative accusations and campaigns. They accused us of hoax stories, but actually they did the hoax stories. They took over and intercepted my mobile phone as well. These are the lengths and practices of intimidation in place.

    However, the process of the court for people like us, we pretty much don’t really care about the final decisions. We can see the shadow of the prisons, because what the government thinks is important for them is for us to not have democratic voices. There aremany cases by politicians and by business groups that aim to criminalise decent voices, and it has become a [common] practice. There are even consultants that can help you if you would like to know how to criminalise decent/democratic voices.

    It’s become an industry against freedom of expression, to show that, “This is what happens if you are against us.” They wanted to show they could bring me to court so the warning was that anyone who becomes the client of Haris should be aware. It was symbolic, and that’s what I mean it is a message to intimidate and to intimidate vulnerable groups especially.

    Widespread engagement on human rights, working through organisations, has developed not only my knowledge, my skill, but also my networks. This has also developed my interest in what some of the ways we (as a nation) would like to put on the table with regards to issues of human rights.

    As a practising lawyer, we have always believed here that we can use the law [to achieve justice]. However the movement here is not like in South Africa, as an example, where at one point in South Africa there was no real equality. There was no legal institution that could be used to secure fairness. We don’t have that kind of situation here [in Indonesia], but we are still looking for the formalisation of equality and fairness.

    We like to use the legal debate, space, and discourse as a way to combat evil, because the law provides the kind of tools or ammunition to attack evil. Those in power hide behind the law and therefore here in Indonesia, most of the battle and discourse always has an element of legality.

    I believe that the law is one of the crucial things that need to be handled, in addition to other advocacy issues. Because we know that the law or legal mechanisms are [also] being used by the bad guys, by the oligarchs to justify and legalise their plans and to do their own business. Those in power always say that they have complied with the law, that they uphold the rule of law, but actually we know that the law they comply with is their own creation. It is their own definition. That’s why we [as legal practitioners] need to step in, even though it’s not the popular action to do so.

    If those in, and adjacent to, power cannot be left to create what is good and not good within the framework of law. We need to bring in the voices from the ground. We need to bring the voices from the indigenous people. We need to bring the voices from the labour groups, from the students, from the women’s groups, and many other vulnerable groups who are connected to the issues.

    This is instead of the politicians and the business groups alone making their own arguments and developing their own definitions. We cannot let them be, and let them take over in that kind of way. Rule of law and legislation, has to be accompanied and coloured by the vulnerable voices and interests. This is why we insist that a part of the campaign, part of the research, is that we take the legal action as well.

    The gap between the haves and the political groups on the ground is huge. This has been happening year on year, and it is getting worse every year. The new regulations and legislations that we have here, which very much comply with the interests of the business groups which belong to some politicians, create more loose protection of rights of workers and women. For the youth and the students, they are getting fewer protections for their education and freedom.

    There’s no freedom on campus for students anymore, [because of] intervention from the government and the police on campuses. It’s getting obvious these days. So I think we need at least two things. First, figuring out how to protect vulnerable groups, because why they were attacked or would be attacked is because they found irregularities, and problematic issues behind the policies of the government, or the law.

    These issues have led to economic issues, social issues, business issues and so the vulnerable groups make a choice where they complain or protest, but they get attacked by police, government and intelligence. That is why we need more collaborations with vulnerable groups.

    We also need more friends — lawyers, international advocates, researchers — coming down into the rural areas, and into the urban areas to capture what is happening and make a noise, to campaign. That’s why we need to have the first group that I mentioned before. We need not to deal with the substance of the problem, but with the second layer of the problem, [which is] the attacks of the participation, the effects to the participation. For this we need to have a lot of groups [working on] how to deal with this kind of shrinking space.

    We just had the 2024 elections where we campaigned around the threat to our freedoms of speech and expression. Some of the candidates responded very well, but the one that was supported by the current regime didn’t have a strong resonance with what we are saying. In addition to the campaign, along with my criminalisation, myself, some friends and organisations submitted a complaint to the Constitutional Court.

    Our complaint was regarding some legal articles which were being used against me and against some journalists. We won the case in the Constitutional Court earlier this year, and an article which had been used to criminalise a lot of people has now been dropped. But this win is very short [lived] because we have some articles within certain laws which allow the police to criminalise speech.

    When I said we won, that’s regarding just one article in our criminal code. But in the next year and a half we will have a new criminal code implemented and new articles to criminalise speeches. We will need to challenge those articles in the next two years. It’s like Tom and Jerry, where we play hide and seek. It seems politicians and business need a shield to protect themselves from the public, hence these situations but we keep fighting them using the same law.

    Legal institutions are not our institutions yet. They are still their institutions [meaning the powerful]. However to a certain degree, the legal space is an open stage for you to perform, to have a say. I think if we don’t fill the space, it will be filled by those who are not supportive of freedom of speech or freedom of expression.

    These are the reasons why I think we have to join legal action. So as to not give space for evil to come in and occupy. Also, legal action is not the only type of work needed. It has to be one among others. For instance there is advocacy work too. But law cannot be neglected and that’s why this current situation (and the coming situations), require more than just focusing on the legal system. It has to be about a collaborative methodology and approach.

    https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ive-been-fighting-for-human-rights-for-25-years-he/

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Pacific civil society groups condemn ‘heavy-handed’ French crackdown over Kanaky unrest

    Asia Pacific Report

    Pacific civil society and solidarity groups today stepped up their pressure on the French government, accusing it of a “heavy-handed” crackdown on indigenous Kanak protest in New Caledonia, comparing it to Indonesian security forces crushing West Papuan dissent.

    A state of emergency was declared last week, at least people have been killed — four of them indigenous Kanaks — and more than 200 people have been arrested after rioting in the capital Nouméa followed independence protests over controversial electoral changes

    In Sydney, the Australia West Papua Association declared it was standing in solidarity with the Kanak people in their self-determination struggle against colonialism.

    “New Caledonia is a colony of France. It’s on the UN list of non-self-governing territories,” said Joe Collins of AWPA in a statement.

    “Like all colonial powers anywhere in the world, the first response to what started as peaceful protests is to send in more troops, declare a state of emergency and of course accuse a foreign power of fermenting unrest,” Collins said.

    He was referring to the south Caucasus republic of Azerbaijan, which Paris has accused of distributing “anti-France propaganda” on social media about the riots, a claim denied by the Azeri government.

    “In fact, the unrest is being caused by France itself,” Collins added.

    France ‘should listen’
    He said France should listen to the Kanak people.

    In Port Vila, the international office of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) issued a statement saying that West Papuans supported the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) in “opposing the French colonial project”.

    “Your tireless pursuit of self-determination for Kanaky people sets a profound example for West Papua,” said the statement signed by executive secretary Markus Haluk.

    Part of the PRNGO statement on the Kanaky New Caledonia protests
    Part of the PRNGO statement on the Kanaky New Caledonia protests . . . call for UN and Pacific intervention. Image: APR screenshot

    In Suva, the Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) called for “calm and peace” blaming the unrest on the French government’s insistence on proceeding with proposed constitutional changes “expressly rejected by pro-independence groups”.

    The alliance also reaffirmed its solidarity with the people of Kanaky New Caledonia in their ongoing peaceful quest for self-determination and condemned President Emmanuel Macron’ government for its “poorly hidden agenda of prolonging colonial control” over the Pacific territory.

    “Growing frustration, especially among Kanak youth, at what is seen locally as yet another French betrayal of the Kanaky people and other local communities seeking peaceful transition, has since erupted in riots and violence in Noumea and other regions,” the PRNGOs statement said.

    The alliance called on the United Nations and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders to send a neutral mission to oversee and mediate dialogue over the Nouméa Accords of 1998 and political process.

    In Aotearoa New Zealand, Kia Mua declared it was “watching with grave concern” the Macron government’s attempts to “derail the process for decolonisation and usurp the Nouméa Accords”.

    It also called for the “de-escalation of the militarised French response to Kanak dissent and an end to the state of emergency”.

    ‘Devastating nuclearism, militarism’
    For more than 300 years, “Te Moananui a Kiwa [Pacific Ocean] has been subjected to European colonialism, the criminality of which is obscured and hidden by Western presumptions of righteousness and legitimacy.”

    The devastating effects of “nuclearism, militarism, extraction and economic globalisation on Indigenous culture and fragile ecosystems in the Pacific are an extension of that colonialism and must be halted”.

    The Oceanian Independence Movement (OIM) demanded an immediate investigation “to provide full transparency into the deaths linked to the uprising in recent days”.

    It called on indigenous people to be “extra vigilant” in the face of the state of emergency and and to record examples of “behaviour that harm your physical and moral integrity”.

    The MOI said it supported the pro-independence CCAT (activist field groups) and blamed the upheaval on the “racist, colonialist, provocative and humiliating remarks” towards Kanaks by rightwing French politicians such as Southern provincial president Sonia Backés and Générations NC deputy in the National Assembly Nicolas Metzdorf.

    Constitutional rules
    The French National Assembly last week passed a bill changing the constutional rules for local provincial elections in New Caledonia, allowing French residents who have lived there for 10 years to vote.

    This change to the electoral reform is against the terms of the 1998 Noumea Accord. That pact had agreed that only the indigenous Kanak people and long-term residents prior to 1998 would be eligible to vote in provincial ballots and local referendums.

    The bill has yet to be ratified by Congress, a combined sitting of the Senate and National Assembly. The change would add an additional 25,000 non-indigenous voters to take part in local elections, dramatically changing the electoral demographics in New Caledonia to the disadvantage of indigenous Kanaks who make up 42 percent of the 270,000 population.

    Yesterday, in the far north of Kanaky New Caledonia’s main island of Grande Terre, a group gathered to honour 10 Kanaks who were executed by guillotine on 18 May 1868. They had resisted the harsh colonial regime of Governor Guillan.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.