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	Amnesty International Report 2021/22 by Agnes Callamard Secretary General of Amnesty International   Mar. 2022   Wealthy states colluded with corporate giants in 2021 to dupe people with empty slogans and false promises of a fair recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, in what amounts to one of the greatest betrayals of our times, said Amnesty International today, as it launched its annual assessment of human rights around the world.   Amnesty International Report 2021/22: The State of the World’s Human Rights finds that these states, alongside corporate titans, have in fact driven deeper global inequality. It details root causes including noxious corporate greed and brutal national selfishness, as well as neglect of health and public infrastructure by governments around the world.   “2021 should have been a year of healing and recuperation. Instead, it became an incubator for deeper inequality and greater instability, a legacy caustic for years to come,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.   “Leader after leader dangled promises to ‘build back better’ to address deep-seated inequalities that exacerbated the impact of the pandemic. Instead, they have performed a tragic fable of betrayal and greed in cahoots with corporate titans. Whilst this has played out around the world, the effects have been most damaging to the most marginalized communities, including those on the front lines of endemic poverty.”   Vaccine successes undercut by self-interested nationalism and corporate greed   The rapid roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines appeared to be a scientific silver bullet, offering hope of an end to the pandemic for all.   However, despite enough production to fully vaccinate the world in 2021, by year’s end less than 4% of those living in low-income countries had been fully vaccinated.   “At the G7, G20 and COP26 summits, grandstanding on a global stage, political and economic leaders paid lip service to policies that could generate a sea change in vaccine access, reverse under-investment in social protection, and tackle the impact of climate change. Heads of Big Pharma and Big Tech spun us lines about corporate responsibility. At this watershed movement, the stage was set for recovery, and genuine meaningful change for a more equal world,” said Agnes Callamard.   “However, they squandered the opportunity, reverting to type with policies and practice that drove further inequality. Members of the Rich Boys Club offered promises publicly that they reneged on privately.”   Wealthy states such as EU member states, the UK and the USA stockpiled more doses than needed, whilst turning a blind eye as Big Pharma put profits ahead of people, refusing to share their technology to enable wider distribution of vaccines. In 2021, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna projected eye-watering profits of up to US$54 billion yet supplied less than 2% of their vaccines to low-income countries.   Big Pharma were not the only corporate giants to undermine pandemic recovery for profit. Social media companies such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter provided fertile ground for Covid-19 misinformation, allowing vaccine hesitancy to flourish. Some political leaders also acted as super-spreaders of misinformation, breeding distrust and fear for their own political gain.   “Social media companies’ allowed their lucrative algorithms to spread harmful misinformation about the pandemic, prioritizing the sensationalist and the discriminatory over truth,” said Agnes Callamard.   “The extent of their profiteering from that misinformation and the impact of that on the lives of millions mean those companies have a serious case to answer.”   Marginalized hit hardest by pandemic responses   Whilst many countries in the Global South reaped the consequences of collusion between corporate giants and western governments, devastation was compounded by health systems and economic and social support crumbling under the weight of decades of neglect. Nowhere was this felt more clearly and cruelly than in Africa, which is why Amnesty International launches its report today from South Africa.   With less than 8% of the continent’s population fully vaccinated by the end of 2021, it holds the lowest vaccination rate in the world, beleaguered by insufficient supplies provided to the COVAX facility, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Trust and through bilateral donations. Populations have been left exposed as roll-out campaigns have faltered or failed in countries with already inadequate healthcare systems.   In South Africa, approximately 750,000 children had dropped out of school by May, over three times the pre-pandemic number. In Viet Nam women migrant workers were particularly impacted, reporting food insecurity and inability to meet other basic needs. In Venezuela, the pandemic worsened a pre-existing humanitarian emergency: 94.5% of the population was living in income poverty and 76.6% in extreme poverty.   “In many countries around the world, already marginalized people paid the highest cost for the deliberate policy choices of a privileged few. The right to health and to life were violated on a massive scale, millions were left struggling to make ends meet, many were made homeless, children were left out of education, poverty rose,” said Agnes Callamard.   “The global failure to build a global response to the pandemic also sowed the seeds of greater conflict and greater injustice. Rising poverty, food insecurity, and government instrumentalization of the pandemic to repress dissent and protests – all were well planted in 2021, watered by vaccine nationalism and fertilized by greed of the richer countries.”   Conflict contagious in face of perilously weak international response   In 2021, new and unresolved conflicts erupted or persisted in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Libya, Myanmar and Yemen, with warring parties violating international human rights and humanitarian law. In their wake, civilians were made collateral damage, millions were displaced, thousands killed, hundreds subjected to sexual violence, and already fragile healthcare and economic systems were brought to the brink.   The global failure to address these multiplying conflicts provoked greater instability and devastation. The ineffectiveness of international response to these crises was most evident with the paralysis at the UN Security Council. It failed to act on atrocities in Myanmar, human rights violations in Afghanistan, war crimes in Syria. This shameful inaction, continued paralysis of multilateral bodies and lack of accountability of powerful states helped pave the way for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has flagrantly violated international law.   “In far too few instances did the needed international response come; in far too few cases were justice and accountability provided. Instead, conflict expanded. Extending over time, its impacts worsened. The numbers and diversity of intervening parties rose. New theatres of conflict opened. New weapons were tested. More deaths and injury were exacted. Life was cheapened. Global stability was brought to the brink,” said Agnes Callamard.   When we needed independent voices most, retrograde trend to stifle dissent flourished   Global trends to stifle independent and critical voices gathered steam in 2021 as governments deployed a widening gamut of tools and tactics. Human rights defenders, NGOs, media outlets and opposition leaders were the targets of unlawful detention, torture and enforced disappearance, many under the smokescreen of the pandemic.   At least 67 countries introduced new laws in 2021 to restrict freedom of expression, association or assembly. In the USA, at least 36 states introduced more than 80 pieces of draft legislation limiting freedom of assembly, whilst the UK government proposed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which would drastically curtail the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, including by expanding police powers.   Surreptitious digital technologies were further weaponized. In Russia, the government turned to facial recognition to undertake mass arrests of peaceful protesters. In China, the authorities ordered internet service providers to sever access to websites that “endangered national security”, and blocked apps on which controversial topics such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong were discussed. In Cuba, Eswatini, Iran, Myanmar, Niger, Senegal, South Sudan and Sudan, authorities resorted to internet shutdowns and disruptions to prevent people from sharing information about repression and organizing in response.   “Instead of providing room for discussion and debate so sorely needed on how best to meet the challenges of 2021, many states redoubled efforts to muzzle critical voices,” said Agnes Callamard.   If those in power want to build back broken, we must stand up to betrayal   If in 2021 those in power lacked the ambition and imagination to tackle one of the gravest threats to humanity, the same cannot be said for the people they should have represented.   Protesters took to the streets in Colombia after the government decided to raise taxes even as people were struggling to feed their families during the pandemic. In Russia, opposition rallies went ahead in the face of mass arbitrary arrests and prosecutions. Indian farmers protested new laws that they said would hurt their livelihood.   Youth and Indigenous activists around the world called out leaders for their failure to act on the climate crisis. Civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, successfully lobbied for the recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Innovative strategic litigation cases and criminal complaints were filed by NGOs against multinational companies including Nike, Patagonia and C&A for their complicity in forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.   In a great example of cooperation, the Pegasus Project – a collaboration of more than 80 journalists, with technical support from Amnesty International – revealed that the spyware of Israel’s NSO Group had been used against heads of state, activists and journalists in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Morocco, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia.   “Despite promises and pledges to the contrary, at almost every turn, leaders and corporations opted for a non-transformative path, choosing to entrench rather than overturn the systemic inequalities behind the pandemic. Yet, people the world over have made it abundantly clear that a more just world, grounded in human rights, is what they want,” said Agnes Callamard.   “The palpable and persistent resistance offered by people’s movements the world over is a beacon of hope. Uncowed and undaunted, theirs is a clarion call for a more equal world. If governments won’t build back better – if they seemingly are intent on building back broken – then we are left with little option. We must fight their every attempt to muzzle our voices and we must stand up to their every betrayal.   It is why, in the coming weeks, we are launching a global campaign of solidarity with people’s movements, a campaign demanding respect for the right to protest. We must build and harness global solidarity, even if our leaders won’t.”   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/03/political-leaders-and-corporate-titans-put-profit-and-power-ahead-of-people-betraying-promises-for-fair-recovery-from-pandemic/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2022/03/annual-report-202122/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/03/international-system-unfit-to-deal-with-global-crises-annual-report-2022/   * On Climate Action: http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/5773/2022/en/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/5604/2022/en/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/5271/2022/en/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior40/5405/2022/en/ Visit the related web page
	Cambodia should scrap rights-abusing national internet gateway by International Commission of Jurists, agencies   The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and 31 other human rights organizations call on the Cambodian authorities to revoke the Sub-Decree on the Establishment of the National Internet Gateway (NIG), three months after its intended implementation date.   Since passage of the sub-decree on February 16, 2021, the government has yet to address the serious human rights concerns raised by civil society groups and tech companies. At the same time, the government has been wholly non-transparent regarding the infrastructure, implementation, financing, and cooperating companies, agencies, and organizations involved in supporting the NIG.   The NIG sub-decree paves the way for the establishment of a digital gateway to manage all internet traffic into and out of Cambodia. Provisions in the sub-decree allow government-appointed NIG operators to block or disconnect any online connections (article 6), retain traffic data for a year and provide other network information as requested by authorities (article 14), and issue overbroad penalties for non-compliant telecommunications operators (article 16).   The sub-decree states that the purpose of the NIG is to facilitate and manage internet connections to strengthen revenue collection, protect national security, and — in terms that are overbroad, ambiguous, and prone to misuse — to “preserve social order, culture, and national tradition” (article 1).   While the exact technical infrastructure and how it will be operated is still unknown, there is little doubt the NIG’s true purpose is to enable the Cambodian government to tighten the noose on what remains of internet freedom in the country.   In April 2021, three independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council expressed concerns that the sub-decree “poses risks to the fundamental freedoms of individuals, namely the freedoms of expression and opinion and the right to privacy and may expose individuals’ personal information without their consent, which would contravene international human rights instruments and Cambodian laws.”   They reiterated this call to the government on February 1, 2022, warning that the NIG “will have a serious negative impact on internet freedom, human rights defenders and civil society in the country, further shrinking the already-restrictive civic space in Cambodia.”   Cambodia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 17 of the ICCPR protects the right of every individual against arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy. Article 19 of the ICCPR protects the right to freedom of expression. This right includes the “freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds.”   Any measures the state takes that would interfere with these rights must be provided for by law, be non-discriminatory, and be strictly necessary and proportionate to protect the rights of others, national security, public order or public health or morals.   The government has repeatedly rejected all human rights concerns about the NIG. The government has also refused to explain how the NIG’s restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information are necessary to achieve any of the legitimate aims, and failed to address the lack of proportionality of the measures.   Instead, the internet gateway is poised to restrict these rights in an overly broad manner, without any apparent limits. As UN experts, tech company representatives, and human rights advocates have pointed out, the sub-decree lacks procedural safeguards, independent oversight, and data and privacy protections.   There are grave concerns that the gateway will supercharge the government’s censorship capabilities, allowing it to scale up its website blocking. The gateway is also likely to have a chilling effect on online communications and generate self-censorship online among critical voices and independent media outlets who fear increased surveillance, harassment, and reprisals.   The sub-decree poses risks to data protection and data privacy, requiring government gateway operators to retain and share metadata. In the absence of a data protection law in Cambodia that would protect internet users from misuse of their data and provide certainty about where and how long data is retained, and who has access to it, the NIG will facilitate the authorities’ ability to identify users’ internet activities and habits, ultimately risking identifying the users themselves.   Data retention without sufficient protection for data security will increase risks to data security from third-party interference, or hackers. Centralizing internet traffic and data under the NIG also creates a vulnerability for malicious acts, without guaranteeing service providers’ capacity to adequately address the resultant increase in data security needs.   In a press statement issued on February 15, 2022, Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that it had conducted an “extensive study on infrastructure models from different countries around the world and found that most countries have internet gateways.”   No information has been provided to back these sweeping assertions, such as which infrastructure models the authorities considered, what their benefits and disadvantages are, and whether the study was done with reference to Cambodia’s human rights obligations under various international human rights treaties.   In Cambodia, the government’s rushed adoption process of the sub-decree establishing the NIG was plagued by a lack of transparency. The authorities failed to hold any consultations, much less wide and inclusive ones, and did not invite inputs by experts, civil society groups, private actors, business groups, and other interested parties prior to the sub-decree’s adoption.   The NIG appears designed to function as an authoritarian tool that will facilitate the government’s efforts to curtail free expression, association and privacy online as well as offline, and facilitate targeting of online expression by members of civil society, independent media, and the political opposition.   On February 15, 2022, the government revealed that implementation of the NIG, set to start the next day, would be delayed. No new date for the NIG implementation has been set. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications told the news outlet Nikkei Asia on February 15 that the delay was due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, another ministry spokesperson told the news outlet VOD that technical difficulties in implementing the NIG was the cause of the delay, stating that “we have to prepare to install and order equipment in order to prepare and create the gateway. And we have to give licenses to any company that the government understands that has the ability to create the gateway.”   Cambodia’s internet gateway greatly risks restricting the free flow of information between Cambodia and the rest of the world while establishing a system that will cast a wide net of surveillance across the country. Foreign governments, technology and telecommunications companies, internet service providers, business groups, UN agencies and others concerned should come together to seek to halt this wholesale attempt at information control.   http://www.icj.org/cambodia-should-scrap-rights-abusing-national-internet-gateway http://www.equaltimes.org/the-intractable-problem-of-land http://www.icj.org/tunisia-president-should-reverse-decision-to-dismiss-57-judges/ http://www.icj.org/category/news/press-releases/   June 2022   Cambodia convicts opposition figures in mass trial. (AFP, agencies)   A Phnom Penh court has convicted some 60 opposition figures in a mass trial as long-serving leader Hun Sen cracks down on dissent ahead of national elections next year.   Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has lived in France since 2016 to avoid jail for convictions he says are politically motivated, had another eight years added to his existing sentence.   Outside court, US-Cambodian lawyer and campaigner Theary Seng was dragged into a car by police after receiving a six-year jail term for treason.   "I am ready for a guilty verdict because this regime will not let me go free," Theary Seng said before her conviction. "It will be an unfair and unjust verdict because I am innocent, the others charged with me are innocent," the 51-year-old added.   Theary Seng is among scores caught up in a push to detain and arrest former members of the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), human rights defenders, and any dissenting voices to the administration.   The CNRP was banned and its leader Kem Sokha arrested before a 2018 general election, allowing Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party to win every parliamentary seat, and prompting international alarm.   The current case is purportedly linked to Sam Rainsy's failed attempt to return to Cambodia in 2019 -- moves characterised by the government as an aborted bid to overthrow Hun Sen.   LICAHDO, a Cambodian human rights group, said that almost all the defendants had been tried in asbentia, and that “Facebook posts expressing support for the former opposition party or democratic principles” made up the bulk of the prosecution’s evidence against the group.   The charges faced by those convicted on Tuesday ranged from treason to incitement and conspiracy. Several defendants have already been jailed, while many remain at large or have fled Cambodia.   "The mass trials against political opposition members are really about preventing any electoral challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen's rule, but they have also come to symbolise the death of Cambodia's democracy," Human Rights Watch spokesman Phil Robertson said.   "By creating a political dynamic that relies on intimidation and persecution of government critics, Hun Sen demonstrates his total disregard for democratic rights."   The prime minister is one of the world's longest-serving leaders, having been in power for 37 years, and is reportedly grooming his eldest son to take the reins.   Theary Seng was charged by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with conspiracy to commit treason and incitement to commit a felony.   "We are living in a dictatorship," she said, claiming Hun Sen's government "uses the law as a weapon against its own people". She added that "this regime is imprisoning liberty and freedom".   Ahead of a recent local poll, the United Nations Human Rights Office said it was disturbed by reports of opposition obstruction in a "paralysing political environment".   Hun Sen's political party later announced a landslide win. http://bit.ly/3b1j9j9   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/08/un-expert-proposes-human-rights-reform-agenda-cambodia http://www.solidar.org/en/publications/economic-and-social-rights-report-cambodia-2 http://bit.ly/3Qisz9O Visit the related web page
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