Public statements

This week, a group of 22 countries issued a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council expressing concern over the arbitrary detention, surveillance and other violations against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The statement calls on China to provide “meaningful access to Xinjiang for independent international observers, including for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights”.

The record number of states standing up to China at the Council on their human rights record shows the mounting international concern over the mass detention of Uyghurs and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang.

The countries that signed the statement include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

In response to the arbitrary arrest on allegations of fraud of two of the key figures involved in organizing post-election demonstrations in Malawi, Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa said: 

“These charges are a ploy to harass and intimidate the two activists and force them to end the ongoing post-election demonstrations.

“Malawian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release them and stop clamping down on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

“Organizing and participating in peaceful protests is not a crime. Authorities must stop targeting dissenting voices and using politically motivated charges to suppress differing views. The rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association must be fully respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled in Malawi.”

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Spokespersons available to take media interviews

Following today’s International Criminal Court (ICC) conviction of Bosco Ntaganda, former leader of a rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa welcomed the conviction, saying:

“We can only hope that today’s verdict provides some consolation to those affected by the grotesque crimes perpetrated by Ntaganda and paves the way for his victims and their families to finally obtain a measure of justice and reparations.”

“Every day of the seven years that Ntaganda freely roamed the streets of Goma after the International Criminal Court issued his arrest warrant increased the torment that the victims and their families had to endure - to the shame of DRC authorities and the international community.

“But today, the 2,123 victims in the case can at last begin the process of reparations for all the harm inflicted upon them by Ntaganda.”

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Responding to news that the police have charged a woman with blasphemy for entering a mosque with her dog in Sentul, Bogor, West Java, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid said:

“The footage shows clearly that the woman is in distress. To bring criminal charges against her is inappropriate. The state’s priority should be her wellbeing. Her actions may have felt insensitive, but these issues can be resolved peacefully. It is not a matter for the courts.

“In Indonesia, blasphemy laws are often used to target individuals who belong to minority religions or whose interpretations of Islam are not sanctioned by the government. Charges have been levelled against others for their peaceful opinions. This latest, unfortunate and absurd case is further proof that blasphemy laws are not fit for purpose. The police must immediately release the woman and drop the charges against her. Further, authorities in Indonesia should repeal the blasphemy law to comply with their human rights obligations.”

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Following the publication of a “Government agreement” committing itself to introduce consent-based rape legislation Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher, Anna Błuś, said:

“This commitment by the new government to amend Danish law to recognize the simple truth that sex without consent is rape in law is a welcome if long-overdue, step forward. It is a testament to all the survivors who have spoken out and all the campaigners who have fought long and hard for change.

“Together with the survivors campaigning for improved access to justice, we look forward to seeing the draft law and hope that the authorities also commit themselves to taking steps to challenge rape myths and gender stereotypes at all levels of society. This will require institutional and social change, as well as comprehensive sexuality and relationships education, including on sexual consent.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled today that Poland’s contested Law on the Supreme Court is in breach of EU law. Under an interim decision from the CJEU from November 2018, Polish authorities had already been ordered to restore the Supreme Court to its composition before April 2018, when the law came into force.

In response to the news, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, said:

“Today the European Union’s top court has confirmed what we have long been saying, that the Polish government acted against EU law when it attempted to force almost a third of Supreme Court judges to retire and attempted to exert control over the judiciary.”

The amendment of the Law on the Supreme Court is part of a broader “reform” of the judiciary in Poland. Amnesty International considers that these changes effectively politicize the judiciary and undermine its independence.

Responding to the release of the UN report on the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which concludes that he was the victim of “an extrajudicial killing for which the state of Saudi Arabia is responsible under human rights law,” and that “there is credible evidence, warranting further investigation of high-level Saudi officials’ individual liability, including the Crown Prince’s,” Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research, said:

“We call on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to immediately take up the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation to launch an international follow-up criminal investigation. The UN report confirms that the steps taken to date by Saudi Arabia to ensure accountability are not only inadequate, but violate themselves human rights standards, both procedurally and substantively.