Public statements

For the last five years, we have stood alongside the Native Women's Association of Canada to promote vigils across Canada to honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. In these five years, the Sisters in Spirit vigils have become a genuine national movement, with events in more than 80 cities and communities.

The vigils in which we participated were part of a larger programme of work by Sisters in Spirit that included vital research, public education, police and government engagement, and support to affected families. We have no doubt that the work of Sisters in Spirit has played a crucial role in building public awareness and advancing the necessary solutions to uphold the rights and safety of Aboriginal women and girls.

In fact, the federal government has publicly acknowledged the importance of these vigils and the other vital research and advocacy work carried out by Sisters in Spirit.

Therefore, we are profoundly concerned that there is still no secure funding in place to ensure the continuation of the Native Women's Association of Canada's Sisters in Spirit Initiative.

The second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, which began on 31 March 2009, concluded today with their conviction on charges of theft and money laundering while running YUKOS between 1998 and 2003.

Amnesty International is concerned that this trial has been marred by numerous procedural violations, including repeated breaches of the equality of arms. These violations in themselves suffice to cast serious doubt on the integrity of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev’s convictions. Moreover, the manner in which the prosecution and trial have been conducted, the timing of the charges, the reported harassment of lawyers and defence witnesses and the unnecessarily harsh conditions of detention, all point strongly to a long-established pattern of political motives and interference having obstructed the independent administration of justice in this case.

Against this backdrop, it is impossible to conclude that justice has been done.

Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the situation on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), following the events of 3 December in which over 20 indigenous people were injured during an operation to evict them from buildings and land that they occupied as part of a protest. A number of detentions were made.

Serious injuries were sustained by both indigenous protestors and police during the operation to evict protestors occupying a number of public and private buildings and land. The long-standing protest by some indigenous clans in demand of ancestral land, and in rejection of the Chilean government’s long-standing failure to adequately address their rights, is ongoing.