#tor

Staggering Number of Hysterectomies Happening at ICE Facility, Whistleblower Says
Carter Sherman, Vice, le 15 septembre 2020
►https://seenthis.net/messages/876199

#USA #contraception_forcée #femmes #pauvres #stérilisation #hystérectomie #utérus #discriminations #sexisme #classisme #capitalisme #stérilisations_forcées #migrants #suprématie_blanche #racisme #ICE #violence #santé #médecine #torture

Liens vers d’autres tragédies de ce type autour du monde :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/788024

‘Like an Experimental Concentration Camp’: Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Detention Center
Jerry Lambe, Law and Crime, le 14 septembre 2020
►https://seenthis.net/messages/876212

#USA #contraception_forcée #femmes #pauvres #stérilisation #hystérectomie #utérus #discriminations #sexisme #classisme #capitalisme #stérilisations_forcées #migrants #suprématie_blanche #racisme #ICE #violence #santé #médecine #torture

Liens vers d’autres tragédies de ce type autour du monde :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/788024

Des stérilisations massives de femmes migrantes sont dénoncées aux États-Unis
E. López, Médiapart, le 15 septembre 2020
►https://seenthis.net/messages/876477

U.S. Continues Dark Legacy of Forced Sterilization : “They’re Experimenting With Our Bodies”
Katie Adams, Ms, le 16 septembre 2020
►https://seenthis.net/messages/876472

Merci de cet article.

Ici aussi :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/875280

#Julian-Assange #Assange #Répression #Journalisme #Information #Torture #Civilisation #Occident

▻https://seenthis.net/messages/874919

#Douch #décès #Cambodge #Khmers_rouges #crimes_de_guerre #torture #Kaing_Guek_Eav #tortionnaires

#Douch #décès #Cambodge #Khmers_rouges #crimes_de_guerre #torture #Kaing_Guek_Eav #tortionnaires

The legal battle to hold the EU to account for Libya migrant abuses

‘It’s a well known fact that we’re all struggling here, as human rights practitioners.’

More than 6,500 asylum seekers and migrants have been intercepted at sea and returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard so far this year. Since the EU and Italy began training, funding, equipping, and providing operational assistance to the Libyan Coast Guard in 2017, that number stands at around 40,000 people.

Critics say European support for these interceptions and returns is one of the most glaring examples of the trade-off being made between upholding human rights – a fundamental EU value – and the EU’s determination to reduce migration to the continent.

Those intercepted at sea and returned to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard – predominantly asylum seekers and migrants from East and West Africa – face indefinite detention, extortion, torture, sexual exploitation, and forced labour.

This year alone, thousands have disappeared beyond the reach of UN agencies after being disembarked. Migration detention in Libya functions as a business that generates revenue for armed groups, some of whom have also pressed asylum seekers and migrants into military activities – a practice that is likely a war crime, according to Human Rights Watch.

All of this has been well documented and widely known for years, even as the EU and Italy have stepped up their support for the Libyan Coast Guard. Yet despite their key role in empowering the Coast Guard to return people to Libya, international human rights lawyers have struggled to hold the EU and Italy to account. Boxed in by the limitations of international law, lawyers have had to find increasingly innovative legal strategies to try to establish European complicity in the abuses taking place.

As the EU looks to expand its cooperation with third countries, the outcome of these legal efforts could have broader implications on whether the EU and its member states can be held accountable for the human rights impacts of their external migration policies.

“Under international law there are rules… prohibiting states to assist other states in the commission of human rights violations,” Matteo de Bellis, Amnesty International’s migration researcher, told The New Humanitarian. “However, those international rules do not have a specific court where you can litigate them, where individuals can have access to remedy.”

In fact, human rights advocates and lawyers argue that EU and Italian support for the Libyan Coast Guard is designed specifically to avoid legal responsibility.

“For a European court to have jurisdiction over a particular policy, a European actor must be in control... of a person directly,” said Itamar Mann, an international human rights lawyer. “When a non-European agent takes that control, it’s far from clear that [a] European court has jurisdiction. So there is a kind of accountability gap under international human rights law.”
‘The EU is not blameless’

When Italy signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2017 with Libya’s internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) “to ensure the reduction of illegal migratory flows”, the agreement carried echoes of an earlier era.

In 2008, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi signed a friendship treaty with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi that, among other things, committed the two countries to working together to curb irregular migration.

The following year, Italian patrol boats began intercepting asylum seekers and migrants at sea and returning them to Libya. In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights, an international court based in Strasbourg, France – which all EU member states are party to – ruled that the practice violated multiple articles of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The decision, in what is known as the Hirsi case, was based on the idea that Italy had established “extraterritorial jurisdiction” over asylum seekers and migrants when it took them under their control at sea and had violated the principle of non-refoulement – a core element of international refugee law – by forcing them back to a country where they faced human rights abuses.

Many states that have signed the 1951 refugee convention have integrated the principle of non-refoulement into their domestic law, binding them to protect asylum seekers once they enter a nation’s territory. But there are divergent interpretations of how it applies to state actors in international waters.

By the time of the Hirsi decision, the practice had already ended and Gaddafi had been toppled from power. The chaos that followed the Libyan uprising in 2011 paved the way for a new era of irregular migration. The number of people crossing the central Meditteranean jumped from an average of tens of thousands per year throughout the late 1990s and 2000s to more than 150,000 per year in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

https://assets.irinnews.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_medium/public/libya-eu-migrants-graphic-final.jpg?Xhka2ZtRDYOiLAgqSkZ.2WpUY0B2.r0X&itok=jjlpZSSx#.jpg

Reducing these numbers became a main priority for Italy and the EU, and they kept the lessons of the Hirsi case in mind as they set about designing their policies, according to de Bellis.

Instead of using European vessels, the EU and Italy focused on “enabling the Libyan authorities to do the dirty job of intercepting people at sea and returning them to Libya”, he said. “By doing so, they would argue that they have not breached international European law because they have never assumed control, and therefore exercised jurisdiction, over the people who have then been subjected to human rights violations [in Libya].”

The number of people crossing the central Mediterranean has dropped precipitously in recent years as EU policies have hardened, and tens of thousands of people – including those returned by the Coast Guard – are estimated to have passed through formal and informal migration detention centres in Libya, some of them getting stuck for years and many falling victim to extortion and abuse.

“There is always going to be a debate about, is the EU responsible… [because] it’s really Libya who has done the abuses,” said Carla Ferstman, a human rights law professor at the University of Essex in England. “[But] the EU is not blameless because it can’t pretend that it didn’t know the consequences of what it was going to do.”

The challenge for human rights lawyers is how to legally establish that blame.
The accountability gap

Since 2017, the EU has given more than 91 million euros (about $107 million) to support border management projects in Libya. Much of that money has gone to Italy, which implements the projects and has provided its own funding and at least six patrol boats to the Libyan Coast Guard.

One objective of the EU’s funding is to improve the human rights and humanitarian situation in official detention centres. But according to a leaked EU document from 2019, this is something the Libyan government had not been taking steps to do, “raising the question of its own involvement”, according to the document.

The main goal of the funding is to strengthen the capacity of Libyan authorities to control the country’s borders and intercept asylum seekers and migrants at sea. This aspect of the policy has been effective, according to a September 2019 report by the UN secretary-general.

“All our action is based on international and European law,” an EU spokesperson told the Guardian newspaper in June. “The European Union dialogue with Libyan authorities focuses on the respect for human rights of migrants and refugees.”

The EU has legal obligations to ensure that its actions do not violate human rights in both its internal and external policy, according to Ferstman. But when it comes to actions taken outside of Europe, “routes for those affected to complain when their rights are being violated are very, very weak,” she said.

The EU and its member states are also increasingly relying on informal agreements, such as the Memorandum of Understanding with Libya, in their external migration cooperation.

“Once the EU makes formal agreements with third states… [it] is more tightly bound to a lot of human rights and refugee commitments,” Raphael Bossong, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, told TNH. “Hence, we see a shift toward less binding or purely informal arrangements.”

Lawyers and researchers told TNH that the absence of formal agreements, and the combination of EU funding and member state implementation, undermines the standing of the EU Parliament and the Court of Justice, the bloc’s supreme court, to act as watchdogs.

Efforts to challenge Italy’s role in cooperating with Libya in Italian courts have also so far been unsuccessful.

“It’s a well known fact that we’re all struggling here, as human rights practitioners… to grapple with the very limited, minimalistic tools we have to address the problem at hand,” said Valentina Azarova, a lawyer and researcher affiliated with the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), a nonprofit organisation that pursues international human rights litigation.

Uncharted territory

With no clear path forward, human rights lawyers have ventured into uncharted territory to try to subject EU and Italian cooperation with Libya to legal scrutiny.

Lawyers called last year for the International Criminal Court to investigate the EU for its alleged complicity in thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean, and legal organisations have filed two separate complaints with the UN Human Rights Committee, which has a quasi-judicial function.

In November last year, GLAN also submitted a case, called S.S. and others v. Italy, to the European Court of Human Rights that aims to build on the Hirsi decision. The case argues that – through its financial, material, and operational support – Italy assumes “contactless control” over people intercepted by Libyan Coast Guard and therefore establishes jurisdiction over them.

“Jurisdiction is not only a matter of direct, effective control over bodies,” Mann, who is part of GLAN, said of the case’s argument. “It’s also a matter of substantive control that can be wielded in many different ways.”

GLAN, along with two Italian legal organisations, also filed a complaint in April to the European Court of Auditors, which is tasked with checking to see if the EU’s budget is implemented correctly and that funds are spent legally.

The GLAN complaint alleges that funding border management activities in Libya makes the EU and its member states complicit in the human rights abuses taking place there, and is also a misuse of money intended for development purposes – both of which fall afoul of EU budgetary guidelines.

The complaint asks for the EU funding to be made conditional on the improvement of the situation for asylum seekers and migrants in the country, and for it to be suspended until certain criteria are met, including the release of all refugees and migrants from arbitrary detention, the creation of an asylum system that complies with international standards, and the establishment of an independent, transparent mechanism to monitor and hold state and non-state actors accountable for human rights violations against refugees and migrants.

The Court of Auditors is not an actual courtroom or a traditional venue for addressing human rights abuses. It is composed of financial experts who conduct an annual audit of the EU budget. The complaint is meant to encourage them to take a specific look at EU funding to Libya, but they aren’t obligated to do so.

“To use the EU Court of Auditors to get some kind of human rights accountability is an odd thing to do,” said Ferstman, who is not involved in the complaint. “It speaks to the [accountability] gap and the absence of clear approaches.”

“[Still], it is the institution where this matter needs to be adjudicated, so to speak,” Azarova, who came up with the strategy, added. “They are the experts on questions of EU budget law.”

Closing the gap?

If successful, the Court of Auditors complaint could change how EU funding for Libya operates and set a precedent requiring a substantive accounting of how money is being spent and whether it ends up contributing to human rights violations in other EU third-country arrangements, according to Mann. “It will be a blow to the general externalisation pattern,” he said.

Ferstman cautioned, however, that its impact – at least legally – might not be so concrete. “[The Court of Auditors] can recommend everything that GLAN has put forward, but it will be a recommendation,” she said. “It will not be an order.”

Instead, the complaint’s more significant impact might be political. “It could put a lot of important arsenal in the hands of the MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] who want to push forward changes,” Ferstman said.

A European Court of Human Rights decision in favour of the plaintiffs in S.S. and others v Italy could be more decisive. “It would go a long way towards addressing that [accountability] gap, because individuals will be able to challenge European states that encourage and assist other countries to commit human rights violations,” de Bellis said.

If any or all of the various legal challenges that are currently underway are successful, Bossong, from SWP, doesn’t expect them to put an end to external migration cooperation entirely. “Many [external] cooperations would continue,” he said. “[But] policy-makers and administrators would have to think harder: Where is the line? Where do we cross the line?”

The Court of Auditors will likely decide whether to review EU funding for border management activities in Libya next year, but the European Court of Human Rights moves slowly, with proceedings generally taking around five years, according to Mann.

Human rights advocates and lawyers worry that by the time the current legal challenges are concluded, the situation in the Mediterranean will again have evolved. Already, since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, states such as Malta and Greece have shifted from empowering third countries to intercept people at sea to carrying out pushbacks directly.

“What is happening now, particularly in the Aegean, is much more alarming than the facts that generated the Hirsi case in terms of the violence of the actual pushbacks,” Mann said.

Human rights lawyers are already planning to begin issuing challenges to the new practices. As they do, they are acutely aware of the limitations of the tools available to them. Or, as Azarova put it: “We’re dealing with symptoms. We’re not addressing the pathology.”

▻https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2020/08/10/Libya-migrant-abuses-EU-legal-battle

#justice

ping @karine4 @isskein

The #Banker_Ladies tells the stories of Ginelle, Aisha and Mabinty, three Black women in #Toronto creating diverse financial services for their communities through #Rotating_Saving_and_Credit_Associations (#ROSCA).

Known by cultural names these self-managed money collectives function at the intersection of the social and business and are fundamentally anchored in reciprocity, trust and community development. Based on professor Caroline Shenaz Hossein’s research, the film posits that there is a Black Social Economy in which ROSCAs are at its very core. Though hidden in the social economy ROSCAs contribute to Canada’s legacy of mutual aid and economic cooperation.

#finance #femmes #femmes_noires #réciprocité #film #film_documentaire #aide_mutuelle #coopération_économique #Black_Social_Economy #intersectionnalité

The Black Social Economy in the Americas. Exploring Diverse Community-Based Markets

https://images.springer.com/sgw/books/medium/9781137602787.jpg

This pioneering book explores the meaning of the term “Black social economy,” a self-help sector that remains autonomous from the state and business sectors. With the Western Hemisphere’s ignoble history of enslavement and violence towards African peoples, and the strong anti-black racism that still pervades society, the African diaspora in the Americas has turned to alternative practices of socio-economic organization. Conscientious and collective organizing is thus a means of creating meaningful livelihoods. In this volume, fourteen scholars explore the concept of the “Black social economy,” bringing together innovative research on the lived experience of Afro-descendants in business and society in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and the United States. The case studies in this book feature horrific legacies of enslavement, colonization, and racism, and they recount the myriad ways that persons of African heritage have built humane alternatives to the dominant market economy that excludes them. Together, they shed necessary light on the ways in which the Black race has been overlooked in the social economy literature.

▻https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137602787
#livre

Ça peut être amusant à faire, mais... je lis rapidement la documentation. Je ne dois pas être assez familier avec Tor pour comprendre de quoi il s’agit. Il faut que je recommence.

C’est quoi l’intérêt ?

L’intérêt (à part le fun) est de rendre plus difficile une éventuelle censure de SeenThis. J’admets que ce n’est pas forcément la priorité...

Je plussois

Voir aussi :

Allégations d’inconduites sexuelles : Ubisoft dans la tourmente
Jean-François Codère, Isabelle Massé, Isabelle Dubé, La Presse, le 27 juin 2020
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/864163

#Ubisoft #Montréal #Toronto #Paris #harcèlement_sexuel #sexisme #femmes #MeToo

#Torino, prima città rifugio in Italia di chi difende i diritti umani

Decolla il progetto del Comune con #Amnesty_International. Anche un polo per formare sull’accoglienza.

Trovano casa a Torino gli attivisti di Amnesty International, ma anche tutti quelli che ogni giorno sono minacciati per la loro battaglia per i diritti umani. L’assessore ai Giovani, Marco Giusta, ha siglato un accordo che la trasforma nella prima “#shelter_city” d’Italia, cioè luogo di rifugio e accoglienza per chi si batte per i diritti umani e per questo è minacciato nel proprio Paese. Il progetto prevede un periodo di ospitalità che va da tre mesi a un anno, a seconda delle necessità: “Si tratta della messa a punto di un lavoro di tre anni e mezzo – racconta Giusta - Torino è davvero diventata la Capitale dei Diritti. Le conoscenze sono fuori dal Palazzo, costruire ponti e collaborazioni con chi lavora ogni giorno sul tema è stato fondamentale. Servivano spazi di codecisione amministrativi e li abbiamo creati al fine di lanciare programmazioni concrete e permanenti per la Città”.
Il patto prevede da un lato la creazione di una rete d’accoglienza, ma anche il rafforzamento di progetti come #Open_011, la Casa della mobilità giovanile di corso Venezia. Una realtà nato nel 2006 durante le Olimpiadi Invernali e che oggi punta a diventare un Training Centre di livello internazionale. Sarà qui infatti la sede operativa di #JHREP, il Programma di Educazione ai Diritti Umani che Amnesty International Italia, Cifa Onlus e la rete internazionale #Hreyn intendono sviluppare per promuovere l’organizzazione di momenti formativi, training e study session nazionali e internazionali sul territorio torinese. “Torino sui diritti non deve essere arroccata, deve passare all’attacco – chiarisce l’assessore - Attacco non violento, ma strategico: serve una strategia per aggredire il fenomeno di violenza di genere, l’antisemitismo, il razzismo, il fascismo. La nostra strategia è sempre la stessa: serve diffondere valori e temi nella cittadinanza. Una città dei diritti, per me, è una città in cui le persone scelgono di venire a vivere e in cui scelgono di rimanere. In cui i e le giovani mettono alla prova i propri talenti e ambizioni. In cui ogni persona ha la possibilità di lavorare e il diritto di sentirsi a casa. In cui tutti i quartieri beneficiano di nuove opportunità e si sviluppano”.
Già da luglio è attiva la nuova convenzione ventennale per la gestione dello spazio che prevede un ulteriore innalzamento degli standard qualitativi e l’introduzione di tariffe calmierate riservate a progetti sostenuti dalla Città o finanziati dal programma “#Erasmus_plus” e dal Consiglio d’Europa.

▻https://torino.repubblica.it/cronaca/2019/12/10/news/torino_prima_citta_rifugio_in_italia_di_chi_difende_i_diritti_uman
#Turin #citoyenneté

Padova sarà presto la seconda città-rifugio per i difensori dei diritti umani

L’Italia diventa sempre più sensibile al tema della protezione degli human rights defenders, i difensori dei diritti umani. Tanto che, dopo Trento, anche Padova sarà presto una pioniera delle città-rifugio.

Grazie ad una campagna lanciata un anno e mezzo fa dalla rete In difesa di formata da oltre 40 associazioni italiane, anche il nostro Paese avrà le sue shelter-cities, luoghi protetti per avvocati, blogger, attivisti in pericolo. La provincia autonoma di Trento ha già approvato una mozione a riguardo, e presto seguirà la provincia di Padova.

«Ma entro fine anno contiamo di arrivare a cinque enti locali trasformati in shelter cities italiane», anticipa a b-hop Francesco Martone, portavoce della rete «#In_difesa_di…» (www.indifesadi.org)

Ma cosa sono esattamente le città-rifugio? Luoghi sicuri e protetti nei quali i perseguitati in patria per via del loro essere schierati per professione a difesa dei diritti dei più vulnerabili (pensiamo a chi protegge i popoli indigeni in America Latina o agli avvocati e blogger in Cina, o ancora agli attivisti per diritti degli omosessuali in Africa), potranno vivere tranquilli ma in attività per un periodo circoscritto della loro vita.

E continuare a lavorare anche a distanza, per portare a compimento la loro missione.

«Sono due le città italiane che iniziano a muoversi in questa direzione per esser accreditate come shelter city: una è Trento, che ha annunciato di recente il suo coinvolgimento in questo meccanismo – assicura Martone – e l’altra è Padova, che ancora non ha formalizzato l’impegno, ma presto lo farà».

«Stiamo lavorando anche su Prato e poi con la Regione Lazio e il comune di Milano», dice.

Ma come si fa a candidarsi per essere una città che protegge chi nel proprio Paese ha dei problemi a proseguire con il lavoro di attivista? Ricordiamo che solo nel 2017 sono morte 312 persone, assassinate perché combattevano per i diritti umani. Parliamo spesso di regimi, altre volte di democrazie a rischio, Stati come la Colombia, la Mauritania, l’Iraq, l’Eritrea.

Intanto, per accogliere, bisogna avere una “vocazione” già avviata, spiega Martone. Ad esempio, una società civile che abbia già preso a cuore una causa specifica.

Poi ci si deve collegare ad un protocollo d’intesa che nel frattempo va avanti a livello nazionale. Bisogna cioè manifestare l’interesse ad ospitare un “perseguitato” e prendersi anche dei rischi o la responsabilità di tutelare la sua identità. Certo, l’Italia rispetto ad altri Paesi è indietro ma comincia a muovere passi importanti.

«Il tema human rights defenders in Italia è relativamente nuovo – spiega Martone– In Germania o Olanda, invece, già esistono gli shelter e funzionano bene. Per i nostri enti locali questo è un uovo di colombo, adesso ci dicono: “finalmente per la prima volta quando parliamo di diritti umani sappiamo esattamente cosa possiamo fare per tutelare le persone“».

Si tratta di attivare anzitutto un sistema di relazioni diplomatiche abbastanza solido e multi-livello.

«Necessariamente il nostro lavoro nella Campagna italiana coinvolge le ambasciate e il ministero degli esteri. Noi siamo da due anni in dialogo con la Farnesina su questo», spiega ancora l’attivista.

E i risultati si vedono: nonostante l’incertezza politica l’Italia è ormai ingaggiata.

«La Farnesina ha risposto per ora organizzando un mega convegno a Roma sulle buone pratiche.

Il 18 giugno prossimo saranno presenti alla Farnesina, attivisti dall’area euro-mediterranea, l’Ong Frontline defenders, e Justice & Peace, una Ong olandese che gestisce il programma locale di protezione e molti altri.

«Questa roba qui in Italia non è stata mai fatta. Intanto creiamo le premesse perché si possa iniziare a capire come fare: incontriamo soggetti che già fanno opera di protezione».

In effetti ad Amsterdam, Groningen, l’Aja, Maastricht, Middelburg, in Olanda, esistono convenzioni e strutture dove le persone perseguitate possono riprendere fiato, cercare alleanze, ricaricare le energie. Lavorare da avvocati, giornalisti, blogger, attivisti.

Un esempio? Amsterdam. Dove «puoi essere ciò che sei, amare chi vuoi e pensare e credere in ciò che desideri. Libertà e tolleranza sono parte integrante della città. Ed è questo che rende Amsterdam una shelter city per eccellenza». Così si legge sul sito olandese.

Lookkaté, ad esempio, è un’attivista che viene dalla Thailandia dove promuove i diritti civili e politici del popolo Thai. Ora si trova in Olanda dove ha trovato momentanemente un po’ di pace. E di alleati.

«L’altra grande sfida è in effetti quella di trovare terreno fertile: una società civile locale che non solo accolga ma che collabori con lo human rights defender», spiega ancora Martone.

«Quando un attivista minacciato tende a lasciare il paese d’origine prima ci sono dei protocolli da seguire, dei visti da ottenere, uno status di protezione internazionale temporanea per esempio», spiega infine Martone.

▻https://www.b-hop.it/primo-piano/anche-padova-le-citta-rifugio-difensori-dei-diritti-umani
#Padoue

Il Comune di Montegrotto Terme diventa Città Rifugio per i difensori dei diritti umani

Il Consiglio Comunale di #Montegrotto_Terme ha approvato una mozione per aderire al progetto “Città Rifugio”.

Si tratta di un progetto pilota di accoglienza temporanea e supporto per difensori dei diritti umani minacciati, in grado di raccogliere le diverse disponibilità territoriali per la relocation degli Human Rights Defenders, da attivare di concerto con la rete "In Difesa Di - per i diritti umani e chi li difende”, con gli altri Enti locali italiani interessati, le organizzazioni della società civile presenti ed attive sul territorio, e il Centro di Ateneo per i Diritti Umani “Antonio Papisca” dell’Università di Padova.

Il Comune di Montegrotto Terme va ad aggiungersi ai Comuni di #Trento, Padova, #Cadoneghe, #Ponte_San_Nicolò, #Rubano, #Noventa_Padovana, #Asiago, Torino e alla Provincia Autonoma di Trento che hanno già aderito all’iniziativa.

Con l’approvazione della mozione il Comune di Montegrotto Terme si impegna inoltre a:

promuovere occasioni di studio, formazione e scambio di esperienze tra amministrazioni territoriali, organizzazioni della società civile e università sul ruolo degli enti locali nella protezione dei difensori dei diritti umani e le Città-Rifugio;
promuovere nelle scuole di ogni ordine e grado iniziative di sensibilizzazione sui difensori dei diritti umani intese come educazione all’assunzione di responsabilità per lo svolgimento di ruoli di cittadinanza attiva e democratica;
sollecitare il Governo nazionale affinché attivi programmi di protezione per i difensori dei diritti umani, rafforzando l’iniziativa del corpo diplomatico italiano nell’attuazione delle linee-guida UE ed OSCE, ed aderendo alla Temporary Relocation Platform dell’Unione Europea;
prevedere attraverso gli strumenti della cooperazione decentrata iniziative di supporto a programmi e progetti di sostegno e protezione dei difensori dei diritti umani in paesi terzi, centrale per il perseguimento degli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile;
inviare la rispettiva mozione all’ANCI ed alla Conferenza Stato-Regioni al fine di diffonderla presso altri Enti locali sollecitandone l’impegno per la protezione dei difensori dei diritti umani e la creazione di opportunità di rifugio temporaneo per attivisti a rischio e di programmi di cooperazione decentrata nei paesi terzi.

L’iniziativa intende dare attuazione alla Dichiarazione “sul diritto e la responsabilità degli individui, dei gruppi e degli organi della società di promuovere e proteggere le libertà fondamentali e i diritti umani universalmente riconosciuti” (Dichiarazione sui Difensori dei diritti umani), adottata dall’Assemblea generale delle Nazioni Unite il 9 dicembre 1998; alle Linee Guida sui Difensori dei diritti umani, adottate dal Consiglio dell’Unione Europea nel 2004 e aggiornate nel 2008, volte ad orientare il lavoro delle rappresentanze diplomatiche dell’Unione e degli Stati Membri e la “Piattaforma UE di coordinamento per l’asilo temporaneo dei difensori dei diritti umani”; nonché alle Linee Guida sulla protezione dei Difensori dei diritti umani, adottate dall’Organizzazione per la Sicurezza e la Cooperazione in Europa (OSCE) nel 2014.

L’art. 1 della Dichiarazione sui Difensori dei diritti umani stabilisce che “tutti hanno il diritto, individualmente ed in associazione con altri, di promuovere e lottare per la protezione e la realizzazione dei diritti umani e delle libertà fondamentali a livello nazionale ed internazionale”.

L’Unione Europea nell’ambito della “Piattaforma di coordinamento per l’asilo temporaneo dei difensori dei diritti umani” (European Union Human Rights Defenders RE location Platform, EUTRP), ha implementato dei programmi di training in modo da garantire la necessaria sicurezza del Difensore; l’obiettivo è dunque un approccio di sviluppo e potenziamento delle capacità (capacity building), affinché i difensori dei diritti umani acquisiscano gli strumenti per mitigare i rischi che corrono e che risultano determinanti affinché possano elevare il loro livello di sicurezza e la qualità del loro lavoro.

Nel Rapporto presentato quest’anno dal Relatore Speciale delle Nazioni Unite sui difensori dei diritti umani è stata riaffermata la centralità degli Enti locali in un sistema integrato di protezione e sostegno ai difensori dei diritti umani che preveda anche un maggior impegno da parte della diplomazia, attraverso le ambasciate in paesi terzi e nei consessi internazionali quali il Consiglio Diritti Umani delle Nazioni Unite.
Nel medesimo Rapporto sono indicati i principi che devono informare le iniziative a sostegno dei programmi di ricollocamento temporaneo dei difensori dei diritti umani: che siano fondate sui diritti umani, che includano difensori e difensore di differenti background, integrino la dimensione di genere, siano fondate su un approccio olistico alla sicurezza, siano orientate alla protezione di individui e collettivi, prevedano la partecipazione dei difensori e difensore nella scelta delle misure di protezione e siano flessibili al fine di soddisfare i bisogni specifici dei difensori e delle difensore.

L’iniziativa “Città Rifugio-Shelter City” fu lanciata per la prima volta nel 2012 dai Paesi Bassi. Essa prevede che, quando i difensori dei diritti umani sono seriamente minacciati a causa del loro operato da attivisti, possono richiedere un alloggio temporaneo alle città olandesi di: Amsterdam, Groningen, L’Aja, Maastricht, Middelburg, Nijmegen, Tilburg, Utrecht. Il periodo di permanenza di un difensore dei diritti umani è ridotto (dai 3 ai 6 mesi), questo perché la ratio è di fornirgli un periodo di “rest and respite” (riposo e tregua) al di fuori del suo paese, per poi poter affrontare nuovamente la lotta nonviolenta per i diritti umani quando le minacce saranno cessate.
L’iniziativa olandese è stata in grado di amplificare un forte segnale al governo dei paesi di origine, all’opinione pubblica e agli eventuali responsabili delle minacce al difensore dei diritti umani: sostenendo pubblicamente il difensore, l’iniziativa dimostra che le violazioni sui diritti umani denunciate dall’attivista minacciato, sono prese seriamente in considerazione da parte della comunità internazionale. A tal riguardo, particolarmente vulnerabili, risultano essere le cosiddette Women Human rights Defenders, donne attiviste minacciate, e le loro famiglie.

In Italia, sotto impulso della rete “In Difesa Di - per i diritti umani e chi li difende” alcuni Enti locali italiani stanno lavorando alla creazione di programmi di accoglienza temporanea e rifugio per difensori e difensore dei diritti umani a rischio.

La mozione approvata dal Comune di Montegrotto Terme è disponibile al link sottostante.

▻https://unipd-centrodirittiumani.it/it/news/Il-Comune-di-Montegrotto-Terme-diventa-Citta-Rifugio-per-i-difensori-dei-diritti-umani/4969

Report from Centre for Peace Studies on the pushback of children

On 29th May 2020, the Centre for Peace Studies – a key member of the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) – presented a new report alongside the Welcome! Initiative. Addressing the Croatian Government, the “Report on violent and illegal expulsions of children and unaccompanied children” is based on testimonies collected by activists through the BVMN shared database. The publication shares the story of children who sought protection from Croatia, and how Croatia answered in violence.

“We came to the door of Prime Minister Plenković and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Božinović, who have been turning their backs on testimonies and accusations for years and silently pursuing a policy of flattering the European Union. Even the most vulnerable are not excluded from violence – children “, said Tea Vidović on behalf of the Welcome! Initiative.

The report submitted to the Government by the organizations provides testimonies of children and their families and unaccompanied children on violent and illegal methods that they had to experience at the hands of police authorities. This illegal and inhuman behavior violates national laws, international law and human rights, prevents access to international protection and, most importantly, marks children’s lives. Although the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Ministry of the Interior should take into account the special vulnerability of children, respect their rights and best interests, children experience police brutality and limitation of their freedom for hours without access to water and food.

“While the government uses every opportunity to emphasize the importance of border protection, we wonder in which way is police protecting Croatian borders? By beating children, confiscating their personal belongings, locking children in police vans for several hours in which they are exposed to extremely high or extremely low temperatures, shooting and using electric shocks, is this how the police protect Croatian borders? ”, points out Ana Ćuća.

The exact number of children who are victims of police brutality remains unknown. BVMN has reported 209 cases of violent and illegal expulsions of children from Croatia since 2017, while Save the Children recorded 2969 expulsions of children at the borders in the Western Balkans during the first 9 months of last year.

https://www.borderviolence.eu/wp-content/uploads/Graph-600x395.png

Two cases are currently pending at the European Court of Human Rights against Croatia, both involving violence and pushback. The first is the case of the family of the tragically late six-year-old girl Madina Hussiny, who was killed at the Croatian-Serbian border. The second includes pushbacks, illegal detention and inhumane treatment of a 17-year-old Syrian boy by Croatian police, who was pushed back to Bosnia and Herzegovina despite seeking asylum in Croatia.

The latest report presented is the sixth report on violent and illegal expulsions published in the last four years, and it is the collective work of the Centre for Peace Studies, the Society for Psychological Assistance, the Welcome! Initiative and the Border Violence Monitoring Network. It also brings a short graphic novel based on the story of little #Madina, a young girl killed in transit, for whose death no one has yet been held accountable.

https://www.borderviolence.eu/wp-content/uploads/comic.jpg

Therefore, the organisations ask the Government and the Ministry of the Interior to finally take responsibility and for those who sanction and carry out systematic violence. Responsible institutions are obliged to investigate those who commit violence and push back children in need of protection. All children deserve justice and protection.

▻https://www.borderviolence.eu/report-from-centre-for-peace-studies-on-the-pushback-of-children
#enfants #enfance #mineurs

Pour télécharger le #rapport:
▻https://www.cms.hr/system/article_document/doc/647/Pushback_report_on_children_and_unaccompanied_children_in_Croatia.pdf

Policiers croates accusés de violences contre des migrants : l’UE réclame une "enquête approfondie’’

https://scd.infomigrants.net/media/resize/my_image_big/953a94a947393ebc3203cd82f2e19be123c10794.jpeg

Après avoir été interpellée par Amnesty International sur la « violence » des policiers croates à l’égard des migrants, la Commission européenne a réclamé à Zagreb une « enquête approfondie ». L’institution prévoit d’envoyer une mission sur place, quand la situation sanitaire le permettra.

L’Union européenne est sortie de son ’’silence’’ au sujet des accusations de violences contre des migrants perpétrées par la police croate. Vendredi 12 juin, la Commission européenne a réclamé à Zagreb une "#enquête_approfondie'' à la suite de la publication d’un rapport à charge de l’ONG Amnesty International dénonçant des #passages_à_tabac, des #tortures et des tentatives d’#humiliation de la part de policiers croates (▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/25339/on-les-suppliait-d-arreter-de-nous-frapper-ils-chantaient-et-riaient-l).

« Nous sommes très préoccupés par ces allégations », a déclaré un porte-parole de l’exécutif européen, Adalbert Jahnz. « La #violence, l’humiliation et les #traitements_dégradants des demandeurs d’asile et migrants n’ont pas leur place dans l’Union européenne et doivent être condamnés », a-t-il assuré.

L’Union européenne avait été directement interpellée par Amnesty International dans son rapport. Ce document affirme que 16 migrants, qui tentaient d’entrer illégalement en Croatie, ont été « ligotés, brutalement battus et torturés » pendant plusieurs heures par des forces de l’ordre, dans la nuit du 26 au 27 mai. « L’Union européenne ne peut plus rester silencieuse et ignorer délibérément les violences et les abus commis par la police croate à la frontière », avait déclaré Massimo Moratti, directeur adjoint de l’antenne européenne de l’ONG.

▻https://twitter.com/Jelena_Sesar/status/1271044353629335553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E12

Une mission sur place quand la situation sanitaire le permettra

L’exécutif européen a également indiqué être « en contact étroit » avec les autorités croates qui « se sont engagées à enquêter » sur ces accusations de mauvais traitements à leur frontière avec la Bosnie (▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/18721/plusieurs-migrants-retrouves-blesses-a-la-frontiere-entre-la-bosnie-et). « Nous attendons que ces accusations fassent l’objet d’une enquête approfondie et que toutes les actions nécessaires soient prises », a poursuivi le porte-parole.

La Commission prévoit aussi d’envoyer, quand la situation sanitaire le permettra, une mission sur place, dans le cadre d’un mécanisme de surveillance du respect des droits fondamentaux par les autorités aux frontières lié à l’allocation de fonds européens.

Le ministère croate de l’Intérieur a, de son côté, immédiatement démenti ces accusations, en ajoutant cependant qu’une enquête serait ouverte.

Des milliers de migrants empruntent chaque année la « route des Balkans » pour essayer de rejoindre l’Europe occidentale. La plupart passent par la Croatie, pays membre de l’UE, le plus souvent en provenance de la Bosnie.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/25354/policiers-croates-accuses-de-violences-contre-des-migrants-l-ue-reclam

Croatia: Fresh evidence of police abuse and torture of migrants and asylum-seekers

In a horrifying escalation of police human rights violations at the Croatian border with Bosnia, a group of migrants and asylum seekers was recently bound, brutally beaten and tortured by officers who mocked their injuries and smeared food on their bleeding heads to humiliate them, Amnesty International has revealed today.

Amnesty International spoke to six men among a group of 16 Pakistani and Afghan asylum-seekers who were apprehended by the Croatian police on the night between 26 and 27 May near Lake Plitvice, as they tried to cross the country to reach Western Europe.

Between eight and ten people wearing black uniforms and balaclavas identical to those used by Croatia’s Special Police, fired their weapons in the air, kicked and repeatedly hit the restrained men with metal sticks, batons and pistol grips. They then rubbed ketchup, mayonnaise and sugar that they found in one of the backpacks on migrants’ bleeding heads and hair and their trousers. Amnesty International also spoke to doctors who treated the men and NGOs who witnessed their injuries.

“The European Union can no longer remain silent and wilfully ignore the violence and abuses by Croatian police on its external borders. Their silence is allowing, and even encouraging, the perpetrators of this abuse to continue without consequences. The European Commission must investigate the latest reports of horrifying police violence against migrants and asylum-seekers.” said Massimo Moratti, Deputy Director of the Europe Office, following the latest incident on the Croatian border.

Physical and psychological abuse

Amir from Pakistan told Amnesty: “We were pleading with them to stop and show mercy. We were already tied, unable to move and humiliated; there was no reason to keep hitting us and torturing us.” He said the armed men showed no sympathy. “They were taking photos of us with their phones, and were singing and laughing.” Amir had a broken arm and nose, stiches on the back of his head, and visible bruising all over his face and arms.

Ten men suffered serious injuries that night. Thirty-year-old Tariq now has both of his arms and a leg in a cast, visible cuts and bruises on his head and face and is suffering from severe chest pain.

“They did not give us a chance to say anything at all when they caught us. They just started hitting us. While I was lying on the ground, they hit my head with the back of a gun and I started bleeding. I tried to protect my head from the blows, but they started kicking me and hitting my arms with metal sticks. I was passing in and out of consciousness the rest of the night.” Tariq is now forced to use a wheelchair to move around and it will take months before he is able to move on his own again.

The men told Amnesty International how they felt humiliated as militia rubbed mayonnaise and ketchup on to their bloody heads and faces. One masked man squirted mayonnaise on an asylum-seeker’s trousers between his legs, while others laughed and sang “Happy Birthday” around them.

After almost five hours of continuous abuse, the migrants were handed over to the Croatian Border Police who transported them close to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina in two vans before ordering them to walk. “They were taken aback by our condition. We were drenched in blood and very shook up. We could barely stand, much less walk for hours to Bosnia. But they told us to go. They told us to carry the guys who couldn’t walk and just go.” Faisal told Amnesty.

Some of the men eventually reached Miral, a reception centre run by the International Organization for Migration in Velika Kladusa in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but five, who were too weak to walk, stayed behind and were eventually picked up by an NGO operating in the camp.

An emergency doctor at the medical clinic in Velika Kladusa who treated the men told Amnesty International that they all had injuries on the back of their heads which were consistent with a blow by a blunt object and required stiches. Most had multiple fractures, joint injuries, collapsed lungs, cuts and bruises and several were traumatized. Their recovery could take months.

Routine violent pushbacks and torture by the Croatian police remain unpunished

While only the latest in the series, the incident points to a new level of brutality and abuse by the Croatian police. In early May, the Guardian reported about a group of men who were forced across the Croatian border after being beaten and having orange crosses spray-painted on their heads. The Croatian Ministry of Interior dismissed the allegations, but the testimonies of violence and intimidation fit the trend of unlawful pushbacks taking place not only on the Croatian, but also on other external borders of the European Union.

Numerous reports over the past three years have revealed how the Croatian border police routinely assault men, women and teenagers trying to enter the country, destroy their belongings and smash their phones before pushing them back to Bosnia. People are sometimes stripped of their clothes and shoes, and forced to walk for hours through snow and freezing cold rivers.

A physician in the Velika Kladusa clinic told Amnesty International that approximately 60 per cent of migrants and asylum-seekers who required medical treatment reported that their injuries were inflicted by the Croatian police, while they were trying to cross the border. “Many injuries involve fractures of long bones and joints. These bones take longer to heal and their fractures render the patient incapacitated for extended periods of time. This appears to be a deliberate strategy – to cause injuries and trauma that take time to heal and would make people more reluctant to try to cross the border again or any time soon,” the physician told Amnesty International.

The Croatian Ministry of Interior has so far dismissed these allegations, refusing to carry out independent and effective investigations into reported abuses or hold its officers to account. In a climate of pervasive impunity, unlawful returns and violence at the border have only escalated. Amnesty International has shared the details of this incident with the Ministry of Interior, but has not received an official response.

The EU’s failure to hold Croatia to account

The European Commission has remained silent in the face of multiple, credible reports of gross human rights abuses at the Croatian border and repeated calls by the European Parliament to investigate the allegations. Furthermore, Croatia remains a beneficiary of nearly EURO 7 million of EU assistance for border security, the vast majority of which is spent on infrastructure, equipping border police and even paying police salaries. Even the small proportion (EURO 300,000) that the Commission had earmarked for a mechanism to monitor that the border measures comply with fundamental rights and EU asylum laws, has been no more than a fig leaf. Last year, the Commission recommended Croatia’s full accession to the Schengen Area despite human rights abuses already being commonplace there.

“The European Commission cannot continue to turn a blind eye to blatant breaches of EU law as people are being branded with crosses on their heads or brutally tortured and humiliated by Croatian police. We expect nothing less than the condemnation of these acts and an independent investigation into reported abuses, as well as the establishment of an effective mechanism to ensure that EU funds are not used to commit torture and unlawful returns. Failing urgent action, Croatia’s inhumane migration practices will turn the EU into an accomplice in major human rights violations taking place at its doorstep,” said Massimo Moratti.

Violent pushbacks from Croatian border have been a regular occurrence since late 2017. The Danish Refugee Council recorded close to 7,000 cases of forcible deportations and unlawful returns to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019, most of which were accompanied by reported violence and intimidation by Croatian police. Despite the brief respite during the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, pushbacks continue with 1600 cases reported only in April. The figures are increasing daily, as the restrictions across the region are being lifted and the weather is turning milder.

Amnesty International has interviewed over 160 people who have been pushed back or returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina since July 2018. Nearly one third reported being beaten, having their documents and telephones stolen, and verbally abused in what appears to be a deliberate policy designed to deter future attempts to enter the country.

▻https://www.amnesty.eu/news/croatia-fresh-evidence-of-police-abuse-and-torture-of-migrants-and-asylum-se
#rapport #Amnesty_international

Croatia, police abuse is systemic

https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/var/obc/storage/images/aree/croazia/croazia-gli-abusi-della-polizia-202952/1975993-2-ita-IT/Croatia-police-abuse-is-systemic.jpg

While the world is outraged and protests after George Floyd’s death to denounce institutionalised violence, migrants have been beaten and tortured on the Balkan route for years. A brutal practice often covered up, even by the EU itself.

George Floyd’s death on May 25th sparked protests around the world against police violence and institutional racism. In the Balkans as elsewhere, sit-ins have been held in support of #BlackLivesMatter , followed by calls to report abuses committed locally by the police. And in the region there is no lack of such abuses. In fact, police violence is routine on the “Balkan route”, the flow of migrants and refugees that has crossed the peninsula since 2015 in the hope of reaching the European Union. The events of the past few weeks have unfortunately confirmed once again the link between police brutality and immigration, bringing us back to the Croatian-Bosnian border. It is a story of systemic abuse, both proven and covered up, which involves a member state of the EU, candidate for accession to the Schengen area and, according to the latest revelations of The Guardian, the European Commission itself.
Torture in Croatia

When it comes to police abuse on the Croatian-Bosnian border, one does not really know where to start. The accidents recorded in recent years are so many that we can no longer even speak of “accidents”, or unexpected events. On the contrary, violence is rather a common practice, the only news being the increase in brutality by the agents, who have gone from illegal pushbacks to outright torture.

“We rarely use the word ’torture’ in Europe, but in this case we had to”, explains Massimo Moratti, deputy director of the Europe office of Amnesty International (AI). Last week, AI published yet another report of the mistreatment of migrants by the Croatian police along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mistreatment is an understatement. The testimonies collected no longer speak of broken mobile phones, or – as has happened more recently – destroyed with a screwdriver to prevent recharging, but instead contain “actual sadism”, as Moratti puts it.

The case in question is that of 16 Pakistani and Afghan asylum seekers arrested by the Croatian police near the Plitvice lakes between May 26th and 27th. Their testimony is chilling. “We asked them to stop and show mercy. We were already tied up, there was no reason to continue hitting and torturing us", Amir told Amnesty International. Singing and filming on mobile phones, the agents continued to beat the 16 unfortunate men hard, finally smearing their wounds with ketchup and mayonnaise found in the backpack of one of the migrants. Eventually, the group was brought back to the border and forced to walk to Bosnia. Those who were unable to walk, because they are now in a wheelchair, had to be transported by others.

“It is a pattern, a trend. These are the same practices that we have already seen in Hungary in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Dogs, sticks, broken bones... The goal is to intimidate and frighten so that no one tries to cross the border anymore", resumes Massimo Moratti, who adds: “the fractures we saw in the latter case will take months to heal”. The Amnesty International report and the attached photos tell the rest.
Four years of violence

How did we get to this? It is useful to make a brief summary of recent years to understand the evolution of violence. First, the “Balkan route” became a media phenomenon in the summer of 2015, when hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, and Afghans began to travel up the Balkan peninsula to reach the European Union. At the beginning, the destination of the route was Hungary, then, with the closure of the Hungarian wall, it became Croatia, which leads to Slovenia and then to the Schengen area. In 2015, Croatian policemen showed themselves to be tolerant and benevolent, as reminded by this cover of Jutarnji List .

In the spring of 2016, the agreement between the EU and Turkey led to the closure of the Balkan route and a change of pace. “The first case of pushback is registered in 2016 on the Serbo-Croatian border. In 2017, we have the first cases of violence", says Antonia Pindulić, legal advisor to the Centre for Peace Studies (CMS) in Zagreb. At the end of 2017, Madina Hussiny, 6, died hit by a train while returning from Croatia to Serbia following the tracks. Together with her family, she had been illegally pushed back by the Croatian policemen.

In the summer of 2018, the Croatian police fired on a van that carried 29 migrants and refused to stop. Nine people were injured and two minors ended up in hospital in serious conditions. Since then, it has been a crescendo of accidents, especially on the Croatian-Bosnian border, where what remains of the Balkan route passes. Here, the testimonies collected by NGOs speak of beatings, theft, destruction of mobile phones and, as always, illegal pushbacks. Then, the situation has deteriorated up to the torture of the last few weeks. All in the silence of the authorities.
The silence of the institutions

How could the Zagreb government not complete an investigation in four years, address the police abuse, punish the guilty? It just didn’t. In fact, Andrej Plenković’s government has just “denied everything” for four years, while “no investigation has produced results”, as Antonia Pindulić of CMS summarises. And this despite the fact that there have been complaints from NGOs and also the actions of the institutions themselves in Croatia.

“In 2019, a group of policement wrote an anonymous letter to the Croatian Ombudswoman asking to be protected from having to carry out illegal orders”, recalls Pindulić. The agents then revealed the pushback technique: GPS off, communications only on Whatsapp or Viber, no official report. Also in 2019, then President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović had let slip , during an interview on Swiss television, that “of course, a little strength is needed when making pushbacks”. Later, she said she had been misunderstood.

After dozens of complaints have fallen on deaf ears and after in 2018 the Ombudswoman, in her investigations, had been denied access to video surveillance videos with the excuse that they were lost, the CMS decided a couple of weeks ago to file a complaint “against unknown police officers” guilty of “degrading treatment and torture against 33 people” and “violent and illegal expulsion [of these people, ed.] from the territory of the Republic of Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina”. “We hope that the prosecutor will open an investigation and that people who have violated the law are identified. But since the institutions themselves have violated the law for four years, I don’t know what we can expect”, says Antonia Pindulić.

The complaint filed brings together four cases, all of which occurred at the beginning of May 2020. “We suspect that the cases are linked to each other, as all the migrants and refugees involved have reported beatings, theft of their belongings, being stripped and, above all, having a cross drawn on their head with orange spray”, says Antonia Pindulić. This very detail had brought the story on the Guardian and sparked controversy in Croatia.
Towards a turning point?

In their brutality, the cases seem to repeat themselves without any change in sight. But the Croatian government may soon be forced to answer for what appears to be institutionalised violence. Not only the legal action taken by the CMS “could likely end in Strasbourg”, as Massimo Moratti of Amnesty International speculates, but a lawsuit filed by three Syrian refugees against Croatia reached the European Court of Human Rights at the end of the May . And last week, after the publication of the AI ​​report, the European Commission announced that an observation mission will be sent to Croatia.

And there is more. This week, the Guardian also revealed that communications between officials of the European Commission show how the European body “covered up Croatia’s failure to protect migrants from brutality on the border”. In question are the European funding received from Zagreb for border security: 7 million Euros, of which 300,000 for the implementation of an independent control mechanism that should have supervised the work of the police. Not only has the mechanism never been implemented, but there have been contradictory communications in this regard, with the Commission declaring that UNHCR was part of the mechanism and the latter publicly denying at the end of 2019 .

In short, although Brussels allocated a (small) budget for the control of the brutality of Croatian agents, the mechanism that was to be activated with those funds was never created. And the Commission is aware of this. How long, then, will the Plenković government manage to hide its system of violence on the Bosnian border?

▻https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Areas/Croatia/Croatia-police-abuse-is-systemic-202952

#violence_systémique

Croatia: Police brutality in migrant pushback operations must be investigated and sanctioned – UN Special Rapporteurs

Croatia must immediately investigate reports of excessive use of force by law enforcement personnel against migrants, including acts amounting to torture and ill-treatment, and sanction those responsible, UN human rights experts said today.

“We are deeply concerned about the repeated and ongoing disproportionate use of force by Croatian police against migrants in pushback operations. Victims, including children, suffered physical abuse and humiliation simply because of their migration status,” Felipe González Morales, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, and Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said in a joint statement.

They said physical violence and degrading treatment against migrants have been reported in more than 60 percent of all recorded pushback cases from Croatia between January and May 2020, and recent reports indicate the number of forced returns is rising.

Abusive treatment of migrants has included physical beatings, the use of electric shocks, forced river crossings and stripping of clothes despite adverse weather conditions, forced stress positions, gender insensitive body searches and spray-painting the heads of migrants with crosses.

“The violent pushback of migrants without going through any official procedure, individual assessment or other due process safeguards constitutes a violation of the prohibition of collective expulsions and the principle of non-refoulement,” González Morales said.

“Such treatment appears specifically designed to subject migrants to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as prohibited under international law. Croatia must investigate all reported cases of violence against migrants, hold the perpetrators and their superiors accountable and provide compensation for victims,” Melzer added.

The UN Special Rapporteurs are also concerned that in several cases, Croatian police officers reportedly ignored requests from migrants to seek asylum or other protection under international human rights and refugee law.

“Croatia must ensure that all border management measures, including those aimed at addressing irregular migration, are in line with international human rights law and standards, particularly, non-discrimination, the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, the principle of non-refoulement and the prohibition of arbitrary or collective expulsions,” they said.

During his official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina in September 2019, González Morales received information on violent pushback of migrants by Croatian police to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has exchanged views with relevant Croatian authorities on this issue on several occasions. Already during his official visit to Serbia and Kosovo* in 2017, Melzer had received similar information from migrants reporting violent ill-treatment during pushback operations by the Croatian police.

* All references to Kosovo should be understood to be in compliance with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

▻https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25976&LangID=E

#OHCHR

Dva policajca u pritvoru u Karlovcu zbog ozljeđivanja migranta - protiv njih pokrenut i disciplinski postupak

Zbog sumnje u počinjenje kaznenih djela obojica su, uz kaznenu prijavu, dovedeni pritvorskom nadzorniku Policijske uprave karlovačke. Također, obojica su udaljeni iz službe, odgovoreno je na upit KAportala

Dva policajca PU karlovačke nalaze se u pritvoru i to zbog sumnje u ozljeđivanje ilegalnog migranta, stranog državljanina.

Na naš upit iz policije su nam rekli da je u četvrtak, 11. lipnja, u večernjim satima, tijekom utvrđivanja okolnosti nezakonitog ulaska u Republiku Hrvatsku, u policijsku postaju Slunj doveden strani državljanin na kojem su policijski službenici uočili da je ozlijeđen.

▻https://kaportal.net.hr/aktualno/vijesti/crna-kronika/3836334/dva-policajca-u-karlovackom-pritvoru-zbog-ozljedjivanja-migranta-protiv

Commentaire reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodosli, mail du 23.06.2020

two police officers were arrested this week for injuring migrants. This is a big step for the Ministry of the Interior, but small for all cases that have not yet been investigated. However, it is important to emphasize that the violence we are witnessing is not the result of isolated incidents, but of systemic violence for which those who issue and those who carry out these illegal orders should be prosecuted.

Maïs Abu Gosh condamnée à 16 mois de prison et à une amende
Addameer, le 3 mai 2020
▻https://agencemediapalestine.fr/blog/2020/05/05/mais-abu-gosh-condamnee-a-16-mois-de-prison-et-a-une-amende

#Mais_Abu_Gush #Palestine

Afghanistan Probes Reports Iranian Guards Forced Migrants Into River

Afghan officials were hunting on Sunday for Afghan migrants in a river bordering Iran after reports that Iranian border guards tortured dozens and threw them into the water to keep them out of Iran.

Authorities in western Herat province said they retrieved 12 bodies from the Harirud river and at least eight other people were missing.

The incident could trigger a diplomatic crisis between Iran and Afghanistan at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has seen an exodus of Afghan migrants from Iran, with many testing positive. Up to 2,000 Afghans cross the border from Iran, a coronavirus hotspot, into Herat each day.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday an inquiry had been launched. A senior official in the presidential palace in Kabul said initial assessments suggested at least 70 Afghans trying to enter Iran from Herat were beaten and pushed into the Harirud river on Saturday.

Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, said the “incident” took place on Afghan soil.

“Border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran denied the occurrence of any events related to this on the soil of our country,” he said in a statement on Sunday.

Abdul Ghani Noori, governor of Herat’s Gulran district, said dozens of Afghan migrant workers were thrown into the river by members of the Iranian army.

“Iranian armymen used shovels and gunshots to injure Afghan workers and threw them in water,” Noori told Reuters, adding that some of the injured workers were being treated in a hospital.

Doctors at Herat District Hospital said they had received the bodies of Afghan migrants.

“So far, five bodies have been transferred to the hospital. Of these bodies, it’s clear that four died due to drowning,” said Aref Jalali, head of the hospital. He added that two injured men were brought to the hospital on Sunday evening.

The Taliban militant group, fighting to oust the Afghan government, said Iran should launch an investigation into the killings and “strictly punish the perpetrators”.

“We have learnt that 57 Afghans on their way to the Islamic Republic of Iran for work were initially tortured by Iranian border guards and 23 of them later brutally martyred,” the Taliban said in a statement.

Noor Mohammad said he was one of the Afghans caught by Iranian border guards as they were trying to cross into Iran in search of work.

“After being tortured, the Iranian soldiers threw all of us in the Harirud river,” Mohammad told Reuters.

Shir Agha, who said he also survived the violence, said at least 23 people thrown into the river were dead.

Afghan officials that it was not the first time that Afghans had been killed by Iranian police guarding the 920-km (520-mile) border.

As of Sunday, at least 541 coronavirus-infected people in Afghanistan were from Herat province, which recorded 13 deaths, with the majority of cases Afghan returnees from Iran, said Rafiq Shirzad, a health ministry spokesman in Herat.

▻https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/05/03/world/middleeast/03reuters-afghanistan-iran-migrants.html?searchResultPosition=3
#noyade #torture #gardes-frontière #Harirud #armée

Afghanistan probes report Iran guards forced migrants into river

Survivors say at least 23 of 57 people thrown by Iranian border guards into Harirud River drowned.

https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2020/5/3/75efb17ef1bc4957b39e89ed4a22318f_18.jpg

Afghanistan has begun retrieving bodies of Afghan migrants from a river in a western province after reports that Iranian border guards tortured and threw Afghans into the river to prevent their entry into Iran.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry in a statement on Saturday said an inquiry had been launched and a senior official in the presidential palace in Kabul said initial assessments suggested that at least 70 Afghans who were trying to enter Iran from bordering Herat province were beaten and pushed into Harirud River.

The Harirud River basin is shared by Afghanistan, Iran and Turkmenistan.

Doctors at Herat District Hospital said they had received the bodies of Afghan migrants, some of whom had drowned.

“So far, five bodies have been transferred to the hospital, of these bodies, its clear that four died due to drowning,” said Aref Jalali, head of Herat District Hospital.

The Iranian consulate in Herat denied the allegations of torture and subsequent drowning of dozens of Afghan migrant workers by border police.

“Iranian border guards have not arrested any Afghan citizens,” the consulate said in a statement on Saturday.

Noor Mohammad said he was one of 57 Afghan citizens who were caught by Iranian border guards on Saturday as they tried to cross into Iran in search of work from Gulran District of Herat.

“After being tortured, the Iranian soldiers threw all of us in the Harirud river,” Mohammad told Reuters News Agency.

Shir Agha, who said he also survived the violence, said at least 23 of the 57 people thrown by Iranian soldiers into the river had died.

“Iranian soldiers warned us that if we do not throw ourselves into the water, we will be shot,” said Agha.
’We will settle accounts’

Local Afghan officials said it was not the first time Afghans had been tortured and killed by Iranian police guarding the 920km (520 mile) long border.

Herat Governor Sayed Wahid Qatali in a tweet to Iranian officials said: “Our people are not just some names you threw into the river. One day we will settle accounts.”

The incident could trigger a diplomatic crisis between Iran and Afghanistan at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has seen a mass exodus of Afghan migrants from Iran with many testing positive for COVID-19.

Up to 2,000 Afghans daily cross the border from Iran, a global coronavirus hotspot, into Herat.

As of Sunday, at least 541 infected people are from Herat province, which recorded 13 deaths, with the majority of positive cases found among Afghan returnees from Iran, said Rafiq Shirzad, a health ministry spokesman in Herat.

▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/afghanistan-probes-report-iran-guards-forced-migrants-river-2005030926238

#Alfie's_Home

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_alfie1.png

Alfie’s Home is a children’s picture book by Richard Cohen. The narrator of the story (probably Alfie) tells of how his seemingly perfect and happy family is not all it seems. His parents fight all the time. His father is rarely around, usually yelling at him and his emotionally distressed mother clings to the narrator for support. Lucky for him, his Uncle Pete listens to and spends time with him. Unluckily, Uncle Pete is in fact a Creepy Uncle, and molests his nephew. This leads to many psychological problems as the Narrator gets older.

This book is infamous for its many Unfortunate Implications, especially regarding homosexuality. Cracked named it the worst children’s book ever written.

https://allthetropes.fandom.com/wiki/Alfie%27s_Home

#livre #livre_pour_enfants