Let’s make Australia Day one we can all share

Australia Day should be for all Australians, but for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who mark the day as one of invasion, survival and mourning, it is an emotional day. 26 January is an important day in our history, but it is not a day for celebrations. We need to move to a date that is inclusive of all Australians.

Although Australia Day has only been officially nationally celebrated since 1994, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been protesting on 26 January in New South Wales since in the 1800s.

As such, Amnesty is calling on our leaders to acknowledge the issues with Australia being celebrated on 26 January and start a consultation process to change the date of Australia Day so it can be celebrated by all Australians.

Over recent years momentum has grown for changing the date, with some local councils around the country amending their celebrations. There has been extensive public and media debate. In 2017 there were large public protests across the country, and there are more planned for this year.

Amnesty has supported #ChangetheDate for the past few years on social media and via our website and by giving people a platform to speak on why they choose not to celebrate on 26 January. Now we are taking a step further and asking you to stand with us and in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across this country.

We invite you to join us to call on our elected representatives to:

  • acknowledge that 26 January has a long and painful history for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples; and
  • consult with the community to choose a new date for Australia Day so it can be celebrated by all.

We encourage all of our supporters to attend Indigenous events on and around 26 January. We have created a national list of events so you can find an event near you. If we’ve missed any events please feel free to let us know by emailing details to Tracey.Foley@amnesty.org.au.

What can you do to help?

There are a number of ways you can be part of #ChangetheDate this year:

  • Attend a local Indigenous cultural / Survival Day events event or if you’re in Perth head along to One Day in Freo on 28 January – these events are a great day out for you and your family
  • Volunteer at local Indigenous cultural / Survival Day event, this is a great way to meet with and build relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities
  • Where appropriate host a stall at local Indigenous cultural / Survival Day events with our #ChangetheDate and Community is Everything petitions
  • Share our online actions on social media and add our #ChangetheDate frame to your social media profile picture
  • Write a letter to the editor of your local paper explaining why you support #ChangetheDate.
  • Check out changeitourselves if you want to learn more about how to talk with your company to see if you could work on 26 January and take the day off on another date.

We want to know if our supporters are interested in attending local events. Let us know if you plan on attending a local Survival Day or cultural event near you.

Australia will continue to change and mature. Let’s help shape it into a united, inclusive nation. A nation which we can all be proud of, one in which we respect, listen to and work with this nation’s First Peoples. One in which our national day of celebration is for everyone.

Our country’s history goes back well beyond 26 January 1788. It began over 65,000 years ago — and we’re still making it now.

Let’s stand together and respect the survival and resilience of the oldest living culture in the world and #ChangeTheDate.

Will you join our call to #ChangeTheDate?

P.S. Want to learn more about why this is important? Check out our Cultural Competency modules presented by Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous Rights Team. These modules will equip our staff, activists and supporters with the necessary skills and considerations to best achieve success with our Indigenous Rights work.

Want to lead Amnesty to it’s 2020 Vision?

Nominations are open for our third annual Activist Leadership Weekend. This year, the weekend will be hosted in Sydney over three big days: Friday 22 June to Sunday 24 June 2018.

Amnesty’s vision for 2020 is that we will be an unstoppable movement. Our activist leaders are the driving force behind our movement, and to grow our movement and impact we need more leaders supporting more activists. Are you one of our activist leaders or a future activist leader who will lead our movement?  

We’re bringing together about 20 existing and potential leaders from around the country. Participants will participate in a variety of workshops to harness and develop leadership and strategic campaigning skills and participants will develop strategic plans which feed into each regional plan.

The aim of the weekend is to build on our grassroots leadership to realise our goals at a local, regional and national level.

Our Activist and Leadership Development Coordinator will host a weekend full of inspiration, training and planning. Campaign Coordinators will drop in to discuss our campaign strategies aimed at achieving human rights impact this year. Other staff and lead activists will be involved also. Stay tuned for more announcements as staff and special guest speakers are confirmed.

Who should apply?

Branch Committees and Organisers will nominate and encourage regional activists to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI).

Any interested activists who meet the criteria should submit or complete an EOI form.

We have extended the date for submitting an EOI … it will close at 9am Wednesday 7 March, 2018. Successful applicants will be notified by 19 March, 2018.

We are looking for:

  • Activists who may already be leaders and looking to build on their experience or move into a new leadership role in 2018.
  • Activists who are ready to take it to the next level in 2018 and 2019! If you are interested in becoming a regional leader in 2018 then please complete this Expression of Interest (EOI) form by 9am on 7 March.

What is the criteria for participants?

  • You must be available for three days from 10am Friday 22 June to 4pm 25 Sunday June.
  • You must have the time, availability and commitment to be a regional leader, including:
    • having 3 to 5 hours to dedicate each week; 
    • being prepared to develop a succession plan for your current work and, with the help of your organiser or ASC, to recruit a person to replace you.
    • be prepared to take on a lead role in delivering your region’s plans over the next 12 months.
  • Applicants should have at least 1-2 years of experience with Amnesty.
  • Good communication skills and the ability to communicate with various audiences (interpersonal, oral and written)
  • Demonstrated commitment and eagerness to learn and build on activism skill-sets by participating in a minimum of three skill development workshops or attended at least one regional Social Change Lab.
  • Demonstrated local activism engagement such as, but not limited to two or more of these activities:
    • Organising event/s
    • Meeting with your local MP
    • Engaging local media
    • Development and coordination of a local strategy or campaign
    • Mentoring and/or training other activists
    • Working with or supporting other local activists to achieve activism goals

Next steps for activist leaders after the weekend

After building on your skills and developing a solid plan, our leaders will return to their regions and:

  • meet with your Branch Committee & Organiser to share your local strategic plan;
  • organise the implementation of this plan;
  • report back at regular intervals to your Branch Committee and Organiser on your plan’s progress; and
  • commit to sticking with your plan for a minimum of 12 months,.

How will we support successful applicants to be successful leaders?

Prior to the weekend we are hosting briefing sessions on Tuesday 20 February at 8pm AEDT, Thursday 22 February at 1pm AEDT  and Wednesday 28 February at 8pm for potential participants, where we will outline what is expected before, on and after the weekend to ensure participants are well informed and able to commit to leadership.

After the weekend:

  • participants will share their strategy with Branch and Organiser
  • Organisers and Branch will support participants in employing their local strategy
  • participants will roll out their strategies
  • participants will report to the Branch Committee and Organiser each quarter on progress

Interested?

All nominations should answer the criteria by completing this Expression of Interest (EOI) form by 9am Wednesday 7 March.

If you have questions talk with your Organiser or BC or attend one of the briefing sessions above.

Successful applicants will be notified by 19 March.

Want to know more about our 2020 Vision? Check it out here.

Bangladesh: Returning Rohingya to Myanmar illegal and premature

Responding to an announcement by the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry that it will aim to repatriate all Rohingya refugees within two years, James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said:

“With memories of rape, killing and torture still fresh in the minds of Rohingya refugees, plans for their return to Myanmar are alarmingly premature. The timeframe announcement was made without any consultation with the Rohingya themselves, and offers no assurances that people will be able to return voluntarily.

“The most recent campaign of violence against the Rohingya was preceded by years of entrenched discrimination and abuse and for most of the 650,000 refugees who fled Myanmar last year, returning so soon will be a terrifying prospect. The obfuscation and denials of the Myanmar authorities give no reason to hope that the rights of returning Rohingya would be protected, or that the reasons for their original flight no longer exist.

“The Rohingya have an absolute right to return to and reside in Myanmar, but there must be no rush to return people to a system of apartheid. Any forcible returns would be a violation of international law.

“Rohingya refugees are entitled to continue to seek asylum in Bangladesh and the government should focus on exploring all options to ensure continued international protection for this community. Returns cannot be safe or dignified until there is a fundamental change in Myanmar, including accountability for crimes against humanity and an end to the apartheid system.”

Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed that the repatriation process will commence on 23 January 2018.

On 22 January Amnesty International will be releasing an analysis of the repatriation arrangement between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Amnesty partners with kikki.K on its #MoreLove campaign

Amnesty International Australia is partnering with kikki.K on its #MoreLove campaign for Valentine’s Day. Kikki.K is passionate about LGBTQI rights and is donating $1 to Amnesty for every sale from their #MoreLove range to help us continue our human rights work.

To celebrate the partnership, Alison Gibbins, Amnesty Australia’s Deputy National Director, talks about love, life, human rights and marriage equality.

Alison Gibbins. © Private
Alison Gibbins. © Private

You recently joined Amnesty as the Deputy National Director. What sparked your interest?

I’ve always been inspired by the courageous work that Amnesty does. It’s an organisation that I deeply respect.

What inspired you to defend human rights?

It’s simple: the bravery of ordinary people who stand up in their own communities to protect human rights. That is exactly what happened here in Australia with marriage equality. The willingness of the LGBTQI community to stand up for loving relationships, to be vulnerable to fight for a greater purpose – that’s inspiration!

What is your view on marriage equality?

The result of the postal ballot is a great symbolic gesture. It shows a broad level of acceptance. The choice to get married is now accessible to all people in Australia. This is a huge moment for equality that can’t be overstated.

Of course, marriage equality was always a human right. We didn’t need a postal survey to show us that!

Marriage could be seen as an odd thing to fight for. We need to keep moving away from the repressive history of marriage – of treating women as property and objects of male control.  Regardless of one’s identity and sexual orientation there are a lot of loving ways to have relationships.

What do you think of the result of the postal survey?

YASS! I have seen commentary about how the NO campaign set up a process to get as strong a NO as they could. This added to the campaign challenges for LGBTQI activists and their allies. But against all the odds, including personal emotional strain, to get a result of 61.6% in favour is so inspiring.

It has been said that the result of the postal survey was virtually the opposite of how it would have been a decade ago. Has your own view changed over time?

My views about the fundamental rights of LGBTQI people have not changed. I have very close friends from my school years who are gay. If anything, the main change has been my observation of the attitudes around me, including those of my own family and friends. That’s a good thing.

I remember when one of my friends in high school came out to his mother.  She wept openly for days.

She was distressed that her son would never have the future that she had hoped for him. She wanted him to have the opportunity to marry and have children. For a teenager coming out to his parents in 2018, marriage and children is so much less of an issue.

Do you know any LGBTQI people whose stories have inspired you?

I have quite a few LGBTQI friends, including people in my extended family. They have all had to be to be very strong in order to be true to themselves and to live their lives. I deeply respect their lives, their courage and the difficult decisions they have made. My journey has been to learn how to support my friends and family whenever they need it. And just as importantly, it’s about me growing as person who, to be honest, has often had it much easier.

As a mother of three young children, what do you think about the concerns raised in this debate about the impact on school children and the education curriculum?

I find this really distressing. To me, this approach comes from a world view where children are moulded and directed by adults at a very basic level. In my view, children are their own selves and respond to their experience of the world around them. To me, the model of parenting that worries children can “become gay” because of exposure to gay people fundamentally misunderstands the nature of identity.

Homosexuality is still illegal in 72 countries and punishable by death in eight. How far do you think we’ve come globally?

Well, obviously we’ve come a long way in the so-called developed world. If someone had told me when I was teenager that we would be here today, I wouldn’t have believed it.

At the same time, in some parts of the world homophobia is a tool of propaganda. Progress is harder in parts of the world where regimes want to associate LGBTQI rights, women’s rights and basic freedoms with “western imperialism”.  But for individuals discovering their identity in intolerant societies, it must create hope to know that there are places in the world where you are accepted for who you are. Anytime and anywhere that fundamental human rights take a step forward is a good thing.

Alison lives in Sydney with her husband, her three children and a naughty Doberman puppy.

Want to help Amnesty secure more rights for the LGBTQI community? Then please sign our petition calling on the Finnish Government to protect the rights of transgender people.

Concerns of torture in WA youth prison: “I felt like a dog”

The Intensive Support Unit at Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre, Western Australia, must be immediately closed pending investigation, said Amnesty International following serious allegations of abuse of young people which may amount to torture.

Amnesty International visited Banksia Hill last week and interviewed two young people who have allegedly been subjected to solitary confinement and other ill-treatment.

“These are very serious allegations, which if confirmed would put the practices at the  Banksia Hill Detention Centre in clear breach of international law and standards, and may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

Tammy Solonec, Amnesty International’s Indigenous Rights Manager.

“These are very serious allegations, which if confirmed would put the practices at the  Banksia Hill Detention Centre in clear breach of international law and standards, and may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” said Tammy Solonec, Amnesty International’s Indigenous Rights Manager.

“What I was told at Banksia Hill by these two young people was deeply disturbing.

“Being held for weeks on end in a cell as small as a car parking space, with as little as 10 minutes out of the cell each day. When they did leave the cell, being handcuffed. Sometimes being denied access to basic services like a shower. Being fed through a grill in the door. And despite the serious mental harm of this type of isolation, limited access to a psychologist.”

According to several sources, three young people were held for periods of solitary confinement in the Intensive Support Unit, previously called the Harding Unit, for at least two weeks at a time between May and August last year. Two remain in the Unit after one was moved to an adult facility in December.

Further concerns about the ill-treatment of the young people in the Unit include the deprivation of family contact and education, lack of adequate medical treatment, excessive use of force, disproportionate use of restraints, degrading treatment including daily stripping of bed materials, no or limited exercise and no access to programs or services.

One of the young men told Amnesty International he “felt like a dog”.

One of the young men told Amnesty International he “felt like a dog”.

“It is critical that the West Australian government instigate a full and thorough independent investigation into the situation for these boys, and into the operations of the Intensive Support Unit. Pending that it must be closed immediately,” said Tammy Solonec.

“Amnesty International is aware that plans now exist for ‘integration’ for both these detainees, however the fact remains that it is not appropriate for children to be held in facilities that do not meet international standards.”

“Holding children in solitary confinement as punishment for long periods can cause serious psychological and sometimes physiological harm.

“Sadly these allegations of severe mistreatment are just the latest in an avalanche of horrors spilling out from Banksia in the past six months alone.”

“Sadly these allegations of severe mistreatment are just the latest in an avalanche of horrors spilling out from Banksia in the past six months alone.”

In July 2017 the extreme suffering endured by children in Banksia Hill was revealed following findings from the Inspector of Custodial Services including the use of spit hoods, solitary confinement, alleged sexual assault, and soaring rates of self-harm and attempted suicide.

“The Don Dale detention centre’s version of the Intensive Support Unit was ordered by the Northern Territory Royal Commission to be closed and never opened again. The same needs to happen here,” said Tammy Solonec.

“The situation at Banksia Hill is yet another example of why Prime Minister Turnbull must lead the country to overhaul the current system in favour of a national approach supporting and strengthening children, families and communities.”

Amnesty International made initial contact with the Minister for Corrective Services about one case in December 2017, and a second case last week. No formal response has been received but it is understood that the Department is looking into the individual claims.

Israel: Release teenage Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi

Israeli authorities must release a 16-year-old Palestinian activist who could face up to 10 years in prison over an altercation with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank last month, Amnesty International said as she appeared in court today.

Ahed Tamimi will go before Ofer military court in the occupied West Bank accused of aggravated assault and 11 other charges after a video showing her shoving, slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers in her home village of Nabi Saleh on 15 December went viral on Facebook.

“Nothing that Ahed Tamimi has done can justify the continuing detention of a 16-year-old girl. The Israeli authorities must release her without delay. In capturing an unarmed teenage girl’s assault on two armed soldiers wearing protective gear, the footage of this incident shows that she posed no actual threat and that her punishment is blatantly disproportionate,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“Ahed Tamimi’s ensuing arrest and military trial exposes the Israeli authorities’ discriminatory treatment of Palestinian children who dare to stand up to ongoing, often brutal, repression by occupying forces.”

Ahed Tamimi was arrested on 19 December along with her mother, Nariman Tamimi, and cousin Nour Tamimi after Nariman, also a prominent activist, posted the footage online. Ahed confronted the soldiers amid a demonstration in Nabi Saleh against US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The incident took place on the same day that Ahed’s cousin, 15-year-old Mohammad Tamimi, was hit in the head at close range by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. His family told Amnesty International that he required surgery that involved the removal of part of his left skull.

The video shows that the soldiers, who were standing on the edge of the family’s walled front yard and armed with assault rifles, were able to lightly swat away Ahed’s slaps and kicks.

However, the clip outraged many Israelis, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett telling Army Radio the three women “should finish their lives in prison”.

Four days after the incident, Ahed and Nariman, 42, were arrested. Nour, 21, was arrested the following day but has since been released on bail.

On 1 January, Ahed and Nariman were both charged with aggravated assault of soldiers and preventing soldiers from carrying out their duties.

Ahed now faces a total of 12 charges, also including incitement on social media and offences related to five other altercations with Israeli soldiers she is alleged to have taken part in over the past two years.

Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a state party, the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.

“Israel is clearly, brazenly flouting its obligations under international law to protect children from overly harsh criminal punishments,” said Magdalena Mughrabi.

“It would be an unconscionable travesty of justice if Ahed Tamini’s act of defiance in the face of relentless oppression earns her a long prison sentence after a trial in a military court that does not ensure basic fair trial standards.”

The Israeli army prosecutes hundreds of Palestinian children in juvenile military courts every year, often after arresting them in night raids and systematically subjecting them to ill-treatment, including blindfolding, threats, harsh interrogations without the presence of their lawyers or families, solitary confinement and in some cases physical violence. There are currently some 350 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons and detention centres, according to local human rights organisations.

The Israeli army prosecutes hundreds of Palestinian children in juvenile military courts every year, often after arresting them in night raids and systematically subjecting them to ill-treatment, including blindfolding, threats, harsh interrogations without the presence of their lawyers or families, solitary confinement and in some cases physical violence. There are currently some 350 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons and detention centres, according to local human rights organisations.

Ahed’s lawyer said she has faced several long and aggressive interrogation sessions, sometimes during the night, and has received threats against family members by her interrogators.

According to her family, Ahed has also endured several physically exhausting transfers from prison to court alongside other child detainees, without access to a toilet.

Nour was released on 5 January pending trial and bail of 5000 Israeli shekels (around US$1400).

Also this week, Ahed’s father, Bassem Tamimi – a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience – was banned from international travel. The Israeli authorities have also issued a threat to a further 20 members of the Tamimi family that they could be banned from residing in Nabi Saleh.

Background

According to Defense for Children Palestine (DCI), approximately 500-700 Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank are prosecuted every year through Israeli juvenile military courts under Israeli military orders.

These military orders are enforced through the military courts and many criminalize peaceful activities such as peaceful political expression or organising and attending protests without prior permission from an Israeli military commander.

The judges and the prosecution are part of the Israeli military, and the jurisdiction of the Israeli military court system is never applied to Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, who are governed by Israeli civil law. Incidents of settler violence in the West Bank normally go unpunished, while Palestinians are routinely targeted and arrested.

The small village of Nabi Saleh, located north-west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, has since 2009 been the scene of regular Friday protests against Israeli military occupation, the theft of its land and the loss of the community’s water source. The Israeli army routinely uses excessive force against protesters and bystanders, and has in many cases deliberately damaged private property. Since 2009, three residents have been killed by Israeli soldiers, while hundreds have suffered injuries caused by live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas.

Myanmar: Military’s mass grave admission exposes extrajudicial executions of Rohingya

 

  • Amnesty International is clear that governments, such as Australia’s, who continue to train Myanmar’s military are propping up a force that is carrying out a vicious campaign of violence against the Rohingya that amounts to crimes against humanity.

  • Amnesty calls on Australia to immediately cease providing training to the Myanmar military and to use its military relationships with the Myanmar Army to press it to stop the violations.

  • Amnesty International’s report My World Is Finished includes testimony from Inn Din villagers about the military and vigilantes raiding the village over several days in late August, looting and burning homes and shooting people as they fled, as well as apparently targeting Rohingya men.

  • Amnesty International’s analysis of satellite imagery from Inn Din clearly shows that Rohingya homes have been burned down, while non-Rohingya areas alongside them appear untouched. The satellite imagery is available for download here.

 

Following the Myanmar military’s admission overnight that security forces and villagers summarily killed 10 captured Rohingya people and buried them in a mass grave outside Inn Din, a village in Maungdaw, Rakhine State, James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said:

“This grisly admission is a sharp departure from the army’s policy of blanket denial of any wrongdoing. However, it is only the tip of the iceberg and warrants serious independent investigation into what other atrocities were committed amid the ethnic cleansing campaign that has forced out more than 655,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State since last August.

“It is appalling that soldiers have attempted to justify extrajudicial executions by saying they were needed as reinforcements elsewhere and did not know what to do with the men. Such behaviour shows a contempt for human life which is simply beyond comprehension.

“Amnesty International and others have documented overwhelming evidence that, far beyond Inn Din, in villages and hamlets across northern Rakhine State, the military has murdered and raped Rohingya, and burned their villages to the ground. These acts amount to crimes against humanity and those responsible must be brought to justice.

“The full extent of the violations and crimes against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities will not be known until the UN Fact-Finding Mission and other independent observers are given unfettered access to Myanmar, and in particular Rakhine State.”

Background

Myanmar’s armed forces have previously attempted to whitewash their role in crimes against humanity against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State.

Amnesty International research has shown how, since late August 2017, Myanmar’s security forces have unleashed a targeted campaign of violence against the Rohingya population, including through the widespread killing of women, men and children; rape and other forms of sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls; laying landmines; and burning entire Rohingya villages. This comes in the context of a longstanding state-sponsored apartheid regime against the Rohingya.

Satellite images that Amnesty International analysed from Inn Din clearly show how an area of Rohingya homes have been burned to the ground, while non-Rohingya areas alongside them appear to have been left untouched.

Amnesty International’s October 2017 report My World Is Finished includes the testimonies of seven Rohingya villagers from Inn Din. They described how the military and vigilantes raided the village over several days in late August, looting and burning homes and shooting people as they fled, as well as apparently targeting Rohingya men. The organisation has not been able to determine the scale of the killings in Inn Din.

Amnesty International is clear that governments, such as Australia’s, who continue to train Myanmar’s military are propping up a force that is carrying out a vicious campaign of violence against the Rohingya that amounts to crimes against humanity.

NT Royal Commission: Federal leadership welcome, now it’s time for Australia-wide change

In response to reports that Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion said the Federal Government will release in the “very near future” a “fully funded” response to the final report of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, Amnesty International Australia’s Indigenous Rights Advisor Rodney Dillon said,

“We’re pleased that Minister Scullion has indicated that the Federal Government will release a fully-funded response to the NT Royal Commission that will have ramifications for all states and territories.

“The horrific, inhuman abuse of children in Don Dale laid out in the NT Royal Commission is happening in every state and territory. Often to Indigenous kids, who are 25 times more likely to be locked up nationally than non-Indigenous kids, with rates as high as 44 times more likely in WA.  

“Any response must include minimum conditions of children’s prison that comply with human rights standards, alternative bail accommodation to address the sky-high rates of children in prison on remand, an increase in the age of criminal responsibility to 14 and funding reinvested into comprehensive strategies to keep kids from getting stuck in the prison system in the first place.

“While these comments are welcome, leadership means making sure the work gets done. Minister Scullion must ensure all levels of government are held accountable for the implementation of these important reforms, and where necessary, to help fund the changes that are desperately needed in the youth justice system across Australia.”

Syria: Government must allow 529 sick and injured civilians out of Eastern Ghouta

Amnesty International is calling on the Syrian government to allow the urgent medical evacuation of more than 500 sick and injured civilians from the besieged Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.

According to medical personnel in Eastern Ghouta, some 529 patients require urgent treatment for their injuries or diseases – treatment that is unavailable in the enclave.

Doctors and medical workers in Eastern Ghouta say they are unable to provide adequate medical care because of a lack of surgical supplies, medical equipment and medicine, particularly for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Diana Sayed, Amnesty International Australia’s Crisis Response Campaigns Coordinator, said:

“With the utmost brutality, the Syrian government is playing with people’s lives and using these seriously injured and ill civilians as bargaining chips.

“We appeal to the authorities in Damascus to observe the basic principles of international humanitarian law and allow these people out of Eastern Ghouta.

“They should be in hospital receiving urgent medical care, not trapped in the increasingly hellish conditions of Eastern Ghouta.”

Amnesty International has issued an “Urgent Action” campaign alert for the 529, with the organisation’s supporters contacting Syrian and Russian government officials.

Background

People dying while they wait

In total, the medical evacuation of 572 people has been pending approval from the Syrian government since last July, and medical personnel in Eastern Ghouta say that so far 14 people have died while waiting for transfer out. On 27 December, the Syrian government approved the medical evacuation of 29 of the most critical Eastern Ghouta patients, a process that was completed two days later. Seventeen children, six women and six men were transferred to hospitals in Damascus, where they are currently being treated. Reports indicate that this small number of evacuations was only agreed after negotiations that led to the release of individuals held by armed opposition groups.

400,000 under siege

Eastern Ghouta, an area near Damascus home to around 400,000 civilians, has been under siege from Syrian government forces for several years. Last February, smuggling tunnels that had guaranteed a minimum flow of food, water and medical supplies to the area were sealed up by government forces. Meanwhile, on 3 October, the Syrian government further tightened its siege by closing the last remaining entry point, the al-Wafideen checkpoint, impeding access to medical and humanitarian aid and barring civilian movement. Only two aid convoys have been allowed in since, and all medical supplies were removed from it by the government. Since then, Eastern Ghouta’s humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly, with prices of medicine and basic food supplies skyrocketing.

‘War crimes on an epic scale’

In November, Amnesty International accused Syrian government forces of committing war crimes “on an epic scale” in Eastern Ghouta. Amnesty’s research showed that these forces had been using banned Soviet-era cluster munitions to carry out indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

Myanmar: Reuters journalists must be released

The Myanmar authorities must immediately release two journalists from the Reuters news agency who have been arbitrarily detained for investigating military abuses in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Amnesty International said.

The two journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, are due in court today. They had been investigating the recent military operations in Rakhine State when they were arrested on 12 December 2017.

“Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo must be immediately and unconditionally released. They have done absolutely nothing but carry out their legitimate work as journalists. This is clearly an attempt by the authorities to silence investigations into military violations and crimes against Rohingya in Rakhine State, and to scare other journalists away from doing the same,” said James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

“These arrests have not happened in a vacuum, but come as authorities are increasingly restricting independent media. Journalists and media outlets, in particular those who report on ‘sensitive topics’, are living with the constant fear of harassment, intimidation or arrest. This clampdown on freedom of speech must end.”

Background

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, on 12 December 2017. They were held incommunicado for two weeks. State officials have confirmed the two are being investigated for breaching Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.