With mounting evidence of government involvement in thousands of extrajudicial executions in Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’, Amnesty International is calling on regional leaders to take a stand against possible crimes against humanity as they meet at the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila this week.

“While they meet in their comfortable surroundings, ASEAN leaders should spare a thought for the thousands of people who have been killed as part of Duterte’s brutal crackdown. The vast majority are from marginalised and neglected communities, making it effectively a war on the poor,” said Champa Patel, Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific at Amnesty International.

“As the death toll mounts, so does evidence of the Philippines authorities’ role in the bloodshed. That the Philippines is chairing the ASEAN Summit against this horrifying backdrop is a scandal, and should prompt the government to make independent and effective investigations into unlawful killings an immediate priority. They must send a clear message that there will be accountability and an end to such shocking violations.”

Amnesty International is calling upon ASEAN leaders to consider whether the mass killings in the Philippines amount to a “serious breach” of the ASEAN Charter, and in particular whether they constitute non-compliance with the Charter’s pledge to human rights. Under Article 20(4) of the Charter, the ASEAN Summit may on such occasions meet and take action.

“As the death toll mounts, so does evidence of the Philippines authorities’ role in the bloodshed”

In an open letter to the Philippines Justice Secretary, Amnesty International is also urging the Philippines authorities to prioritise prompt, impartial and effective investigations into all drug related killings, and to press criminal charges against anyone reasonably suspected of involvement, regardless of their rank or status in the police or government. The letter has been signed by over 20 representatives of the organisation, throughout the Asia Pacific, Europe and Americas regions.

Up to 9000 people have been killed by police or unknown armed persons since July 2016.

High-ranking government officials, and in particular President Duterte, have explicitly and repeatedly called on police, as well as private citizens, to kill people they suspect of using or selling drugs, rather than acting in accordance with national laws and respecting international human rights obligations.

Amnesty International has stated that unless key steps are promptly taken, the ICC should initiate a preliminary examination into unlawful killings in the Philippines’s violent anti-drug campaign and related crimes under the Rome Statute, including the involvement of government officials, irrespective of rank and status.

Background

The ASEAN Summit is a semi-annual meeting of the leaders the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to discuss issues of mutual interest.

“These first 100 days show how dangerous Trump’s agenda is, and they’re also a roadmap for how to stop it and protect human rights in the U.S. and around the world.”

As the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration come to a close, Amnesty International has compiled a list of 100 ways the Trump administration has tried to threaten human rights in the U.S. and around the world – sometimes succeeding, and sometimes being blocked by a powerful and growing resistance movement.

“These first 100 days show how dangerous Trump’s agenda is, and they’re also a roadmap for how to stop it and protect human rights in the U.S. and around the world,” said Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA.

“When we sat down to document the first 100 days, it didn’t take long to identify 100 ways this administration has threatened people’s human rights. What’s incredible isn’t just all the ways the Trump administration has tried to deny people freedom, justice, and equality – but all the ways that the public has pushed back and refused to let it happen.”

Among the human rights threats during the first 100 days, Amnesty International lists:

• Abusive U.S.-Mexico border enforcement practices that treat people like criminals when they come to the U.S. seeking asylum from horrific violence
• Extreme restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care in the U.S. and around the world
• Repeal of protections for LGBT workers and transgender students
• Granting permission for the Dakota Access Pipeline to drill under the Missouri River north of Standing Rock, threatening the water source for the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes

The list also includes examples of attempts by the administration to enact policies to violate human rights that have been blocked in part because of massive grassroots and political opposition, including:

• Multiple attempts to ban many people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. and shut down refugee admissions
• Attempt to bring back systematic torture and new detentions at Guantanamo Bay, through a draft executive order
• An attempt to take away health care coverage from millions of Americans

“Whether it’s closing our borders, turning our backs on refugees, trying to ban Muslims from the U.S., or emboldening human rights abusers worldwide, President Trump seems intent on stoking the fires of conflict outside U.S. borders while closing the door to those fleeing violence,” said Huang.

“We have learned that when we come together and fight back, we can make a difference. The Trump administration’s ongoing threats to human rights remain – but so does the resolve to defeat them.”

The full list is available on: amnestyusa.org/Trump100days

• Reports Saudi Arabia-led coalition is gearing up for major military offensive
• Key port city of Hodeidah is a major entry point for humanitarian aid
• UN donor conference under way in Geneva

 

Fears are growing for the safety of civilians in the strategic western port city of Hodeidah amid reports that a major offensive by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition is due to get under way soon, said Amnesty International as UN states meet at a donor conference in Geneva on 25 April.

 

As well as putting civilian lives at grave risk, an assault on the country’s fourth most populated city that seriously disrupts the functioning of the port risks cutting off a crucial lifeline to a country that is 80% dependent on imports exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.

 

“The conflict in Yemen has already inflicted unbearable suffering on the country’s civilians, who have borne the brunt of the fighting for more than two years. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition has flagrantly flouted international humanitarian law by repeatedly carrying out indiscriminate and other unlawful air strikes in densely populated areas throughout Yemen. Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured; and there has been massive destruction and damage to homes and infrastructure. There must be no repeat of such unlawful killing and destruction in Hodeidah,” said Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International’s office in Beirut.

 

“As the frontline steadily shifts north along the Red Sea coast and the risk of an assault on Hodeidah city and surrounding areas looms, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, as well as Huthi-Saleh forces and other parties, must refrain from carrying out indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. It is vital that they take all feasible precautions to ensure that the civilian population is protected. This includes giving residents effective advance warning of any attacks, and allowing time for them to evacuate safely.”

 

People internally displaced

 

The city of Hodeidah had an estimated pre-war population of more than 400,000. According to the Task Force on Population Movement co-led by the UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration, as of January 2017 the governorate of Hodeidah was home to at least 100,000 internally displaced people.

 

The likelihood of a major operation in Hodeidah also underscores the need for the international community to suspend all transfers of arms, munitions, military equipment or technology and logistical support to all parties to the conflict for use in Yemen.

 

Over the past two years of fighting, all parties to the conflict, including the Huthi and anti-Huthi armed groups and militias, have carried out unlawful attacks that have killed or injured civilians and failed to distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, more than 13,000 civilians have been killed or injured since fighting engulfed the country in March 2015.

 

Carpet-bombed

 

In May 2015, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition declared the northern city of Sa’da a “military zone”. Civilians in the area were not given enough time to evacuate, leading to thousands of people being trapped as the city was indiscriminately carpet-bombed by coalition forces for three months, in attacks that flagrantly violated international humanitarian law.

 

In mid-2015 both Huthi and anti-Huthi forces also endangered civilians as they battled to take control of Aden and Ta’iz. In ground-launched attacks documented by Amnesty International which injured and killed nearly 200 civilians, all parties routinely failed to distinguish between fighters and civilians in violation of international law. An urban war in the city of Ta’iz continues to this day unabated, contributing to civilian suffering.

 

Devastating consequences

 

Amnesty International’s researchers who were on the ground during the Sa’da offensive and the urban fighting in Aden and Ta’iz witnessed first-hand the devastating consequences for civilians who were granted neither safe passage nor effective warning.

 

The presence of fighters from the Huthi armed group or other pro-Saleh forces amongst civilians and in civilian areas would not justify the coalition treating the entire city of Hodeidah as a military target – whether or not they officially declare it a military zone as they did in Sa’da.

 

The consequences of such unlawful conduct would be devastating far beyond Hodeidah since the city’s port is a crucial access point for lifesaving international aid. While the port is currently not operating at full capacity due to damage to its facilities, 80% of goods imported into Yemen flowed through Hodeidah’s port at the time the conflict started. The UN has warned that changes in the flow of imports through the port “would have grave consequences”.

 

Yemen is currently facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. At least 21 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance in order to survive, and approximately 7 million are on the brink of starvation.

 

It is vital that all parties to the conflict grant unfettered access for impartial humanitarian assistance so that it can reach civilians in need without delay.

The state of Arkansas has executed Ledell Lee, the first of four prisoners scheduled to be executed before the state’s supply of lethal injections expires at the end of the month. This was the first execution in the state since 2005. Lee’s final appeals had requested DNA testing that could potentially prove his innocence, but those appeals were denied.

A report released earlier this month by Amnesty International showed that for the first time since 2006, and only the second time since 1991, the U.S. is not among the world’s five biggest executioners. The number of executions (20) in 2016 reached the lowest level recorded in any year since 1991. The number of executions has fallen every year since 2009, (except 2012, when it stayed the same).

“Today is a shameful day for Arkansas, which is callously rushing the judicial process by treating human beings as though they have a sell-by date.”

James Clark, Senior Campaigner at Amnesty International USA.

“Today is a shameful day for Arkansas, which is callously rushing the judicial process by treating human beings as though they have a sell-by date,” said James Clark, Senior Campaigner at Amnesty International USA.

“While other states have increasingly come to the conclusion that the capital punishment system is beyond repair, Arkansas is running in the opposite direction from progress. This assembly line of executions must stop and this cruel and inhuman punishment should be ended once and for all.”

The Arkansas State Supreme Court has allowed a spate of executions in Arkansas to move forward after they were temporarily halted this week. Arkansas had originally scheduled eight executions in the span of 10 days because its lethal injection supply is set to expire at the end of the month. Four of those executions had been put on hold prior to today’s ruling. Execution warrants for Bruce Ward and Don Davis have now expired, and stays of execution are in place for Stacey Johnson and Jason McGehee.

A Senate Committee report released overnight lays bare the horrific abuses committed against refugees and people seeking asylum on Nauru and Manus Island, further demonstrating the urgency of getting people to a place of safety.

Amnesty International gave evidence at the Senate Inquiry last month. The report highlights a failure by the Australian Government to take responsibility for its actions and a disturbing lack of accountability for abuses.

“The evidence couldn’t be clearer. The Australian Government has set up a deliberately cruel and inhumane system that is intended to make desperate and vulnerable people suffer.”

Claire Mallinson, National Director of Amnesty International Australia.

“The evidence couldn’t be clearer. The Australian Government has set up a deliberately cruel and inhumane system that is intended to make desperate and vulnerable people suffer,” said Claire Mallinson, National Director of Amnesty International Australia.

“With the release of this Senate Committee report the Government cannot possibly ignore the evidence of abuse. Ultimately there is no safe and humane way to administer offshore processing. It is designed to be cruel and to break people – and it must be shut down.

“No more excuses. What we need to see now is Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull immediately committing to get these people off the islands and bring them to safety.”

“No more excuses. What we need to see now is Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull immediately committing to get these people off the islands and bring them to safety.”

Amnesty International welcomes a number of the Committee’s recommendations – including adopting alternative policies such as increasing Australia’s annual refugee intake and working with Australia’s Asia-Pacific neighbours to establish a regional framework for the processing of peoples’ claims of asylum.

Amnesty International also supports the committee’s recommendation that Australia should ensure any refugees who have been transferred to Australia for medical treatment are able to participate in the US refugee resettlement arrangement without having to return to Nauru or PNG.

Amnesty International released an investigation into conditions on Nauru in October 2016, entitled ‘Island of Despair’.

“It’s been six months since our investigation into conditions and treatment of people held on Nauru revealed a system of abuse tantamount to torture. There has still been no change,” said Claire Mallinson.

“That’s six more months of men, women and children being trapped in an open prison. Six months of violent attacks, sexual violence, inadequate medical care and harassment involving mothers, fathers and children as young as six.”

“The Australian government can end this cruelty today by closing the centres on Nauru and Manus Island and bringing people to safety.”

New draconian amendments in the name of counter-terrorism are another nail in the coffin of fair trial standards in Egypt.

A set of legislative amendments approved by the Egyptian parliament will give the authorities sweeping powers to carry out mass arbitrary arrests, enable indefinite detention without charge or trial and will severely undermine due process and fair trial guarantees.

The amendments came after the deadly bombings of three churches in Egypt during the Palm Sunday services on 9 April that left 44 dead and more than 100 injured.

This was the ninth attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt in four months that once again highlighted the failure of the state to protect the Coptic minority.

Instead of reviewing the security failures that led to the attacks on Coptic churches and the legacy of systemic discrimination against Copts, the authorities used the bombings as a pretext to declare a state of emergency for three months and push through a set of repressive legislative amendments.   The proposed amendments do not address the root causes of sectarian attacks but further break down the checks and balances in the criminal justice system and increase the authorities’ iron grip on freedoms and peaceful dissent.

On 10 April 2017, the Egyptian parliament approved a new set of repressive amendments to several laws including the Code of Criminal Procedure (Law no. 150 of 1950); law no. 57 of 1959 regulating appeals before the Court of Cassation; Law no. 8 of 2015 on  “Terrorist Entities and Terrorists” and Counter-Terrorism law no. 94 of 2015. The amendments were proposed by MP Salah Hassab-allah deputy head of al-Mo’tamar party and others.The parliament discussed and approved it in one day and sent it to the State Council for review and advisory opinion on 12 April 2017.

On the same day, MP Tharwat Bekhit introduced new amendments to the Emergency Law No. 162 of 1958 which were approved by the parliament and sent to the State Council on 11 April 2017. As per the Constitution, the State Council will now review the legality and constitutionality of all the amendments and return it to the parliament with recommendations for further amendment. At this stage, the parliament usually approves the revised draft legislations and sends it to the President for his sign off.

If adopted, the proposed amendments pose a major threat to the rights to liberty and security of person, to fair trial, and to freedom of expression and association and will continue to do so long after the current state of emergency. These amendments will give special emergency courts the power to detain people indefinitely; empower security forces to arrest anyone that they suspect intends to commit an offence, and to search their homes without the need to obtain a judicial warrant. The amendments give the courts the discretion not to hear any of the defense witnesses; abolish the right to re-retrial and second appeal before the Court of Cassation, paving the way for mass death sentences and executions.

Further, they allow criminal courts to list people and entities on terrorism lists based solely on police information; and detain people for up to seven days without being brought before a judge or prosecutor, which will facilitate enforced disappearances.

Amendments to the Emergency law on the power to arrest and detain

 

In 2013, the Egyptian Constitutional Court had struck down the Emergency Law provision allowing for administrative detention, which had been used under former president Hosni Mubarak to imprison at least 18,000 people for up to ten years.

For over three years, parliament failed to amend the law in light of this decision but last week approved a new article (3bis) that allows the police to arrest and detain people “on suspicion of planning to commit or having committed an offence for seven days” without being brought before a judge or prosecutor. Given past experience and patterns of abuse, it is very likely that the new provision will enable security forces to carry out mass arrests, subject people to enforced disappearances and torture, and detain people, including peaceful critics of the government, without probable cause.

Under the regular law of criminal procedures, prosecutors can order detention for four days, renewable by 15 and later 45 days, under a set of conditions related to the conduct of their investigations.

Most worryingly, a second provision, 3bis(a) states that after the initial seven days without charge, the prosecutor can request that the Emergency State Security Courts order a 30 day detention, subject to indefinite renewals, for anyone considered a threat to security. Emergency State Security Courts during the Mubarak era were notorious for their lack of due process.

The proposed changes would also give the authorities the powers to search a suspect’s home, or any other place that the authorities suspect s/he could be hiding evidence of committing an offence or hiding explosives, weapons or any other dangerous materials and without the need to obtain a judicial warrant.

Amnesty International fears that the proposed amendments will give the security services carte blanche, in the name of combatting terrorism, to carry out arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance and torture on a mass scale.

Amnesty International fears that the proposed amendments will give the security services carte blanche, in the name of combatting terrorism, to carry out arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearance and torture on a mass scale. Since president Abd el-Fattah al-Sisi came to power, at least 34,000 people, according to the government’s own figures, have been arrested and held behind bars; courts have handed down mass death sentences after grossly unfair trials and based on only police investigations and testimonies of police officers and government officials; hundreds more were held under conditions of enforced disappearance and tortured and otherwise ill-treated to extract “confessions” to obtain convictions at trials.

In a development that is possibly even more worrying, the parliament also approved a new set of amendments to ordinary laws that apply outside states of emergencies.

 

Amendments limiting defence rights under the Code of Criminal Procedures

Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedures will severely undermine the presumption of innocence, right to defence, and severely undermine fair trial standards.

The proposed amendment to Article 277 gives courts the power to ignore or refuse to hear all or some witnesses for the defence.

This provision will severely undermine the right to defence and the presumption of innocence especially since the Egyptian criminal justice system has an appalling record in relying only on police or government witnesses to convict and sentence hundreds in mass trials.

Amendments to article 384 and 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedures do away with the requirement that the defendant or his lawyer be present in court when a verdict is issued.

This is contrary to international fair trial standards that require the defendant to be physically present during the trial to consider the verdict issued in his presence. It undermines the right to retrial before the same court at the same stage of litigation and the defence rights to examine evidence and respond to the prosecution’s claims.

The new amendments would also abolish Article 388 of the code of criminal procedure which grants those sentenced in absentia a retrial before the same court at the same stage of litigation, even if their delegates had attended the trial to present the reason why the defendant was not able to attend the trial.

Limiting appeals before the Court of Cassation

Parliament also approved amendments to law no. 57 of 1951 regulating appeals before the Court of Cassation. The new amendments limit the stages of appeal before the Court of Cassation.

According to the current Law no. 57 of 1959, when a case first comes before the Court of Cassation, the court’s role is only to assess whether there are errors in the application of the law. If the court finds errors, it is entitled to overturn the verdict and refer the case to a criminal court for retrial. Once the criminal court concludes the retrial and issues a verdict, the defendants will have the right to challenge the retrial verdict and the case goes once more before the Court of Cassation, the court then looks into the substance of the case and issues a final verdict.

The proposed amendment would bypass the two stages of appeal and give the court of cassation the mandate to review both the application of the law and the substance of the case at one stage of litigation. By removing the two stages of appeals, this amendment would abolish a key fair trial guarantee for those convicted by the special terrorism circuits within criminal courts. Amnesty International fears that this new provision will expedite the implementation of death sentences and will put hundreds of people at risk of execution after deeply flawed, expedited proceedings. The organisation has documented a number of cases where courts have handed down mass death sentences against hundreds of individuals, following grossly unfair trials. The organisation has found in the Egyptian context that retrials served as effective safeguards and contributed to the reduction in the number of people sentenced to death.

Amendment to the law designating “terrorists and terrorist entities” (article 3, 4, 7, and 8)

The proposal to amend Paragraph 2 of Article 3 of Law no. 8 of 2015 on “Terrorist entities and Terrorists” would give the Public Prosecutor the power to submit to courts lists of entities and persons to be designated as “terrorists” based only on “police investigation or information”, and without the need for the public prosecutor to carry out investigations and interrogations to verify the police investigations and information. The article currently requires that of the listing of entities and people as “terrorist” be based only on official prosecutor investigations and documents and thereby confirming the prosecutor as the primary investigative and charging authority. However, with the current proposed amendment, Amnesty International fears that this will make the public prosecution a tool in the hands of the security services to list anyone or any entity they wish as potential “terrorists” bypassing the prosecutor’s role.

Amnesty International research has shown that most of the police investigations related to “terrorism” are conducted by the National Security Agency of the Ministry of Interior which has a record of fabricating evidence and cases against peaceful critics and civil society organisations as well as carrying out abductions, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International research has shown that most of the police investigations related to “terrorism” are conducted by the National Security Agency of the Ministry of Interior which has a record of fabricating evidence and cases against peaceful critics and civil society organisations as well as carrying out abductions, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment.

Further, the proposed amendment to Paragraph 1 of Article 4 of the law would increase from three to five years the duration of a person or entity’s designated as “terrorist”. This means that those designated as terrorists will be subjected to travel bans, asset freezes, and confiscation of passports or prevention from obtaining passports for five years.

The definition of “terrorist” organisations or persons in the law is already very vaguely worded and over-broad; it includes elements that would not entail violence and could be used to criminalise peaceful critics and activists such as  “disturbing public order”, “harming national unity”, and “obstructing the government entities from carrying out its duties”. Today, thousands of people, including peaceful activists and government opponents, are languishing behind bars on charges that include participation in unauthorised protests that disturbed public order and obstructed officials from carrying out their duties.

Peaceful civil society organisations have increasingly been targeted as “traitors” working to harm “national unity” and “destroying Egypt’s image before the international community” in a government-orchestrated campaign. The new amendments could give the security services even more tools to intensify their crackdown on dissent and freedom of association. The proposed amendment to Para 2 of Article 7  banning entities listed as “terrorist organisations” from carrying out civil society activities as long as they are listed on the terrorism list is likely to be abused by the authorities to target legitimate civil society groups.

Amendment to the detention period before questioning/charge

The proposed amendment to para 3 of article 40 of Law no 94 of 2015 would increase the period of time a person can be held in custody before being presented to a prosecutor or other investigative authority for questioning or charging. The current law sets the timeframe to seven days while the proposed amendment increased it to 14 days, renewable for a further 14 days. Amnesty International has already opposed the current period because it facilitates enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment, as well as coerced “confessions”. Based on Amnesty International recent research, detainees are at highest risk at the earliest stages of their detention. There is an established pattern of security services  torturing detainees upon arrest and for the following few days using electric shocks, suspension in stress positions and sometimes rape to obtain “confessions” to be used to convict them at trial. Article 40 also contravenes the Egyptian constitution (article 54) and the Code of Criminal Procedures (article 36) which require that anyone arrested must be presented to a prosecutor for questioning within 48 hours.