Prime Minister Turnbull must urgently step in to protect children in Western Australia, following the Independent Inspector of Custodial Services’ findings of shocking abuse in Banksia youth detention centre.

“Today’s revelations are the latest in the avalanche of horrors spilling out from youth detention centres around the country. The brutal abuses of children in WA detention are as bad as those reported in Don Dale, Cleveland and Reiby,” said Roxanne Moore, Indigenous Rights Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia.

“Spit hoods, solitary confinement, and alleged sexual assault. The Special Operations Group using chemical agents and flash bombs, and aiming firearms and shotgun laser sights at children. And soaring rates of self-harm and attempted suicide. This is the stuff of nightmares – and it’s all been happening in Banksia.”

“What’s worse, the Inspector found evidence that the Department of Corrective Services tried to cover up the abuse. The Inspector found inaccurate recording and reporting of the time children spent locked down in their cells. CCTV footage of critical incidents has been “wiped” and records altered to look like the Government was following the law.”

“How much suffering should children endure across Australia, before Prime Minister Turnbull admits this is a national crisis?”

“Prime Minister Turnbull cannot stand by, knowing that a young girl in Banksia was locked in solitary confinement for three days, and found soaked in her own urine from distress,” said Roxanne Moore.

The Inspector found that in December 2016, girls were moved to an inappropriate unit, not suitable for their needs, resulting in 78 incidents involving girls from December 2016 to March 2017.

Many of the abuses have happened to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, who are 44 times more likely to be in detention than non-Indigenous children in WA.

Self-harm and attempted suicide in Banksia has skyrocketed, with 196 incidents in 2016, doubling the rates of previous year. There already have been 76 incidents of self-harm and one attempted suicide this year.

The Inspector found that many young people have a cognitive impairment, but the Government was not doing enough to identify these children, so that they may get the care they need.

The Inspector has called for a rehabilitative, trauma informed approach to justice.

“We’ve now seen abuses of children in detention right around the country – from Don Dale, Cleveland, Bimberi, Reiby and now to Banksia. It’s critical now that Prime Minister Turnbull overhauls the ‘injustice system’. He must commit to a national action plan – working with states and territories – that focuses on supporting children, their families and communities,” said Roxanne Moore.

Responding to the news that Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo has passed away, Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International commented:

“Today we grieve the loss of a giant of human rights. Liu Xiaobo was a man of fierce intellect, principle, wit and above all humanity.

“Today we grieve the loss of a giant of human rights. Liu Xiaobo was a man of fierce intellect, principle, wit and above all humanity.”

“For decades, he fought tirelessly to advance human rights and fundamental freedoms in China. He did so in the face of the most relentless and often brutal opposition from the Chinese government. Time and again they tried to silence him, and time and again they failed. Despite enduring years of persecution, suppression and imprisonment, Liu Xiaobo continued to fight for his convictions.

“Although he has passed, everything he stood for still endures. The greatest tribute we can now pay him is to continue the struggle for human rights in China and recognize the powerful legacy he leaves behind. Thanks to Liu Xiaobo, millions of people in China and across the world have been inspired to stand up for freedom and justice in the face of oppression.

“We stand in solidarity with his wife Liu Xia and other members of his family, who have suffered an immeasurable loss. We must do all we can to end Liu Xia’s illegal house arrest and surveillance and ensure that she is no longer persecuted by the authorities.”

The Saudi Arabian government is employing the death penalty as a political weapon to silence dissent against the Shi’a Muslim minority, said Amnesty International, following the execution of four men in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province on 11 July.

Yussuf Ali al-Mushaikass, a father of two, was executed along with three other men, for terror-related offences in connection with their participation in anti-government protests in the Shi’a majority Eastern Province between 2011 and 2012. He was convicted of offences that included “armed rebellion against the ruler”, “destabiliSing security and stirring sedition by joining a terrorist group”, “firing at a police station in Awamiyya twice, resulting in the injury of a policeman” and “participating in riots”. Yussuf al-Mushaikass’ family were reportedly not informed of the execution in advance, only finding out about it afterwards when they saw a government statement read on TV.

“These brutal executions are the latest act in the Saudi Arabian authorities’ ongoing persecution of the Shi’a minority. The death penalty is being deployed as a political weapon to punish them for daring to protest against their treatment and to cow others into silence,” said Lynn Maalouf, Director for Research at Amnesty International’s Beirut office.

“Yussuf al-Mushaikass was convicted following a grossly unfair trial which hinged largely on a ‘confession’ obtained through torture. The international community must come down hard on Saudi Arabia to ensure that others currently facing execution after deeply flawed legal proceedings do not meet the same fate. Saudi Arabia should quash their death sentences and establish an official moratorium on executions.”

Amnesty International has documented the cases of at least 34 other Shi’a men currently sentenced to death. All were accused of activities deemed a risk to national security and handed death sentences by the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), a notorious counter-terror tribunal. Amongst those currently on death row are four Saudi Arabian nationals who were convicted of offences committed while teenagers.

Ali al-Nimr, Abdullah al-Zaher and Dawood al-Marhoon, who were arrested individually in 2012 aged 17, 16 and 17 respectively, have exhausted all of their appeals and are at risk of being executed at any time.

On 10 July, Abdulkareem al-Hawaj had his death sentence upheld on appeal. He was found guilty of crimes committed when he was 16.

The four young men were convicted of security-related offences after taking part in anti-government protests. In all four cases the SCC appears to have based its decision on “confessions” the young men say were extracted through torture and other ill-treatment, allegations that the court failed to order investigations into.

Spike in executions

The execution of Yussuf al-Mushaikass and the three other men are the latest in a spike of executions in the Kingdom since Ramadan, which has seen 15 people put to death, with 13 in the past three days alone. So far in 2017, 55 people have been executed in the country.

“The Saudi Arabian government is showing no signs of letting up in its use of the death penalty and has employed it vigorously since the traditional pause for Ramadan,” said Lynn Maalouf.

“The death penalty continues to be used in violation of international human rights law and standards on a massive scale, and often after trials which are grossly unfair and sometimes politically motivated.”

Background

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature or circumstances of the crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.

Saudi Arabia is one of the top executioners in the world, with more than 2,000 people executed between 1985 and 2016, at a time when 141 countries in the world are abolitionist in law or practice, including 105 countries that have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Amnesty International renews its calls on the authorities to immediately establish a moratorium on all executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty.

In the battle against Islamic State in west Mosul, Iraqi and US-led coalition forces failed to take adequate measures to protect civilians.

• New Amnesty International report sheds light on the scale of death, injury and suffering caused to civilians caught between the warring parties in Mosul

• Islamic State deliberately trapped families in west Mosul to use as human shields

• Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition used imprecise, explosive weapons, killing thousands of civilians. Some violations may constitute war crimes

Read the report

A new report by Amnesty International uncovers the horrifying scale of death, injury and suffering of civilians trapped in the battle for west Mosul. The report documents how the group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) moved civilians from neighbouring villages into the zones of the battle in west Mosul, trapped them in their homes and prevented them from escaping, using them as human shields. Meanwhile, Iraqi and coalition forces failed to take adequate measures to protect civilians, instead subjecting them to a terrifying barrage of fire from weapons that should never be used in densely populated civilian areas.

The report, At any cost: The civilian catastrophe in West Mosul, Iraq, covers hostilities in west Mosul from January to mid-May 2017. Amnesty researchers interviewed 151 west Mosul residents, experts and analysts, and documented 45 attacks in total, which killed at least 426 civilians and injured more than 100, providing analysis for nine specific attacks by Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition.

“The scale and gravity of the loss of civilian lives during the military operation to retake Mosul must immediately be publicly acknowledged at the highest levels of government in Iraq and states that are part of the US-led coalition,” said Lynn Maalouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International.

“The horrors that the people of Mosul have witnessed and the disregard for human life by all parties to this conflict must not go unpunished. Entire families have been wiped out, many of whom are still buried under the rubble today. The people of Mosul deserve to know, from their government, that there will be justice and reparation so that the harrowing impact of this operation is duly addressed.”

“An independent commission must immediately be established, tasked with ensuring that any instances where there is credible evidence that violations of international law took place, effective investigations are carried out, and the findings made public.”

Islamic State violations: forced displacement, summary killings, and use of human shields

Since October 2016, IS has carried out a systematic campaign of forced displacement, moving thousands of civilians from neighbouring villages into areas that were still under IS control. IS then used these civilians as human shields.

“Abu Haidar” a man from the village of Tel Arbeed who was forced to move into west Mosul by IS, told Amnesty International: “[IS] said you must leave, or you will be killed. We were brought as human shields. They brought us to stand between them and the missiles. All of this happened just before the operation for west Mosul started… When the Iraqi forces went forward, IS fell back, and they took most of the civilians with them.”

To prevent civilians from evacuating to safety, IS trapped people inside their homes by welding their doors shut, rigging booby traps at exits, and summarily killing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people attempting to escape.

Mosul resident “Mohsen” told Amnesty International: “They came to us in a pick-up truck, with a generator in the back, and then they welded shut the gap between the two doors… They did this to our door, and even worse, they did it to another house in our neighbourhood where hundreds of people were staying.”

Another man, “Hasan”, witnessed how IS hanged from electricity pylons the bodies of civilians trying to flee: “We did not have any options. If you stayed, you would die in your house from the fighting. If you tried to run away, they would catch you and kill you, and hang your body from the electricity pylon as a warning. Four of my neighbours were caught trying to escape, and I saw them hanging from the electricity pylon. They were left for days, just hanging there. They would hang between 15 and 50 people from the pylons.”

The fear of being killed by IS while escaping meant that many civilians had to wait until the clashes reached their peak. Once IS fighters were busy fighting, civilians would run directly through the front lines to reach Iraqi forces.

Violations by Iraqi forces and US-led coalition: Unlawful attacks and use of imprecise, explosive weapons

“When the Iraqi forces came, the mortars and missiles came with them.” –  Mohsen

Because Islamic State was forcing civilians to move into the fighting and preventing them from escaping, IS-controlled areas in west Mosul became more and more crowded with civilians as the battle raged on. Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition failed to adapt their tactics to this reality and continued to use imprecise, explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated urban environments.

“IS’s use of people as human shields does not lessen the legal obligation of pro-government forces to protect civilians. Military planners should have taken extra care in the manner in which they used their weapons to ensure that these attacks were not unlawful.” – Lynn Maalouf

“IS’s use of people as human shields does not lessen the legal obligation of pro-government forces to protect civilians. Military planners should have taken extra care in the manner in which they used their weapons to ensure that these attacks were not unlawful,” said Lynn Maalouf.

Amnesty International documented a pattern of attacks in which US-led coalition and Iraqi forces appear not to have struck their intended military targets, instead killing and injuring civilians and destroying or damaging civilian objects. In some cases, civilian deaths and injuries appear to have resulted from a choice of weapons that was inappropriate for the circumstances or failure to take necessary precautions to verify the target was a military objective.

Even in attacks that seem to have struck their intended military target, the use of what seem to be unnecessarily powerful weapons or failure to take necessary precautions resulted in needless loss of civilian lives. For example, on 17 March 2017 a US airstrike on the Mosul al-Jadida neighbourhood killed at least 105 civilians in order to neutralise two IS snipers. Regardless of whether – as the US Department of Defense has maintained – secondary explosions occurred, it should have been clear to those responsible that the risk posed to civilians by using a 500lb bomb was clearly excessive in relation to anticipated military advantage.

Mohamed from al-Tenak neighbourhood, west Mosul told Amnesty International: “The strikes targeted the IS snipers. A strike would destroy an entire house of two storeys. They shelled during night and day. They hit so many houses. They’d hit one house and also destroy the two houses on either side. They killed a huge number of people.”

“Iraqi forces and members of the US-led coalition must ensure that the fight against IS – not only in the fight for Mosul, but in other battles in Iraq and in Syria – is fought in a way that is consistent with international law and standards. States engaged in this fight must not only focus on the military aspect of this fight, but also deploy in conjunction the resources needed to alleviate the incredible suffering of civilians trapped by conflict and abused by IS,” said Lynn Maalouf.

 

Following the United Nations’ adoption of a new global treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, James Lynch, Head of Arms Control and Human Rights at Amnesty International, said:

“This historic treaty brings us a step closer to a world free from the horrors of nuclear weapons, the most destructive and indiscriminate weapons ever created. All states should give their full backing to this antidote to the cynical brinkmanship embodied in the development, stockpiling or use of nuclear weapons.

“This historic treaty brings us a step closer to a world free from the horrors of nuclear weapons, the most destructive and indiscriminate weapons ever created. All states should give their full backing to this antidote to the cynical brinkmanship embodied in the development, stockpiling or use of nuclear weapons.”

“The immediate and strong global condemnation of North Korea’s testing of nuclear-capable missiles earlier this week gives a sense of how high the stakes are – everybody knows it is in nobody’s interest for a single nuclear warhead to be detonated, ever.

“Today’s vote shows that a majority of states consider a global prohibition on nuclear weapons to be the best option for protecting the world from their catastrophic effects. And it shows once again how a strong civil society-led effort can inspire real change on the world stage.

“We are opposed to the use, possession, production and transfer of nuclear weapons by any country, including permanent members of the UN Security Council, and so it was deeply disappointing to see that these, and other nuclear-armed states, failed to back the treaty. We are calling on them to take a stand for human rights and humanity by joining the ban treaty.”

Background

In a vote concluding negotiations on a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons” at the UN in New York on 7 July, 122 states voted to adopt, one voted against and one abstained. The world’s nuclear-armed states, including the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council, did not participate in the final negotiations or the vote.

Amnesty International supports the work of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons to help bring about this treaty and monitor its implementation.