05/19/2021
🟡 THE AMNESTY JOURNAL🟡
Swipe left to see our third newsletter, with current human rights news.
FULL ARTICLES BELLOW:
Chinese Government is responsible for Human Rights abuses against minorities
A Human Rights Watch report stated that China’s government, over the past years, has been committing different human rights abuses against the Turkic Muslim population in Xinjiang. This population has been the target of forced labor, detention, torture, enforced disappearances, mass surveillance, cultural and religious erasure, separation of families, and sexual violence, which clearly goes against Human Rights’ norms. This aggressively statal behavior has been often justified by the “legitimate use of force” of the State when it is clearly an ethnic cleaning.
Human Rights Watch and the Stanford Human Rights Clinic urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to create a commission to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity, identify officials responsible for abuses, and making them accountable for their acts.
Center of Human Rights in Iran releases a letter of help for Joe Bidden
On May 10th, 2021, the Center of Human Rights in Iran released a letter asking the U.S. President, Joe Bidden, to recognize Iranian’s interests when negotiation U.S. national security interests.
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2020 annual human rights report: “The government of Iran severely restricted freedom of speech and of the press as well as using the law to intimidate or prosecute people who directly criticized the government or raised human rights problems.” Also, in 2020, PEN America found that Iran imprisoned several writers and public intellectuals in the world—with 19 jailed across the country. Creative professionals, such as writers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, and even fashion models have been targeted by the government as by their reports they can criticize the state and help civilians to develop a more sensitive critical sense. Also, women and LGBTQ+ individuals have been persecuting because of their sexual orientation. As of today, the U.S. Government has not taken any measures to change the situation, therefore, Iran citizens are begging for America to use its power and influence to deterrence Iran and to help its population to be safe.
Demonstrations in Colombia
Since the end of April, thousands of people across Colombia have been protesting against government corruption, widespread inequality and poverty, and police brutality.
According to Reuters, it all started on April 28, when labor unions began a strike against tax reform introduced by President Iván Duque Márquez,. Thousands took the streets of more than 50 cities, including Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Valle de Cauca, to protest the government's reform law.
Much damage was done, starting with at least 42 dead, 165 missings according to the NGO Temblores reports. The Colombian government responded to the protests by taking the army and security units to the streets, especially in densely populated cities. The president also signed a law allowing mayors to request military presence on the streets, arguing that this would prevent rebel groups and drug traffickers from influencing the protests. The protests also prevented the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines and food in some parts of the country, which will also worsen the situation in the country's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amnesty International is warning of targeted violence on protesters where cases of sexual abuse by the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad of Colombia (ESMAD) have been reported and the use of excessive force such as shooting into a crowd of demonstrators.
Continuation of Israel-Palestine conflict
The Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip continued on Friday (May 14th, 2021) with airstrikes and artillery salvos, despite international calls for peace. The Israeli army hastened the gathering of soldiers and tanks near the border with the Palestinian territory it is under siege. Al Jazeera's Safwat Al Khalout of Gaza reports that since midnight local time, Israeli troops have been gathering en masse at the border. The potential for a new escalation was given by at least three rockets fired from the south of Lebanon towards Israel.
The latest casualties have increased the death toll since Monday to 119, of which at least 31 are children. More than 600 people were injured. On the other hand, at least six Israelis and one Indian citizen were killed. The Israeli army states that hundreds of rockets were fired from Gaza towards various locations in Israel. There are also increasingly violent clashes between Jewish Israelis and Palestinian residents of Israel in several Israeli cities.
Israeli airstrikes destroyed or severely damaged more than 200 housing units in the Gaza Strip, while 24 schools suffered damage, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The agency said the escalation of the conflict affects access to water, sanitation, health care, and the fight against COVID 19. The UN office has noted that the North Gaza seawater desalination plant is still out of order, affecting about 250,000 people not having access to clean drinking water. Another 230,000 people from Gaza City and Khan Younis have limited access to water due to growing power outages and damage to networks, according to OCHA.
Individuals involved in the new outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed could be the target of an ongoing International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into earlier alleged war crimes in the two sides' conflicts, ICC chief prosecutor Faatou Bensouda told Reuters.
An Egyptian delegation that met with Israeli officials to mediate the ceasefire talks has not achieved any positive results; an Egyptian security source told the DPA. The UN Security Council has scheduled a virtual public meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for Sunday, diplomats said on Thursday night, according to AFP. This meeting, originally scheduled for Friday, was requested by Tunisia, Norway, and China. The United States, which blocked Friday's session and planned to hold it early next week, agreed to hold it on Sunday. Preventing the continuation of the conflict is crucial because civilians on both sides are paying the price.
Food crisis in Yemen
The malnutrition of the population, primarily children, has become increasingly dangerous since the beginning of the war in Yemen in 2015. The price of food is jumping, diseases and infections are more and more present, normal life has practically become an abstract concept.
The rate of child malnutrition is one of the highest in the world and the nutrition situation continues to deteriorate. A recent survey showed that almost one-third of families have gaps in their diets, and hardly ever consume foods like pulses, vegetables, fruit, dairy products, or meat. Malnutrition rates among women and children in Yemen remain among the highest in the world, with 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding women and 2.3 million children under 5 requiring treatment for acute malnutrition (UN WFP report).
Many food-providing programs have been underfunded and their humanitarian assistance has no longer become sufficient to address this problem. According to the United Nations, $1.9 billion is needed to save lives and for people, especially children in Yemen, to have meals provided and thus stop famine.
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