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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New research by Amnesty International has revealed exploitation of women migrant care workers in Austria, with shockingly poor pay, discrimination and excessively long hours, pushing some to the brink of collapse. The vast majority of those who work as live-in carers for older people are women migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe, who are often subjected to various intersecting forms of discrimination and abuse. Care workers told Amnesty International that unfair wages, lack of sick pay and inadequate breaks were a daily reality even before the pandemic, but Covid-19 made working conditions unbearable. 

Live-in care work is emotionally and physically exhausting at the best of times, but during the pandemic, many women migrant workers worked excessively long hours and shifts for months on end. What’s more, they do this essential work for below the guaranteed minimum wage in Austria.

Marco Perolini, Western Europe Researcher at Amnesty International

“Women migrant workers are currently under compensated and under protected. We call on the Austrian authorities to meet their human rights obligations and guarantee fair and safe working conditions for all live-in carers and ensure the rights of migrant women are equally protected.”

Austria has an aging population – more than 25% of the population will be older than 65 by 2040 – and thus a growing need for care workers. As well as those who work in care homes, informal family carers, and health care workers, around 60,000 people in Austria provide live-in care for older people. 92% of these carers are women and 98% are migrants, mainly from Romania and Slovakia.

The vital role of live-in care workers is not valued economically, socially or politically. In Austria women are generally paid nearly 20% less than men. Migrant workers are paid 25% less than nationals, and migrant women are paid 26.8% less than non-migrant women. Migrant women caring for older people are often paid below minimum wage. For example, Slovak care workers in Austria are paid on average €10,080 per year while the minimum wage for employed care workers in Austria is €17,484 per year. Fair remuneration of care workers is a concern across the region. Last week the German Federal Labour Court ruled in a landmark judgment that live-in care workers in Germany, many of whom are migrant women from Central and Eastern Europe, should be paid the minimum wage. Fifty-eight per cent of care workers in the United Kingdom are paid below real Living Wage.

Live-in care workers in Austria commonly alternate working rotas of two or four weeks, with many migrant women returning to their countries of origin for their rest periods. Therefore, COVID-19 restrictions on international travel during the pandemic had a particularly negative impact on these live-in care workers, many of whom had to extend their working rotas in Austria. With Covid-19 measures also limiting visits from family and friends of the people in need of care, many women migrant carers have had to work very long hours often for weeks on end and being on-call 24 hours a day. Most live-in care workers are not protected against excessively long working hours as they are self-employed. These excessive hours have led to many workers experiencing stress and burn-out.  

Eszter, from Romania, said:

I should have returned home on 21st March [2020]. However, I had to stay. It was very difficult for me because I never had a break. And these breaks are crucial! I left my client’s house at night to get some fresh air. I worked 3.5 months in a row during the lockdown. I also had problems with my agency then. They never called me and cut my earnings. Then, I collapsed and had to see a doctor.

Eszter, care worker from Romania

While the Austrian authorities did put in place some Covid-19-related support mechanisms for live-in care workers, they were not always made accessible to migrant care workers because of some of the eligibility criteria, including the need to have an Austrian bank account which many do not have.

In many instances, live-in care workers are mis-classified as self-employed. They have little autonomy to negotiate their remuneration and working patterns because, as domestic workers, they work under the supervision of the older people they care for and/or their families. Moreover, placement agencies operate as intermediaries between them and their clients, often playing a key role in deciding tasks and remuneration without any opportunity for workers to discuss and negotiate.

The live-in carers’ situation is further compounded by the fact that only employed care workers enjoy minimum wage, working hours protection, and access to sick pay. For the 98% of live-in care workers who are self-employed, none of these human rights are guaranteed. 

“We don’t want to be self-employed. Employees have more rights. As a self-employed [person] you don’t have any rights. We only have obligations. No holiday pay, no unemployment benefits. We want somewhere we can go to when we have problems,” said Dora, a Romanian care worker.

The situation of live-in care workers in Austria is a stark example of how precarious work has a disproportionate impact on women migrant workers. Across Europe, women, young people, migrants and people belonging to ethnic and religious minorities are more likely than others to work on part-time, short-term and insecure contracts, without adequate access to sick pay, maternity leave, paid holidays and other benefits.  

“In Europe, more and more people are working in precarious conditions, including in the care sector. Everyone has the right to be safe at work and to be paid fairly. We stand in solidarity with women migrants working as live-in carers, and call on the Austrian authorities to extend minimum wage protection and working hours protection to all live-in care workers, to strengthen labour inspections and to provide counselling and remedies for discrimination and abuse at work,” said Marco Perolini.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:     
Amnesty International press office on press@amnesty.org +32 2 548 27 73 or +32 483 680 812  Or press@amnesty.org +44 (0) 20 7413 5566  

Background  

Report and Executive Summary

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The climate crisis does not respect borders and our laws and policies must reflect this

Ashfaq Khalfan, Amnesty International's Law and Policy Director.

The Court will decide on whether it agrees to proceed with the case filed not only against Portugal, where the applicants live, but also 32 other countries – which comprise of EU members as well as Norway, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, UK and Ukraine.

“The climate crisis does not respect borders and our laws and policies must reflect this. To ensure justice for people most affected by heatwaves, drought and forest fires – particularly children – states must be required to tackle climate change and its impacts at home and abroad,” said Ashfaq Khalfan, Amnesty’s Law and Policy Director.

“Governments can no longer act as if people outside their borders do not matter when they design their climate policies.”

The crowdfunded case, Duarte Agostinho and others v. Portugal and others, in which the group is intervening, has been brought by six youth from Portugal who are accusing 33 European countries of violating their human rights, including their right to life, by not taking adequate steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

To ensure justice for people most affected by heatwaves, drought and forest fires states must be required to tackle climate change and its impacts at home and abroad

Amnesty International

“Those affected by climate change should be allowed to make claims against governments other than their own. If governments are only required to act on the rights of people living within their borders, it is easier for them to ignore the impacts on people in the most affected countries and be more lethargic in their work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” said Professor Mark Gibney, of the University of North Carolina Asheville.

If allowed to proceed, the case could set an important precedent, clearing the way for other climate lawsuits based on human rights arguments.

“This case is also important to ensure governments are required to design climate policy in a way that recognises the particular climate risks to children and take the ambitious climate protection measures needed to protect their rights,” said Gamze Erdem Türkelli, of the University of Antwerp. 

For more information contact Ashfaq Khalfan, Twitter: @ashfaqkhalfan

Gamze Erdem Türkelli, Twitter: @GamzeErdmTrklli

Amnesty International press office: Twitter @StefSimanowitz

For more details about the intervention, see:https://www.etoconsortium.org/en/news/news/first-climate-change-case-at-the-european-court-of-human-rights-justice-must-not-stop-at-borders-182/ . The submission is available here.

For more information on the case, see http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-206535 and https://youth4climatejustice.org/the-case/.

BACKGROUND

The six applicants in this case, Cláudia Agostinho (21), Catarina Mota (20), Martim Agostinho (17), Sofia Oliveira (15), André Oliveira (12) and Mariana Agostinho (8), are suing the 27 European Union member states, as well as the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine for failing to make deep and urgent emissions cuts to safeguard their future.

The group intervening today as a third party in the case is made up of members of the Extraterritorial Obligations Consortium which advocates for rights beyond borders.

It includes: Amnesty International; the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS); the Center for Transnational Environmental Accountability (CTEA); the Economic and Social Rights Centre (Hakijamii); FIAN International; the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD); the University of Antwerp Law and Development Research Group; Prof. Dr. Mark Gibney; Dr. Gamze Erdem Turkelli; Dr. Sara Seck; Prof. Dr. Sigrun Skogly; Dr. Nicolas Carrillo-Santarelli; Prof. Dr. Jernej Letnar Cernic; Tom Mulisa; Dr. Nicholas Orago; Prof. Dr. Wouter Vandenhole; and Jingjing Zhang

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People’s rights are being violated by governments in Europe and Central Asia, who are cracking down on protests and seeking to erode the independence of the judiciary to avoid accountability, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region.

The organization praised those brave people who took to the streets to defend their own and others’ rights but warned that governments continue to perpetrate human rights violations with impunity across the region.

In 2019, people in Europe and Central Asia were threatened, intimidated, prosecuted, subjected to excessive use of force by police, and suffered discrimination. However, the grassroots mobilization of courageous people who dared to stand up and hold states accountable provides a ray of hope for the future,

Marie Struthers, Europe Director at Amnesty International

Independence of the judiciary under threat

In Poland, the independence of the judiciary – essential for ensuring fair trials and upholding human rights – was threatened as the ruling party took bolder steps to control judges and courts.

Judges and prosecutors found themselves at risk of disciplinary proceedings for speaking out in defence of the judiciary and risked becoming victims of human rights violations themselves. Many were subjected to smear campaigns on state and social media.

Concerns also mounted about the independence of the judiciary in Hungary, Romania and Turkey. Judges in Hungary came under attack from multiple directions as the government continued its attempts to undermine the independence of the judiciary. In May, the European Commission warned Romania that it should address issues including interference with judicial independence by the executive, or potentially face having some of the member state’s rights suspended for persistent breach of the EU’s founding values. In Turkey, a judicial reform package was passed by Parliament. The reforms failed to address the extreme political pressure on the judiciary or to end unfair and politically motivated prosecutions and convictions.

Freedom of peaceful assembly

Independent courts were vitally needed in 2019 to safeguard individual freedoms as state overreach came to the fore, with restrictions on protests in France, Poland and Turkey as well as prosecution of protesters in many more.

Major protests took place in numerous countries across Europe including France, Austria, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary, with people protesting against austerity measures and corruption, and in defence of social justice and the independence of the judiciary. Protests and strikes urging governments to take measures against climate change became a regular occurrence in major European cities. 

Many states repressed the demonstrations through measures that breached the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression. In France, Austria and Spain, hundreds of people were injured by the police during protests. Police resorted to excessive force in France, and violently disrupted peaceful gatherings in Turkey where blanket bans on gatherings were often used to deny the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. States frequently failed to hold their security forces accountable for violence perpetrated during the protests.

Some judges adjudicating in cases relating to protests were harassed or demoted by the Polish authorities.

In Moscow, and other Russian cities, the largest numbers of peaceful protesters seen in many years stood up against the authorities’ refusal to allow opposition candidates to take part in the city elections. The resultant crackdown led to criminal convictions for two dozen participants, simply for exercising their right to protest.

“The reprisals against participants of mass protests in Moscow kick-started an unprecedented solidarity campaign that signals the further awakening of human rights awareness and people power in Russia,” said Marie Struthers.

Migration

European states continued to avoid accountability for human rights violations resulting from their migration policies by “outsourcing” border control to countries with questionable human rights records. In 2019, migration policies continued to prioritise the protection of borders over the protection of human lives. Despite the deteriorating security situation there, European countries continued cooperating with Libya to contain migrants and asylum-seekers in the country.

In November, the Italian government extended its agreement with Libya on migration for a further three years, despite continuing evidence pointing to systematic human rights violations including torture in Libya’s detention centres.

Reports of grave human rights violations against asylum-seekers and refugees, and their continued denial of access to protection, failed to deter the EU from partnering with Turkey to curb migration via the 2016 EU-Turkey Deal. Ahead of Turkey’s incursion into north-eastern Syria in October, Amnesty International conducted dozens of interviews which suggested hundreds of Syrians were likely forcibly deported from Turkey between May and September, under the guise of “voluntary returns”. The deal is also causing unprecedented overcrowding of the camps in the Aegean islands, where tens of thousands of people live in destitute conditions.

Human rights defenders under attack

Civil society, journalists and others responsible for holding governments to account faced pressure in 2019.

“Human rights defenders, journalists, NGOs and other people campaigning for a fairer and more just society were all at the sharp end of government crackdowns in 2019,” said Marie Struthers.

Their work to hold authorities to account, will only be more vital during the COVID-19 crisis and in its aftermath. The humanity and solidarity they show towards the most marginalized members of our societies are needed now more than ever, and will continue to be essential during the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Marie Struthers

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Amnesty International press office on press@amnesty.org +32 2 548 27 73 or +32 483 680 812

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This is a wake-up call to world leaders that they must take far more decisive action to tackle the climate emergency or risk betraying younger generations further.

Kumi Naidoo

Climate change is one of the most important issues facing the world, according to a major new survey of young people published by Amnesty International today to mark Human Rights Day.

With the findings published as governments meet in Spain for the UN Climate Change Conference, the organization warns that world leaders’ failure to address the climate change crisis has left them out of step with young people.

“In this year when young people mobilised in huge numbers for the climate, it can be no surprise that many of those surveyed saw it as one of the most important issues facing the world,” said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International. 

“For young people the climate crisis is one of the defining challenges of their age. This is a wake-up call to world leaders that they must take far more decisive action to tackle the climate emergency or risk betraying younger generations further.”

Ipsos MORI, on behalf of Amnesty International, questioned more than 10,000 people aged 18-25-year olds—also known as Generation Z—in 22 countries for the “Future of humanity” survey.

They were asked for their opinions on the current state of human rights in their country and the world, which issues they feel are most important and who they feel is responsible for addressing human rights abuses.

Respondents were asked to pick up to five issues from a list of 23 major issues facing the world. In total, 41% of respondents said climate change was one of the most important issues facing the world, making it the most commonly cited globally, followed by 36% who chose pollution and 31% who selected terrorism.

As we mark Human Rights Day, we need to recognise that the climate crisis will arguably be the defining issue for younger generations.

Kumi Naidoo

Global warming was also most commonly cited as one of the most important environmental issues facing the world (57%), out of 10 environmental issues such as ocean pollution, air pollution and deforestation.

“As we mark Human Rights Day, we need to recognise that the climate crisis will arguably be the defining issue for younger generations. The right to a healthy environment, including a safe climate, is essential for the enjoyment of so many other rights. It is a right that young people today have been forced to take the lead in asserting,” said Kumi Naidoo.

Generation Z “living inside a failed system”

The climate crisis, pollution, corruption and poor living standards are all windows on an alarming truth about how the powerful have exploited their power for selfish and often short-term gain.

Kumi Naidoo

However, the survey’s findings extend well beyond the climate crisis, reflecting the everyday struggles and concerns facing Generation Z in their own countries.

At a national level corruption was most commonly cited as one of the most important issues (36%), followed by economic instability (26%), pollution (26%), income inequality (25%), climate change (22%) and violence against women (21%).

“This generation lives in a world of widening inequality, economic instability and austerity where vast numbers of people have been left behind,” said Kumi Naidoo.

“Faced with all this, the message from young people is clear. We are living inside a failed system. The climate crisis, pollution, corruption and poor living standards are all windows on an alarming truth about how the powerful have exploited their power for selfish and often short-term gain.”

The survey’s findings come at a time of widespread mass protests around the world, from Algeria to Chile, Hong Kong, Iran, Lebanon, and Sudan. Many of these movements have been largely led by young people and students, who have angrily called out corruption, inequality, and abuse of power and faced violent repression for doing so.

“Amnesty International believes that young people want to see systemic transformations. They want a reckoning with the climate emergency, with the abuse of power. They want to see a completely different future blossoming instead of the wreckage that we are heading towards,” said Kumi Naidoo.

Call for system change built on human rights

If the events of 2019 teach us anything, it is that younger generations deserve a seat at the table when it comes to decisions about them.

Kumi Naidoo

Alongside climate change, a clear majority of young people value human rights in general and want to see their governments take most responsibility to protect them, according to the findings of the “Future of humanity” survey.

The majority of survey respondents agreed that:

• the protection of human rights is fundamental to the future of the countries tested (73% agree vs 11% disagree);
• governments should take the wellbeing of their citizens more seriously than economic growth (63% agree vs 13% disagree); and
• human rights must be protected, even if it has a negative impact on the economy (60% agree vs 15% disagree).

The findings also revealed an unequivocal belief among many young people across every country surveyed that governments should take most responsibility for ensuring human rights are upheld, with 73% of respondents in total picking governments over individuals (15%), businesses (6%) and charities (4%).

Coupled with the results that show that most young people believe voting in elections is an effective method for initiating human rights change, over and above going on strike or attending a protest, the results were not all bad news for leaders who are “willing to listen”.   

“If the leaders of the world are willing to listen carefully, they will notice that Generation Z are not asking for small tweaks. Young people are looking for fundamental changes in the way the world works. If leaders fail to take that seriously, they risk betraying a generation,” said Kumi Naidoo.  

“If the events of 2019 teach us anything, it is that younger generations deserve a seat at the table when it comes to decisions about them. Unless the voices of those on the frontlines are part of the discussion on how we tackle the challenges facing humanity, the crises we are witnessing in the world will only get worse.

“Above all, governments must begin the new decade with meaningful action to address the climate emergency, reduce inequality and put in place genuine reforms to end abuses of power. We need systemic changes, built on human-rights, to the economic and political systems that have brought us to the brink.”

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Today, I will be in Chelmsford Crown Court to hear a judge hand down sentences to a group of human rights defenders, known as the “Stansted 15”. Outside, hundreds of people are expected to gather to protest.

The 15 were convicted last December in relation to their attempt to prevent what they believed was the unlawful deportation of a group of people. In March 2017, they had taken non-violent direct action at Stansted Airport to prevent the take-off of a charter flight bound for Ghana and Nigeria.

Today, I will be in Chelmsford Crown Court to hear a judge hand down sentences to a group of human rights defenders, known as the Stansted 15

Maria Serrano, Amnesty International

Initially, the Stansted 15 were charged with aggravated trespass, but four months later this was changed to “endangering safety at aerodromes” – a serious terrorism-related charge which has a maximum penalty of a life sentence.

Their case is not only of deep concern for the individuals involved. It is also emblematic of a trend we are witnessing across Europe where acts of solidarity are criminalised in order to discourage other activists from taking action in defence of human rights.

Across the continent, activities such as saving lives at sea, providing food and shelter, and shedding light on abuses are becoming increasingly risky activities.

It is also emblematic of an increasing trend we are witnessing across Europe where acts of solidarity are criminalised in order to discourage other activists from taking action in defence of human rights

Maria Serrano, Amnesty International

Amnesty International has documented numerous examples of criminalisation of solidarity in Europe:

• In France, an article of immigration law that allows up to five years’ imprisonment for anyone who “attempts to facilitate the illegal entry, movement or residence of a foreigner” has been repeatedly used to target those with a sense of empathy. One such good Samaritan, Martine Landry, a 73-year-old pensioner, was repeatedly dragged through the courts for assisting two 15-year-old Guinean asylum- seekers. She helped them get to a police station so they could be registered and cared for as minors, soon after they crossed the border from Italy. Despite being acquitted in July, she will have to face trial again after the Public Prosecutor decided to appeal the decision.

   

• Last year a ruling by France’s Constitutional Council acknowledged that the “crime of solidarity” was not in line with the French Constitution and declared that the principle of “fraternité” protects the freedom to help others for humanitarian purposes, regardless of immigration status. Despite this, French authorities have continued targeting activists helping refugees and migrants left homeless in northern France after. In September 2018, activist Loan Torondel was convicted of defamation for tweeting a photograph of policemen standing over one of the many people systematically evicted from informal camps in Calais.

• In Greece, three professional firefighters and two volunteers who had worked saving lives at the height of the refugee crisis were only recently cleared of charges of “attempted smuggling” of people into the country.

• Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, non-governmental rescue ships and their crews have been repeatedly targeted through numerous legal cases and the imposition of bureaucratic restrictions to their operations.

• Last month 49 women, men and children aboard the Sea-Watch 3 and Professor Albrecht Penck NGO vessels spent almost three weeks adrift at sea when Italy and Malta refused them permission to dock. They were finally disembarked in Malta. A similar situation occurred a few weeks later when Sea-Watch 3 was left stranded with 47 people aboard for 10 days before being allowed to disembark them in Italy.

• In January, Spanish authorities prevented the Proactiva Open Arms NGO ship from setting sail from Barcelona to the central Mediterranean. Back in April 2018 the same ship was impounded by the Public Prosecutor of Catania after the crew refused to hand over to the Libyan Coast Guard 218 people rescued at sea. Although the ship was released, crew members have been charged with abetting irregular migration and disobeying instructions from Italian authorities and forcing them to allow disembarkation.

• The Iuventa, a German NGO vessel, remains impounded by Italian authorities. Investigations against crew members continue on the grounds that they were “aiding irregular immigration” into Italy.

• Last October, apparently under pressure from the Italian authorities, the Aquarius ship which has rescued more than 30,000 people over the last two years had its registration withdrawn by Panamanian authorities. In December Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée announced the Aquarius was forced to terminate operations due to the obstruction of their life-saving activities.

• Removing essential rescue boats from the seas may well have contributed to the rise in the number of deaths in the Central Mediterranean of people attempting to reach Europe.

• In Hungary, the mere provision of aid to refugees and migrants has become a criminal offence with penalties of up to one year in prison. A law passed this year criminalizes a wide range of activities such as the preparation, distribution or commissioning of ‘information materials’ related to migration and providing legal and other support to asylum-seekers. Last October, Amnesty International became the second NGO to challenge in court the constitutionality of this law.

• In Switzerland several people including a pastor have been investigated and prosecuted for providing shelter to migrants who would otherwise have been left homeless.

The case of the Stansted 15 is not just about the prosecution of a group of individuals. It is also part of an attempt to make Europe a place where NGOs are targeted and people showing compassion are stigmatized.

The case of the Stansted 15 is part of an attempt to make Europe a place where NGOs are targeted and people showing compassion are stigmatized

Maria Serrano, Amnesty International

It will not work. Rather than serving to discourage and intimidate, clamping down on basic human decency is having the opposite effect. Through their courage and persistence, French pensioners, Spanish firemen and countless others are standing in defiance and showing that human solidarity will not be so easily extinguished.

In a statement released after the verdict last December, the Stansted 15 stated: “We are guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm.” Today their families and supporters around the world await their sentences with bated breath. 

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In the wake of a series of appalling attacks, from Paris to Berlin, governments have rushed through a raft of disproportionate and discriminatory laws

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International

Dangerously disproportionate: The ever-expanding national security state in Europe reveals how a deluge of laws and amendments passed with break-neck speed, is undermining fundamental freedoms and dismantling hard-won human rights protections.

“In the wake of a series of appalling attacks, from Paris to Berlin, governments have rushed through a raft of disproportionate and discriminatory laws,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for Europe.

“Taken alone these individual counter-terrorism measures are worrying enough, but when seen together, a disturbing picture emerges in which unchecked powers are trampling freedoms that have long been taken for granted.”

The report, based on more than two years’ research across 14 EU member states, as well as analysis of initiatives at international and European levels, reveals the extent to which new legislation and policies intended to address the threat of terrorism have steamrolled rights protections.

In several countries, counter-terrorism measures have been proposed or enacted that have eroded the rule of law, enhanced executive powers, peeled away judicial controls, restricted freedom of expression and exposed everyone to unchecked government surveillance. The impact on foreigners and ethnic and religious minorities has been particularly profound.

Taken alone these individual counter-terrorism measures are worrying enough, but when seen together, a disturbing picture emerges

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International

The new normal: Emergency laws and emergency-like measures

In several countries, constitutional amendments or legislation will make it easier to declare a formal state of emergency or grant special powers to security and intelligence services often with little or no judicial oversight.

For example, new legislation in Hungary provides for sweeping executive powers in the event of a declared emergency including the banning of public assemblies, severe restrictions on freedom of movement and the freezing of assets. Vaguely defined provisions grant powers to suspend laws and fast-track new ones and deploy the army with live firearms to quell disturbances.

In France a state of emergency has been renewed five times standardizing a range of intrusive measures, including powers to ban demonstrations and conduct searches without judicial warrants.

Temporary emergency measures, such as administrative orders controlling movement in the UK and France, have increasingly become embedded in ordinary law.

Poland’s new counter-terrorism law permanently cements draconian powers – which include discriminatory targeting of foreign nationals.

Some states have misused counter-terror laws to target human rights defenders and political activists. The use of emergency laws by French police to put environmental activists under house arrest ahead of the UN Climate Conference in Paris in 2015 is a stark example.

Surveillance states

Many EU countries have joined the ranks of “surveillance states” as new laws allowing indiscriminate mass surveillance have been passed giving intrusive powers to security and intelligence services.

Mass surveillance powers have been granted or otherwise expanded in the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, among others, allowing the mass interception of and possible access to the data of millions of people.

Unsupervised targeted surveillance has also been massively expanded. Poland’s 2016 Counter-terrorism Law permits covert surveillance measures targeting foreign nationals, including wire-tapping, monitoring of electronic communications, and surveillance of telecommunications networks and devices without any judicial oversight for three months.

David Miranda, a Brazilian national who was assisting with the journalistic investigation into Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations, was stopped under terrorism powers while transiting through the UK in 2013. He was detained, searched and interrogated for nine hours on suspicion of involvement in “espionage” and “terrorism.” His mobile phone, laptop, external hard drive and other materials were confiscated.

Thought crimes

In a modern twist of the Orwellian “thought crime”, people can now be prosecuted for actions that have extremely tenuous links to actual criminal behaviour. With counter-terror measures focusing ever more on prevention, governments have invested in “pre-crime” initiatives and become increasingly reliant on administrative control orders to restrict people’s freedom of movement and other rights. This has led to many people being placed under curfew, given travel bans or electronically tagged without ever being charged with or convicted of any crime. In these cases evidence is often kept secret, meaning that those accused of “pre-crimes” are not able to adequately defend themselves.

Targeting of refugees and minority groups

Migrants and refugees, human rights defenders, activists and minority groups have been particularly targeted by new powers, with profiling, often based on stereotyping, leading to the outright misuse of laws that define terrorism very loosely.

Many EU member states are attempting to draw links between the refugee crisis and the threat of terrorism. In November, a Hungarian court sentenced Ahmed H – a Syrian national residing in Cyprus – to ten years in prison for committing an “act of terror”. This “acts of terror” consisted of throwing stones and speaking to a crowd through a megaphone during clashes with border police. In reality he had travelled to help his elderly parents on their journey fleeing Syria to Europe. Whilst he admitted stone throwing, footage shows that he had also been trying to calm the crowd.

Ahmed’s wife, Nadia, told Amnesty International: “Our lives have been turned upside down. I try to be both mother and father to my daughters but it is very hard. We miss Ahmed and we are scared for him.”

the role of governments should be to provide security for people to enjoy their rights rather than restricting people’s rights in the name security

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International

A chilling effect

Fear of being labelled a security threat or an “extremist” has had a chilling effect, shrinking space for free expression. In Spain, two puppeteers were arrested and charged with “glorification of terrorism” after a satirical performance during which a puppet held a banner with a slogan which was deemed to support an armed group.In France a similar offence – “apology of terrorism” – has been used to charge hundreds of people, including children, for “offences” such as posting comments on Facebook that do not incite violence.

In 2015 French courts handed down 385 sentences for “apology of terrorism”, a third of which were against minors. Definitions of what constitutes “apology” are extremely broad.

In Spain a popular musician was arrested and detained for a series of tweets including a joke about offering former King Juan Carlos a cake bomb as a birthday gift.

We are in danger of creating societies in which liberty becomes the exception and fear the rule

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International

Discriminatory measures have had a disproportionate and profoundly negative impact on Muslims, foreign nationals or people perceived to be Muslim or foreign. Discriminatory action by the state and its agents is increasingly seen as “acceptable” in the national security context.

“Whilst the threat posed by terrorism is very real and must always be responded to resolutely, the role of governments should be to provide security for people to enjoy their rights rather than restricting people’s rights in the name security,” said John Dalhuisen.

“EU governments are using counter-terrorism measures to consolidate draconian powers, target groups in discriminatory ways and strip away human rights under the guise of defending them. We are in danger of creating societies in which liberty becomes the exception and fear the rule.”

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The proposed ‘special measures’ would fast-track procedures, effectively giving police and border guards sweeping powers to arrest, detain and swiftly return or forcibly deport asylum-seekers.

These amendments are a glaring attempt to keep people out of Austria and its asylum system

Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia

“These amendments are a glaring attempt to keep people out of Austria and its asylum system. If adopted, Austria would treat people fleeing conflict and persecution as a threat to national security, joining a growing list of countries undermining the very principle of protection from war and persecution,” said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia.

Austria’s National Council is today voting on the package of proposed amendments to its asylum law, including:

• emergency measures at Austria’s land borders that effectively treat asylum-seekers as a threat to national security

• allowing police to prevent the entry of any arrivals, including those who indicate a desire to claim asylum and to carry out returns once they have crossed

• curtailing asylum applications at land borders, where police officers would be given the authority to conduct admissibility procedures in the event that returns cannot be enforced

• permitting police to arrest asylum-seekers who apply for international protection in Austria and detain them for a maximum period of 14 days (the current period is five days).

The application of the measures proposed under the amendment would be conditional to a government decree enforcing the special measures for the maintenance of public order and the safeguarding of internal security, adopted in agreement with parliament. They would be applied as long as border controls are reinstated.

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It has also been a common response to tragedies in Europe and off its shores which have ended the lives of thousands of refugees and migrants. Not killed by bombs in Syria, but killed while making terrifying journeys in search of safety and better lives in Europe.

Not killed by bombs in Syria, but killed while making terrifying journeys in search of safety and better lives in Europe.

Gauri van Gulik, Deputy Europe Director at Amnesty International

But the scale and rapid succession of these tragedies calls for breaking the silence.

In the space of a week, along with people across the world, I recoiled in horror as four new tragedies added to a growing list of events that have already brought a record number of refugees and migrants to untimely deaths this year. According to UNHCR, 2,500 have already perished en route to Europe since 1 January 2015.

On 26 August, 52 bodies were found inside the hull of a ship about 30 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.

On 27 August, police in Austria discovered the corpses of 71 people, including children, crammed inside a truck left abandoned at the side of the main highway between Budapest and Vienna. Police have told media the dead are believed to have been Syrians and apparently died by suffocation.

That same night came news of yet another tragic shipwreck off the coast of Zuwara, Libya in which up to 200 people may have died.

And yesterday, a shocking photo of a drowned toddler washed up on a Turkish beach hit global headlines, bringing the crisis into even sharper focus. He and his young brother, believed to be from Kobane in Syria, were among at least 11 people believed to have perished when their vessel ran into trouble as they tried to reach the Greek island of Kos.

The nature of tragedies is that they are usually rare and happen unexpectedly, to ordinary people who find themselves swept up in extraordinary circumstances. The past week’s horrors were neither unexpected nor singular.

People dying in their dozens – whether crammed into a truck or a ship, en route to seek safety or better lives – is a tragic indictment of European leaders’ failures to provide safe ways to reach Europe. That it is now happening on a daily basis is Europe’s collective shame.

People dying in their dozens – whether crammed into a truck or a ship, en route to seek safety or better lives – is a tragic indictment of European leaders’ failures to provide safe ways to reach Europe. That it is now happening on a daily basis is Europe’s collective shame.

Gauri van Gulik

In Vienna last week, not far from where police made their awful discovery, European Union (EU) leaders were meeting with key EU Member States and western Balkan countries. Despite not being on the initial agenda, the treatment of refugees in the region quickly took top billing.

And with good reason – earlier in the week Amnesty International had reported from Macedonia’s southern border with Greece, where up to 4,000 refugees became trapped when Macedonia closed the border. Paramilitary police units blocked the border crossing with razor wire and fired stun grenades at shocked families who had fled the war in Syria.

My colleague met a mother of four children from Damascus who clung tightly on to her youngest son amid the booms of stun grenades nearby: “This reminds me of Syria. It scares the children; I never expected to find that in Europe. Never; never,” she said.

Further up the Balkans migration route in Hungary, police this week fired tear gas inside a crowded reception centre, and Hungarian authorities are in the process of erecting a razor wire fence along the border with Serbia to prevent more refugees and migrants from entering.

And Amnesty International has recently visited both Kos and Lesvos, Greek islands on the frontline of Europe’s refugee crisis. Overloaded, under-resourced authorities are failing to cope with the dramatic increase in the number of people arriving on the island – 33,000 on Lesvos since 1 August alone. As a result, thousands of people, including many Syrian refugees, are staying in squalid conditions.

All these crises are symptoms of the same problem: Europe is not accepting its responsibility in an unprecedented global refugee crisis.

Gauri van Gulik

All these crises are symptoms of the same problem: Europe is not accepting its responsibility in an unprecedented global refugee crisis. It is failing to create safe routes for refugees that respect the rights and protection needs of people with the dignity they are entitled to.So, what can be done? No more moments of silence – we’ve had enough of those. It is now the time for leadership.

European leaders – some of them, at least – seem to be getting the message. At the Vienna summit, the calls were less about Fortress Europe and keeping people out, and more about solidarity and responsibility.

Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini could not have been clearer in her remarks at the end of the meeting. Europe, she said has a “moral and legal duty” to protect asylum seekers.

The right words, certainly. But they now need to be matched with action.

Amnesty International has been calling for this Europe-wide approach for years, but recent events prove that it has never been more urgently needed than now. Could we be reaching a tipping point?

European leaders at all levels must step up and provide protection to more people, better share responsibility and show solidarity to other countries and to those most in need.

At the very least, such a response should involve a significant increase in the resettlement of refugees – current proposals pale in comparison to Turkey’s hosting of 1.8 million Syrian refugees – more humanitarian visas and more ways to reunite families.

Anything less would be a moral and human rights failure of tragic proportions – something we simply cannot be silent about.

Note: A version of this op-ed also appeared in GlobalPost.

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The Mandela Rules include extensive revisions and additions to the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which date back to 1955. It is expected the UN General Assembly will adopt the new rules later this year.

“The Mandela Rules could herald in a new era in which prisoners’ human rights are fully respected,” said Yuval Ginbar, Legal Adviser at Amnesty International, who attended the Vienna meeting.

The Mandela Rules could herald in a new era in which prisoners’ human rights are fully respected. If fully implemented, they would help turn imprisonment from a wasted time of suffering and humiliation into one used for personal development leading to release, to the benefit of society as a whole.

Yuval Ginbar, Legal Adviser at Amnesty International, who attended the Vienna meeting

“The rules, if fully implemented, would help turn imprisonment from a wasted time of suffering and humiliation into one used for personal development leading to release, to the benefit of society as a whole.”

The Mandela Rules now contain an expanded section of basic principles, including the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The independence of healthcare staff is assured, and extensive restrictions are placed on disciplinary measures, including the prohibition of solitary confinement beyond 15 days.

Clear and detailed instructions are provided on issues such as cell and body searches, registration and record keeping, investigations into deaths and complaints of torture and other ill-treatment, the needs of specific groups, independent inspections of prisons, the right to legal representation and more.

Amnesty International joined a coalition of NGOs and academics which took an active part in the five-year process, working for a progressive redrafting of the Rules.

The organization calls on all states to study the Mandela Rules and implement them fully in law, policy and practice.

It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

In the words of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life in prison:

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

The post ‘Mandela Rules’ on prisoner treatment adopted in landmark revision of UN standards appeared first on Amnesty International.

The Mandela Rules include extensive revisions and additions to the UN’s Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which date back to 1955. It is expected the UN General Assembly will adopt the new rules later this year.

“The Mandela Rules could herald in a new era in which prisoners’ human rights are fully respected,” said Yuval Ginbar, Legal Adviser at Amnesty International, who attended the Vienna meeting.

The Mandela Rules could herald in a new era in which prisoners’ human rights are fully respected. If fully implemented, they would help turn imprisonment from a wasted time of suffering and humiliation into one used for personal development leading to release, to the benefit of society as a whole.

Yuval Ginbar, Legal Adviser at Amnesty International, who attended the Vienna meeting

“The rules, if fully implemented, would help turn imprisonment from a wasted time of suffering and humiliation into one used for personal development leading to release, to the benefit of society as a whole.”

The Mandela Rules now contain an expanded section of basic principles, including the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The independence of healthcare staff is assured, and extensive restrictions are placed on disciplinary measures, including the prohibition of solitary confinement beyond 15 days.

Clear and detailed instructions are provided on issues such as cell and body searches, registration and record keeping, investigations into deaths and complaints of torture and other ill-treatment, the needs of specific groups, independent inspections of prisons, the right to legal representation and more.

Amnesty International joined a coalition of NGOs and academics which took an active part in the five-year process, working for a progressive redrafting of the Rules.

The organization calls on all states to study the Mandela Rules and implement them fully in law, policy and practice.

It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

In the words of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life in prison:

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

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