Amnesty International interviewed the returnees who are living in the displacement camps in overcrowded cities. Many returnees said that they had left Dadaab because they were afraid that they would be forced to leave with no assistance and because there was food shortage already. The head of refugee and migrants rights stated: “In its zeal to return refugees the Kenyan government has made much of small security improvements in Somalia, but the grim reality is that many parts of the country are still plagued by violence and poverty.” These refugees had left Somalia because of hunger, drought and no shelter and now they are being forced back into a place where they do not even have access to clean drinking water, it is a severe humanitarian crisis. Even though the Government has stopped registration of new refugees, over six thousand new refugees have been reported at Dadaab which means they are not on ration program. Chairman said “As the situation of returnees in Somalia becomes increasingly desperate, large-scale returns from Dadaab are simply not viable. Rather than pushing to return refugees into a humanitarian crisis, the Kenyan government should be looking for sustainable solutions, including offering opportunities for local integration in Kenya.” All the returnees interviewed said that they and their loved ones were facing various problems in Somalia.
The Importance of Amnesty in a World of Injustice
According to the dictionary definition of the word, “Amnesty” means a general pardon of the offenses – mostly on a political nature – which is granted prior to trial or conviction. In the United Kingdom amnesties are often granted by the Crown of sometimes through an act of parliament which used to be common during coronations and other similar special occasions. Other popular amnesties include Napoleon’s amnesty back in 1815, Prussian amnesty in 1840 and the general amnesty Andrew Johnson, the President of the United States after the civil war in 1861.
The whole basis of amnesty is that bringing the people into compliance is more important than punishing them – especially in the political circumstances. Amnesties are largely given after an end of a war, pardoning the past offender after the “enemy” factor no longer exists. This helps to smooth the conflicting environment after a war and to bring peace into the community rather than taking a large number of people into custody. It also helps the growing economy after a long war since an extensive number of persecutions will cost an unnecessary amount of money.
Amnesty for illegal immigration has also been a largely talked about topic especially in the current political environment. There are many proposed reforms for current immigration legislation with suggestions for amnesty especially in the United States, however, so far those such a bill has not passed yet. Granting amnesty has always been a widely discussed controversial topic even to this day!
Source – https://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/amnesty.html
What is Amnesty International?
In a world of chaos and injustice, human rights have always been subjected to violations since the beginning of the civilization. Amnesty International is an NGO based in London with over 7 million members worldwide collectively dedicated to actively working on protecting human rights. They conduct in-depth research all around the world and generate actions in order to prevent and ultimately end the violations of human rights. They work on demanding justice for those who have suffered from human rights violations as well.
Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson who was an English labor lawyer. According to the reports, the idea for an organization which forces the people and intuitions of power to be accountable for their human rights violations came to him after reading a report about two Portuguese students who were convicted and imprisoned for being drunk and making a toast that the Portuguese government found to be inappropriate. He talked about the feelings of disgust that everyone faces seeing human right violations every day in the papers, and wanted to unite those feelings into common action in order to do something effective about them.
As a core principle Amnesty International focus on prisoners who were imprisoned due to their race, sexual orientation, political or religious views. Their areas of focus cover an extensive range including armed conflict, corporate accountability, the death penalty, detention, disappearances, discrimination, freedom of expression, indigenous people, refugees and immigrants, sexual and reproductive rights and cases dealing with torture.
Is Giving Amnesty to Illegal Immigrants The Right Way to Go?
The topic of illegal immigrants has always been controversial, leading to heated arguments on how it should be handled in an efficient way. The concept of “path to citizenship”, in other words giving amnesty for the illegal immigrants and providing them with a way of submitting documents and fees leading to the naturalization process which will allow them to become documented immigrants have been debated for a long time, with many failed bill reforms. This process emphasizes the fact that the illegal immigrants will be given amnesty and a legal status, however, they will not be considered citizens of the country.
There are both pros and cons to giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. There are reportedly over 11 million illegal immigrants in the USA. Providing them amnesty and laying out a path that gives them an opportunity to become a documented immigrant will help them live without a constant fear of deportation, the ability to work legally under authorized employers and also travel in and outside of United States freely.
It is a notorious fact that the illegal immigrant population contributes largely to the overall economy of the country through mainly labor level jobs. Giving them amnesty and a path to become a legal worker will not only avoid the massive costs of deportation in millions but also stimulate and enhance the economy as well.
Source – https://immigration.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001362
The Egyptian Journalist Ismail al-Iskandrani Has Been Detained in Prison for Two Years without a Trial
A very few political activist are still active in Egypt after the horror that they have been through after the revolution. One of those brave people is Ismail al-Iskandrani, who is an Egyptian journalist who continued to voice his discontentment with the military operations that took place in North Sinai. Supposedly, the Egyptian government has attempted imposing a blackout in the region to continue their military operations in the dark, but Al-Iskandrani continued filling critical reports calling out the Egyptian government for its secretive missions. According to human rights, no citizen should be kept detained more than two years in his pre-trial detention period, and sadly, Al-Iskandrani has been kept in prison for more than two years as you are reading this.
Amnesty International is now urging the Egyptian authorities to immediately release him as his further detainment is an obvious violation of human rights. Egyptian Journalists are continuously facing threats if they dare to uncover the reality of what goes now behind the Egyptian civilians’ back. Al-Iskandrani’s lawyer has told Amnesty International that during his interrogation sessions, the prosecutors have failed to show any evidence that justifies keeping him in prison, however; the Egyptian authorities have unjustifiably kept him in prison without a fair trial.
Human Rights Defenders are Facing Jail in Turkey
Amnesty International has reported that its director will remain in a Turkish jail. This is sadly not an individual case as human rights defenders have been continuously facing injustices by Istanbul court. The anti-terror case has kept more than ten human rights activists behind bars. The Istanbul court still fixated on their ruling to keep the trial for Taner Kilic on hold, claiming that he was attempting to overthrow the Turkish government. This case has now become an international concern all over the world. The court’s decision has been criticized the court’s decision as it is unreasonable. There have been lots of evidence that have been submitted to the court that proves that Taner Kilic is innocent and nothing at all proves that he was guilty of these charges.
Taner Kilic has now been detained for six months, and his trail is set to be in late January 2018. The detainee is also being accused of being associated with the failed coup that took place last year, and he is now that only one that is still held in jail after they have released other people who were involved in the same case. The detainees are also no strictly Turkish citizens as there are two foreign nationalities.
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/amnesty-international-turkey-chief-to-be-held-pending-trial/4131385.html
Turkey’s Terrorism Charges for 11 Human Rights Activists
Turkey is in many ways a social battleground.
On the cusp of social change in many directions, Turkey is in a state of internal conflict on its growth and direction.
But one of the countries boldest moves is being met with backlash by human rights activists at large, and more specifically by groups like Amnesty International. In fact, one of the members of these 11 is one of Amnesty International’s members.
The group of 11 facing terrorism charges for their conduct in Turkey now find themselves in an international conflict on a front of national problems. And it’s a damn dangerous one.
While many of the group were released after months of captivity by the judge working the case, it doesn’t mean any of them are even close to out of the woods just yet.
Even with acquittals, this movement has meant Turkey’s hardline stance on some human rights activists and their approach. The accusations levied include allegations of support for terrorist groups in the country, though this is declined by the detainees.
In a larger purge effort that has been ongoing in Turkey, these are just more activists caught in the wave.
Amnestyinternational.org
Women and Online Abuse Research From Amnesty International
The internet is quite the place.
At any given moment, a string of a few words can lead you to a youtube video of a cat dancing, a store where you can buy anything your heart desires, or a message telling you to kill yourself, among other more volatile aspects.
So when it comes to online abuse, things are worse than they’ve ever been.
Amnesty International has now published new research looking at this online abuse, specifically towards women.
In a survey of eight countries and women aged 18-55 from these countries, Amnesty International found that 23% of the women surveyed had experienced online abuse or harassment. Worse, 41% of the women who responded that they had experienced this had said further it made them fear the risk of their physical safety. And even further, 46% of the women surveyed that had experienced this abuse responded that it was misogynistic or sexist.
While internet abuse has always tailored itself to the user targeted, and only gotten more specific and easier as time has gone on and the internet has evolved, this research leads Amnesty International to claim this abuse as an epidemic, one that often specifically targets women.
https://www.boomlive.in/online-harassment-towards-women/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/amnesty-reveals-alarming-impact-of-online-abuse-against-women/
War Crimes in Marawi
After fleeing hostage, Diego, a young farmer recalls how he frantically swarms across the cold waters of Lake Lanao to make to the other side of the shore and free the battle zone in marawi which is a city in the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines. For some months now, Maute fighters linked to ISIL have engaged in battles with the government prompting numerous residents to flee in search of safety. Many have lost their lives amidst the widespread destruction of homes and property according to a report by amnesty international. In a human rights analysis of the battle, IS-allied militants subjected Christian civilians to the worst of abuses including extrajudicial killings and mass hostage.
The Philippines armed forces were also involved in ill-treatment of the fleeing civilians, and the constant bombing of military held areas. Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at Amnesty International. Said that the operations by Philippines military have been intensive and have subjected the population to extreme suffering. Amnesty International engaged victims through interviews who described the painful ordeals. Multiple witnesses described how the militants killed innocent civilians by shooting them or slitting their throats especially if they subscribed to Christianity
Restrictions on accessing marawi denied the organization ability to determine if the military in the Philippines breached international Human Law Obligations through the use of airstrikes and artillery. It called upon the authorities to ensure justice for the victims.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/crimes-fight-philippines-marawi-amnesty-171117135410048.html
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/philippines-battle-of-marawi-leaves-trail-of-death-and-destruction/
Turkish Trials Following Failed Military Coup
In the momentum of thousands of arrests in Turkey after a recent failed military coup, there have been plenty of convictions.
These have been across many different types of people, but often people identified as “terrorists” by Turkey.
The most recent group, 11 activists, included 2 Amnesty International leaders, according to CNN.
While Amnesty International fired back against the claims as utterly baseless, Turkey claims the 11 assisted terrorist groups.
From Amnesty International’s point of view, this situation is a raindrop in a downpour of critical voices of Turkish state of affairs being silenced via arrest. Should this be the case, it would be a widespread wave of censorship and unjust imprisonment.
Turkey’s claims include the activists assisting the Kurdistan Workers Party, a group that has been in armed conflict with Turkey since 1984 after being founded in 1978. Its ideologies include tenants like feminism, libertarian socialism, communalism, and, most recently, democratic confederalism.
The group has declared it would only even consider ceasing fires under UN or US direction.
As such, it’s been an enemy of Turkey for some time.
Regardless of the verdict, this wave of trials has raised eyebrows of concern regarding the countries’ citizens, and their rights and liberties being potentially infringed upon.
Either way, we can be sure to expect many more trials in this effort.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/25/europe/turkey-trial-amnesty-activists/index.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-20971100
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kurdistan-Workers-Party
https://thekurdishproject.org/history-and-culture/kurdish-nationalism/pkk-kurdistan-workers-party/
Youngmin's Amnesty 