Human Rights Watch News

France: Macron Should Stand Firm on Rights in China

Human Rights Watch — Fri, 03 May 2024 02:00:00 -0400

(Paris) – French President Emmanuel Macron should lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Paris, Human Rights Watch said today. Xi’s visit on May 6-7, 2024, will mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between France and the People’s Republic of China, and will likely focus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, and trade issues.

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. “France’s silence and inaction on human rights would only embolden the Chinese government’s sense of impunity for its abuses, further fueling repression at home and abroad.”

Respect for human rights has severely deteriorated under Xi Jinping’s rule. His government has committed crimes against humanity – including mass detention, forced labor, and cultural persecution – against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, adopted draconian legislation that has erased Hong Kong’s freedoms, and intensified repression of government critics across the country.

In March 2021, European Union governments unanimously agreed to adopt targeted sanctions against a handful of Chinese officials and entities deemed responsible for the crackdown in Xinjiang. China immediately retaliated with counter-sanctions, which contributed to cooling bilateral relations and the suspension of a bilateral trade deal.

Macron visited Beijing in 2019 and 2023, but refrained from publicly speaking out about the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. He should change course and publicly raise human rights concerns during Xi’s visit, Human Rights Watch said.

Specifically, Macron should urge Xi to end crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and release hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs who remain arbitrarily detained or imprisoned, including Rahile Dawut, a Uyghur academic, and Ilham Tohti, the economist and Sakharov Prize laureate. Macron should press Xi to end Chinese government oppression in Tibet.

Macron should also urge Xi to revoke the two draconian national security laws that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong. As both laws can be applied for actions outside of China, they affect Hong Kong people and registered businesses in France that criticize the Chinese government. Macron should press for the release of jailed Hong Kong pro-democracy leaders including Joshua Wong, Chow Hang-tung, and Jimmy Lai, among others.

Finally, Macron should press the Chinese government to end its relentless repression of peaceful activists across China, including by freeing the human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife, Xu Yan, arrested in April 2023 on their way to meet an EU delegation in Beijing.

However, speaking out on human rights, as the EU has repeatedly done in its statements, will only lead to positive results if accompanied by concrete consequences, Human Rights Watch said. Macron should make clear to Xi that France will pursue accountability for Beijing’s egregious crimes, including by pressing ahead toward a United Nations Human Rights Council-backed investigation in Xinjiang.

And he should spell out how Beijing’s continued repression will hinder trade and business between the two countries and with the EU more broadly; including once the EU’s due diligence and forced labor legislation come into force.

This approach to human rights is in line with Macron’s vision of “strategic autonomy” for Europe; an idea that the continent should be strong and not a strategic “vassal” to the United States, as well as not to rely too heavily on China for production. He has also described a “humanist model” that is based on values such as democracy and human rights.

“Macron should demonstrate the French government’s commitment to addressing Xi’s assault on rights inside and outside China,” Wang said. “That requires leadership, determination, and clarity on human rights. He should step up to the task, and not succumb to business as usual.”

Human Rights Watch Launches Podcast

Human Rights Watch — Fri, 03 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

(New York) – Human Rights Watch will present a podcast twice a month starting May 6, 2024, that will explore human rights hotspots around the world through the eyes and ears of people on the front lines. Rights & Wrongs will take listeners behind the scenes of in-depth Human Rights Watch investigations. 

Human Rights Watch researchers work in more than 100 countries across the globe, producing dozens of meticulously researched reports every year. Those reports, grounded in international human rights law, are directed at government officials and policymakers and aim to end abuses and change government policies. Rights & Wrongs will bring that research to life in an immersive medium with compelling accounts that are accessible to a general audience. 

“From a Ukrainian city to a Bangladesh shipyard, we will take listeners to the places where human rights violations are happening and hear firsthand powerful stories about the fight to speak freely, to get a decent standard of living, or simply, just to live,” said Mei Fong, chief media officer at Human Rights Watch.

Click to expand Image Ngofeen Mputubwele

The series will be hosted by Ngofeen Mputubwele, formerly of The New Yorker, and produced by Curtis Fox, a veteran podcast producer for National Public Radio and The New Yorker. Rights & Wrongs will feature interviews with Human Rights Watch researchers as well as voices from the countries where they work.  

The first episode of Rights & Wrongs looks at Human Rights Watch efforts to document the destruction of Mariupol as Russian forces laid siege and cut off communications to the Ukrainian city. Documenting what happened became all the more critical when Russia began destroying evidence of war crimes as it began to rebuild Mariupol in Russia’s image.

Subsequent episodes of Rights & Wrongs will explore how Human Rights Watch documented the killing of Ethiopian migrants by Saudi border guards at a remote Saudi-Yemen border outpost, how the shipping industry sends end-of-life ships to Bangladesh to be scrapped in dangerous yards that harm workers and pollute the environment, and how governments reach across borders to silence or deter dissent of their own nationals abroad.

Rights & Wrongs will be available on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, and Amazon.

Recognizing Journalists Living in Exile

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 20:00:00 -0400

Click to expand Image Afghan journalist and producer Sadaf Rahimi (L) directs the talk show "Tabassoum" (“Smile,” in Dari) hosted by Afghan refugee journalist Diba Akbari (center) and former Afghan actress Marina Golbahari (right) in Begum TV studio, an educational television channel aimed at middle and high school girls deprived of education by the Taliban authorities since August 2021, Paris, March 12, 2024. © 2024 GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images

Around the world, journalists who have been forced to flee their countries have continued to report on their homelands, exposing ongoing human rights violations while living in exile.

Today, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day. But independent media faces increasing threats from abusive governments and armed groups worldwide. In 2023, Reporters Without Borders reported a surge of requests for help from journalists being threatened because of their work. Last year, the organization provided financial assistance to 460 journalists who had to flee abroad; the top countries where it intervened were Afghanistan, Russia, Myanmar, and Palestine.

The lives of journalists in exile can be rocky. They have too few resources, are forced to work from a distance, and often undertake their reporting at personal risk. They may face uncertain immigration status, digital harassment from foreign intelligence agencies operating abroad, and threats to their relatives remaining in their home country. That’s in addition to the ordinary difficulties of adjusting to life in a new country and often learning a new language.

But more organizations are supporting journalists in exile, helping them form networks and continue their essential work. The Network of Exiled Media Outlets, together with the US-based International Center for Journalists, has created a toolkit for journalists in exile to share knowledge and best practices. The Europe-based JX Fund says it has supported more than 1,600 journalists who fled crisis regions in returning to work. The Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization works to boost communication among Afghan journalists worldwide, among other goals.

Today, Human Rights Watch and its partners announced the recipients of the 2024 Human Rights Press Awards for outstanding reporting on human rights issues across Asia. For the first time, this year’s awards included the category of “newsrooms in exile.”

Two media organizations won in this new category. Frontier Myanmar received the award for its coverage of how Myanmar’s military, steeped in Buddhist nationalism, has targeted Bayingyi, a Roman Catholic minority. Zan Times, a women-led publication covering rights abuses in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, received the award for its reporting on the increase in female suicides in the country.

This new category of awards should draw much-needed attention to journalists in exile, so that more groups will support their crucial investigative reporting.

Asia: 2024 Human Rights Press Awards

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 20:00:00 -0400

Click to expand Image The staff of the newspaper Etilaat Roz, keep on working even after the Taliban took control of the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 19, 2021. © 2021 Marcus Yam/Getty Images

(Taipei) – Today, marking World Press Freedom Day, Human Rights Press Awards in Asia announced the 2024 winners and runners-up. The seven categories of awards are administered by Human Rights Watch, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, and the foreign correspondents clubs in both Thailand and Taiwan.

Among the top winners are reporting on the rising number of suicides among Afghan women living under abusive Taliban rule; the persecution of religious minorities in Myanmar; and the Chinese government’s treatment of White Paper protesters who stood up against Covid-19 lockdowns.

“The Human Rights Press Awards recognize journalists who are uncovering some of the most pressing rights issues in Asia,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch. “In an era in which rising authoritarianism generates autocratic leaders and mass disinformation, the role of journalists in exposing the truth is more critical than ever. We are thrilled to honor these courageous reporters.”

The seven categories of awards include the newly created “Newsrooms in Exile” category, as well as commentary, print, photography, video, audio, and multimedia. The winners will be honored at a ceremony in Taipei hosted by the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club (TFCC) on May 10, 2024.

“We are honored once again to be administering the Human Rights Press Awards,” said Dr. Battinto L. Batts, Jr., dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “As part of our Cronkite Global Initiatives, we are proud to help recognize outstanding human rights journalism throughout Asia and the world.”

“It’s no coincidence that many winning entries are examples of brave journalism from Afghanistan, Hong Kong, and Myanmar, places where reporting has become increasingly difficult and dangerous,” said Thompson Chau, president of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club. “The TFCC is honored to host the award ceremony in Taipei. Taiwan is an extraordinary place for a growing number of Asia-focused correspondents to live and work.”

Frontier Myanmar and Zan Times shared the top prize in the inaugural “Newsroom in Exile” category for their reporting on Myanmar and Afghanistan, respectively. Frontier Myanmar’s report uncovered the Myanmar military’s oppression of the Bayingyi, Roman Catholics of Portuguese descent. Zan Times gathered data illustrating the dire reality of the growing numbers of Afghan women and girls choosing death as preferable to living under Taliban repression.

“We're increasingly seeing media under threat in countries across Southeast Asia, which is why the new Human Rights Press Awards category for media in exile is so critically important,” said Phil Robertson, program committee chair at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT). “In countries such as Afghanistan and Myanmar, there needs to be greater recognition of journalists who bravely report human rights stories from the homeland they were forced to flee, and the FCCT is proud to be a part of that effort.”

The award for multimedia went to Al Jazeera for its piece, “‘If I die, I die’: Pakistan's death-trap route to Europe,” documenting the dangerous journey young Pakistani men undertake in search of work in Europe and the suffering of their families left behind.

The Initium won the investigative reporting prize in Chinese for its series on the anniversary of the White Paper Protest, featuring the lives and struggles of those who protested China’s “zero-Covid” lockdown policies in the wake of the pandemic.

The Guardian won the investigative reporting prize in English for its work, “Revealed: Amazon linked to trafficking of workers in Saudi Arabia,” which exposed the plight of Nepali migrant workers enduring forced labor and discrimination in Saudi Arabia. The reporting revealed the complicity of major multinational corporations that fail to police their supply chains.

Reporting on the Myanmar military’s airstrikes; abuses by the Bangladeshi elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB); issues facing the LGBT community in Hong Kong; and a global private hospital group embroiled in a “cash for kidneys” racket all won honorable mentions.

A complete list of winners is available here: https://humanrightspressawards.org/2024-winners

Tajikistan: Forcibly Disappeared Opponent Allegedly Tortured

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 19:00:01 -0400

Click to expand Image Suhrob Zafar, year unknown © Guruhi24.com

(Berlin, May 3, 2024) – Tajik authorities should immediately confirm the detention and whereabouts of and release the opposition activist Sukhrob Zafar, Human Rights Watch, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, and International Partnership for Human Rights said today.

Based on a media report and reports from reliable sources, Zafar was forcibly disappeared while in Türkiye in March 2024, despite holding official UNHCR asylum seeker status there. The sources said that the Tajik State Committee on National Security is holding him in Dushanbe, is periodically torturing him, and has denied him medical assistance. The Tajik government has neither confirmed that he is in their custody nor his whereabouts.

“There are devastating reports that Sukhrob Zafar may already have lost his ability to walk as a result of torture, so prompt action could be a matter of life and death,” said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Tajik authorities should immediately verify Zafar’s detention status and whereabouts and urgently investigate allegations that he has been tortured.”

Authorities should also ensure and confirm that Zafar receives his full due process rights, including contact with his family, access to a lawyer of his own choosing, and necessary medical treatment, the groups said.

Zafar, a senior figure in Group 24, a banned Tajik opposition group, was forcibly disappeared on March 10 in Türkiye, and his colleague Nasimjon Sharifov was forcibly disappeared on February 23. Both had previously been detained by the Turkish police in March 2018 at the request of Tajik authorities and threatened with extradition, but were eventually released.

Group 24 is a political opposition movement seeking political reforms in Tajikistan, which the Tajik authorities banned and designated a terrorist organization in October 2014, after the group called on the Tajik population to publicly protest against the government. In the last decade, Tajik authorities have cracked down brutally on the group and its members, imprisoning scores at home and driving large numbers into exile.

Recently, many exiled activists associated with the group have organized protests against the Tajik government in Europe and elsewhere. In response, Tajik authorities have sought their forced return from abroad, while some have allegedly been killed or forcibly disappeared.

A recent Human Rights Watch report on repressive governments targeting critics abroad includes accounts of the Tajik government seeking the arrest and extradition to Tajikistan of current and former members of Group 24 who have fled the country on charges of extremism and terrorism-related activities.

On April 23, eight members of Group 24 were detained in Rome during a protest about a visit by Tajik president Emomali Rahmon to Italy. They were released the next day, but the Tajik interior minister raised with his Italian counterpart the possibility of Italy detaining and deporting Tajiks with a search warrant or an Interpol Red Notice against them.

Türkiye is a member of the Council of Europe and party to the European Convention on Human Rights, and any involvement of, or acquiescence by, state agents in the forcible disappearance of and potential extrajudicial transfer of Zafar and Sharifov to Tajikistan is a serious violation of the convention.

The European Court of Human Rights has warned that “any extra-judicial transfer or extraordinary rendition, by its deliberate circumvention of due process, is an absolute negation of the rule of law and the values protected by the Convention. It therefore amounts to a violation of the most basic rights guaranteed by the Convention.”

“Türkiye should thoroughly investigate the unlawful actions on Turkish territory, which appear to have led to the forced rendition to Tajikistan of Zafar Sukhrob,” said Marius Fossum, regional representative in Central Asia at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. “Zafar should be released pending a fair trial on any credible charges and provided with redress for the violation of his rights as a result of his forced removal to Tajikistan.”

Nepal's Opportunity to Protect Children in New Budget

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 18:05:33 -0400

When Nepal’s Finance Minister Barshaman Pun presents the budget on May 28, he has an opportunity to extend the country’s Child Grant program. Doing so would advance the economic and social rights of Nepali children, helping families across the country.

The Child Grant, also known as the child nutrition grant, is a proven Nepali success story. The program involves monthly payments to families with children under the age of five in 25 out of Nepal’s 77 districts, and all Dalit children under five across the country. It has been endorsed by numerous Nepali civil society organizations and international policy experts including UNICEF, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union. But despite the praise, successive governments have not followed through on commitments to roll it out nationwide.

Therefore, it was encouraging when Nepal’s Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Bhagawati Chaudhary, announced this week that the government intends to extend the program to all districts. She also said the grant amount should be increased, as the current monthly payment of 532 Nepali rupees (about US$4) is insufficient.

“We are dedicated to ensuring that every child in Nepal, regardless of their location, receives the essential nutrition support they need for healthy growth and development,” Chaudhary said.

Studies underscore the transformative impact of the Child Grant, including increased birth registration rates, improved access to food and clothes, and lower likelihood of child labor for the recipients and their siblings. Research also shows that the program enhances public perceptions of the government, strengthening the social contract.

Nepal became a pioneer of social protection in South Asia by introducing a universal old age allowance in the 1990s. But with 40 percent of the population aged under 18, investing in social protection for children is key to ensuring Nepal’s future prosperity.

Nepal’s Constitution guarantees social and economic rights, including the right to social security for all children, and the Children’s Act of 2018 provides further guarantees.

According to a 2021 UNICEF study, expanding the Child Grant to children up to age 17 is financially feasible. Family poverty could drop by 16.8 percent, enabling families to afford better food, healthcare, and education.

The Nepali government’s extension of the Child Grant would be an important step toward a more equitable future and another example of forward-looking policy to countries around the world.

Thailand’s Upcoming Senate Election Fundamentally Flawed

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 16:01:50 -0400

Thailand’s Senate election slated for June will not undo the legacy of military rule but will obstruct the restoration of democratic rule.

The current Senate, appointed by the military junta in power from 2014 to 2019, expires on May 11. The Election Commission is now setting up regulations and procedures to elect 200 new senators from 20 social and professional groups, with 10 members from each group. They serve five-year terms.

Senate election is not decided by universal suffrage, only those who run for a seat can vote. The 2,500 baht (US$68) application fee, seven times Thailand’s minimum daily wage, is the first barrier to a broad-based and inclusive process. Candidates must be at least 40 years old, effectively disenfranchising young Thais who have vocally demanded political reforms in recent years. Members of political parties and public servants are barred from running –and thus voting.

Candidates cannot talk about policies or their plans if elected. The Election Commission only permits them to present a short, two-page resume explaining their background. Candidates are not allowed to use social media to reach out to a wider audience. The website Senate 67, created by a coalition of civil society groups, had to remove campaign information of some 1,000 prospective candidates after warnings from the Election Commission.

In the so-called “intra-group election” system, candidates cast votes among themselves within the same social and professional group. The top five then proceed to the second round where they vote for candidates from other groups. This process begins at the district level and continues at the provincial and then national level, with the winners at each level advancing to the next step. At the national level, the 10 candidates who receive the most votes from each social and professional group become the new senators.

Last year, the junta-appointed senators blocked the reformist Move Forward Party from forming a government despite winning the largest number of seats in the lower house of parliament. Although the new senators no longer vote for the prime minister, they still control the endorsement of office holders in key agencies – such as the Election Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Constitutional Court – which play critical roles in dissolving political parties and disqualifying parliamentarians. The Senate also retains the power to approve constitutional amendments.

For those seeking reform, Thailand’s Senate election is unlikely to bring it. The constitutional and legal frameworks that the military junta put in place all but ensure the election will maintain an oppressive status quo.

Azerbaijan: Free Jailed Human Rights Defender

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 11:48:39 -0400

(Berlin, May 2, 2024) – Azerbaijani authorities should immediately free a prominent human rights defender, Anar Mammadli, and drop the charges against him, the Human Rights House Foundation said this week in a statement signed by Human Rights Watch and 28 other groups. Mammadi was arrested on April 29, 2024, on bogus “smuggling” charges amid an escalating crackdown on independent voices.

Mammadli, who is a member of the Network of Human Rights Houses, is also a founding member of the recently formed Climate of Justice Initiative. The group is a civil society undertaking that seeks to use the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), which will take place in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in November, to promote civic space and environmental justice in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s crackdown on freedoms of expression, assembly, and association raises grave concerns about how civil society, including activists, human rights defenders, and journalists will be able to participate meaningfully and push for ambitious action at COP29, Human Rights Watch said.

The statement urges other countries to use the momentum around COP29 in Baku to demand the release of Mammadli and all other political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Resounding Support for a ‘Killer Robots’ Treaty

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 00:30:00 -0400

Click to expand Image Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg welcomes participants to the international “Humanity at the Crossroads” conference on autonomous weapons systems, in Vienna on April 29-30, 2024 © 2024 Michael Gruber/ BMEIA

(Washington, DC, May 02, 2024) – Governments concerned about autonomous weapons systems – so-called killer robots – should urgently act to start negotiations on a new international treaty to ban and regulate them, Human Rights Watch said today. Such weapons would select and use force against targets based on sensor processing rather than human inputs.

“The world is approaching a tipping point for acting on concerns over autonomous weapons systems, and support for negotiations is reaching unprecedented levels,” said Steve Goose, arms campaigns director at Human Rights Watch. “The adoption of a strong international treaty on autonomous weapons systems could not be more necessary or urgent.”

On April 29 and 30, 2024, more than 1,000 representatives from 144 countries and international organizations, industry, academia, and civil society, including Human Rights Watch, attended a high-level international conference in Vienna on the problems raised by autonomous weapons systems. The conference featured a message from Pope Francis and remarks by the foreign ministers of Austria, Albania, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, and Sierra Leone, as well as the United Nations disarmament chief and president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Nearly every speaker emphasized the seriousness of this issue and the need for urgent action.

The conference host, Austria, issued a chair’s summary of the meeting, which “affirms our strong commitment to work with urgency and with all interested stakeholders for an international legal instrument to regulate autonomous weapons systems.”

The Vienna conference followed a series of regional meetings on autonomous weapons concerns over the past 14 months, in Costa Rica, Luxembourg, Trinidad and Tobago, Philippines, and Sierra Leone. Most issued regional communiques calling for the urgent negotiation of a legally binding instrument containing prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems.

On December 22, 2023, 152 countries voted in favor of the first UN General Assembly resolution on autonomous weapons systems, while four voted no and 11 abstained. General Assembly Resolution 78/241 asks UN Secretary-General António Guterres to seek the views of countries and other stakeholders on ways to address the challenges and concerns raised by autonomous weapons systems “from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives,” and reflect those views in a report to the General Assembly in the second half of 2024.

“All countries have a role to play in preventing machines from taking human life in armed conflict and law enforcement,” Goose said. “Governments should submit their views to the UN on the concerns and challenges raised by autonomous weapons systems and express their support for negotiating a new international treaty.”

Some autonomous weapons systems have existed for years, but the types, duration of operation, geographical scope, and environment in which such systems operate have been limited. However, technological advances are spurring the development of autonomous weapons systems that operate without meaningful human control, delegating life-and-death decisions to machines. The machine rather than the human operator would determine where, when, or against what force is applied.

For the first time, discussion of “lethal autonomous weapons systems” has been added to the provisional agenda of the annual session of the UN General Assembly, which opens in September. The General Assembly provides an inclusive and accessible forum for countries to address this issue. Tackling the killer robots challenge under its auspices would allow greater consideration of concerns that have been largely overlooked in discussions held thus far, including ethical perspectives, international human rights law, proliferation, and impacts on global security and regional and international stability, including the risk of an arms race and lowering the threshold for conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

Most treaty proponents have called for prohibitions on autonomous weapons systems that by their nature operate without meaningful human control or that target people, as well as regulations to ensure that no autonomous weapons systems can be used without meaningful human control.

Talks on lethal autonomous weapons systems have been held at the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva since May 2014 but have failed to deliver a substantive outcome. The main reason for the lack of progress under the CCW is that its member countries rely on a consensus approach to decision making, which means a single country can bar passage of a proposal. A handful of major military powers have exploited this to repeatedly block proposals to negotiate a legally binding instrument.

“Autonomous weapons systems are a grave problem that can affect any country in the world, so clear, strong, global rules are essential,” Goose said. “Voluntary measures such as codes of conduct and political declarations only pave the way for a future of automated killing.”

Human Rights Watch is a cofounder of Stop Killer Robots, the coalition of more than 250 nongovernmental organizations across 70 countries that is working for new international law on autonomy in weapons systems.

Kenya: Floods Threaten Marginalized People

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

(Nairobi) – Kenyan authorities have not responded adequately to flash floods resulting from heavy rains, Human Rights Watch said today. The floods have left at least 170 people dead; displaced more than 200,000; destroyed property, infrastructure, and livelihoods across the country; and exacerbated socioeconomic vulnerabilities.

Kenya’s government has a human rights obligation to prevent foreseeable harm from climate change and extreme weather events and to protect people when a disaster strikes. Extreme weather events such as flooding are particularly threatening for marginalized and at-risk populations, including older people, people with disabilities, people in poverty, and rural populations.

“The unfolding devastation highlights the government’s obligation to prepare for and promptly respond to the foreseeable impacts of climate change and natural disasters,” said Nyagoah Tut Pur, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Kenyan authorities should urgently ensure support to affected communities and protect populations facing high risk.”

Kenya and most of the East Africa region has been lashed by relentless and devastating downpours in recent weeks, as an El Niño weather pattern exacerbates the seasonal rainfall. Recent studies suggest that climate change could be a contributing factor. The government has acknowledged that the extreme weather events were predictable.

Over the last few days, social media videos and mainstream media reports indicate that the affected people were receiving little to no support from the government to reach safety and to access essential services such as shelter, health care, and food assistance. Media reported that police and rescue teams’ help lines were unresponsive in some locations.

In its plans to combat climate change, including the comprehensive National Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2027 and its disaster response plans, Kenya identified flooding as a risk, identified areas that could be affected, and highlighted ways to mitigate it. The country also has a national disaster management unit.

As early as May 2023, the Kenya Meteorological Department warned that the country would experience enhanced rainfall due to El Niño between May-July and October-December, continuing into early 2024.

That same month, the government announced that at least 10 billion Kenyan shillings (about US$80 million) would be released to prepare a nationwide response. The Public Finance Management Act of 2023 requires county governments to set aside 2 percent of their annual budgets for disaster response. However, the government failed to put in place a timely national response plan. In August 2023, the Ministry of Health started coordinating with county governments to stock up medical supplies and begin cholera vaccinations. But in October, President William Ruto announced, mistakenly, that Kenya would not experience El Niño rains as earlier predicted.

Between October and February, 1,781 people died because of riverine floods, flash floods, and landslides, caused by heavy rains in the Western, North Eastern, Central, and Coastal regions. The Kenya Red Cross Society also reported an increase in waterborne diseases like cholera and diarrhea.

It is unclear what happened to the funds that had been set aside for the response, with some media reporting that the money was misappropriated. In November, parliament approved an additional 8.2 billion Kenyan shillings (about $60.7 million). An official with the Kenya Red Cross Society told Human Rights Watch that Kenya seems to have the requisite capacity and resources to adequately prepare for the heavy rains, but the government was slow to act despite warnings from the meteorological department and its partners.

Despite these harsh lessons from seasonal rains in late 2023 and meteorological department warnings, the authorities did not take appropriate measures to avert further disaster in early 2024 and were slow to respond, Human Rights Watch said. It was not until April 24, after nearly a month of heavy rains and many deaths, that President Ruto announced the creation of a multi-agency team to manage the response. Opposition leaders and clergy have called on the government to declare a national disaster and to hold accountable those responsible for inaction.

In low-income neighborhoods in Nairobi like Mathare, Mukuru Kwa Jenga, and Kariobangi, the flood impact has been quite severe due to less solid structures, congestion, and poor sanitation infrastructure, leaving people homeless and creating public health risks like malaria, cholera, and diarrhea. A well-known human rights activist, Benna Buluma, known as Mama Victor, was among 10 people who died on April 4 trapped in their houses by floods.

On April 29, the Mathare Social Justice Centre said on social media that at least 200 people had been displaced and still had not received support from county or national governments for temporary shelter, food, and other needed items.

The authorities should conduct a thorough and credible investigation to identify what went wrong and lessons learned, Human Rights Watch said.

The meteorological department has stated that the rains will continue in May.

On April 30, the government announced that people living in at-risk locations should relocate within 48 hours or be forcefully evicted.

Kenyan authorities have a responsibility to ensure that all possible steps are taken to prevent or alleviate human suffering arising from the ongoing floods and to realize the rights to life, health, housing, food, water, and sanitation of those most affected. The authorities should ensure that the response is inclusive and respects people’s rights.

“The government should ensure a timely and effective approach to disaster management,” Pur said. “This could ensure that future catastrophes are not as devastating and deadly.”

Ukraine: Russian Forces Executed Surrendering Ukraine Soldiers

Human Rights Watch — Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

(Kyiv, May 2, 2024) – Russian forces appear to have executed at least 15 Ukrainian soldiers as they attempted to surrender, and possibly six more who were surrendering or who had surrendered, since early December 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. These incidents should be investigated as war crimes.

“Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its forces have committed many heinous war crimes,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “The summary execution – or murder – of surrendering and injured Ukrainian soldiers, gunned down in cold blood, expressly forbidden under international humanitarian law, is also included in that shameful legacy.”

Human Rights Watch investigated three instances of the apparent summary execution of at least 12 Ukrainian soldiers by verifying and analyzing drone footage posted on social media on December 2 and December 27, and on February 25, 2024. In these cases, the soldiers demonstrated a clear intent to surrender and, since they were no longer taking part in hostilities, were considered hors de combat and not targetable under international humanitarian law, or the laws of war.

Human Rights Watch verified the location of two of the three incidents based on the footage, but due to the lack of geographic details in the videos, was unable to determine the exact location of the third. Human Rights Watch was unable to verify which party operated the drone that captured the footage in these cases.

Human Rights Watch investigated a fourth instance by analyzing another video clip posted on social media on February 19 showing two Russian soldiers executing three surrendering and unarmed Ukrainian soldiers. Although the account that posted the clip stated the location of the incident, Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the location independently.

For the fifth incident, the investigation relied on an interview with a Ukrainian soldier, a video posted to a Telegram channel on February 16, and in-depth media coverage including interviews with family members of one of the victims. The information suggests that six soldiers were executed in the incident, though the circumstances were less clear.

In one of the five incidents, on February 25, verified drone footage shared widely online including on X (formerly known as Twitter) shows at least seven Ukrainian soldiers exiting a dugout among some trees between two fields, removing their body armor, at least one soldier removing their helmet, and all lying face down as five Russian soldiers aim their guns at them. The Russian soldiers are identifiable by distinctive red tape markings around the arms and legs. Three Russian soldiers then shoot toward the clearly surrendered Ukrainian soldiers from behind and both sides.

Six of the Ukrainian soldiers remain face down, visibly reacting to the impact of the shots, while one attempts to reenter the dugout but is shot before he is able to. The incident took place near Ivanivske village in the Donetska region. The location was first verified by EjShahid, a volunteer for GeoConfirmed, and subsequently confirmed by Human Rights Watch researchers.

Click to expand Image A still frame extracted from drone footage filmed near Ivanivske village in the Donetska region of Ukraine moments before Russian soldiers shoot at seven surrendering Ukrainian soldiers at close range. © GloOouD, X (formerly known as Twitter), 2024.

The apparent executions do not appear to be isolated instances. Human Rights Watch also identified Russian drone footage posted on February 5, 2024, capturing a separate battlefield moment. In that incident, Human Rights Watch could not determine whether the Ukrainian soldiers surrendered, but a male voice heard in the clip, which appears to be credible, apparently provides commands to Russian soldiers on the battlefield in the Donetska region. The voice says in Russian, “take no prisoners, shoot everyone.” Audiovisual analysis of the footage supports the conclusion that the drone is Russian.

A report published in March 2023 by the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine documented Russian armed forces and Wagner Group executions of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) during the first year of the full-scale invasion. In its February to July 2023 periodic report, the UN documented the summary execution of six Ukrainian POWs. A follow-up report published in March 2024, covering the three previous months, identified 12 reported episodes of executions of at least 32 captured POWs or people hors de combat. The UN independently verified three of the latter incidents, involving seven Ukrainian soldiers.

On April 9, the Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office said it was conducting 27 criminal investigations into the execution of 54 Ukrainian POWs. The Prosecutor General’s Office told Human Rights Watch it was unable to share more information about these cases but referenced three notices of suspicion it had issued against Russian soldiers for extrajudicial executions, one of which resulted in a court ruling in absentia, and a recent statement references a fourth. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine documented instances in which Ukrainian armed forces have abused Russian POWs during the full-scale invasion.

Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on April 22, asking for details into the incidents described above, as well as any orders to Russian forces to kill instead of capture surrendering Ukrainian soldiers. It has received no response.

International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, requires parties to an international armed conflict to treat armed forces who are hors de combat and those in custody, who become prisoners of war, humanely in all circumstances. It is a war crime to willfully kill, mistreat, or torture these forces. An order to kill prisoners of war or to execute surrendering soldiers rather than capture them, known as no quarter to be given, is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Such orders violate Russia’s international humanitarian law, or laws of war, obligations as well as its own military statutes, and both issuing such an order and carrying it out are war crimes.

In addition to being bound by international humanitarian law, Russia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which strictly forbids extrajudicial killings.

Russia also has an obligation under international humanitarian law to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes by its forces or those committed on the territory it controls. However, extensive Human Right Watch documentation of international humanitarian law violations in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, and Ukraine over more than three decades clearly demonstrates that Russia has been unwilling to prosecute war crimes and other violations of international law committed by its forces.

“While each of these cases is horrifying, perhaps what is most damning is the evidence indicating in at least one case that Russian forces explicitly gave orders to kill soldiers instead of letting them surrender, thereby endorsing war crimes,” Wille said.

For more information on the four additional incidents documented, and an apparent Russian instruction to take no quarter, please see below.

Below are details of four of the five incidents, with the fifth detailed above. Researchers closely analyzed the videos, observing the use of each side’s identification tape – blue for Ukraine and white or red for Russia – and the distinct hues of the soldiers’ military fatigues to differentiate between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. They uploaded screenshots from each video to reverse search image engines and found no records of them before early December 2023.

Drone Footage Posted on December 2, 2023, from the Donetska region

On December 2, drone footage was uploaded to Telegram on a channel called DeepState UA, an open-source organization that has been monitoring and mapping military actions in Ukraine since February 2022. The footage appears to show Russian soldiers executing two surrendering Ukrainian soldiers in a tree line between two fields. One of the surrendering soldiers, wearing a Ukrainian uniform, has visible blue tape around their arm, regularly worn by Ukrainian soldiers. The first surrendering Ukrainian soldier exits the entrance of a dugout with their hands above their head and lies face down on the ground a few meters away. Six Russian soldiers, identifiable by their relatively darker camouflage, have their guns trained at the Ukrainian soldier and the entrance to the dugout.

A second Ukrainian soldier exits the dugout, hunched over with one arm partially raised and the second hanging limp, and then suddenly stumbles. In the footage neither soldier appears to be carrying any weapons in their hands. At least two Russian soldiers proceed to fire at and execute the second Ukrainian and then a few seconds later, execute the first Ukrainian soldier, who gets up to move toward the dugout after shots are fired in his direction.

Human Rights Watch was unable to independently verify the location, but the poster of the clip provides a map to the video’s location and identifies it as 700 meters southeast of Stepove village in the Donetska region of eastern Ukraine. On December 2, 2023, on social media, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) asserted the authenticity of the video.

Drone Footage Posted on December 27, 2023, from the Zaporizka region

A screen-recording of drone footage uploaded to Telegram on December 27 by a user called 4sman4lav_osman, who says they are a volunteer with Ukraine’s 24th Separate Assault Battalion “Aidar,” apparently shows three Ukrainian soldiers kneeling with their hands on their heads in a field between Verbove and Robotyne villages in the Zaporizka region. The group is surrounded by four Russian soldiers standing about 15 meters away. As one Russian soldier moves toward the captives, smoke discharges from his weapon in the direction of the Ukrainian soldiers, and all three immediately collapse. Subsequently, the same Russian soldier appears to shoot two of the fallen Ukrainian soldiers at close range.

The location was initially verified by a member of the open-source research community EjShahid, a volunteer for GeoConfirmed, and later confirmed by Human Rights Watch researchers. On December 28, on social media the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the incident occurred, stating that the soldiers had been members of the 82nd Air Assault Brigade and were hors de combat when killed.

Click to expand Image A still frame extracted from drone footage filmed in a field between Verbove and Robotyne vilages in the Zaporizka region, Ukraine, shortly before a Russian soldier shoots at three surrendered Ukrainian soldiers at close range. © stanislav_osman, Telegram, 2024.

Media Coverage and Video Posted on February 16, 2024, from the Donetska region

A video posted to a Telegram channel called RVvoenkor on February 16, during the capture of the city of Avdiivka, in the Donetska region, shows the bodies of six Ukrainian soldiers who, evidence suggests, surrendered to Russian troops who had captured their position.

The video is a series of clips stitched together that show six bodies. At least four of them, dressed in military fatigues consistent with the pattern worn by the Ukrainian armed forces, lie in and around a muddy pool of water that appears to be colored red by blood. None of the people in the video appear to have any weapons on or near them, nor do they appear to be wearing combat protective equipment.

One of the deceased is clutching a water bottle, while a second one has a Ukrainian flag partially curled up across their legs. A third has blue tape around their arm, consistent with tape worn by Ukrainian soldiers. The video features a watermark of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic’s (DPR) 1st Sloviansk Brigade’s logo in the top right corner, alongside the name of a popular Russian Telegram channel, RVvoenkory.

Viktor Biliak, a soldier from Ukraine’s 110th brigade, was stationed in Avdiivka for 620 days until he and others withdrew from a position on the city’s outskirts as Russian forces took full control of the city. He told Human Rights Watch they withdrew over the course of two nights between February 13 and 15, after the city had already been encircled. As they withdrew, five soldiers who had been stationed with Biliak were unable to leave because they had serious injuries. One of Biliak’s colleagues stayed with them. All six soldiers believed they would be evacuated.

On the morning of February 15, after a radio conversation between the commander and the six men, two of them sent a series of messages to the brigade’s Signal group. Human Rights Watch received screenshots of these messages from a source who cannot be identified for security reasons. Two of the men left behind, Georgiy Pavlov and Andriy Dubnytskyi, wrote messages saying they and four other injured men had been left behind and curse the commanders for leaving them behind, saying God would judge them for it. The soldiers’ brigade later acknowledged on social media that they were unable to evacuate the injured due to intense fighting and their command negotiated for the Russian side to evacuate them and exchange them later.

According to a BBC interview with Inna Pavlova, Pavlov’s mother, on the morning of February 15, she received a message from Pavlov saying, “The Russians know that we are here alone.” She hadn’t heard from him since. Dmitriy, the brother-in-law of Ivan Zhytnyk, another one of the men left behind, said Zhytnyk video-called him. He played a recording of the call to the BBC. In the middle of the conversation, a Russian soldier enters the building, and a voice says, “Put the gun away.” “Are they there?” Dmitriy asks Ivan, who answers “Yes.” At this point, Dmitriy stopped recording video, the article says, but the call continued for a couple of minutes longer. “I saw a bearded man,” Dmitriy told the BBC. “I asked Ivan to give him the phone. I wanted to ask them not to kill them. But I heard the voice say: ‘Switch off the phone.’”

Biliak confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the location seen in the Telegram video was the location the forces had held on the outskirts of Avdiivka where he had separated from Pavlov, Dubnytskyi, Zhytnyk, and the three other men. He also confirmed that the body of Dubnytskyi is among those shown in the video, saying he recognized a tattoo on his right hand.

Video Posted on February 19, 2024, from the Zaporizka region

Another incident, captured in a video uploaded to a Telegram channel called Аморальна UKRAINE (Immoral UKRAINE) on February 19, shows what appears to be two Russian soldiers, identified by white tape around their armbands and their relatively darker camouflage, executing three unarmed Ukrainian soldiers, identified by their lighter military camouflage. Two of the Ukrainian soldiers – one of whom appears injured and walks unsteadily – are exiting a trench watched by two Russian soldiers, while a third Ukrainian lies on a mound of dirt directly next to one of the Russian soldiers. A third Russian soldier approaches the trench and proceeds to open fire on the standing Ukrainian soldiers. The two Ukrainian soldiers quickly fall to the ground.

The same Russian soldier then aims at and executes the Ukrainian soldier lying on the dirt mound, who covers his head with his hands just before the soldier opens fire. The Russian solider then reloads and fires additional rounds into all three Ukrainian soldiers as another soldier fires shots into one of the two Ukrainian soldiers who appears to be still alive. Although the account that posted the clip stated the incident occurred near Robotyne, Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the location independently.

No Quarter Calls in Drone Footage Posted on February 5, 2024, from the Donetska region

One video clip taken by a Russian drone and uploaded on February 5 to a Telegram channel called ATO Donetsk, which promotes content about the DPR and the Russian military, shows four Russian soldiers attacking a dugout in a forested area where at least two Ukrainian soldiers are hidden. A male voice behind the screen gives commands to the Russian soldiers on the ground, multiple times repeating orders in Russian to “take no prisoners, shoot everyone.” Human Rights Watch cannot determine from the video whether the Ukrainian soldiers surrendered.

Click to expand Image A still frame extracted from Russian drone footage in which a voice is heard repeatedly commanding Russian soldiers to "take no prisoners, shoot everyone." The footage shows Russian soldiers then killing two Ukrainian soldiers. © atodoneck, Telegram, 2024.

One of the Russian soldiers nears the entrance of a dugout where two Ukrainian soldiers, identified by their light camouflage, are positioned. The first Ukrainian soldier begins to emerge cautiously with a second soldier close behind while the Russian soldier observes. About seven seconds later, the Russian soldier starts shooting, causing both Ukrainian soldiers to collapse to the ground. The first Ukrainian soldier lies motionless on the ground while the second Ukrainian crawls back into the dugout. The voice says “good, one was killed, well done.”

After that the speaker says “Guys, kill everyone, the second [Ukrainian soldier] is wounded, shoot him from atop, shoot him, take no prisoners.” A second Russian soldier approaches the entrance and throws a grenade into the dugout that the Ukrainian soldier had crawled back into. The voice then says: “Grenade, well done, here you go. And the second one was finished too, well done, guys.”

Human Rights Watch was able to confirm the location of the clip, which is a small forest 1.3 kilometers east of Klishchiivka, Donetska region. The location was first verified by a Telegram channel that posts geolocations of similar videos. Human Rights Watch analyzed the audio for any signs of manipulation and found no obvious hallmarks of manipulation. The audiovisual analysis demonstrates that the gunshots and grenades seen in the video match the muffled sounds transmitted through the radio to the voice behind the screen with a roughly 2.5 seconds delay to the visuals throughout the clip. This strongly suggests that the individual behind the screen is actively directing the soldiers on the ground in real-time by issuing commands. The video was shared by a pro-Russian Telegram channel and covered by pro-Russian media, lending credibility to the authenticity of the audio.

Australia: Rights Vetting Crucial for Defence Cooperation

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 01 May 2024 23:59:00 -0400

(Sydney) - The Australian government should include human rights vetting provisions in all bilateral security force cooperation agreements, Human Rights Watch said in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The committee is reviewing a proposed agreement between Australia and Fiji for defence cooperation.

“The Australian military should not support, train, or appoint to its ranks anyone credibly accused of committing serious human rights or humanitarian law violations anywhere,” said Daniela Gavshon, Australia director at Human Rights Watch. “The proposed agreement with Fiji should include a vetting clause, which would set an important precedent for future bilateral military agreements.”

Human rights vetting provisions would require the Australian Defence Force to check that any person they work with from a foreign military has not been credibly accused of serious human rights violations. Currently, Australia does not have a transparent and legislated system for vetting security force cooperation as do some other countries. Even without such a system, the Australian government should ensure that it does not work with human rights abusers by including a standard human rights vetting clause in all bilateral security force agreements.

In January 2024, the Australian Defence Force appointed Fijian Col. Penioni (Ben) Naliva as deputy commander of Australia’s 7th Brigade in Brisbane. A 2011 report to the United Nations Human Rights Council by the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression specifically identified this person as having a role in the alleged torture of a former Fijian politician. The Australian government appointed Colonel Naliva without any formal vetting process, and maintains it was unaware of the allegations prior to his appointment. A mandated security force vetting requirement could have prevented his appointment, Human Rights Watch said.

“Australia has taken action against its own soldiers who have committed serious violations, so it certainly shouldn’t deploy with soldiers from other countries responsible for abuses,” Gavshon said. “Having a vetting requirement would safeguard against this.”

Thailand: Last-Ditch Effort for Tak Bai Massacre Justice

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 01 May 2024 22:10:00 -0400

(Bangkok) – The Thai government should urgently bring to justice officials responsible for the deaths and injuries of scores of ethnic Malay Muslim protesters in Tak Bai district in 2004, Human Rights Watch said today. A failure to do so will call into question Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s pledge to strengthen the rule of law in Thailand.

On April 25, 2024, lawyers representing the victims and their families filed criminal charges – including unlawful detention, murder, and malfeasance – against nine former officials in charge of the violent crackdown on protesters in the southern province of Narathiwat two decades ago. Under Thai law, the 20-year statute of limitations will end in October 2024, preventing legal action after that time.

“Despite overwhelming evidence, successive Thai governments have failed to prosecute those responsible for the deaths and injuries at Tak Bai,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Prime Minister Srettha should show that justice in the south is a priority by ending impunity for the Tak Bai massacre.”

On October 25, 2004, security personnel from various Thai army and police units were mobilized to disperse Muslim protesters in front of a police station in Tak Bai district. Seven protesters were shot dead on the spot, while seventy-eight others were crushed to death as they were being transported to an army detention facility in the neighboring Pattani province. Some 1,200 people were held in army custody for several days without appropriate medical attention. As a result, many protesters suffered severe injuries that required amputation of their limbs.

In December 2004, the fact-finding committee appointed by the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra concluded that the methods used to disperse the protesters – including firing live ammunition and deploying army conscripts and rangers inexperienced in responding to protests – were inappropriate and did not conform with established international guidelines and practices. The committee also found that commanding officers failed to supervise the transportation of protesters in custody, leaving the task to inexperienced, low-ranking personnel.

The inquiry identified three senior army officers – including the Fourth Army Region commander, Lt. Gen. Pisan Wattanawongkiri; his deputy, Lt. Gen. Sinchai Nutsathit; and the Fifth Infantry Division commander, Maj. Gen. Chalermchai Wirunpeth – as having failed to properly monitor and supervise the military’s operations, leading to the deaths and injuries of protesters.

In May 2009, the Songkhla provincial court ruled in a post-mortem inquest that 78 people died of suffocation while being held in custody by officials who had carried out their duties. However, the police decided not to press charge against those officials, claiming that the incident was force majeure, a legal term for an unforeseeable event.

As their last resort to seek justice, on April 25, the Tak Bai victims and their families filed criminal lawsuits directly with the Narathiwat provincial court. A preliminary examination will take place on June 24. Prime Minister Srettha should publicly signal his support for efforts to ensure accountability for the Tak Bai massacre, Human Rights Watch said.

“The cycle of abuses and impunity in Thailand’s southern border provinces contributes to an atmosphere in which officials believe they can violate human rights without fear of punishment,” Pearson said. “The United Nations and concerned foreign governments should demand justice for the Tak Bai victims without further delay.”

Indonesia Court Ruling a Boon for Free Expression

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 01 May 2024 19:00:00 -0400

“Historic,” said the activist Haris Azhar, describing Indonesia's Constitutional Court ruling in March to revoke three false news and defamation clauses from the country’s 1946 criminal code.

The judges wanted to protect human rights, he said, and they found that the code’s vague definition of “fake news” could be used to punish legitimate criticism of the government.

Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti, another human rights defender, together with the Jakarta-based Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation and the Alliance of Independent Journalists, sought a judicial review of the law after Azhar and Maulidiyanti faced criminal defamation charges brought by Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a minister in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet. Pandjaitan’s lawsuit argued that the activists defamed him in a YouTube podcast in August 2022. A Jakarta court acquitted the activists in January 2024.

Powerful people and government officials frequently used the laws to prosecute activists and other critics of the government. According to Safenet, a free speech organization, between 2020 and 2023, there were 32 criminal defamation cases in Indonesia. After the court ruling, some cases were immediately dropped.

But Indonesia has dozens of criminal defamation laws that could undermine the right to free expression, including those recently passed as part of the 2022 criminal code and the 2023 Internet and Electronic Transaction Law.

Azhar points out that the 2023 internet law is “even more brutal” than the Dutch colonial-era provisions, which made up most of the 1946 code, because it allows the government to take down digital content without a judicial order. The United Nations has said the 2022 criminal code, slated to come into force and replace the 1946 criminal code in January 2026, threatens basic freedoms.

The new criminal code makes promoting news that a person should know or suspect is vaguely “uncertain,” “exaggerated,” or “incomplete,” and which can cause unrest, a criminal offense that can be punished by up to two years in prison.

Other articles effectively restrict anyone other than medical providers from disseminating information about contraception to children, or from providing information to anyone about obtaining an abortion.

Authorities should revise the new criminal code to reflect the court ruling. “We need to challenge these new laws,” Azhar said.

The recent Constitutional Court ruling will likely be the basis for future petitions against other toxic regulations harming free expression rights in Indonesia.

US: Digital Metering System Exposes Migrants to Harm

Human Rights Watch — Wed, 01 May 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Click to expand Image A man seeking asylum in the US uses his phone to access the US Customs and Border Protection CBP One application to request an appointment at a land port of entry to the US, outside a shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, January 12, 2023. © 2023 REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

(Mexico City) – The administrations of US President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador are forcing thousands of people seeking asylum in the US to wait for months in Mexico, exposing them to danger, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 68-page report, “We Couldn’t Wait: Digital Metering at the US-Mexico Border,” details how the Biden and López Obrador administrations have made a difficult-to-use US government mobile application, CBP One, all but mandatory for people seeking asylum in the United States. The result is de facto “metering,” a practice formalized early in the Trump administration that limits the number of asylum seekers processed at ports of entry each day, turning others back to Mexico.

May 1, 2024 “We Couldn’t Wait”

Digital Metering at the US-Mexico Border

Download the full report in English

“The Biden and López Obrador administrations are knowingly exposing migrants to persecution at the hands of cartels that systematically target migrants for kidnapping, extortion, and sexual assault,” said Ari Sawyer, US border researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The US and Mexican governments should stop forcing migrants to wait in Mexico and should stop collaborating on rights-abusive immigration policies.”

The report is based on interviews with 128 asylum seekers who were able to share information on the experiences of a total of 263 people, including family members and friends with whom they were traveling, as well as interviews with 13 shelter workers, eight migrant service providers, Mexican government officials, and human rights workers. Research was conducted in August and September 2023 in Mexico City; Saltillo and Piedras Negras, Coahuila; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon; Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; and Eagle Pass, Texas. Because US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not provide enough appointments through the app to meet the demand from asylum seekers each day, tens of thousands of people seeking asylum have been compelled to wait in Mexico, often for several months, since the Biden administration introduced a new asylum rule in May 2023.

CBP’s nearly exclusive use of the CBP One app to process asylum seekers creates additional barriers to access for those seeking asylum, particularly for certain groups. Many asylum seekers do not have cellphones because they cannot afford them or because criminal actors or government agents in Mexico have stolen their phones. When asylum seekers do have phones, their devices often do not have memory space to support the app, they cannot pay for the data they need to use the app, or they do not have access to Wi-Fi.

In addition, nearly all the asylum seekers Human Rights Watch spoke to described having trouble using or accessing CBP One. For some, the app was particularly difficult to use due to identity factors such as their race, digital literacy, ability to read or write, language, age, LGBT status, or disability.

The Biden asylum rule relies on policies nearly identical to two Trump-era policies—the entry and transit bans—held by federal courts to be illegal. It stipulates that asylum seekers must use CBP One in most cases to access the US asylum system. Asylum seekers who show up at the border without an appointment, who cannot prove they applied for and were denied asylum in another country along their route of transit or certain difficult-to-prove extenuating circumstances, face “enhanced expedited removal” to Mexico or their country of origin without adequate due process.

US and Mexican officials and private security guards hired by the Mexican government stand guard at international bridges and screen asylum seekers for CBP One appointments, turning back those who do not have one. Asylum seekers who face danger if they wait in Mexico often cross over more remote and dangerous areas at the border, where their lives are at risk or where they find their passage blocked by river currents, razor wire, or other barriers.

In just one example in September, Human Rights Watch witnessed a Haitian family attempt for three hours to turn themselves in to US immigration officials near Eagle Pass, Texas, but were impeded by Texas Department of Public Safety boats, river currents, razor wire, and other barriers.

Those who are forced to wait in Mexico also face forced relocation to southern Mexico by Mexican officials; a lack of access to basic services like health care, potable water, and shelter; violence at the hands of criminal groups as well as Mexican immigration authorities, National Guard soldiers, and police; and the possibility of summary deportation.

Cartels and corrupt government officials profit from policies that strand non-Mexican migrants in Mexico for long periods of time. Thanks to these policies, cartels have expanded their business model to include the extortion of the US-based family or friends of kidnapped migrants, Human Rights Watch found. Cartels routinely search kidnapped migrants’ phones for US numbers and demand ransom payments in US dollars. Cartels in Nuevo Laredo extort asylum seekers who have CBP One appointments, threatening to prevent them from getting to their appointments if they don't pay.

“An app-based appointment system suggests the illusion of order and impartiality, but in reality CBP One puts people in danger and means more profit and power for criminal cartels,” Sawyer said. “The United States and Mexico can and should do better.”

Germany Falling Short in Curbing Anti-Muslim Racism

Human Rights Watch — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Click to expand Image Demonstrators mark the anniversary of a far-right extremist attack on February 19, 2020 in Hanau, Germany, that killed nine persons of predominantly Muslim background, February 17, 2024. © 2024 Hasan Bratic, picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

(Berlin, April 30, 2024) – The German government is falling short in protecting Muslims and people perceived to be Muslims from racism amid rising incidents of hate and discrimination, Human Rights Watch said today. The absence of a working definition of anti-Muslim racism and a lack of official data on incidents and of investment in institutional support for victims are among the impediments to an effective response.

“The German government’s failings in protecting Muslims from hatred and discrimination start with a lack of understanding that Muslims experience racism and not simply faith-based hostility,” said Almaz Teffera, researcher on racism in Europe at Human Rights Watch. “Without a clear understanding of anti-Muslim hate and discrimination in Germany and strong data on incidents and community outreach, a response by the German authorities will be ineffective.”

By end of September 2023, the government’s preliminary hate crime statistics for the year had counted 686 “anti-Islamic” crimes, surpassing the 610 recorded for all of 2022. In mid-January 2024, the Interior Ministry told Human Rights Watch that it could not yet provide any data for the period between October and December. But German civil society groups have warned of a rise in anti-Muslim incidents since October, following the outbreak of hostilities in Israel-Palestine.

On November 30, Reem Alabali-Radovan, Germany’s federal commissioner for anti-racism, added her voice to a first of its kind EU-wide expression of concern about the increase in incidents. This is a positive step, underscoring the work needed to improve protections for Muslims in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, Human Rights Watch said.

Rima Hanano, head of the Alliance Against Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate (CLAIM), a German network of nongovernmental organizations, told Human Rights Watch that 2023 marked a frighteningly new high for anti-Muslim incidents. In November, the Alliance documented an average of three anti-Muslim incidents a day. In one case, a man perceived to be Muslim was called a “terrorist” when exiting a public bus, assaulted, and hospitalized for his injuries.

While civil society groups like CLAIM collect data on such incidents, the German government has yet to develop an infrastructure for countrywide monitoring and data collection, based on clear indicators that would equip authorities with the necessary knowledge and tools to tackle the problem.

Since 2017, the German government’s hate crime system has classified hate incidents against Muslims and people perceived to be Muslims under the rubric of “anti-Islamic” motives. This classification considers prejudice to be based on their religious identities, dissociated from hostility based on their ethnic identities, Human Rights Watch said.

A government-commissioned three-year study (“Bericht des Unabhängigen Expert*innenkreis Muslimfeindlichkeit”) on the state of anti-Muslim hostility in Germany, published in June 2023, recognized that anti-Muslim sentiments are widespread in Germany, recommending that the German government should no longer dissociate anti-Muslim hate from racism but recognize their connection. To the dismay of an author of the study, the Interior Ministry has neither engaged with the experts who produced the report nor carried out their recommendations. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she did not agree with everything in the report.

In a written response to a letter sent by Human Rights Watch in mid-December inquiring about the government response to the rise in anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate, the Interior Ministry referred to the study, vaguely acknowledging that a racial lens was missing from the category of anti-Islamic crimes. However, the ministry did not elaborate on how it intended to revise its approach. Any focus on anti-Muslim hate and discrimination that fails to include racism or acknowledge the intersectional nature of such hostility will be unable to capture the full picture or inform effective policy responses, Human Rights Watch said.

In 2017, 1 out of 10 people interviewed for the second survey on anti-Muslim discrimination by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in 15 EU member states, including Germany, said that they had reported the most recent anti-Muslim incident against them. Those that did not report felt that “nothing would happen or change by reporting it.” Of those who did report incidents, 81 percent said they felt “somewhat dissatisfied with the way police handled the matter.”

Anti-Muslim violence in Germany, which has one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe, is neither a new phenomenon nor has it grown in a vacuum. In 2020, a far-right extremist and racist attack in Hanau, a German town, killed nine people predominantly of Muslim background: Ferhat Unvar, Hamza Kurtović, Said Nesar Hashemi, Vili Viorel Păun, Mercedes Kierpacz, Kaloyan Velkov, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Sedat Gürbüz and Gökhan Gültekin. Then-interior minister Horst Seehofer labelled it an “unequivocal racist attack.”

The European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) stressed in its Policy Recommendation No. 5 on preventing and combating anti-Muslim racism and discrimination the need for independent monitoring structures and robust capacity-building by authorities to combat anti-Muslim racism and strengthen recognition and recording of such incidents.

The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination obliges the German government to protect Muslim communities. In its 2023 review of Germany’s compliance, the Committee that monitors compliance with the convention reminded Germany of its duty to effectively investigate, prosecute, and punish all racist hate incidents.

“Muslim communities in Germany aren’t a monolithic religious group but rather a group with a diversity of ethnicities that experiences hatred and discrimination that cannot be reduced to their faith,” Teffera said. “Germany should invest in protecting Muslims and all other minority communities in Germany because it is an investment in protecting all of German society.”

Saudi Arabia: Halt Executions of Child Offenders

Human Rights Watch — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Click to expand Image Men hold placards bearing portraits of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution sparked demonstrations in 2016 by the country's minority Shia citizens against systematic governmental discrimination. Some of the alleged child offenders currently on trial were accused of attending similar protests. © 2016 STR/AFP via Getty Images

(Beirut) – Saudi Arabia’s court of appeal in April 2024 approved death sentences for two Saudi men for protest-related crimes allegedly committed as children, Human Rights Watch and 26 other organizations said today in a joint statement. Saudi authorities should immediately halt executions for child offenders.

Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Appellate Court upheld the death penalty sentences for Yousif al-Manasif and Ali al-Mabyook, for alleged crimes they committed when they were between the ages of 14 and 17 and referred the cases to the Supreme Court for final approval. Al-Manasif and al-Mabyook, both from the eastern province, where most of the country’s Shi’a minority live, were arrested between April 2017 and January 2018 and appeared before a court in 2019.

“Saudi Arabia is investing billions of dollars in major entertainment and sporting events to distract from its repressive rights environment, while people charged with crimes as children remain on death row,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Saudi Arabia should quash the decision to execute al-Manasif and al-Mabyook and start living up to its promise to end the child death penalty.”

The charges on which the young men were convicted were almost entirely based on their confessions. Human Rights Watch has documented rampant abuses in Saudi Arabia’s criminal justice system, including coerced confessions against children later sentenced to death, that make it highly unlikely that al-Manasif and al-Mabyook received a fair trial. At least five people sentenced to death as children remain in danger of execution at any moment.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party, includes an absolute prohibition on capital punishment for crimes committed by children. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty in all countries and under all circumstances as it is unique in its cruelty and finality and is inevitably plagued with arbitrariness and error.

“If the Saudi leadership genuinely wants to be seen as a rights-respecting country, it needs to immediately halt all execution orders and commute all death sentences, including the egregious cases of al-Manasif and al-Mabyook.” Shea said.

South Sudan: ‘Disappeared’ Critic Resurfaces

Human Rights Watch — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

(Nairobi) – The reappearance in a South Sudan court of a former refugee who had been forcibly disappeared more than a year ago points up the urgent need to reform the National Security Service (NSS), Human Rights Watch said today. South Sudan authorities should urgently put an end to the agency’s arbitrary arrests and detentions of critics, activists and members of civil society, some of which constitute enforced disappearances, a sign of troubling regression in the country’s human rights landscape.

Human Rights Watch has documented three other cases of enforced disappearance in recent months. Security agents arbitrarily detained two people, including a former Juba City Council leader, without warrants and have since then denied any information about their whereabouts. The agency is also implicated in the disappearance of a youth activist at a checkpoint, which authorities have failed to effectively investigate.

“South Sudan’s security service has for years committed flagrant violations of national and international law without consequence,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The egregious violations of people’s rights by the security service underscore the need for urgent and meaningful reform of the agency.”

The 2014 National Security Service Act gives the agency broad and unqualified powers that enable it to commit serious abuses with impunity. Human Rights Watch has documented that the NSS’ exercise of these broad powers has contributed to shrinking the space for civil society, including human rights defenders and independent media. The agency exerts its authority without meaningful judicial or legislative oversight, and its agents are rarely punished for abuses, leaving victims with little recourse for justice.

On April 24, 2024, the NSS brought Morris Mabior Awikjok Bak, a South Sudanese critic and former refugee in Kenya, before a county court in Juba to face charges of criminal defamation against the director of the agency. Bak had been forcibly disappeared on February 4, 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya, returned to South Sudan, and detained by the NSS, although it refused to acknowledge his detention or disclose his location.

The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan had reported on Bak’s detention, allegedly by armed Kenyan security forces and a South Sudanese man in civilian dress, his forced return via a charter flight, and his incommunicado – and unacknowledged – detention by the NSS. In April, the agency acknowledged that it was holding him and indicated that it was bringing criminal defamation charges against him, underscoring the untethered abuse of power by the NSS that South Sudan’s government tolerates.

At about 10 p.m. on March 28, security agents took Kalisto Lado, the former head of the Juba City Council, from his home in Juba and bundled him into a pickup truck with at least 10 armed officers, a witness told Human Rights Watch. Other sources reported that Lado had been under physical surveillance due to his outspokenness against irregular land acquisitions in Juba by powerful individuals that is dispossessing the Bari community and had received a warning that the security agency was looking for him. Witnesses believe that he is being held at the NSS headquarters, Blue House, in Juba. The authorities should immediately release him or bring him before a court and charge him with a recognizable offense if there is sufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing. On April 19, media reported that Lado’s family has brought a case against the government at the East African Court of Justice challenging his illegal detention. The government has 45 days to respond to the complaint.

In late March, the NSS summoned Michael Wetnhialic, a political activist, to the Blue House and detained him, a relative told Human Rights Watch. The authorities have yet to acknowledge his detention or disclose his situation or whereabouts. This is the fourth time the agency has unlawfully detained Wetnhialic. The first was in January 2017 when he was detained in the Blue House for approximately four months, then in September 2018 for a month, and in May 2019 for nearly five months, all for allegedly using Facebook to criticize the agency and senior government officials. During each of his detentions, Wetnhialic was held under poor conditions and denied access to family or a lawyer but was never formally charged.

Credible sources recently told Human Rights Watch that Biar Ajak Marol, a youth activist who headed a local organization called Junubin Chronicles, a nongovernmental group that carries out campaigns on social issues through music, was detained on October 4, 2023, at a checkpoint staffed by joint forces including police, military intelligence, and the NSS. The sources said that Biar was initially held at the Riverside detention facility, then transferred to the Blue House, where he is apparently still being held. Human Rights Watch could not independently verify this.

Interviewees told Human Rights Watch that police and military intelligence authorities engaged in a witch-hunt and harassed seven of Biar’s colleagues and friends, accusing them of being involved in his disappearance, arresting and detaining them multiple times, and beating some of them, rather than conducting an effective investigation into his alleged enforced disappearance. The seven were released on the instruction of the public prosecution at various times due to a lack of evidence, witnesses said.

The NSS also twice prevented Biar’s colleagues from holding a news conference about his disappearance, even though they have no legal authority to decide who can hold a public event. It is still unclear where Biar is or why he was detained, and the authorities seem to have ended their investigations.

The deprivation of a person’s liberty by state actors followed by a refusal to acknowledge the act or the whereabouts or fate of the detainee constitutes an enforced disappearance under international law, which is always prohibited and in certain circumstances may constitute a crime against humanity. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on the government of South Sudan to credibly investigate all cases of enforced disappearances and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

The authorities have yet to investigate or prosecute anyone for other enforced disappearances the NSS is implicated in. These include the 2017 kidnapping from Kenya and apparent extrajudicial execution in South Sudan of Dong Samuel Luak, a prominent South Sudanese lawyer and human rights activist, and Aggrey Ezbon Idri, a member of the political opposition, as well as the enforced disappearances of two United Nations staff, James Lual and Anthony Nyero, and an airline employee, James Adieng.

Amendments to the 2014 act introduced to parliament by the justice minister in May 2023 stalled in September after parliament members removed all references to NSS operating detention centers, introduced a new safeguard requiring the agency to obtain a court warrant before any search and seizure, and a new section requiring parliamentary approval for any other functions assigned to the agency by the president or national security council.

“Members of South Sudan’s parliament should set aside party political considerations and act to protect human rights and the rule of law in the interest of all South Sudanese,” Segun said. “They should urgently resume their work to reform the National Security Service to impose genuine limits on the role and powers of the agency and ensure accountability for abuses.”

UAE: Unfair Trial of Rights Defenders

Human Rights Watch — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

(Beirut) – Emirati authorities are holding an unfair mass trial that has raised serious due process concerns, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial includes many defendants held in prolonged solitary confinement, which may amount to torture.

In December 2023, while hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), Emirati authorities brought charges against at least 84 defendants in retaliation for forming an independent advocacy group in 2010. Those on trial include prominent activists and dissidents already serving long prison sentences based on abusive charges, including Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent human rights defender; Nasser bin Ghaith, an academic; and Khalaf al-Romaithi, a businessman, as well as those convicted following the grossly unfair “UAE94” mass trial in 2013, many of whom have been held arbitrarily after their sentences ended.

January 27, 2021 The Persecution of Ahmed Mansoor

How the United Arab Emirates Silenced its Most Famous Human Rights Activist

Download the full report in English

“This unfair mass trial is a farce, and the allegations of torture and gross fair trial violations lay bare the UAE’s hollow rule of law and utter lack of access to justice,” said Joey Shea, United Arab Emirates researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Other countries and global businesses and celebrities partnering with the UAE should urgently call for an end to these abuses and for the release of human rights activists like Ahmed Mansoor immediately.”

The due process concerns include restricted access to case material and information, limited legal assistance, judges directing witness testimony, violations of the principle of double jeopardy, credible allegations of serious abuse and ill-treatment, and hearings shrouded in secrecy.

In a statement released January 6, Emirati authorities accused the 84 defendants of “establishing and managing a clandestine terrorist organization in the UAE known as the ‘Justice and Dignity Committee.’” The charges appear to come from the UAE’s abusive 2014 counterterrorism law, which sets out punishments up to life in prison and even death for anyone who sets up, organizes, or runs such an organization.

Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed informed sources and Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC) representatives between late March and April 2024.

Human Rights Watch research indicates that many of the defendants have been kept in incommunicado solitary confinement for at least 10 months. Phone calls and family visits have been prohibited from between 10 months to a year, except for brief phone calls in December 2023, informing family members of the existence of the new case and instructing them to hire lawyers.

During the trial, defendants have repeatedly described abusive detention conditions, including physical assaults, lack of access to medical care and required medicines, incessant loud music, and forced nudity.

At a hearing on March 14, some defendants said that officials at the al-Razeen prison forced them to listen to extremely loud music during periods of rest and sleep, informed sources told Human Rights Watch. They said they were interrogated after long periods of loud music and forced to confess under duress and psychological exhaustion. Those who refused were punished with solitary confinement.

According to the EDAC, one defendant told the court after having spent 250 days in solitary confinement: “I do not know what time it is, and I do not remember anything from the Qur’an after I had memorized the Qur’an.”

Emirati authorities should investigate the alleged abusive conditions. Authorities should hold those responsible for any unlawful acts to account and immediately provide the defendants with adequate medical attention, Human Rights Watch said.

The unfair mass trial has been shrouded in secrecy, and Emirati authorities have prevented defendants’ lawyers from freely accessing case files and court documents. Lawyers have apparently not obtained physical or electronic copies of the court documents, relatives said, and are only able to view the documents on a screen in a secure room under the supervision of security officers. Informed sources said that the lawyers are not allowed to take photos of the documents and are only permitted to take handwritten notes.

Emirati authorities have also prevented family members from freely attending the trial. During some sessions, authorities did not allow relatives into the courtroom and instead forced them to watch the proceedings in another room via a livestream that was muted so that they could not hear the proceedings.

At a March 7 hearing, defendant Sheikh Muhammad al-Siddiq said: “We hope that before you sentence us to death, you will give us the opportunity to defend ourselves,” the EDAC reported.

While a January statement from the Emirates News Agency (WAM), the UAE’s official state news agency, claims the case is “public,” Emirati authorities have severely restricted access to the hearings, even for family members, and have kept basic details of the case secret, including the names of all the defendants. UAE allies, including the United States and United Kingdom, should send diplomatic representatives to attend the next trial session to monitor due process violations.

“No one knows who is on the list, no one knows who these 84 people are ... even those attending the trial don’t know,” one relative told Human Rights Watch.

At least 60 of the defendants were already convicted in 2013 for their involvement with the Justice and Dignity Committee, according to the EDAC. That raises concerns that Emirati authorities are violating the principle of double jeopardy, which prohibits trying people twice for the same offense after they had received a final verdict.

The prosecutor has not provided any new evidence, and the evidence cited in the hearings is based entirely on the UAE94 trial, the EDAC said.“It is the same case as 2013, there is no new evidence and it is the same allegations,” said one relative.

Family members have also expressed concern about the partiality of the presiding judge. During a hearing on December 21, one family member said, the judge “put sentences in the mouth of the witness.” The judge interrupted and intervened during the testimony by correcting the witness and dictating statements to him, family members and the EDAC said. The EDAC said that at one point, a police officer handed the witness a paper, which the witness then used to answer the remaining questions.

“This is not an independent trial; it is controlled by the government,” an informed source said. “The judiciary is under their hands, and they showed us from the beginning that they don’t care about the system or the laws.”

“A decade after the notorious UAE94 case, this new farcical mass trial proves that the UAE’s rights record has further deteriorated,” Shea said. “Ahmed Mansoor and the rest of these defendants should be immediately released.”

Torture, Ill-Treatment, and Incommunicado Detention

At a hearing on March 14, some defendants asked the judge for reprieve from solitary confinement during Ramadan, but the request was ignored, relatives said. The defendants have requested an end to their prolonged solitary confinement during other hearings, but these requests have been repeatedly ignored and the judge has apparently prevented the requests from being included in the official record, said a relative and the EDAC.

Prolonged solitary confinement may rise to the level of torture under international law.

There have been widespread allegations of other abusive detention conditions. One defendant told the judge that he has been held in solitary confinement for over two years and that security officials have repeatedly assaulted him, family members and the EDAC said. Another defendant said that he was kept naked while in solitary confinement for a week, a family member said.

Other defendants have said that they have not been provided with their prescribed medications and that prison authorities have ignored their requests for medical attention.

During a hearing on March 7, one of the detainees requested to be taken to an ophthalmologist because he could not see from one eye, the EDAC said. He said he had requested this medical attention from the prison administration, but they did not respond.

A relative said that defendants were pulled from the courtroom after they detailed their allegations of torture and physical harm to the judge.

Emirati authorities have also restricted communication with family members. One family member said that since the summer of 2023, they have only received one phone call from their relative, in December. The call lasted “for less than a minute” to inform the family of the new charges and ask them to hire a lawyer. Two other families reported that they have not communicated with their loved one for a year, except for a similar call in December.

The UN Mandela Rules for treatment of prisoners state that “solitary confinement shall be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort, for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review, and only pursuant to the authorization by a competent authority.” The UN special rapporteur on torture has said that indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should also be subject to an absolute prohibition, citing scientific studies that have established that even a few days of social isolation cause irreparable harm, including lasting psychological damage.

Restricted Access to Court Files, Case Information, and Hearings

Emirati authorities have failed to provide lawyers with unrestricted access to key case documents, including case files and basic information. Lawyers have only been able to view case files under the supervision of security officials and take notes.

Lawyers hired by the defendants are prevented from sharing details of the case. “The lawyer told us—the family that hired him—that he is not allowed to tell us anything, the details of the case, what happens during the trial, until the trial is over and the sentence is made,” said a family member.

Other families did not hire a lawyer and instead are relying on representation appointed by the prosecution. The court-appointed lawyer for at least one family is not allowed to speak with the defendant or his family. “Even if the lawyer is able to get some information about the trial, he is not allowed to share this with the family,” a family member said.

Basic information about the case, such as the names of all the defendants, has yet to be disclosed by Emirati authorities publicly or to the defendants’ lawyers.

The charges in the case were not publicly confirmed by Emirati authorities until January 6, when WAM reported that the UAE’s attorney general Dr. Hamad Saif al-Shamsi referred 84 defendants to the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal for trial on charges of “establishing another clandestine organization for the purpose of committing acts of violence and terrorism on UAE soil.” Relatives do not know if this statement contains the full list of charges.

The statement also referred to the trial as public, even though Emirati authorities have severely restricted family members’ access to the courtroom.

Relatives of the defendants tried to attend the second hearing on December 14 but were denied entry, the EDAC and relatives said. Emirati authorities only allowed relatives to watch the hearing in a muted livestream in a separate room, unable to hear and follow the proceedings.

Many families were unable to attend entirely due to expired IDs and passports, which are required to enter the courtroom and surrounding facilities, the EDAC and relatives said.

After numerous complaints from family members, Emirati authorities allowed a limited number of relatives—not more than seven—to attend some hearings inside the courtroom. During these sessions, police officers and security stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the defendants, preventing family members from viewing their loved ones.

“The session was five hours, but he couldn’t see him in the session because there was a lot of police, and if you try to look at the detainees, the police threaten to kick you out,” said one relative.

Relatives also said that their family members saw cameras and listening devices in the room where they were watching the livestreamed hearing and believed that state security was listening to their conversations and reactions.

Double Jeopardy

One relative said: “This is history repeating itself. It is the same trial from 2013, but there was more freedom in 2013 because the family members were able to attend.” Relatives said they believe the new case is a pretext to keep the group detained indefinitely.

Among the defendants recently charged are at least 60 who were convicted in July 2013 in the UAE94 trial. That trial resulted in convictions of 69 critics of the government, including eight in absentia, on charges that violated their rights to free expression, association, and assembly. At least 51 of the UAE94 prisoners are being held beyond the completion of their sentences.

Lebanon: Ministerial Decision Advances Justice

Human Rights Watch — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 01:00:00 -0400

(Beirut) – Lebanon’s Council of Ministers issued a decision on April 26, 2024, instructing the Foreign Affairs Ministry to file a declaration with the International Criminal Court (ICC) registrar accepting the court’s jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the court’s jurisdiction on Lebanese territory since October 7, 2023.

Play Video Read a text description of this video

VO:

On October 13, 2023, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed Issam Abdullah, a Reuters journalist. The attack injured six other journalists from Reuters, Agence France-Presse (AFP),

and Al Jazeera.

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

I will always remember his, his wit and his humor. He was the dynamo of the press scene and of Reuters in general.

SOUNDBITE: Carmen Joukhadar Al Jazeera Journalist

I don’t think there is anyone that is funnier than Issam. I don’t think there’s anyone more supportive than Issam.

VO:

Human Rights Watch investigated the attack to determine the cause, who carried it out and its legality.

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

I don't know what justice looks like. We lost someone and he’s not coming back. And Christina [injured AFP colleague], her life will never be the same. I don't know how you, I don't know how you replace that. For me, justice, the only type of justice that we can get now is accountability.

VO:

Visual evidence suggests that Israeli forces targeted the journalists, who were filming at a known live position far from military targets. The attacks were likely deliberate and an apparent war crime.

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

We’re a group of seven journalists, all wearing press vests, all wearing helmets with cameras, with three live feeds for three international agencies. And we were hit twice directly in a matter of 37 seconds.

VO:

The digital investigations team at Human Rights Watch verified 49 videos and dozens of photos from before, during and after the incident, analyzed satellite imagery of the area,

interviewed witnesses, and consulted with arms and audio experts. Among the visual evidence collated by Human Rights Watch is the feed from the cameras of the journalists who were there that day.

VO:

Just before 5 p.m. on October 13th the seven journalists from Reuters, Agence France-Presse and Al Jazeera congregated in Alma Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, roughly one to two kilometers from the Israeli border.

SOUNDBITE: Carmen Joukhadar Al Jazeera Journalist

For us it was a good location because we were able to film the strikes without putting our lives at risk.

VO:

They were there to report on clashes between the Israeli military and Lebanese and Palestinian armed groups in southern Lebanon.

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

When we arrived around 5 p.m. We were really only just filming this this huge pillar of smoke that was coming, rising up beyond a hill to our south, along the border. And maybe about 15 minutes later, we started to see incoming shelling from the Israeli side hitting the

the areas in Lebanon along the border. We were calm, collected, working as safe as you can in this kind of environment.

VO:

Evidence reviewed by Human Rights Watch indicates that the Israeli military knew or should have known that the group of people they were firing on were civilians.

Around 5:54, Elie Brakhia, an Al Jazeera journalist, took a selfie with Issam Abdallah, the Reuters journalist, with the sun setting behind them.  “Good evening,” Elie texted, in Arabic.  

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

So around a little bit before 6 p.m., about one minute before we were hit, there was a what looked to be a tank fire fired from the “Hanita military base (in Israel),” fired across the valley

into a hilltop, basically maybe a kilometer and half away from us.

And I took out my phone to take a video of it. And basically, as soon as I took out my phone to take a video, I was going to inform our newsroom about the development. And as soon as I took out my phone, we were hit the first time. But basically big explosion.

The first one. I looked to my right and I saw my colleague Christina on the ground screaming,

saying, “I can't feel my legs.”

VO:

Human Rights Watch has verified footage from four cameras that caught captured the first attack. The first strike directly hit and killed Issam Abdallah, who was near the short rock wall.

SOUNDBITE: Carmen Joukhadar Al Jazeera Journalist

I see a flame and soil and then I hear the sound. I see Christina and I see Issam. And then I run in the other direction. I go to the car, our car the Al Jazeera car. I sit next to it for a little bit. But then I told myself no, cars are targets. This is what they tell you in training. So as I was running to get away from it......another missile hit the car. And it exploded, all of it.

And this is what caused all the shrapnel in my back because I was running to get away.

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

Getting hit once or firing once could be a mistake. But there were two direct it was two direct shots at us. You can't say that's a mistake.

VO:

Audio analysis, witness testimony and satellite images reviewed by Human Rights Watch suggests that at least one munition was fired from Israeli territory, approximately 1.5 kilometers to the southeast. Analysis of the video taken in the minutes before the attack further suggests that the group was targeted by the Israeli military.

Three cameras captured the same scene, but in each one light appears to be either static, blinking, or absent, depending on the camera. Experts said this could suggest the

use of infrared targeting or range-finding technology, suggesting the Israeli military was actively observing the journalists and proceeded to target them.

SOUNDBITE: Dylan Collins AFP Journalist

We lost a colleague. My colleague has, life altering injuries, and I want to know, I want to know who pulled the trigger.

SOUNDBITE: Carmen Joukhadar Al Jazeera Journalist

Today it was us. Tomorrow it will be someone else. Justice is that those who committed all these crimes are held accountable.

VO:

Since Human Rights Watch began this investigation, two journalists, Rabih Al-Maamari and Farah Omar were reportedly killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese town of Tayr Harfa, some 2.3 kilometers from where Issam Abdullah was killed.

At least 61 journalists have been killed in the hostilities in Israel and Gaza, according to the Committee to Project Journalists. The committee said the first month of hostilities marked “the deadliest month for journalists” since they began documenting journalist fatalities in 1992.

Journalists are protected under international humanitarian law against direct attacks. Targeting journalists constitutes a breach of the Geneva Conventions.  

Intentionally or indiscriminately attacking civilians is a war crime.  

Human Rights Watch documented two Israeli strikes in Lebanon on October 13, 2023, that killed a Reuters journalist, Issam Abdullah, and injured six others and concluded that the attack was apparently deliberate and thus a war crime. In another Israeli military strike in Lebanon in November, Human Rights Watch documented that the killing of three children and a grandmother was also an apparent war crime. Human Rights Watch has also exposed the Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus in operations in Lebanon since October 7.

Rocket and missile attacks and armed clashes between the Israeli army and various Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups, including Hezbollah, have been ongoing since October 8, the day after the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel.

Acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction through a declaration is distinct from ratifying the ICC’s founding treaty to become a formal member of the court. But filing a declaration would give the court’s prosecutor a mandate to investigate serious crimes committed in Lebanon, regardless of the nationality of the suspects.

The following quote can be attributed to Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch:

“The Lebanese government has taken a landmark step toward securing justice for war crimes in the country. The Foreign Affairs Minister should swiftly file a declaration accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction and create a pathway for victims of war crimes, including those committed by Israeli forces, to obtain justice. This is an important reminder to those who flout their obligations under the laws of war that they may find themselves in the dock.”