“Smoke from hundreds of fires in Canada, many burning out of control, has shrouded some of North America’s biggest cities including Montréal, Toronto and New York in smog that is dangerous to health. These fires will have an unmeasurable impact on the quality of life and right to health of those forced to breathe in this foul air. Children, pregnant people, older adults and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the small particulates generated by these fires, and these particles can be carried vast distances. Furthermore, the fires are having a significant impact on Indigenous Peoples, and have already forced the evacuations of the communities of Fort Chipewyan in Alberta and Uashat mak Mani-utenam in Quebec.

Climate change is worsening the scale of wildfires worldwide, as rising temperatures lead to longer and more destructive fire seasons.

Marta Schaaf, Director of Climate, Economic and Social Justice, and Corporate Accountability Programme, Amnesty International

“Climate change is worsening the scale of wildfires worldwide, as rising temperatures lead to longer and more destructive fire seasons. This year has already seen unusually severe wildfires in Russia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Central America, according to Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation monitoring programme. Large-scale wildfires aggravate climate change by burning forests which have locked-in large amounts of carbon.

“There is a clear disconnect between the harm that people are facing and attempts to prolong and expand production of fossil fuels which are the primary cause of the climate crisis. These worsening fires are an obvious indication of a warming world. Greenhouse gas emissions have already increased temperatures globally by 1.2C compared to pre-industrial levels.

There is a clear disconnect between the harm that people are facing and attempts to prolong and expand production of fossil fuels which are the primary cause of the climate crisis.

Marta Schaaf

“Unless we urgently change course, and rapidly phase out fossil fuels, the world will get hotter and impacts such as these fire events will worsen. We should not be lulled by promises from the fossil fuel lobby that carbon capture and storage, which is unproven on a large scale, is an answer to this growing global crisis.”

The post Global: Health risks from wildfire smog in North America are a shocking indictment of failures over climate change appeared first on Amnesty International.

“Once again the United States is embracing a misguided carrot and stick approach to respond to the global refugee crisis: on the one hand, positively expanding family reunification and humanitarian pathways to the United States, and on the other, externalizing its protection obligations and harshly penalizing those who exercise their human right to seek asylum at the US southern border. We remind the Biden administration and governments across the Americas that seeking asylum is a human right. While we applaud the expanded pathways for people seeking safety without having to make the dangerous trek to the border, this must not come at the expense of the United States forgoing its international obligation to uphold the right to seek asylum.” 

“With the Americas facing an unprecedented number of refugees, the United States’ commitment to double the number of refugees it takes in from the region and expand existing pathways for family reunification and parole are important steps to provide much needed protections for people in need of safety. We also welcome the commitments by Canada and Spain to increase pathways from the region. However, it’s unacceptable for these expanded pathways to be coupled with harsh enforcement measures that will undoubtedly lead to individuals being denied protection and thrust into greater danger, with a particularly harmful impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous people.” 

Once again the United States is embracing a misguided carrot and stick approach to respond to the global refugee crisis.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International

“The Biden administration’s requirement that people make appointments via the CBP One application is akin to a new form of metering, a practice that resulted in people being forced to wait in Mexico where they are at risk of serious violence. The US government’s plan to further expedite the expedited removal process will also result in sham protection screenings that will likely result in many people being turned back into harm’s way, in violation of international law. The Biden administration must instead invest in solutions that allow people to pursue their asylum claims in safe communities where they have real access to legal counsel and are not forced to fight their asylum cases from cruel border facilities or detention centres.” 

Previously Amnesty International has documented how the Biden administration has failed to consider the heightened risk Black asylum seekers face as they are often disparately impacted by cruel enforcement policies and are at heightened risk of violence in Mexico. The Biden Administration should consider recommendations proposed by Amnesty International in the report “They did not treat us like people”: Race and migration-related torture and other ill-treatment of Haitians seeking safety in the USA, such as fully restoring access to asylum at the border, ending the reliance on mass immigration detention, establishing a right to counsel in all immigration proceedings, and decriminalizing irregular entry and re-entry into the United States. Such reforms are necessary to ensure justice and equity for Haitian and other Black asylum seekers.

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In response, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: 

“It’s outrageous and unacceptable that Air Canada have refused to allow Ketty Nivyabandi to board her flight, despite her meeting all the legal requirements to travel to Mexico. Air Canada staff at the Ottawa airport treated Ketty in a discriminatory and racist manner, humiliating her and preventing her from participating in an important human rights conference at her destination. We demand a public apology from the airline and reparation for the harm caused, which must include immediately issuing her a new ticket to fly as soon as possible.”

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As we begin yet another year, the Wet’suwet’en land defenders are still under continued surveillance and criminalization by the British Columbia (B.C.) provincial government and the Canadian federal government. At the source of the struggle is, the Coastal GasLink’s (CGL) pipeline construction that is cutting the Wet’suwet’en territory into two. The construction of the pipeline has been opposed by all five Wet’suwet’en clans. The Wet’suwet’en hold title and rights to their 22,000 km2 territory and their Chiefs say they have not consented to the pipeline according to their laws and customs.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) clearly stipulates that states should consult and cooperate with Indigenous Peoples in good faith to get their free, prior and informed consent. But in this instance, it hasn’t been the case because The Hereditary Chiefs were reasonable and open to cooperation and even proposed an alternative route that wouldn’t cut the Wet’suwet’en Peoples’ land into two, but CGL rejected it on the grounds that it was too expensive.

The B.C. provincial government and CGL bypassed the Hereditary Chiefs by making an agreement with the band councils – an elected Indigenous peoples governing body created by the Indian Act. Indigenous Peoples under the leadership of their Hereditary Chiefs resisted this divisive technique. Determined to build the pipeline without the delay that further negotiation would have entailed, CGL, and the B.C. provincial government and Canada’s federal government opted for violent responses that are reminiscent of past colonial repression and trauma.

How have land defenders been criminalized?

In December 2018, the British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) granted CGL an interim injunction which prevented the land defenders from blockading pipeline construction in Wet’suwet’en territory. Again in December 2019, the BCSC granted an interlocutory injunction order, which includes enforcement provisions.

Since then, these injunctions have been used by the government of Canada and the Province of B.C. to undertake constant surveillance, harassment, and the forceful removal and jailing of Wet’suwet’en land defenders. Hereditary Chiefs, and matriarchs were arrested and jailed using a highly militarized police force on their territories. In three large-scale police raids (January 2019, February 2020 and November 2021), a total of 74 people were arrested and detained, included among others, legal observers and members of the media. These raids were highly militarized with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) using helicopters, dog units and assault weapons not to mention involvement by CGL’s private security company. In such raids they bulldozed and burned down buildings and desecrated ceremonial spaces.

Nineteen land defenders were charged with criminal contempt in July 2022 by the B.C. Prosecution Service for allegedly disobeying the 2019 interlocutory injunction order to stay away from pipeline construction sites, even though these sites are situated on the community’s unceded, ancestral territory. Five of the land defenders pleaded guilty to violating the injunction’s terms in December 2022 as a result of the constraints placed on them when they were prosecuted, including being prohibited from being on their ancestral territory. The remaining land defenders will go on trial in July, September, and December 2023. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to prison.

At home and abroad the criminalization of land defenders is escalating

The criminalization of the Wet’suwet’en Nation is just one example of the continued struggle of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. For example, Will George of Tsleil-Waututh Nation has received a 28-day jail sentence at BCSC in 2022 for defending his sacred obligation of defending and protecting Tsleil-Waututh’s land and waters. The decision was appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeal on 24 January 2023 and a decision remains pending.

Criminalization of Indigenous land defenders is not unique to Canada. It is part of a global pattern of attacks on Indigenous peoples whose defence of their rights and territory puts them on a collision course with powerful companies and the governments who support their projects. In Guatemala, Amnesty campaigned with Maya Q’eqchi’ communities to seek the release of their leader Bernardo Caal Xol, unjustly jailed for more than four years without evidence of having committed any crime. This criminalization was in retaliation for Caal Xol’s leadership of peaceful efforts to stop a hydroelectric project built on a sacred river without meaningful consultation or the consent of affected Indigenous people, in violation of human rights standards and with devastating consequences for food security, access to water and health.

From North America to South America, Amnesty International continues to document and denounce flagrant attacks on Indigenous peoples and their rights amid the ongoing legacies of violent colonization, racism and enslavement. Far too often, Canadian companies are involved. Our campaigning is led by and seeks to amplify the powerful voices of Indigenous resistance and leadership.

Although there has been a growing body of national and international laws and standards that guarantee the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their traditional lands, that hasn’t helped ward off violent government crackdown. The ongoing criminalization of the Wet’suwet’en land defenders and other land defenders in Canada and elsewhere is in violation of their rights and serves as a reminder of colonial expropriation and systemic racism and the need for more concerted action to change this deep-seated structural problem.

What is AI Canada planning to do about it?

In AI’s strategic plan 2022 -2030 one of its human rights priorities is “equality and justice” with five focus areas: Indigenous rights and environmental justice; racial justice; gender justice; people on the move; and crisis response.

The Wet’suwet’en case touches three of our five focus areas. That is why in addition to its past and ongoing campaigning work, currently AI Canada (French-speaking and English- speaking sections) in partnership with the Wet’suwet’en Nation are working on a qualitative research project documenting the continued criminalization of Indigenous land defenders to inform further campaigning on this issue, particularly in light of the upcoming criminal contempt trials against the land defenders later this year. We are also making a joint submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, who will be visiting Canada from March 1-10, 2023. We are strongly encouraging the Special Rapporteur to visit Wet’suwet’en Territory to meet with the Hereditary Chiefs, matriarchs and land defenders.

The gender aspect of Indigenous land defenders’ criminalization

It is also worth noting that, the Wet’suwet’en are matriarchal. This means that the Wet’suwet’en Peoples’ struggle brings the intersection of indigeneity, race and gender to the fore, because women land defenders have also been criminalized. AI will incorporate gender sensitive intersectional analysis as a key part of research and campaigning in order to understand the differential and gender specific impacts of criminalization on women land defenders.

TAKE ACTION We must show Wet’suwet’en land defenders they are not alone in their struggle.

Despite being affected disproportionately by climate change, the continued struggle of Indigenous Nations for their right to free, prior and informed consent over land and resources magnifies the injustice Indigenous Nations are facing in Canada. Their fight is closely tied to climate justice. Therefore, we must show our solidarity and allyship with the Wet’suwet’en Peoples’ struggle against CGL whose pipeline is causing damage to the environment, destroying fishing grounds, aggravating climate change through mining and transportation of fossil fuel and violating Indigenous Nations’ sacred places and rights.

In a time of growing climate crisis, Indigenous Peoples are doing their part to fight climate change through their care for the land, the animals, the water, and everything that sustains us. The reward for their care shouldn’t be criminalization and violent crackdowns.

We must show our solidarity and call for an end to the criminalization and violent crackdown on Indigenous land defenders.

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Calí Tzay and his delegation will tour Canada from March 1 to March 10. The Special Rapporteur’s mandate includes reporting on the human rights situation of Indigenous Peoples worldwide and addressing specific alleged cases of violations of Indigenous rights.

The visit comes at a critical moment for Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples. By law, the federal government is required to unveil an action plan for the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Yet, with only a few months to go until the deadline for the plan’s submission to Parliament, serious human rights violations against Indigenous people and communities remain rife.

‘Time to make our reality visible on the international scene’

“This very important visit will allow us to set the record straight on the questions and issues faced by Indigenous people in Canada, in particular on systemic racism, the adoption of Joyce’s Principle, the humanitarian crisis in terms of housing in Indigenous communities and especially the questions on reconciliation,” said Sipi Flamand, Chief of the Atikamekw Council of Manawan. “It will also allow us to bring our realities to light at the international level.”

“It is essential that the Special Rapporteur documents how, as First Nations, our rights have been denied for too long by the provincial and federal governments,” said Marielle Vachon, Chief of the Innu Council of Pessamit. “We have always been ignored, our territories taken away and our forests destroyed. It is time to make our reality visible on the international scene.”

In partnership with the Atikamekw of Manawan First Nation, the Grassy Narrows First Nation, the Pessamit Innu Nation, the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking and francophone sections prepared a written submission for the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples ahead of Calí Tzay’s visit. The joint letter documents violations against Indigenous Peoples and their right to a healthy environment, the destruction of traditional ways of life and non-adherence to Indigenous nations’ right to free, prior and informed consent on infrastructure projects affecting their territories.

“The vivid stories our partners shared with us range from the concerning to the truly alarming,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, the general director of Amnistie internationale Canada francophone. “Each community’s experience of systemic racism is different, but they share common threads: namely, a blatant disrespect for the natural environment, their right to pursue their way of life, and their right to the equal enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

“Almost two years after Parliament affirmed that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has application in Canadian law, Canada has made only glacial progress on its promise to respect the rights of Indigenous people and communities,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “The government cannot meaningfully advance reconciliation and redress past harms while violating Indigenous Peoples’ rights today. As always, the best time to change course is now.”

Indigenous land defenders still criminalized

Amnesty International’s submission condemns the ongoing criminalization of Indigenous land and water defenders across Canada. Since 2019, the governments of Canada and B.C. have harassed, intimidated, forcibly removed and prosecuted members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation protesting the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on their territory. In July 2022, B.C. charged 19 land defenders with criminal contempt for allegedly defying a 2019 court injunction order to stay away from pipeline construction sites, despite these sites being on the community’s unceded, ancestral territory.

Since 2019, the governments of Canada and B.C. have harassed, intimidated, forcibly removed and prosecuted members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation protesting the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline on their territory.

“Canada has been contacted three times by the UN with regards to the abuses to the Wet’suwet’en Nation and its peoples,” said Chief Na’moks of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs. “Now, the world must hear from the Indigenous Peoples on the human rights abuses occurring in so-called Canada. We are meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur to speak to the truth, not just the narrative of what is the one-sided version of what is occurring in Canada.”

Similarly, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has been vocally opposing the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project, which the Canadian government approved without the free, prior and informed consent of the community.

“The Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker expansion terminates in the heart of Tsleil-Waututh territory,” said Councillor Charlene Aleck of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. “Our nation conducted an independent review of the project, grounded in our unextinguished Indigenous laws and backed by cutting-edge science, and found that it threatens our very identity as ‘people of the inlet.’ On that basis we have denied our free, prior and informed consent.

“However, Canada continues to force the project through our territories, in spite of their commitments to reconciliation and UNDRIP. Our Tsleil-Waututh members have been harassed and criminalized for opposing the project, which is a major threat to our ongoing work to steward the Burrard Inlet – the birthplace of our ancestors.”

Demanding justice for Grassy Narrows

In Ontario, the Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek, also known as Grassy Narrows First Nation, published the 2018 Grassy Narrows Land Declaration and declared their Anishinaabe Territory an Indigenous Sovereignty and Protected Area in line with Indigenous law. It asserts their right to self-determination to protect and care for their Indigenous homeland, including banning mineral staking and mining, industrial logging and any other industrial activity without their free, prior and informed consent. The Government of Ontario, with Canada’s acquiescence, continues to permit industrial land uses, which conflicts with Grassy Narrows’ land declaration. This is in the wake of decades of mercury poisoning inflicted upon the residents of Grassy Narrows after, in the 1960s, the Ontario government permitted a pulp and paper mill to dump around 10 metric tonnes of mercury into the English and Wabigoon rivers.

“Our people continue to suffer from the mercury poisoning crisis without access to fair compensation,” said Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle. “To make matters worse, Ontario continues to grant new mining claims and to propose logging on our land against our will. It is long past time for Canada and Ontario to respect our rights and to support us as we restore what mercury has damaged.”

The perspectives gathered on the Special Rapporteur’s trip will inform a series of recommendations on how Canada must uphold and advance the rights of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people. The findings, Nivyabandi noted, will have implications for everyone, not just Indigenous people and communities whose rights have been violated.

“Indigenous Peoples are on the front lines of the struggle against human-caused climate change,” she said. “The future of our planet depends on their voices being heard.”

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“The development of autonomy in weapons is accelerating, and the growing application of new Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technologies is a deeply worrying development. These machines risk automating killing, treating it as a technical undertaking which raises human rights risks as well as humanitarian, legal and ethical concerns. Autonomous machines will make life and death decisions without empathy or compassion.

The development of autonomy in weapons is accelerating, and the growing application of new Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technologies is a deeply worrying development.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International

“Autonomous weapon systems lack the ability to analyse the intentions behind people’s actions. They cannot make complex decisions about distinction and proportionality, determine the necessity of an attack, refuse an illegal order, or potentially recognize an attempt to surrender, which are vital for compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

“These new weapons technologies are at risk of further endangering civilians and civilian infrastructure in conflict. Amnesty International remains concerned about the potential human rights risks that increasing autonomy in policing and security equipment poses too, such as systems which use data and algorithms to predict crime.

“It has never been more urgent to draw legal red lines around the production and use of autonomous weapons systems to ensure we maintain meaningful human control over the use of force.

“Amnesty International supports the call made by governments from Latin American and Caribbean countries today for binding international legal controls on these weapons and welcomes the decision to work in alternative forums, beyond the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) where talks have stalled, to advance this new law.”

Background

The Regional Conference on the Social and Humanitarian Impact of Autonomous Weapons in San José, Costa Rica is the first of its kind and involved regional and observer governments, representatives of the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and civil society. Amnesty International is a founding member of Stop Killer Robots, a global coalition of more than 160 organizations working to address autonomy in weapons systems.

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“Moves to stop the supply of aviation fuel to Myanmar’s military, announced today by the Canadian and British governments, are an important step towards ending companies’ contribution to the military’s war crimes.

“Until now, the inaction of governments has allowed the Myanmar military to use imported aviation fuel to launch air strikes that have devastated families and terrorized civilians.

“While the companies targeted by the UK are key players in the aviation fuel industry in Myanmar, countries must take action on the entire industry to stop the flow of aviation fuel.

“Other states should follow Canada in suspending the direct and indirect supply, sale or transfer – including transit, trans-shipment and brokering – of aviation fuel to Myanmar. This suspension must continue until effective mechanisms are put in place to ensure that aviation fuel will not be used to carry out air strikes that amount to serious violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law.” 

Background:

On the eve of the two-year anniversary of the military coup of 1 February 2021, several countries have imposed further sanctions on Myanmar, this time focusing on the aviation fuel industry which allows the Myanmar air force to conduct air strikes that result in war crimes, displacement of entire communities, deaths and injuries of civilian women, men and children, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. 

Canada’s government today moved to prohibit the export, sale, supply or shipment of aviation fuel to the Myanmar military. 

The UK also announced sanctions in the aviation fuel industry, targeting two Myanmar companies and two individuals that Amnesty International first identified in Deadly Cargo: Exposing the supply chain that fuels war crimes in Myanmar as playing an essential role in importing, handling and transporting aviation fuel to the Myanmar military’s air force. 

Since the coup on 1 February 2021, Amnesty International has documented widespread human rights violations, including war crimes and possible crimes against humanity as part of the military’s crackdown on the opposition across the country.

In November 2022, Amnesty launched a campaign calling for a suspension of the supply of aviation fuel to prevent the Myanmar military from carrying out unlawful air strikes. The investigation also identified companies involved across the supply chain.

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“As the number of people fleeing violence and persecution continues to grow, protecting the human rights of migrants and refugees is of critical importance. Instead of increasing barriers for people on the move and subjecting them to further hardship, President Biden, President López Obrador and Prime Minister Trudeau must adopt measures to protect their rights in North America and abroad,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

The dangerous circumstances facing people fleeing persecution, who are often forced by violence, economic hardship and climate change to journey across borders, continue to be one of North America’s most serious human rights concerns. Large numbers of migrants and refugees from across the world continue to make perilous journeys through Mexico in an attempt to cross over into the United States and, in some cases, continue onto Canada. At the same time, structural failings leave many refugees and migrants unprotected in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

North American governments are implementing shared immigration policies aimed at deterring migration. These measures include militarization, externalization of borders, generalized use of immigration detention, expedited removals, and criminalization of migrant rights defenders. Notably, the United States and Mexico jointly implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), under which asylum seekers were left stranded in camps along the US-Mexico border where they were in extraordinary danger and potentially pushed further into harm’s way. Likewise, since the implementation of Title 42 in March 2020, nearly 2.5 million asylum seekers from Central America, Haiti and, more recently, from Venezuela, have been expelled from the United States to Mexico without the opportunity to effectively claim asylum.

As the number of people fleeing violence and persecution continues to grow, protecting the human rights of migrants and refugees is of critical importance.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

Both immigration policies are close to an end. Following a Supreme Court decision in May 2022, the Biden administration ended the MPP programme. As for Title 42, the lifting of the policy is on hold pending a judicial decision. However, as these policies are set to end, reports have emerged that the United States is aiming to implement new policies to deter migration, including transit bans, criminalization of asylum seekers, and additional externalization of asylum procedures to Mexico.

“The US government must immediately rescind Title 42 and avoid implementing similar shared migration policies that deny the rights of migrants and refugees, including the right to access territory and to seek and receive asylum,” added Erika Guevara-Rosas. “North American governments should shift from inhuman shared immigration policies in the region to policies of shared responsibility grounded in human rights and the protection of migrants and refugees.”

Another inhumane shared policy is the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States. The agreement bars most people arriving at Canada’s official land ports of entry via the United States from seeking refugee protection in Canada, and vice versa. As a result, vulnerable refugees attempt dangerous border crossings into remote and rural areas of Canada and the United States. Those returned to the United States from Canada under the agreement, especially people facing gender-based persecution, may be unfairly denied protection in the United States and returned to danger in their country of origin. Amnesty International, together with other human rights organizations and individual applicants, appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in October to challenge the constitutionality of the STCA. Reports indicate that the Canadian and US governments are currently working to expand the STCA, despite awaiting a decision from Canada’s highest court on the constitutionality of the agreement.

Amnesty International also calls on US, Canadian and Mexican officials to end policies of systemic immigration detention that violate international standards. Compassionate, tailored, and community-based supports should be used rather than punitive detention; jails and jail-like facilities should never be used and children should never be detained. That is clearly not the practice in North America.

As an example, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented the serious human rights violations that migrants and refugees face in immigration detention in Canada. While not held on criminal charges or convictions, many experience some of the country’s most restrictive confinement conditions, including maximum-security provincial jails, solitary confinement, and indefinite detention. Black and other racialized people appear to be incarcerated for longer periods of time and in provincial jails, while people with psychosocial disabilities are subjected to disproportionately coercive treatment. Another example is the treatment that Haitian refugees and migrants have received both in Mexico and the United States. While on the southern border of Mexico they have been denied asylum and basic services, at the US-Mexico border they have faced equally harsh conditions. Those who entered the United States have been detained and deported back to Haiti under conditions that reveal systemic anti-Black discrimination and ill-treatment that in some cases may amount to race-based torture.

The US government must immediately rescind Title 42 and avoid implementing similar shared migration policies that deny the rights of migrants and refugees, including the right to access territory and to seek and receive asylum.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

The implementation of restrictive policies has left migrants and refugees with no choice but to take more dangerous journeys. This year was the deadliest for the US-Mexican border, where more than 850 migrants lost their lives, while on the US-Canada border a migrant family of four froze to death while attempting to cross into the United States. Likewise, the Missing Migrants Project estimates that there are 7,008 disappeared migrants in the Americas, an increase of 55% over the last 5 years.

“Migrants crossing Mexico are often victims of numerous violations of human rights and abuses, such as kidnappings, killings, robbery, and extortion, among others. Women frequently experience gender-based violence, including sexual violence. Access to justice, medical and psychological support are limited, and violations repeatedly remain in impunity. In all three countries, women migrants and refugees face adverse situations on arrival that require gender-responsive supports and services,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

As Canada, Mexico and the United States meet to discuss a comprehensive North American agenda, they must end these policies of deterrence, exclusion, and cruelty, and commit to work together to protect the rights of refugees and migrants throughout North America. As a crucial first step, President Biden, President López Obrador and Prime Minister Trudeau must each definitively commit to ending policies that block access to asylum and ensure the rights of all individuals to seek safety.

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The research conducted by Amnesty International Canada Francophone (AICF), in collaboration with the Pessamiulnuat, focuses on the human rights violations of the Innu Nation of Pessamit, resulting from the combined effects of climate change and the forestry, hydroelectricity and resort industries, as well as colonialist policies.

We recently were in the Innu Nation’s territory to learn from their struggles to protect the environment and their culture. For the Pessamiulnuat, the close relationship with the land is an expression of Innu lifestyle and spirituality. When at risk, the essence of their identity, Innu-aitum, is also at risk. Coastal erosion threatens the practice of certain cultural activities at the same time as it leads to the loss of part of the territory.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes that indigenous peoples “have suffered historical injustices, including colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and resources. Injustices that will continue until justice and redress are achieved. And it is only in this way that there can be reconciliation. Article 25 of the Declaration states that “Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with the lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used, and to uphold their responsibilities to future generations in this regard.”

Furthermore, in its most recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that it is the most vulnerable populations, including the 476 million indigenous people around the world, who suffer the most from climate change, due to their very connection between cultural identity and territory.

Indigenous peoples have suffered historical injustices, including colonization and dispossession of their lands, territories and resources

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The interest of the Innu Nation of Pessamit in climate change goes back some twenty years, precisely because of the erosion of the banks. This phenomenon is accentuated by the increase in temperature, milder winters and the multiplication of freezing and thawing periods. Thinner ice reduces the protection of the shoreline against waves and winter storms. Erosion modifies the seabed where silt is deposited, making it difficult for fish to spawn. In addition, summers are getting hotter and hotter. The fauna and flora change, the trees turn yellow in the middle of summer because of the lack of water, burned by the sun. These are worrying facts.

However, the IPCC recognizes that when the territorial rights of indigenous peoples are respected, the climate, the territory and its biodiversity are better off. The Pessamiulnuat are aware of this. The Pessamit Innu Council has therefore set up a team to monitor changes in Nitassinan, the claimed and unceded ancestral territory, as well as a salmon restoration project in the Betsiamites River. The Nation is also calling for the creation of a protected area for woodland caribou and has created partnerships with universities to understand and find solutions to riverbank erosion.

However, despite all these efforts, in the end, Pessamit has no decision-making power over the activities of the forestry, hydroelectric, mining and resort industries, which not only have an impact on the territory but also accentuate climate change.

Thirteen hydroelectric power plants and 16 Hydro-Quebec dams have been built on the Pessamit Nitassinan since the 1950’s without free, prior and informed consent, without even the appearance of consultation. History cannot be rewritten and this is not what the Pessamiulnuat are claiming, any more than they are claiming to live in the Stone Age. But the least we can do is to recognize that this has not been done, and that it has been highly prejudicial, and consequently pay the necessary compensations. We can also do things differently today. Not by “consulting as much as possible”, but by ensuring that the free, prior and informed consent of the whole community is obtained.

This is true for all industries, and it is the responsibility of the provincial government and regional county municipalities (RCMs) to ensure this. The northern hemisphere’s boreal forest, of which Canada is the primary steward, is critical to the fight against climate change because of its high potential to store carbon emissions. However, “each year, industrial logging in Canada clearcuts over a million acres of boreal forest, much of this in irreplaceable, uniquely carbon-rich primary forests,” according to Jennifer Skene of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

And every time new roads are created to serve the forest industry, non-native hunters and tourists take them over. Resorting on Nitassinan is a growing phenomenon, an additional threat to traditional Innu activities. The Quebec government and the MRCs respectively distribute permits for logging and tourism, without regard for the Innu.

We are consulted for the sake of form. We propose new ways of doing things but we are not listened to. We are not taken seriously.

Érik Kanapé

Certainly, the federal government has made efforts in recent years to include the Nation and its vision in the management of the territory. However, on the provincial side, the community is still faced with a stubborn refusal: “We are consulted for the sake of form. We propose new ways of doing things but we are not listened to. We are not taken seriously”, testified Éric Kanapé, biologist and environmental consultant.

Finally, we cannot ignore the impact of colonialist policies for nearly 150 years. And the ways of governments and industries are a corollary of this entrenched colonialism.

The Pessamit First Nation wants a nation-to-nation relationship with the levels of government in order to be able to determine its own development on its territory, that is to say, to negotiate until an agreement is reached that suits both parties. Put another way: give the other party the power to say no. “We demand respect from all levels of government because we are being ignored,” says Chief Marielle Vachon.

Finally, let’s remember that the United Nations considers environmental degradation and unsustainable development as the greatest threats to the right to life of future generations.

Erika Guevara-Rosas is Americas director at Amnesty International. France-Isabelle Langlois is executive director at Amnesty International Canada Francophone

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The climate crisis is already upon us – yet most governments have chosen to remain in the deadly embrace of the fossil fuel industry, submitting desperately inadequate emissions targets and then failing to meet even those.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International

“COP27 comes in the wake of a terrifying summer in which the Arctic burned, scorching heatwaves ravaged Europe, and floods submerged huge swathes of Pakistan and Australia. In short, the climate crisis is already upon us – yet most governments have chosen to remain in the deadly embrace of the fossil fuel industry, submitting desperately inadequate emissions targets and then failing to meet even those,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“These failures mean we are currently heading for global warming exceeding 2.5°C, a scenario which would see famine, homelessness, disease, and displacement unfold on an almost unfathomable scale. These violations are already happening in many parts of the world.

“As the climate crisis unfolds, the people who are least responsible for causing it are being hit hardest and first, exacerbating the marginalization they already face. At COP27 we need to see measures that will radically shift responsibility-sharing and address this injustice. Wealthy governments must increase their commitments on climate finance to help lower-income countries phase out fossil fuels and scale up adaptation measures. They must also establish a loss and damage fund in order to provide speedy remedy to those whose rights have been violated by the crisis they helped to create.”

“I’m getting poorer every day”

Amnesty International’s new briefing ‘Any tidal wave could drown us’: Stories from the climate crisis, includes case studies featuring seven marginalized communities from around the world, including in Bangladesh, Fiji, Senegal, and the Russian Arctic.

Amnesty International worked with local activists to interview marginalized people, including those living in some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable places, and shared their stories and calls to action. Their accounts provide a glimpse of life on the frontlines of the climate crisis, characterized by discrimination, forced displacement, loss of livelihood, food insecurity, and destruction of cultural heritage.

In Bangladesh, interviewees from impoverished and marginalized coastal communities, including Dalits and Indigenous Munda people, explained how frequent flooding means they have had to rebuild their houses again and again, or else live in the ruins of their flooded homes. Floods have also damaged water and sanitation infrastructure, leaving the communities with salty drinking water and unusable toilets.

The Indigenous peoples of the Arctic region of Yakutia live in the far north-east of Russia, where the average temperature has risen by 2-3°C in recent years. This has caused permafrost to thaw, intensifying wildfires, and leading to biodiversity loss.

Unpredictable weather has a severe impact on the way of life of Indigenous peoples, as one Chukcha man explained: “The weather is essential for the traditional way of life of Indigenous peoples. Based on weather patterns, we determine where the reindeer will graze, where to set up a camp between migrations, when the snowstorm will come, when and where animals, birds and fish will migrate.”

In Québec, Canada, the Indigenous Innu people in the community of Pessamit face similar threats. Rising temperatures have led to reduced coastal ice and other weather changes which have severely impacted the community’s way of life. For example, the fact that lakes do not freeze in winter means elders are less able to travel on their ancestral territory and cannot pass on their traditional knowledge about wayfaring.

“If you are no longer able to talk about your knowledge, there is a certain shame. You lose some dignity,” David Toro, environmental adviser at Mamuitun Tribal Council said.

The case studies also reveal how people facing loss and damage due to climate change are often left to fend for themselves after disasters, forcing them to take out exorbitant loans, migrate, cut down on food, or pull their children out of school.

“I used to be able to send my son to school… but now I don’t have that luxury, I’m getting poorer every day,” said a fisherman who lives in the Fonseca Gulf area of Honduras, which suffers regular flooding and cyclones.

“We are not listened to”

Some interviewees shared information about adaptation strategies they have developed. These provide important learnings for the rest of the world and underscore the importance of including the worst-impacted communities in developing strategies to address the climate emergency. For example, the Pessamit Indigenous community in Québec, Canada, have initiated projects to protect salmon and caribou.

“For the past ten or twelve years, community or even individual hunting of the caribou has been prohibited,” Adelard Benjamin, project coordinator for Territory and Resources in Pessamit, explained.

The resourcefulness of the hardest-hit communities underscores the importance of genuinely including them in decision-making concerning responses to the climate emergency. For the Pessamit people, the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation have entrenched inequalities caused by long histories of colonialism, racism and discrimination.

As Eric Kanapé, environmental adviser for the Pessamit community said: “We are consulted for the sake of it. We propose new ways of doing things but we are not listened to. We are not taken seriously.”

The Langue de Barbarie is a sand peninsula near the Senegalese city of Saint Louis, where around 80,000 people live in densely populated fishing villages at high risk of flooding. Coastal erosion has led to the loss of up to 5-6 meters of beach every year; “the sea is advancing”, as one fisherman put it.

Interviewees in Saint Louis have developed several of their own initiatives to cope with the climate crisis. For example, one community-led project helps locals affected by sea-level rise to build houses and set up income-generating recycling activities. Others have set up a community solidarity fund to help people through times of hardship, although it is sometimes left empty because of economic problems affecting the whole community.

The lack of support measures and effective remedies for loss and damage caused by climate change is a major injustice. The wealthy countries that have contributed the most to climate change, and those with the most resources, have a heightened obligation to provide redress. At COP27, this should start with an agreement to establish a loss and damage fund and commitments of adequate funds dedicated for this purpose.

Last chance

Amnesty International will be attending COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, between 5 and 19 November. The organization is calling on all governments to urgently ensure that their 2030 emissions targets are compatible with keeping the global temperature increase below 1.5°C.

Meeting the 1.5°C target would mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change, but the window to do so is rapidly closing. Despite the COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact Decision requesting all states to strengthen their 2030 targets, only 22 countries have submitted updated pledges in 2022. In addition, most national policies that are currently being implemented are inadequate to meet countries’ pledges.

Wealthy states must present a clear plan to increase their contributions to climate finance, so they can collectively meet the long overdue goal of raising at least 100billion USD annually to help lower-income countries phase out fossil fuels and scale up adaptation measures. In addition, wealthy countries must ensure the rapid provision of new funding to support and remedy communities who have suffered serious loss and damage caused by the effects of climate change.

Civil society participation in COP27 is severely threatened by the Egyptian authorities’ years-long crackdown on the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly which Amnesty has been documenting. All states attending COP27 must pressure the Egyptian government to protect civic space and guarantee the meaningful input of NGOs and Indigenous peoples.

“We are living a natural phenomenon caused by global warming and, caused by ourselves for not obeying the ecological damage we did,” said a resident of Punta Ratón in Honduras. “Now we must take care of what is left for the generations to come.”

Case studies

Bangladesh

People from impoverished and marginalized coastal communities, including Dalits and Indigenous Munda people living in coastal villages in south-west Bangladesh, described the impact of regular flooding and cyclones. These communities live in poverty, and some are subject to pervasive and systematic discrimination, and as a result they are extremely vulnerable to climate shocks. Interviewees explained how frequent flooding has meant they have had to rebuild their houses again and again, and has also damaged sanitation infrastructure, leaving them with salty drinking water and unusable toilets.

Russia

The Indigenous peoples of the Arctic region of Yakutia, in the far north-east of Russia. Yakutia is one of the coldest inhabited regions on earth, but its average temperature has risen by 2-3°C in recent years, causing permafrost to thaw, intensifying wildfires, and causing biodiversity loss.

This has a severe impact on the way of life of Indigenous peoples, as one Chukcha man explained: “The weather is essential for the traditional way of life of Indigenous peoples. Based on weather patterns, we determine where the reindeer will graze, where to set up a camp between migrations, when the snowstorms will come, when and where animals, birds and fish will migrate.”

The impacts of climate change in Yakutia are compounded by the Russian government’s plans to maximize extraction and production of oil and gas in the region.

Austria and Switzerland

In 2022, Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, with multiple heatwaves, record-breaking temperatures, drought, and wildfires in several countries. Amnesty International interviewed people in Austria experiencing homelessness, and older people and people with disabilities in Austria and Switzerland, who were all especially badly impacted by the heat.

Fiji

Amnesty International spoke to residents of a safe house – many of whom were LGBT – in an informal settlement in Fiji, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Fiji has experienced rising sea and air temperatures, more intense tropical cyclones, storm surges, droughts, and changing rainfall patterns as a result of climate change. Residents reported struggling to access sufficient food immediately after cyclones and having to evacuate several times in recent years as the shelter got damaged by several cyclones. They also explained how people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity may bear the brunt of public anger or administrative disruption in the context of disasters, including community and police harassment, as a consequence of stigma and discrimination.

Honduras

Communities in the Fonseca Gulf area of Honduras rely on subsistence fishing and are therefore highly vulnerable to climate shocks. Extreme weather events and the reduction in fish species have drastically reduced the standard of living among these communities and caused deepening poverty. Residents described how they are often reduced to cutting mangrove to sell as timber or firewood, contributing to the further degradation of their environment.

One fisherman in Cedeño village said: “You have no idea what the mangroves used to be like, it was a pleasure to see and appreciate them. Today you can no longer see them, they have been destroyed, it is a desert over the water.”

Canada

The Pessamit are an Indigenous community of the Innu Nation in the province of Québec, Canada. Rising temperatures have led to reduced coastal ice and other weather changes which have severely impacted the Innu peoples’ way of life and culture. For example, the fact that lakes don’t freeze in winter means elders are less able to travel on the territory and cannot pass on their traditional knowledge.

“If you are no longer able to talk about your knowledge, there is a certain shame. You lose some dignity,” one man said.

The Pessamit community is also living with the impacts of hydroelectric dams located in their ancestral territory, while the forestry industry has stripped their land of trees. One Pessamit Elder said “Those who made the dams, they install them but they don’t pay attention. There are fish in the rivers, but they don’t care. There are animals, they don’t care. Even if it floods the land, they don’t care about humans, let alone animals.”

Senegal

The Langue de Barbarie is a peninsula in Senegal where 80,000 people reside in densely populated fishing villages. It is one of the most climate vulnerable places on the African continent, exposed to sea-level rise and experiencing frequent flooding and storm surges.

Residents described how these weather events had damaged fisheries and left them with no means of making a living – but the prospect of moving is devastating for some:
“We’re thinking of moving, but we don’t really want to. Because if you want to kill a fisherman, you have to take him away from the sea,” said one local fisherman.

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“The decision to allow the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is a brazen violation of the community’s right to self-determination and a lamentable step backwards in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Moreover, expansion of fossil fuels extraction and infrastructure is against Canada’s obligation to protect human rights from the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada (English-Speaking). “Amnesty International Canada calls on the governments of Canada and B.C. to halt pipeline construction in the traditional, unceded territories of the Wet’suwet’en.”

Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs – the traditional authorities of the Nation according to Wet’suwet’en Law as well as the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1997 Delgamuukw ruling – have never consented to the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, even though some elected First Nations governments have signed benefit agreements with the company. The Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) is one of the last remaining clean sources of drinking water and salmon spawning grounds in the territory, and Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have raised concerns that the pipeline project would damage the river.

The decision to allow the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands without the free, prior, and informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is a brazen violation of the community’s right to self-determination and a lamentable step backwards in Canada’s journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples

Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada

Peaceful protestors and land defenders occupied the drill pad site in September 2021. British Columbia’s Minister of Public Safety authorized militarized police forces to arrest and forcibly remove land defenders from the territory in order to enforce an injunction obtained by the company. Wet’suwet’en and other land defenders faced three raids by heavily armed police, and 19 people are currently facing criminal contempt charges for defying a court injunction that authorizes the police to remove people occupying permitted work sites.  

Wet’suwet’en land defenders say they are harassed, intimidated, forcibly removed, and criminalized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the company’s private security guards solely for peacefully defending their traditional lands over which they have title. In May, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a third letter to Canada noting its concern over the escalating use of force, surveillance, and criminalization of land defenders and peaceful protestors by the RCMP, its Community-Industry Response Group and private security firms. 

“The Canadian government must immediately withdraw security and policing forces from Wet’suwet’en territory and investigate all allegations of harassment, intimidation, threats and forced evictions of land rights defenders and others peacefully protesting against the pipeline. Continuing with the construction of this pipeline in Indigenous territory will further endanger human rights defenders, Wet’suwet’en communities and ultimately our planet,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Chief Na’Moks said, “Even though they have started to illegally drill with illegal permits from the government of BC, the Hereditary Chiefs have never been supportive nor have given consent for this project. We will continue to oppose this pipeline using all means necessary, as it is our Traditional law. No elected official nor an industry can overrule nor ignore our decisions as a nation who have never ceded, surrendered nor signed a treaty.”

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Amnesty International Report 2021/22: The State of the World’s Human Rights details how, two years into the pandemic, the Americas is still the region with the most deaths from Covid-19, largely due to limited and unequal access to healthcare, poorly funded public health systems, and inadequate social protection policies and measures for marginalized communities. Impunity for grave human rights violations and crimes under international law remains a serious concern in more than half the countries in the region, while attacks on judicial independence have also increased.

“It’s shameful and unconscionable that instead of addressing the injustices and deep-seated inequalities that have plagued the Americas for generations and exacerbated the impact of the pandemic, many governments have instead sought to silence and repress those who protest peacefully and speak out in demand of a safer, fairer and more compassionate world,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

The Americas has achieved the world’s second-highest vaccination rates per capita, with Cuba and Chile leading the way in vaccinating over 90 percent of their populations, but unequal regional access has undermined protection in countries like Haiti, where less than two percent of the population had been vaccinated as of 10 March 2022. Meanwhile, wealthy nations such as the USA and Canada stockpiled more doses than needed and turned a blind eye as Big Pharma put profits ahead of people, refusing to share their technology to enable wider distribution of vaccines.

“Many states in the Americas have made encouraging progress in vaccinating their populations, but they must do much more to ensure equal and universal access to vaccines in every country and address the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, which has disproportionately affected those who already face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and marginalization, such as women and Indigenous and Afro-descendent people,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.

Even before the pandemic, the Americas had the world’s highest rates of income inequality. The continent’s uneven economic recovery last year made little impact on the consequences of decades of structural inequality and proved insufficient to reverse the 2020 economic downturn, which brought record unemployment, falling incomes and increases in poverty. This has worsened preexisting humanitarian emergencies in countries like Haiti and Venezuela, where millions of people continue to lack access to sufficient food and health care.

It’s shameful and unconscionable that instead of addressing the injustices and deep-seated inequalities that have plagued the Americas for generations and exacerbated the impact of the pandemic, many governments have instead sought to silence and repress those who protest peacefully and speak out in demand of a safer, fairer and more compassionate world

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

Meanwhile, efforts to stifle independent and critical voices gathered steam in 2021 as states deployed a widening gamut of tools and tactics, including threats, harassment, politically motivated arbitrary arrests, unfounded prosecutions, unlawful surveillance, excessive use of force, enforced disappearance and unlawful killings, to crack down on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

At least 36 states in the USA introduced more than 80 pieces of draft legislation limiting the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, while in Colombia authorities brutally repressed protesters during last year’s National Strike, resulting in 46 deaths, 3,275 arbitrary detentions, over 100 ocular injuries, and 49 reports of sexual violence.

Cuban authorities also arbitrarily detained hundreds of people during historic protests last July and banned another march to call for their release in October, as well as resorting to internet shutdowns to prevent people from sharing information about repression and organizing in response. Surreptitious digital technologies were further weaponized in El Salvador, where NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was deployed against journalists and activists on a massive scale.

Dozens of journalists and media workers were threatened, censored, attacked and detained across the region, with Mexico remaining the world’s most lethal country for journalists after recording nine killings in 2021 and at least eight more in early 2022.

Excessive and unnecessary use of force in law enforcement operations also proved deadly in many countries, including Brazil, where the deadliest ever operation by police in Rio de Janeiro left 27 residents of the Jacarezinho favela dead last May. In the USA, police shot dead at least 888 people in 2021, with Black people disproportionately impacted.

Racism and discrimination remained prevalent across the Americas, with inadequate access to water, sanitation, health services and social benefits exacerbating the impact of the pandemic on Indigenous peoples in particular. Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela all continued to allow major extractive, agricultural and infrastructure projects to proceed without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of affected Indigenous peoples, and sometimes despite judicial orders to suspend operations.

Despite some progress, action on climate change remained limited. The Escazú Agreement, a regional treaty for environmental justice and the protection of environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean, finally came into force last April, although Cuba, Honduras and Venezuela have yet to sign it and 12 other countries have still not ratified it. The USA rejoined the Paris Agreement under President Biden and sought to reverse hundreds of laws and policies that the Trump administration passed to deregulate the environmental and energy sectors, but it continued to approve oil drilling projects on federal land.

Brazil’s President Bolsonaro continued to encourage deforestation and extraction of natural resources in the Amazon, exacerbating the impact of the climate crisis on Indigenous peoples’ lands and territories, and drawing accusations of genocide and ecocide before the International Criminal Court. Elsewhere, Canada continued to subsidize the fossil fuel industry, Bolivia passed regulations that incentivized logging and the burning of forests, and Mexico, the world’s 11^th largest greenhouse gas emitter, failed to present new emission reduction targets at COP26.

Tens of thousands of people – mostly from Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela – fled human rights violations related to violence, poverty, inequality and climate change throughout the year. Yet the governments of Canada, Chile, Curaçao, Mexico, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA continued to prohibit the entry of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, and violated international law by deporting, without proper consideration of their claims, those who did make it across borders.

Tens of thousands of Haitian refugees sought international protection, but governments across the region failed to shield them from detention and unlawful pushbacks, extortion, racial discrimination and gender-based violence. US border control officials pushed back over a million refugees and migrants at the US-Mexico border, including tens of thousands of unaccompanied children, using Covid-19 public health provisions as a pretext.

Gender-based violence remains a major concern across the region, with measures to protect women and girls inadequate throughout the region, and investigations into domestic violence, rape and femicide often flawed. Mexico recorded 3,716 killings of women in 2021, of which 969 were investigated as femicides, while Mexican security forces used excessive force, arbitrary detentions and sexual violence against women protesters. Both Paraguay and Puerto Rico declared states of emergency because of increased violence against women and there were also significant increases in violence against women in Peru and Uruguay.

The Americas saw some limited progress in the recognition of the rights of LGBTI people last year with Argentina introducing identity cards recognizing people who identify as non-binary and passing a law to promote the employment of trans people. President Biden’s government took steps to repeal the previous administration’s discriminatory policies toward LGBTI people in the USA, but hundreds of state-level bills were also introduced that would curtail their rights.

From Argentina to Colombia, the green tide has built up unstoppable momentum and shown that change is possible even in seemingly hopeless situations. The feminist activists of the Americas are an inspiration for all the world to never stop standing up for human rights 

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

Legislation that would better protect the rights of LGBTI people was blocked in many parts of the region, while individuals in several countries continued to be the targets of discrimination and violence because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. The Americas accounted for 316 of 375 trans and gender-diverse people reported murdered worldwide from October 2020 to September 2021, with Brazil recording 125 killings – more than any other country on earth.

Many governments did not do enough to prioritize sexual and reproductive health in 2021. Essential services were lacking, and safe abortion services remained criminalized in most countries, with the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Nicaragua maintaining total bans on abortion. State governments in the USA introduced more abortion restrictions than in any other year, with Texas enacting a near-total ban that criminalizes abortion just six weeks into pregnancy.

Undeterred, Latin America’s vibrant feminist movement has continued to gain momentum since Argentina legalized abortion in late 2020, with Mexico’s Supreme Court declaring the criminalization of abortion unconstitutional in September 2021 and in Colombia’s Constituional Court decriminalizing abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy in February 2022.

“From Argentina to Colombia, the green tide has built up unstoppable momentum and shown that change is possible even in seemingly hopeless situations. The feminist activists of the Americas are an inspiration for all the world to never stop standing up for human rights,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Amnesty International press office: press@amnesty.org

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