“We welcome the European Parliament’s decision to adopt a ban on abusive mass surveillance technology in today’s landmark vote. However, it is essential the Parliament and EU Member States ensure that development, sale, use and export of facial recognition and other mass surveillance technologies are banned in the final AI Act during upcoming negotiations.  

It is concerning that European Parliament fell short of upholding human rights when AI systems affect migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Mher Hakobyan, Advocacy Advisor on AI Regulation

“There is no human rights compliant way to use remote biometric identification (RBI). No fixes, technical or otherwise, can make it compatible with human rights law. The only safeguard against RBI is an outright ban. If these systems are legalized, it will set an alarming and far-reaching precedent, leading to the proliferation of AI technologies that don’t comply with human rights in the future.  

“Whilst the ban on abusive surveillance is a welcome step in the right direction, this was not a wholesale victory. It is concerning that the European Parliament fell short of upholding human rights when AI systems affect migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The Parliament failed to ban discriminatory profiling and risk assessment systems, as well as forecasting systems used to curtail, prohibit and prevent border movements. It is vital as the AI Act heads towards final negotiations; EU lawmakers do not dismiss rights of people on the move.” 

Background:

The European Parliament reached considerable human rights protections during the committee vote on the AI Act on May 11.

The European Commission proposed legislation governing the use of artificial intelligence on 21 April 2021. The Council of the EU, composed of EU national governments, adopted its position in December 2022.  

Amnesty International, as part of a coalition of civil society organizations led by the European Digital Rights Network (EDRi), has been calling for EU artificial intelligence regulation that protects and promotes human rights. 

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“As governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz will have a leading role and be intimately aware of the Chinese government’s massive and systematic abuses targeting Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim communities living in the region. These include torture, persecution and mass imprisonment, which the UN, Amnesty International and others have found may constitute crimes against humanity.

“A visit to Europe, where he will reportedly meet officials from the UK government, the EU and EU member states, will undoubtedly be used for propaganda purposes by the authorities in Beijing who have repeatedly attempted to hide or whitewash the ongoing grave crimes under international law and other human rights violations they have committed in Xinjiang.

“Questions need to be asked about the purpose of his visit. If officials choose to meet him, they cannot allow themselves to be complicit in this blatant piece of Chinese propaganda.

“They must be outspoken and publicly hold the Chinese authorities to account over the crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang. Dismantling the cruel system of discrimination and persecution of ethnic minorities must be the main concern of any state invited to receive Erkin Tuniyaz.

“Officials must demand information about the well-being and whereabouts of the many people who have been detained or gone missing without a trace and call for the release of everybody arbitrarily detained.

“As a starting point, judicial authorities in European states should launch their own investigations into whether Erkin Tuniyaz has responsibility for crimes under international law, including torture, or other serious human rights violations that would warrant a prosecution.”

Background

Since 2017, there has been extensive documentation of China’s crackdown against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, carried out under the guise of fighting terrorism. In 2021, a comprehensive  report by Amnesty International demonstrated that the systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution perpetrated by Chinese authorities amounted to crimes against humanity. In August 2022 the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report finding that crimes against humanity may have occurred in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Amnesty International’s Free Xinjiang Detainees campaign has, to date, profiled 126 individuals who are among the perhaps one million or more people in arbitrary detention in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang.  

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The legislation, the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, for which Member States agreed a Council position today, seeks to compel EU businesses to respect human rights and the environment but looks set to fall far short of meeting this objective.

“Member States want to exclude the use of companies’ products from their obligations to tackle human rights and environmental harm which means that the European companies selling ammunition, batons, and tear gas to governments with poor human rights records would not be required to carry out human rights due diligence. European investors may also be able to continue investing in projects that harm people and the planet,” said Mark Dummett, Head of Business and Human Rights at Amnesty International.

“The Council is also attempting to exclude some fundamental human rights protections from the law, including children’s rights and rights surrounding the elimination of discrimination against women. It’s the states’ duty to protect people from being harmed by businesses, not to cherry pick the rights that companies should respect.”

It’s the states’ duty to protect people from being harmed by businesses, not to cherry pick the rights that companies should respect.

Mark Dummett, Head of Business and Human Rights at Amnesty International

“Beyond making a commitment to addressing corporate-related human rights and environmental harm, EU Member States have a duty to protect human rights. Instead, the Council has chosen to drastically minimize the scope of the law with the result that a significant amount of business operations would remain unchecked for human rights or environmental harm.”

“If the Council gets its way and civil liability for environmental harm is excluded, it is the victims that will be left behind. The Council has failed to align environmental due diligence requirements with international standards, such as the Paris Agreement or existing EU law, despite the urgency of the climate crisis,” said Mark Dummett. “This law should be a game changer – establishing a new set of rules for how companies should operate around the world, and ensuring they respect both people and the planet. Instead, the Council is set to introduce a set of complicated conditions that will determine when companies would actually have to carry out due diligence.” 

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EU leaders must press Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to tackle Egypt’s human rights crisis and end the unrelenting assault on human rights defenders when they meet on the sidelines of the European Union – African Union (EU-AU) summit, Amnesty International said today ahead of the event this week.

“EU leaders meeting with President al-Sisi this week should use this opportunity to denounce his government’s crackdown on human rights. Despite his attempts at window dressing, the reality is that gross human rights violations continue unabated in Egypt. EU leaders must not offer him an opportunity to whitewash Egypt’s deeply repressive policies,” said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office.

“The Egyptian authorities are cracking down on any form of dissent. People currently behind bars for peacefully exercising their human rights in the country expect EU leaders to speak out for them and press for change. Failing to do so would send a harmful message that the EU values deepening ties with the authorities over the human rights of people in Egypt.”

Al-Sisi’s visit to Belgium for the EU-AU summit comes against the background of wider concerns about the authorities’ recent efforts to eradicate independent human rights NGOs in the country. In January 2022, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, a prominent human rights NGO, announced its closure after 18 years due to its inability to continue its human rights work in the repressive climate.  

Human rights defenders and other civil society actors continue to be subjected to politically motivated criminal investigations, travel bans, asset freezes, extrajudicial probation measures, and other forms of harassment.

Over  recent months, the Egyptian authorities have also referred at least 28 human rights defenders and peaceful opposition politicians to trials by emergency courts over bogus “false news” or “terrorism” charges. At least seven of them were sentenced following grossly unfair trials in 2021 to between three and five years’ imprisonment for criticizing Egypt’s human rights record, economic policy and living standards.

Despite their self-proclaimed efforts to combat discrimination against women, the Egyptian authorities continue to crack down on women, including survivors of sexual violence, on absurd “morality” or “indecency” charges. They have also punished women’s rights defenders for speaking out against sexual harassment.

President al-Sisi’s visit to Brussels comes shortly after it was revealed that the EU is jointly bidding with Egypt to co-chair the Global Counterterrorism Forum, an influential international counter-terrorism organization. This decision was criticized by 16 NGOs given Egypt’s appalling record of misusing counterterrorism laws to silence dissent, erode due process rights, and keep thousands in indefinite pre-trial detention.   

Amnesty International is calling on EU and AU member states to deliver on their human rights commitments and explicitly support the role of civil society and human rights defenders.

“By continuing to pursue business-as-usual relations with Egypt, the EU risks undermining its own credibility.  The upcoming meeting with al-Sisi must not offer Egypt an opportunity to conceal its horrendous human rights abuses. The harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary detention of human rights defenders in Egypt must end,” said Eve Geddie.

Background

See Amnesty International’s public statement on the EU-AU summit here.

Amnesty International Belgium is organizing a demonstration at Place du Trône on 16 February from 14:00 to 16:00. Ramy Shaath, a recently released prisoner of conscience,  and Souheila Yildiz, the partner of Ahmed Samir, a Master’s student who was sentenced to four years prison in June 2021, will attend the protest.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:    

Amnesty International press office on press@amnesty.org or +32 483 680 812    

Out of hours contact details    

+44 (0) 20 7413 5566    

email: press@amnesty.org     

twitter: @amnestypress  

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We have long known that activists and journalists are targets of this surreptitious phone-hacking – but it’s clear that even those at the highest levels of power cannot escape the sinister spread of NSO’s spyware.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said:

“The unprecedented revelation that the phones of at least fourteen heads of state may have been hacked using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware should send a chill down the spine of world leaders. 

“We have long known that activists and journalists are targets of this surreptitious phone-hacking – but it’s clear that even those at the highest levels of power cannot escape the sinister spread of NSO’s spyware.NSO Group can no longer hide behind the claim that its spyware is only used to fight crime – it appears that Pegasus is also the spyware of choice for those wanting to snoop on foreign governments. 

“The damning revelations of the Pegasus Project underscore the urgent need for strong regulation to rein in a wild west surveillance industry. States must implement a global moratorium on the export, sale, transfer and use of surveillance equipment until a robust human rights-compliant regulatory framework is in place.

“NSO Group must immediately stop selling its equipment to countries with a track record of putting human right defenders and journalists under unlawful surveillance. 

“The Israeli government should also not authorise licenses for the export of NSO Group’s cybersurveillance technology if there is a substantial risk it could be used for human rights violations.”

Background

NSO Group’s spyware has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale, according to a major investigationinto the leak of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets. These include heads of state, activists and journalists, including Jamal Khashoggi’s family. 

The Pegasus Project is a ground-breaking collaboration by more than 80 journalists from 17 media organizations in 10 countries coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based media non-profit, with the technical support of Amnesty International, who conducted cutting- edge forensic tests on mobile phones to identify traces of the spyware. 

Washington Post, part of the consortium, revealed today the phone numbers for 14 heads of state were included in the list as people of interest. It includes the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Iraq’s Barham Salih, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Egypt’s Mostafa Madbouly, Pakistan’s Imran Khan, Morocco’s Saad-Eddine El Ohtmani, Lebanon’s Saad Hariri, Uganda’s Ruhakana Rugunda, and Belgium’s Charles Michel. The list contained phone numbers for more than 600 government officials and politicians from 34 countries.

Amnesty International was unable to conduct forensic analysis on the phones of world leaders to confirm whether they were targeted or if spyware was successfully installed. 

NSO has denied that Macron and Mohammed VI ever appeared on a target list for clients. The company insists that its spyware is only intended for use against terrorists and serious criminals and has reiterated that it will “investigate all credible claims of misuse” and “take strong action” where such allegations prove correct.

Israeli surveillance giant NSO Group has been bankrolled by major private equity firms Novalpina Capital and Francisco Partners, with numerous investors behind them. Pension firms in the UK and US also have a stake in the company.

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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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The European Court of Human Rights today found that Belgium breached international law in 2017 when it deported a Sudanese man to Khartoum without determining the risks he might have faced upon return and with the cooperation of Sudanese security officials, a ruling which highlights the Belgian authorities’ failure to protect people fleeing human rights violations.

M.A. v. Belgium concerns the case of a Sudanese national who was apprehended by Belgian authorities in Brussels, detained and subsequently deported without an assessment of the risk of human rights violations upon return. In order to facilitate M.A’s return, Belgian authorities enabled Sudanese officials to meet with M.A. and he was also pressured into signing a paper acknowledging the return as “voluntary”.

Today’s ruling exposes a distressing catalogue of failures by Belgian authorities. These failures resulted in the return of a person to his country of origin in violation of international law. By cutting corners to ensure M.A’s prompt deportation to Sudan and by failing to assess the risks he would be exposed to upon return, the Belgian authorities failed their human rights obligations.

Matteo de Bellis, migration researcher at Amnesty International

“This Court decision should result in swift government action. While the Belgian authorities claim to have amended some of their practices in the years since M.A was deported, the new government needs to ensure that safeguards are in place to guarantee nobody else is returned to danger.

M.A was one of 99 Sudanese nationals detained by Belgian authorities in 2017, ten of whom were deported between October and December 2017. Amnesty International had criticized the returns in a public statement dated January 2018, extensively quoted in today’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. The statement criticized the forcible returns to Sudan, pointing at substantive and procedural breaches by Belgium of the principle of non-refoulement, which protects all people, whether they seek asylum or not, from being forcibly transferred to a country where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations.

Amnesty international calls on Belgian authorities to now remedy the harm inflicted to M.A. and other Sudanese citizens who were deported in 2017.

Background

In September 2017, in the context of large operations to identify irregular migrants, Belgian authorities detained dozens of Sudanese nationals in Brussels. In the process of forcibly removing them from the country, authorities invited and authorized Sudanese security officials to travel to Belgium, where they could interview some of them and confirm their nationality.

Between October 2017 and December 2017, Belgium returned 10 Sudanese people to Khartoum. According to testimonies, some of the returnees were ill-treated by Sudanese officials upon arrival.

For more information or to arrange an interview contact at the court: –  press@amnesty.org press@amnesty.org +32 (0) 483 680 812

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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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Lawsuits, protests and other actions are planned in several European ports to oppose this week’s return of the Bahri Yanbu, a Saudi Arabian state-owned cargo ship that has previously ferried tens of millions of dollars’ worth of arms to fuel the war in Yemen, Amnesty International said today.
Fresh off a trans-Atlantic voyage after stopping in the USA and Canada last month, the cargo ship is due to visit five European ports beginning on 2 February, before continuing its onward voyage to Saudi Arabia. These include Bremerhaven (Germany); Antwerp (Belgium); Tilbury Docks (UK); Cherbourg (France), and Genoa (Italy).

“On a similar voyage in May 2019, protests and lawsuits blocked some of the arms destined for Yemen from being loaded on the Bahri Yanbu. Even so, tens of millions of dollars’ worth of military aircraft parts and other arms slipped through. Multiple states failed miserably to live up to their international obligations to halt arms transfers for use in war crimes and serious human rights violations,” said Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s Arms Control and Human Rights Researcher.

On a similar voyage in May 2019, protests and lawsuits blocked some of the arms destined for Yemen from being loaded on the Bahri Yanbu. Even so, tens of millions of dollars’ worth of military aircraft parts and other arms slipped through. Multiple states failed miserably to live up to their international obligations.

Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s Arms Control and Human Rights Researcher

“Now, the political will of governments to respect their legal obligations is again being put to the test. Activists and port workers are on high alert as the Bahri Yanbu threatens to flout international law yet again in the name of lucrative arms deals that have been fuelling unlawful killing of civilians and a dire humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen.”

The new round of opposition to the Bahri Yanbu’s current voyage includes:

• Belgium: three NGOs filed a court case seeking an injunction against the government authorizing arms transfers to Saudi Arabia.
• France: Amnesty International France volunteers plan to protest in Cherbourg port.
• Italy: A dockworkers’ strike is planned in Genoa, where trade unions have repeatedly voiced their opposition to loading “hot cargo” that is destined for use in the war in Yemen. Amnesty International Italy volunteers also plan to protest in the port.

In December, Amnesty International Spain and partner NGOs in the national Control Arms campaign protested the arrival of the Bahri Yanbu’s sister ship, the Bahri Abha, in Sagunto, near Valencia. The Spanish government told Amnesty International Spain that the ship loaded containers destined for the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, but would not disclose their contents.
Given the secrecy surrounding the Bahri Yanbu’s contents, Amnesty International lacks specific evidence indicating that it is currently carrying arms to Saudi Arabia. However, the circumstances of the current voyage, and the ship’s deplorable record, raise a real risk that this is the case, and that states are again failing to live up to their legal obligations to stop illegal weapons transfers.

According to bills of lading data analysed by Amnesty International, since the war in Yemen began in 2015, the Bahri Yanbu has transferred close to US$360 million worth of military and dual-use equipment on 10 voyages from the USA to Saudi Arabia before the current trip.

Data now available shows that on its previous voyage visiting multiple European ports in May 2019, the Bahri Yanbu was carrying US$47 million worth of US-manufactured military components and equipment, much of it linked to military aircraft. Containers of arms were also loaded in Belgium and Spain, and howitzer cannon were due to be loaded in France until NGOs took legal action to halt the arms transfer. Amnesty International also received credible reports that the ship had Canadian light armoured vehicles (LAVs) on board at the time.

Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK are all states parties to the global Arms Trade Treaty. Although the USA is a signatory, the Trump administration has stated it does not intend to follow the treaty’s obligations. The treaty prohibits international arms transfers that would be used to commit war crimes, such as attacks directed against civilians. The EU Common Position on Arms Exports also prohibits EU member states from allowing arms transfers in such situations.

The Saudi Arabian and Emirati-led Coalition’s air and ground war in Yemen has killed and injured thousands of civilians, including in attacks that violated international humanitarian law – some probable war crimes. The conflict has been characterized by a range of other serious crimes under international law, including enforced disappearance and torture at a network of black sites.

Data visualization mapping out the Bahri Yanbu’s current voyage:

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“Laden with arms that will likely be used in the war in Yemen, the Bahri Yanbu has been bouncing off European ports like a pinball. After loading up with Belgian munitions in Antwerp, it has visited or attempted to visit ports in the UK, France and now Spain, and is due to dock at the Italian port of Genoa later this week.  
“This is a serious test of EU countries’ resolve to uphold their obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty and EU Common Position on Arms Exports. Several states have failed this test in the space of just a few days.

This is a serious test of EU countries’ resolve to uphold their obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty and EU Common Position on Arms Exports. Several states have failed this test in the space of just a few days.

Ara Marcen Naval, Deputy Director for Arms Control and Human Rights

“No EU state should be making the deadly decision to authorize the transfer or transit of arms to a conflict where there is a clear risk they will be used in war crimes and other serious violations of international law.

The Bahri Yanbu's voyage reminds us that states prefer to allow the lucrative global arms trade to continue to operate behind a veil of secrecy. But this veil is not impenetrable, and Amnesty International and its partners will continue to closely monitor developments and denounce states for flouting their international legal obligations.

Ara Marcen Naval

“The Bahri Yanbu’s voyage reminds us that states prefer to allow the lucrative global arms trade to continue to operate behind a veil of secrecy. But this veil is not impenetrable, and Amnesty International and its partners will continue to closely monitor developments and denounce states for flouting their international legal obligations.”

Background

In Yemen, the Saudi Arabia/UAE-led Coalition has used arms imports to contribute to thousands of civilian deaths and injuries, including as a result of attacks that violated international humanitarian law. This has exacerbated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, where 2.2 million people have been displaced and 22 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance

According to the EU’s reporting on arms exports, EU member states issued at least 607 licences worth over 15.8 billion euros to Saudi Arabia in 2016. The main European exporters of conventional arms to Saudi Arabia include the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria. Between 2013 and 2018, Saudi Arabia accounted for nearly half of the UK’s and a third of Belgium’s arms exports. Other countries – including Germany, the Netherlands and Norway – have started to restrict weapons sales to the Saudi and UAE-led coalition.

According to a published export schedule for Saudi Arabian state-owned shipping vessels, the Bahri Yanbu set sail from Corpus Christi, USA on 2 April 2019, destined for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. It then called at several other US ports and one Canadian port before crossing the Atlantic and stopping in Germany, Belgium and the UK in early May.

On 3 May, it was reportedly loaded with six containers of Belgian-manufactured munitions at Antwerp, before continuing on to France. It was due to dock at the French port of Le Havre to receive additional arms on 8 May, but following legal action by French NGOs and increased public scrutiny, it continued its voyage without stopping in France, and made an unscheduled stop at Santander in northern Spain on 12-13 May. Its next scheduled port of call is in Genoa, Italy, now expected on or after 18 May.

Amnesty International activists in Belgium, France, Spain and Italy have been monitoring the Bahri Yanbu’s voyage around Europe. The activists have joined protests and co-authored a letter to the Spanish authorities to call on them not to authorize its transit through Spanish waters. The organization will highlight the apparent ATT and EU Common Position violations at a 17 May meeting of the European Council’s Working Party on Conventional Arms Exports.

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It’s a jarring sight to have FN Herstal hawking the Minimi in the UAE after we exposed how the Emiratis illicitly gave this weapon to an unaccountable militia in Yemen.

Patrick Wilcken, Arms Control and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International

“The Belgian authorities and FN Herstal must not sell more weapons to any forces fighting in Yemen, and particularly the UAE – the very country that is recklessly siphoning off arms to fighting forces, some of which are committing war crimes in Yemen.”

The Minister-President of Belgium’s Walloon region, Willy Borsus, called for an investigation in response to Amnesty International’s findings last week.

“We are eager to see the outcome of this investigation soon and hope it will lead to policy changes that bring Wallonia in line with its international obligations. Under the Arms Trade Treaty and EU Common position on arms exports, Belgium has legal obligations not to transfer arms to the coalition fighting in Yemen,” said Philippe Hensmans, Director of Amnesty International Belgium Francophone. 

“Any states doing so are signalling that money speaks louder than their stated commitment to international law.”

Under the Arms Trade Treaty and EU Common position on arms exports, Belgium has legal obligations not to transfer arms to the coalition fighting in Yemen. Any states doing so are signalling that money speaks louder than their stated commitment to international law.

Philippe Hensmans, Director of Amnesty International Belgium Francophone

According to publicly available data, since the outbreak of the Yemeni conflict in March 2015, Western states and others have supplied the UAE with at least US$3.5 billion worth of arms. Among them are heavy conventional weapons – including aircraft and ships – small arms, light weapons and associated parts and ammunition.

Despite the UAE and militias it backs being implicated in war crimes and other serious violations, the following states have recently supplied the Emiratis with arms: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Finland, Germany, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK and the USA, among others.

Arms and defence industry companies from all the above countries are displaying their wares at IDEX 2019.

Amnesty International’s recent investigation documented some of these arms in the hands of “The Giants” and other unaccountable fighting forces in Yemen, including the Security Belt and Elite Forces. The proliferation of these groups is a recipe for disaster for Yemeni civilians who have already been killed in their thousands, while millions more are on the brink of famine as a direct result of the war.

“The ongoing carnage against civilians in Yemen – including at the hands of the Saudi Arabia and UAE-led coalition and the militias it backs – should give serious pause to all states supplying arms,” said Patrick Wilcken.

The ongoing carnage against civilians in Yemen – including at the hands of the Saudi Arabia and UAE-led coalition and the militias it backs – should give serious pause to all states supplying arms.

Patrick Wilcken

“It beggars belief that they would continue to market and sell billions of dollars’ worth of advanced weaponry to armed forces that are committing war crimes and exacerbating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

An Amnesty International campaign calls on its supporters around the world to demand that all states stop the flow of arms that are fuelling war crimes and serious human rights violations in Yemen.

Background

The International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) runs from 17-21 February. Held every two years in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, it bills itself as one of the biggest arms bazaars in the world.
According to Emirati state media, more than 1,300 exhibitors from 62 countries will be taking part in IDEX and its partner expo, NAVDEX. Exhibitors include other arms manufacturers whose goods have been seen in the hands of unaccountable militias in Yemen, including Bulgaria’s small arms manufacturer, Arsenal, and US armoured vehicle manufacturers Oshkosh and Navistar Defense. 

International arms fairs and exhibitions like IDEX are one of the main ways for governments and defence industry associations to promote and broker international sales of weapons, munitions, and other military and security equipment and services.

The post UAE arms fair showcases Belgian weapon in use by Yemeni militias appeared first on Amnesty International.

“Today’s disappointing rulings by the European Court of Justice give greater leeway to employers to discriminate against women – and men – on the grounds of religious belief. At a time when identity and appearance has become a political battleground, people need more protection against prejudice, not less.”

Today's disappointing rulings by the European Court of Justice give greater leeway to employers to discriminate against women – and men – on the grounds of religious belief. At a time when identity and appearance has become a political battleground, people need more protection against prejudice, not less.

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International

“The court did say that employers are not at liberty to pander to the prejudices of their clients. But by ruling that company policies can prohibit religious symbols on the grounds of neutrality, they have opened a backdoor to precisely such prejudice. It is now for national governments to step up and protect the rights of their citizens.”

Background

On 12 June 2006, G4S Secure Solutions NV (G4S), a private undertaking in Belgium, dismissed Samira Achbita, who had been working as a receptionist since February 2003, because she informed the company of her intention to start wearing the headscarf in the workplace. Employees in G4S were subjected to an unwritten, and from the following day, a written prohibition on religious and philosophical symbols in the work place.

In another case, on 22 June 2009, Micropole SA, a private undertaking based in France, dismissed Asma Bougnaoui, who had been working as a design engineer for the company since 15 July 2008, because she wanted to continue wearing the headscarf when providing services to the company’s clients. Micropole SA pointed out in the letter of dismissal that employees had to respect a policy of ‘neutrality’ vis-à-vis its clients.

Amnesty International, together with the European Network Against Racism, submitted to the Court that both the measures imposed by G4S Solutions NV and Micropole SA on their employees constitute discrimination based on religion or belief.

The post EU: ECJ rules no violation in dismissal of women for wearing headscarves at work appeared first on Amnesty International.