Amnesty 2017

of the Constitution to eliminate indefinite re- were pending revision by the Nationalelection of authorities, the banning of mining Assembly at the end of the year.in protected areas, and reducing the area ofoil exploitation in the Yasuní National Park. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSINTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY In July, Indigenous and human rights organizations denounced before the IACHRIn May, Ecuador’s human rights record was intrusions of the state into the territory of theexamined under the UN UPR process. Sápara People for future oil extraction. TheyEcuador accepted recommendations to adopt also denounced government bids for oila national action plan on business and extraction in the territory of the Kichwahuman rights, create an effective consultation People of Sarayaku without obtaining theirmechanism for Indigenous Peoples, align free, prior and informed consent, despite thenational laws on freedoms of expression and Inter-American Court of Human Rights rulingassembly with international standards, that the Kichwa People must be consulted.ensure the protection of journalists andhuman rights defenders, and guarantee In April, Shuar Indigenous leader Agustínprotection from discrimination based on Wachapá was released on parole after foursexual orientation and gender identity. months in pre-trial detention on charges ofEcuador pledged to lead on creating an inciting violence in Morona Santiago in 2016.international legally binding instrument on The Shuar People continued to face atransnational corporations and human rights. dispute over the development of two copperEcuador received a total of 182 mines in their territory.recommendations of which it accepted 159,noted 19, and left four for further review. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS In July, the Inter-American Commission on NGOs denounced before the IACHR the lackHuman Rights (IACHR) held hearings on of an adequate protection system orviolence and harassment against human specialized institution responsible forrights defenders, and on extractive industries investigating attacks against andand the right to cultural identity of Indigenous criminalization of human rights defenders.Peoples in Ecuador. The IACHR expressed They also denounced the frequent misuse ofconcern over the absence of state the charge of attacking or resisting authorityrepresentatives at both hearings. to prosecute human rights defenders.FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCESASSOCIATION The UN Committee on EnforcedIn January, the Ministry for the Environment Disappearances noted in March that norejected a complaint filed by the Ministry of criminal responsibility had been establishedthe Interior aimed at shutting down the NGO for 17 cases of enforced disappearancesEcological Action Corporation, based on a from 1984 to 2008 identified by the Truthlack of evidence linking the NGO to violence Commission, and that the whereabouts of 12that occurred in 2016 in Morona Santiago of those victims remained undisclosed.province. EGYPTVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS Arab Republic of EgyptIn November the National Assembly Head of state: Abdel Fattah al-Sisiapproved a Bill to Prevent and Eliminate Head of government: Sherif IsmailViolence against Women. In December,President Moreno partially vetoed the Bill and Egypt’s human rights crisis continuedproposed a series of modifications, which unabated. The authorities used torture andAmnesty International Report 2017/18 151

other ill-treatment and enforced Willayet Sinai, affiliated to the armed groupdisappearance against hundreds of people, Islamic State (IS), claimed responsibility forand dozens were extrajudicially executed most of the attacks across the country, withwith impunity. The crackdown on civil smaller attacks claimed by other armedsociety escalated with NGO staff being groups, such as Hasm, Liwaa al-Thawra andsubjected to additional interrogations, travel Ansar al-Islam. In April, IS claimedbans and asset freezes. Arbitrary arrests and responsibility for the bombing of twodetentions followed by grossly unfair trials churches in Tanta and Alexandria which leftof government critics, peaceful protesters, at least 44 dead. In October, at least 16journalists and human rights defenders officials from the Ministry of the Interior werewere routine. Mass unfair trials continued killed in an ambush in the western desert, abefore civilian and military courts, with rare attack on the mainland. In a significantdozens sentenced to death. Women shift in targeting by armed groups, acontinued to be subjected to sexual and November attack on a mosque in North Sinaigender-based violence and were during Friday prayers killed at least 300discriminated against in law and practice. people.The authorities brought criminal charges fordefamation of religion and “habitual HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSdebauchery” on the basis of people’s real orperceived sexual orientation. The authorities continued to curb the work of human rights defenders in an unprecedentedBACKGROUND manner as part of their relentless efforts to silence all critical voices. In February theIn June, President al-Sisi ceded sovereignty authorities shut down the El-Nadeem Center,over two uninhabited Red Sea islands to an NGO offering support to survivors ofSaudi Arabia, leading to widespread public torture and violence. The criminalcriticism. In July, EU-Egypt Association investigations into so-called “Case 173”council meetings resumed for the first time against human rights defenders and NGOssince 2011 and the priorities of the were ongoing; investigative judgesAssociation were finalized. summoned at least 28 additional human rights defenders and NGO staff for In February a member of parliament interrogation during the year, bringing theproposed a constitutional amendment to total to 66 people summoned or investigatedextend the presidential term from four to six in the case since 2013. They wereyears. In April, President al-Sisi passed a new questioned in relation to charges thatset of legislative amendments weakening fair included “receiving foreign funding to harmtrial guarantees and facilitating arbitrary Egyptian national security” under Article 78arrests, indefinite pre-trial detention, of the Penal Code, which carries a sentenceenforced disappearances and the passing of of up to 25 years’ imprisonment. Themore sentences. The amendments also investigative judges also ordered threeallowed criminal courts to list people and additional travel bans, bringing to 25 theentities on “terrorism lists” based solely on number of human rights defenders bannedpolice information. Also in April, President al- from travelling outside Egypt. In January aSisi approved the Judicial Bodies Law 13 of court ordered the freezing of the assets of the2017, granting him the authority to appoint NGOs Nazra for Feminist Studies and thethe heads of judicial bodies, including the Arab Organization for Penal Reform and theirCourt of Cassation and the State Council, two directors.courts that had hitherto been regarded as themost independent judicial bodies in holding In May, President al-Sisi signed a draconianthe executive to account.1 new law giving the authorities broad powers to deny NGOs registration, dissolve NGOs At least 111 security agents were killed, and dismiss their boards of administration.mostly in North Sinai. The armed group152 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

The law also provided for five years’ ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONSimprisonment for publishing research withoutgovernment permission.2 The government Security forces continued to arrest hundredshad not issued the executive regulations to of people based on their membership orenable it to start implementing the law by the perceived membership of the Muslimend of the year. Brotherhood, rounding them up from their homes or places of work or, in one case, fromFREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND a holiday resort.ASSEMBLY The authorities used prolonged pre-trialBetween January and May, courts sentenced detention, often for periods of more than twoat least 15 journalists to prison terms ranging years, as means to punish dissidents. Infrom three months to five years on charges October a judge renewed the pre-trialrelated solely to their writing, including detention of human rights defender Hishamdefamation and the publication of what the Gaafar, despite him having been detained forauthorities deemed “false information”. On more than the two-year limit under Egyptian25 September a court sentenced former law. Photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid,presidential candidate and prominent human known as Shawkan, had already spent tworights lawyer Khaled Ali to three months’ years in pre-trial detention when his trialimprisonment on charges of “violating public started in August 2015. Throughout 2017 hedecency” in relation to a photograph showing remained in detention alongside 738 co-him celebrating a court ruling ordering a halt defendants as their trial continued.to the handover of two islands to SaudiArabia.3 From May onwards, the authorities Upon release, political activists were oftenblocked at least 434 websites, including required to serve probation periods of up tothose of independent newspapers such as 12 hours a day in a local police station,Mada Masr and human rights organizations amounting to arbitrary deprivation of liberty.such as the Arab Network for Human RightsInformation. In March the Minister of Justice EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS ANDreferred two judges, Hisham Raouf and ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCESAssem Abdelgabar, to a disciplinary hearingfor participating in a workshop organized by Forces of the Ministry of the Interioran Egyptian human rights group to draft a law continued to subject to enforcedagainst torture. disappearance and extrajudicially execute people suspected of engaging in political Security forces arrested at least 240 political violence. According to the Egyptianactivists and protesters between April and Commission for Rights and Freedoms,September on charges relating to online security forces subjected at least 165 peopleposts the authorities considered “insulting” to to enforced disappearance between Januarythe President or for participating in and August for periods ranging from seven tounauthorized protests. In April, a criminal 30 days.court sentenced lawyer and activistMohamed Ramadan to 10 years’ The Ministry of the Interior claimed thatimprisonment in his absence under the more than 120 people were shot dead in andraconian Counter-terrorism Law.4 In exchange of fire with security forces duringDecember, an Alexandrian court sentenced the year. However, in many of these cases thehuman rights lawyer Mahinour El-Masry to people killed were already in state custodytwo years’ imprisonment for her peaceful after having been subjected to enforcedparticipation in a protest. disappearance. In May the Ministry announced the death of schoolteacher Mohamed Abdelsatar “in an exchange of fire with the police”. However, his colleagues had witnessed his arrest a month earlier from his workplace. In April, a leaked video showed military forces in North Sinai extrajudiciallyAmnesty International Report 2017/18 153

executing six unarmed men and a 17-year- heavily on reports of the National Securityold boy. Agency and unsound evidence, including confessions obtained under torture, in theirDETENTION sentencing. Civilians continued to face unfair trials before military courts; at least 384Torture and other ill-treatment remained civilians were referred to military trials duringroutine in official places of detention and was the year.systematic in detention centres run by theNational Security Agency. In July, a Coptic DEATH PENALTYman was arrested and detained in ManshyetNasir police station in the capital, Cairo, in Ordinary and military courts continued torelation to a minor offence; 15 hours later, he hand down death sentences following grosslywas dead. Family members stated that they unfair mass trials. In June the Court ofsaw bruises on the upper part of his body, Cassation upheld the death sentences ofand the official autopsy report stated that his seven men in two different cases after grosslydeath was the result of a “suspected criminal unfair trials. At least six of the men had beenact”. subjected to enforced disappearance and tortured to force them to “confess” and the Prison authorities, including in Tora court relied heavily on these coercedMaximum Security Prison and Wadi el- confessions in its verdict and sentencing.Natrun Prison, punished prisoners detained Also in June, the Military High Court upheldfor politically motivated reasons by placing death sentences against four men followingthem in indefinite and prolonged solitary grossly unfair trials in which the court reliedconfinement. In February the Ministry of the on “confessions” obtained under tortureInterior amended the prison regulations to during 93 days of incommunicadoallow solitary confinement to be increased up detention.5 On 26 December the authoritiesto six months; a practice that can amount to executed 15 men who had been convicted bytorture or other ill-treatment. Political activist a military court of killing nine militaryAhmed Douma spent his third year in solitary personnel in North Sinai in 2013.confinement in Tora Prison, confined to hiscell for at least 22 hours a day. Muslim WOMEN’S RIGHTSBrotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Hadadremained indefinitely detained in solitary Women and girls continued to faceconfinement in Al Aqrab maximum security inadequate protection from sexual andprison since his arrest on 17 September gender-based violence, as well as gender2013. discrimination in law and practice. The absence of measures to ensure privacy and Other forms of ill-treatment and medical protection of women reporting sexual andnegligence in prisons continued; dozens of gender-based violence continued to be a keyprisoners died, often due to prison authorities factor preventing many women and girls fromrefusing to transfer them to hospital for reporting such offences. Many who did reportmedical treatment. In September, former offences faced harassment and retaliationMuslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mahdi from the perpetrators or their families. InAkef died in prison from pancreatic cancer. some cases, state officials and members of parliament blamed victims of sexual violenceUNFAIR TRIALS and attributed the incidents to their “revealing clothing”. In March a youngHundreds were sentenced, some to death, student was attacked and sexually assaultedafter grossly unfair mass trials. In September by a mob in Zagazig city, al-Sharkiaa Cairo criminal court sentenced 442 people governorate. Instead of arresting thein the case of the August 2013 al-Fateh perpetrators and bringing them to justice, themosque protests to prison terms of between Security Directorate in al-Sharkia governoratefive and 25 years after a grossly unfair trial of494 defendants. Courts continued to rely154 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

issued a statement mentioning that by people to prison terms of between three“wearing a short dress” the victim had months and six years on charges that“caused the mob attack”. included “habitual debauchery”. The other people arrested remained in detention facing Women continued to face discrimination in questioning by prosecutors.the judiciary. A number of women whoattempted to apply to the State Council for In late October, a group of parliamentariansappointment as judges were not given the proposed a deeply discriminatory lawpapers needed to process their requests. One explicitly criminalizing same-sex sexualwoman filed a suit against the State Council relations and any public promotion of LGBTIon grounds of discrimination. gatherings, symbols or flags. The proposed law carried penalties of up to five years’REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS imprisonment, or 15 years’ imprisonment for a person convicted of multiple charges.Asylum-seekers and refugees continued toface arrest, detention and deportation for FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEFentering or exiting the country irregularly.Between January and April, immigration The authorities continued to violate the rightofficials deported at least 50 asylum-seekers to freedom of religion by discriminatingfrom Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, including against Christians. In August, security forcesyoung children, to their countries of origin prevented dozens of Coptic Christians fromwithout giving them access to legal praying in a house in Alforn village in Minyarepresentation or to UNHCR, the UN refugee governorate, citing reasons of security. Thereagency. The forced return of Eritrean asylum- was continued impunity for sectarian attacksseekers, as well as Ethiopian and Sudanese on Christian communities, and the authoritiesnationals with a well-founded fear of continued to rely on customary reconciliationpersecution, constituted refoulement. In July and settlements agreed by local authoritiesthe authorities rounded up Chinese students, and religious leaders. Amid this impunity,mostly of the Uighur ethnic minority, arresting violence by non-state actors againstat least 200 and deporting at least 21 men Christians increased significantly. Armedand one woman to China, in violation of groups in North Sinai killed seven CopticEgypt’s non-refoulement obligations. Christians between 30 January and 23 February, prompting an unprecedentedRIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, internal displacement of at least 150 CopticTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE families living in North Sinai.6 The authorities failed to offer them the necessary protectionIn the worst crackdown in over a decade, the or appropriate compensation. In December,authorities across Egypt rounded up and IS claimed responsibility for the shooting ofprosecuted people on the grounds of their 10 people in an attack on a church inperceived sexual orientation after a rainbow Helwan in southern Cairo.flag was displayed at a concert in Cairo on 22September. These prosecutions provoked a In November, an attack on a mosque inpublic outcry. Security forces arrested at least North Sinai during Friday prayers killed at76 people and carried out at least five anal least 300 worshippers. No group claimedexaminations, a practice which amounts to responsibility for the attack.torture. Those arrested included a man and awoman who were detained for three months WORKERS’ RIGHTSfor carrying the rainbow flag at the concert,as well as people who made online The authorities subjected dozens of workersexpressions of support for the raising of the and trade unionists to arrest, military trial,flag. Many of those arrested were entrapped dismissal and a range of disciplinaryby security forces through online dating measures, solely for exercising their right toapplications. Courts sentenced at least 48 strike and form independent trade unions. In June a Cairo Misdemeanours Appeal CourtAmnesty International Report 2017/18 155

sentenced 32 workers from the privately 4. Egypt: 10-year prison term for insulting President an outrageousowned Tora Cement Company to two months’ assault on freedom of expression (Press release, 13 April)imprisonment after they were convicted ofparticipating in an unauthorized protest and 5. Egypt: Seven men facing imminent execution after being tortured in“assaulting security forces”, despite the custody (Press release, 16 June); Egypt: Four men facing imminentpeaceful nature of their 55-day sit-in to executions after grossly unfair military trial (MDE 12/6590/2017)protest at their dismissal. In December, theMilitary Court in Alexandria resumed the trial 6. Egypt: Government must protect Coptic Christians targeted in stringof 25 workers from the military-run of deadly attacks in North Sinai (Press release, 1 March)Alexandria Shipyard Company. The trialstarted in May 2016 on charges that included 7. Egypt: On Labour Day – relentless assault on labour rights (MDE“inciting the workers to strike”. The 12/6154/2017)government and the official Egypt TradeUnion Federation sought to deprive 8. Egypt: Release 24 Nubian activists detained after protest calling forindependent unions of the de facto respect of their cultural rights (Press release, 12 September)recognition they had obtained in 2011through a declaration issued by the then EL SALVADORMinster of Manpower. The authoritiescontinued to deny their legal recognition and Republic of El Salvadorhinder their ability to function freely through a Head of state and government: Salvador Sánchezrange of measures.7 On 5 December Cerénparliament passed a new trade union law,replacing Law 35 of 1976, creating excessive El Salvador’s high rate of gender-basedrequirements for unions to have at least 150 violence continued to make it one of themembers to obtain legal recognition or face most dangerous countries to be a woman. Aautomatic dissolution. total ban on abortion persisted, and women were convicted of aggravated homicide afterINDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS suffering miscarriages or other obstetric emergencies. To combat violence, theDespite an explicit constitutional provision government implemented a series ofrecognizing the Nubian Indigenous people’s security measures, which did not complyright to return to their traditional lands, the with human rights standards. Measuresgovernment continued to deny displaced were taken to address impunity forNubians the right to access their traditional historical abuses; however, the executivelands, posing a threat to the preservation of and legislative branches of governmenttheir cultural, historical and linguistic identity. admitted being in contempt of a 2016On 3 September, Nubian activists held a Supreme Court judgment that declared theprotest calling on the authorities to repeal a 1993 Amnesty Law unconstitutional.2014 presidential decree that classified 16villages on traditional Nubian lands as BACKGROUNDmilitary zones and prohibited residents fromliving there. The police arrested 25 activists El Salvador continued to have one of theand detained them for three months.8 world’s highest murder rates, although the number of homicides fell from 5,280 in 20161. New legislation threatens judicial independence in Egypt (Press to 3,605 in 2017. The figure for 2017 release, 27 April) included 429 femicides.2. Egypt: NGO law threatens to annihilate human rights groups (Press WOMEN’S RIGHTS release, 30 May) Abortion continued to be prohibited in all3. Egypt: Former presidential candidate given jail term in bid to stop circumstances, and carried criminal penalties him running in 2018 election (Press release, 25 September) for women and health care providers. Women from poor backgrounds were disproportionately affected. In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) admitted a156 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

petition in the case of Manuela, a woman threats, and being the victim of extortion byconvicted of homicide after having a criminal gangs. Between January andmiscarriage, and who died from cancer in September, the Association forprison while serving her sentence. Communicating and Training Trans Women in El Salvador (COMCAVIS TRANS) reported 28 On 5 July, Evelyn Beatriz Hernández Cruz serious attacks, most of them murders,was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment perpetrated against LGBTI people.1after being convicted on charges ofaggravated homicide after suffering obstetric EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONScomplications resulting in a miscarriage. On13 December, a court denied the release of In September the Human Rights Institute ofTeodora del Carmen Vásquez; she had José Simeón Cañas Central Americansuffered a stillbirth in 2007 and was later University and the NGO Passionist Socialsentenced to 30 years for aggravated Service reported before the IACHR that thehomicide. armed forces and National Civilian Police were responsible for carrying out extrajudicial In August a parliamentarian for the executions.opposition Nationalist Republican Alliancepresented a new proposal to decriminalize POLICE AND SECURITY FORCESabortion in two circumstances: when awoman’s life is at risk or when the pregnancy In November the UN High Commissioner foris a consequence of rape of a minor. The Human Rights urged El Salvador to end theproposal remained pending in Parliament. extraordinary security measures adoptedThis followed previous, unsuccessful since 2016 to combat gang violence andattempts at partial decriminalization of organized crime, which failed to comply withabortion in 2016. international human rights standards. The measures included prolonged and isolated In August, Congress approved a law detention under inhuman conditions, andbanning child marriage, without exceptions. prolonged suspension of family visits to prisoners. In November, the IACHR admitted a petitionon the case of “Beatriz”, a woman who in INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE2013 was denied an abortion despite her lifebeing put at risk by the pregnancy, and the On 6 and 13 October, for the first time, thefoetus being diagnosed with fatal impairment, Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Courtwhich would not have allowed its survival of Justice issued two injunctions (amparo) toafter birth. protect internally displaced people. The injunctions included protective measures forHUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS a family that had been forcibly internally displaced due to rape, threats, beatings andIn June the home of human rights defender harassment by a gang. The decision wasSonia Sánchez Pérez was illegally searched welcomed by the IACHR and the UN Specialby National Civilian Police officers. In 2015 Rapporteur on the human rights of internallythe Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman displaced persons.had granted her precautionary measures forher environmental protection work.RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, IMPUNITYTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE Measures were adopted nationally andIn October, Karla Avelar, a human rights internationally to redress crimes underdefender and founder of the first association international law and punish perpetrators ofof trans people in El Salvador, announced human rights violations committed during Elthat she would claim asylum in Europe Salvador’s armed conflict from 1980 to 1992.because of a lack of protection by theauthorities, despite several security incidents, In May, a court ordered the reopening of the case of Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero yAmnesty International Report 2017/18 157

Galdámez, Archbishop of San Salvador, who corruption and money laundering while hewas murdered in 1980 by a death squad was Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.while celebrating mass. In November’s legislative and municipal Following a judgment by the Supreme Court elections, the ruling Democratic Party ofin 2016 in which the 1993 Amnesty Law was Equatorial Guinea won 99 of 100 seats in theruled to be unconstitutional, the Court held a Chamber of Deputies, all elected seats in thehearing in July to determine what steps the Senate, and all but one seat in the municipalgovernment had taken to comply with the elections. Opposition parties denouncedruling. In that hearing, both the executive and electoral irregularities and intimidation.legislative branches of government admitted Internet access was severely disrupted for atto being in contempt of the ruling. least five days. In September the government created a HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERScommission to search for people who weresubjected to enforced disappearance during The authorities continued to harass,the armed conflict. intimidate and arbitrarily detain human rights defenders. In November, the Supreme Court of theUSA cleared the way for Colonel Inocente On 17 April, Enrique Asumu and AlfredoOrlando Montano Morales to be tried in Spain Okenve, leaders of the Centre foron charges that he conspired in the killing of Development Studies and Initiatives, weresix Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her detained in the capital, Malabo, after theydaughter in El Salvador in 1989. objected to the authorities’ decision to prevent Enrique Asumu from boarding a1. Americas: “No safe place” – Salvadorans, Guatemalans and plane to Bata city the previous day. Enrique Hondurans seeking asylum in Mexico based on their sexual Asumu was released eight days later on orientation and/or gender identity (AMR 01/7258/2017) health grounds after paying a fine of CFA francs 2 million (USD3,500). Alfredo OkenveEQUATORIAL was released on 4 May after paying the sameGUINEA fine. The Ministry of Interior had suspended the Centre’s activities in 2016.Republic of Equatorial GuineaHead of state and government: Teodoro Obiang On 16 September, state security agentsNguema Mbasogo arrested and detained Ramón Esono Ebalé, a cartoonist and critic of the government, andHarassment, intimidation and arbitrary two Spanish nationals as they left adetention of human rights defenders restaurant in Malabo. They were handcuffed,continued. The rights to freedom of their mobile phones confiscated, and takenassociation and assembly were curtailed; to the Office against Terrorism andpeople attending peaceful gatherings were Dangerous Activities where Ramón Esonoarbitrarily detained and beaten. Pregnant Ebalé was questioned about his cartoons.girls were barred from attending school. The Spanish nationals were released the same day. Ramón Esono Ebalé wasBACKGROUND transferred three days later to the Black Beach prison in Malabo. National TVOn 27 October, Vice-President Teodoro reported that he was accused of heading anNguema Obiang Mangue, the President’s organization involved in money launderingson, was given a three-year suspended and counterfeiting money. On 27 Novemberprison sentence, and a suspended EUR30 he was charged with counterfeiting moneymillion fine by a court in Paris, France, for and remained in detention at the end of the year.158 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

FREEDOMS OF ASSEMBLY AND DEATH PENALTYASSOCIATION Death sentences continued to be handedOn 8 March, police arrested 47 women, four down. On 16 September Raimundo Nfubechildren and at least 12 men at an Onva and Fausto Luis Nve Adugu wereInternational Women’s Day training session in sentenced to death for a ritual killingMbini city, southwest of Bata, in the office of committed in 2016.the opposition Convergence for SocialDemocracy party. The police threatened to ERITREAarrest Epifania Avomo, the party’s executivewomen’s officer, but when other women State of Eritreaprotested they were all arrested and taken to Head of state and government: Isaias AfwerkiMbini police station. Some of them werebeaten at the police station, after which they Thousands continued to flee Eritrea whilewere all released the same day. the authorities severely restricted the right to leave the country. Indefinite mandatory In May, taxi drivers’ organizations called for national service continued to be imposed.a three-day strike in Malabo to protest at the Restrictions on the rights to freedom ofhigh prices of permits and papers. Security expression and of religion remained.forces arbitrarily arrested at least 17 people Arbitrary detention without charge or trialand beat some of those believed to be continued to be the norm for thousands ofparticipating in the strike, leaving several of prisoners of conscience. Thousands werethem in need of medical assistance. They denied the right to an adequate standard ofwere released without charge about one week living.later. BACKGROUND On 27 May, security forces arbitrarilyarrested rapper Benjamín Ndong, also known Skirmishes broke out between the Eritreanas “Jamin Dogg”, in Malabo, for releasing two and Ethiopian military periodically. Militaryweeks ealier a song supporting the striking hostilities with Djibouti escalated overtaxi drivers and denouncing government ownership of the disputed territory of Rasintimidation. He was released the same day Doumeira.without charge. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTSECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURALRIGHTS Thousands of Eritreans continued to flee the country. They faced serious human rightsIn June, the NGO Human Rights Watch abuses while in transit and in destinationissued a report highlighting the lack of countries. Sudan remained a key transit forinvestment in health and education despite Eritrean refugees. In one case in August,the increase, over two decades, of the per Sudanese courts deported 104 refugees tocapita GDP which arose mainly from oil Eritrea where they were at risk of seriousrevenues. The government continued to human rights violations. In a context wherefocus spending on large infrastructure little is known about the fate of thoseprojects, from which some government deported across the border with Sudan, thereofficials profited, at the expense of health and were reports that 30 of them were deportededucation sectors. from Kassala city, eastern Sudan, after being charged with illegal entry. Eritreans also Pregnant girls continued to be banned from risked arbitrary detention, abduction, sexualschool following a 2016 order issued by the abuse and ill-treatment on their way toMinistry of Education as a means to reduce Europe.adolescent pregnancies.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 159

Attempts to address the causes of migration calls from the international community on thefrom Eritrea continued at an international government to limit conscription to 18level. Following the High Level Dialogues on months. Significant numbers of conscriptsmigration under the EU-Horn of Africa remained in open-ended conscription, someMigration Route Initiative (Khartoum for as long as 20 years. Despite a minimumProcess), which involves the EU and African legal conscription age of 18, childrenstates and aims to address migration flows, continued to be subjected to military trainingthe European Commission apportioned over under the requirement that they undergoEUR13 million for Eritrea in order to support grade 12 of secondary school at Sawaemployment opportunities and skills National Service training camp, where theydevelopment in the country as a means of faced harsh living conditions, military-stylereducing migration. The EU channelled discipline and weapons training. Women, inEUR100 million to Sudan through the particular, faced harsh treatment in the campEuropean Union Emergency Trust Fund for including sexual enslavement, torture andAfrica for use in addressing the root causes other sexual abuse.of migration and displacement in the region. Men of up to 67 years of age wereFREEDOM OF MOVEMENT conscripted into the “People’s Army”, where they were given a weapon and assignedThe imposition of indefinite military national duties under threat of punitive repercussions,service, along with the general human rights such as detention, fines or hard labour.situation, created severe difficulties for manyEritreans. The right of people to leave the ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONScountry was severely restricted. Theauthorities continued to prohibit those aged Arbitrary detention and enforcedbetween five and 50 from travelling abroad, disappearances continued, for which securityand anyone attempting to leave was subject forces were not held accountable. Thousandsto arbitrary detention. People seeking to leave of prisoners of conscience and politicalto avoid indefinite national service and other prisoners, including former politicians,human rights violations, or for family reunion journalists and practitioners of unauthorizedwith relatives abroad, had to travel by foot religions, continued to be detained withoutand use unofficial border crossings in order charge or trial and lacked access to lawyersto take flights from other countries. If caught or family members. Many had been detainedby the military, they were detained without for well over a decade.charge until they paid exorbitant fines. Theamount payable depended on factors such FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEFas the commanding officer making the arrestand the time of the year. People caught Bans on religious faiths, other than Islam,during national holidays to commemorate Orthodox Christianity, Protestant Lutheranismindependence were subject to higher fines. and Catholicism, remained in place. ManyThe amount was greater for those attempting Evangelical Christians practised their religionto cross the border with Ethiopia. A “shoot-to- in secret to avoid imprisonment.kill” policy remained in place for anyoneevading capture and attempting to cross the Patriarch Antonios, head of the Eritreanborder into Ethiopia. Children close to Orthodox Church, was reported to have beenconscription age caught trying to leave were seen attending mass in the capital, Asmara,sent to Sawa National Service training camp. in July. He had last been seen in public 10 years earlier just before he was sentenced to house arrest for objecting to government interference in church affairs.FORCED LABOUR AND SLAVERYThe mandatory national service continued tobe extended indefinitely despite repeated160 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF In accordance with the November 2016LIVING  decision of the Tallinn Appeal Court, which ruled against the blanket application of theUNICEF said that malnutrition rates had “safe third country” concept for applicationsincreased over the past few years in four out from asylum-seekers entering from theof six regions of Eritrea, and cited research Russian Federation, the merits of eightwhich projected that 22,700 children individual asylum requests were assessed.under five would be affected by severe acute These cases were pending at the end of themalnutrition during the year. It also noted year.national data indicating that half of allchildren had stunted growth. In her June In May, the government presented a draftreport, the UN Special Rapporteur on the amendment to the Asylum Act. The draftsituation of human rights in Eritrea cited extended the exceptions under whichUNICEF’s report. She further highlighted refoulement – the forcible return of people toaccounts from Eritreans living countries where they are at real risk ofabroad describing their relatives at home as persecution – was allowed in situations where“struggling to meet their basic needs”. Many refugees have been sentenced toof them could not afford “adequate and imprisonment for certain types of crimes.sufficient basic supplies” and were dealing UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, raisedwith “acute water shortages, especially in concerns that the proposed amendment wasAsmara”. Reports suggested that more and not compliant with the UN Refugeemore people were leaving “drought-affected Convention. In particular, it recommendedregions in search of better living conditions.” that the government clarify the term “dangerShe noted that the government’s draconian to the community of Estonia”, which wasregulations that limited cash withdrawals included among the grounds for removal of afrom individuals’ bank accounts prevented refugee from the country.people from buying adequate food and otherbasic items. A number of refugees faced legal uncertainty and difficulty in accessingESTONIA services as a consequence of the March 2016 Supreme Court decision which heldRepublic of Estonia that asylum-seekers who received a negativeHead of state: Kersti Kaljulaid decision on their application immediately loseHead of government: Jüri Ratas their status. The NGO Estonian Human Rights Centre raised concern over access toA draft amendment to the Asylum Act legal aid for asylum-seekers held in detentionwould increase the risk of refoulement for centres. This lack of access particularlyrefugees sentenced to imprisonment for affected asylum-seekers who entered thecertain types of crimes. The Supreme Court country via its border with Russia.ruled that the Family Law does not prohibitrecognition of same-sex marriages The lack of thorough investigations intoregistered in other countries. racially motivated crimes against refugees and migrants persisted.REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS DISCRIMINATION – ETHNIC MINORITIESBy the end of the year, Estonia hadrelocated 141 asylum-seekers from Italy and 80,000 people resident in Estonia remainedGreece under the EU Emergency Relocation stateless – almost 7% of the population, mostScheme; however, of these, 71 people had of them Russian speakers. Roma continuedleft the country by the end of the year. to suffer discrimination across a range of social and economic rights.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 161

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, credible investigation into the cause andTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE scale of the deaths.In June, the Supreme Court held that TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENTalthough the Family Law does not provide formarriage of same-sex couples, it does not Reports of torture and other ill-treatment ofpreclude recognition of same-sex marriages people accused of terrorism persisted.registered in other countries. The decision Detainees repeatedly complained to theinvolved an Estonian-US lesbian couple courts that police tortured and ill-treatedinitially forced to leave Estonia after the them during interrogations. Although, inauthorities had refused to provide one of the some cases, judges ordered the Ethiopianpartners with a residence permit. Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate the allegations, the investigationsETHIOPIA did not adhere to international human rights standards. Angaw Tegeny and Agbaw SetenyFederal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia were tried under the 2009 Anti-TerrorismHead of state: Mulatu Teshome Wirtu Proclamation (ATP) along with 35 others, inHead of government: Hailemariam Desalegn connection with a fire at Qilinto prison on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. The twoThe government lifted the state of men complained that the police suspended aemergency in June. In August protests water bottle from their scrotums and floggedresumed in Oromia against income tax them on the soles of their feet. However, anincreases and calling for the release of EHRC report to the Federal High Court didBeqele Gerba, Merera Gudina and other not refer to their torture complaints.political prisoners. In February, 10,000people who had been arbitrarily detained ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONSwere released. Reports of torture and otherill-treatment, unfair trials and violations of Arbitrary detention continued under the statethe rights to freedom of expression and of of emergency declaration which was lifted inassociation continued. June. On 2 February, the government ordered the release of 10,000 of the 26,000BACKGROUND people arbitrarily detained and arrested, under the declaration, in 2016.The authorities failed to implement thereforms they had promised to address Hundreds of people were detained undergrievances raised during protests in 2015 the ATP, which includes overly broad andand 2016 in Amhara and Oromia. The vague definitions of terrorist acts punishabledemonstrators had been protesting against by up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Detaineesthe forced eviction of farmers from their lands were held in excess of four months, thein Oromia in the past 20 years; arbitrary maximum period allowed under the law forarrests and detention of opposition political pre-trial detention. Seven Oromo artists, forparty leaders; and severe restrictions on the example, were detained for more than sixrights to freedom of expression and of months when the prosecutor finally chargedassociation. Instead, the government them on 29 June.declared a state of emergency in October2016 after mobs torched farms and UNFAIR TRIALSbusinesses in Oromia and Amhara following astampede during the Oromo Thanksgiving Hundreds of political activists, dissenters andCeremony (Irrecha) in which at least 55 peaceful protesters faced unfair trials onpeople were killed. The Ethiopian authorities charges brought under the ATP law. The trialshave yet to conduct an independent and were marked by prolonged pre-trial detention, undue delays and persistent complaints of torture and other ill-treatment.162 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Prominent leaders of opposition political provided rehabilitation for victims and theirparties such as Merera Gudina, Chairman of families by the end of the year.the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), andBeqele Gerba, Deputy Chairman of the OFC, EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONSwere tried on charges under the ATP for theiralleged role in organizing the November 2015 The Ethiopian Somali Liyu Police (LiyuOromia protest. Beqele Gerba’s trial was Police), a special force in Somali Regionalrepeatedly adjourned. Finally the court State in eastern Ethiopia, and local Ethiopiandismissed the terrorism charges against him. militia, extrajudicially executed hundreds ofHowever, it ruled that his trial should proceed Oromos living in the Somali Region. Amongon charges of provocation and preparation for those killed were infants as young as sixoutrages against the Constitution or the months. The Liyu Police also evicted at leastConstitutional Order as per the Criminal 50,000 Oromos living in the Somali RegionCode. between September and October. It attacked the neighbouring Oromia Regional DistrictsFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION and displaced thousands of residents in February, March, August, September andThe Federal High Court convicted journalists, October.bloggers and other activists on terrorismcharges and handed down prison sentences. ABDUCTION OF CHILDRENYonatan Tesfaye was convicted ofencouraging terrorism in his Facebook posts The authorities failed to adequately protectand sentenced to six-and-a-half years in people in Gambella Regional State fromprison. Getachew Shiferaw was sentenced to repeated attacks by armed members of the18 months in prison for sending emails to Murle ethnic group based in neighbouringleaders of a banned opposition political party South Sudan. The Murle gunmen crossed thebased abroad. The court convicted him on border to Ethiopia on 12 March andcharges including expressing appreciation abducted 22 children from the Anuwaof someone who, in 2012, publicly community. The authorities were not knowndenounced the late Prime Minister Meles to have taken steps to ensure the return ofZenawi. the abducted children to their families.ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPUNITYRIGHTS The police and army continued to enjoyOn 11 March, 115 people were killed as a impunity for human rights violationsresult of a landslide at the Koshe rubbish committed in 2015 and 2016. During thedump, the largest dump in Ethiopia, located year, the government rejected calls foron the outskirts of Addis Ababa, in an area independent and impartial investigations intoinhabited by hundreds of people. Most of the human rights violations committed in thevictims lived next to the site and supported context of protests in various regional states.themselves by recycling rubbish. The In the few cases where the EHRC conductedauthorities had been aware that the landfill investigations and found that human rightswas full to capacity, and the residents had no violations had taken place, the governmentoption but to live and work there because the did not investigate or bring to justicegovernment failed to protect their right to suspected perpetrators.adequate housing and decent work. Morethan 80 million birr (around USD3 million)was fundraised for rehabilitation of thevictims. Although the municipal governmentmanaged the fund, the authorities had notAmnesty International Report 2017/18 163

FIJI posting anti-government graffiti in public places in 2011.Republic of FijiHead of state: Jioji Konousi Konrote On 26 June, Jope Koroisavou, a youthHead of government: Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama leader from the opposition Social Democratic Liberal Party, was arrested and detained forThe government failed to ensure 48 hours after he carried placards in theaccountability for the torture and other ill- capital, Suva, calling for justice in torturetreatment of detainees by security forces. In cases.two incidents, individuals were forciblyreturned without due process to countries TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENTwhere they may be at risk of serious humanrights violations. The increasing use of Police and military officers charged in 2015sedition charges, and the arrest of a lone in connection with the torture of Iowanepeaceful protester on the International Day Benedito had not been brought to trial by thein Support of Victims of Torture highlighted end of the year.the continuing restrictions on the rights tofreedom of expression and peaceful DEATHS IN CUSTODYassembly. Vikrant Nand, aged 18, died in policeBACKGROUND custody in February. The police promptly announced an investigation into his death butIn June, the UN Special Rapporteur on by the end of the year it remained unclearracism published a report from his December what steps had been taken since the autopsy.2016 mission to Fiji. The government had notimplemented several of the report’s REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERSrecommendations by the end of the year,including calls to combat hate speech while On two occasions, people were forciblyprotecting the right to freedom of expression, returned to countries where they may be atto facilitate meaningful dialogue to address risk of serious human rights violations. Inpast injustices and current inequalities and to January, Iranian refugee Loghman Sawaristrengthen the Human Rights and Anti- fled Papua New Guinea for Fiji to seekDiscrimination Commission to ensure it asylum. On his way to meet Fiji’s Director ofcomplies with the Paris Principles. Immigration, police intercepted his vehicle, arrested him and separated him from hisFREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND lawyer. He said the police officers punchedPEACEFUL ASSEMBLY and attacked him with pepper spray. He was returned to Papua New Guinea without dueThe authorities used restrictive legislation to process (see Papua New Guinea entry).stifle the media and curtail the rights tofreedom of expression and peaceful In August, 77 Chinese nationalsassembly, including by imposing sedition were returned to China in co-operation withcharges. In March, three senior staff at the the Chinese authorities. The Fijian authoritiesFiji Times and the author of a letter to its claimed that they had committed “computereditor were charged with sedition, which crimes” and breached the terms of theircarries a maximum prison sentence of seven visas, charges which they were not given theyears. In May, opposition MP Mosese opportunity to contest. They wereBulitavu and Fiji United Freedom Party not permitted to seek legal advice or appealleader Jagarth Karunaratne went on trial on their forcible return.sedition charges for their alleged role in164 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

FINLAND RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLERepublic of FinlandHead of state: Sauli Niinistö Legislation on legal gender recognitionHead of government: Juha Sipilä continued to violate the rights of transgender people. They could obtain legal genderChanges to the asylum procedure continued recognition only if they agreed to sterilization,to affect asylum-seekers negatively. Support were diagnosed with a mental disorder, andservices for women who experienced were aged over 18. Despite an April decisiondomestic violence remained inadequate. by the European Court of Human RightsLegislation on legal gender recognition condemning sterilization, the government didcontinued to violate the rights of not consider amending the law.transgender people. Draft legislativechanges limiting the right to privacy were VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLSproposed. NGOs and state institutions working toREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS combat violence against women and girls remained systematically under-resourced.Many changes in the law introduced in 2016, Neither adequate and accessible walk-inincluding restrictions of the right to free legal services nor long-term support services forrepresentation and reduced time frames for survivors of violence were in place. Existingappeals, continued to affect refugees’ and legislation did not sufficiently protectasylum-seekers’ rights. The likelihood of institutionalized or hospitalized individualsasylum-seekers being forcibly returned to from sexual violence.countries where they might be at risk ofhuman rights violations (refoulement) was In May, the first Sexual Assault Supportincreased. The government had not Centre was opened at the Women’s Hospitalevaluated the combined impact of these in the capital, Helsinki. Finland still lacked achanges by the end of the year. nationwide, accessible service network for victims of all forms of sexual violence, which Family reunification remained difficult for could also provide long-term support.most refugees due to both legislative andpractical obstacles, including high income In January, an Administrative Committee onrequirements. Coordination on violence against women, as required by the Istanbul Convention, started Despite international NGOs raising concern, its work to enhance the implementation ofFinland continued to forcibly return asylum- the Convention and facilitate work to preventseekers whose applications were rejected to violence against women. However, neitherAfghanistan. women’s nor victims’ support organizations were represented in the Committee and it Contrary to international standards, the was also inadequately resourced.authorities continued to detainunaccompanied children, and families with RIGHT TO PRIVACYchildren, based on their immigration status.There was no time limit on detaining families In April, draft civilian and military intelligencewith children. In February, “directed legislation was published. It enabled theresidence” was introduced as a new form of acquisition of information on threats todeprivation of liberty for asylum-seekers and national security by giving military and civilianmigrants. It meant that asylum-seekers had intelligence agencies permission to conductto report to a reception centre up to four communications surveillance without anytimes a day. requirement for a link to a specific criminal offence.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 165

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS The law required prefects to seek a judicial authorization only in respect of searches.Conscientious objectors to military servicecontinued to be punished for refusing to The UN Special Rapporteur on theundertake alternative civilian service, which promotion and protection of human rightsremained punitive and discriminatory in and fundamental freedoms while counteringlength. The duration of alternative civilian terrorism had in September expressedservice was 347 days, more than double the concern that the bill included a vagueshortest military service period of 165 days. definition of what constituted a threat to national security and had the effect ofFRANCE transposing emergency measures into ordinary law.French RepublicHead of state: Emmanuel Macron (replaced François FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYHollande in May)Head of government: Édouard Philippe (replaced Prefects continued to resort to emergencyBernard Cazeneuve in May) measures to restrict the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. In particular, theyThe state of emergency, introduced in adopted dozens of measures restricting the2015, was eventually lifted. A new law freedom of movement of individuals toincreased the government’s powers to prevent them from attending publicimpose counter-terrorism measures on assemblies. Authorities imposed thesevague grounds and without full judicial measures on vague grounds and againstscrutiny. Authorities continued to return individuals with no apparent connection withAfghan nationals to Afghanistan in violation any terrorism-related offence. Prefectsof the principle of non-refoulement. A new imposed 17 measures to prevent individualsvigilance law imposing obligations on large from participating in the public assembliescompanies entered into force. calling for police accountability after a young man reported he had been raped by a policeCOUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY officer on 2 February. The Paris Prefect of Police imposed 10 measures to preventIn July, Parliament approved the protesters from attending the publicgovernment’s proposal to extend the state of assembly scheduled for Internationalemergency until 1 November and then to end Workers’ Day on 1 May.it. It had been in force since the attackscarried out in the capital, Paris, on 13 On 5 January, a police officer was indictedNovember 2015. for firing a sting-ball grenade that blinded protester Laurent Théron in one eye. The trial In October, Parliament adopted a of the police officer was ongoing at the end ofgovernmental bill to introduce new counter- the year. The investigation into the allegedterrorism measures into ordinary law. The law excessive use of force by police againstincreased the powers of the Minister of the dozens of protesters who had attended theInterior and the prefects to impose public assemblies organized in 2016 againstadministrative measures on individuals, in the reform of labour laws was still ongoing atcases where there was not sufficient the end of the year.evidence to open a criminal investigation.The measures included restrictions on In March, a new law on the use of force andfreedom of movement, house searches, weapons by law enforcement officials enteredclosure of places of worship, and the into force. The law permitted the use of someestablishment of security zones where law weapons, including kinetic impact projectiles,enforcement officials were permitted to in instances that did not fully comply withexercise enhanced stop-and-search powers. international standards. In June, the Constitutional Court ruled that the emergency measure that had allowed166 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

prefects to restrict freedom of movement was Municipal authorities refused to fully complyunconstitutional. However, in July Parliament with the ruling and only allowed theincluded the same measure in the law that distribution of one meal a day. In June, theextended the state of emergency. Prefects Public Defender of Rights (Ombudsperson)imposed 37 such measures between 16 July expressed concerns about the human rightsand 30 October. violations experienced by migrants and asylum-seekers in Calais and called onREFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS authorities to ensure the respect of their social and economic rights, in particularBetween January and July, the prefectural access to water and to adequate housing,authorities of Alpes-Maritimes department and to provide them with effectivestopped 28,000 refugees and migrants who opportunities to seek asylum in France.had crossed the border from Italy. Theauthorities sent 95% of them back to Italy, Authorities continued to prosecute andincluding unaccompanied minors, without convict individuals who supported migrantsproviding them with the right to seek asylum and refugees in entering or staying in Francein France. irregularly, for example by providing food or shelter. In August, an appeal court convicted Between January and August, authorities Cédric Herrou, a farmer living close to theplaced more than 1,600 Afghan nationals in French-Italian border, and sentenced him todetention centres in view of returning them to a suspended sentence of four months’other European countries under the Dublin III imprisonment for helping migrants andRegulation – a mechanism for allocating refugees to cross the border into France andresponsibility for the examination of asylum for sheltering them.claims among EU member states − or toAfghanistan. In the same period, according to DISCRIMINATIONcivil society organizations, authoritiesreturned about 300 Afghan nationals to other In January, a law extending the moratoriumEU countries and expelled at least 10 of them on evictions of informal settlements duringto Afghanistan. Authorities returned 640 winter entered into force. Authoritiesindividuals to Afghanistan in 2016. All returns continued to forcibly evict people fromto Afghanistan constituted a violation of the informal settlements, many of them Romaprinciple of non-refoulement − the principle migrants. Civil society organizations reportedaccording to which states are obliged not to that authorities had evicted 2,689 individualsreturn any person to a country where they in the first half of the year.would risk human rights violations − giventhe volatile security and human rights On 14 March, the Court of Justice of the EUsituation in Afghanistan. failed to uphold Muslim women’s rights to non-discrimination by ruling that a private In the aftermath of the eviction of the French employer had not breached EU anti-informal settlement near Calais, known as discrimination law in dismissing a woman for“The Jungle”, in November 2016, authorities wearing a headscarf.put in place punitive measures against thehundreds of migrants and refugees who had CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITYsubsequently returned to Calais. Theyenhanced police stop-and-search operations, In March, a law imposing a “duty ofwhich raised concerns over ethnic profiling. vigilance” on large companies entered intoIn March, municipal authorities prohibited force. The law required companies tohumanitarian organizations from distributing establish and implement a “vigilance plan” tomeals to migrants and asylum-seekers in the prevent serious human rights abuses andtown. At the end of March, a court ruled that environmental damage resulting directly orthe decision constituted an inhumane and indirectly from their own activities and thosedegrading treatment and suspended it. of subsidiaries and other business partners. Victims of human rights abuses resultingAmnesty International Report 2017/18 167

from a company’s failure to comply with the FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION,law could seek compensation before a ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLYFrench court. In January, the new Communications CodeARMS TRADE came into force. The Code was criticized by journalists for its vague and overly broadThe government continued to license weapon provisions, including prohibitions ontransfers to governments that were likely to Gabonese nationals working for local mediause them to commit serious violations of outlets outside the country, andinternational human rights law and provisions banning the use of pseudonyms,humanitarian law. The government continued holding printers and distributors jointlyto license weapon transfers to members of responsible for any infractions, and anthe Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen and obligation for media to “contribute to theto Egypt. country’s image and national cohesion”. In May, the Senate recommended the use On 17 March, the authorities suspended theof armed remotely piloted vehicles (drones) activities of CONASYSED, the main teachers’for the armed forces to improve their union, citing “disturbance of public order”effectiveness in military operations. The caused by strikes that began in OctoberMinister of Defence confirmed concrete plans 2016. The Minister of Education also orderedto use armed drones from 2019, but the the suspension of the payment of salaries toauthorities were yet to articulate and over 800 teachers in order to end the strike.implement clear policies on their use andtransfer. In June 2017 the National Council of Communication banned Les Echos du Nord,GABON a newspaper considered to be close to the political opposition, for statements deemedGabonese Republic defamatory against President Bongo andHead of state: Ali Bongo Ondimba Prime Minister Issoze-Ngondet. The outletHead of government: Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet reopened in August.The new Communications Code was ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONScriticized by journalists for its vague andoverly broad provisions, and a newspaper On 14 April, Alain Djally, an assistant towas suspended. Prominent opposition opposition leader Jean Ping, was arrestedsupporters were arbitrarily arrested. The without a warrant in the capital, Libreville. Heactivities of the teachers’ unions were was blindfolded and ill-treated by men inseverely restricted. Representatives of the plain clothes, but allowed to see his lawyerICC conducted a two-day visit. the day after his arrest. After that he was denied access. He was detained at theBACKGROUND Direction Générale de la Recherche, a facility run by the Gabonese intelligence services,Presidential candidate Jean Ping continued before being transferred to the central prisonto contest the results of the August 2016 in Libreville, where he was kept in solitarypresidential elections, and in September confinement for the entire period of his2017 he was temporarily denied the right to detention. He was charged withleave the country. Legislative elections were impersonating an active service member andpostponed until April 2018. In November, the illegal possession of firearms, for retaining hisreport submitted by Gabon and parallel old military ID card and possessing a blank-reports submitted by civil society firing gun. His lawyer claimed such a weaponorganizations were examined under the UN did not require a permit, and that the chargesUPR process. were politically motivated. He was provisionally released on 23 June.168 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

On 15 June, Marcel Libama, an adviser for reforming the security forces. Steps wereCONASYSED and the union confederation taken to begin a transitional justice process.Dynamique Unitaire, was arrested inTchibanga city after discussing the case of a BACKGROUNDdetained colleague, Cyprien Moungouli,during a Radio Massanga show. He was held Following mediation by regional leaders andfor three days at a police station, and on 20 the threat of a military intervention byJune transferred to the local prison. He was ECOWAS,1 former President Yahya Jammehcharged with insulting a magistrate, accepted the results of the December 2016obstruction of justice and defamation. On 17 presidential elections and departed GambiaJune, Juldas Biviga, a journalist from Radio on 21 January for Equatorial Guinea.2Massanga, was also arrested for refusing to ECOWAS had a coalition force stationed indelete recordings of archived interviews, Gambia scheduled to withdraw in mid-2018.among other things. On 13 July, both Marcel Adama Barrow was inaugurated in Senegal’sLibama and Juldas Biviga were severely capital, Dakar, on 19 January during thebeaten by their prison guards. Suffering impasse.injuries to his ankles, ribs and ears, JuldasBiviga was transferred to hospital. They both LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL ORreceived sentences of 184 days in prison and INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTSa EUR450 fine. On 10 February, the government cancelled On 27 August, security forces arrested the planned withdrawal from the RomeHervé Mombo Kinga, an activist and Statute of the ICC which had been introducedprominent supporter of Jean Ping. He had under President Jammeh’s rule.3publicly projected videos next to his internetcafé, and was charged with “instigating On 21 September, Gambia signed theviolence” and “insulting the Head of State”, Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, in anand spent one and a half months in solitary apparent step towards abolishing the deathconfinement. He remained in detention at the penalty.end of the year. Plans were initiated to begin a constitutionalIMPUNITY reform process and to reform other repressive laws implemented under theThe ICC continued its preliminary previous President.examination into whether alleged crimescommitted after May 2016, including in the Bills on the Constitutional Reviewcontext of the 2016 presidential elections, Commission and Human Rights Commissioncould amount to crimes under the Rome were passed by the National Assembly on 13Statute, and whether the criteria for opening December.an investigation were met. In June,representatives of the ICC conducted a two- POLITICAL PRISONERSday visit. Between December 2016 and January 2017,GAMBIA dozens of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience were released, includingRepublic of the Gambia prisoners of conscience Amadou Sanneh andHead of state and government: Adama Ousainou Darboe. On 30 January, PresidentBarrow (replaced Yahya Jammeh in January) Barrow pardoned Ousainou Darboe and dozens of others arrested for taking part in aThe new government committed to peaceful protest in April 2016.reforming several repressive laws and DETENTION Prison conditions did not meet international standards due to inadequate sanitation, food and access to medical care. In February, 174 prisoners were released to commemorateAmnesty International Report 2017/18 169

independence celebrations and a further 84 against electricity and water shortages, butwere released in March in order to reduce permission was denied on 11 November. Theprison overcrowding. Legal aid provision was protest was dispersed on 12 November bylimited, especially outside of the capital, riot police.Banjul. New judges were appointed, in orderto address the need for a more independent POLICE AND SECURITY FORCESjudiciary. In February the National Intelligence AgencyFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (NIA), which practised torture and arbitrary detention under the previous government,The government committed to reforming was renamed the State Intelligence Servicesseveral repressive media laws. A number of and its powers of detention ended through ajournalists returned to the country, having government policy decision. However, thefled into exile due to harassment or threat of changes were not supported by newimprisonment under the previous legislation. During the following months, thegovernment. heads of the police, prison, intelligence agency and military were replaced. However, On 19 February, a woman was arrested and there had not been systemic reform of thesedetained for breach of the peace after she institutions, or any vetting of people who hadallegedly insulted President Barrow. She was committed serious human rights abuses. Civilgranted bail on 2 March, and the case was society groups expressed concern that thedismissed by the Brikama Magistrates Court government had not taken steps to preserveon 3 April. documentary and physical evidence of abuses by the security forces, particularly the In November, at a symposium marking the NIA.International Day to End Impunity for Crimesagainst Journalists, the government In July, 12 soldiers were arrested onannounced that it would comply with allegations connected to “mutinous andjudgments by the ECOWAS Community Court seditious” posts on social media in support ofof Justice on state involvement in human former President Jammeh. They were heldrights violations against three journalists – without charge in military detention untilDeyda Hydara, Chief Ebrima Manneh and being brought to court on 17 November, inMusa Saidykhan. This would include violation of detention time limits set in thenegotiating compensation payments with Constitution. On 27 November, 10 werevictims’ families. charged with treason and mutiny and two with negligent interference of lawful custody.FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY TRANSITIONAL JUSTICERestrictive laws on freedom of peacefulassembly had not yet been amended. On 23 Ten soldiers were arrested and detained inNovember, Gambia’s Supreme Court ruled January, accused of involvement in enforcedthat Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1961, disappearances and killings, but were notrequiring police permission for peaceful charged and remained in detention at theassembly, did not violate the Constitution. end of the year. On 2 June, one person died and at least six In February, criminal proceedings beganwere injured when the ECOWAS coalition against nine NIA officers, including theforce fired live ammunition to disperse former director, accused of murderingdemonstrators near Yahya Jammeh’s former opposition activist Solo Sandeng in Aprilresidence in the village of Kanilai. The 2016.government committed to holding aninvestigation, but no information had been In October, victims of human rights abuses,made public by the end of the year. civil society organizations and international human rights groups formed a coalition to The Occupy Westfield movement was campaign for Yahya Jammeh and others whoinitially authorized to peacefully protest170 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

committed serious human rights abuses Abortion remained a criminal offence,during his rule to be brought to justice. except in cases where the pregnant woman’s life was at risk. Ousmane Sonko, Minister of Interior from2006 until he fled the country in September 1. Gambia: Adama Barrow must not forget his big promises (News story,2016, faced investigation in Switzerland for 19 January); Gambia: State of Emergency no licence for repressioncrimes against humanity committed during (News story, 18 January)President Jammeh’s rule. 2. Gambia: Response to the departure of Yahya Jammeh (News story, 22 On 13 December, the Truth, Reconciliation January)and Reparation Commission (TRRC) bill toexamine events during President Jammeh’s 3. Gambia: Progress in first 100 days of Barrow government requiresrule, was passed by the National Assembly, major reform to break with brutal past (News story, 27 April)following consultation on the bill with nationaland international actors. GEORGIA On 10 August, a Commission of Inquiry was Georgiaset up to investigate Yahya Jammeh’s alleged Head of state: Giorgi Margvelashvilimismanagement of public finances and Head of government: Giorgi Kvirikashviliabuse of office. The government also frozeassets believed to belong to him. Continued impunity for human rights abuses committed by law enforcement A Panel on Missing Persons, a specialized officials emphasized the need for anpolice unit investigating enforced independent investigation mechanism. Adisappearances during President Jammeh’s legal dispute over a pro-opposition TVrule, was created in February. In March, the channel caused concern about judicialbodies of four people, possible victims of independence and media freedom. Theenforced disappearance, were exhumed, fencing of the de facto border between theincluding that of Solo Sandeng. It is expected breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Southto submit the list of missing people to be Ossetia continued to have a negative impactinvestigated by the TRRC. on local residents’ economic and social rights.RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE BACKGROUNDSame-sex relations remained criminalized. A The Parliament – under the majority rulinglaw approved in October 2014, for example, party Georgian Dream – adopted a newimposed sentences of up to life imprisonment Constitution in October. It deferred untilfor “aggravated homosexuality” offences. 2024 the introduction of a fully proportionalLGBTI people continued to suffer electoral system, which the opposition haddiscrimination and threats from non-state long been seeking, and ensured that fromactors. 2024 mandates won by political parties that fail to reach the election threshold areSEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS assigned to the winning party. Under the new rules, electoral blocs will no longer be allowedIn November, the government and from 2020, and the president will no longerdevelopment partners launched the be elected by direct popular vote after 2018.Comprehensive Sexuality Educationprogramme to be delivered in schools. In December, Parliament started the process of changing the Constitution again to Despite laws criminalizing female genital accommodate some of the opposition’smutilation (FGM), it remained widespread. demands which were excluded from the newThe government and development partners Constitution.developed a communication strategy tofurther educate communities about theharms of FGM.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 171

Far-right movements organized xenophobic evidence. The prosecution appealed againstand homophobic marches in the capital the Court’s decision.Tbilisi. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY The national currency, Lari, continued todevalue, adversely affecting living standards. On 29 May, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Afghan Mukhtarli – who was exiled In February, Georgian nationals were in Georgia – vanished from Tbilisi, andgranted visa-free travel to the Schengen Area reappeared the following day in Azerbaijan inafter the government implemented several official custody, falsely accused of illegalkey institutional and legislative reforms border crossing and money smuggling. Hedemanded as a precondition by the EU. told his lawyer that he had been abducted by Georgian-speaking men, some wearingIMPUNITY Georgian criminal police uniforms, and trafficked across the border. The authoritiesImpunity for human rights abuses committed denied the involvement of Georgian forces,by law enforcement officers persisted, while and started an investigation into Afghanthe government continued to promise, but Mukhtarli’s allegations. The investigation wasfailed to deliver, an independent investigation not known to have produced substantialmechanism. In June, instead of an results; he remained in detention inindependent investigation mechanism, the Azerbaijan at the end of the year.government proposed a new departmentwithin the Prosecutor’s Office with a mandate JUSTICE SYSTEMto investigate alleged abuses by lawenforcement officers. The litigation over the ownership of Rustavi 2 Broadcasting Company, a pro-opposition TV In June, two members of the rap group Birja channel, continued. On 2 March, theMafia were arrested for alleged drug Supreme Court ruled to transfer thepossession, and demonstrations erupted in ownership of Rustavi 2 TV to its former co-their support. The arrested musicians said owners – known to be government supporterspolice had planted drugs on them in revenge – upholding previous rulings by the court offor a YouTube video satirizing a police officer, first instance and the Court of Appeals. Localand cited earlier threats from police NGOs raised concerns about possibledemanding that they remove the video. The government interference in the judicialprotests resulted in their release on bail process and called the trial unfair. In March,pending trial. An investigation was launched the European Court of Human Rightsinto the musicians’ allegations of police requested that enforcement of the Supremeabuse and was ongoing at the end of the Court’s decision be suspended until it hadyear. considered the case. In June, the first instance court in Kutaisi FREEDOM OF MOVEMENTacquitted the police officer charged with“exceeding official capacity”. The alleged Russian forces and de facto authorities in thevictim, Demur Sturua, a 22-year-old resident breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Southof Dapnari, western Georgia, committed Ossetia continued to restrict movementsuicide on 8 August 2016. The prosecution’s across the de facto border, briefly detainingevidence included Demur Sturua’s note and fining dozens of people for “illegal”blaming the police officer for his suicide, a border crossing. The increased fencing alongpostmortem examination confirming signs of the administrative boundary lines continuedill-treatment, video footage showing the to adversely affect the rights of localofficer picking up Demur Sturua with his car residents, including the rights to work, foodon the day of the suicide, and phone call and an adequate standard of living, owing tologs. NGOs criticized the court’s decision,calling it unsubstantiated in light of the172 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

the loss of access to their orchards, pasture GERMANYand farm land.RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, Federal Republic of GermanyTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE Head of state: Frank-Walter Steinmeier (replaced Joachim Gauck in March)The new Constitution restricted the definition Head of government: Angela Merkelof marriage from “a voluntary union based onequality between the spouses” to “a union Parliament passed a law granting same-sexbetween a man and a woman”. Same-sex couples the right to marry. The authoritiescouples were not legally recognized. continued to deport to Afghanistan asylum- seekers whose applications had failed On 25 August, police arrested two LGBTI despite the worsening security situation inactivists after a violent incident at a nightclub the country. The federal Parliamentin Batumi, the second largest city. The extended police powers to conductactivists questioned why they, the targets of surveillance measures and to imposeviolence, were arrested and charged with administrative measures on individuals“disorderly conduct” and not their assailants, identified as “potential attackers”.and complained of beating and verbal abuseby police. An investigation was opened into INTERNATIONAL JUSTICEtheir complaint and was ongoing at the endof the year. In March, September and November, 22 Syrian nationals residing in GermanyREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS submitted four criminal complaints to the office of the Federal Prosecutor GeneralOn 24 May, Mustafa Çabuk – a Turkish against 27 Syrian officials working for thenational resident in Georgia since 2002 – was military police and different intelligencedetained under an extradition request from services for their alleged involvement inTurkey which claimed that he was torture as a war crime and a crime against“supporting terrorism” and had links with the humanity. The alleged crimes wereFethullah Gülen movement. Mustafa Çabuk committed in Saydnaya and other militarywas at real risk of torture and other ill- prisons and in prisons of the Air Forcetreatment if returned to Turkey. His Intelligence in Damascus and other places inapplication for refugee status in Georgia was Syria. In May, the Federal Prosecutor Generalrejected. Appeals were made against the carried out hearings with Syrian witnesses.decision; Mustafa Çabuk continued to be Investigations were ongoing at the end of theheld in pre-extradition detention at the end of year.the year. COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITYWORKERS’ RIGHTS In April, the federal Parliament passed anThroughout the year, more than a dozen amendment that expanded the controlcases of fatal occupational accidents powers of the Federal Criminal Police towere reported, particularly among miners and impose administrative measures forconstruction workers. The need for stricter “potential attackers”, such as electronicregulations and their effective monitoring by ankle tagging, assigned residency andan independent labour standards regulatory telecommunication surveillance. Theseauthority remained. “potential attackers” were vaguely defined as “individuals who could be involved in committing a terrorism-related offence in the future”.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 173

In May, the federal Parliament passed a law Despite the worsening security situation inthat facilitated the detention of people Afghanistan, authorities continued to forciblyrepresenting a “significant security threat” to return Afghan nationals whose asylum claimssociety, pending their deportation. The law had been rejected, in violation of thealso granted the Federal Office for Migration principle of non-refoulement. By the end ofand Refugees the power to seize the the year, 121 Afghan nationals had beenelectronic devices of asylum-seekers who do forcibly returned.not possess identity documents. In March, the Federal Council rejected a In July, the state of Bavaria increased the draft law from the government that sought toperiod of administrative police detention classify Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia aswithout charge for “potential attackers” from “safe” countries of origin and to establish a14 days to up to three months. fast-track procedure to determine the refugee status of applicants from those countries.RIGHT TO PRIVACY Germany had relocated around 9,100In June, the federal Parliament passed a law asylum-seekers who had arrived via Italy andgranting police authorities the power to use Greece by the end of December. Germanynew surveillance techniques, including by also resettled almost 280 refugees from Egyptinstalling surveillance software on computers and Lebanon, and around 2,700 Syrianand phones. refugees from Turkey as part of the EU- Turkey deal. Also in June, a Higher Administrative Courtruled in an urgent procedure that the DISCRIMINATION – HATE CRIMESindiscriminate retention of data prescribed bya law that was due to enter into full force in In June, the second Committee of Inquiry –July, was not in compliance with EU law. The established by Parliament in 2015 to addresslaw was not enforced pending the final ruling. the authorities’ failure to investigate the racist crimes perpetrated by the far-right group Also in June, a parliamentary committee of Nationalist Social Underground (NSU)inquiry – established in 2013 following between 2000 and 2007 – concluded thatEdward Snowden’s revelations regarding the the authorities had to establish clear rules forUSA’s surveillance of its allies, including infiltrating “far-right extremist” movements,Germany – concluded that the Federal provide long-term funding to civil societyIntelligence Service had resorted to an overly initiatives against racism and assist victims ofbroad interpretation of surveillance laws and racist crimes. The authorities continued to failhad implemented surveillance measures, to launch an official investigation into thesuch as mass surveillance of foreign-to- potential role of institutional racism behindforeign communications, without sufficient Germany’s failure to investigate the crimeslegal basis and oversight. committed by the NSU.REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS In the first nine months, the Interior Ministry reported 1,212 criminal offences againstThere were 222,683 asylum applications refugees and asylum-seekers, and 210made, a drop by 70.1% compared to 2016, offences against asylum-seekers’and the decisions on 68,245 claims were accommodations. Federal and statepending. authorities continued to fail to implement a comprehensive assessment strategy to The right to family reunification for identify the risks of attacks against asylumbeneficiaries of subsidiary protection shelters, in order to provide adequate policeremained suspended throughout the year. protection if necessary.This had a particularly negative impact onSyrian refugees who were increasingly In June, following a comprehensivegranted subsidiary protection instead of full consultation with civil society organizations,refugee status, providing them with fewer the federal government adopted a Nationalrights.174 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Action Plan against racism and other forms of The federal government continued todiscrimination, including homophobia and license the export of arms and other relatedtransphobia. military equipment to countries, such as India and Turkey, where there was a risk thatTORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT such arms could be used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations.Authorities at both the federal and the statelevels continued to fail to establish any CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITYindependent complaints mechanism toinvestigate ill-treatment by police. In March, Parliament passed a law implementing the 2014 EU Directive on non- Civil society organizations continued to financial reporting, which required certainreport discriminatory identity checks by large companies to report on the humanpolice on members of ethnic and religious rights impacts of their global operations.minorities. However, the law was more limited than the Directive, requiring companies to report only In November, the central investigation unit on risks that were “very likely to cause severein Hamburg was investigating complaints negative consequences” on human rightsfiled against 109 police officers for the and only to the extent necessary for analleged unlawful use of force during protests understanding of their business operations.against the G20 summit in Hamburg in July. There continued to be a lack of a binding In eight federal states, police officers mechanism requiring business enterprises toremained under no legal obligation to wear exercise due diligence to ensure that theyidentification badges. In October, the newly respect human rights throughout theirelected Parliament in North-Rhine operations and supply chain. Access to theWestphalia repealed the recently introduced justice system for victims of human rightsrequirement for law enforcement officials in abuses by or involving business enterprisesthe federal state to wear identification remained burdensome.badges. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, In October, prosecutorial authorities closed TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEthe new investigations opened in May into thedeath in custody of Oury Jalloh, a Sierra In July, the federal Parliament passed a lawLeonean national who died in a fire in a cell granting same-sex couples the right to marryof a police station in Dessau in 2005. In and to access adoption.November, media reports revealed thatmonths before the investigations were closed, Children and adults with variations of sexfire experts meeting in February had characteristics continued to suffer humanunanimously excluded the possibility of Oury rights violations. Invasive and irreversibleJalloh setting fire to himself. In December, medical procedures carried out on childrenthe Minister of Justice of Saxony-Anhalt with variations of sex characteristicsnewly assigned the investigations to the continued and had lifelong harmful effects.Prosecutor General of Naumburg. Guidelines drawn up by intersex activists and medical professionals for treatment ofARMS TRADE individuals with variations of sex characteristics had not been widelyThe selective post-shipment control system to implemented.improve the monitoring of German smallarms exports to ensure compliance with end- In November, the Federal Constitutionaluse certificates entered its pilot phase. In Court ruled that individuals should be allowedMay, a first control mission on the to choose a legal gender other than male andwhereabouts of exported sniper rifles in India female by the end of 2018.was conducted in agreement with the Indianauthorities.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 175

GHANA arrests. No official report concerning the death had been released by the end of theRepublic of Ghana year.Head of state and government: Nana Addo DankwaAkufo-Addo (replaced John Dramani Mahama in CHILDREN’S RIGHTSJanuary) In May the Minister for Gender, Children andConcerns were raised around unfair trials Social Protection launched a strategy forand poor prison conditions for people on 2017-2026 to address the issue of childdeath row, as well as the shackling of marriage. Some regions werepeople with psychosocial disabilities. LGBTI disproportionately affected by child marriage;people continued to face discrimination, 34% of girls in northern Ghana were marriedviolence and police harassment. before the age of 18. The strategy included accelerating access to quality education andBACKGROUND sexual and reproductive health information and services, as well as enforcing the existingNana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New legal and policy frameworks in relation toPatriotic Party was inaugurated as President child marriage.in January, following presidential andparliamentary elections in December 2016. DEATH PENALTYLEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL OR Scores of people on death row, including sixINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS officially considered to have mental and intellectual disabilities, faced poor prisonIn July, Ghana signed the AU Convention on conditions. Inmates experiencedCyber Security and Personal Data Protection, overcrowding and lack of access to healthand the Protocol to the African Charter on care and educational and recreationalHuman and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of facilities.Older Persons in Africa. Many death row inmates reported that theyWORKERS’ RIGHTS had not received adequate legal representation at their trials. Fewer than oneOn 23 March, Ghana ratified the UN in four death row inmates interviewed byMinamata Convention on Mercury, which Amnesty International had been able toaims to protect workers from toxic liquid appeal against their conviction or sentence.metal by reducing mercury use in artisanal Few inmates interviewed were aware of howand small-scale gold mining and protecting to appeal or access legal aid, while most werechildren from exposure. About 1 million unable to pay for private lawyers. The Ghanapeople were working in Ghana’s gold mines, Prison Service reported that only 12 deathand nearby communities were often directly row inmates had filed appeals since 2006 –exposed to mercury. In April, the government half of which were successful.1 Proposalsbegan a campaign to end illegal small-scale made by the Constitutional Reviewgold mining (known as “galamsey”), the Implementation Committee to abolish thenegative impacts of which include increased death penalty continued to be stalled as acrime, lost revenues and environmental result of delays in the constitutional reviewdamage as well as encouraging hazardous process.child labour. The government launched afive-year project to provide illegal miners with JUSTICE SYSTEMalternative livelihoods in the legal miningsector. More than 300 people were arrested Access to justice remained limited, especiallyon suspicion of illegal gold mining; one for people from low income or marginalizedperson was shot dead by police during the backgrounds. The Ghana Legal Aid Scheme suffered from funding shortages; just 23 lawyers offering legal aid were available to the176 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

country’s population of more than 28 million 1. Locked up and forgotten: The need to abolish the death penalty inpeople. Ghana (ACT 50/6268/2017)RIGHT TO HEALTH GREECEShackling of people with psychosocial Hellenic Republicdisabilities remained common, particularly in Head of state: Prokopis Pavlopoulosprivate “prayer camps” across the country. Head of government: Alexis TsiprasThe practice involved restraining a personusing chains or ropes and locking them in a Thousands of asylum-seekers and migrantsconfined space such as a room, shed or remained trapped on the Greek islands incage. In June the Mental Health appalling conditions. The European Court ofAuthority of Ghana released 16 people, Human Rights found that Greece failed toincluding two girls, held in shackles at prevent human trafficking in the case of 42Nyakumasi Prayer Camp, a “spiritual healing migrant workers from Bangladesh. Newcentre” in the Central Region. Those freed, legislation reforming legal recognition ofsome of whom had mental health conditions, gender identity was adopted.were taken to nearby Ankaful PsychiatricHospital. A coalition of civil society BACKGROUNDorganizations called on the government toadopt and enforce a ban on shackling and to Unemployment rates dropped but remainedinvest in appropriate community-based high, particularly for the 15-24 age group. Inservices to support people with mental health July, the unemployment rate was 20.5% andconditions. They also called on the youth unemployment was at 39.5%. Also ingovernment to fully implement the Mental July, Greece returned to the internationalHealth Act 2012, which, among other things, bond market after a three-year hiatus.required the establishment of regional mentalhealth committees responsible for monitoring According to the 2017 Gender Equalitymental health facilities across the country. Index, Greece ranked last among EU statesFunding for mental health services remained in terms of overall gender equality. Inlacking. November, the Ministry of Justice presented a bill on the ratification of the Council ofRIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, Europe Convention on Preventing andTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.Consensual same-sex sexual relationsbetween men remained a criminal offence. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTSLGBTI people continued to facediscrimination, violence and police Nearly 47,000 asylum-seekers remainedharassment as well as extortion attempts by trapped in Greece due to the closure of themembers of the public. In February the Balkans migration route and theSpeaker of Parliament stated in the media implementation of the EU-Turkey deal inthat the Constitution should be amended to March 2016. By the end of the year, 29,716make homosexuality completely illegal and people had arrived by sea from Turkey inpunishable by law. In July he also stated in comparison with 173,450 in 2016. However,the media that Ghana would not Greece continued to be one of the main entrydecriminalize homosexuality as this could points for refugees and migrants into Europe.lead to bestiality and incest becoming THE EU-TURKEY MIGRATION DEALlegalized. The expectation that everyone arriving irregularly on the Greek islands, including asylum-seekers, would be returned to Turkey under the EU-Turkey deal of March 2016Amnesty International Report 2017/18 177

continued to condemn many to extended In June, the three refugee camps in theasylum procedures while being stranded in Elliniko area in the capital Athens – whichappalling reception conditions on the islands. housed around 1,000 refugees and migrants, including many children – were evacuated. In September, the Greek Council of State, The majority of refugees and migrants werethe highest administrative court in the transferred to alternative camps. Thecountry, rejected the final appeals of two conditions in the Elliniko camps, whichSyrian refugees, against previous decisions occupied two former Olympic sites and thedeclaring their asylum claims inadmissible on arrivals terminal of an unused airport, hadthe basis that Turkey was a safe third country. been appalling and unsafe. NGOs had raisedThis decision could result in the first forcible serious concern regarding security in Elliniko,returns of Syrian asylum-seekers under the especially for women and girls. Many womenEU-Turkey deal. reported verbal harassment and being at risk of sexual and gender-based violence. By the end of the year, 684 individuals werereturned to Turkey from the Greek islands In January, three men died within one week(1,485 in total since the EU-Turkey deal in Moria camp on the island of Lesvos. Theirbecame effective). Out of those, five were deaths were suspected to be linked to carbonSyrian nationals in detention who did not monoxide poisoning from makeshift heaterschallenge their return after their claims were used to heat their tents. By the end of thefound inadmissible at second instance. year, the investigation into the deaths had not been concluded. In October, NGOs, including AmnestyInternational, documented instances in which Following these deaths, the GreekSyrian asylum-seekers were automatically authorities transferred thousands ofdetained upon arrival as the authorities vulnerable asylum-seekers from the islandsexpected them to be shortly returned to to the mainland. However, in August, risingTurkey, under the EU-Turkey deal. numbers of people arrived on the islands and reception facilities returned to being Greek authorities discriminated against overcrowded. The authorities had not beenasylum-seekers of certain nationalities. Due able to provide reception conditions on theto the EU-Turkey deal, many of those with islands that met minimum standards undernationalities of countries prejudged to be EU law by the end of the year.producing “economic migrants” rather than“refugees” were automatically detained and The use of urban accommodation forexpected to be returned to Turkey. asylum-seekers, largely flats, increased. ByEU RELOCATION SCHEME the end of the year, there were aroundThe EU relocation scheme continued to be 18,000 asylum-seekers and refugees stayingone of very few formal options available, for in flats and other urban accommodationthose eligible, to safely leave Greece and rather than in camps. The majority of thosemove elsewhere in Europe. However, asylum- living in the urban accommodation were inseekers who arrived in Greece since the EU- mainland Greece; there were fewer thanTurkey deal came into effect, were arbitrarily 1,000 asylum-seekers living in flats on theexcluded from the scheme. A total of 21,703 islands.asylum-seekers had been relocated from UNACCOMPANIED CHILDRENGreece to other European countries, out of In September, the Council of Europethe 66,400 that were foreseen to be relocated Committee for the Prevention of Tortureunder the scheme. criticized the continued and routine detentionRECEPTION CONDITIONS of unaccompanied migrant and refugeeSecurity continued to be a main concern in children. As of 15 December, there weremany of the remaining refugee camps, in 2,256 unaccompanied children waiting to beparticular in overcrowded “hotspots” on the placed in shelters, including 74 detained inislands. police stations.178 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

FORCED LABOUR AND SLAVERY RACISMIn March, in Chowdury and Others v. Greece, Numerous hate-motivated attacks werein a landmark judgment, the European Court reported during the year. Between Augustof Human Rights found that 42 migrant 2016 and the end of 2017, over 50 attacksworkers from Bangladesh had been reportedly took place in the town ofsubjected to forced labour and human Aspropyrgos where groups of young localstrafficking while working at a strawberry farm attacked migrant workers from Pakistan. Inin the village of Manolada. The Court also June, representatives of national NGOs filed afound that Greece had failed to prevent complaint and authorities launched ahuman trafficking and to conduct an effective criminal investigation. In October, policeinvestigation into the offences committed. arrested three young men suspected of being linked to one of the violent attacks.CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS Sixty-nine individuals linked to the far-rightConscientious objectors continued to be party Golden Dawn, including the party’sarrested, repeatedly prosecuted, tried in leader and MPs, were put on trial in 2015 formilitary courts and fined. In June, a 53-year- the murder of anti-fascist singer Pavlosold conscientious objector who was Fyssas in 2013 and for participation in aprosecuted for having refused to enlist in criminal organization. In October, the Athens1990, was tried in a military court, but was Court of Appeal completed hearing evidenceacquitted. from all prosecution witnesses called to testify in the trial. According to the 2016 submissions of theGreek National Commission for Human RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,Rights and the European Bureau for TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEConscientious Objection, the duration ofalternative civilian service for certain Refugees and migrants stranded on thecategories of conscientious objectors was still Aegean islands were also subjected to hate-not conforming with the European Social motivated crimes. Some of the victims wereCharter. In July, the European Committee of transgender women and gay men.Social Rights asked Greece to provide furtherinformation. In October, amid transphobic reactions inside and outside Parliament, theTORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT government passed a new law reforming legal recognition of gender identity. LawAllegations of ill-treatment and excessive use 4491/2017 expressly stated that transgenderof force by law enforcement officials people could change their identitypersisted. The majority of victims of the documents without the requirements ofreported incidents were refugees and medical interventions, tests and psychiatricmigrants trapped on the Aegean islands as a assessments. However, the new legislationresult of the EU-Turkey deal. also contained several flaws, including a single status requirement and the validation There were allegations that police used of gender recognition by a local court. Whileexcessive force against asylum-seekers the procedure was open to individuals aboveduring an operation to arrest protesters who the age of 15, blanket age restrictionswere clashing with the police in the Moria remained and 15- to 16-year-old childrencamp, on Lesvos, on 18 July. Police also seeking legal gender recognition faced theallegedly ill-treated some of those arrested additional barrier of a psycho-medicaland detained in the island’s main police assessment.station following the clashes. In July, a localprosecutor ordered a criminal investigation FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATIONinto the allegations. The investigation wasongoing at the end of the year. In October, Parliament adopted a legislative amendment seeking to implement threeAmnesty International Report 2017/18 179

European Court of Human Rights judgments. military, including the former head of theThe judgments were regarding the violation of High Command of the Guatemalan Army,the right to freedom of association in relation were sent to trial charged with crimes againstto the authorities’ refusal to register humanity and rape against Emma Guadalupeassociations of Greece’s national minorities in Molina Theissen, and the enforced2007, 2008 and 2015. The new provision disappearance of her younger brother, Marcoamended the Code of Civil Procedure to allow Antonio Molina Theissen.the possibility of reopening proceedings inthese cases. However, the NGO Greek Criminal proceedings remained stalledHelsinki Monitor expressed concern over the against former members of the military onlimitations placed by the law in relation to the charges related to multiple cases of enforcedreopening of such proceedings, including on disappearances and unlawful killings carriedgrounds of national security and public order. out in a military base, now known as Creompaz, in the northern Alta VerapazGUATEMALA region. Appeals filed against decisions affecting the victims’ rights were pending andRepublic of Guatemala several officers remained at large. In bothHead of state and government: Jimmy Morales Cabrera cases, victims and human rights defenders were intimidated and harassed inside orThousands continued to flee the country to outside the court and online. After severalescape high levels of inequality and failed attempts since 2015, the trials ofviolence. Human rights defenders, in former military head of state José Efraín Ríosparticular those working on land, territorial Montt and former intelligence chiefand environmental issues, were at great risk Rodríguez Sánchez resumed in October.and faced smear campaigns. Impunity andcorruption persisted, undermining public IMPUNITYtrust in local authorities and hinderingaccess to justice. Recent progress to Judges and prosecutors continued to faceconsolidate the criminal justice system and intimidation and pressure. Efforts to fightthe rule of law was challenged. High-profile impunity were at great risk of setbacks due tocases of past crimes under international law increased resistance from certain politicalremained stalled. actors. A constitutional reform introduced in Congress in November 2016, aimed atLEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL OR consolidating efforts towards justice andINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS accountability and strengthening the independence of the judiciary, had not beenIn August, Augusto Jordan Rodas took up approved at the end of the year. Massoffice as Ombudsperson for Human Rights. protests took place in August and SeptemberIn November, the last criminal provisions and the country faced a political crisis whenreferring to the death penalty were declared several members of the government resignedunconstitutional. in September, in reaction to President Morales’ attempt to expel the head of theTRANSITIONAL JUSTICE International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (an independent body establishedDespite progress in the prosecution of some by the UN and the Guatemalan governmentcrimes against humanity committed during in 2006 to strengthen the rule of law post-the internal armed conflict (1960-1996), conflict).efforts towards truth, justice and reparationsremained halted, and the vast majority of HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERScases continued to suffer setbacks andundue delays. Five former members of the Human rights defenders faced continuous threats, stigmatization, intimidation and attacks.180 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

The Guatemalan NGO Unit for the 400 people, including children and elderlyProtection of Human Rights Defenders in people, who were stranded at the northernGuatemala said that defenders working on border with Mexico from early June in poorrights related to land, territory and the sanitary conditions. They had abandonedenvironment faced the highest number of their community situated in Laguna Largaattacks. In January, Sebastián Alonso Juan hours before a massive eviction was carriedwas killed during a peaceful protest against out. By the end of the year the authoritiesthe construction of hydroelectric projects in had not facilitated their return.the Ixquisis region of San Mateo Ixtatán. REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS In addition, human rights defenders wereconstantly subjected to smear campaigns to Thousands of Guatemalans migrated to thestigmatize and discredit them and their work USA through Mexico in an effort to escapein an attempt to force them to stop their the high levels of inequality and violencelegitimate activities. From the end of June, affecting marginalized groups. UNHCR, themembers of the Centre for Environmental, UN refugee agency, said that betweenSocial and Legal Action were targeted with January and October 18,764 Guatemalanssmear campaigns after they challenged the sought asylum in other countries.licence of Minera San Rafael mining Unaccompanied children from Guatemalacompany in San Rafael Las Flores. The comprised the biggest group of arrivalsjustice system was regularly misused to target apprehended at the US border. Althoughand harass human rights defenders in an large numbers of people continued to beattempt to break up movements and forcibly returned to Guatemala, there was noorganizations, and silence human rights comprehensive mechanism or protocol indefenders. place to address the needs of returnees who were sent back to the same conditions and A General Instruction by the Public danger that they had fled.Prosecutor’s Office containing guidelines toeffectively investigate attacks against human CHILDREN’S RIGHTSrights defenders was under review pendingits approval for several months. Despite some In March, 41 girls died in a fire in the Virgenprogress, the process to create, in de la Asunción government-run shelter inconsultation with civil society, a San José Pinula municipality while lockedcomprehensive public policy for the inside a classroom. The deaths revealed theprotection of human rights defenders had not lack of sufficient and adequate measures toconcluded by the end of the year. protect children’s rights in Guatemala. A number of public officials were charged, butLAND DISPUTES delays in the investigation were reported.In September the Supreme Court recognized High levels of child pregnancy remained athe lack of prior consultation with the Xinca particular concern. The Observatory onIndigenous People of Santa Rosa and Jalapa, Sexual and Reproductive Health registeredwho had been negatively affected by the 69,445 births by girls and young womenactivities of the mine of San Rafael Las aged from 10 to 19 between January andFlores. The Court ordered the Ministry of September.Energy and Mines to carry out a consultation,but it also allowed the company to continuemining operations. As a result, an appeal wasfiled before the Constitutional Court, whichremained pending. In September the Inter-AmericanCommission on Human Rights orderedGuatemala to protect the rights of aroundAmnesty International Report 2017/18 181

GUINEA neighbourhood, and taken to a gendarmerie detention centre. He was charged withRepublic of Guinea “participating in an unlawful assembly” andHead of state: Alpha Condé was detained without trial at the MaisonHead of government: Mamady Youla centrale, Conakry’s main prison, until his release on bail on 21 December.The security forces continued to use FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONexcessive force against demonstrators.Journalists, human rights defenders and Journalists, human rights defenders andothers expressing dissent were arbitrarily others expressing dissent were beaten andarrested. Impunity was widespread. The arbitrarily detained. At least 20 people wereright to adequate housing was not fulfilled. arrested solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and 20 others wereBACKGROUND subjected to police violence.The postponement of local elections until In February, Radio Lynx FM reporterFebruary 2018, along with speculation about Mariam Kouyaté was arrested by securitywhether President Condé would run for a agents as she investigated health services atthird term, led to social and political tensions. the Ignace Deen Hospital in Conakry. She was questioned at a police station afterFREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY refusing to hand over her press badge and recording equipment, and released the sameAt least 18 people were killed and dozens day without charge. In May, Gangan TVwere injured during demonstrations. In journalist Aboubacar Camara was beaten byFebruary, seven people were killed in the gendarmes as he filmed a land dispute in acapital, Conakry, during protests connected Conakry suburb where he believed theto a strike over the authorities’ decision to security forces were using excessive force.review teachers’ terms and conditions, and to The officers forced him into their car, tookschool closures. The security forces him to the gendarmerie and released himdispersed the demonstrators with tear gas, later the same day after deleting hisbatons and live ammunition. recordings. On 20 February, the police arrested seven In June, the High Authority ofhuman rights defenders of the Voice of the Communication suspended Espace FM radioPeople movement who had organized a sit-in presenter Mohamed Mara for one month onin Conakry calling for schools to reopen. They grounds that he had used “insulting”faced charges of “disturbing public order”, language during a radio debate on polygamy.later amended to “participating in an In November, the Authority ordered that theunlawful assembly”, and were released the radio station be taken off air for one weeksame evening. Three days after his release, after the station discussed under-resourcingnational television journalist Hassan Sylla − in the army which the authorities claimedone of the seven − was suspended from his could undermine national security andjob for six months for gross misconduct; no morale among the armed forces. In July,explanation was given. National Television suspended Alia Camara, one of their journalists, for criticizing the low Security forces used live ammunition during pass rate in baccalaureate examinations.violent protests against poor living standardsin the Boké region in April, May and On 27 June, gendarmes arrestedSeptember. At least four people died from guinéematin.com journalist Amadou Sadiogunshot wounds. Diallo in Lélouma for “disturbing public order” after he published what the authorities On 22 August, former soldier and trade described as “false news” about a possibleunionist Jean Dougou Guilavogui wasarrested by gendarmes in Matoto, a Conakry182 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

cholera outbreak. He was released the none of the suspected perpetrators hadfollowing day. been brought to trial by the end of the year. On 30 October, four Gangan TV journalists In September, a group of victims filed awere arrested by gendarmes in Matam, a lawsuit against Sékouba Konaté, who servedneighbourhood of Conakry, and charged with as Minister of Defence in 2009, as well aspublishing false information and offending transitional President between 2009 andthe head of state by spreading rumours of 2010.1President Condé’s death. Three of them werereleased hours later and one was released There was no progress in the judicialthe following day. At least 18 journalists who proceedings against security force membersgathered in solidarity with the arrested for the human rights violations committedjournalists at the Matam gendarmerie were during demonstrations in Conakry betweenbeaten and had their equipment broken by 2011 and 2017, in Zogota in 2012 andsecurity forces. during the occupation by the security forces of the village of Womey in 2014.LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS RIGHT TO HOUSINGIn June, the National Assembly adopted a In August, at least 10 people, including twonew Military Code of Justice, which if children, were killed in a landslide at apromulgated would effectively abolish the rubbish dump site at Dar-Es-Salam, adeath penalty. The Code also contained neighbourhood of Conakry. In September, theprovisions that could undermine the rights to government spokesperson acknowledged afair trial and justice, including by allowing the failure in the sanitation services. The Nationaltrials of civilians before military courts. Director of Humanitarian Actions at the Ministry of Territorial Administration said thatIMPUNITY the remaining inhabitants should be evicted immediately.In February, an Anti-Crime Brigade captain inKipé, a neighbourhood of Conakry, was 1. Guinea: 8 years later, justice for massacre needed (Press release, 27arrested and charged with torturing a man in September)police custody in March 2016. At least 10other gendarmerie and police officers were HAITIsuspended over the incident, but were notbrought to justice. Republic of Haiti Head of state: Jovenel Moïse (replaced Jocelerme There was progress in the trial proceedings Privert in February)relating to the killing of over 150 peaceful Head of government: Jack Guy Lafontant (replaceddemonstrators and the rape of at least 100 Enex Jean-Charles in March)women in the Conakry Stadium in 2009. InMarch, Aboubacar Sidiki Diakité was Violence against women and girls,extradited to Guinea from Senegal after being particularly sexual violence, continued.at large for several years, and faced charges Legislators sought to approve openlyin connection with the Stadium event. He discriminatory laws against LGBTI people.was the former aide to Moussa Dadis Camara(leader of the military junta in 2009). Several BACKGROUNDpeople charged in connection with thekillings and rapes retained influential In February, Jovenel Moïse assumed thepositions, including Mathurin Bangoura, presidency after being elected in NovemberMoussa Tiégboro Camara and Claude Pivi 2016 following an electoral crisis; a newwho were senior officials in the military junta Prime Minister was appointed.at the time. In November, the investigatingjudges announced that the judicialinvestigation had been completed; however,Amnesty International Report 2017/18 183

In March, prompted by the Haitian nationals was due to expire in January 2018government, the mandate of the UN with a delayed effective date of 18 monthsIndependent Expert on the situation of which, according to the Department, wouldhuman rights in Haiti ended. “allow for an orderly transition before the designation terminates on 22 July, 2019”. In October, UN Security Council resolution TPS is granted to nationals from particular2350 ended the mandate of the UN countries on the grounds that they cannotStabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) return safely to their country due toafter 13 years. Peacekeepers left following conditions there.years of controversy over their allegedresponsibility for the cholera outbreak of RIGHT TO HEALTH – CHOLERA2010, and numerous reports of sexual EPIDEMICviolence. It was replaced by the UN Missionfor Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH), Between January and June, there were 7,623mandated to strengthen the rule of law. new cases of suspected cholera and 70 related deaths, a decrease of more than 60% The authorities took steps to re-establish the in comparison with the same period in 2016.army which had been dissolved in 1995. It Since the 2010 outbreak, more than 800,000was unclear what vetting processes would be people had been infected and nearly 10,000established to recruit soldiers following the had died, according to the authorities.widespread allegations of human rightsviolations committed by previous forces. The UN’s “new approach to cholera in Haiti”, presented in 2016, was severelyINTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE underfunded. There were no consultations with cholera survivors, as planned. IndividualThe International Organization for Migration assistance was consequently suspended.reported that by June, 37,867 people were Victims’ advocates objected to this oninternally displaced because of the 2010 the grounds that it was inconsistent with theearthquake; most of them lived in makeshift right to remedy.camps. According to the government, almost 70%DISCRIMINATION − STATELESS of the Haitian population did not have accessPERSONS to health services.In March, Parliament voted to accede to the VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS1954 and 1961 UN Conventions onStatelessness, following recommendations Sexual violence and violence against womenmade during Haiti’s examination under the and girls was prevalent although under-UN UPR process in 2016.1 Haiti had not reported.signed or ratified the Conventions by the endof 2017. In April, the government tabled comprehensive reforms of the Criminal CodeREFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS in Parliament. It contained new provisions to tackle sexual violence, including criminalizingIn July, the UN Office for the Coordination of rape in marriage. In July, the NGO DoctorsHumanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported an Without Borders found that 77% of survivorsincrease in deportation cases at the of sexual and gender-based violence whoDominican-Haitian border. were treated in its specialized clinic in the capital, Port-au-Prince, between May 2015 Despite a request in October from the and March 2017, were under the age of 25;Haitian government for a further extension, 53% were under 18.the US Department of Homeland Securityannounced, in November, its decision toterminate the temporary protected status(TPS) for nearly 60,000 Haitians at risk ofdeportation from the USA. TPS for Haitian184 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, 1. Following political crisis Haiti must urgently advance human rightsTRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE agenda (AMR 36/5899/2017)The Senate supported bills which 2. Haiti: Human rights defenders’ lives in danger (AMR 36/6045/2017)discriminated against LGBTI people; theywere pending approval by the Chamber of 3. Haiti: Women’s rights defender threatened with death: Sanièce PetitDeputies at the end of the year. In July, the Phat (AMR 36/7598/2017)Senate voted for certificates to be issuedwhich would vouch for an individual’s “good HONDURASmoral” standing and from which anyonedeemed to be “homosexual” would be Republic of Hondurasexcluded. In August, it approved a law Head of state and government: Juan Orlandomaking same-sex marriage and public Hernández Alvaradosupport or advocacy for “homosexuality”illegal. The level of insecurity and violence remained high. Widespread impunityHUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS continued to undermine public trust in the authorities and the justice system. ProtestsHuman rights defenders David Boniface and in the aftermath of the presidential electionJuders Ysemé reported fearing for their lives were brutally repressed by security forces.following the sudden death in March of their Honduras remained one of the mostcolleague Nissage Martyr. He died a day after dangerous countries in the Americas regionthe three men filed a lawsuit in the USA for human rights defenders, especially foragainst Jean Morose Viliena − former Mayor those working to protect land, territory andof Les Irois, their hometown in Haiti − for the environment. The governmentgrave human rights violations. Jean Morose announced the creation of a Ministry forViliena had fled to the USA from Haiti in Human Rights and Justice, to become2009. The men said that they had operational in 2018.been subjected to repeated death threats andto violent attacks by or on behalf of the EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCEformer Mayor since 2007. However, theauthorities did not implement adequate Mass protests, which began on 29 Novemberprotection measures, although the Inter- around the country to denounce the lack ofAmerican Commission on Human Rights transparency around the presidentialgranted them precautionary measures to election, were brutally repressed by securityensure their safety in 2015.2 forces. Hundreds of people were arrested or detained and a 10-day curfew was Sanièce Petit Phat reported that she implemented in December. Security forceshad received death threats because of her used excessive force against protesters,work in defence of the rights of women and including with lethal weapons. At least 31girls.3 people were killed, and multiple cases of people being injured by firearms or brutallyRIGHT TO EDUCATION beaten by security forces were also reported, as well as cases that could amount to tortureIn June, the UN Economic and Social and other cruel, inhuman and degradingCouncil Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti treatment.criticized inefficiency in the education sector.It noted that most schools were privately HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSmanaged, “making education an expensive,profit-based system” too expensive for many Human rights defenders, particularlyHaitian families. Illiteracy among over-15s environmental and land activists, continuedwas over 50%. to be at risk of human rights abuses. TheyAmnesty International Report 2017/18 185

were subjected to smear campaigns by both INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSstate and non-state actors to discredit theirwork, and were regularly targeted with Several Indigenous Peoples continued tointimidation, threats, and attacks. In June, claim that their rights to consultation and tothree members of the Civic Council of free, prior and informed consent werePopular and Indigenous Organizations of violated in the context of projects to exploreHonduras (COPINH) were attacked by armed and exploit natural resources in theirassailants while they were in a car, returning territories. Killings, aggressions and cases offrom a meeting. Local NGOs said that the misuse of the justice system against thosejustice system continued to be misused to defending Indigenous Peoples were reported.harass and discourage human rightsdefenders. Unnecessary and excessive use of The Draft Framework Law on Free, Priorforce by security forces during peaceful and Informed Consultation of Indigenousprotests was also reported. Peoples faced criticism, including of the insufficient participation of Indigenous and The vast majority of attacks registered Garifuna (Afro-descendant) communities inagainst human rights defenders remained the process.unpunished, as a result of multiple obstacleshindering investigations and trials. There was Reparation measures ordered in 2015 bylittle progress in the investigation into the the Inter-American Court of Human Rights inkilling in March 2016 of Berta Cáceres, the two cases where Honduras had violated theIndigenous environmental defender and co- collective land rights of the Garifunafounder of COPINH. The public hearings of communities had yet to be implemented.eight suspects detained in relation to thecase were postponed on multiple occasions. LAND DISPUTESIndependent experts revealed a lack of duediligence in the investigations, including a Conflicts persisted due to the lack of securelack of prosecution of other individuals land tenure. High levels of violence werepotentially involved in the crime. There was reported in the Aguán Valley where long-no information about any progress made by standing land disputes remained unresolved.the Public Prosecutor in identifying those According to the Unified Campesinoresponsible for planning her killing. Movement of the Aguán, precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Although some progress was made to Commission on Human Rights to protect theprotect human rights defenders through the life and integrity of leaders in the AguánNational Mechanism to Protect Human Valley were not adequately implemented.Rights Defenders, Journalists, SocialCommentators and Justice Officials, efforts to GENDER-RELATED VIOLENCEensure their comprehensive protectionremained insufficient. Women, girls and LGBTI people continued to face high levels of gender-related violence. New provisions of the Criminal Code on Between January and October, 236 violentterrorism and related criminal offences deaths of women were registered by theapproved by Congress in February and Centre for Women’s Rights. According to theSeptember were defined in an overly broad Lesbian Cattrachas Network, killings of LGBTIand vague manner, contrary to the principle people also increased, with a total of 35of legality. The provisions could lead to the people killed. Impunity remained high inarbitrary and inadequate application of the these cases, as authorities lacked sufficientCode against peaceful protesters and human capacity and resources to investigate,rights defenders, which could further prosecute and punish those responsible.criminalize their work and obstruct socialmovements. SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS The failure to protect women’s and girls’ rights and guarantee access to safe and legal abortion in any circumstances continued.186 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Despite recommendations from international REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERShuman rights bodies and mechanisms, inApril Congress decided to maintain the Hungary continued to severely restrict accessprohibition of abortion in all circumstances in to the country for refugees and asylum-the new Criminal Code. seekers, limiting admission to its two operational border “transit zones” in whichREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS only 10 new asylum applications could be submitted per working day. Consequently,Widespread violence across Honduras between 6,000 and 8,000 people were left inremained a key factor of forced migration inadequate conditions in Serbia, infrom the country. According to UNHCR, the substandard camps and at risk ofUN refugee agency, between January and homelessness and of refoulement furtherOctober, 14,735 Hondurans sought asylum south to Macedonia and Bulgaria.worldwide, mostly in Mexico and the USA.However, large numbers of Hondurans also In March, the European Court of Humancontinued to be forcibly returned from these Rights ruled in Ilias and Ahmed v. Hungarycountries to the same life-threatening that the confinement of asylum-seekers insituations which initially pushed them to “transit zones”, essentially heavily guardedescape. To date, there was no comprehensive container camps at Hungary’s external landmechanism or protocol to detect and address borders, amounted to arbitrary deprivation ofin a systematic manner the protection needs liberty. The Court also found that, due to theof deportees. poor conditions in which asylum-seekers were held for weeks and the lack of judicialHUNGARY remedies available against this form of detention, Hungary had failed to provideHungary adequate protection against a real risk ofHead of state: János Áder inhuman and degrading treatment.Head of government: Viktor Orbán The same month, a package ofThe systematic crackdown on the rights of amendments to five laws on migration andrefugees and migrants continued. Foreign- asylum was passed in the National Assembly,funded universities and NGOs faced enabling the automatic detention, withoutrestrictions under new legislation. judicial review, of all asylum-seekers in border “transit zones”, includingBACKGROUND unaccompanied minors of 14-18 years of age. These amendments also allowed for theThe government faced domestic protests and detention of asylum-seekers for the wholeincreased international scrutiny for its duration of their asylum processes, includingcontinued rollback on human rights and non- any appeals, and for the summary expulsioncompliance with EU law. The European of all irregular migrants found on HungarianCommission launched and moved forward territory to the external side of Hungary’swith four formal infringement proceedings extensive border fences.following the introduction of legislationdeemed incompatible with EU freedoms, and Consequently, most asylum-seekers inin May the European Parliament adopted a Hungary either absconded from thecomprehensive resolution expressing alarm procedure or were detained in the borderat the situation of human rights in the “transit zones” indefinitely. By the end of thecountry. More than a quarter of the year, almost 500 asylum-seekers werepopulation remained at risk of poverty and unlawfully detained at the border. Thesocial exclusion and 16% were severely Hungarian authorities denied or providedmaterially deprived. extremely limited access to human rights monitors and NGOs providing legal aid. These draconian measures were originally supposed to apply during a “crisis situationAmnesty International Report 2017/18 187

caused by mass immigration”. However, a Commission took legal action against“crisis situation” had been continuously Hungary by launching infringementinvoked since September 2015 and was proceedings. In the Commission’sextended in August until March 2018, assessment, the law was not compatible withdespite the lack of a factual or legal basis for fundamental EU freedoms, including theits prolongation. freedom to provide services, the freedom of establishment, and academic freedom. In Hungary further enhanced its border fences October, the National Assembly voted toand police presence at its southern borders. extend the deadlines by which the newMore than 20,000 people were summarily requirements had to be met by one calendarand sometimes violently returned to Serbia or year. By the end of the year the governmentotherwise prevented from entering Hungary had failed to strike an agreement with thewithout access to fair and efficient asylum State of New York that would allow for theprocesses and an examination of their continued operations of the CEU.protection needs. In March, the newspaperMagyar Nemzet revealed that, contrary to the In June, the National Assembly passed agovernment’s statements refuting allegations law effectively stigmatizing NGOs thatof abuse, more than 40 investigations had received foreign funding. Under the law onbeen launched into instances of excessive the transparency of organizations fundeduse of force by police at the border over a from abroad, NGOs receiving more thanperiod of 18 months; most of the EUR24,000 direct or indirect funding frominvestigations were closed without further abroad had to re-register as a “civicaction. organization funded from abroad” and to put this label on every publication. Additionally, In September, Hungary lost a case at the the law required NGOs to reveal the identityCourt of Justice of the European Union, of their funders and supporters above awhich ruled that it could not absolve itself of threshold of around EUR1,650. The law wasparticipation in the EU Emergency Relocation adopted amid a government-sponsoredScheme for the relocation of asylum-seekers communication campaign discrediting NGOsfrom Greece and Italy to other EU member and accusing several of undermining nationalstates. Hungary continued to refuse to sovereignty and security. By only coveringrelocate any of its minimum quota of 1,294 certain types of civil society organizations, theasylum-seekers, or to participate in other law directly discriminated against theseregional solidarity mechanisms. By the end of organizations and imposed limitations onthe year, it had not resettled or relocated their right to association, including the rightanyone. to seek, receive and utilize resources. In mid- July, the European Commission notifiedFREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION Hungary of another infringement procedure, based on an assessment that this lawIn April, the adoption in an emergency imposed measures at odds with the right toprocedure of amendments to the National freedom of association and unjustified andHigher Education Law prompted widespread disproportionate restrictions on the freeprotests and criticism from academic experts movement of capital, and raised concerns inand the general public. The law, widely relation to the obligation of protecting privateinterpreted as targeting the operations of a life and personal data.particular educational institution, the CentralEuropean University (CEU), introduced new In August, a coalition of more than 20 NGOsrequirements for foreign universities submitted a complaint to the Constitutionaloperating in Hungary under an extremely Court requesting that the law be annulled.tight deadline – including the requirement ofa bilateral state-level agreement – putting atrisk the continued functioning of thoseinstitutions. The same month, the European188 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY cow protection groups. Press freedom and free speech in universities came underIn June, an appeals court in the southern attack. India failed to respect its humantown of Szeged annulled the conviction of rights commitments made before the UNAhmed H, a Syrian man sentenced to 10 Human Rights Council. The Supreme Courtyears’ imprisonment for allegedly committing and High Courts delivered several“acts of terror” while participating in a riot by progressive judgments, but some rulingsrefugees and migrants at the Serbia-Hungary undermined human rights. Impunity forborder in September 2015. On appeal, the human rights abuses persisted.court found that available evidence had notbeen properly assessed and ordered a retrial. ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPSIn August, the Prosecutor General appealedagainst this decision to the Curia (the highest In January, three road construction workerscourt in Hungary). In November, the Curia were killed in an attack on a military camp byruled that the appeals court should have suspected members of the Jamaat-ud-Dawadelivered a binding judgment instead of armed group in Akhnoor, in the state ofordering a retrial; this, however, did not affect Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The Unitedongoing proceedings. Ahmed H’s case was Liberation Front of Asom (Independent)pending before a newly appointed court of claimed responsibility for detonating sevenfirst instance at the end of the year. bombs across Assam state on 26 January; no casualties were reported. In July, suspectedVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba armed group attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrimsBy October, allegations of abuse committed in Botengoo, J&K, killing eight people andby men holding positions of power sparked a injuring 17.national debate on the recognition andprosecution of rape and other forms of sexual Suspected armed group members in J&Kviolence. Hungary had yet to ratify the threatened and attacked political workers andCouncil of Europe Convention on preventing ransacked the homes of state policeand combating violence against women and personnel. Armed groups in northeasterndomestic violence, and prosecutions of these states were suspected of carrying outcrimes remained limited. abductions and unlawful killings. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) armedINDIA group was suspected of killing suspected police “informants” in several states.Republic of IndiaHead of state: Ram Nath Kovind (replaced Pranab CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION ANDMukherjee in July) VIOLENCEHead of government: Narendra Modi Official statistics released in November statedReligious minority groups, particularly that more than 40,000 crimes againstMuslims, faced increasing demonization by Scheduled Castes were reported in 2016.hardline Hindu groups, pro-government Several incidents were reported of membersmedia and some state officials. Adivasi of dominant castes attacking Dalits forcommunities continued to be displaced by accessing public and social spaces or forindustrial projects, and hate crimes against perceived caste transgressions.Dalits remained widespread. Authoritieswere openly critical of human rights In May, two Dalit men were killed, severaldefenders and organizations, contributing to injured, and dozens of Dalit homes burneda climate of hostility against them. Mob by dominant caste men in Saharanpur, Uttarviolence intensified, including by vigilante Pradesh, following a clash between members of the communities. In August, S. Anitha, a 17-year-old Dalit girl who had campaigned against the introduction of a uniform nationalAmnesty International Report 2017/18 189

exam for admission to medical colleges, Rajasthan police cleared six men suspectedcommitted suicide, sparking protests in Tamil of killing Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer who hadNadu. Protesters said the exam would named the suspects before he died. Somedisadvantage students from marginalized BJP officials made statements whichbackgrounds. appeared to justify the attacks. In September, the Supreme Court said that state Activists said that at least 90 Dalits governments were obligated to compensateemployed as manual scavengers died during victims of cow vigilante violence.the year while cleaning sewers, despite thepractice being prohibited. Many of those A special investigation team set up in 2015killed were illegally employed by government to reinvestigate closed cases related to theagencies. In August, the Delhi state 1984 Sikh massacre closed 241 cases andgovernment said that people who employed filed charges in 12 others. In August, themanual scavengers would be prosecuted for Supreme Court set up a panel comprisingmanslaughter. In November, the UN Special two former judges to examine the decisionsRapporteur on safe drinking water and to close the cases.sanitation expressed concern that thegovernment’s emphasis on building new In March, mobs carried out with impunity atoilets as part of its Clean India Mission could string of racist attacks against black Africanprolong manual scavenging. students in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. In June, three people were killed in Darjeeling,CHILDREN’S RIGHTS West Bengal, in violent clashes between police and protesters demanding a separateIn November, statistics were published state of Gorkhaland.stating that over 106,000 cases of violenceagainst children were reported in 2016. In FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONJune, India ratified two key ILO conventionson child labour. Activists remained critical of Journalists and press freedom came underamendments to child labour laws which increasing attack. In September, journalistallowed children to work in family enterprises. Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken critic of Hindu nationalism and the caste system, was shot According to national survey data released dead outside her home in Bengaluru byin March, nearly 36% of children aged below unidentified gunmen. The same month,five were underweight, and more than 38% journalist Shantanu Bhowmick was beaten towere short for their age. In September, 70 death near Agartala while covering violentchildren died at a hospital in Gorakhpur, political clashes. In September,Uttar Pradesh, allegedly because of photojournalist Kamran Yousuf was arresteddisruption to the oxygen supply. The share of in J&K for allegedly instigating people topublic spending on health remained low at throw stones at security forces, under a law1.2% of GDP. Spending on government which does not meet international humanprogrammes to provide nutrition and pre- rights standards. In November, journalistschool education to children under six Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead,remained inadequate.  allegedly by a paramilitary force member, at a paramilitary camp near Agartala. InCOMMUNAL AND ETHNIC VIOLENCE December, a French film-maker conducting research for a documentary on the KashmirDozens of hate crimes against Muslims took conflict was detained for three days in J&K,place across the country. At least 10 Muslim allegedly for violating visa regulations.men were lynched and many injured byvigilante cow protection groups, many of Journalists continued to face criminalwhich seemed to operate with the support of defamation cases filed by politicians andmembers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party companies. In June, the Karnataka(BJP). Some arrests were made, but no legislature sentenced two journalists to oneconvictions were reported. In September, year’s imprisonment each for allegedly writing190 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

defamatory articles about members of the pamphlets and videos, and used thestate assembly. provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a law which does not meet Repressive laws were used to stifle freedom international human rights standards.of expression. In June, 20 people werearrested for sedition in Madhya Pradesh and The same month, Jailal Rathia, an AdivasiRajasthan, following complaints that they had activist, died in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, aftercheered the Pakistan cricket team’s victory allegedly being poisoned by members of aover India. In July, 31 Dalit activists were land mafia he was campaigning against. Inarrested and detained for a day in Lucknow April, Varsha Dongre, an official at Raipurfor organizing a press conference about Central Jail in Chhattisgarh, was transferredcaste-based violence. State governments after she posted on Facebook that she hadbanned books, and the central film seen police torturing Adivasi girls.certification board denied the theatricalrelease of certain films, on vague and overly In May, four men were arrested in Chennaibroad grounds. In November, five state and held in administrative detention for moregovernments banned the release of than three months for attempting to stage aPadmaavat, a Hindi period film, on the memorial for Tamils killed in the civil war ingrounds that it would “hurt community Sri Lanka. The same month, the Odisha statesentiments”. police arrested Kuni Sikaka, an Adivasi activist opposing bauxite mining in the Freedom of expression in universities Niyamgiri hills, and released her only afterremained under threat. The student body of presenting her to journalists as a surrenderedthe Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Maoist.Swayamsevak Sangh used threats andviolence to block events and talks at some In August, activist Medha Patkar and threeuniversities. In June, eight Lucknow others protesting against inadequateUniversity students were arrested and rehabilitation for families affected by thedetained for 20 days for protesting against Sardar Sarovar dam project (see below) werethe Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. In arrested on fabricated charges and detainedSeptember, Uttar Pradesh police personnel for more than two weeks.baton-charged students, mostly women,protesting against sexual assault at Banaras INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSHindu University. In November, statistics were published In August, India’s Supreme Court ruled in a stating that over 6,500 crimes werelandmark judgment that the right to privacy committed against Scheduled Tribes in 2016.was part of the constitutional right to life and Indigenous Adivasi communities continued topersonal liberty. face displacement by industrial projects. The government acquired land for coal miningHUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS under a special law without seeking the free, prior and informed consent of Adivasis. InIn January, the Home Ministry said that it had July, an Environment Ministry panel said thatrefused to renew the foreign funding licence coal mines seeking to increase productionof the NGO known as People’s Watch capacity by up to 40% did not have tobecause it had allegedly portrayed India’s consult affected communities.human rights record in a “negative light”internationally. In September, activists protested against the inauguration of the Sardar Sarovar dam in In March, GN Saibaba, an activist and Gujarat, saying that some 40,000 displacedacademic, was convicted with four others families, including many Adivasi families, hadand sentenced to life imprisonment by a not received adequate reparation. In June,Maharashtra court for being a member of 98 Adivasis in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, tried toand supporting a banned Maoist group. The file criminal cases under the Scheduledconviction was based primarily on letters, Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention ofAmnesty International Report 2017/18 191

Atrocities) Act, alleging that they had been POLICE AND SECURITY FORCESforced into selling their land to agents ofprivate companies, following intimidation and In January, four Adivasi women in Dhar,coercion. The police accepted the complaints Madhya Pradesh, said they had been gang-but refused to register criminal cases. raped by police personnel. In March, Adivasi villagers in Sukma, Chhattisgarh, accusedJAMMU AND KASHMIR security force personnel of gang-raping a 14- year-old Adivasi girl. In September, twoIn April, eight people were killed by security paramilitary personnel were arrested onforces, some of them by the use of excessive suspicion of killing a woman and raping andforce, following protests during a by-election throwing acid on her friend in Mizoram infor a parliamentary seat. One voter, Farooq July.Ahmad Dar, was beaten by army personnel,strapped to the front of an army jeep and In April, a senior officer of the paramilitarydriven around for over five hours, seemingly Central Reserve Police Force alleged inas a warning to protesters. In May, the officer writing to his commanding authorities thatsuspected of being responsible received an multiple security agencies had killed twoarmy commendation for his work in counter- suspected armed group members in aninsurgency operations. In July, the J&K State extrajudicial execution in Assam. The officerHuman Rights Commission directed the state was transferred. In July, the Supreme Courtgovernment to pay Farooq Dar 100,000 INR directed the Central Bureau of Investigation(around USD1,500) as compensation. In to investigate more than 80 allegedNovember, the state government refused to extrajudicial executions by police andpay. security force personnel in Manipur between 1979 and 2012. The court ruled that cases Impunity for human rights abuses persisted. should not go uninvestigated merely becauseIn June, a military court set up under the of the passage of time.paramilitary Border Security Force acquittedtwo soldiers of killing 16-year-old Zahid In June, the Madhya Pradesh police shotFarooq Sheikh in 2010. The force had dead five farmers who were among protesterssuccessfully prevented the case from being in Mandsaur demanding better prices forprosecuted in a civilian court. In July, the crops. In August, at least 38 people wereSupreme Court refused to reopen 215 cases killed, some of them by the use of excessivein which over 700 members of the Kashmiri force, when they were fired on by policePandit community were killed in J&K in during protests in Haryana following the1989, citing the passage of time. The same conviction for rape of a self-styled “godman”,month, an appellate military court suspended or guru.the life sentences of five army personnelconvicted by a court-martial of the REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTSextrajudicial executions of three men inMachil in 2010. In November, the State An estimated 40,000 Rohingya people inHuman Rights Commission repeated a India were at risk of mass expulsion. Theydirective issued to the state government in included more than 16,000 who were2011 to investigate over 2,000 unmarked recognized as refugees by UNHCR, the UNgraves. refugee agency. In August, the Home Ministry wrote to state governments asking Security forces continued to use inherently them to identify “illegal immigrants”,inaccurate pellet-firing shotguns during including Rohingya. In September, theprotests, blinding and injuring several people. Ministry said that all Rohingya in India wereAuthorities frequently shut down internet “illegal immigrants”, and claimed to haveservices, citing public order concerns. evidence that some Rohingya had ties to terrorist organizations. In October, in response to a petition filed by two Rohingya192 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

refugees, the Supreme Court temporarily unconstitutional. However, in other cases,deferred expulsions. court rulings undermined women’s autonomy. In August, the Supreme Court In September, the Home Ministry said that it weakened a law enacted to protect womenwould grant citizenship to about 100,000 from violence in their marriages, by requiringChakma and Hajong refugees who had fled that complaints be initially assessed by civilto India from Bangladesh in the 1960s. society “family welfare committees”. In October, the Supreme Court suggested that itTORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT would review its judgment. The same month, it ruled that sexual intercourse by a man withBetween January and August, 894 deaths in his wife, if she was under 18, would amountjudicial custody and 74 deaths in police to rape.custody were recorded. In February, UmaBharti, a central government minister, said Several rape survivors, including girls,she had ordered rape suspects to be tortured approached courts for permission towhen she was Chief Minister of Madhya terminate pregnancies over 20 weeks, asPradesh. In August, Manjula Shetye, a required under Indian law. Courts approvedwoman prisoner at the Byculla jail in some abortions, but refused others. InMumbai, died after being allegedly beaten August, the central government instructedand sexually assaulted by officials for states to set up permanent medical boards tocomplaining about food in the prison. A team decide such cases promptly.of parliamentarians that visited Byculla jailreported that prisoners were routinely beaten. INDONESIAIn November, a committee set up by theDelhi High Court said that 18 prisoners in Republic of IndonesiaTihar jail in New Delhi had been beaten after Head of state and government: Joko Widodothey had objected to their pillow covers beingtaken. Indonesia failed to address past human rights violations. The rights to freedom of In September, during expression, of peaceful assembly and ofIndia’s UN UPR process before the UN association continued to be arbitrarilyHuman Rights Council, the government restricted. Blasphemy provisions were usedaccepted for the third time recommendations to imprison those who peacefully exercisedto ratify the UN Convention against Torture, their rights to freedom of religion andwhich it signed in 1997. India’s Law belief. At least 30 prisoners of conscienceCommission released a report in October remained in detention for peacefullyrecommending that the government ratify the exercising their rights to freedom ofConvention and enact a law criminalizing expression or of religion and belief. Thetorture. security forces carried out unlawful killings and used excessive force during protestsWOMEN’S RIGHTS and security operations. Two men were caned in public in Aceh after beingIn November, statistics were published convicted by a local Shari’a court of same-showing that over 338,000 crimes against sex consensual sexual relations.women were registered in 2016, includingover 110,000 cases of violence by husbands BACKGROUNDand relatives. Responding to petitions incourts seeking to criminalize marital rape, the Indonesia’s human rights record wascentral government stated that doing so examined in May under the UN UPRwould “destabilize the institution of process. Although Indonesia accepted 167marriage”. out of 225 recommendations, it rejected, In July, the Supreme Court banned thepractice of triple talaq (Islamic instantdivorce), declaring that it was arbitrary andAmnesty International Report 2017/18 193

among other things, calls to investigate past Papua to the Indonesian government by thehuman rights violations and to repeal UN Temporary Executive Authority.blasphemy provisions in laws andregulations. These included several In August Novel Baswedan, an investigatorprovisions of the Criminal Code and Law No. for the Corruption Eradication Commission,1/PNPS/1965, which imposed restrictions on was reported to the police by thefreedoms of expression and of religion and Commission’s director of investigation underbelief.1 Article 27(3) of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which concernsIMPUNITY online defamation. The defamation report related to an email he had sent in hisDespite commitments made by the capacity as representative of thePresident, Indonesia failed to address past Commission’s workers’ union, criticizing thehuman rights violations. In February, the director’s leadership. Novel BaswedanAdministrative Court in the capital, Jakarta, suffered an acid attack in Jakarta on 11 Apriloverturned a decision by the Public that severely damaged his corneas. At theInformation Commission ordering the time of the attack he was leading an ongoinggovernment to publish a report on the 2004 investigation into misappropriation by high-murder of human rights defender Munir Said ranking government officials of funds for anThalib, which reportedly implicated senior electronic ID cards project.intelligence officers. The Court made thedecision on the grounds that the current On 10 July President Widodo signedgovernment had not received the report from Government Regulation in Lieu of Lawthe previous government. In August, the (Perppu) No. 2/2017, amending the 2013Supreme Court upheld the Administrative Law on Mass Organizations to remove judicialCourt’s decision. safeguards over the process of banning NGOs and other organizations. The new During the UPR, Indonesia promised that legislation, enacted by Parliament in October,the Attorney General would finalize a criminal would impose restrictions on the rights toinvestigation into alleged gross human rights freedom of association, expression, religionviolations in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in and belief, which were even more extensive2003, both in Papua region, and forward the than those currently set out in the Law oncase to the Human Rights Court established Mass Organizations. The Law already stifledunder Law No. 26/2000. However, this had the work of human rights defenders andnot happened by the end of the year. reflected discriminatory attitudes towards certain groups.2FREEDOMS OF ASSEMBLY, ASSOCIATIONAND EXPRESSION Security forces and vigilante groups broke up closed-door discussions and public eventsThe authorities continued to prosecute those relating to serious human rights violationsparticipating in peaceful political activities, committed in 1965. On 1 August, the localparticularly in areas with a history of pro- police and military from East Jakartaindependence movements such as Papua. disrupted a workshop in Jakarta concerningPrisoner of conscience Oktovianus Warnares the findings of the International Peoplesremained in detention because he refused to Tribunal 1965, a civil society initiative to raisesign a document declaring his allegiance to international awareness about the massthe state of Indonesia, despite having served human rights violations that occurred thattwo thirds of his prison sentence and being year.eligible for release on parole. He had beenconvicted of “rebellion” (makar) in 2013 after On 16 September the police banned ataking part in activities peacefully marking closed-door seminar at the office of thethe 50th anniversary of the handover of Indonesian and Jakarta Legal Aid Institute featuring a discussion by survivors of the 1965 violations. On the night of 17194 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

September, a crowd of around 1,000 community members from promoting theirclaiming to be “anti-communists” activities and spreading their religioussurrounded the office, trapping scores of teachings. The Mayor also said that it wasartists and activists attending an event necessary to protect the Ahmadiyyaconcerning the recent crackdown on the community in Depok from violent attacks byrights to freedom of expression and peaceful other groups in the area.assembly. Early the following morning, thecrowd threw rocks at the office and destroyed POLICE AND SECURITY FORCESthe fence surrounding the building.Hundreds of police officers used tear gas to Human rights groups reported unlawfuldisperse the crowd.3 killings and other serious human rights violations by security forces, primarily in theFREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF context of excessive use of force during mass protests or during security operations. NoBlasphemy provisions in Articles 156 and perpetrators were known to have been held156(a) of the Criminal Code and Article 28(2) to account, particularly for numerousof the ITE Law were used to imprison those incidents in Papua.who peacefully exercised their rights to EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCEfreedom of religion and belief. At least 11 Between September 2016 and Januarypeople were convicted under blasphemy 2017, joint police and military forces carriedlaws. Individuals belonging to minority out security operations in Dogiyai, Papuareligions or faiths or holding minority beliefs province, during the run-up to the 2017 localwere often targeted for prosecution. On 9 elections. On 10 January police officersMay, Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja arbitrarily arrested Otis Pekei when hePurnama, an ethnic Chinese Christian known refused to hand over a knife at a policeas Ahok, was sentenced to two years’ checkpoint, and detained him at theimprisonment for “insulting Islam” in a video Moanemani sub-district police station. Laterposted on the internet. Ahok was the first that day, police delivered Otis Pekei’s body tohigh-ranking government official to be the home of his family; the family accusedconvicted of blasphemy.4 the police of torturing him during detention. No investigation was known to have been On 7 March, Ahmad Mushaddeq, Mahful conducted.Muis Tumanurung and Andry Cahya, leadersof the disbanded Fajar Nusantara religious On 1 August in Deiyai, Papua province,movement known as Gafatar, were convicted police officers arbitrarily opened fire into aof blasphemy by the East Jakarta District crowd of protesters without warning,Court. The conviction was upheld by the wounding at least 10 people, includingJakarta High Court on 3 July. children. Nine police officers were subjected to disciplinary action; no criminal At the end of the year, at least 30 prisoners proceedings were known to have beenof conscience remained in detention for opened.peacefully exercising their right to freedom of UNLAWFUL KILLINGSexpression or of religion and belief. The number of killings by police of suspected drug dealers increased sharply, from 18 in On 4 June, the local government in Depok, 2016 to at least 98 in 2017. Some of theWest Java, sealed a mosque belonging to the officers involved in the incidents wereAhmadiyya religious minority, considered by seconded to the National Narcotics Agency.many Islamic groups to be “deviant and Police claimed that all the killings were inoutside of Islam”. Authorities prevented the self-defence or because suspects tried to fleeAhmadis from using the mosque during the scene. No independent investigationsRamadan. The Depok Mayor argued that the were known to have been conducted intolegal basis for the closure of the mosque was these killings. The number of deathsa ministerial decree and a provincialregulation, both forbidding AhmadiyyaAmnesty International Report 2017/18 195

escalated after several high-ranking RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,Indonesian officials, including the President, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEadvocated during the year for toughermeasures to address drug-related crime, On 25 May, 141 men were arrested in Northincluding calling for the application of Jakarta by local police after attending whatunrestrained lethal force against suspected police described as a “gay sex party”. Thetraffickers. next day the police released 126 men, but charged 10 of them with providingDEATHS IN CUSTODY “pornography service” under Law No. 44/2008 on Pornography. On 6 October, 51Deaths in custody and torture by police people, including seven foreign nationals,personnel were reported by human rights were arrested in a Central Jakarta sauna.organizations. Most of the customers were released the following day; five employees remained in On 27 August Rifzal Riandi Siregar was detention at the end of the year. The policearrested in Batang Toru precinct in North charged six people with providingSumatra province after he was involved in a pornography and prostitution services.6fight with a police officer. When his relativesvisited him at the Batang Toru police station, With the exception of Aceh, consensualhe told them that he had been badly beaten same-sex relations were not treated as crimesat the station by four police officers, including under the Indonesian Criminal Code.the one with whom he had had thealtercation. On 3 September, Rifzal Riandi ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURALSiregar was found dead in the police station. RIGHTS – RIGHT TO WATERAt the request of his family, the policetransferred his body to a police hospital in On 10 October, the Supreme Court orderedMedan, where an autopsy was conducted. the government to terminate a waterThe police promised to give the autopsy privatization scheme in Jakarta. The Courtreport to the family within a week. They had approved an appeal filed by the Coalition ofnot received it by the end of the year. Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization that the private provider hadCRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING “failed to protect the right to water” of thePUNISHMENT residents. The Court ordered the government to immediately revoke its contracts with twoAt least 317 people were caned in Aceh private water utilities.during the year for offences such as adultery,gambling and drinking alcohol, as well as 1. Indonesia: Human Rights Council must ensure strongsame-sex consensual sexual relations. recommendations at human rights review (ASA 21/6156/2017) In May, two men were each caned 83 times 2. Indonesia: Amendments to the mass organizations law expandin public after being convicted by the Banda threats to freedom of association (ASA 21/6722/2017)Aceh Shari’a Court of consensual same-sexsexual relations (liwath) under the Aceh 3. Indonesia: Offices of human rights defenders attacked (ASAIslamic Criminal Code. Although Shari’a by- 21/7113/2017)laws have been in force in Aceh since theenactment of the province’s Special 4. Indonesia: Blasphemy conviction demonstrates intolerance - BasukiAutonomy Law in 2001, and are enforced by Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) (ASA 21/6213/2017)Islamic courts, this was the first time that gaymen had been caned under Shari’a law in 5. Indonesia: Revoke conviction and caning sentence for gay men inthe province.5 Aceh (ASA 21/6279/2017) 6. Indonesia: Arrest of 51 people fuels hostile environment for LGBTI people (ASA 21/7289/2017)196 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

IRAN Switzerland also started bilateral human rights dialogues with Iran.Islamic Republic of IranHead of state: Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei (Supreme At the end of December, thousands ofLeader of the Islamic Republic of Iran) Iranians took to the streets to protest againstHead of government: Hassan Rouhani (President) poverty, corruption and political repression, in the first anti-establishment demonstrations on such a scale since 2009.The authorities heavily suppressed the FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION,rights to freedom of expression, association ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLYand peaceful assembly, as well as freedomof religion and belief, and imprisoned The authorities continued to crack downscores of individuals who voiced dissent. heavily on the rights to freedom ofTrials were systematically unfair. Torture expression, association and peacefuland other ill-treatment was widespread and assembly, jailing scores of peaceful critics oncommitted with impunity. Floggings, spurious national security charges. Amongamputations and other cruel punishments those targeted were peaceful politicalwere carried out. The authorities endorsed dissidents, journalists, online media workers,pervasive discrimination and violence based students, filmmakers, musicians and writers,on gender, political opinion, religious belief, as well as human rights defenders includingethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and women’s rights activists, minority rights andgender identity. Hundreds of people were environmental activists, trade unionists, anti-executed, some in public, and thousands death penalty campaigners, lawyers, andremained on death row. They included those seeking truth, justice and reparation forpeople who were under the age of 18 at the the mass executions and enforcedtime of the crime. disappearances of the 1980s.BACKGROUND Many prisoners of conscience undertook hunger strikes to protest against their unjustIn March the UN Human Rights Council imprisonment.renewed the mandate of the UN SpecialRapporteur on the situation of human rights The authorities arrested hundreds ofin Iran; the Iranian authorities continued to protesters following anti-establishmentdeny her and other UN experts entry to the demonstrations that began across thecountry. country at the end of December. Reports emerged that security forces killed and In May, President Rouhani was elected to a injured unarmed protesters by using firearmssecond term in office, following an electoral and other excessive force. On 31 Decemberprocess that discriminated against hundreds the Minister of Information andof candidates by disqualifying them on the Communications Technology blocked accessbasis of gender, religious belief and political to Instagram and the popular messagingopinion. The appointment of individuals application Telegram, used by activists toallegedly involved in grave human rights promote and support the protests.violations to ministerial posts attracted publiccriticism. Earlier in the year, judicial officials had exerted persistent pressure on the Ministry of The EU and Iran worked towards renewing Information and Communications Technologya bilateral human rights dialogue while to request that Telegram relocate its serversseveral human rights defenders served prison to Iran and close tens of thousands ofsentences imposed for communicating with Telegram channels, which according to theEU and UN officials. Several governments judiciary “threatened national security” orincluding those of Australia, Sweden and “insulted religious values”. Telegram said it rejected both requests.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 197

Other popular social media sites including TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENTFacebook, Twitter and YouTube remainedblocked. Torture and other ill-treatment remained common, especially during interrogations. Journalists and online media workers faced Detainees held by the Ministry of Intelligencea renewed wave of harsh interrogations and and the Revolutionary Guards were routinelyarbitrary arrests and detentions before the subjected to prolonged solitary confinementpresidential election in May. Those using amounting to torture.Telegram were particularly targeted for harshprison sentences, some exceeding a decade. Failure to investigate allegations of torture and exclude “confessions” obtained under Freedom of musical expression remained torture as evidence against suspectscurtailed. Women were banned from singing remained systematic.in public and the authorities continued toforcibly cancel many concerts. In August, The authorities continued to depriveseveral hundred artists called on President prisoners detained for political reasons ofRouhani to end such restrictions. adequate medical care. In many cases, this was done as a deliberate punishment or to The authorities continued their violent raids extract “confessions”, and amounted toon private mixed-gender parties, arresting torture.hundreds of young people and sentencingmany to flogging. Prisoners endured cruel and inhuman conditions of detention, including Censorship of all forms of media and overcrowding, limited hot water, inadequatejamming of foreign satellite television food, insufficient beds, poor ventilation andchannels continued. The judicial authorities insect infestations.intensified their harassment of journalistsworking with the Persian BBC service, More than a dozen political prisoners atfreezing the assets of 152 former or current Karaj’s Raja’i Shahr prison waged aBBC journalists and banning them from prolonged hunger strike between July andconducting financial transactions. September in protest at their dire detention conditions. Some faced denial of medical The Association of Journalists remained care, solitary confinement and fresh criminalsuspended. charges in reprisal. CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING PUNISHMENT Scores of students continued to be barred Judicial authorities continued to impose andfrom higher education in reprisal for their carry out, at times in public, cruel andpeaceful activism, despite President inhuman punishments amounting to torture.Rouhani’s election promise to lift the ban. Scores of individuals, including children, Bans on independent trade unions faced up to 100 lashes for theft and assaultpersisted and several trade unionists were as well as for acts that, under internationalunjustly imprisoned. Security forces law, must not be criminalized − includingcontinued to violently suppress peaceful extra-marital relationships, attending mixedprotests by workers, including on gender parties, eating in public duringInternational Workers’ Day. Ramadan or attending peaceful protests. Dozens of environmental activists were In January, journalist Hossein Movahedi wassummoned for interrogation, detained and lashed 40 times in Najaf Abad, Esfahanprosecuted for participating in peaceful province, after a court found him guilty ofprotests against air pollution, disappearing inaccurately reporting the number oflakes, river diversion projects and dumping motorcycles confiscated by police in the city.practices. In August, a criminal court in Markazi province sentenced trade unionist Shapour Opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Ehsanirad to 30 lashes and six months’Hossein Mousavi and the latter’s wife, Zahra imprisonment for participating in a protestRahnavard, remained under house arrest against unjust work conditions.without charge or trial since 2011.198 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

In February, the Supreme Court upheld a the Judiciary, even though no official list hadblinding sentence issued by a criminal court been made public.in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinceagainst a woman in retribution for blinding Trials, particularly those beforeanother woman. Revolutionary Courts, remained closed and extremely brief, sometimes lasting just a few Dozens of amputation sentences were minutes.imposed and subsequently upheld by theSupreme Court. In April, judicial authorities in Foreign nationals and Iranians with dualShiraz, Fars province, amputated the hand of nationality continued to face arbitrary arrestHamid Moinee and executed him 10 days and detention, grossly unfair trials andlater. He had been convicted of murder and lengthy imprisonment. The authoritiesrobbery. At least four other amputation claimed that they were countering foreign-sentences were carried out for robbery. orchestrated “infiltration projects”. In reality, such individuals were often charged with The authorities also carried out degrading vague national security offences inpunishments. In April, three men accused of connection with the peaceful exercise of theirkidnapping and other crimes were paraded rights to freedom of expression andaround Dehloran, Ilam province, with their association.hands tied and watering cans used forlavatory washing hung around their necks. FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEFEight men were similarly humiliated inPakdasht, Tehran province, in July. Freedom of religion and belief was systematically violated, in law and practice. In May, a woman arrested for having an The authorities continued to impose codes ofintimate extramarital relationship was public conduct rooted in a strictsentenced by a criminal court in the capital, interpretation of Shi’a Islam on individuals ofTehran, to two years of washing corpses and all faiths. Non-Shi’a Muslims were not74 lashes. The man was sentenced to 99 allowed to stand as presidential candidates orlashes. hold key political offices.UNFAIR TRIALS Widespread and systematic attacks continued to be carried out against the Baha’iTrials, including those resulting in death minority. These included arbitrary arrests,sentences, were systematically unfair. There lengthy imprisonment, torture and other ill-were no independent mechanisms for treatment, forcible closure of Baha’i-ownedensuring accountability within the judiciary. businesses, confiscation of Baha’i properties,Serious concerns remained that judges, bans on employment in the public sector andparticularly those presiding over denial of access to universities. TheRevolutionary Courts, were appointed on the authorities regularly incited hatred andbasis of their political opinions and affiliation violence, vilifying Baha’is as “heretical” andwith intelligence bodies, and lacked legal “filthy”. There were renewed concerns thatqualifications. hate crimes could be committed with impunity after two men who had admitted to Fair trial provisions of the 2015 Code of killing Farang Amiri because of his Baha’iCriminal Procedure, including those faith were released on bail in June.guaranteeing access to a lawyer from thetime of arrest and during investigations, were Other religious minorities not recognizedroutinely flouted. The authorities continued to under the Constitution, such as Yaresan (Ahl-invoke Article 48 of the Code of Criminal e Haq), also faced systematic discrimination,Procedure to prevent those detained for including in education and employment, andpolitical reasons from accessing lawyers of were persecuted for practising their faith.their own choosing. Lawyers were told theywere not on the list approved by the Head of The right to change or renounce religious beliefs continued to be violated. Christian converts received harsh prison sentences,Amnesty International Report 2017/18 199

which ranged from 10 to 15 years in several Members of minorities who spoke outcases. Raids on house churches continued. against violations of their rights faced arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill- Gonabadi dervishes faced imprisonment treatment, grossly unfair trials, imprisonmentand attacks on their places of worship. A and the death penalty. Intelligence andnumber were arbitrarily dismissed from security bodies frequently accused minorityemployment or denied enrolment in rights activists of supporting “separatistuniversities. currents” threatening Iran’s territorial integrity. Those who professed atheism remained atrisk of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture Iran’s border guards continued to unlawfullyand other ill-treatment and the death penalty shoot and kill, with full impunity, scores offor “apostasy”. unarmed Kurdish men known as Kulbars who work as cross-border porters between Sunni Muslims continued to report Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan. In September,discrimination, including restrictions on security forces violently suppressed protestsholding separate prayers for Eid al- in Baneh and Sanandaj over the fatalFitr celebrations and exclusion from high- shootings of two Kulbars, and detained moreranking positions. than a dozen people. In a departure from Iranian law, the Court of There was a heavy police presence acrossAdministrative Justice suspended the Kurdistan province in September whenmembership of Sepanta Niknam, a members of Iran’s Kurdish minority heldZoroastrian man, from Yazd’s City Council in rallies in support of the independenceOctober, based on an opinion from the head referendum in the Kurdish region of northernof Iran’s Guardian Council who said it was Iraq. More than a dozen people wereagainst Shari’a law to allow the governance of reportedly arrested.non-Muslims over Muslims. In June, security forces were deployed in At least two people were sentenced to death Ahvaz in advance of the Eid al-Fitr holiday tofor the peaceful exercise of their rights to prevent gatherings planned in solidarity withfreedom of religion and belief (see below). families of Ahwazi Arabs imprisoned or executed for political reasons. More than aDISCRIMINATION – ETHNIC MINORITIES dozen people were arbitrarily detained and many more were summoned forEthnic minorities, including Ahwazi Arabs, interrogation. Ahwazi Arab human rightsAzerbaijani Turks, Baluchis, Kurds and defender Mohammad Ali Amouri remainedTurkmen, remained subject to entrenched on death row.discrimination, curtailing their access toeducation, employment, adequate housing DISCRIMINATION – WOMEN AND GIRLSand political office. Women remained subject to entrenched Continued economic neglect of minority- discrimination in law and practice, includingpopulated regions further entrenched poverty in access to divorce, employment, equaland marginalization. In Sistan-Baluchistan inheritance and political office, and in familyprovince, residents of many villages reported and criminal law.a lack of access to water, electricity, schoolsand health facilities. The impoverished Acts of violence against women and girls,province retained high rates of illiteracy including domestic violence and early andamong girls and of infant mortality. forced marriage, were widespread and committed with impunity. The authorities The Persian language remained the sole failed to criminalize gender-based violence; amedium of instruction during primary and draft bill remained pending since 2012. Thesecondary education, contributing to higher legal age of marriage for girls remained at 13,drop-out rates in minority-populated areas. and fathers and grandfathers could obtain There was ongoing criticism of the absenceof measures ensuring minority self-government.200 Amnesty International Report 2017/18