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Economic, social and cultural rights strengthened

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:39:50 +0100

The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a new legal instrument to strengthen the protection of economic, social and cultural rights.

The Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was adopted at the council’s session on Wednesday 18 June.

The Optional Protocol will provide the opportunity for individuals seeking a remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights to have their complaints adjudicated by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights.

It would be used to help in such cases as the exclusion of Romani children from education in many European countries, to the violation of housing rights in a number of African countries.

Amnesty International welcomed the Optional Protocol as an “historic moment in the quest for ensuring access to justice for victims of human rights violations.

“Violations of economic, social and cultural rights, including rights to adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, as well as the rights to health and education, are felt most frequently and most severely by marginalised groups and people living in poverty.”

With the adoption of the Optional Protocol, the United Nations has taken a significant step towards achieving the promise of the UDHR to give greater effect to the right to a remedy for violations of economic, social and cultural rights.

While welcoming the development, Amnesty International said “the Optional Protocol could, and should, have been a stronger instrument, which built more closely on the experience of existing communications’ mechanisms.

The organization called the agreed text “an honourable compromise that should serve as a catalyst for the development of effective remedies for violations of economic, social and cultural rights”

Amnesty International also called on the all members of the UN to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the UDHR with the adoption of the Optional Protocol, in its current form, by the General Assembly on the 10 December 2008.

World must act on food crisis

Fri, 23 May 2008 15:09:58 +0100

Statement by Amnesty International to the United Nation Human Rights Council’s first thematic special session on the world food crisis.

Mr. President,

Amnesty International welcomes the convening of the Human Rights Council’s first thematic special session on the world food crisis.

We believe that the world food crisis is a global human rights emergency that has been fuelled by violations of human rights, including the right to adequate food. It is crucial that the international community respond swiftly to ensure adequate food to prevent hunger, and to identify and address the underlying causes of growing food insecurity.

We remind the Council of the millions of people who face food insecurity and hunger as a direct result of human rights violations. The organisation has documented discrimination, the political manipulation of food distribution, obstruction of necessary humanitarian assistance and other human rights violations leading to mass hunger in a range of countries including, in particular, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (notably in the Gaza strip), Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan (Darfur), and Zimbabwe.

In Gaza, the current crisis has exacerbated the already dire living conditions of the 1.5 million Palestinian population resulting from the Israeli-imposed blockade which hinders access to food and the passage of other essential goods, including medical supplies and humanitarian assistance.

Amnesty International also expresses its serious concern at the continued obstruction by the government of Myanmar of necessary humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of people who are on the brink of starvation and life threatening diseases as a consequence of a natural disaster. The organisation has reported on the impact of arbitrary food requisitioning on food security over many years and is particularly concerned at recent reports of continued rice exports at a time when a large portion of the population is facing the prospect of death by starvation.

We also draw the attention of the Human Rights Council to a series of reports we have received concerning the excessive use of force and other human rights violations by some States while responding to food riots and protests and against human rights defenders, including in Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, Egypt, and Senegal. Where “food hoarding” is a serious issue that requires state action, states must respond within the human rights framework.

The current food crisis requires concerted action by UN member States through increased and effective international cooperation within the framework of international human rights law and standards. The obligation of international cooperation requires all states in a position to do so to provide assistance to other states that seek it and would otherwise be unable to meet their ‘minimum core obligations’ to ensure that the population is free from hunger. States must also ensure that their policies do not infringe on the enjoyment of the right to food in other countries and must cooperate to facilitate access to food. At the national level, States should comply with their immediate obligation to ensure that adequate food is available and accessible to combat hunger and to prioritise the most vulnerable, requesting international assistance where necessary to ensure freedom from hunger.

We support the call made in the joint statement submitted by Food First Information Network (FIAN) to ensure that the promotion and protection of human rights are at the centre of all international efforts to find solutions to the food crisis.

The Human Rights Council can also itself and through its mechanisms play a vital role in ensuring that human rights are respected in the response to the global food crisis and that the violations at the root of the current crisis are recognised and addressed.

Amnesty International therefore urges the Human Rights Council to:
•   Investigate the role that national and international policies and human rights violations, including discriminatory or politically motivated access to food, have played in creating or deepening food insecurity in different countries;
•   Call on all states to ensure that human rights are respected in any steps taken to respond to the current food crisis;
•   Call on all states to ensure that international cooperation and assistance is adequate to address the effects of the food crisis and fully respects human rights;
•   Urge states to fully cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, including by responding promptly and in full to his urgent appeals, communications and requests for visits, and by giving positive consideration to his recommendations; and
•   Call on all states to ensure that any responses to protests or riots are strictly proportionate and otherwise respect human rights and that allegations of human rights violations are promptly and fully investigated, with disciplinary and criminal proceedings as appropriate to the gravity of the offence.

The convening of this special session should be the beginning of engagement by the Human Rights Council on this issue.

Pressure is on to elect strong and effective Human Rights Council

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:58:01 +0100

The UN General Assembly will elect, in direct and individual elections and by secret ballot, 15 new members of the Human Rights Council on 21 May 2008. The Council is the principal human rights political body of the United Nations.

All members of the United Nations have a duty to ensure that the Human Rights Council is a strong and effective body for the protection and promotion of all human rights in all countries. To achieve this, it is crucial that all states elected to the Council demonstrate commitment to the highest human rights standards.

Governments must put human rights at the heart of their decisions and vote only for those countries that are truly committed to promoting and protecting human rights.

Nearly 20 countries have, so far, declared their candidature to the Council and, in line with current practice, all candidate countries should now submit voluntary human rights pledges.

Amnesty International does not campaign for or against individual countries, but makes information available to Member States to help inform their voting in these elections. This information includes human rights profiles of candidate countries and an overview of their election pledges for purposes of comparison.

Governments are acting on our behalf in these elections and should be aware that the world is watching these elections in the hope that truly human rights committed members are elected to serve on the Council. You can help keep the pressure up by calling on your government’s representatives to the United Nations to vote to ensure a strong Human Rights Council.

Human Rights Council elections 2008
2008 Elections to the UN Human Rights Council. Prospective members of the Human Rights Council must demonstrate solid commitment to human rights

Pakistan: New government sends a positive signal to the world by ratifying UN human rights convention

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:55:03 +0100

Amnesty International welcomes Pakistan’s ratification of a key human rights treaty and signing of two others.

“Becoming a state party to UN human rights conventions is a key step to ensuring human rights are respected, protected and realized for all in Pakistan in line with international standards,” said Amnesty International.

The organization calls on the Pakistani authorities to grasp this opportunity and address the pressing human rights problems in the country.

When presenting its candidature for the elections of the Human Rights Council in April 2006, Pakistan committed itself to early ratification of core human rights treaties.

On 17 April 2008 Pakistan moved to uphold this pledge, ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and signing both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).

Amnesty International has repeatedly, over many years, urged Pakistan to ratify these and other UN human rights treaties.

Amnesty International now calls upon the Government of Pakistan:

To promptly ratify the ICCPR and the UNCAT and enact implementing legislation to ensure that the three treaties become part of Pakistan’s domestic law;
To ratify all other human rights treaties and their optional protocols, as well as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
To give full effect to international human rights treaties in policy and practice;
Release, or else disclose the fate and whereabouts of all victims of enforced disappearance;
End all secret, incommunicado and administrative detentions;
End all torture and other ill-treatment and repeal all laws which carry cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments;
Declare a moratorium on all death sentences and commute the death sentences of the over 7000 persons currently on death row.

Pakistan ratifies key UN human rights treaty

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:24:14 +0100

Pakistan has ratified a key UN human rights treaty and signed two others.

“Becoming a state party to UN human rights conventions is a key step to ensuring human rights are respected, protected and realized for all in Pakistan in line with international standards,” said Amnesty International.

The organization has called on the Pakistani authorities to grasp this opportunity and address the pressing human rights problems in the country.

When presenting its candidature for the elections of the Human Rights Council in April 2006, Pakistan committed itself to early ratification of core human rights treaties.

On 17 April 2008, Pakistan moved to uphold this pledge, ratifying the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and signing both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).

Amnesty International has repeatedly, over many years, urged Pakistan to ratify these and other UN human rights treaties.

Amnesty International has called upon the Government of Pakistan to promptly ratify the ICCPR and the UNCAT and enact implementing legislation to ensure that the three treaties become part of Pakistan’s domestic law. It should also ratify all other human rights treaties and their optional protocols, as well as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and give full effect to international human rights treaties in policy and practice.

Amnesty International has also urged the new Pakistan authorities to release, or else disclose, the fate and whereabouts of all victims of enforced disappearance; to end all secret, incommunicado and administrative detentions; to end all torture and other ill-treatment and repeal all laws which carry cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments; and to declare a moratorium on all death sentences and commute the death sentences of the over 7000 people currently on death row.

Secrecy surrounds death penalty

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:08:25 +0100

At least 1,200 people were executed in 2007 and many more were killed by the state, in secret, in countries including China, Mongolia and Viet Nam.

The figures come from Amnesty International's yearly statistics, Death Sentences and Executions in 2007, issued on Tuesday, which say that at least 1,252 people were executed in 24 countries and at least 3,347 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries. Up to 27,500 people are estimated to be on death row across the world.

The figures also show an increase in executions in a number of countries. Iran executed at least 317 people, Saudi Arabia 143 and Pakistan 135 – in comparison to 177, 39 and 82 executions respectively in 2006.

Eighty-eight per cent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA. Saudi Arabia had the highest number of executions per capita, followed by Iran and Libya. Amnesty International has been able to confirm at least 470 executions by China – the highest overall figure. However, the organization has said that the true figure for China is undoubtedly much higher.

China, which the report refers to as the world's top executioner, classifies the death penalty as a state secret. As the world and Olympic guests are left guessing, only the Chinese authorities know exactly how many people have been killed with state authorization.

"The secretive use of the death penalty must stop: the veil of secrecy surrounding the death penalty must be lifted. Many governments claim that executions take place with public support. People therefore have a right to know what is being done in their name," said Amnesty International.

During 2007, many countries continued to execute for crimes not commonly considered criminal, or after unfair procedures. Among them:

Ja'Far Kiani, father of two, was stoned to death for adultery in Iran in July.
A 75 year-old North Korean factory manager was shot by firing squad in October for failing to declare his family background, investing his own money in the factory, appointing his children as its managers and making international phone calls.
Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian national, was beheaded in Saudi Arabia in November for the practice of sorcery.
Michael Richard was executed in Texas, USA, on 25 September after a state courthouse refused to stay open an extra 15 minutes to allow the filing of an appeal based on the constitutionality of lethal injections. Richard's attorneys had been unable to file the appeal on time because of computer problems; problems they had already brought to the court's attention. The US Supreme Court then refused to stop the execution. Earlier in the day, however, it had agreed in a Kentucky case to review the lethal injection issue, a decision that led to a de facto moratorium on all other lethal injection executions around the country. The Supreme Court's ruling is expected later this year.

Three countries – Iran, Saudia Arabia and Yemen – carried out executions for crimes committed by people younger than 18 years of age, against international law.

However, 2007 was also the year where there was good news about the death penalty. The United Nations General Assembly voted – by 104 to 54, with 29 abstentions – to end the use of the death penalty.

"The UN General Assembly took the historic decision to call on all countries around the world to stop executing people. That the resolution was adopted in December with such a clear majority shows the global abolition of the death penalty is possible," said Amnesty International.

"The taking of life by the state is one of the most drastic acts a government can undertake. We are urging all governments to follow the commitments made at the UN and abolish the death penalty once and for all."

Breakthrough UN resolution on global moratorium on executions (News, 15 November 2007)
Amnesty International's Death Penalty page

UN examines human rights in member countries

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:59:20 +0100

All UN member states are facing a rigorous examination of their human rights records. The inaugural session of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) working group began on Monday.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council and, over the next four years, it will regularly review the human rights obligations and commitments of all 192 Member States. Governments themselves will carry out this regular and systematic scrutiny.

The new process will address one of the main criticisms of the Council’s predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, which was accused of considering only a small number of countries, and of often avoiding pressing situations for political reasons.

The UPR Working Group will, until 18 April, examine the human rights records of 16 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland, India, Indonesia, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Tunisia and the UK.

This first session will be followed by two further sessions in 2008, so that 48 countries, selected by drawing lots, will have been scrutinized during the year.

An important feature of the new process is that governments of the countries under examination are expected to carry out a broad consultation among civil society. Amnesty International has lobbied energetically to ensure that all relevant voices are heard.

The organisation has submitted information on 14 of the 16 countries above and its members and supporters are working with civil society within each country to raise awareness of the new process.

Amnesty International said, in a statement issued on Monday, that this first session of the UPR Working Group will be key in setting the standard for future reviews, in terms of process as well as substance.

"Both reviewed and reviewing countries have an important role to play. Amnesty International looks to all member states to step up and help launch the UPR as an effective human rights mechanism," said Martin Macpherson, Director of the organization's International Law and Organisations Programme.

MEDIA ADVISORY -- Human Rights Council: UPR must deliver on human rights

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:28:55 +0100

At its inaugural session, Amnesty International today called on the Working Group of the UN Human Rights Council to use the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to overcome the bias and double standards that plagued the former Commission on Human Rights.

The UPR is the first-ever UN mechanism that will look at the human rights records of all countries.

Amnesty International called on the UPR to focus on the key human rights challenges in countries under review and for the Working Group, and later the Human Rights Council itself, to adopt concrete measures to improve the situation of human rights in all countries reviewed.

The organisation called for the whole process to be transparent and fair for stakeholders.

For more information on the human rights situation in individual countries under review, please see:

Indonesia
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA21/021/2007

Bahrain
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE11/001/2007

Algeria
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE28/021/2007

Brazil
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR19/023/2007

Czech Republic
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR71/003/2007

Finland
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR20/001/2007

India
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA20/021/2007

Morocco
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE29/012/2007

Netherlands
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR35/001/2007

Philippines
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA35/006/2007

Poland
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR37/005/2007

South Africa
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR53/005/2007

UK
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR45/020/2007

Tibet off the Human Rights Council's agenda

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:39:53 +0000

Discussion of the situation in Tibet was stifled at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on Tuesday.

Following repeated Chinese protests, the President told NGOs that they could not limit their remarks under the agenda item before the Council to the situation in only one country.

Amnesty International had prepared an oral statement focussing on serious shortcomings in China's commitment in the Vienna Declaration to ensure that persons belonging to the Tibetan minority can exercise fully and effectively all human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination.

It was forced to cut short its statement to the Council due to Chinese objections as it was being read out. Amnesty International's delegate to the Council, Patrizia Scannella, finished speaking by recalling that the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action affirm that "the promotion and protection of all human rights is a legitimate concern of the international community..."

A number of other non-governmental organizations were also frustrated in their efforts to discuss the situation in Tibet.

Amnesty International's statement to the Council expressed the deep concerned at human rights violations during recent events in the Autonomous Region of Tibet and neighbouring regions. The organisation had intended to call on the Council to address the situation.

"Although the restrictions that China imposed on today's debate were extremely disappointing, Amnesty International welcomes that, in its remarks today, the Chinese delegation accepted that the situation in Tibet could be properly be discussed under agenda item 4 ["Human rights situations that require the Council's attention"]," said Patrizia Scannella, Amnesty International's Deputy Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

Carnage and despair in Iraq

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:14:10 +0000

Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the country is still in disarray. The human rights situation is disastrous, a climate of impunity has prevailed, the economy is in tatters and the refugee crisis continues to escalate.

A new Amnesty International report, Carnage and Despair: Iraq five years on, says that, despite the heavy presence of US and Iraqi security forces, Iraq is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed every month.

Armed groups, including those opposed to the Iraqi government and the US-led Multi-National Force (MNF), have been responsible for indiscriminate bombings, suicide attacks, kidnappings and torture.

Since early 2006, violence has intensified and become more sectarian, with Sunni and Shi’a armed groups targeting followers of opposite faiths and driving whole communities out of mixed neighbourhoods. This has contributed to the displacement of over four million people. Two million of these are now refugees in Syria and Jordan.

Civilians are also at risk from MNF and Iraqi security forces, with many killed by excessive force and tens of thousands detained without charge or trial. The death penalty was reintroduced in 2004 and hundreds of people have been sentenced to death. At least 33 people were executed in 2007, many after unfair trials.

With the rise of fundamentalist religious groups, conditions for women have also worsened. Many have been forced to wear Islamic dress or targeted for abduction, rape or killing. A survey conducted by the World Heath Organization (WHO) in 2006/2007 in Iraq found that 21.2 percent of Iraqi women had experienced physical violence.

The situation in Iraq has not been helped by the Iraqi government’s failure to investigate effectively the many incidents of human rights abuse - whether committed by security forces or militia groups – and to bring those responsible to justice.

Economic conditions also remain very poor, with most Iraqis suffering from lack of food, shelter, water, sanitation, education, healthcare and employment.

Oxfam reported in July 2007 that 70 percent of Iraqis lacked access to safe drinking water and 43 percent were living on the equivalent of less than a dollar per day. Eight million Iraqis are in need of emergency assistance, with children the worst hit. Child malnutrition rates have increased from 19 percent during the period from 1991-2003, when international sanctions were imposed on the country under Saddam Hussein, to 28 percent in 2007.

The predominantly Kurdish region of northern Iraq has been more stable with fewer acts of violence, and has seen growing economic prosperity and foreign investment. However, here too there continue to be serious human rights violations, including arrests for peaceful political dissent, torture, ill-treatment, the death penalty and the killing of women in so-called honour crimes.

The invasion of Iraq started on 19 March 2003, with US military strikes on Baghdad. US President George W Bush declared the war over that May and, on 8 June 2004, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1546, declaring that Iraq’s occupation would end on 30 June 2004.

The Resolution stated that the MNF would stay in Iraq until the end of 2005. Since then, the MNF’s presence has been extended on a yearly basis by the UN Security Council and the Iraqi government.

Executive power was transferred back to an Iraqi government in June 2004 but successive administrations have been unable to stop the violence and bring a durable peace. According to a January 2008 survey by the WHO and the Iraq's Health Ministry, 151,000 people were killed from March 2003 till June 2006. According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), some 34,452 people were killed during 2006, with thousands injured.