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RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
RIGHTSTODAY
WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
Preface

Contents
2 Preface
                                                                           As 2018 draws to a close, we reflect on the
3 Kumi Naidoo – a year defined
   by women’s resistance
                                                                           70 years that have passed since the United
6 #ToxicTwitter and the silencing                                          Nations adopted the Universal Declaration
   of women online
8 Women bear the brunt of inequality		                                     of Human Rights, and ask ourselves: “How
10 Refugees need meaningful change
14 A year in arms supplies to the 		                                       far have we come?”
   Saudi/UAE coalition
16 Focus on Africa
18 Focus on the Middle East and
   North Africa
                                                                           The Universal Declaration pronounces rights
22 Focus on Europe and Central Asia
28 Focus on Southeast Asia and
                                                                           that each and every one of us possesses,
   the Pacific		                                                           by the very fact that we are human. Every
32 Focus on East Asia
34 Focus on South Asia		                                                   year since 1948, progress has been made
38 Focus on the Americas
42 Five women leading the struggle 		                                      towards every person enjoying all those
   for human rights
46 The “not enough” impact report
                                                                           rights. More and more people are living lives
50 Birthright – a personal perspective on
   the 70th anniversary of the UDHR
                                                                           free from want, fear and discrimination.
                                                                           And yet there are always places where
                                                                           humanity takes a step backwards too. Much
                                                                           more work remains to be done before we
                                                                           fully realize the Universal Declaration’s
                                                                           vision of a world where all are free and
                                                                           equal. Conflict, prejudice, unequal sharing
                                                                           of resources and poor governance are just
                                                                           some of the reasons why many of us have
                                                                           yet to enjoy all our rights.
Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million
people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by
all. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in
                                                                           In this summary of the state of the world’s
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international
human rights standards. We are independent of any government,
                                                                           human rights, we turn our attention to a
                                                                           handful of key issues and themes that have
political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded
mainly by our membership and public donations.

© Amnesty International 2018
Except where otherwise noted, content in this document is licensed         been prominent in 2018. We examine some
                                                                           of the defining moments for each region,
under a Creative Commons (attribution, non-commercial, no
derivatives, international 4.0) licence.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
For more information please visit the permissions page on our
website: www.amnesty.org
Where material is attributed to a copyright owner other than Amnesty
                                                                           look at key movements that have called
International this material is not subject to the Creative Commons
licence.                                                                   for change, and consider in particular how
                                                                           the rights of women have fared during the
First published in 2018
by Amnesty International Ltd
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW, UK
                                                                           year. We also acknowledge the many human
                                                                           rights defenders working around the world
Index: POL 10/9090/2018
Original language: English

                                                                           today, and pay tribute to those who have
                                                                           lost their lives or freedom in the course of
                                                                           their work. Even in the darkest moments,
                                                                           their courage gives us the strength to
                                                                           continue our fight for human rights. n
Cover photo: International Women’s Day in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
8 March 2018. © Reuters/Marcos Brindicci.
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
Introduction

 A year defined by
women’s resistance
                KUMI NAIDOO, SECRETARY GENERAL

    Today, the world honours the 70th anniversary of
    the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This
   extraordinary document, adopted on 10 December
 1948, brought the international community together in
 an unprecedented show of unity, setting out for the first
time a bill of rights that would apply to all people, and in
doing so struck at the heart of injustice across the globe.

                 Abortion rights activists gather as lawmakers are expected
               to vote on a bill legalizing abortion, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
                       8 August 2018. © Reuters/Marcos Brindicci.

                                             3
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
Secretary General

     Yet seven decades on, we have seen a weak global
     economy give rise to bombastic figureheads who
     use macho posturing, misogyny, xenophobia and
     homophobia to give the appearance that they are
     “tough guy” leaders. This mirrors the rise of fascism
     in the 1930s, following an earlier economic
     depression, and its culmination in the horrors of the
     Holocaust; one response to this was the Universal
     Declaration and its proclamation that all people
     “are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.

In 2018, we witnessed many of these         abortion ban. In Saudi Arabia, women           and gender non-conforming people;
“tough guy” leaders trying to undermine     were finally granted the right to drive.       yet it remains a human rights crisis
the very principle of equality – the        In Iceland and Sweden, new laws were           that politicians continue to ignore. In
bedrock of human rights law. They           passed recognizing sex without consent         July, Bulgaria chose not to ratify the
sought to demonize and persecute            as rape. In the USA, accusations of            Istanbul Convention, a European treaty
already marginalized and vulnerable         sexual misconduct sent shockwaves              for preventing and combating domestic
communities. But nowhere has the            through the Hollywood patriarchy,              violence and violence against women,
struggle for equality this year been        challenging decades of impunity.               after its Constitutional Court declared
louder or more visible than in the fight                                                   it “unconstitutional”. In August,
for women’s rights.                         THE DIRE REALITY OF                            Luxembourg became the 33rd state to
                                                                                           ratify the Convention; yet, even with
                                            WOMEN’S RIGHTS
THE POWER OF                                                                               a relatively large number of European
                                                                                           states signing up to abide by it, the
WOMEN’S VOICES                              Yet we cannot celebrate the                    statistics still paint a grim picture.
                                            stratospheric rise of women’s activism
Women around the world have been at         without recognizing why women need to          One in 10 girls worldwide is reportedly
the forefront of the battle for human       fight so hard. The stark reality is that, in   sexually assaulted by the age of 20,
rights in 2018. In India and South          2018, many governments openly support          while only a third of EU countries
Africa, thousands took to the streets to    policies and laws that subjugate and           recognize that sex without consent is
protest against endemic sexual violence.    suppress women.                                rape. Elsewhere, in interviews with
In Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively,                                                     Amnesty International, women from
women activists risked arrest to            Globally, 40% of women of childbearing         conflict-affected areas of Nigeria, Iraq,
resist the driving ban and forced           age live in countries where abortion           South Sudan and Myanmar described
hijab (veiling). In Argentina, Ireland      remains highly restricted, and some            the horrors of sexual violence they have
and Poland, demonstrators rallied in        225 million do not have access                 faced, often by their country’s own
vast numbers to demand an end to            to modern contraception. Despite               security forces.
oppressive abortion laws. Millions of       widespread activism, El Salvador
people in the USA, Europe and parts of      refused to decriminalize abortion in any       Throughout the world, women who
Asia joined #MeToo-led women’s              circumstances, and the Argentinian             experience intersecting layers of
marches to demand an end to misogyny        senate narrowly voted against a bill           discrimination – including based on
and abuse. In northeastern Nigeria,         that would have legalized abortion             their sexual orientation, gender identity,
thousands of displaced women                on demand in the first 14 weeks of             ethnicity, race or socio-economic status
mobilized for justice for the abuses they   pregnancy. At the same time, Polish            – face unique and additional human
have suffered at the hands of Boko          and Guatemalan policy-makers continue          rights violations. In Somalia, women
Haram fighters and the Nigerian security    to advocate for stricter abortion laws,        with disabilities are often subjected to
forces.                                     while in the USA, funding cuts to family       forced marriages and domestic violence.
                                            planning clinics have put the health of        In Canada, Indigenous women are six
The burgeoning power of women’s voices      millions of women at risk.                     times more likely to be murdered than
cannot be overstated. Spurred on by                                                        other women. We in the women’s and
powerful cries for women’s rights to        Gender-based violence disproportionately       human rights movements need to do
finally be respected, citizens of Ireland   affects women, transgender people              more to recognize how these intersecting
voted by a landslide to overturn the
                                                                  4
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
Kumi Nadoo

forms of discrimination affect people’s       social and economic inequality.               LGBT supporters run from tear gas fired by police after
                                                                                            attempting to march to Taksim Square on 25 June 2017 in
lives and to ensure the voices of the         Although record numbers of women              Istanbul, Turkey. The 2017 LGBT Pride March was banned
                                                                                            by authorities for the third year. Organizers defied the order
most marginalized are heard.                  ran for public office in 2018, progress       and people attempted to march to Taksim Square but were
                                              remains painfully slow. Currently,            met by a heavy police presence. The crowd was dispersed by
                                                                                            tear gas and several people were arrested. © Chris McGrath/
In response to women’s resistance and         only 17% of all heads of state or             Getty Images.
activism, anti-rights groups across Latin     government, and 23% of the world’s
America and Europe have adopted               parliamentarians, are women.
a new tactic of repression: labelling
feminists and LGBTI activists as so-          2019: AN
called “proponents of gender ideology”
who, according to them, pose an
                                              OPPORTUNITY
existential threat to “marriage and family    FOR CHANGE
values”. Such groups often try to silence
women and LGBTI people who speak              The 70th anniversary of the Universal
up for human rights, including through        Declaration is an opportunity to reflect
campaigns of online abuse. Thus, people       on what was a momentous achievement
of all genders campaigning against            for all the women and men involved
gender inequality are also fighting the       in its creation. It took the active
additional battle to defend their rights to   lobbying of a woman – Hansa Mehta
speak out at all.                             – to successfully change the wording
                                              of Article 1 of the Declaration from
Research carried out by Amnesty               “All men are born free and equal”, to
International this year, one of the first     “All human beings are born free and
studies of its kind on human rights and       equal.” And Hansa Mehta was right
violence against women online, confirms       to be concerned that women would be
what many women know to be true:              excluded from human rights protections.
that social media platforms have proved       Now, 70 years on, we are still fighting
both a blessing and a curse. Companies        for women’s rights to be recognized as
and governments have comprehensively          human rights. One of the most urgent
failed to protect users from a deluge of      steps governments must take to address
                                              this is to genuinely commit to the
online abuse, prompting many women
                                              international bill of rights for women
in particular to self-censor or even leave
                                              – the Convention on the Elimination
these platforms altogether.
                                              of All Forms of Discrimination against
                                              Women (CEDAW) – and ensure, through
Conversely, social media has given more
                                              national implementation, that women
prominence in some parts of the world
                                              have freedom from discrimination and
to women’s calls for equality in the
                                              violence.
workplace, a battle that has been raging
for decades, centuries even, but which
                                              CEDAW is the second most ratified
gained renewed attention during the
                                              human rights treaty, with 189 states
year in calls to narrow the gender pay
                                              parties. Yet governments must stop
gap, currently standing at 23% globally.
                                              merely paying lip-service to women’s
Women worldwide are not only paid less,
                                              rights. If the undeniable surge of
on average, than men, but are more
                                              women’s activism this year proves
likely to do unpaid work and to work in
                                              anything, it is that people will not accept
informal, insecure and unskilled jobs.        this. And neither will we. In 2019,
Much of this is due to social norms that      Amnesty International will be increasing
consider women and their work to be of        our lobbying efforts to ensure that
lower status.                                 governments drop their reservations to
                                              CEDAW with immediate effect and take
Without workplace equality, women will        the bold steps necessary to fully realize
continue to bear the brunt of the world’s     women’s rights. Now, more than ever, we
shaky economic recovery. In the UK,           must stand with women’s movements,
women have reportedly shouldered 86%          amplify women’s voices in all their
of the burden of austerity measures put       diversity and fight for the recognition of
in place since 2010 due to their reliance     all our rights. I hope you will join us. n
on social security benefits.

For most of history, women have been
trapped in a cycle of discrimination
driven by gender hierarchies and norms.
The political participation of women is
essential to tackle laws that entrench

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RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
#TOXICTWITTER AND
  THE SILENCING OF
  WOMEN ONLINE
Social media allows       SELF-CENSORSHIP                                       Sometimes it is for speaking out about
                                                                                certain – often feminist – issues.
people around the         Many women who spoke to Amnesty                       Sometimes it is because they are public
world to express          International as part of our research on              figures. Although people of all genders
                                                                                can experience violence and abuse
themselves by debating, this   issue said that violence and abuse
                          flourish on the social media platform                 online, the abuse experienced by women
networking and sharing Twitter, often with little accountability.               is often sexist or misogynistic in nature,
                                                                                and online threats of violence against
                          The violence and abuse many women
information. Yet, in      experience on Twitter has a detrimental               women are often sexualized and include
2018, women have          effect on their right to express themselves           specific references to women’s bodies.
                                                                                Women who experience multiple and
                          equally, freely and without fear. Instead
been increasingly vocal of strengthening women’s voices, these                  intersecting forms of discrimination offline
about a particular threat experiences lead women to self-censor                 often find that violence and abuse online
                                                                                also targets their different identities.
                          what they post and limit their interactions
to their right to freedom online. In some cases, it drives women                Non-binary people can also face targeted
                                                                                and misogynistic abuse online for not
of expression on social   away from Twitter completely.
                                                                                conforming to gender norms.
media platforms: the      At a watershed moment when women
                                                                                Twitter’s policies on hateful conduct and
proliferation of violence around  the world are using their collective
                          power to speak out and amplify their                  abuse are designed to provide guidance
and abuse online.         voices through social media platforms,                and clarity on which behaviours the
                                    Twitter is failing to adequately respect    company deems acceptable on the
                                    human rights and effectively tackle         platform. However, although Twitter’s
                                    violence and abuse on its platform.         “hateful conduct policy” covers many
                                    This means that, instead of women           forms of abuse that affect women’s
                                    using their voices to create change in      rights, it means little for women
                                    the world, many are being pushed            on Twitter if such policies are not
                                    backwards towards a culture of silence.     consistently enforced in practice. Many
                                                                                women told Amnesty International that
                                    Violence and abuse against women on         when they report abuse on Twitter it
                                    Twitter takes various forms, including      is often met with inaction and silence
                                    direct or indirect threats of physical or   from the company. One of the most
                                    sexual violence; abuse targeting one        pernicious impacts of the combination of
                                    or more aspects of a woman’s identity,      inaction and inconsistency in responding
                                    such as racism or transphobia; targeted     to reports of abuse is the detrimental
                                    harassment; privacy violations such as      effect this has on women reporting such
                                    doxing (uploading private identifying       experiences in the future. Women who are
                                    information publicly to cause alarm or      the targets of abuse bear the burden of
                                    distress); and the sharing of sexual or     reporting it. This not only takes time, but
                                    intimate images of a woman without          also takes an emotional toll on women.
                                    her consent. The aim of this violence       When women have – or hear of other people
                                    and abuse is to create a hostile online     having – negative experiences reporting
                                    environment for women with the goal         abuse to Twitter, they are less likely to
                                    of shaming, intimidating, degrading,        undertake the effort of reporting it.
                                    belittling and ultimately silencing them.
                                                                                Twitter should be assessing, on an ongoing
                                    This year, Amnesty International            and proactive basis, how its policies and
                                    acted to address this dangerous trend       practices affect users’ rights to freedom
                                    which threatens the ability of women        of expression and opinion as well as other
                                    to participate freely in the public         rights, and taking steps to mitigate or
                                    realm. Amnesty’s International’s report     prevent any possible negative impact. It
                                    #ToxicTwitter: Violence and abuse against   is also critical that Twitter is transparent
                                    women online, found that women are          about its policies and practices and the
                                    targeted with violence and abuse on         steps it is taking to identify and address
                                    Twitter for a variety of reasons.           human rights abuses.

                                                         6
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
Despite some improvements, Twitter is           Although the company states that it           Above: Protesters stage a demonstration as part of a
                                                                                              nationwide strike by women against gender inequality to
failing to adequately meet its responsibility   “doesn’t tolerate behaviour that harasses,    coincide with International Women’s Day in Bilbao, Spain.
                                                                                              8 March 2018. © Reuters/Vincent West.
to respect human rights in the context of       intimidates or uses fear to silence another   Above left: A demonstrator chants with a megaphone during
violence and abuse against women on its         person’s voice”, this is exactly what is      a one-day strike to defend women’s rights on International
                                                                                              Women’s Day in Madrid, Spain, on 8 March 2018.
platform. The steps it has taken are not        happening to many women who use its           © Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images.
sufficient to tackle the scale and nature       platform.                                     Below left: Women students at Delhi University and members
                                                                                              of the group Pinjratod, or Break the cages, protest in favour
of the problem. Women have the right to                                                       of equal rules for men and women in Indian universities,
live free from discrimination and violence.     Twitter should publicly share                 especially curfew timing and other rules for women in
                                                                                              university hostels. Arts Faculty, North Campus, Delhi,
They also have the right to freely express      comprehensive and meaningful                  India, 8 October 2018. © Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan
themselves, both online and offline.            information about the nature and levels       Times/Getty.

Twitter’s policies and practices clearly fail   of violence and abuse against women, as
to respect these rights.                        well as other groups, on the platform, and
                                                how the company responds to it.
Ensuring that everyone can freely
participate online and without fear of          It must improve its reporting mechanisms
violence and abuse is vital to ensuring the     to ensure consistent application of
effective exercise of the right to freedom      its own rules and a better response to
of expression. The silencing and censoring      complaints of violence and abuse.
impact of violence and abuse against
women on Twitter can have far-reaching          Finally, Twitter should provide more
and harmful repercussions on how women,         clarity about how it interprets and
particularly younger women and those            identifies violence and abuse on the
from marginalized communities, fully            platform and how it handles reports of
exercise their right to participate in public   such abuse. It should undertake far more

                                                                                                    23%
life and freely express themselves online       proactive measures in educating users
for years to come.                              and raising awareness about security and
                                                privacy features on the platform that will
In 2019, Twitter, as a company, must act
on its responsibility to respect all human
                                                help women enjoy a safer and less toxic
                                                Twitter experience.                              OF WOMEN
                                                                                               POLLED IN EIGHT COUNTRIES HAVE
rights – including the rights to non-
discrimination and freedom of expression        Continued inaction by Twitter in 2019           EXPERIENCED ONLINE ABUSE OR
and opinion. It must demonstrate that           would effectively be silencing women.                   HARASSMENT
it hears the voices of women, and take          Twitter must therefore undertake, with
concrete steps to avoid causing or              urgency, these concrete steps to tackle
contributing to abuses of those rights.         the problem once and for all. n
This includes acting to identify, prevent,
address and account for human rights
abuses that are linked to its operations.

Violence and abuse against women on
this scale can be ended. Twitter, first
and foremost, must enforce its own
policies on hateful conduct and abuse.

                                                                     7
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
WOMEN
 BEAR THE
 BRUNT OF
 INEQUALITY
Last January, the   But two months earlier, in November 2017,
                    the organization had said that it will take
                                                                     For more than a decade, Amnesty
                                                                     International has called on governments to
World Economic      217 years to close the economic gender gap.      guarantee a minimum degree of security
                                                                     of tenure to everyone. This must include
Forum made the      Prior to this, in 2015, following concerted
                    campaigning by women’s groups
                                                                     protection against forced evictions,
                                                                     harassment and other threats. Governments
call for 2018       and development and human rights
                    organizations, governments had made
                                                                     continue, however, to carry out land
                                                                     acquisitions for large commercial projects
to be “the year     a political commitment, under the UN
                    Sustainable Development Goals, to achieve
                                                                     or redevelopment of urban areas in ways
                                                                     which flagrantly breach international law
for women to        gender equality by 2030.                         and result in forced evictions.

thrive”. It urged   There is a stark mismatch between the
                    commitment to achieve gender equality
                                                                     The impacts are deeply gendered because
                                                                     of women’s differential access to land
governments to      within 12 years - including through
                    women’s equal rights to economic
                                                                     and property rights, and drive women
                                                                     into, or further into, poverty. For example,
raise women’s       resources - and the prognosis that it will
                    in fact take more than two centuries.
                                                                     Indigenous Sengwer women described
                                                                     to Amnesty International how forced
participation in                                                     evictions from Kenya’s Embobut forest
                    BARRIERS TO
the labour force
                                                                     destroyed their financial autonomy because
                    WOMEN’S ECONOMIC                                 they lost access to the forest, land and

to that of men.     AND SOCIAL RIGHTS                                livestock upon which they depend for their
                                                                     livelihoods and cultural identity. A Sengwer
                    The barriers to women achieving their            woman, who received no compensation,
                    economic and social rights are well              said, “I am hosted [living in someone else’s
                    documented. The UN says that women own           home], I have no land, no bedding, I hardly
                    only 12.8% of the world’s agricultural land.     have food. I do casual labour in people’s
                    Lack of security of tenure is a major obstacle   farms. I live in destitution.”
                    to women’s rights to food, work and housing
                    in rural and urban areas. Discriminatory         GROSSLY INADEQUATE
                    inheritance, and personal and property laws
                    frequently impede women’s ability to rent,
                                                                     PROTECTION OF
                    own or register land or property. Amnesty        WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO
                    International’s 2018 report on Eswatini          AND AT WORK
                    (formerly Swaziland) demonstrated how
                    the traditional system of land allocation,       According to the World Bank, Brazil,
                    kukhonta, by chiefs who traditionally allocate   Egypt, France, India, Russia and 99 other
                    land to men, often disadvantages women.          countries still have laws which prevent
                    One woman, forcibly evicted from her home        women from working in specific jobs. More
                    after the authorities demolished it, told us     than 2.7 billion women are therefore legally
                    “It’s very difficult as a woman to kukhonta.     restricted from having the same choice of
                    You need a male. Otherwise you won’t be          jobs as men. The Fielding School of Public
                    able to get land, or be heard.”                  Health, a think tank, found that only 87

                                          8
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
GLOBAL GENDER
                                                                                                                              PAY GAP:

                                                                                                                             23%

 Left: A worker delivering vegetables rests on
 a rickshaw at Divisoria Market in Manila, Philippines,
 12 July 2018. © Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images.
 Above: Participants march during the Labour Day Parade
 organized by the Central Organization of Trade Unions Kenya
 (COTU-K) at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on 1 May 2018.
 © Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images.
 Right: Water vendor Esther Njuguna in Nairobi, Kenya,
 2 March 2018. A mother of four, she has delivered water
 to customers for the past 18 months, a business decision
 she made after determining that no-one could deliver water
 when she needed it. © Biko Macoins/AFP/Getty Images.

countries guarantee equal pay between                          of enforcement to address gaps in the           countries. For example, in Spain, delays
men and women for work of equal value.                         protection of women’s rights to, and at,        in implementing legislation to regulate
                                                               work. Companies need to identify, prevent       long-term care has had a huge impact on
The International Labour Organization (ILO)                    and address risks to labour and other human     informal carers, most of whom are women.
estimates that 740 million women work in                       rights throughout their global operations and   Similarly, Chad’s austerity measures have
the informal economy where there is a lack                     supply chains. Governments must make a          had a serious impact on the public health
of legal protection and limited or no access                   substantial paradigm shift in the way they      sector and undermined access to basic
to social security systems.                                    assign legal responsibility within corporate    health care for women and girls. This has
                                                               groups, and ensure that all victims have        a severe effect on economically vulnerable
Domestic workers are often in a particularly                   access to remedies.                             women and girls who live in rural areas.
vulnerable situation. Amnesty International’s                                                                  One 29-year-old pregnant woman who lives
campaigns in Lebanon, Qatar, Hong Kong
SAR and Indonesia have highlighted                             WOMEN’S UNPAID                                  12km from her nearest health centre told
                                                                                                               Amnesty International, “I did not come
domestic workers’ vulnerability to severe                      AND CARE WORK                                   before because I did not have the money
labour and other human rights abuses                                                                           for the health tests, nor money to buy iron
because of gaps in labour laws and/or poor                     Women continue to bear the                      tablets or purchase the booklet...”
enforcement. Women who work in informal                        disproportionate burden of unpaid and
                                                               care work. According to data analysed by
economies and in many export processing
zones face legal and practical barriers to                     the UN from 83 countries, women carry           GOVERNMENTS MUST
joining trade unions and exercising their                      out more than twice as much unpaid care         ENSURE GENDER
rights to collective bargaining.                               and domestic work as men. This restricts        EQUALITY
                                                               their ability to access education and gainful
Women comprise the majority of workers in                      employment opportunities, and adversely         It is positive that more than 100
certain segments of global supply chains,                      affects their incomes. According to the ILO,    governments have taken action to track
like clothing and horticulture, according to                   as the educational and work experience gaps     budget allocations for gender equality.
the ILO, but tend to be disproportionately                     between women and men narrow, the gender        However, governments need to do far
concentrated in low-wage or low-status                         pay gap remains wider than expected.            more to assess, develop, and implement
jobs. Amnesty International’s ongoing                                                                          appropriate fiscal and monetary policies
campaigns around palm oil and cobalt in                        Gender inequalities in work and the burden      to ensure gender equality. This includes
global supply chains have highlighted the                      of unpaid and care work also result in          implementing progressive taxation policies
failure of some of the world’s wealthiest                      gaps in social protection cover for women.      and addressing tax evasion and illicit
companies to undertake adequate human                          Furthermore, women make up nearly 65%           financial flows in order to make more
rights due diligence.                                          of people over retirement age who do not        resources available to realize women’s
                                                               have a regular pension. Almost 750 million      economic, social and cultural rights.
Changing employment patterns, such                             women also do not benefit from a statutory
as increased offshoring and outsourcing                        right to maternity leave. It is essential       To achieve gender equality, governments
in global supply chains and in the gig                         that governments recognize, reduce and          can and must address gaps in legal
economy, especially when combined                              redistribute unpaid care work, including        frameworks in the enforcement of laws and
with insecurity of work and low pay, raise                     through better provision of public services     in public spending. Women cannot wait
significant challenges to closing the gender                   and social care programmes.                     another 200 years. n
wage gap.
                                                               These inequalities are compounded by
Governments need to urgently adapt                             regressive austerity measures and budget
labour rights frameworks and modes                             cuts to key public services in many

                                                                                     9
RIGHTSTODAY WHY OUR MOVEMENT MATTERS - Amnesty International Ireland
REFUGEES NEED
      MEANINGFUL
      CHANGE
The UN Global Compact on Refugees,
initiated by the General Assembly, failed to
deliver meaningful change for 25 million
refugees. In July, after 18 months of
consultations, the final text of the Compact,
which aimed to improve the international
community’s response to mass forcible
displacement, was notably unambitious: a
shameful blueprint for responsibility shirking.
Above right: A drone photo shows an aerial view of al-Karama camp which hosts thousands of
war victims who fled their homeland due to ongoing civil war. 20 December 2017, near Qah
village in the northwestern city of Idlib, Syria. © Burak Karacaoglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
Right: A migrant sits on board a rescue boat run by the NGO Proactiva Open Arms in the central
Mediterranean Sea, 2 August 2018. © Reuters/Juan Medina.
Below: Two migrant boys walk through a makeshift area next to the Moria camp for refugees and
migrants on the island of Lesbos, Greece, 17 September 2018. © Reuters/Giorgos Moutafis.

                                                                                           UNHCR REPORTED A

                                                                                                    54%
                                                                                     DROP IN RESETTLEMENT
                                                                                   PLACEMENTS FOR REFUGEES.

                                                                                                     10
The Compact will not change the
situation for Rohingya refugees newly
                                            FORCIBLE RETURNS                                Those refusing to leave would be detained
                                                                                            until they agreed to do so; otherwise
arrived in Bangladesh, or a generation of   In Europe, several states forcibly              they would be transferred forcibly. Court
Somali youth born in refugee camps in       returned increasing numbers of Afghans          proceedings halted implementation, but
Kenya, or refugees stuck in illegal and     who had not obtained refugee status or          did not stop Israel’s attempts to pass
devastating limbo on the island of Nauru    other forms of international protection,        its responsibility for these refugees
for the past five years. For sub-Saharan    despite Afghanistan’s deteriorating             and asylum-seekers to Uganda, which
Africa, now hosting 31% of the global       security situation, and amidst UN               already hosts 1.3 million refugees, the
refugee population, it will provide no      reports of record high civilian deaths.         largest refugee population in Africa,
relief.                                     Amnesty International documented                and one of the top five worldwide.
                                            the risk that serious human rights              The procedure violates Israel’s legal
                                            violations and generalized violence pose
REFUGEES’ VOICES                            to refugees returned to Afghanistan.
                                                                                            obligation of non-refoulement.

GO UNHEARD                                  Nevertheless, during 2018 Finland               CITIZEN ACTIVISM
                                            forcibly deported 75 people; Germany
Few of the world’s refugees will have       returned 366; the Netherlands returned
                                                                                            SEEKING SOLUTIONS
heard of the Global Compact. Neither        around 28; and Norway returned 15.
will they have been consulted on its                                                        While governments abdicate their
                                            This was in addition to the almost
process or content or involved in the                                                       responsibilities, citizen activism and
                                            10,000 Afghans deported from Europe
negotiations. The Compact set out to                                                        advocacy has raised its profile. But
                                            between 2015 and 2016.
be a comprehensive, all-encompassing                                                        governments around the world are
collection of best practice but                                                             using an increasing variety of methods
any momentum towards concrete
                                            RESPONSIBILITY                                  to hamper the work of people and
commitments, mandatory requirements         SHIRKING                                        organizations assisting migrants, asylum-
or bold action was crushed in the early                                                     seekers and refugees. Administrative,
rounds of discussion. Human rights          European governments also failed to             criminal and other laws are some of the
and refugee law obligations were largely    reform asylum rules, or agree on a              measures employed to deter, constrain,
absent from the “zero” draft. Even          common system of shared responsibility          prosecute and punish those providing
fundamentals like the principle of non-     and co-operation for protecting and             such assistance. From the seizure of
refoulement and the right to seek asylum    assisting refugees within Europe. As            NGO search and rescue ships in the
were omitted. Climate change as a           a result, frontline states continued            Mediterranean to the detention of a
cause of forced displacement was also       to shoulder a disproportionate                  journalist investigating the Australian
dropped and there was little space for      responsibility for processing asylum            government’s abuses of refugees on
refugee voices to be institutionalized in   applications. Despite the considerable          Nauru, activism for refugee and migrant
any mechanisms. What remained was           drop in numbers arriving in Europe,             rights has become a precarious and
                                            the EU and individual member states             potentially criminal affair.
a strong bias towards states’ interests
                                            continued to advance externalization
rather than refugees’ rights.
                                            practices aimed at keeping people on            However, the Global Compact’s
                                            the move well away from European
STATES MAKE                                 borders, shifting the responsibility onto
                                                                                            final draft mentions complementary
                                                                                            pathways for refugees to reach safe
SEVERE CUTS TO                              governments in Africa and elsewhere.            third countries, recommending that
RESETTLEMENT                                Refugees and migrants trapped in Libya
                                                                                            states “establish private or community
QUOTAS                                      bore the brunt of European policies,
                                                                                            sponsorship programmes that are
                                                                                            additional to regular resettlement,
                                            policies which supported the Libyan
Far more outrageous, however, were                                                          including community-based
                                            authorities in preventing departures
certain initiatives that states took                                                        programmes”, something Amnesty
                                            and intercepting people risking their
outside the Compact negotiations.                                                           International has long advocated for.
                                            lives to reach safety and a better life in
State actions this year have already        Europe. During the summer, over 1,200
shown that even the feeble ambitions                                                        Some countries made a start this year. In
                                            people were reported dead or missing            July, Canada, the UK, Spain, Argentina,
recommended in the Compact are not          at sea in the central Mediterranean.
likely to be abided by. Ahead of the                                                        Ireland and New Zealand announced
                                            Thousands were intercepted and pulled           their endorsement of the concept of
text’s finalization, UNHCR, the UN          back to Libya to face arbitrary detention,
refugee agency, reported a 54% drop                                                         community-based refugee sponsorship
                                            violence, abuse and exploitation.
in resettlement placements: 75,188                                                          which places individuals and
compared to 163,206 in the previous         The EU/Turkey deal, a benchmark for             communities at the heart of organizing
year due to a decline in resettlement       responsibility shirking, led to thousands       the arrival, welcome and integration
quotas provided for by states. This is      of refugees and migrants being confined         of refugee families in third countries.
significantly less than the 1.2 million     in overcrowded and squalid EU-                  Meanwhile, New Zealand announced a
places UNHCR say are needed.                sponsored camps on the Greek islands.           commitment to increase refugee quotas
                                            Women and girls were particularly in            from 1,000 to 1,500 places.
The US government cut its refugee           danger, facing harassment, sexual
admissions quota to 45,000, their                                                           In an increasingly hostile world,
                                            violence and other abuses.
lowest since the domestic Refugee Act                                                       solidarity and direct action by
was enacted in 1980, and apparently         In Israel, the government started 2018          communities and individuals may be
plan to decrease it to 30,000 in 2019.      with the publication of its Procedure for       the way to strengthen everyone’s right
Amnesty International, meanwhile,           Deportation to Third Countries, under           to seek asylum and live in dignity.
documented the catastrophic and             which single Sudanese and Eritrean men          Governments should celebrate and
irreparable harm caused to thousands        who had not applied for asylum by the           follow the example of their citizens
of asylum-seekers by the Trump              end of 2017, or whose application was           rather than threaten and target them.
administration’s border and immigration     denied, would be served with deportation        Now negotiations have ended, let’s
policies. Policies included separating      notices to either their country of origin, or   hope more governments see the Global
and detaining children and families,        to two unnamed “third countries”, widely        Compact as a starting point for positive
violating both US and international law.    understood to be Uganda and Rwanda.             change, rather than an end to it. n

                                                                 11
Above: Refugees and migrants demonstrate in Jerusalem
against the Israeli Prime Minister’s cancellation of an
agreement with the UN aimed at avoiding forced deportations,
4 April 2018. © Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images.
Right: A woman walks with her children amid the rubble
of destroyed homes in Banki, Nigeria, 26 April 2017.
© Jane Hahn/Washington Post/Getty Images.
Below: Central American refugees and migrants await
registration at a makeshift centre of Mexico’s National
Institute of Migration, in Matias Romero, Mexico, 4 April
2018. © Reuters/Henry Romero.

                                                                 AS OF EARLY SEPTEMBER 2018,
                                                                        APPROXIMATELY

                                                      300 CHILDREN
                                                                 IN THE USA HAD STILL NOT BEEN
                                                               REUNITED WITH THEIR PARENTS AND
                                                               GUARDIANS, FROM WHOM THEY WERE
                                                                      FORCIBLY SEPARATED.

                                                                             12
MORE THAN

      720,000
  ROHINGYA WOMEN, MEN AND
CHILDREN HAVE FLED NORTHERN
RAKHINE STATE TO BANGLADESH.

Rohingya refugees wade across the Naf River from
Myanmar into Bangladesh in Whaikhyang on 9 October
2017. © Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images.

                        13
A YEAR IN ARMS
    SUPPLIES TO THE
    SAUDI/UAE COALITION
This year was another gruelling one
in the conflict in Yemen, a country
where millions of people are at
risk of famine and nearly 17,000
civilians have been killed or injured
since the war began.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia and the United         to the UAE, citing concerns over the        More contradictory still is the situation
Arab Emirates (UAE) coalition air forces     situation in Yemen. When images             in Spain. Eight days after announcing
crisscrossed Yemen, bombing residential      emerged of a Finnish-made Patria            the cancellation of the bomb sales, the
areas, civilian infrastructure, and even     armoured vehicle being deployed by UAE      Spanish government backed down under
hitting a school bus full of children.       forces in Yemen, all eight candidates in    intense pressure both domestically and
                                             Finland’s February presidential elections   from Saudi Arabia. The bombs were
In reckless ground attacks, Yemen’s Huthi    pledged to suspend sales.                   shipped in late September, and the
armed group indiscriminately shelled                                                     following month, in a parliamentary
urban centres and villages. And states,      Most dramatically, in April, Germany, a     debate, the government refused to bend
most significantly the USA and the UK,       major arms manufacturer and exporter,       to pressure from Amnesty International
but also France and Italy, among others,     appeared to change tack. The country’s      and other civil society groups and commit
continued to send billions of dollars        incoming coalition announced that           to revoking past licences and suspending
of sophisticated military equipment in       it would suspend future licences for        future sales.
support of coalition forces.                 arms transfers to countries directly
                                             engaged in the Yemen conflict. Joining      While many western states are beginning
PUBLIC PROTEST AND                           what appeared to be a growing trend,        to question their support for the
POLICY SHIFT                                 in September the Spanish government         coalition, the USA and the UK – the two
                                                                                         largest suppliers – have stood firm, not
                                             announced it would cancel the sale
But as the toll on the civilian population   of 400 laser-guided bombs to Saudi          only supplying the equipment that is
rose, 2018 saw a distinct shift in policy    Arabia, following an international outcry   being used to bomb civilians and destroy
and practice amongst those arming the        over an air strike on a Yemeni school bus   civilian infrastructure, but providing vital
coalition. Under intense pressure from       in the city of Sa’da, northern Yemen,       technical and logistical assistance to the
Amnesty International and other civil        which killed 40 children.                   Royal Saudi Air Force.
society organizations, journalists and
parliamentarians, some states began
                                             STATES RECANT ON                            SUPPLIER STATES AND
cutting off arms supplies.
                                             PROMISES                                    ARMS COMPANIES
The shift began at the end of 2017                                                       UNDER FIRE
when Amnesty International Greece            But as the year wore on some of these
led protests against the proposed            states appeared to recant. Ignoring the     But as the civilian casualties mount and
transfer of 300,000 tank shells              election promises and more footage of       the catastrophic humanitarian situation
from Greece to Saudi Arabia and the          Patria armoured vehicles in action in       worsens, the pressure on arms-supplying
substantial risk that they could be used     Yemen, Finland authorized licences for      governments intensifies. In the UK,
in Yemen. Breaking with precedent,           vehicle spare parts to the UAE. Despite     opposition parties have repeatedly called
a parliamentary committee cancelled          earlier coalition promises, Germany         for an end to the arming of Saudi Arabia,
the deal. In January 2018, Norway            continued to approve sales of military      and public opinion is overwhelmingly
suspended supplies of lethal equipment       equipment to Saudi Arabia.                  against the current policy. While a
                                                                14
The crater made by a missile from a Saudi-led coalition air strike which left six members of the
same family wounded in Sana’a, Yemen, 28 April 2018. © Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images.

judicial review challenging the UK                                 as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin,              Italy, among others, have adopted a
government’s decision to continue                                  recovered from the rubble in the              shameful business-as-usual attitude,
authorizing arms supplies to Saudi                                 aftermath of controversial air strikes. The   undermining international law on arms
Arabia was rejected last year, two Court                           UK’s BAE Systems continues to supply          transfers that they helped to create and
of Appeal judges granted permission                                and service Saudi Arabia’s formidable         committed to respect. Large corporations
to appeal in May 2018. In the USA,                                 fleet of combat aircraft. Household           – like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and
opposition in Congress is growing,                                 names such as Boeing, General Electric        BAE Systems – are their willing partners
threatening the transfer of 120,000                                and Rolls-Royce supply aircraft engines       in irresponsibility on an industrial scale.
precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia                             and munitions.
and the UAE. In a separate action, in                                                                            Campaigners across the world must
                                                                   In April a coalition of NGOs in Italy         keep applying pressure on governments
September, there were renewed attempts
                                                                   and Germany filed a criminal complaint        and companies. States must abide by
to invoke the 1973 War Powers Act
                                                                   against managers of RWM Italia S.p.A.,        their legal obligations under the Arms
to end US involvement in the Yemen
                                                                   (a subsidiary of the German arms              Trade Treaty and stop supplying all
conflict on the grounds that Congress
                                                                   giant Rheinmetall AG), and senior             arms, munitions, military technology and
never authorized it.
                                                                   officials of Italy’s export authorities to    assistance for use in the Yemen conflict.
The extrajudicial execution of Jamal                               the public prosecutor in Rome. The            They must also use their leverage as
Khashoggi, a journalist, in the Saudi                              complaint concerns the export of a bomb       key players in the region to pressure the
                                                                   - manufactured by RWM in Sardinia             coalition to abide by their international
Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey,
                                                                   and exported by Italy - which killed six      obligations under international human
has raised further concerns in the US
                                                                   civilians in Yemen when it was used in        rights and humanitarian law. Otherwise
Congress and the UK parliament about
                                                                   an air strike on Deir al-Hajari, a village    they risk complicity in violations and
the continuing arms supplies to the
                                                                   in the northwest, in October 2016.            war crimes, committed in a conflict that
Kingdom. Chancellor Angela Merkel
                                                                                                                 has not only killed and maimed tens
said that German arms exports would be
put on hold and Switzerland vowed to                               SHAMEFUL BUSINESS-                            of thousands of civilians but displaced
                                                                                                                 millions more and left the country on the
suspend exports of spare parts and air                             AS-USUAL ATTITUDE                             brink of a catastrophic famine. n
defence munitions. The EU parliament
responded to the incident by reiterating                           The events in Yemen pose a stark
its call on EU member states to impose                             challenge to all those involved.
an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia.                                   The conduct of supplier states and
                                                                   companies in the face of likely war
As supplier states faced pressure,                                 crimes is being subjected to ever closer
arms companies also came under                                     scrutiny and vociferous protest. Amid
fire. Amnesty International and other                              some principled decisions on the part of
organizations have documented                                      mainly smaller states to stop supplying
remnants of munitions, manufactured                                the coalition, the USA and the UK in
by leading US arms companies such                                  particular, but also Spain, France and
                                                                                                   15
THE “THIRD
                                                                                                                         After independence came the struggle
                                                                                                                         to guarantee human rights in law and
                                                                                                                         practice, often against a backdrop of

     STRUGGLE” FOR
                                                                                                                         one-party states, brutal repression and
                                                                                                                         persecution of dissenters.

                                                                                                                         Today, the struggle is far from won,

     FREEDOM IN
                                                                                                                         but the intervening decades have seen
                                                                                                                         extraordinary progress.

                                                                                                                         Human rights defenders’ tireless

     AFRICA
                                                                                                                         campaigning, often at great personal
                                                                                                                         risk, has led to the Universal
                                                                                                                         Declaration’s founding principles -
                                                                                                                         including freedom from fear and want -

When the Universal Declaration
                                                                                                                         being enshrined in regional human rights
                                                                                                                         treaties, including the African Charter on
                                                                                                                         Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well as
of Human Rights was adopted                                                                                              in the national laws of most, if not all,
                                                                                                                         African countries.
by the UN in 1948, much of                                                                                               But the struggle continues: a fierce

Africa was still in its first struggle                                                                                   “third” struggle to make national laws
                                                                                                                         and regional human rights obligations

for liberation from colonial rule.
                                                                                                                         and commitments worth more than just
                                                                                                                         the paper they are written on. While
                                                                                                                         sub-Saharan African states have become
Only three African countries were                                                                                        adept at speaking the language of human
                                                                                                                         rights, too many continued in 2018
present at the UN for the vote:                                                                                          to brutally repress dissent and restrict
                                                                                                                         the space in which individuals and

Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa.                                                                                        organizations can defend human rights.

                                                                                                                         STATE-SPONSORED
Apartheid South Africa abstained.                                                                                        INTIMIDATION AND
Below: Activists take part in a protest demanding the police conduct more investigations into the murders and            HARASSMENT
kidnappings of women in Kampala, Uganda, 5 June, 2018. © Sumy Sadurni/AFP/Getty Images.
Bottom: Tendai Biti of Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change is surrounded by police officers as
he walks past a prison vehicle. He was given bail at Harare Magistrates Court on 9 August 2018 after facing charges of
                                                                                                                         In the south, critics of the Zambian
public violence as well as the illegal declaration of election results. © Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images.            government have been harassed and
                                                                                                                         charged on spurious grounds. The most
                                                                                                                         prominent example involves the ongoing
                                                                                                                         trial of six activists, including rapper
                                                                                                                         Fumba Chama (also known as Pilato),
                                                                                                                         who were arrested in September for
                                                                                                                         protesting against exorbitant levels of
                                                                                                                         government spending.

                                                                                                                         Mozambique imposed prohibitively high
                                                                                                                         accreditation fees on journalists and
                                                                                                                         media houses in July, in an attempt to
                                                                                                                         clamp down on independent reporting.
                                                                                                                         In March, Ericino de Salema, a
                                                                                                                         journalist, was kidnapped and beaten,
                                                                                                                         contributing to a growing climate
                                                                                                                         of fear. The continuing persecution
                                                                                                                         faced by environmental rights activists
                                                                                                                         in Madagascar is illustrated by the
                                                                                                                         suspended sentences against Raleva
                                                                                                                         and Christopher Manenjika which were
                                                                                                                         confirmed on appeal in May and June
                                                                                                                         respectively.

                                                                                                                         In Niger, Moussa Tchangari, Ali
                                                                                                                         Idrissa, Nouhou Arzika and Lirwana
                                                                                                                         Abdourahmane, prominent activists,
                                                                                                                         were detained in March for organizing
                                                                                                                         protests against a new finance law.
                                                                                                                         Lirwana Abdourahmane remains in jail.
                                                                                                                         The Sierra Leonean authorities continue
                                                                                                                         to restrict peaceful demonstrations,
                                                                                                                         while the killings of protesters by police
                                                                                                                         go unpunished. In Togo, authorities
                                                                                                                         arrested pro-democracy activists

                                                                                              16
including Atikpo Bob in January.
Naïm Touré, an online activist in Burkina
                                              granted to the Coalition of African
                                              Lesbians, a civil society organization
                                                                                           ORDINARY PEOPLE:
Faso, was sentenced to two months in          registered in South Africa. The move         EXTRAORDINARY
prison in July for a Facebook post. In        came after immense political pressure        BRAVERY
Mauritania, journalists and anti-slavery      from the African Union’s Executive
activists were arrested ahead of the          Council.                                     The best news of all, however, is
September parliamentary elections. They                                                    the ongoing extraordinary bravery
include Biram Dah Abeid, who remains          NOT ALL BAD NEWS                             displayed by ordinary people across
                                                                                           Africa, including countless courageous
in detention.
                                              FOR HUMAN RIGHTS                             women human rights defenders, who
Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, this         DEFENDERS                                    exemplify resilience in the face of
pattern of state-sponsored intimidation                                                    repression. Women like Wanjeri Nderu,
and harassment of human rights                Despite the widespread challenges,           who spearheads a campaign against
defenders persists. For example there         however, there is some good news for         extrajudicial killings in Kenya; Nonhle
were renewed attacks on freedom of            African human rights defenders.              Mbuthuma, the land rights activist
expression in Uganda via a tax on                                                          in South Africa who continues to
social media use, introduced in July,         In a few countries, leadership change        advocate on behalf of her community
and several MPs were arrested after           has provided the impetus for significant     despite being mistreated by police
participating in a protest march.             improvements. In Ethiopia, thousands         during a protest in September; and
                                              of people were released from detention       Nigeria’s Aisha Yesufu and Obiageli
In Sudan, opposition figures and              in the first half of 2018, among them        ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili, co-founders of the
human rights defenders were arbitrarily       Eskinder Nega, the renowned journalist       #BringBackOurGirls movement who
arrested, including 140 activists             and prisoner of conscience, imprisoned       were arrested in January during a sit-in
detained in January and February              since 2011 on trumped-up terrorism           in the capital, Abuja.
following sporadic protests over rising       charges. The new Prime Minister, Abiy
food and medicine costs.                      Ahmed, introduced further reforms,           There is no doubt that these are difficult
                                              including lifting the ban on several         times for human rights defenders in
In South Sudan, civil society activists       opposition parties, initiating the reform    sub-Saharan Africa and, indeed, around
continued to be arbitrarily detained,         of repressive laws and removing arbitrary    the world. Although their work remains
including Bashir Ahmed Mohamed                restrictions on websites and online          dangerous, it is also demonstrably
Babiker, a human rights defender,             media groups. However, there were major      effective. This year proved that Africa’s
arrested in August.                           setbacks. Prisons filled up again when,      governments do respond to public
                                              in September, police arrested more           pressure. Even in an increasingly hostile
Eritrea continued its policy of zero          than 3,000 young people and arbitrarily      atmosphere, the courage, dedication
tolerance for any form of dissent or free     detained over 1,000 in Addis Ababa,          and selflessness of the continent’s
media. In September, Berhane Abrehe,          including peaceful protesters, claiming it   human rights defenders are keeping
former Finance Minister, became yet one       was containing “rising criminality”.         human rights at the front and centre
more of the thousands of prisoners of                                                      of the regional agenda. In the year that
conscience and other detainees after he       Amidst unprecedented steps towards           the Universal Declaration turns 70, it
published a book calling for a peaceful       tackling endemic corruption in Angola        is imperative that we acknowledge their
transition to democracy.                      after President João Lourenço succeeded      victories, resilience and bravery. n
                                              the long-serving Eduardo dos Santos
In the Democratic Republic of the             in 2017, human rights defenders saw
Congo, there was a widespread                 encouraging signs that they would be
crackdown on peaceful protests,               protected. These included the court                  IN SEPTEMBER, POLICE
resulting in multiple deaths and injuries     acquittals of Rafael Marques de Morais               ARRESTED MORE THAN
and the sentencing to 12 months’

                                                                                                      3,000
                                              and Mariano Brás, prominent journalists,
imprisonment in September of four pro-        in July. However, there have been no
democracy activists, all members of the       steps towards investigating past human
Filimbi citizens’ movement.                   rights abuses by security forces.                    YOUNG PEOPLE AND
                                                                                               ARBITRARILY DETAINED OVER

                                                                                                      1,000
In Cameroon, Franklin Mowha, a civil          Other notable victories for human rights
society leader, was subjected to a            defenders included the release in April
possible enforced disappearance while on      of Tadjadine Mahamat Babouri, known
a fact-finding mission in the south-west      as Mahadine, arrested in September                      IN ADDIS ABABA.
to document internal displacement and         2016 and tortured in prison for
the denial of justice. His case illustrates   posting online criticism of the Chadian
the government’s brutal crackdown and         government’s alleged mismanagement of
its suppression of information connected      public funds. Meanwhile, international
with ongoing clashes between the military     pressure led to the release of Ramón
and armed separatist groups in the            Esono Ebalé, an Equatorial Guinean
Anglophone regions.                           cartoonist and activist, after six months
                                              in Malabo prison.
The backlash against human rights,
and regressive measures to restrict the       In Sudan, Matar Younis, a teacher, was
space in which individuals can defend         released in July after spending over
rights is also evident at the continental     three months in prison for criticizing
bodies level. The independence and            the government’s inhumane practices in
autonomy of the African Commission on         Darfur. In Rwanda, Victoire Ingabire, a
Human and Peoples’ Rights - Africa’s          jailed opposition leader, was pardoned
main regional human rights treaty body        by the President in September. Both
- suffered a severe setback in August         countries, however, continue to detain
when it revoked the observer status           real or perceived opponents.

                                                                  17
CHALLENGING
     REPRESSION AND
     BRUTALITY IN THE
     MIDDLE EAST AND
     NORTH AFRICA
     Human rights defenders in the
     Middle East and North Africa faced
     an array of threats from governments
     and armed groups in 2018, but
     they have also been at the centre of
     stories of hard-won change. Women
     human rights defenders have been
     prominent on the front lines of
     resistance, challenging entrenched
     gender discrimination and other
     patterns of human rights violations.

Nawal Benaissa, a prominent activist, was forced to move from the northern city of Al Hoceima to a
different Moroccan city after harassment from the authorities. © Abdellah Azizi/Amnesty International.

In 2019 the work of human rights                                  forced hijab (veiling) and disrupt Iranian     Thirty human rights defenders and staff
defenders will continue to be vital to                            society’s apparent acquiescence in this        of civil society organizations are under
stemming crackdowns by governments                                abusive and degrading practice.                travel bans; 10 of them have had their
across the region and pressing for                                                                               assets frozen.
accountability for abuses.                                        The authorities’ violent crackdown forms
                                                                  part of a wider wave of repression against
                                                                                                                 ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE
WOMEN AT THE                                                      human rights defenders. Dozens of
                                                                                                                 PROTESTERS
                                                                  women have been beaten and arbitrarily
FOREFRONT OF                                                      detained and, in some cases, prosecuted
CHALLENGING                                                       and imprisoned for their peaceful              Human rights defenders in the
                                                                                                                 region have acted as a vital check on
REPRESSION                                                        campaigning. One of them, Roya Saghiri,
                                                                                                                 government excesses, exposing abuses
                                                                  began serving a 23-month prison sentence
On 24 June, Saudi Arabia finally lifted its                       in August for “disturbing public order”.       by the security forces in the Maghreb,
ban on women driving, just one of a range                                                                        challenging half a century of Israeli
of discriminatory policies against women in                       Their lawyers and supporters have also         military occupation of Palestinian territory
the Kingdom. Long overdue, the step was a                         been harassed. For example, Nasrin             and speaking truth to power in the Gulf.
testament to the bravery of women human                           Sotoudeh, an award-winning human rights
                                                                  lawyer, was arrested in June and charged       Nawal Benaissa, one of the leading voices
rights defenders who, for decades, drew
                                                                  with serious national security offences.       of Hirak, a popular movement, spoke out
international media attention to the ban.
                                                                                                                 for social justice and better health care in
It was bitterly ironic then that the                              In Egypt, human rights defenders also felt     the Rif region of Morocco. Like hundreds
authorities subjected some of those who                           the full force of a government intent on       of other peaceful protesters, she has been
campaigned for the change to arbitrary                            crushing challenges to its legitimacy. While   arrested and held in custody. In February,
detention and smear campaigns. Loujain                            moments of victory, like the releases of       she received a 10-month suspended
al-Hathloul, Iman al-Nafjan and Aziza                             woman human rights defender Mahienour          sentence and a fine for “inciting to
al-Yousef are among a group of activists                          el-Massry in January and human rights          commit an offence”.
held without charge since their arrest in                         lawyer Haytham Mohamdeen in October,
May, a month before the ban was lifted,                           punctured the climate of repression, too       In an attempt to silence criticism of
and sinisterly accused of being “traitors”.                       many others remain behind bars on ludicrous    the security forces’ handling of the
                                                                  terrorism or security-related charges.         Hirak protests, the authorities also went
Their plight reflects that of human rights                                                                       after those defending the protesters. In
defenders more generally in the country,                          Amal Fathy was sentenced to two years’         February, Abdessadak El Bouchattaoui,
nearly all of whom have been sentenced                            imprisonment in September for posting          a human rights lawyer, was sentenced
to lengthy prison terms, placed under                             a video on Facebook condemning sexual          to 20 months in prison and fined for his
travel bans or forced to leave the country.                       harassment and the government’s failure        online posts.
                                                                  to address it. Ezzat Ghoniem, co-founder
Women’s rights activists in Iran have                             and director of the Egyptian Coordination      The Israeli authorities have long displayed
also been courageously protesting                                 for Rights and Freedoms, and Azzoz             brutality against those protesting its military
against an entrenched manifestation of                            Mahgoub, a human rights lawyer in              occupation of Palestinian territory and
a broader set of discriminatory practices                         the same organization, remain in               its blockade of the Gaza Strip, a pattern
against women. Dozens removed their                               incommunicado detention despite a court        manifested in its lethal response to the
headscarves in public to challenge                                order to release them on 4 September.          Great March of Return, in which the army
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