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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

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Amnesty International calls 2010 a watershed year

13.05.2011    source: amnesty.org
While the term is in some ways used positively, “In a worrying new trend, the picture darkened in Ukraine for human rights defenders. They were physically attacked, and faced harassment from law enforcement officers, in connection with their legitimate human rights work”

 

The year 2010 may well be remembered as a watershed year when activists and journalists used new technology to speak truth to power and, in so doing, pushed for greater respect for human rights. It is also the year when repressive governments faced the real possibility that their days were numbered.

Information is a source of power, and for those challenging the abuse of power by states and other institutions, it is an exciting time. Since Amnesty International’s inception half a century ago, we have seen and shaped similar major shifts in the power struggle between those perpetrating abuses and the courageous and inventive individuals who expose their wrongdoing. As a movement dedicated to focusing global outrage in defence of beleaguered individuals, we are committed to supporting activists who imagine a world in which information is truly free and in which they can exercise their right to express dissent peacefully, beyond the control of the authorities.

For 50 years, Amnesty International has explored frontier technologies that can give voice to the powerless and abused. From teleprinters, photocopiers and fax machines through to radio, television, satellite communications, phones, emails and the internet, we have harnessed them all in support of mass mobilization. They have been tools that have aided the struggle for human rights, despite sophisticated government efforts to restrict the flow of information and censor communication.

This year Wikileaks, a website dedicated to posting documents received from a wide variety of sources, began publishing the first of hundreds of thousands of documents which were allegedly downloaded by a 22-year-old US Army intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, who is currently in pre-trial detention and faces the possibility of more than 50 years in prison if convicted of espionage and other charges.

Wikileaks created an easily accessible dumping ground for whistleblowers around the world and showed the power of this platform by disseminating and publishing classified and confidential government documents. Early on, Amnesty International recognized Wikileaks’ contribution to human rights activism when Wikileaks posted information related to violations in Kenya in 2009.

But it took old-fashioned newspaper reporters and political analysts to trawl through the raw data, analyze it, and identify evidence of crimes and violations contained in those documents. Leveraging this information, political activists used other new communications tools now easily available on mobile phones and on social networking sites to bring people to the streets to demand accountability.

A compelling and tragic example of the power of individual action when amplified through the new tools of the virtual world is the story of Mohamed Bouazizi. In December 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor living in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, set himself on fire outside the City Hall to protest police harassment, humiliation, economic hardship and the sense of powerlessness felt by young people like himself in Tunisia.

As word of his act of despair and defiance spread around Tunisia via mobile phones and the internet, it galvanized the long-simmering dissent against the country’s oppressive government with unforeseen ramifications. Mohamed Bouazizi died from his burns, but his anger lived on in the form of street protests throughout the country. Activists in Tunisia – a group comprised of trade unionists, members of the political opposition, and youth – some of whom did their organizing via social networking sites – took to the streets to demonstrate their support for Mohamed Bouazizi’s grievances. Experienced hands joined with young protesters in using new tools to challenge a repressive government.

The Tunisian government sought to enforce a tight media blackout and shut down individual access to the internet but news quickly spread thanks to new technologies. The protesters made it clear that their anger was about both the government’s brutal repression of those who dared to challenge its authoritarianism as well as the lack of economic opportunity caused in part by government corruption.

In January, less than a month after Mohamed Bouazizi’s desperate act, the government of President Zine El ‘Abidine Ben ‘Ali collapsed and he fled the country, seeking refuge in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The people of Tunisia celebrated the end of 20 plus years of unaccountable rule, setting the stage for the restoration of a participatory and rights-respecting government to be elected.

The fall of Ben ‘Ali’s government reverberated throughout the region and the world. Governments which rely on torture and repression to suppress dissent and which grow rich through corruption and economic exploitation were looking over their shoulders. The local elite and foreign governments which propped up these illegitimate regimes while pontificating on democracy and human rights, were also nervous.

In no time the upheaval in Tunisia triggered tremors in other countries. People took to the streets in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Yemen.

The tools in 2010 were new but the grievances were the same: the quest for a life lived with dignity, with the full range of civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Activists around the world who have too long endured the threat and reality of imprisonment, torture and other brutality because of their political opinion and beliefs or identity, imagined a world of possibilities including freedom from fear and meaningful political participation. What was clearly shown by the postings is that the lack of economic opportunity experienced by many in the region resonated deeply with those who were supporting the activists in Tunisia.

The frustration of people living under repressive governments is never far beneath the surface. For example, in Egypt, Khaled Said died following an assault by two police officers in an internet cafe in Alexandria in June 2010. His death provoked a public outcry – what in hindsight appears to be an early harbinger of the massive demonstrations in 2011. The police officers were charged with unlawfully arresting and torturing him, but not charged with direct responsibility for his death. In Iran, government officials restricted access to outside sources of information such as the internet as the discontent following the disputed election in 2009 continued and the wounds created by a brutal crackdown on protesters festered.

In China, the government attempted to bury the story of a young man who, when stopped by police after killing one woman and injuring another while driving drunk, dismissed them by proclaiming his relationship to a senior police official. The cry, “My father is Li Gang” became shorthand for lack of accountability and the story behind the line was posted and reposted on the internet throughout China even as the authorities struggled for control.

For those politicians who argue the primacy of civil and political rights over economic, social and cultural rights – or vice versa – the clarity with which activists have defined their frustration as related to the lack of political and economic opportunities demonstrates that this is a false dichotomy that ignores the experiences of millions, if not billions, of people throughout the world living without both.

Amnesty International, which began as an organization dedicated to the rights of prisoners of conscience, has long understood that it is just as important to point out the underlying violations that spur activists to write and to take to the streets as it is to ensure an end to detention and abuse of the activists. Social networking sites may be new, but they are important because they are a powerful tool that can facilitate camaraderie and support between disaffected critics living under similarly abusive governments around the world.

Leaks and Revelations

In July, Wikileaks and several major newspapers began publishing nearly 100, 000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan. Controversy regarding the content, the legality and the consequences of the leak erupted. The documents provided valuable corroboration of human rights violations documented by human rights activists and journalists – violations that the Afghan and NATO governments had denied. But human rights organizations were also alarmed when the Taleban announced that they were going through the documents on Wikileaks and would punish Afghans who had co-operated with the Afghan government or its international supporters. New technology, like all tools, presents risks as well as benefits; Wikileaks took steps to ensure that future document releases would incorporate the long-standing principle of ”do no harm”, a bedrock of Amnesty International’s work over the past 50 years.

In response, the governments implicated in the abuses invoked the age-old excuse of claiming that the leaked documents highlighting government violations and failures were a threat to national security and therefore illegal. By and large they simply ignored the revelation of evidence of crimes under international law and their failure to investigate these crimes and prosecute those responsible.

In October, Wikileaks released nearly 400, 000 documents related to the war in Iraq. Again, Amnesty International and other human rights organizations pointed out that even as the implicated governments cried national security, they were failing to meet their responsibility to investigate and prosecute those responsible for war crimes and other crimes under international law. The documents also confirmed that even as these governments were dismissing the reports of these violations by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, they were in possession of documents that clearly verified the accuracy of these reports.

But these leaks were dwarfed by the final chapter in 2010 when Wikileaks and five major newspapers started to simultaneously publish the first 220 of 251, 287 leaked confidential – but not top secret – diplomatic cables from 274 US embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions around the world, dated from 28 December 1966 to 28 February 2010. The newly available information, analysed by veteran newspaper reporters as well as new but passionate bloggers, fed into existing movements and inspired new actors.

Tremors around the World

There are differing perspectives on the Wikileaks drama, with some commentators describing it as operating in “a moral void” while others see it as the modern equivalent of the release of the Pentagon Papers. What is clear, however, is the impact that the leaks have had.

While the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia would not have happened without the long struggle of brave human rights defenders over the last two decades, support for activists from outside the country may have been strengthened as people scrutinized the Wikileaks documents on Tunisia and understood the roots of the anger. In particular, some of the documents made clear that countries around the world were aware of both the political repression and the lack of economic opportunity, but for the most part were not taking action to urge change. One leaked cable showed that the then Canadian envoy, the US ambassador and the UK ambassador all acknowledged that the Tunisian security forces torture detainees; that diplomatic assurances that the government will not torture detainees sent back to Tunisia are “of value” but unreliable; and that the ICRC does not have access to detention facilities run by the Ministry of Interior.

In another leaked cable, the US ambassador detailed how the Tunisian economy was in shreds due to the pervasiveness of corruption, ranging from shakedowns by the police to the long arm of “the Family” – that is members of President Ben ‘Ali’s immediate and extended family who used their power to amass wealth.

Which brings us back to Mohamed Bouazizi and so many other Tunisians who appear to have felt that all hope was lost in the face of torture, economic deprivation, government corruption, police brutality and the unrelenting repression of political opposition and any others who voiced dissent. He had no political avenue for demanding economic opportunities and when he tried to create his own by selling fruits and vegetables from a cart on the street, the police confiscated his goods. When he went to the political authorities to complain of police abuse, they declined to accept or investigate his complaint.

Mohamed Bouazizi’s complaints were hardly unique. But his act of self-immolation happened around the same time as Wikileaks published documents showing that Western governments which had allied themselves with Ben ‘Ali’s government were aware of all these issues but apparently unwilling to exert external pressure on the government to respect human rights. The combination of these two events seems to have triggered widespread support for protesters in Tunisia. People from neighbouring countries were particularly supportive – some of whom face the same obstacles to enjoying their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.

A Telling Response

Confronted with the situation in Tunisia and Egypt, the response of Western governments is instructive. The USA severed their long relationship with President Ben ‘Ali of Tunisia. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs initially proposed helping the Ben ‘Ali government to handle the protest, but outrage at such a position erupted in France and after Ben ‘Ali fled Tunisia the French finally came out in support of the protesters. Faced with similar protests in Egypt, the USA and many European governments appeared caught off guard and unwilling to support the protesters’ initial call for President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak to leave power.

The USA in particular has invested heavily in the stability of the Mubarak government despite ample evidence of its brutality over the last 30 years. In fact throughout the world, many governments that proclaim to value human rights and democracy explicitly supported political leaders, such as Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Ben ‘Ali in Tunisia, whom they knew were corrupt, repressive and indifferent to the rights of their own citizens. In fact, the first extraordinary renditions (outsourcing of torture) happened under the Bill Clinton administration which sent detainees to Egypt – a place well known for its systematic use of torture. The evidence of this hypocrisy – reinforced by the many diplomatic cables available through Wikileaks – exposes these governments and casts doubt on their commitments to human rights. In the end, the courage of peaceful protestors riskng their lives on the streets of Cairo and other cities proved too much for President Mubarak and his allies.

In the wake of the leaked diplomatic cables, governments have been scrambling to figure out what crimes may have been committed by Wikileaks (and Bradley Manning). There are troubling aspects to this response. The US government, which has been most vehement in attacking Wikileaks, had a different view when it was supporting new advances in disseminating information about other countries. In January 2010, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton gave a speech aimed at encouraging governments around the world to ensure that their residents had access to the internet, comparing internet censorship to the Berlin Wall. “Information has never been so free”, declared Hillary Clinton. “Even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable.”

She went on to relate how, during his visit to China in November 2009, President Barack Obama had “defended the right of people to freely access information, and said that the more freely information flows the stronger societies become. He spoke about how access to information helps citizens to hold their governments accountable, generates new ideas, and encourages creativity.”

But the USA is not alone in wanting a well-behaved internet or in its willingness to use cyber technology to violate the right to privacy. The internet further exposes governments’ desire to control access to information, as they seek to censor those using the internet when the content is perceived by those in power to be a threat even as they add hacking and surveillance to their own arsenals.

It is, however, clear that governments are not necessarily in the driver’s seat, however much they might wish to be. In China, the so-called “Great Firewall” has played an important and damaging role in seeking to smother free discussion on the internet. Those who have overstepped the rules have been harassed or jailed. For example, in July 2010, Hairat Niyaz, a Uighur journalist and web editor, was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for “endangering state security”. As evidence, the court cited interviews he had given to overseas media as well as his online translation of an overseas Uighur organization calling for protests against the government’s handling of an incident in which at least two Uighur were killed when Han Chinese workers attacked Uighur workers in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, southern China. Again and again, however, despite the most sophisticated technology, the Chinese authorities have found themselves unsettled or outwitted by internet users – a wild colt that cannot be tamed, in the words of Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez.

Take Liu Xiaobo, the scholar and co-author of the dissident document Charter ‘08. He was inspired by the activity of Eastern European intellectuals fighting against Communist authoritarianism in the 1970s and 1980s. They too benefited from new technologies – copying machines and faxes – to disseminate their ideas and challenge, and ultimately topple, abusive governments.

Liu Xiaobo was little known to most ordinary Chinese even after he was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment on Christmas Day 2009. And yet, when he was awarded the Nobel peace prize in October 2010 online activists around the world went into overdrive in seeking to acknowledge his role.

Chinese authorities were eager to shut the discussion down. Caught off balance by widespread support for the man they had officially described as a “traitor”, they blocked searches for the phrase “empty chair” – a term many Chinese had begun to use in reference to the way that Liu Xiaobo was honoured at the prize-giving ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

Until Wikileaks, it appeared that governments believed they retained the upper hand. But when the companies that were necessary for Wikileaks to function withdrew their support – and it remains unclear whether this was as a result of direct government pressure – the companies and the governments that were condemning Wikileaks came under attack from hackers around the world.

This increased action by hackers and the continued dissemination of documents despite threats and outrage by various governments show how Wikileaks has changed the nature of the game with regard to who controls information. It also demonstrated a “take no prisoners” attitude among some hackers that threatened the privacy and security of individuals.

Getting the Right Balance – a Word of Caution

As we have seen before, the desire to publicize information, if not balanced against individual rights, can lead to problems of its own. In August, two women filed criminal complaints against Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, under the Swedish sexual offences act. Hackers published the names and identities of the women who had been vilified in the media as stooges of the US and Swedish governments. This demonstrates that in the new virtual universe women continue to be treated as pawns – or even worse – as acceptable collateral damage. To be clear, the women deserve to have their complaints fully investigated and if there is sufficient evidence, to see the alleged perpetrator prosecuted. Julian Assange must be accorded the presumption of innocence and given due process protections and a fair trial.

Human rights law is clear on this issue. Governments must be transparent and may only curtail freedom of expression (and the right to receive and impart information) to promote respect for the rights or reputations of others and to protect national security, public order and public health or morals. The claims by governments that national security is a carte blanche to restrict information is never justified – especially when the restriction appears to be covering up human rights and humanitarian law violations. But government hypocrisy and deception equally does not justify hacking into the prosecutor’s office and violating the privacy of the women plaintiffs.

A Digital Future for Human Rights

There is nothing magical or deterministic about the internet and other communications technologies. Technology neither respects nor undermines human rights. It is and will continue to be a tool used by both those who want to challenge injustices around the world and those who want to control access to information and suppress dissenting voices. Arguably, FM Radio and mobile phones have done more to promote and protect human rights in Africa than most other conventional methods. Innovative use of crowdsourcing by the Ushahidi.com website in Kenya has opened up a whole new set of possibilities for conflict prevention.

Technology will serve the purposes of those who control it – whether their goal is the promotion of rights or the undermining of rights. We must be mindful that in a world of asymmetric power, the ability of governments and other institutional actors to abuse and exploit technology will always be superior to the grass-roots activists, the beleaguered human rights advocate, the intrepid whistleblower and the individual whose sense

of justice demands that they be able to seek information or describe and document an injustice through these technologies.

In the debate surrounding Wikileaks, the dissemination of documents with apparent insufficient concern regarding the security of those exposed and the controversy surrounding the sexual offences case against Julian Assange made moral clarity difficult. It is not a case that allows for the moral clarity that – at least in retrospect – we associate with the publication of the Pentagon Papers. For those who find Wikileaks amoral, it is important to note that when those who should be speaking truth to power fail, those who live with the daily abuses of power may understandably celebrate Wikileaks. Their last hope for accountability is disclosure – however messy, embarrassing and apparently counter-productive it may be.

Nonetheless, these are amazing times for Amnesty International and other human rights activists who see the possibilities offered by technology for revealing the truth and holding debates that may evade state censorship and connect us across borders. We imagine the promise of living in a truly flat world in which all people have access to information in a meaningful way, in which all people can participate fully in decisions affecting their lives and in which no injustice goes unchallenged.

In 2011, Amnesty International celebrates its 50th anniversary. Described by a contemporary critic as “one of the larger lunacies of our time”, the movement was ignited by a simple call to action from British lawyer Peter Benenson, asking society to remember “The Forgotten Prisoner”. His passion was inspired when he learned of two Portuguese youths who had been imprisoned for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom.

Fortunately, for thousands of forgotten prisoners since, such “lunacy” not only prevailed, but continues, and we and our allies remain determined to promote the right to information and freedom of expression. Together we have successfully campaigned for the release of thousands of prisoners of conscience – some of whom, such as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf – are today heads of states. Together we helped bring about the November 2010 release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, demonstrating yet again how unrelenting persistence can bring positive change. Together we have saved countless lives – most recently two activists challenging security forces of a mining operation who were about to stage a confrontation in order to rid themselves of activists who were willing to risk their lives by speaking truth to power.

Fifty years on the world has changed dramatically, but the imperative for individuals to stand together to fight injustice and protect the rights of human beings, wherever they may be, has not.

This anniversary is a moment to imagine how much individuals working together can achieve. If each of Amnesty International’s members, more than 3 million people, reached out to just one more person to join our work for justice, we would double our impact. As we have seen in the Middle East and North Africa, the collective actions of individuals united in their quest for fundamental fairness can have the power to bring down repressive governments.

The need for individuals who value rights and freedoms to work in concert within and across borders remains great as governments persist in persecuting those who challenge abuse of power. While brave and determined individuals claim their rights and freedoms, governments, armed groups, corporations, and international institutions seek to evade scrutiny and accountability.

We draw inspiration from the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the courage of Liu Xiaobo, the resilience of thousands of prisoners of conscience, the courage of countless human rights defenders and the tenacity, against all the odds, of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Tunisians who, confronted with the tragic story of Mohamed Bouazizi, determined to ensure his legacy through organizing against the abuse of power that led to his death. At Amnesty International, we commit ourselves to redouble our efforts to strengthen the global human rights movement and struggle to make sure no one else ever feels so alone in his or her despair as to see no way out.

 Europe & Central Asia

“The great lie has been laid bare. The truth has been brought home at last.”

Tony Doherty, whose father Paddy died on Sunday 30 January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, when soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march.

The right to truth and justice, and the determination of victims and their relatives to achieve this however long and however hard the struggle, remained a key part of the human rights landscape across the Europe and Central Asia region throughout the year.

On 15 June, families gathered in a council building in Northern Ireland in the UK to have first sight of the findings of a long-running – and long-awaited – inquiry into the killing of 13 people by the British army on a day that became known as Bloody Sunday.

They had waited nearly four decades for justice, and their jubilation when it came was unrestrained. The inquiry rejected all claims from earlier government reports that any of those killed and injured by soldiers were posing a threat, were armed with a firearm, or threw a nail or petrol bomb. It vindicated all their loved ones of any responsibility for the shootings. The report confirmed that several of the victims had been shot in the back while running away, and found that accounts by many of the soldiers were manifestly untrue. In response, the UK Prime Minister gave a public state apology.

Freedom of expression

For a region that prides itself as a beacon for free expression, the real picture was very different for many seeking to publicize abuses, articulate alternative views, or hold governments and others to account. Freedoms of expression and association remained under attack – as did human rights defenders themselves.

In Turkey, despite increasingly open debate regarding previously taboo issues, numerous criminal prosecutions followed the expression of dissenting opinions: especially those relating to criticism of the armed forces, the position of Armenians and Kurds in Turkey and ongoing criminal prosecutions. Alongside various articles of the Penal Code, anti- terrorism laws carrying higher prison sentences and resulting in pre-trial detention orders were frequently used to stifle legitimate free expression. Kurdish political activists, journalists and human rights defenders were among those most frequently prosecuted. Arbitrary restrictions continued to be imposed, blocking access to websites, and newspapers were issued with temporary closure orders. Threats of violence against outspoken individuals continued.

Elsewhere, the clampdown remained depressingly familiar. Virtually any form of dissent was suppressed in Turkmenistan. Journalists working with foreign media faced harassment and intimidation, and independent civil society activists were unable to operate openly. Fears for their safety were heightened after the President called on the Security Ministry to fight those who “defame our law-based democratic state”. In Uzbekistan, human rights defenders and independent journalists were harassed, beaten, detained and imprisoned after unfair trials. A similar pattern was seen in Azerbaijan, with criminal and civil defamation laws used to silence criticism, and Serbia, where human rights defenders and journalists continued to be subject to threats, attacks and hate speech.

In Russia, the authorities continued to send out mixed messages on freedom of expression. They promised respect and protection for journalists and civil society activists, while at the same time launching, or failing to curb, smear campaigns against prominent government critics. The environment for human rights defenders and independent NGOs remained difficult. Threats, assaults, administrative harassment and public attacks on their character and integrity continued, with the intention of impeding their work and undermining their credibility. Investigations into attacks on, and the murders of, other prominent human rights defenders and journalists produced few results. The clampdown on social activism also continued, including through the banning of demonstrations, their violent dispersal and the prosecution of individuals under anti-extremism legislation.

In a worrying new trend, the picture darkened in Ukraine for human rights defenders. They were physically attacked, and faced harassment from law enforcement officers, in connection with their legitimate human rights work. There was a fresh assault on civil society in Belarus, obliterating the fragile signs of openness in the run-up to the presidential election in December. In the aftermath of the election, which was marred by irregularities, riot police violently dispersed mainly peaceful demonstrators. By the end of the year, 29 people, including six opposition presidential candidates, members of their campaign teams and journalists, faced trumped-up charges of organizing mass disorder – and up to 15 years’ imprisonment – in connection with the demonstrations. In Kyrgyzstan, in a climate of mutual blame and growing nationalist discourse following the June violence which left hundreds dead, human rights defenders faced the difficulty of having to justify their work protecting different ethnic communities, and obstruction from the authorities, when trying to document the events. The situation also worsened for women who chose to wear a full face veil as an expression of their religious, cultural, political or personal identity or beliefs. Legislation banning the wearing in public of clothing intended to conceal the face was discussed in the parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy, proposed by the new government of the Netherlands, was voted for in the Belgium parliament and was adopted in France. Several municipalities in Spain also passed regulations banning the wearing of full-face veils in municipal buildings. In Turkey, no progress was made in removing legal barriers preventing women wearing the headscarf in universities, although implementation of the ban relaxed during the year.

People on the move

Despite the economic downturn, Europe remained a destination for those seeking to escape poverty, violence or persecution. Large numbers of migrants and asylum-seekers continued to travel along routes which evolved in response to states’ efforts to thwart arrivals, including policies of interception at sea, readmission agreements with countries of origin and transit, and strengthened border controls. The main routes of previous years from western Africa and Libya to the maritime borders of Spain, Italy and Malta saw much-reduced flows, with the migration focus into the EU shifting to the land borders of Greece with Turkey.

The global economic crisis also exacerbated the vulnerability of asylum-seekers and migrants, in particular to trafficking and smuggling networks, and pushed others into the informal economy, with restrictions in access to economic and social rights. In many countries across the region authorities failed to adequately protect foreign nationals in their territory, including refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants, from rising hostility and racially motivated violence. By making unsubstantiated links between immigration status and crime, some politicians and government representatives themselves contributed to fostering a climate of intolerance and xenophobia.

The signature response of European states to the challenges of significant and complex flows of mixed migration remained repressive, resulting in a consistent pattern of human rights violations linked to the interception, detention and expulsion by states of foreign nationals, including those eligible for international protection. Detaining asylum- seekers and irregular migrants as a tool of deterrence and control was widespread, rather than a last, legitimate resort.

Asylum systems in the region also frequently failed those seeking protection, with asylum-seekers facing a range of violations including being blocked from access to territory and asylum procedures; detained unlawfully; denied necessary guidance and support to pursue their claims; forced into destitution; unlawfully expelled before their claims could be heard; and sent to countries where they were at risk of grave human rights violations.

One depressing trend was the willingness of states to send people back to places where they faced a real risk of persecution or serious harm. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK sent rejected asylum-seekers back to Iraq, despite recommendations by the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. EU countries and Switzerland also continued to forcibly return Roma to Kosovo, contrary to the advice of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights: many of those returned were denied basic rights and were at risk of cumulative discrimination amounting to persecution. A number of EU countries sent asylum-seekers back to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation, despite that country’s lack of a functioning asylum system. People were returned from Italy and Turkey without even being able to access the asylum systems there. Kazakhstan stepped up efforts to forcibly return asylum-seekers and refugees to China and Uzbekistan under national security and counter-terrorism measures.

In a positive move, however, a number of European states including Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland accepted former Guantánamo Bay detainees who could not be repatriated to their home countries as they might be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

Across the region, hundreds of thousands of people also remained displaced by the conflicts that accompanied the collapse of the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, often unable to return owing to their legal status – or lack of it – and discrimination in access to rights including property tenure.

Discrimination

A continuing rise in racism and hate speech in public discourse in many countries served to further marginalize those already sidelined by poverty or discrimination.

One of the most profound illustrations of systemic discrimination was against the Roma, who remained largely excluded from public life and often the focus of overt public hostility and xenophobic political discourse. Roma remained one of the few groups in respect of which openly racist comments and attitudes were not just tolerated, but widely shared. Roma families were frequently unable to enjoy full access to housing, education, employment and health services.

Many Roma continued to live in informal settlements or slums lacking even a minimum degree of security of tenure, because of the irregular status of the settlements or their lack of official documents to confirm tenure arrangements. They remained vulnerable to forced evictions, in places such as Italy, Greece, France, Romania and Serbia, driving them further into poverty and marginalization with little hope of redress. In Italy, for example, some families were subjected to repeated forced evictions, which disrupted their communities, their access to work and made it impossible for some children to attend school. In France, a speech by the President describing the camps inhabited by Roma as sources of criminality was followed by a ministerial instruction (later reworded but the effect remained the same) to dismantle them. The incident revealed the tensions resulting from lack of attention over decades to the situation of the Roma in Europe, provoking calls for the EU to do more to engage states on respect for the rights of Roma.

Millions of Roma across Europe also remained severely disadvantaged by low levels of literacy and poor or incomplete education. One of the routes out of the vicious cycle of poverty and marginalization, education, was denied to many Romani children who continued to be placed in substandard, segregated classes or schools, including in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Negative stereotyping, as well as physical and cultural isolation, also blighted future prospects.

Authorities in a number of countries also fostered a climate of intolerance for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) communities. In Italy, against a backdrop of derogatory remarks by some politicians and officials, accompanied by a significant rise in intolerance and hate speech against the communities, violent homophobic attacks continued. In Turkey, the Minister for Women and the Family stated that homosexuality was a disease and required treatment.

In Lithuania, legal provisions entered into force which attempted to stifle any public discussion of homosexuality or public expression of the identity of LGBT people. The country’s first Pride march took place, however, despite efforts by certain authorities to ban it. Such efforts elsewhere were unfortunately successful, with marches banned or impeded in Belarus, Moldova and Russia.

Regrettably, member states continued to block a new EU-wide directive on non-discrimination, which would simply close a legal protection gap for those experiencing discrimination outside of employment on the grounds of disability, belief, religion, sexual orientation and age. EU laws in this field would make a crucial difference to how all forms of discrimination are tackled across Europe.

Counter-terror and security

In spite of the lack of political will and outright obstruction by some governments, there were some small but significant steps towards insight into, and accountability for, European governments’ roles in the CIA-operated rendition and secret detention programmes.

A criminal investigation into Poland’s complicity in such programmes continued, and in July it was confirmed that CIA-operated flights had landed at an airport near an alleged secret detention centre at Stare Kiejkuty. In September, the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it was investigating claims by a Saudi Arabian national that he had been held in a secret detention centre in Poland. He was granted “victim” status in October, the first time a rendition victim’s claims had been acknowledged by the authorities anywhere in Europe. New evidence of Romania’s participation in the rendition and secret detention programmes came to light when the Polish Border Guard office released information that a flight from Poland carrying passengers had continued on to Romania – although the government there maintained its increasingly implausible denials of involvement.

In the face of mounting pressure the UK announced an inquiry into allegations that state actors had been involved in the rendition, secret detention and/or torture and other ill-treatment of a number of detainees held abroad. A delegation from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture visited two secret prison sites in Lithuania, where a criminal investigation was ongoing into the establishment and operation of the sites, although there were concerns that this investigation would be closed prematurely. In Italy, an appeal court upheld the first and only convictions to date in relation to human rights violations in connection with the rendition and secret detention programmes. Twenty-five individuals, - 22 CIA agents, a US military official, and two Italian intelligence operatives - had been convicted for their involvement in the abduction of an Egyptian national from a street in Milan. He was subsequently unlawfully transferred by the CIA from Italy to Egypt where he was held in secret and allegedly tortured. The Italian government’s claims of “state secrecy”, however, resulted in the dismissal of charges on appeal against five Italian high-ranking intelligence officials.

As in previous years, however, the watchwords of security and state secrecy were too often used to drive policies and practices that undermined rather than strengthened human rights. For example, governments continued to use unenforceable diplomatic assurances to rid themselves of foreigners alleged to be involved in acts of terrorism, instead of prosecuting those people for any crimes of which they were accused. The UK, for example, continued to deport individuals alleged to pose a threat to “national security” to countries where they would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

While constitutional amendments in Turkey and revisions to the Anti-Terrorism Law represented positive steps, unfair trials under anti- terrorism legislation continued, and anti-terrorism laws carrying higher prison sentences and resulting in pre-trial detention orders were frequently used to stifle freedom of expression.

The security situation in Russia’s North Caucasus remained volatile, with violence affecting Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan and neighbouring regions. Government authorities publicly acknowledged that measures to combat armed violence were not effective. High numbers of law enforcement officials, as well as civilians, were killed in attacks by armed groups.

Armed groups also caused death and destruction elsewhere in the region, including those based in Greece, Spain and Turkey. In September, the armed Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) announced that it would not carry out any “offensive armed actions”.

Death penalty

Mixed signals continued from Belarus, the last executioner in the region. In a continuing positive trend state representatives expressed their willingness to engage with the international community regarding the death penalty, and their intention to mould public opinion in favour of abolition. Despite this, three death sentences were handed down and two people executed within a flawed criminal justice system which continued to shroud the process in secrecy. Prisoners and their relatives had no advance warning about the date of execution, and relatives were denied permission to claim the body or even to know where the burial place was. The executions were carried out despite a request for a stay by the UN Human Rights Committee so it could consider the men’s cases.

Impunity in post-conflict situations

Some progress was made in tackling impunity for crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the wars of the 1990s, both through the domestic courts and through international discourse. In notable moves the Croatian President apologized to families and victims, and the Serbian parliament condemned crimes committed against the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) population of Srebrenica in July 1995 – while falling short of referring to them as genocide.

Fundamental problems remained, however. In spite of the President’s stance in Croatia, the political will to implement justice system reforms and tackle impunity, including for ethnic bias in prosecutions, was still largely missing. Allegations pointing to command responsibility for war crimes against several high-profile political and military leaders remained uninvestigated. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, verbal attacks on the justice system and denial of war crimes by high- ranking politicians, including of the genocide in Srebrenica in July 1995, further undermined the country’s efforts to prosecute war crimes cases. In both countries witness support and protection measures remained inadequate, and continued to be one of the main obstacles for victims of war crimes and their families in seeking justice. Little progress was made in Kosovo and Serbia in establishing the fate of those missing since the 1999 war. The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia urged Serbia to take more proactive measures to arrest former Bosnian-Serb General Ratko Mladić and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadžić.

None of the sides to the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia conducted comprehensive investigations, in spite of a report by an international fact-finding mission commissioned by the EU the following year which confirmed that violations of international human rights and humanitarian law had been committed by Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian forces.

Torture and other ill-treatment

Victims of torture and other ill-treatment were likewise too often failed by justice systems which did not hold those responsible to account. Obstacles to accountability included lack of prompt access to a lawyer, failure by prosecutors to vigorously pursue investigations, victims’ fear of reprisals, low penalties imposed on convicted police officers, and the absence of properly resourced and independent systems for monitoring complaints and investigating serious police misconduct.

Too often, the rhetoric of compliance masked continuation in practice. In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, for example, reports of torture and other ill-treatment continued unabated despite government promises to adopt a zero-tolerance policy, or assertions that the practice had decreased. In Russia, in spite of a stated desire for police reform, corruption and collusion between the police, investigators and prosecutors were widely perceived as undermining the effectiveness of investigations and obstructing prosecutions. Detainees frequently reported unlawful disciplinary punishments and the denial of necessary medical care.

A landmark judgment in Turkey, however, saw 19 officials including police officers and prison guards convicted for their part in the torture that resulted in the death of political activist Engin Çeber in Istanbul in October 2008. Four of those convicted were sentenced to life imprisonment, the first time in Turkish legal history that state officials had received such a sentence for causing death through torture. Regrettably, this contrasted starkly with other cases involving alleged torture committed by state officials where criminal investigations and prosecutions of law enforcement officials remained ineffective.

Violence against women

Violence against women and girls in the home remained pervasive across the region for all ages and social groups. Only a small proportion of women officially reported this abuse. They were deterred by fear of reprisals from abusive partners, the idea of bringing “shame” on their family, or for reasons of financial insecurity. Migrant women in an irregular situation in particular feared registering a complaint with the police due to the risk of expulsion should their lack of status be discovered. Mostly, the widespread impunity enjoyed by perpetrators meant they knew there was little point.

Those who did come forward were too often failed by justice and support systems which were inadequate and unresponsive. In some countries such as Albania domestic violence was not a specific criminal offence. Many countries lacked functioning nationwide cross- referral systems and the services to protect survivors of domestic violence, such as shelters and adequate and safe alternative housing, were woefully inadequate. Armenia, for example, had only one shelter, funded by foreign donations.

Justice and impunity

Across the region the desire for truth, justice and redress remained unquenchable. For some, these came through a shift in the political will to address the past, or the indefatigable refusal of friends, family and advocates to give up. For many, the wait was long, but always worth it: people like the family of Himzo Demir, who was abducted and subjected to enforced disappearance in 1992 during the Yugoslav wars. In October, they finally received confirmation that his remains had been among those buried as unidentified in a mass grave in Višegrad. The search was over and they could finally hold the funeral.

What is striking among so many inspiring stories, however, is how many people are still waiting because states have sought to block access to the truth, obstruct justice, and default on redress. Particularly in a region which has a human rights architecture unrivalled elsewhere in the world.

It is time Europe’s governments realize that efforts at denial and obfuscation – by themselves or their allies – will not in the end prevail against those courageous people who dare to stand up, whatever the personal cost, and hold them accountable.

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