Negotiations for the release of New Zealand pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens, who has been held captive by the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) for more than a year, has been hindered by customary issues and “interference of other parties”, say the Indonesian police.
Senior Commander Faizal Ramadhani, head of the Cartenz Peace Operation, made this statement following a visit from New Zealand’s Police Attaché for Indonesia, Paul Borrel, at the operation’s command post in Timika, Mimika Regency, Central Papua Province, last Tuesday.
Mehrtens has been held by the pro-independence group since he was seized on February 7 last year.
The armed group led by Egianus Kogoya seized Mehrtens after he landed his aircraft at Paro Airport and the militant group also set fire to the plane.
The senior commander told local journalists he had conveyed this information to Borrel.
“The negotiation process is still ongoing, led by the Acting Regent of Nduga, Edison Gwijangge,” said Senior Commander Faizal.
“However, the negotiation process is hindered by various factors, including the interference of other parties and customary issues.”
The commander was not specific about the “other parties”, but it is believed that he may be referring to some calls from pro-independence groups for an intervention by the United Nations.
Negotiations ongoing
The chief of Nduga Police, Adjutant Senior Commmander VJ Parapaga, said that efforts to free the Air Susi pilot were still ongoing. He said the Nduga District Coordinating Forum (Forkopimda) was committed to resolving this case through a “family approach”.
NZ Police Attaché to Indonesia, Paul Borrel (left) during a visit to the Cartenz Peace Operation Main Command Post in Timika, Mimika Regency, Central Papua Province, last Tuesday. Image: Cartenz Peace Operation/Jubi
“We bring food supplies and open dialogue regarding the release of the pilot,” said Parapaga when contacted by phone on Tuesday. He said efforts to release Phillip Mehrtens remained a top priority.
A low resolution image of New Zealand hostage pilot Philip Mehrtens . . . medication delivered to him, say police. TPNPB-OPM video screenshot APR
New Zealand’s Police Attaché Borrel commended the efforts made by the Cartenz Peace Operation Task Force, saying he hoped Mehrtens would be released safely soon.
“We express our condolences for the loss of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police members during the pilot’s liberation operation,” Borrel said.
“We hope that the Cartenz Peace Operation can resolve the case as soon as possible.”
The armed group led by Egianus Kogoya seized Mehrtens after he landed his aircraft at Paro Airport and the militant group also set fire to the plane.
Inspector-General Fakhiri said the police always provided assistance to anyone who could deliver logistical needs or requests made by Mehrtens.
He added that the security forces were ready to help if the New Zealand pilot fell ill or needed medicine, shoes or food.
“We hope that he continues to receive logistical support so that he remains adequately supplied with food. This may also include other necessities for his well-being, including medication,” said the inspector-general.
‘Free Papua’ issue
Inspector-General Fakhiri said it had been hoped to reach an agreement in November and January.
But he said there were other parties “deliberately obstructing and hindering” the negotiations, resulting in stalled operation.
“From our perspective, they are exploiting the issue of the abduction of the Susi Air pilot as a Free Papua issue,” he said.
The inspector-general said he hoped that the New Zealand government would trust Indonesia to work towards the release of Mehrtens.
“There is a third party that always tries to approach the New Zealand government to use the hostage issue to bring in a third party. We hope that [this request] will not be entertained,” he said.
As women and children seek hope of a future without tribal fighting, the cycle of killing continues in Papua New Guinea’s remote Highlands.
Tribal warfare dating back generations is being said to show no signs of easing and considered a complicated issue due to PNG’s complex colonial history.
Following the recent massacre of more than 70 people, community leaders in Wabag held mediation talks in an effort to draw up a permanent solution on Tuesday, with formal peace negotiations set down for yesterday between the warring factions.
A woman, who walked 20 hours on foot with seven children to flee the violence in the remote highlands, was at the meeting and told RNZ Pacific she wants the fighting to stop so she can return home.
In 2019, the then police minister said killings of more than two dozen women and children “changed everything”.
But a tribesman, who has asked to remain anonymous, told RNZ Pacific the only thing that had changed was it was easier to get guns.
Multiple sources have told RNZ Pacific the government appears to be powerless in such remote areas, saying police and security forces are sent in by the government when conflict breaks out, there is a temporary pause to the fighting, then the forces leave, and the fighting starts again.
More than 70 people died in the recent tribal fighting in the PNG Highlands. Many Engans have lamented that the traditional rules of war have been ignored as children have not been spared. Image: RNZ Pacific
There are also concerns about a lack of political will at the national level to enforce the law using police and military due to tribal and political allegiances of local MPs, as recommendations made decades ago by former PNG Defence Force commander Major-General Jerry Singirok are yet to be fully implemented.
While the government, police and community groups look at peaceful solutions, mercenaries are collecting munitions for the next retaliatory fight, multiple sources on the ground, including a mercenary, told us.
Killing pays After “Bloody Sunday”, which left dozens dead in revenge killings, the men with guns were out of bullets.
Tribal fighting in Papua New Gunea’s Enga Province reached boiling point on February 18, fuelled by a long-standing feud between different clans, which resulted in a mass massacre.
The tribesman who spoke to RNZ Pacific said they did not want to fight anymore but believed there was no other option when someone from the “enemy” turned up on their land wanting to burn down their village.
“Prime Minister [James Marape] — we want development in our villages,” he said, speaking from a remote area in the Highlands after his village was burnt to the ground.
There is no employment, no infrastructure, no support, he said, adding that those were the things that would keep people busy and away from engaging in tribal conflict.
At the moment killing people paid, he said.
Hela, Southern Highlands, Enga, West Sepik and Western Province were the provinces most affected by PNG’s February 2018 earthquake. Image: RNZ Pacific/Koroi Hawkins
‘Hundreds of lives lost’ “Businessmen, leaders and educated elites are supplying guns, bullets and financing the engagement of gunmen,” Wapenamanda Open MP Miki Kaeok said.
The MP is worried about the influence of money and guns, saying they have taken over people’s lives especially with the increase in engagement of local mercenaries and availability of military issued firearms.
“Hundreds of lives have been lost. Properties worth millions of kina have been ransacked and destroyed. I don’t want this to continue. It must stop now,” Kaeok pleaded.
Meanwhile, men in the Highlands are paid anything between K3000 (NZ$1300) to K10,000 (NZ$4,400) to kill, the tribesman claimed during the interview.
Then, he called over one of the men involved in that fight, an alleged killer, to join the video interview.
“Um this is the hire man,” he introduced him. “If they put K2000 (NZ$880) for him and say go burn down this village — he goes in groups — they clear the village, they give him money and he goes to his village . . . ”
The “hire man”, standing slouched over holding a machete, looked at the camera and claimed 64 people were killed on one side and eight on another pushing the total death toll to more than 70.
Wabag police told RNZ Pacific on Tuesday that 63 bodies had been recovered so far.
“A lot of people died,” an inspector from Wabag told RNZ Pacific.
The killings have not stopped there; a video has been circulating on social media platforms of what appears to be a young boy pleading for his life before he was killed.
The video, seen by RNZ Pacific, shows the child being hit by a machete until he falls to the ground.
The man who allegedly carried out the brutality was introduced to RNZ Pacific by the tribesman via video chat.
“They recognise that this person was an enemy,” the tribesman — translating for the killer, who was standing in a line with other men holding machetes — told RNZ Pacific.
“This small guy (referring to the dead child) came out of the bush to save his life. But he ended up in the hands of enemies.
“And then they chopped him with a bush knife and he was dead.”
“In revenge, he killed that small boy” because the killer’s three family members were killed about five months ago.
Asked whether they were saddened that children have died in the violence, the killer said: “No one can spare their lives because he was included in the fight and he’s coming as a warrior in order to kill people,” our source translated.
Killing people — “that’s the only way”, they said.
Exporting guns The source explained military guns are a fairly recent addition to tribal fighting.
He said that while fighting had been going on most of his life, military style weapons had only been in the mix for the last decade or so.
He said getting a gun was relatively easy and all they had to do was wait in the bush for five days near the border with Indonesia.
“We are using high-powered rifle guns that we are getting exported from West Papuans.”
He added the change from tribe-on-tribe to clan-to-clan fighting has exacerbated the issue, with a larger number of people involved in any one incident.
Mediation underway A Wapenamanda community leader in Enga Province Aquila Kunza said mediation was underway between the warring factions in the remote Highlands to prevent further violence.
“The policemen are facilitating and meditating the peace mediation and they are listening,” Kunza said.
Revenge killings had been ongoing for years and there was no sign of gunmen stopping anytime soon, Kunza said.
“This fight has lasted about four years now and I know it will continue. It occurs intermittently, it comes and goes,” he said.
“When there’s somebody around (such as the military), they go into hiding, when the army is gone because the government cannot support them anymore, the fighting erupts again.”
Kunza has been housing women and children who fled the violence and after years of violence and watching police come and go, he is calling for a community-led approach.
At a large community gathering in Wabag the main town of Enga on Tuesday people voiced their concerns.
“The government must be prepared to give money to every family [impacted] and assist them to resettle back to their villages to make new gardens to build new houses,” Kunza said.
He said formal peace negotiations are taking place today as residents from across the Enga Province are travelling to Wabag today for peace talks between the warring factions.
‘Value life’ Many Engans have lamented that the traditional rules of war have been ignored as children have not been spared in the conflict and societal norms that governed their society have been broken.
A woman who was kidnapped last year in Hela in the Bosavi region — a different area to where the recent massacre took place — and held for ransom said PNG was on the verge of being a failed state.
“I’ve gone through this,” Cathy Alex told RNZ Pacific.
“People told us who gave them their guns in Hela, people told us who supplied them munitions. People told us the solutions. People told us why tribal fights started, why violence is happening,” Alex shared.
She said they managed to find out that killers got paid K2000 (NZ$880) for killing one person, that was in 2017.
“For a property that’s worth K200/300,000 [up to NZ$130,000] that’s destroyed, the full amount goes to the person who caused the tribal fight,” she said.
“How can you not value the life of a person?”
Prime Minister James Marape says he was “deeply moved” and “very, very angry” about the massacre. Image: Screengrab/Loop PNG
Government help With retaliations continuing the “hire man” who claims to have killed more than 20 people from warring tribes, said he is staring down death.
“He would have to die on his land because…when they come they will fight…we have to shoot in order to protect my village,” the tribesman explained.
“He said he’s not scared about it. He is not afraid of dying. He got a gun in order to shoot, they shoot him, and that’s finished.”
“He’s really worried about his village not to burn down.”
The tribesman said that without government committing financial support for infrastructure, jobs and community initiatives the fighting will continue.
He also wants to see a drastic change in police numbers and a more permanent military presence on the ground.
“We don’t have a proper government to protect us from enemies in order to protect ourselves, our houses . . . and to protect assets we have to buy guns in order to protect them.”
Parliament urged to act Last week, the PNG Parliament discussed the issue of gun violence.
East Sepik Governor Allan Bird, who is on the opposition benches, has called on the government “to respond”.
He said the “terrorists in the upper Highlands” needed their guns to be stripped from them.
“We are a government for goodness sake — let’s act like one,” Bird said.
Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso agreed with Bird’s sentiments and acknowledged that the situation was serious.
He called on the whole of Parliament to unite to fix the issue together.
RNZ Pacific has contacted the PM Marape’s office for comment with no response yet.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
For over four months, the TVs in our homes have been broadcasting reel after reel of suffering, torture and humiliation experienced by Palestinians. It’s difficult to find the words to describe what’s unfolding in Gaza as Israel’s violence becomes more acute, sadistic and brutal. Objective language aimed at appealing to our morality may distance us from the visceral suffering that can motivate…
Taylor Swift is just one of countless victims of deepfake videos. Firms feeding off this abuse should pay for the harm they cause
Imagine finding that someone has taken a picture of you from the internet and superimposed it on a sexually explicit image available online. Or that a video appears showing you having sex with someone you have never met.
Imagine worrying that your children, partner, parents or colleagues might see this and believe it is really you. And that your frantic attempts to take it off social media keep failing, and the fake “you” keeps reappearing and multiplying. Imagine realising that these images could remain online for ever and discovering that no laws exist to prosecute the people who created it.
A vote of no confidence in Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape is set to be moved on May 29.
Sinasina-Yongamugl Open MP Kerenga Kua told the media yesterday that the Marape government had “subverted the opposition’s attempts to hold them accountable for their actions”.
“I want to give confidence to the people of Papua New Guinea that this opposition is committed to ensuring that this government is brought to account,” Kua, an opposition MP, said at a media conference in Port Moresby.
“People are screaming for accountability. On behalf of the people. We are serious. The people are sick and tired of this government.
“They want to see the back of this government. They want to see them out.”
The opposition bloc stands by the motion filed on February 20 despite discrepancies raised by the overseeing Private Business Committee in a letter.
“The Acting Speaker was clear and advised that there was a discrepancy or discrepancies and so on legal advice, we have opted to not challenge that stance.
“But then by the position that the integrity of the notice of motion that we have filed is intact,” said opposition MP Keith Iduhu.
Accused the opposition
He said in their view there were no issues with the paper despite the Prime Minister having “rubbished it” and accused the opposition of forging names.
“If the committee or this chair decides to tamper with the motion . . . in any manner other than contemplated by the Supreme Court, section 23 of the constitution will be invoked and punitive measures will be sought from the courts,” Iduhu said.
“What that means is that penalties to the tune of even imprisonment up to 10 years,” he said.
“We will not hesitate to exercise our rights and the cause under the constitution.”
RNZ Pacific understands that Acting Speaker Koni Iguan and the Private Business Committee would be impacted on if that is the case.
Meanwhile, Marape said last week he would refer the second motion of no confidence paper — the one the opposition bloc said it stands by — to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee following allegations of forgery.
“It looks as if somebody is cutting and pasting these signatures and filling in names,” Marape said.
Acting Speaker Iguan told Parliament on Thursday last week that the first motion of no confidence did not qualify to be listed on the notice paper.
All MPs accountable – watchdog Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) said the abuse of Parliament’s processes undermined public confidence and “fed corruption”.
TIPNG said all MPs were ultimately accountable to the people of PNG.
The anti-corruption watchdog said undermining democratic processes not only erodes public trust but hinders the country’s progress and development.
It said the refusal of the acting speaker to allow the motion for a vote against the prime minister, followed by an adjournment until May raises serious questions.
TIPNG chair Peter Aitsi said the motion is a fundamental tool within the parliamentary system, allowing MPs to hold the executive accountable.
He said denying a no confidence motion without due process was an affront to the democratic rights of both the opposition and the people they represented.
It “perpetuates a culture of impunity and weakens the already fragile checks and balances within the government and fuels an environment rife to corrupt behaviour,” he said.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Today is Remembrance Day — marking the 70th anniversary of the largest US nuclear test detonation, Castle Bravo, which took place over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 1 March 1954.
As one Marshallese resident noted: “It’s not the middle of nowhere to those who call it home.”
When Castle Bravo was detonated over Bikini Atoll, the immediate radioactive fallout spread to Rongelap and Utrik atolls and beyond.
“The impacts of that test, and the 66 others which were carried out above ground and underwater in Bikini and Enewetak atolls between 1946 and 1958, left a legacy of devastating environmental and health consequences across the Marshall Islands,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for human rights and disarmament Jennifer Philpot-Nissen.
“The UK and France followed the US and also began a programme of testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific, the final such test taking place as recently as 1996.”
Philpot-Nissen noted that the consequences of the testing across the Pacific had largely remained invisible and unaddressed.
“Very few people have received compensation or adequate assistance for the consequences they have suffered,” she said.
Advocated against nuclear weapons
The WCC has consistently advocated against nuclear weapons.
In 1950, the WCC executive committee declared that
“[t]he hydrogen bomb is the latest and most terrible step in the crescendo of warfare which has changed war from a fight between men and nations to a mass murder of human life.
Man’s rebellion against his Creator has reached such a point that, unless staved, it will bring self-destruction upon him.”
The WCC has continued to call for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons since that time, through its governing bodies, functional commissions, and member churches.
At the WCC 6th Assembly in Vancouver in 1983, Marshallese activist Darlene Keju made a speech during the Pacific Plenary, sharing that the radioactive fallout from the 67 nuclear tests was more widespread than the US had admitted, and spoke of the many unrecognised health issues in the Marshall Islands.
During a WCC visit in 2023, this speech was referred to as the moment in which the Marshallese found their voice to speak out about the continuing suffering in their communities due to the nuclear testing legacy.
Climate change link
Philpot-Nissen also noted the nexus with climate change and the environment.
“When the US ended the 12 years of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, they buried approximately 80,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste under a concrete dome on Runit island, Enewetak Atoll,” she said.
“In addition, 130 tons of soil from an irradiated Nevada testing site were also deposited in the dome.”
Scientists and environmental activists around the world are concerned that, due to rising sea levels, the dome is starting to crack, releasing its contents into the Pacific Ocean.
“In the Marshall Islands, the human-caused disasters on climate change and nuclear-testing converge and compound each other,” said Philpot-Nissen.
“While the Pacific islanders are faced with the remnants of a vast and sobering nuclear legacy — they have faced this with great resilience and dignity.
“The young people of the Pacific particularly are now leading the calls for an apology, for reparations, compensation, and for measures to be taken to address the damage which was done to their lands, their waters, and their people.”
Today is Remembrance Day — marking the 70th anniversary of the largest US nuclear test detonation, Castle Bravo, which took place over Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 1 March 1954.
As one Marshallese resident noted: “It’s not the middle of nowhere to those who call it home.”
When Castle Bravo was detonated over Bikini Atoll, the immediate radioactive fallout spread to Rongelap and Utrik atolls and beyond.
“The impacts of that test, and the 66 others which were carried out above ground and underwater in Bikini and Enewetak atolls between 1946 and 1958, left a legacy of devastating environmental and health consequences across the Marshall Islands,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for human rights and disarmament Jennifer Philpot-Nissen.
“The UK and France followed the US and also began a programme of testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific, the final such test taking place as recently as 1996.”
Philpot-Nissen noted that the consequences of the testing across the Pacific had largely remained invisible and unaddressed.
“Very few people have received compensation or adequate assistance for the consequences they have suffered,” she said.
Advocated against nuclear weapons
The WCC has consistently advocated against nuclear weapons.
In 1950, the WCC executive committee declared that
“[t]he hydrogen bomb is the latest and most terrible step in the crescendo of warfare which has changed war from a fight between men and nations to a mass murder of human life.
Man’s rebellion against his Creator has reached such a point that, unless staved, it will bring self-destruction upon him.”
The WCC has continued to call for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons since that time, through its governing bodies, functional commissions, and member churches.
At the WCC 6th Assembly in Vancouver in 1983, Marshallese activist Darlene Keju made a speech during the Pacific Plenary, sharing that the radioactive fallout from the 67 nuclear tests was more widespread than the US had admitted, and spoke of the many unrecognised health issues in the Marshall Islands.
During a WCC visit in 2023, this speech was referred to as the moment in which the Marshallese found their voice to speak out about the continuing suffering in their communities due to the nuclear testing legacy.
Climate change link
Philpot-Nissen also noted the nexus with climate change and the environment.
“When the US ended the 12 years of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, they buried approximately 80,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste under a concrete dome on Runit island, Enewetak Atoll,” she said.
“In addition, 130 tons of soil from an irradiated Nevada testing site were also deposited in the dome.”
Scientists and environmental activists around the world are concerned that, due to rising sea levels, the dome is starting to crack, releasing its contents into the Pacific Ocean.
“In the Marshall Islands, the human-caused disasters on climate change and nuclear-testing converge and compound each other,” said Philpot-Nissen.
“While the Pacific islanders are faced with the remnants of a vast and sobering nuclear legacy — they have faced this with great resilience and dignity.
“The young people of the Pacific particularly are now leading the calls for an apology, for reparations, compensation, and for measures to be taken to address the damage which was done to their lands, their waters, and their people.”
Despite the carnage, United Nations resolutions and international court rulings, Israel’s war in Gaza has the potential to get much worse. Unless Hamas frees all Israeli hostages by March 10, Israel may launch an all-out offensive in Rafah, a city of 1.5 million people, cornered against the border with Egypt.
The US has continued to block UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire. But President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel against a Rafah ground assault without a credible plan to protect civilians.
To its credit, New Zealand, along with Australia and Canada, added its voice in a joint statement on February 15:
A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic […] We urge the Israeli government not to go down this path […] Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas.
New Zealand also reiterated its commitment to a political settlement and a two-state solution. Given how hard some other countries are pushing for a ceasefire and peace, however, it is fair to ask whether the National-led coalition government could be doing more.
NZ absent from a crucial case So far, New Zealand’s most obvious contribution has been to deploy a six-member defence force team to the region to deter Houthi rebel attacks on commercial and naval shipping in the Red Sea.
This collaboration with 13 other countries is on the right side of international law. But the timing suggests it is more about preventing the Israel-Gaza situation from spreading and destabilising the region than about protecting international waterways per se.
Furthermore, there is a risk of New Zealand’s response appearing one-sided, considering its relative silence on other fronts.
For example, following the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the application of the Genocide Convention to Israel’s devastation of Gaza, a second opinion is being sought from the court over the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki told the court his people were suffering “colonialism and apartheid” under Israeli occupation. It was the latest round in a monumental debate central to any lasting peace process.
More than 50 countries presented arguments at the ICJ last week, the most to engage with any single case since the court was established in 1945. But New Zealand was not present in the oral proceedings.
This absence matches New Zealand’s abstention at the United Nations General Assembly vote that referred the case to the ICJ. A country that prides itself on an independent foreign policy seems to have lost its voice.
Doctors Without Borders warns that Gaza’s whole healthcare system is collapsing as Israel continues to intensify its attacks.
An even-handed foreign policy New Zealand does call for the observance of international humanitarian law in Gaza. It has been less vocal, though, about calling for accountability for war crimes, no matter which side commits them.
The International Criminal Court, New Zealand’s permanent representative to the UN has said, is “a central pillar in the international rules-based order and the international criminal justice system”.
Directly supporting that sentiment would mean calling for independent investigations of all alleged crimes in the current Israel-Gaza conflict.
Given countries it considers friends and allies do more to register their disapproval of the situation, New Zealand needs to consider whether its own current sanctions system is adequate.
The White House has begun to sanction individual Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories, accusing them of undermining peace, security and stability. Britain has also placed sanctions on a small number of “extremist” settlers. France has recently identified and sanctioned 28 such individuals.
This prompts an obvious question: if sanctions can be applied to both Russia and Iran for their actions, should New Zealand now follow the lead of its allies and take active measures to express its disapproval of what is happening in Gaza and the occupied territories?
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has designated the political wing of Hamas as a “terrorist” entity.
New Zealand designated the military wing of Hamas as a terrorist entity in 2010.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the government unequivocally condemned the “brutal” terrorist attacks by Hamas in October, and the move had been taken after he received official advice.
“What happened on 7 October reinforces we can no longer distinguish between the military and political wings of Hamas,” Peters said.
“The organisation as a whole bears responsibility for these horrific terrorist attacks.”
The designation means any assets of the terrorist entity in New Zealand are frozen. It also makes participation in or supporting Hamas’ activities, or recruiting for it a criminal offence.
However, Peters made clear the designation would not affect the provision of humanitarian support to Palestinians, and would not stop New Zealand providing aid to benefit civilians in Gaza.
‘Gravely concerned’
“Nor does it stop us providing consular support to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents in the conflict zone,” he said.
“We remain gravely concerned about the impact of this conflict on civilians and will continue to call for an end to the violence and an urgent resumption of the Middle East Peace Process.
“A lasting solution to the conflict will only be achieved by peaceful means.”
The coalition government has also banned several extremist Israeli settlers from travelling to New Zealand.
Peters said those banned had committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.
It was not clear how many settlers have been banned and who exactly they are.
There has been a significant increase in extremist violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinian populations in recent months, Peters said.
He acknowledged the official advice provided to him had been commissioned by then Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in October.
A day later, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon issued a joint statement with his Australian and Canadian counterparts calling for the same thing.
It included a call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the release of hostages, condemned Hamas for its terror attacks on Israel, and said Israel must protect Palestinian civilians.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
New legislation threatens prison sentences of up to five years for ‘wilful promotion, sponsorship or support of LGBTQ+ activities’
Ghana’s parliament has passed legislation that intensifies a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ people and those promoting lesbian, gay or other non-conventional sexual or gender identities in the West African country.
The new legislation passed on Wednesday imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the “wilful promotion, sponsorship or support of LGBTQ+ activities”.
‘Crucial’ UN resolution attempts to avoid repeat of injustices produced by Africa’s fossil fuel sector
In an attempt to avoid the “injustices and extractivism” of fossil fuel operations, African leaders are calling for better controls on the dash for the minerals and metals needed for a clean energy transition.
A resolution for structural change that will prioritise equitable benefit-sharing from extraction, supported by a group of mainly African countries including Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad, was presented at the United Nations environmental assembly in Nairobi on Wednesday and called for the sustainable use of transitional minerals.
In a joint letter, 31 human rights organizations called on Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali to investigate Bahrain’s human rights record and ensure that the global event does not turn into a means of whitewashing sports.
The text of the message stated:
Dear Stefano Domenicali,
We, the undersigned organisations, are writing to renew our concerns about Bahrain’s use of the F1 Grand Prix to “sportswash” the country’s dire human rights record. As you mark two decades of racing in Bahrain, and amid claims from F1 that it has been “a force for good” in the country, we urge F1 to launch an independent inquiry to evaluate its impact on the situation for human rights in Bahrain.
State media outlets have heralded the 20th anniversary of the first Bahrain Grand Prix in 2004 as “20 years of Formula 1 glory”. Unfortunately, this does not reflect the reality on the ground in Bahrain, where authorities continue to harshly clamp down on citizens’ freedom of expression and assembly, including around the race itself.
Despite assurances provided by F1 that they “have always been clear with all race promoters and governments […] worldwide, including Bahrain, that [they] take violence, abuse of human rights and repression very seriously“, Bahrain has continued to systematically violate citizens’ rights, repress dissent, silence journalists, and routinely perpetuate violence, including torture and police brutality.
20 years of sportswashing and a horrific deterioration in fundamental freedoms
Bahrain’s human rights record has become measurably worse over the past 20 years, with the Gulf kingdom becoming one of the most repressive states in the Middle East. It has experienced one of the largest deteriorations in human freedoms globally between 2007-2021, according to the Human Freedom Index 2023. Bahrain has also ranked among the worst 10 countries globally for freedom of the press on Reporters Without Borders’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index. Ten journalists continue to be detained in the country due to their journalistic activity, according to the organisation.
Since violently crushing a popular pro-democracy protest movement in 2011, authorities have systematically eliminated a broad range of political rights and civil liberties, dismantled the political opposition, and cracked down on dissent, particularly among the Shiite population.
The 2011 uprising led to the race’s cancellation as the state granted its security forces unchecked authority to suppress protesters, resulting in fatalities both on the streets and in custody. Among the victims was Kareem Fakhrawi, co-founder of Bahrain’s only independent newspaper, Al-Wasat, which was subsequently shuttered by the government in 2017 as part of what Amnesty International deemed an “all-out campaign to end independent reporting” within the nation.
Notable human rights violations during the Bahrain Grand Prix
Over the past two decades, numerous rights violations have occurred in the context of the Grand Prix or during the event, and F1 has failed to respond adequately. On the eve of the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix, a protester, Salah Abbas Habib, was killed by a shotgun fired by a police officer. His death sparked widespread protests calling for the race to be cancelled, but despite mounting pressure, F1 went ahead with the race. The policeman accused of his murder was acquitted by a Bahraini Court in 2013, and F1 failed to unequivocally condemn his murder or investigate if his death was linked to F1’s presence in the country.
In 2017, Bahraini activist Najah Yusuf was tortured, sexually assaulted and sentenced to three years in prison after posting criticism of the Grand Prix on social media. While Najah was released by royal pardon in August 2019 following sustained international pressure, she was subsequently fired from her public sector job.
F1’s presence in Bahrain during the Grand Prix provides convenient cover and distraction whilst the Kingdom carries out egregious human rights violations. Even when such incidents were brought to F1’s attention, it failed to protect human rights during F1 races in Bahrain.
False assurances by F1 last year
Based on the assurances given by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali that “individuals should be allowed to protest against and criticise our events without intimidation or reprisals”, four individuals staged a protest near the Bahrain international circuit, where the race was held on 5 March 2023. However, within minutes, they were arrested, threatened, verbally abused and subsequently forced to sign a plea severely restricting their right to protest in the future.
When asked about the arrests, F1 reiterated a statement made by the Bahraini government denying their occurrence. However, the Ministry of Interior Ombudsman later acknowledged the arrests in an email sent to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy in May 2023. Regrettably, F1 failed to correct the public record, which has the effect of helping to whitewash the actions of the Bahraini police.
In an interview with the Guardian, Stefano Domenicali stated, “F1’s position is that the sport is better able to effect change by visiting these countries and holding them to commitments they have made that are legally binding.” F1 must translate these words into actions to substantiate its own rhetoric and to ensure that Bahrain complies with its human rights commitments and international law.
Our request
F1 must not continue to be a conduit to sportswash human rights violations in Bahrain. In that regard, we urge you to:
Commission an independent inquiry to evaluate F1’s response to unlawful arrests, extrajudicial killing of protesters, and suppression of freedoms of expression and assembly during the Bahrain Grand Prix to evaluate whether Bahrain has fulfilled its commitments to F1 and to assess whether F1 has taken appropriate measures to deter recurrent human rights violations in the context of the event.
Actively work to secure redress for those victims of abuses linked to your activities in Bahrain and ensure outstanding concerns are dealt with as a matter of urgency and make a public statement on this.
Seek written assurances from the Bahraini Government that individuals will not face reprisals for peaceful protests linked to F1.
Call on the Bahraini government to release all detained journalists in Bahrain and eliminate any obstacles jeopardising the public’s right to access free, independent, and diverse information.
Sincerely,
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
ALQST for Human Rights
ARTICLE 19
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
CIVICUS
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Democracy for Arab World Now (DAWN)
European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
Fair Square
#FreeAlKhawaja Campaign
Football Supporters Europe
Freedom House
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
IFEX
ILGA World
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
MENA Rights Group
Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Reprieve
Sport & Rights Alliance
The Army of Survivors
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
World Players Association
Background: Repression and human rights violations in Bahrain
Political prisoners
Bahrain has one of the highest prison population rates in the Middle East, with an estimated 1,300 political prisoners in Jau Prison, many of whom have been imprisoned since 2011. Authorities systematically deny political prisoners access to adequate medical care, causing unnecessary suffering and endangering the health of prisoners with chronic medical conditions.
On 7 August 2023, hundreds of prisoners launched a hunger strike in Bahrain’s Jau prison to protest harsh prison conditions and ill-treatment, and was the biggest hunger strike, with over 800 inmates joining the strike over 36 days.
A report by the UN Committee Against Torture concluded in 2017 that there is “widespread torture” in Bahrain’s penal system and a “climate of impunity” for perpetrators. Last September 2023, a Bahraini court sentenced 13 people to prison after an unfair mass trial marred with due process violations and torture allegations on charges of using force against prison guards and vandalism of prison property, following a peaceful demonstration organised by inmates in Jau prison in April 2021.
Human rights defenders and opposition leaders
Since 2011, well-known opposition figures and human rights defenders remain imprisoned solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and are continually subjected to human rights violations.
Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace, 62, is an academic, blogger,award-winning activist, and human rights defender serving a life sentence in Bahrain, whose detention was declared arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) in 2023. 3 April 2024 marks 1000 days since Dr Al-Singace began a solid-food hunger strike to protest the confiscation of his research manuscripts.
Hassan Mushaima, 76, is Bahrain’s oldest political prisoner who is serving a life sentence in Bahrain solely for exercising his right to freedom of association and expression. Bahraini authorities have subjected Mr Mushaima and Dr Al-Singace to physical and psychological torture. Despite being held in a medical facility since July 2021, they have both been subjected to medical negligence, held in prolonged solitary confinement and denied access to sunlight.
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, 62, is a Bahraini-Danish award-winning human rights defender arbitrarily imprisoned since 2011 for his role in peaceful demonstrations and is currently serving a life sentence in Jau Prison. Al-Khawaja has been subjected to severe physical, sexual, and psychological torture, and his health has deteriorated significantly during his imprisonment. WGAD declared his detention arbitrary in 2012.
The UN Secretary General’s report on reprisals against those who cooperate with UN mechanisms released in September 2023 named Bahrain for the fifth year in a row, highlighting that the imprisonment of human rights defender Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei’s relatives, including Sayed Nizar Alwadaei, whose imprisonment was declared arbitrary by WGAD.
Death penalty
Bahrain continues to use the death penalty. A report from Human Rights Watch and Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) published in October 2022 revealed that Bahraini courts have convicted and sentenced defendants to death following manifestly unfair trials based solely or primarily on confessions allegedly coerced through torture and ill-treatment. There are currently 26 individuals on death row, all at risk of imminent execution.
This February marks a decade since the unlawful detention of death row inmates Mohammed Ramadan and Hussein Moosa, who were sentenced to death in an unfair trial marred by allegations of torture and have exhausted all rights to appeal their sentence. Their detention was deemed arbitrary by WGAD, which called for their immediate release, and has been condemned by rights groups, including Amnesty International.
High court ruling prompts calls to scrap legislation that grants amnesties to soldiers for Troubles-era crimes
Legislation that gives conditional amnesties to soldiers and paramilitaries for Troubles-era crimes in Northern Ireland breaches human rights legislation, a high court in Belfast has ruled.
There was no evidence the immunity provision in the government’s Legacy Act would help reconciliation in Northern Ireland, the court said on Wednesday, delivering a fresh blow to the law that has angered victims’ groups and caused friction between London and Dublin.
Outgoing president confers honour on presumed successor, Prabowo Subianto, who is accused of human rights violations
Human rights experts have condemned a decision by Indonesia’s outgoing president to award the rank of honorary four-star general to his presumed successor, Prabowo Subianto, a controversial figure accused of human rights violations.
Prabowo, 72, a former son-in-law of the dictator Suharto and a special commander under his regime was dismissed from the military over allegations he was involved in kidnapping and torturing pro-democracy activists in 1998.
The International Court of Justice (ICC) has held its last day of hearings examining the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands.
Fifty two countries and three international organisations have addressed the court in the hearings that ended on Monday.
Most called for Israel’s occupation to be declared illegal and for it to end, with some calling for reparations to be paid by Israel to the state of Palestine.
Only the representatives of the United States, United Kingdom and Fiji claimed the occupation was legal while non-government organisations and opposition politicians in Fiji condemned their country’s surprise position.
Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst and a Middle East expert, said the final legal arguments had “demolished the shameless defences” of Israel’s illegal occupation.
“Ireland, Algeria and South Africa . . . projected their own experience, their own narrative, their own history, their own struggle with [colonial] occupation, and their own experience with liberation as well,” he said.
“Hence it was both instructive, if you will, not I mean liberating, not depressing.
ICJ hearing: Final Israeli occupation arguments. Video: Al Jazeera
“I want to say it was instructive that they did share with us that but then we had this disingenuous, selective, mind boggling, if not, you know, mind insulting presentations by the United States and the United Kingdom that I think set everyone back.
“You know they were trampling over international law, expropriating international law, confiscating international legality in order to fit their own little geopolitical calculus on behalf of their little client Israel.
“So it was a bit shameful, it was a bit shameless to be honest and that’s why today we’ve heard from the Arab League and the [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)], legal opinions that were basically set or apparently revised in order to counter the arguments of the UK and the US and in that way I thought it was brilliant and it was entertaining almost.”
The African Union lawyers argued that “occuopatiion” and “self-determination” could not exist in the same place at the same time.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
Judges urged to keep proceedings as open as possible in case relating to Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey
Allegations that UK police and intelligence spied on investigative journalists to identify their sources will be heard by a secret tribunal on Wednesday, with judges urged to ensure as much as possible takes place in open court.
Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey asked the investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) to look into whether police in Northern Ireland and Durham, as well as MI5 and GCHQ, used intrusive surveillance powers against them.
Salvatore Mancuso was taken into police custody and is expected to cooperate with investigation into war crimes in 1990s and 2000s
A Colombian warlord found responsible for more than 1,500 murders and cases of forced disappearance has been returned to his native country after serving a drug-trafficking sentence in the United States and being denied several requests to be sent to Italy, where he also has citizenship.
Salvatore Mancuso arrived in Bogotá’s El Dorado airport on a charter flight that also carried dozens of Colombians who had been deported from the US after illegally crossing the southern border. Mancuso was quickly taken into police custody, wearing a green helmet and a bulletproof vest.
I have a strong belief in human rights being universal and the UK adhering to these principles. When Ms Begum was stripped of her birthright British nationality she was not a citizen of Bangladesh, which stated that it would not accept her request for citizenship, ergo she was made arbitrarily stateless, contrary to international law. The progress of her case through the UK courts will surely end at the human rights courts, where the UK will lose.
One of Russia’s longest-serving and most respected human rights campaigners, Oleg Orlov, has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail for denouncing the war in Ukraine.
Orlov, who is 70, has served for more than two decades as one of the leaders of the Memorial human rights organisation, which won a share of the Nobel peace prize in 2022 a year after being banned in Russia.
There was no statement from Marcos Jr this year, but in a vlog posted on the anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution, he advised a student to be more discerning amid widespread disinformation.
Didn’t scholars say his family benefitted from that?
It is the second year that the EDSA People Power Revolution is being commemorated under the administration of President and dictator’s son Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and Malacañang appears unwilling to give it the time of day.
On Sunday, February 25, neither Marcos Jr nor the Palace had issued a statement recognising the anniversary of the uprising that kicked the elder Marcos and his family out of Malacañang in 1986.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr during his trip to Hawai’i in November 2023. Image: Rappler
This day is obviously awkward for the President. In the past, he described the aftermath of the 1986 EDSA uprising — including his family’s exile in Hawai’i — as among the darkest days of their lives.
But Marcos Jr at least made an effort last year to acknowledge the anniversary of the revolt, saying he was “one with the nation in remembering” the historic day.
“I once again offer my hand of reconciliation to those with different political persuasions to come together as one in forging a better society — one that will pursue progress and peace and a better life for all Filipinos,” he also said on this day in 2023.
Democracy advocates upset
This year, Marcos did not declare the anniversary of the uprising a holiday, upsetting democracy advocates who believe the move was meant to diminish the legacy of the People Power revolution.
There was, however, an official government commemoration this year, through the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, which, in its own words, held a “simple” ceremony on Sunday morning at the People Power monument.
“The EDSA People Power Revolution was a series of demonstrations from 22 to 25 February 1986. It was a civil resistance campaign against the regime of violence and electoral fraud,” the NHCP, which is the chair of the EDSA People Power Commission, posted on its Facebook page.
“The peaceful revolution led to the departure of former President Ferdinand Marcos ending 20 years of dictatorship and restoring democracy in the country.”
The Marcos Sr regime itself was considered among the darkest chapters in Philippine history. Human rights groups say 70,000 people were imprisoned, 34,000 people were tortured, and more than 3000 people were killed under the dictator’s rule.
Where are the Marcoses? While anti-Marcos groups were holding various events — and protests — across the Philippines to commemorate the brutal dictatorship years, many members of the political family had their own get-together.
On Instagram, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos posted a group photo of the clan on the dinner table, with a caption that read, “Happy Sunday everyone.”
In the photo are her husband Marcos Jr, former first lady Imelda Marcos, the President’s sister Irene Marcos, and Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Manotoc, the son of Senator Imee Marcos.
Image: Liza Araneta Marcos’ Instagram
Interestingly, the President posted a YouTube vlog on Sunday, reacting to various letters sent to him. In that video, he offered advice to a humanities student who expressed interest in politics and history.
“Your interest in history is very, very, very important, because we have much to learn from history,” he started.
“Problem is, now with the technology we have, mahirap talagang makatingin ano ang fake news, ano ang totoo (it’s really difficult to determine which is the truth and which is ‘fake news’). It’s up to you. Huwag kayong magbabasa isa lang bagay. Basahin ‘nyo lahat (Don’t read just one source. Read everything),” he added.
A series of investigative pieces from Rappler in 2019 documented how the Marcoses took advantage of social media to rehabilitate the family’s image over the years.
The Marcoses documentary. Video: Rappler
Fact checkers from Tsek.PH and Vera Files also found that Marcos Jr benefitted the most from election-related disinformation in the run-up to the 2022 presidential election, which he won via a landslide victory.
So isn’t that comment on history a bit rich coming from him?
Amnesty International has accused Israel of defying last month’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling to prevent genocide by failing to allow adequate humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.
The global human rights group said Israel had failed to even take the “bare minimum steps” to comply.
A month after the ICJ had ordered “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services, Amnesty issued a statement condemning Israel’s lack of response.
The order to provide aid was one of six provisional measures ordered by the court on January 26 and Israel was given one month to report back on its compliance with the measures.
“Over that period Israel has continued to disregard its obligation as the occupying power to ensure the basic needs of Palestinians in Gaza are met,” Amnesty International said.
“Israeli authorities have failed to ensure sufficient life-saving goods and services are reaching a population at risk of genocide and on the brink of famine due to Israel’s relentless bombardment and the tightening of its 16-year-long illegal blockade.
“They have also failed to lift restrictions on the entry of life-saving goods, or open additional aid access points and crossings or put in place an effective system to protect humanitarians from attack.”
‘Callous indifference’
Not only had Israel created “one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world”, it had also displayed a “callous indifference” to the fate of Gaza’s population by creating conditions which the ICJ had said placed them at imminent risk of genocide.
“Time and time again, Israel has failed to take the bare minimum steps humanitarians have desperately pleaded for that are clearly within its power to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” said Amnesty’s Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“As the occupying power, under international law, Israel has a clear obligation to ensure the basic needs of Gaza’s population are met.
“Israel has not only woefully failed to provide for Gazans’ basic needs, but it has also been blocking and impeding the passage of sufficient aid into the Gaza Strip, in particular to the north which is virtually inaccessible, in a clear show of contempt for the ICJ ruling and in flagrant violation of its obligation to prevent genocide.”
Amnesty said the scale and gravity of the “humanitarian catastrophe” caused by Israel’s relentless bombardment, destruction and “suffocating siege” put more than two million Palestinians of Gaza at risk of irreparable harm.
The supplies entering Gaza before the ICJ order had been a drop in the ocean compared to the needs for the last 16 years.
The sharp decline in aid for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza since the ICJ ruling last month. Image: Al Jazeera (CC)
Trucks entering Gaza reduced by third
“Yet, in the three weeks following the ICJ order, the number of trucks entering Gaza decreased by about a third, from an average of 146 a day in the three weeks prior, to an average of 105 a day over the subsequent three weeks.”
Across the Gaza Strip, said the Amnesty International statement, Israel’s “engineered humanitarian disaster grows more horrifying each day”.
By February 19, acute malnutrition was surging in Gaza and threatening children’s lives, with 15.6 percent of children under two years acutely malnourished in northern Gaza and 5 percent of children under two years in Rafah in the south.
The speed and severity of the decline in the population’s nutritional status within just three months was “unprecedented globally”.
The head of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), Bulent Yildirim, has announced that the organisation will head a naval fleet to Gaza to break Israel’s siege of the bombarded Palestinian enclave.
Speaking at a huge public rally in Istanbul last week, Yildirim said: “The time for talking is over. We will go down to the sea, we will reach Gaza, and we will break the siege.”
Yildirim participated in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010. The boat he was on was boarded by Israeli troops and nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed at the time.
Turkish NGO plans to send naval fleet toward Gaza to break siege. Video: Middle East Eye
He is hopeful that this new fleet will be successful in breaking the siege as part of Istael’s genocidal war against Palestinians and helping bring some relief to many Gazans who are starving.
“We hope to include Kiwis on the upcoming flotillas to break the siege of Gaza,” said Roger Fowler, a founder and facilitator of Kia Ora Gaza, who was at the planning meeting in Istanbul.
He appealed for donations to this mission through Kia Ora Gaza.
In September 2016, Kia Ora Gaza facilitated Green MP Marama Davidson in joining the Women’s Boat to Gaza peace flotilla, and in 2018 veteran human rights campaigner and union leader Mike Treen represented New Zealand.
The recent Freedom Flotilla Coalition meeting in Istanbul to plan the humanitarian voyage to Gaza. Kia Ora Gaza’s Roger Fowler of Aotearoa New Zealand is on the left. Image: Kia Ora Gaza
Jordan airdrops aid to Gaza
Meanwhile, the Royal Jordanian Air Force has carried out airdrops of aid off the coast of the Gaza Strip — the biggest airdrop operation so far to deliver much-needed aid to millions of Palestinians amid restrictions by Israeli authorities on aid entering the territory by road.
The aid was dropped at 11 sites along the Gaza coast from its northern edge to the south for civilians to collect, and one French Air Force plane was also involved.
After years of repression, a film about Bobi Wine’s heroic stand against Yoweri Museveni has given new life to the opposition
When the Ugandan musician turned politician Bobi Wine ran for president, his 2020 campaign was thwarted by violent crackdowns by Yoweri Museveni’s regime. Since the election, Bobi Wine – whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu – and his wife, Barbie, say that, from phone tapping to abductions of his supporters, things have been “pretty much the same” in many ways.
The Women Reservation Bill is a substantial piece of legislation aimed at bolstering gender equality in Indian politics. It has undergone a long and intricate journey to reach its current state. While acknowledging the bill’s intent to promote gender equality, Gurmeet Kaur expresses concern about its timing and lack of provisions for OBC women.
A survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) reports that the OBC population in India is 40.94%.
Reading multiple perspectives in the news articles and Op-Eds on the Women Reservation Bill, my thoughts take me back to a lecture delivered by Dr Ameer Sultana on Women and Politics at the Department Cum Centre for Women’s Studies & Development, Panjab University, in 2016. During this lecture, fellow students, both men and women, engaged in a debate on the necessity of such legislation. This legislative initiative was initially introduced in the Lok Sabha by HD Deve Gowda nearly three decades ago (81st Amendment Bill). It was later re-introduced by PM Manmohan Singh’s government through the 108th Amendment Bill in the upper chamber of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha. Now, under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Women Reservation Bill has finally transformed from an aspiration into a legal enactment through the 128th Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha.
Feminists all over India have a deep appreciation for the bill’s intent. However, as an engaged citizen and fervent advocate for gender equality, my appreciation is tinged with concern about the timing of its reintroduction and subsequent passage. The promise to foster the well-being of ‘Behen and Beti’ (sisters and daughters) from minority communities has regrettably remained unfulfilled over the past nine years whether it is Hathras Gang Rape and Murder or recent atrocities in Manipur. More concerning is the no particular provision for OBC (Other Backward Classes) women from the bill’s provisions. It is imperative to clarify that this concern transcends the boundaries of any particular government; it is instead indicative of a collective disregard exhibited by those in power, as well as within opposition parties, spanning several decades. This apprehension is compounded by the possible formulation of a sub-quota once the constitution is amended to provide political reservation to OBCs.
A closer look at the past reveals recommendations made by joint parliamentary committees led by Geeta Mukherjee in 1996 and Jayanthi Natarajan in 2009. These reports strongly recommended that the government should contemplate the possibility of extending reservation benefits to OBCs in due course, thereby ensuring that women from OBC backgrounds can also avail of these reservation benefits.
This prompts an inquiry into the rationale behind the omission of these recommendations in the legislative process leading to the bill’s passage. Was it driven by haste or a selective exclusion of certain groups? What awaits OBC women in the realm of Indian politics? These questions, I contend, are pivotal to comprehending the multifaceted implications of the Women’s Reservation Bill and the critical mass it may or may not usher into the political landscape.
It is essential to recognise that this concern is not specific to any single government but represents a more pervasive problem of oversight and inaction that has persisted for decades. The suggestions made by parliamentary committees led by Geeta Mukherjee and Jayanthi Natarajan emphasise the necessity of expanding reservation benefits to include women from OBCs. Unfortunately, these recommendations were disregarded during the legislative process, resulting in a situation where OBC women find themselves in a state of political uncertainty. If the present government continues to foster divisive inclinations, it may undermine the progress achieved by feminists working towards gender equality.
The Women Reservation Bill’s journey in India has been protracted, marked by promises, delays, and a significant oversight regarding the inclusion of OBC women. To address this issue, the Women Reservation Bill must be amended to explicitly include provisions for the representation of OBC women. This should involve consultations with OBC communities to ensure that their specific needs and challenges are adequately addressed in the legislation. The amendment should aim to provide equitable political representation for women from all backgrounds. Further, to understand the far-reaching implications, the government should conduct a nationwide, inclusive consultative process involving representatives from OBC communities, women’s organisations, and civil society. This process must gather feedback on the Women’s Reservation Bill, especially about the inclusion of OBC women. Engaging in a participatory and democratic dialogue ensures that the legislation reflects the diverse voices and concerns of the population it aims to serve.
Inclusive Action: A Necessity
In summary, the Women’s Reservation Bill represents a commendable effort to advance gender equality within the realm of Indian politics. However, its effectiveness in achieving these goals, as mandated by Article 15 of the Constitution of India, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5), hinges on addressing inclusivity. Furthermore, the potential emergence of a sub-quota necessitates thorough examination and proactive measures by policymakers. This holistic approach is imperative to ensure that the legislative agenda aligns with the broader objectives of fostering gender parity and uplifting marginalised groups, particularly OBC women, within the political landscape.
Note
*The term “Other Backward Classes” (OBCs) constitutes an official classification within India, encompassing social groups distinct from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Typically, the population encompass Hindu lower castes positioned above the “untouchable” scheduled castes, and may also include analogous lower-caste groups within other religious communities like Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists.
Even before the court ruled in favor of this vulgar fiction, state authorities relied on the concept to intimidate and jail women
Something that’s important to remember about last week’s ruling by the Alabama supreme court, which held that frozen embryos were persons under state law, is that the very absurdity of the claim is itself a demonstration of power. That a frozen embryo – a microscopic bit of biological information that can’t even be called tissue, a flick laden with the hopes of aspiring parents but fulfilling none of them – is equivalent in any way to a child is the sort of thing you can only say if no one has the power to laugh at you. The Alabama supreme court is the final court of review in that state. It cannot be appealed. For the foreseeable future, frozen cells in Alabama have the same legal status there as you or I do. Is this an absurd elevation of the status of an embryo, or an obscene degradation of human beings? The answer, of course, is both.
The decision immediately halted almost all IVF procedures in Alabama. Aspiring patents there – including women who had undergone rounds of injected hormone treatments and the invasive, gruelingly painful egg retrieval process in order to create the embryos – will now be unable to have the material implanted in an attempt to create a pregnancy. Hundreds of other frozen embryos – those that are not viable, or not needed by families that are already complete – can now not be destroyed as is typical IVF practice. They need to be continually stored in freezers, or what the Alabama supreme court refers to, in Orwellian style, as “cryogenic nurseries”, a term you almost have to admire for the sheer audacity of its creepiness.
An Australian-based West Papua advocacy group has condemned the arrest and “humiliation” of two teenagers by Indonesian security forces last week.
The head of Cartenz 2024 Peace Operations, Kombes Faizal Ramadhani, said in a statement on Friday that the 15-year-olds had been arrested after a clash with the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) in Kali Brasa on Thursday, February 22.
During the shootout, a TPNPB member named as Otniel Giban (alias Bolong Giban) had been killed.
The Sydney-based Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) today condemned the arrest of the teenagers, only identified by the Indonesian authorities by their initials MH and BGE and who were initially seized as “suspects” but later described as “witnesses”.
Faizal said that the teenagers had been arrested because they were suspected of being members of the TPNPB group and that they were currently being detained at the Damai Cartenz military post.
However, the TPNPB declared that the two teenagers were not members of the TPNPB and were ordinary civilians.
The teenagers were arrested when they were crossing the Brasa River in the Yahukimo Regency.
Aircraft shot at
The clash between security forces and the TNPB occurred while the Cartenz Peacekeeping Operation-2024 searched for those responsible for shooting at an aircraft in Yahukimo in which a military member had been wounded.
Meanwhile, also in Jakarta last Friday the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, met with Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto — who is poised to win this month’s Indonesian presidential election.
Marles stressed at a media conference at the Defence Ministry that Australia did not support the Free Papua Movement, saying the country “fully recognise[d] Indonesia’s territorial sovereignty”.
“We do not endorse any independence movement,” he told a media conference.
However, in Sydney AWPA’s Joe Collins said in a statement: “I was at first surprised that West Papua even got a mention at the meeting as usually Australia tries to ignore the issue but even our Defence Minister can hardly ignore a media question on it.”
Subianto: “Thank you very much. I don’t think there is any need for questions. Questions?”
Journalist: “Thank you very much Mr Deputy Prime Minister. Regarding the huge amount of [the] Australian defence budget, how should the Indonesian people see it? Is it going to be a trap or an opportunity for our national interest?
“And my second question is what is Australia’s standpoint regarding the separatist [pro-independence] movement in Papua because there are some voices from Australia concern[ed] about human rights violations?”
Marles: “Thank you for the question. Let me do the second issue first. We, Australia utterly recognise the territorial sovereignty of Indonesia, full stop. And there is no support for any independence movements.
“We support the territorial sovereignty of Indonesia. And that includes those provinces being part of Indonesia. No ifs, no buts. And I want to be very clear about that.”
Collins said there was no shortage of comments during the delegation’s visit to Indonesian around how important the relationship was.
“West Papua will remain the elephant in the room in the Australia-Indonesian relationship,” Collins said. “We can expect many hiccups in the relationship over West Papua in the coming years “.
Fiji’s Women and Children’s Minister Lynda Tabuya says Pacific island countries need to “strengthen our laws” on online harassment.
Tabuya spoke to RNZ Pacific on the sidelines of the Pacific Women in Power forum taking place in Auckland this week.
She said the issue that she was dealing with — which is allegations of a sex and drug scandal between her and former cabinet minister Aseri Radrodro — was currently with the police.
“And it just so happens that a person who was causing this harassment online lives in Sydney,” she said.
She said she was able to get the assistance of Australia’s online safety watchdog to issue the notice to the person to take down the content — images — because it is a crime in Australia.
“If you put up content that is or appears to be the person, so then the person [who published it] needs to take the content down otherwise they can face prosecution,” she said.
‘Grateful for swift action’
“That was the process I followed and I’m grateful to the Safety Commissioner of Australia for the swift action.”
However, she said the situation she found herself in was not exclusive to her.
“It’s me today, it could be someone else tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be a minister or public figure.
“But if you have women in Fiji or across the Pacific who are facing this, and they’re being attacked — especially for populations where there are more people outside of the country than in [the] country.
Tabuya said therefore there was a need for strong policies, not just in Fiji, but across the region.
“You get more attacks from people who live overseas. Women MPs need to reach out to those countries where those people are attacking them live because the laws are much stronger.
“But it’s also a lesson for us within to strengthen our laws so that we can stand up against online bullying.
“The world is unfair and being a woman in politics, we face a lot of unfairness and injustices. But I think it also makes us so much more determined to stand up and be heard,” she added.
Meanwhile, Tabuya is currently the subject of an inquiry by her political party following the sex and drug allegation, the outcome of which has yet to be released.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Thematic areas of interest… Acts of intimidation and reprisals ISHR remains deeply concerned about reprisals against civil society actors who engage or seek to engage with UN bodies and mechanisms. We call for all States and the Council to do more to address the situation. HRC55 is a key opportunity for States to raise concerns about specific cases of reprisals and demand that governments provide an update on any investigation or action taken toward accountability. An increasing number of States have raised concerns in recent sessions about individual cases of reprisals, including at HRC39, HRC41, HRC42, HRC43, HRC45, HRC51, HRC52, and HRC53, and HRC54. States raising cases is an important aspect of seeking accountability and ending impunity for acts of reprisal and intimidation against defenders engaging with the UN. It can also send a powerful message of solidarity to defenders, supporting and sustaining their work in repressive environments. We urge States to continue to raise the cases ISHR has campaigned on in the last two years in their statements. We also urge States to raise and follow up on individual cases of reprisals in the country specific debates taking place at this session. Further information on these cases can be found here or by contacting the ISHR team at s.hosseiny@ishr.ch
Other thematic debates
At this 55th session, the Council will discuss a range of economic, social and cultural rights through dedicated debates with Special Rapporteurs.
Country-specific developments
Attacks against fundamental freedoms in relation to Palestine in Western Europe and North America (including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, United States, United Kingdom): Civil society and international experts have raised grave concern at the attacks on fundamental freedoms when advocating for the rights of Palestinians by authorities in Western Countries. The attacks on freedoms of expression, assembly and association being monitored since October 2023 are by no means a new trend. For example, in September 2023, Amnesty International issued a statement addressing ‘restrictions of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly through blanket, pre-emptive bans imposed on assemblies on the occasion of Nakba Remembrance Day in Berlin’ by the Berlin Assembly Authority. However there has been a notable escalation in the intensity of these attacks as well as the political and legal measures put forward to further curtail fundamental freedoms in relation to Palestine since October 2023. Western governments, who regularly call for strong protection of human rights and civic space, are emboldening Israel’s indiscriminate attacks by cracking down on free expression and peaceful assembly, online and offline. Authorities have resorted to banning the holding of demonstrations, cracked down on demonstrators, and arrested protesters. Moreover, individuals have been fired from their jobs for voicing opinions on social media. Individuals have also reported facing hate speech, censorship and self-censoring fearing reprisals, including discrimination and criminalisation for voicing their opinions online and offline. Special Procedures have concluded that the undue restrictions imposed by States, especially Western States, ‘on peaceful protests and civil society working to protect human rights and humanitarian law in the context of the Gaza war are contrary to States’ obligation under international law to prevent atrocity crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and apartheid’. They stressed ‘that inclusive and meaningful collaboration with civil society, human rights defenders, […] and protest movements is vital to end the cycle of violence and impunity […], dismantling apartheid and ensuring justice and accountability […]’. Special Procedures have also addressed how ‘risks of potential anti-Semitism have also been used as a justification by some States to ban and criminalise peaceful assemblies and expressions in support of Palestinians’ rights’. Civil society has for years deplored the misuse by Israel and Western States of this argument to suppress Palestinian rights advocacy through the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. The Arab Center Washington DC stressed that ‘conflation between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians (heightened by the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism by many States and organisations), leads to the silencing of Palestinian voices’. The normalisation of anti-Palestinian racism, rarely treated as equal human beings by the media or politicians, has also led to the dehumanisation of Palestinians as emphasised by the Special Procedures who stressed that ‘States have sought to justify these restrictions by referring to risks related to incitement to hatred and ‘glorification’ or ‘support of terrorism’, and potential risks to national security or public order. This approach is not only arbitrary, but it also dehumanises Palestinians by unjustly linking them as a whole to criminal endeavours and terrorism.’ Moreover, Special Procedures have stressed that ’employees in the public and private sectors should also not face reprisals, such as disciplinary measures or loss of employment, for speaking out’. They emphasised the importance for States and relevant academic institutions to respect academic freedoms, and ensure that students and teaching staff can freely associate, assemble and express their views with regards to the war in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) has monitored 661 incidents of repression against the Palestinian solidarity movement or individuals advocating for Palestinian rights since 7 October : 219 took place in Germany, 172 in the UK, 72 in France, 45 in Italy, 16 in Austria and 137 in other European countries. These include legal action or threats of legal action; restriction of movement, harassment, intimidation or violence; smear campaigns; threats to citizenship of residency status; disciplinary investigation, loss of employment or suspension from position; threats to academic freedom; refusal or withdrawal of use of venue or cancelation of events; defunding or financial de-risking. Since 2014, Palestine Legal has responded to over 2200 incidents in the US of suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy aimed at intimidating Palestinians and their supporters into silence and inaction. Since October 7, Palestine Legal responded to over 1258 reports of suppression of Palestinian rights advocacy in the US. Palestine Legal and over 600 legal organisations and professionals based in the USA urged in a joint letter elected officials and institutional leaders ‘to take urgent measures to address the surging racist attacks and unlawful retaliation against advocates for Palestinian right They address ‘an unprecedented barrage of extreme attacks that Palestinians and their allies in the U.S. are facing, including violent assaults, hate speech, employment discrimination, severe harassment and doxxing of students, law enforcement visits, and censorship in different arenas of civic and social life’. The organisation stressed that ‘hundreds of incidents happening across the country signal a much broader effort to criminalise dissent, justify censorship, and incite anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim harassment, doxing and vigilantism against Palestinians and their allies. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is escalating at terrifying speed.’ In line with Special Procedures recommendations, we urge States, in particular Western States to: immediately and unconditionally release all arbitrarily detained individuals ‘for the exercise of their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of association and of freedom of expression in the context in Israel/occupied Palestinian territory’. Put an end to the intimidation and criminalisation of ‘civil society and activists advocating for respect of Palestinians’ rights, including the right to self-determination, for boycotts, divestment and sanctions, international criminal accountability, and an end to the alleged crimes of apartheid and genocide against Palestinians’ Ensure that ‘legislation and policy measures designed to counter anti-Semitism or terrorism are not used to suppress fundamental freedoms or to restrict civil society’s access to resources and/or criminalize them for their legitimate work.’ Ensure that ‘civil society organizations, human rights defenders and academics, working on Palestinian rights can exercise the ability to seek, receive and use financial resources, including foreign funding; and that counter-terrorism laws, including financing laws, are not applied in a manner contrary to international standards.’
Algeria
The sustained repression against the pro-democracy movement and human rights defenders in Algeria was addressed in the end of session statements of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of association and assembly as well as the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders who conducted official visits to Algeria in 2023. These were the first visits since 2016 by UN mandate holders to the country. The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association addressed the ‘criminalisation of civil society work’, and the ‘suspension or dissolution of political parties and associations, including prominent human rights advocacy organisations’ (including RAJ and LADDH), as well as ‘overly restrictive laws and regulations’ hindering their work. The rapporteurs called for the amendment of laws used to curtail fundamental freedoms, including article 87 bis of the Penal Code, used to outlaw movements such as the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (MAK) and the Islamic political movement Rachad, both declared terrorist entities, and to bring criminal charges against individuals for exercising their rights to expression and assembly. Following her visit and attending the trial of three Algerian human rights defenders who faced terrorism charges, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders ‘welcomed the acquittal of Jamila Loukil, Kaddour Chouicha and Said Boudour’. While this is a positive development, a big number of activists and HRDs remain arbitrarily detained in Algeria. The SR on HRDs addressed the arbitrary detention of Kamira Nait Sid, a WHRD and co-president of the World Amazigh Congress sentenced to three years in prison where she visited her. She was arrested and tried on charges of ‘undermining national unity” and “belonging to a terrorist organisation’. The Special Rapporteur also met with HRD Ahmed Manseri, was put in pre-trial detention following meeting the Special Rapporteur on FoAA, ‘a picture of him meeting the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Assembly was included in his case file’. In line with the decision of the WGAD, Algeria should release arbitrarily detained HRD Mohamed BabaNadjar, detained since 2005 and serving a life sentence for his work on the rights of the Amazigh people. ISHR is alarmed at the level of self-censorship and risk of reprisals individuals face for engaging with the UN and its mechanisms. The SR on HRDs reported that individuals were self-censoring ‘for fear of being charged under Article 87 bis’. The SR on FoAA reported that activists told him that they were not willing to meet him ‘in person as they feared they could be subject to reprisals by authorities for undermining national security.’ The SR on HRDs also reported that some HRDs she intended to meet “refused or cancelled at the last minute, for fear of reprisals”. We urge all States to demand that Algeria, an HRC member, end its crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society organisations as well as put an end to all acts of intimidation and reprisals. We also call on States to call for the immediate release of all individuals arbitrarily detained, including woman human rights defender Kamira Nait Sid, and Mohamed BabaNadjar, and to urge Algeria to amend all legislation that hinders the work of civil society, including article 87 bis, regulations on funding, and other undue limitations to freedom of assembly and association.
Bahrain
Bahrain continues to imprison human rights defenders, including Abduljalil Al-Singace, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Naji Fateel, despite their prolonged incarceration deemed arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. High profile opposition figures such as Sheikh Ali Salman, Hassan Mushaima, and Abdulwahab Hussain also remain behind bars.
On 19 September 2023, the UN Secretary-General published their annual report naming five individuals who faced reprisals for cooperating with United Nations mechanisms. The death penalty continues to be used, with 26 individuals on death row, many alleging torture and coerced confessions. Death row inmates Mohamed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa have been detained for a decade and are at risk of imminent execution despite UNWGAD calling for their immediate and unconditional release and impending execution. Last year, over 800 political prisoners in Jau Prison launched a hunger strike to protest harsh conditions, discrimination and ill-treatment.
We call on States to urge Bahraini authorities to unconditionally release all those sentenced for their political opinions, including human rights defenders, stop reprisals for cooperating with the UN, and implement recommendations by UN Special Procedures.
China
China’s fourth UPR review on January 23 exposed strong international condemnation over grave abuses, and calls for unfettered access to the whole country for UN Special Procedures experts, including from the Global South. Numerous recommendations and advanced questions referred to the overwhelming evidence of grave abuses documented by UN bodies since 2018, compiled in a repository published by ISHR. This vast array of UN recommendations constitute an impartial benchmark to assess the Chinese government’s willingness and actions to address systematic and widespread human rights violations. Follow-up to these welcome steps must be ensured. To uphold the integrity of its mandate and put an end to China’s exceptionalism, the HRC must establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the country, as repeatedly called for by over 40 UN experts and hundreds of human rights groups globally. States should further urge the UN High Commissioner to strengthen follow-up action on his Office’s Xinjiang report, including through public calls for implementation, translation of the report, and an assessment of its implementation. States should ensure sustained visibility at the HRC of China’s abuse of national security and other cross-cutting abuses affecting Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese defenders, including the latest crackdown on human rights lawyers. Finally, States should ask for the prompt release of human rights defenders, including feminist activists Huang Xueqin and Li Qiaochu, human rights lawyers Chang Weiping, Ding Jiaxi, Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan, legal scholar Xu Zhiyong, Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas, Hong Kong lawyer Chow Hang-tung, and Tibetan climate activist A-nya Sengdra.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The government must engage civil society in the drafting of the implementation, ensure it is in line with international standards and doesn’t further restrict the rights of defenders in the country. The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) must support the calls of civil society and ensure the protection and promotion of defenders is part of its support to the government of the DRC.
The Council will consider oral updates with the High Commissioner and the team of international experts on the DRC on 3 April, followed by General Debate.
According to human rights organisations, at least 251 defendants were rotated to new cases in 2023, and another 620 defendants in 2022, demonstrating the continued involvement of the judicial authorities in violations of the right to fair trial and undermining the rule of law.
The Human Rights Committee also called on Egypt to ‘ensure that court proceedings in terrorism cases are fully in line with articles 14 and 15 of the Covenant to ensure fair trials and put an end to the use of mass trials that are inherently not aligned with international standards’. UN Special Procedures have raised their concerns with Egypt on the ‘Terrorism Circuit Courts and allegations of their incompatibility with international due process guarantees, as well as alleged violations of fundamental rights of many individuals, including human rights defenders, who have been tried, or are still waiting to be tried, before these courts’. According to the Egyptian Front for Human Rights’ annual report, the Terrorism Circuit Courts ordered the release of only 3 defendants, approximately 0.1% of the 35966 cases of detention renewals under its consideration in 2023. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) has also documented this pattern of what is commonly referred to as ‘hearings of detention renewals’ by the Terrorism Circuit Courts, including most recently renewals of detention of almost 900 defendants on 21 and 22 January 2024. Since the Committee against Torture (CAT) reached ‘the inescapable conclusion‘ in 2017 that ‘torture is a systematic practice in Egypt,’ the Egyptian government has not taken any serious steps to address the issue. In a new report submitted to the CAT, REDRESS and a coalition of Egyptian and international civil society organisations – including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, Dignity, and the International Commission of Jurists – conclude that the widespread and systematic use of torture by the Egyptian authorities amounts to a crime against humanity under customary international law. ISHR reiterates the calls of more than 100 NGOs from around the world in urging the HRC to create a monitoring and reporting mechanism on the ever-deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt.
Guatemala
Guatemala is living historic and hugely challenging times. The undermining of Guatemala’s State institutions over many years has led to a collapse in the rule of law and a worsening human rights crisis. The judicial system has been largely stripped of its independence and attacks and threats against human rights defenders and justice operators have been rife. Currently at least 45 former justice operators have been forced into exile, with at least 10 facing criminal proceedings against them in the country. Guatemala’s new President, Bernardo Arévalo, has promised to re-establish the rule of law, fight against corruption and impunity and address poverty. At this session under General Debate 2, the Council will consider the High Commissioner’s report on OHCHR activities including in Guatemala. This is the opportunity for States to speak of their support for effective measures to address corruption, impunity and for the respect of human rights under the new Presidency, and to continue their commitment to monitoring government actions. States should call on Guatemala to use UPR and treaty body recommendations as a road map for the necessary reforms to reintroduce the rule of law, fight impunity and uphold human rights. States should call on Guatemala to commit to and accept visits of Special Procedures as a means to institute a regime of rights monitoring and recommendations. They should welcome the good news of the three year renewal of the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner in Guatemala and suggest that the High Commissioner for Human Rights visit the country at his earliest convenience. States should urge the government to guarantee the security of indigenous communities and leaders and institute an ongoing dialogue with indigenous communities to hear and respond to their demands. In that regard, Guatemala should sign and ratify the Escazú Protocol as a matter of urgency. States should call on Guatemala to put the protection of defenders at the heart of the new government’s actions, including through the implementation of the public human rights defenders public protection policy, ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in 2014.
Israel/OPT
The Council will hold an interactive dialogue with the High Commissioner on ensuring accountability and justice in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem on 29 February and an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the oPt on 26 March. ISHR welcomes South Africa’s proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the situation in Gaza as an important step towards effective measures and accountability for atrocity crimes committed by Israel in the context of its decades long colonial apartheid imposed over the Palestinian people, including its latest war on Gaza. It also upheld international law in the face of decades of double standards during which the international community failed to take effective measures to ensure Israel complies with international law and the numerous UN resolutions and recommendations by UN special procedures, treaty bodies, and investigative mechanisms. Civil society organisations stressed that by ‘drawing on the nature of Israel’s military action, and ‘dehumanising’ statements by Israeli government officials, the Court found that Israel’s actions in Gaza are plausibly genocidal’, pending its final decision. These provisional measures which have a legally binding effect, ‘cannot be carried out without a full cessation of hostilities’, thus can only be effective with a ceasefire. In a joint statement from January 2024, Special Procedures deplored that they had raised the alarm of the risk of genocide several times and for months, ‘reminding all governments they have a duty to prevent genocide’ and stressing that ‘not only is Israel killing and causing irreparable harm against Palestinian civilians with its indiscriminate bombardments, it is also knowingly and intentionally imposing a high rate of disease, prolonged malnutrition, dehydration, and starvation by destroying civilian infrastructure’. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination raised ‘serious concerns regarding the obligation of Israel and other State parties to prevent crimes against humanity and genocide.’ Responding to arguments of Israel and other States, the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel reiterated that article 51 which ‘provides for the use of force by a State in self-defense of the Charter […] is not applicable’. Special procedures expressed their profoundly concern about ‘the support of certain governments for Israel’s strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide’. ISHR and over 180 organisations, deplored the continued transfer of arms to Israel by States, including the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and stress that the provision of military equipment and military support to Israel with knowledge that they are likely to be used in serious violations of international law, including international crimes, invites charges of complicity. ISHR also denounces the defunding civil society organisations and UNRWA by Western States, a strategy implemented by Israel and discursively imposed by some States to silence the work of human rights defenders and ensure the demise of the Palestinian refugee issue and with it the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. We call for an immediate and unconditional release of all Palestinians deprived of liberty without due process, and all Israeli hostages; and the lifting of the 17 year-old illegal blockade and closure of the Gaza Strip, which constitutes collective punishment. In line with the ICJ provisional measures, and based on the obligations of States under international law, including the Genocide Convention, we urge States to take immediate and effective measures to: Impose a ceasefire and ensure that Israel provides immediate and unhindered delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip; Implement a two-way arms embargo on Israel; Ensure that internally displaced Palestinians return to their areas of previous residence and are provided with safe shelters in accordance with IHL provisions; Support the work of the CoI to investigate the root causes of the situation on both sides of the Green Line, including through providing sufficient resources for the mechanism, to ensure accountability and redress; and Restore funding of UNRWA and civil society organisations working to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid in the context of starvation and genocide as well as document human rights violations, respectively.
Mali
In Mali the human rights situation continues to deteriorate, with the government increasingly cracking down on media and opposition voices, significantly narrowing civic space. During the presentation of his last report at the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, the Independent Expert highlighted the threats, physical assaults and attacks on their property defenders faced because of their opinions.
Additionally, he recognised that the progress recently made towards the return to constitutional order may not lead to credible, free, fair and inclusive electoral processes unless appropriate measures are taken to address the shrinking civic space in the country. Since the adoption of the defenders’ law in 2018, Mali is yet to fully guarantee the protection of the rights of defenders through its implementation. In 2020, Mali finally adopted its implementation decree for the HRD law shortly followed by the decision adopted by the Malian government which establishes the characteristics, procedures for granting and withdrawing the professional card of human rights defenders. ISHR continues to ask the independent expert what support he planned to give to the Malian government to ensure the full implementation of the defenders law and its protection mechanism. The HRC must keep the scrutiny on Mali to ensure that defenders in the country are protected in line with the UN Declaration and not restricted by the limitation imposed by a card defining the status of defenders. The Council will hold an interactive dialogue with the independent expert on 28 March. Nicaragua
The human rights situation in Nicaragua comes back on the agenda against this session with two planned debates. On 29 February the Group of Human Rights Experts will present its report followed by an interactive dialogue. On the 4 March there will be an oral update of the HC on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua followed by a general debate. At the Council’s last interactive dialogue on Nicaragua, on 18 December 2023, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights said of Nicaragua: ‘Every day the country deviates further from human rights.’ The last months have shown how true this remains. Upcoming regional elections on the Caribbean Coast (4 March) have provided a context for government crackdowns on opponents. The main indigenous and Afro-descendant political party in the country, YATAMA, has had its legal status revoked and two of its leaders, National Assembly legislator and YATAMA party chair Brooklyn Rivera and YATAMA legal representative Nancy Elizabeth Henríquez were arrested. The whereabouts of Brooklyn Rivera remain unknown. These arrests have been followed by increased militarisation in the territories on the Caribbean coast. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression have expressed concern about these and other attacks against indigenous communities in the country. Many Nicaraguan human rights defenders remain in exile with no possibility of return. These include Rolando Álvarez, sentenced to 26 years in prison after strongly criticising government repression last year and expelled from the country in mid-January 2024 alongside 17 other clerics. Repression against defenders continues. States must call on Nicaragua to immediately release all arbitrarily detained people including Freddy Quezada, subject of precautionary measures by the IACHR; to provide immediate information about the whereabouts of all those disappeared, including poet Carlos Bojorge, detained and disappeared one month ago, and Brooklyn Rivera. States should express firm support of the work of the Group of Experts on Nicaragua and OHCHR and call on Nicaragua to take urgent steps to meet the recommendations made to it by the Group of Experts, as well as OHCHR and – in the words of Nicaraguan HRD Cristina Huerta made in December at the Council – to call on Nicaragua to ‘put an end to the State violence against women and civil society and retake the path to democracy’. ISHR is co-organising a side event ‘The situation for exiled Nicaraguan activists a year after being released and stripped of nationality’ on 5th March, 15.30-16.30pm Geneva time, Room XXVII Palais de Nations. Co-organisers include the Permanent Missions of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay, as well as NGOs CCPR, Race and Equality and PBI.
Occupied Western Sahara In October 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention requested the immediate release of 18 Gdeim Izik prisoners from Western Sahara, held for over 13 years in Moroccan jails. In the last six years, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has rendered at least 11 decisions highlighting a systematic pattern of violations of the right to due process and fair trial, arbitrary arrests, torture, as well as violations to the right to freedom of expression, discrimination based on language, ethnicity and religion, especially targeting Saharawi activists advocating for the right to self-determination of Western Sahara. Prior, UN CAT issued five decisions on the Gdeim Izik prisoners, including in the case of Human rights activists Enaâma Asfari. Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony that remains under Moroccan occupation (despite a 1992 UN governed agreement for a referendum on independence, which Morocco continues to fail to comply with). In 1990, the General Assembly had reaffirmed that Western Sahara was a question of decolonisation
which remained to be completed by the people of Western Sahara. We urge States to call on Morocco to implement the decisions of the CAT and the WGAD and unconditionally release the Gdeim Izik arbitrarily detained activists, and all arbitrarily detained journalists and human rights defenders, while putting an end to all forms of harassment and reprisals against prisoners and their family. We further urge States to call on Morocco to put an end to its crackdown on civil society, particularly Saharawi human rights defenders in the occupied territory, ensure they are able to conduct their human rights work, and provide access to occupied Western Sahara to human rights bodies, including OHCHR, special procedures, and human rights organisations. As a member of the Human Rights Council and its president, and in line with resolution 60/251, Morocco should ‘uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights’ and ‘fully cooperate with the Council’. In his update to the Council in March 2023, High Commissioner Turk highlighted that his Office has not been granted access to Western Sahara for the last eight years. Local human rights organisations report that international organisations and observers are barred from entering the territory to carry out meaningful human rights documentation and that human rights defenders trying to document and ensure monitoring are being targeted by the State.
In a joint statement, Special Procedures decried ‘the systematic and relentless targeting of human rights defenders in retaliation for exercising their rights to freedom of association and expression to promote human rights in Western Sahara’. They urged Morocco to ‘stop targeting human rights defenders and journalists standing up for human rights issues related to Western Sahara, and allow them to work without reprisals’.
Saudi Arabia According to ALQST’s annual report, despite the Saudi authorities’ recent efforts to open up to tourism and host international events, a prevailing climate of closure prevails – independent monitors are denied access to the country, the prison system is shrouded in secrecy, and trials are held behind closed doors.
In this ominous atmosphere, and following the almost complete diplomatic rehabilitation of crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman, widespread violations persist, including but not limited to: further decades-long prison sentences, and even a death sentence, meted out for peaceful social media use; the prosecution of women for their choice of clothing and advocacy for women’s rights; prisoners of conscience held incommunicado beyond the expiration of their sentences; arbitrary travel bans imposed on detainees and their family members in a form of collective punishment; and the execution of 172 individuals carried out over 2023, with several young men at imminent risk of execution for alleged crimes committed as minors.
In light of these alarming developments, ALQST and ISHR call on the Council to adopt a resolution mandating an independent international monitoring and investigative mechanism to address the human rights violations perpetrated in and by Saudi Arabia.
Sudan The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is dire, with millions displaced, widespread attacks on civilians including systematic SGBV as a weapon of war, amidst lack of global attention and adequate funding to respond to the crisis. Sudan faced a total communication blackout on 7 February 2024, following earlier disruptions at the end of January. These shutdowns severely endanger women human rights defenders and their work, hindering their ability to document atrocities and access essential resources such as mobile banking apps. Since the attack on Wad Madani in December 2023, WHRDs have lost resources, faced displacement, and enormous challenges searching for safe locations across states and neighboring countries. Dozens of women defenders were harassed, detained, summoned and threatened by both warring parties during the last few weeks. In recent months, the Sudanese Military Forces have intensified attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, and humanitarian workers in their controlled areas. Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have arrested civilians, engaged in looting, and perpetrated sexual violence systematically. WHRDs struggle to operate in these areas as the risks of sexual violence are expanding, with at least 5 WHRDs and first responders detained, summoned, or harassed recently. The attacks, which have resulted in the deaths of 4 WHRDs including 2 journalists and 11 women health workers, have occurred in territories controlled by both warring factions. Threats against medical services by both the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) continue to be reported including killings and kidnappings of health workers, attacks on hospitals and theft of medical supplies; exacerbating the humanitarian crisis for millions internally displaced without access to necessities and healthcare, and at risk of diseases such as outbreak of cholera. Sudanese rights groups have documented more than 2000 cases of enforced disappearances in Khartoum and other affected regions since the start of the war, with victims often detained by RSF or SAF, some killed under unclear circumstances. Detainees endure inhumane conditions, lacking medical care, proper food, and subjected to torture and sexual violence. Authorities in safer regions of Northern and Eastern Sudan dissolved resistance committees, active since the 2018 protests. Governors of five states prohibited information dissemination on social media, detaining journalists and activists in three states. Peaceful civic activities are banned or unauthorized in several states, creating hostile environments for WHRDs. The civic space in Sudan is closed with increasing militarization of the state and communities. During the last three months, Sudanese authorities launched a mobilization campaign to arm civilians, leading to unprecedented threats to women, peace and security and GBV in the areas out of the fighting zones. The Council will hold, on 1 March, an enhanced interactive dialogue on the comprehensive report of the HC, presented with the assistance of the designated Expert on human rights in the Sudan, on the situation of human rights in the Sudan. During the debate, States should reiterate joint civil society calls on the warring parties for an immediate ceasefire and the prompt creation of safe corridors for humanitarian aid organisations and groups, and to guarantee the safety of their operations; an immediate restoration of telecommunications across the country; and cease attacks on health facilities, medical supplies, and health workers, and uphold obligations under international humanitarian law. States should also declare their support for joint civil society calls on States to create an immediate long-term protection program for WHRDs; provide support for the FFM and other international mechanisms mandated to document human rights violations in Sudan, including by ensuring that these entities have the necessary resources to carry out their work effectively; support local initiatives providing humanitarian support to local communities as well as support services to victims, and to support civil society’s documentation and reporting efforts so that the evidence obtained can be used for future judicial proceedings; to call for the disclosure of the whereabouts of the disappeared and the release of detainees, and to urgently address the issue of enforced disappearances and grave violations in detention centers, including GBV; and to call for the reinforcement and protection of medical staff in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Tunisia
Since 25 July 2021, President Saied has dismantled Tunisia’s democratic institutions, undermined judicial independence, stifled the exercise of freedom of expression and repressed dissent. In June 2023, the High Commissioner urged Tunisia to ‘change course’, ‘respect due process and fair trial standards in all judicial proceedings, cease trying civilians before military courts and release all those arbitrarily detained’. He expressed ‘deep concern at the increasing restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and press freedom in Tunisia’, noting that vague legislation is being used to criminalise independent journalism and stifle criticism of the authorities. He further addressed the ongoing crackdown ‘against judges, politicians, labour leaders, businesspeople and civil society actors’. The situation has since further deteriorated. Authorities have continued to escalate their crackdown on free speech and peaceful dissent, using unfounded conspiracy, terrorism and expression-related charges against opposition figures, journalists, lawyers, judges and businesspeople. Public remarks from the president about the prosecution of perceived critics has continued to undermine judicial independence. At least 20 people have been in pretrial detention for long periods of time (8 months to more than two years). In November 2023, civil society organisations warned that the draft law on associations submitted to the Tunisian Parliament on 10 October 2023 would violate the right to freedom of association and endanger civic space in Tunisia. The draft law would grant the government pervasive control and oversight over the establishment, activities, operations and funding of independent groups, which are one of the last remaining counterweights to President Kais Saied’s autocratic rule. We urge States to call on Tunisia to refrain from adopting the proposed draft law and, instead, commit to safeguarding the right to freedom of association as enshrined in Decree-law 88 and under international human right law binding on Tunisia. The authorities should ensure that associations are able to operate without political interference, intimidation, harassment or undue restrictions. Moreover, Special Procedures have raised alarm at the collective expulsions targeting sub-Saharan migrants from Tunisia as well as ‘violence and racist hate speech, including perpetrated by the country’s top leadership and law enforcement officials’. While collective expulsions started being documented in early July, they are ongoing and target asylum seekers, refugees and children, to Libya and Algeria.
ISHR reiterates the recommendations by Tunisian civil society, Special Procedures and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to put an end to these practices, and for the authorities to investigate, provide remedies to victims, and hold perpetrators accountable. Ukraine Two years on from the launch of Russia’s full scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine, the perpetration of which has involved the widespread commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is vital that the Council continue to mandate mechanisms to investigate violations, promote accountability, support victims, and address root causes of conflict.
At the March session of the Council, this should include renewing the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry, the work of which is essential to promote accountability for atrocity crimes in Ukraine, as well as address root causes such as the repression and criminalisation of human rights defenders and independent journalists in Russia itself. The Council will hold an interactive dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on 19 March. The Council will also hold an interactive dialogue on the OHCHR report on Ukraine on 2 April.
Venezuela The Human Rights Council session just as that Venezuela has suspended OHCHR activities in the country and ordered personnel to leave the country and amid a context of a foretold pre-electoral increase in threats and attacks against defenders.
The arbitrary detention and disappearance of human rights defender Rocío San Miguel, president of NGO Control Cuidadano, on 9 February is evidence of this and of a wider pattern of attacks against defenders, as noted by the UN fact-finding mission on Venezuela. The re-activation of the process related to a highly restrictive and much criticised NGO bill at the start of this year, is a sign of the government’s interest in restricting civil society’s ability to operate. This is no time to reduce efforts to demand the respect of human rights in the country including the respect of the rights of human rights defenders, and to express support for ongoing monitoring and reporting work by OHCHR in the country and by the UN Fact-Finding Mission. Venezuela will be the focus of two specific debates during the session. On 19 March, the High Commissioner will present an oral update informed by the conclusions and recommendations of his team in the country. The UN fact-finding mission will provide an oral update on the 20 March. Both of these updates will be followed by interactive dialogues. During this session, States must be of one voice in calling for the reactivation of the work of OHCHR in the country. Also, the immediate release of Rocío San Miguel and that of Javier Tarazona, arbitrarily detained almost three years ago. States must also express deep concern at the re-introduction of the NGO bill and call on the government to cease threats and attacks against defenders in the country. States should restate the importance of the work of Venezuelan defenders and commit to support their work politically and, where possible, financially. States must insist on the reestablishment of an effective OHCHR presence in the country and speak to the essential, ongoing work of the UN fact-finding mission, stressing upon Venezuela the importance of its cooperation with all the UN bodies and mechanisms with mandates related to Venezuela and with all Special Procedures. States’ participation in the two interactive dialogues on Venezuela – through individual and joint statements – is key to making evident that the human rights situation in the country and the UN’s monitoring and reporting mechanisms remain a priority and reassuring those demanding accountability for human rights violations in Venezuela that they are being heard.
Yemen In 2023, Mwatana documented the continuation of human rights violations committed by various conflicting parties in Yemen, including ground and aerial attacks, attacks on vital facilities, child recruitment, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture, sexual violence, attacks on African migrants, denial of humanitarian access, as well as the the impact of the widespread presence of landmines and explosive devices. In 2023, over 40 civil society organisations, victims and survivor associations from Yemen launched the Yemen Declaration for Justice and Reconciliation, in which they set forth their common vision for achieving justice that is inclusive, victim-centred, and includes accountability, reparations, and redress.
ISHR calls on the international community to address the demands made by Yemeni civil society, including for an independent, impartial, and fair accountability for all crimes under international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed in Yemen, by all parties to the conflict. Failure to address atrocities in the past has led to a culture of impunity throughout generations. We urge the international community to take effective measures to assess the full extent of civilian harm in coordination with local civil society and call on parties to the conflict to ensure reparation and redress.
Other country situations The High Commissioner will provide an oral update to the Council on 4 March. The Council will consider updates, reports on and is expected to consider resolutions addressing a range of country situations, in some instances involving the renewal of the relevant expert mandates. These include: Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Enhanced interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea ID with the Special Rapporteur on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and a presentation of the report of the High Commissioner Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner on Belarus Interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner oral update on Myanmar, and interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Iran and Interactive Dialogue on the comprehensive report of the independent international fact-finding mission Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Syria Enhanced interactive dialogue on the comprehensive written report of the Commission on Human Rights’ South Sudan and the participation of the High Commissioner, and an interactive Dialogue on the OHCHR report on South Sudan High-level Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Central African Republic Interactive Dialogue with the High Commissioner and the Independent Expert on Haiti Interactive Dialogue with the International Expert on Colombia, and presentation of the report on the OHCHR activities in Colombia under General debate 2
Resolutions to be presented to the Council’s 55th session At the organisational meeting on 12 February the following resolutions were announced (States leading the resolution in brackets): Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief (Pakistan on behalf of the OIC) Human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the obligation to ensure accountability and justice (Pakistan on behalf of the OIC) Right of the Palestinian people to self-determination (Pakistan on behalf of the OIC) Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan (Pakistan on behalf of the OIC) Human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan (Pakistan on behalf of the OIC) Human rights and the environment (Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia, Switzerland) – mandate renewal Prevention of genocide (Armenia) The right to work (Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania) The right to food (Cuba) Promotion of the enjoyment of the cultural rights of everyone and respect for cultural diversity (Cuba) – mandate renewal The effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights (Cuba) The right to adequate housing (Brazil, Finland, Germany, Namibia) Combating violence, discrimination, and harmful practices against intersex persons (Australia, Chile, Finland ,South Africa) Human rights in Ukraine stemming from the Russian aggression (Ukraine) The role of States in countering the negative impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights (Ukraine, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, UK, US) The right to privacy in the digital age (Austria, Brazil, Germany, Liechtenstein, Mexico) – mandate renewal Cooperation with Georgia (Georgia) Situation of Human Rights in the Republic of South Sudan ( Albania, Norway, UK, US) – mandate renewal The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, the Netherlands, Qatar, Turkiye and the United States of America) – mandate renewal Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Denmark) Promoting and strengthening a culture of peace (Gambia, Lesotho, Chile, Mozambique, South Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, Botswana) The rights of persons belonging to minorities (Austria, Slovenia, Mexico) The right of persons with disabilities (New Zealand and Mexico) The situation of human rights in Belarus (European Union) The situation of human rights in the DPRK (European Union) – mandate renewal The situation of human rights in Myanmar (European Union) – mandate renewal Freedom of religion or belief (European Union) Rights of the child (EU and GRULAC) Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iceland, Moldova, North Macedonia, United Kingdom) and the deteriorating situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially with respect to women and children (Iceland and Germany) – two mandate renewals in one resolution. Furthermore, according to the voluntary calendar for resolutions, it is possible that more resolutions could also be presented at this session. Read the calendar here.
Adoption of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) reports During this session, the Council will adopt the UPR working group reports on Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Djibouti, Germany, Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan. ISHR supports human rights defenders in their interaction with the UPR. We publish and submit briefing papers regarding the situation facing human rights defenders in some States under review and advocate for the UPR to be used as a mechanism to support and protect human rights defenders on the ground.
ISHR is organising a side event on 6 March at 13:00 (CET) on the role of defenders in fostering accountability for atrocity crimes. Further information will be published on ISHR’s website.
ISHR is co-organising a side event ‘The situation for exiled Nicaraguan activists a year after being released and stripped of nationality’ on 5 March, 15.30-16.30pm (CET), Room XXVII, Palais de Nations. Other co-organisers include the Permanent Missions of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Paraguay, as well as NGOs CCPR, Race and Equality and PBI. ISHR is co-organising a side event, ‘Resisting Exile: Voices of Human Rights Defenders’ on 5 March, 2pm Palais de Nations, along with CCPR and Race and Equality.
On 14 February 2024, eight organisations, including FIDH and OMCT within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, expressed their grave concern over the closure of civic space, attacks on freedom of expression, rising militarisation and continuous disruption and shutdown of communication that threatens the work and safety of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) and Women’s Rights Groups in Sudan:
February 14, 2024. We the undersigned groups and organisations would like to express our grave concern and raise the alarm over ongoing reports about the closure of the civic space, attacks on freedom of expression, rising militarisation and continuous disruption and shutdown of communication that threatens the work and safety of Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) and Women’s Rights Groups in Sudan.
Shutdown of Communications
On February 7th, 2024, Sudan witnessed a complete communications shutdown. Reasons behind this shutdown remain unknown in the absence of official statements from operating companies and the warring parties. This shutdown followed two days of the extensive interruption of communications at the end of January 2024. The interruption of communications and frequent shutdowns have life threatening implications and put the safety and security of WHRDs at risk. Without access to communications, WHRDs struggle to document and report on the mounting atrocities on the ground. The interruption of internet networks has also impeded women groups’ access to the mobile banking apps that facilitate money transfers to operate or secure protection for WHRDs at risk. The #KeepItOn coalition — a global network of over 300 human rights organisations from 105 countries working to end internet shutdowns — has raised concerns that “amid the ongoing brutal violence in Sudan, the continued weaponisation of internet shutdowns is a flagrant violation of international law.”
Attack on Wad Madani
Since the attack on Wad Madani, the capital of the central Al Jazirah state, in mid-December 2023, Women’s Rights groups and WHRDs have lost the resources collected since the start of the war. Dozens of WHRDs and Women’s Rights Groups were forcibly displaced for the second time, driven from the city that had been the humanitarian response hub for local and international NGOs. As WHRDs were forced to flee again, they faced enormous challenges searching for safe locations across states and neighbouring countries. Dozens of WHRDs were harassed, detained, summoned and threatened by both warring parties during the last few weeks.
Targeting of Activists
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) launched an intensified attack on human rights defenders, humanitarian workers and volunteers, journalists, and peace activists in the last few months in the areas under their control. Aid groups and first responders faced rising restrictions of movement and supplies.
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued to arrest civilians, loot both public and private properties and perpetrate systemic sexual violence across the areas under their control. WHRDs and Women’s Rights Groups struggle to operate in these areas as the risks of sexual violence are growing.
At least five WHRDs and women first responders have been detained, summoned, harassed or threatened in the last few weeks. The attacks were reported in areas controlled by both warring parties. Since the war erupted, four WHRDs have been killed, two of whom were journalists. At least 11 women health workers were killed as well.
Closure of Civic Space and Restrictions on Freedom of Expression
In January 2024, Sudanese authorities in the relatively safer states in Northern and Eastern Sudan, including local governors, issued decrees to dissolve neighbourhood resistance committees. These grassroot groups were mobilizing and organising communities since the emergence of the protests movement in 2018. The governors of five states also banned publication of information and imposed heavy penalties on publishing information on social media or other newspapers regarding the security situation in their states. Journalists and activists were detained in three states and two women journalists were summoned and threatened by local authorities following these decrees. In the Blue Nile state, Red Sea and other states, meetings and other forms of peaceful civic activities are either banned or not authorized. Women’s Rights groups and other NGOs operating in these states are working in hostile and increasingly challenging environments. Civic space in Sudan is closed, with an increasing militarisation of the state and local communities.
Rising Militarisation
During the last three months, Sudanese authorities launched a mobilisation campaign to arm civilians in various states under SAF control. This campaign’s leaders attacked and threatened activists who criticized the armament of civilians, including women, girls and boys. Voices of peace activists are considered treasonous by SAF supporters. The widespread arms in the hands of civilians has led to unprecedented threats to women and peace and security, including gender-based violence (GBV) in the areas outside of the fighting zones.
We the undersigned groups call on:
The warring parties:
An immediate ceasefire and the prompt creation of safe corridors for humanitarian aid organisations and groups, and to guarantee the safety of their operations;
An immediate restoration of telecommunications across the country;
Cease attacks on health facilities, medical supplies, and health workers, and uphold obligations under international humanitarian law;
The international community:
States and international human rights, peace-building and feminist groups and organisations to work together to create an immediate long-term protection program for WHRDs (and their families) that addresses relocation needs (in several locations if needed), provides psychological support for post-traumatic stress caused by war and conflict, including due to GBV, and equips WHRDs’ with all the necessary means to continue their work in the defense of human rights;
States to provide support for the FFM and other international mechanisms mandated to document human rights violations in Sudan, including by ensuring that these entities have the necessary resources to carry out their work effectively;
States to support local initiatives providing humanitarian support to local communities as well as support services to victims, and to support civil society’s documentation and reporting efforts so that the evidence obtained can be used for future judicial proceedings, including for those related to SGBV crimes.
The international community to establish a mechanism for the disclosure of the whereabouts of the disappeared and the release of detainees, and to urgently address the issue of enforced disappearances and grave violations in detention centers, including GBV;
The international community to reinforce and protect medical staff in accordance with international humanitarian law;
The Fact Finding Mission (FFM) recently established by the UN Human Rights Council, to ensure accountability is pursued for GBV crimes committed by warring parties, to regularly and meaningfully engage with civil society in this process, and to ensure effective protection of witnesses and victims;
All other UN human rights mechanisms, including UN Special Procedures, to support the FFM’s work and to investigate GBV as a weapon of war, to call for the release of detainees and for the disclosure of the whereabouts of the disappeared, and to demand an investigation into violations in detention, including GBV;
A former Fiji university head who was banned from returning to the country by the previous Bainimarama government has had her ban revoked.
Professor Shushila Chang, a former vice-chancellor of University of Fiji (UoF) in a daring move had departed during the covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, breaching the border restriction order at the time, to be with her sick husband in Australia.
The Immigration Department subsequently declared her a prohibited immigrant and UoF sacked her for unauthorised departure.
She applied for a judicial review later that year but it was turned down by the High Court, which ruled the government’s decision could not be challenged through judicial review, as Fiji’s immigration law does not allow anyone to challenge the decision of a minister in any court.
However, Professor Chang said that she received a letter via email from the coalition government’s Immigration Minister Pio Tikoduaudua on January 22 informing her that she can now return to Fiji.
“The travel ban on Professor Chang has been revoked after a thorough review of her case,” Tikoduadua confirmed to RNZ Pacific on Friday.
“This decision aligns with our commitment to justice, transparency, and fairness.”
The minister said Professor Chang was a respected academic and former vice-chancellor of the UoF who could now return to Fiji.
Principles of natural justice
“This step reflects our government’s dedication to reassessing past actions to ensure they align with our values and principles of natural justice,” he said.
“We recognise the importance of academic freedom and the contributions individuals like Professor Chang can make to Fiji’s education and society.”
He said the Fiji government aims to foster an environment that encourages open dialogue and values the exchange of ideas, adding “lifting this ban demonstrates our commitment to these ideals.”
Immigration Minister Pio Tikoduadua . . . “We recognise the importance of academic freedom and the contributions individuals like Professor Chang can make.” Image: Fiji govt/FB
Chang, who was in the United States when she received the news, is now looking forward to visiting Fiji and reconnecting with friends.
She said her partner and children, who were “very concerned and supportive”, were also “happy and relieved” that her travel ban has been lifted.
“[My husband] was having severe mobility problems in Fiji such as losing his balance and headaches. Upon our return to Australia, the oncologist discovered he was suffering from lung cancer which had spread to the brain.
“It is fortunate we returned immediately and sought treatment. We are thankful he was able to receive treatment and is well.”
Invited back Professor Chang said apart from prioritising her husband’s wellbeing to aid in his recovery, she had also been meeting and consulting with universities such as the University of Bordeaux (France) and Coventry (United Kingdom), and delivering training programmes.
She confirmed she was appointed as an academic advisor to Pacific Polytech — a private technical and vocational education and training (TVET) provider in Fiji.
She said it was “an exciting role as Pacific Polytech has a visionary mandate”.
“I have been invited to present a public lecture by Pacific Polytech on a globally accredited National Inspection and Testing Laboratory in Fiji.
“The intent is to improve the safety, quality and sustainability of all products from Fiji including water, food, soil, air, furniture, cement, food, wood and others.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
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