Afghanistan, Where Hope Is Dying: Daily Brief

Taliban rule has been devastating for Afghan women and girls, with many having been turned into virtual prisoners in their homes by the country’s new Islamist rulers’ policies. Despite promises to the contrary, the Taliban have made it increasingly difficult for women and girls to access health facilities and education. Freedom of movement, expression, and association have been curtailed, and women’s access to work has been restricted, depriving many of earned income. Afghanistan’s rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis exacerbates these abuses, as described in new research by Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU) that looked at the conditions for women and girls in Ghazni province, in southeastern Afghanistan. Caught between Taliban abuses, aid cut-offs and cash shortages triggered by former donor countries, Afghan women and girls are facing the collapse of both their rights and dreams, and even risks to their basic survival. Donors should urgently support assistance to women and girls in Afghanistan that is tailored to the current crisis. 

The European Commission is funding a program that will help Greek police to scan people’s faces and fingerprints in a way that is inconsistent with international human rights standards on privacy. Under the new program, which Greece touts as a more “efficient” way to identify undocumented or improperly documented migrants, the police would use hand-held devices to gather biometric information from people on a vast scale and cross check it against police, immigration, and private sector databases primarily for immigration purposes. In recent years, Greek police have carried out abusive, and often discriminatory, stops and searches of migrants and other marginalized populations, including to enforce Covid-19 movement restrictions. The program, which will cost an estimated €4.5 million, 75 percent of which is funded by the EU Commission’s Internal Security Fund, would most likely facilitate and increase the unlawful practice of racial profiling.

Ignoring a Council of Europe Committee of Ministers ultimatum which gave Turkey a final chance to release jailed human rights defender Osman Kavala and restore his rights before the Council’s February 2 session, a court in Istanbul has extended Kavala’s detention, setting Ankara on a collision course with Europe's top human rights body. The council had warned Turkey it will start infringement proceedings over its failure to comply with the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) order to free Kavala, whose detention it had determined to be politically motivated. The 64-year-old has been held without a conviction since October 2017 for allegedly financing 2013 anti-government protests and playing a role in an attempted coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016. He faces a life prison sentences if convicted. 

In what seem to be retaliatory attacks in response to Monday’s deadly strike by Iranian-backed Houthi armed group against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Saudi/UAE-led coalition that has been fighting Houthi forces in Yemen since 2015 has launched air strikes targeting the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, killing and wounding dozens of people, among them women & children according to Houthi media reports. The incident follows a surge in fighting in Yemen’s Shabwa governorate in recent weeks, which Houthis were aiming - without success - to take control of. Monday’s attack marked a strategic shift in the course of the war. The armed conflict in Yemen has resulted in numerous abuses by all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition as well as the Houthi forces. Unlawfully indiscriminate and disproportionate airstrikes against civilians and civilian structures, and the use of banned antipersonnel landmines have killed and injured thousands. Parties to the conflict have exacerbated Yemen’s humanitarian crisis which has become dire with increasing obstruction of aid, the economy’s collapse, and the Covid-19 pandemic.   

Hundreds of Venezuelans walk for days to reach Colombia’s capital Bogotá and other Colombian cities, trying to escape the devastating human rights, humanitarian, and political crisis in their home country. It’s a risky journey that exposes them to extreme temperatures, to human trafficking and, in parts of the road, to recruitment by armed groups. While the Colombian government has taken landmark steps to provide legal status to the over 1.8 million Venezuelans in the country, and while several centers along the road provide walkers with food, short-term shelter, health care, and access to the internet, no one provides them with transportation. The reason is a combination of fear, poor laws, and cruel policy. The Colombian government should work with humanitarian agencies to provide transportation for the walkers and revise laws so that Venezuelans exiles can get to their final destination by bus and safely. 

Designed to “sportswash” China’s abysmal human rights record, the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics intend to distract from the Chinese government’s assault on human rights targeting Uyghur Muslims and other Turkic communities and independent civil society; from its repression in Hong Kong and Tibet; and from its expanding high-tech surveillance. Several governments have announced they would withhold sending high-level diplomatic representation to the Games in response to Beijing’s ongoing abuses. The International Olympic Committee and many corporate sponsors of these Games, however, have not addressed to what extent their involvement would contribute to human rights violations. And athletes may be forced to compromise their moral beliefs to compete. Join Human Rights Watch today for a virtual media briefing about the Beijing Olympics, athletes’ rights, and human rights in sport with Noah Hoffman, Nordic Ski Athlete, 2014, 2018 Winter Olympian, 3-Time US National Champion, Craig Foster, former Australian Professional Athlete and Human Rights Activist, Rob Koehler, Director General of Global Athlete, Maximilian Klein, Sport Policy Representative at Athleten Deutschland, and Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch.