Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

The Japanese government plans to abolish the current health insurance card system in the fall of 2024, the minister for digital transformation announced on Oct. 13.

The cards will be combined into the My Number identity card.

I was instructed to work out the details so that we can gain the understanding of all concerned parties, Taro Kono said at a news conference after meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The move comes as the government proceeds with a plan to integrate identification cards into a single My Number card.

The My Number card, a digital identity card for Japanese citizens and residents, was introduced in 2016. The government started full-scale use of My Number cards as health insurance certificates in October 2021.

The government described the advantages of using the cards as health insurance certificates: My Number cards can automate reception at medical institutions through a facial recognition system and allow doctors and pharmacists to view information such as prescription records and specified medical checkups with a patients consent.

However, only around 30 percent of medical institutions and pharmacies have installed dedicated card readers. The health ministry plans to require them to introduce the systems starting in April 2023.

Only about 20 percent of the population have registered My Number cards for use as health insurance certificates.

In the Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform adopted in June this year, the government statedthat it planned to scrap health insurance cards, in principle, but has not given a specific date for the abolition.

The government is considering reviewing the procedures and forms of My Number cards to ensure all residents obtain them before abolishing the current health insurance cards, according to Kono.

The government aims to have almost all citizens obtain My Number cards by the end of March 2023, but the issuance rate still stood at only 49 percent as of the end of September.

The focus is whether the government can further spread My Number cards before the abolition of health insurance cards, in principle.

Since having aMy Number card is not mandatory, the governments explanations and public understanding will be essential.

The government also plans to incorporate the drivers license function into the My Number card by the end of March 2025. Kono said the government is considering moving up the schedule. Officials are not planning to abolish the existing driver's licenses.

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Japan plans to abolish health insurance cards in fall 2024 | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis -

I think a lot about the constant work of reimagining the world as we at MLK50: Justice Through Journalism strive to tell stories through the prism of power, poverty and policy.

I discover more and more how much of that work is unlearning some of the approaches to journalism Ive been taught.

Chief among that unlearning is that you should always trust the police and what they say and report.

Long before George Floyds murder and the contradictory police reports that describe it, I had a complicated relationship with law enforcement.

Ive never forgotten Randy Evans, a teenager who was inexplicably killed by a police officer in Brooklyn, N.Y., when I was a child. During the trial, the police officer claimed he had a one-time seizure and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He later spent about a year in a facility.

And yet, I didnt grow up afraid of police officers. I held that story and all the others after them outside of myself, not quite in the one bad apple place but also not understanding it as a part of what American policing was built on.

I remember years later, when I lived in Los Angeles, being in a car with a friend, a South Asian man, a year or two after the 1992 L.A. riots. I was at the wheel and we drove near a police car. I cant remember if we thought the police officer was going to stop us for some reason or whether something else happened. What I do remember was looking over at him, my eyes wide because I could literally feel the fear radiating from him. He was terrified of an encounter with the police. Later, sharing the incident with friends on the East Coast, I used it as an example of what it was like to live in L.A. in the 90s. Again, I saw it as a singular event.

There are other elements involved here (chief among them, Id say, pop culture depictions of police and policing), but my point is that my background made it easy for me to accept the journalistic practice of believing police at all times and holding their documents and statements as bible truth.

It seems so crazy; police, of course, are people, which means they are capable of covering up, making themselves look better than they should, making mistakes, misinterpreting and yes, lying. And yet, journalism operated and, in some quarters, still operates as if police cant lie.

Thats why MLK50 was a sponsor last week of a webinar by Interrupting Criminalization, Dont be a Copagandist, a teaching for journalists, storytellers and activists about how to cover violence and crime with an abolition lens. It was hosted by journalist Lewis Raven Wallace and researcher Andrea Ritchie, who co-authored a just-released book, No More Police: A Case for Abolition, along with Mariame Kaba.

About 500 people registered to learn and unlearn; to hold police accountable in the way we aim to hold all public officials, and to better understand how to dismantle and illuminate the powerful narratives around crime and punishment. We talked, we got resources that offered specific ways to improve our journalism and we shared our stories.

While MLK50 has a history of challenging the Memphis Police Department, I know this webinar deepened our commitment to think about the ways we disseminate the information we get from the MPD.

Especially now, after the high-profile crimes of last month, we need to be vigilant that tragedy turns into opportunity for a better community. At MLK50, we want to be among those who look for solutions that prevent and interrupt violence.

Imagine that.

Adrienne Johnson Martin is executive editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Contact her at adrienne.martin@mlk50.com

This story is brought to you by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit newsroom focused on poverty, power and policy in Memphis. Support independent journalism by making a tax-deductible donation today. MLK50 is also supported by these generous donors.

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Are you buying the copaganda? - mlk50.com

In November, voters in five states will decide whether to close a gap in their constitutions that allows forced captive labor.

The 13th Amendment banned slavery in 1865 except for instances of criminal punishment. On Nov. 8, citizens in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont will vote on ballot measures in their states to close the legal loophole.

According to June report by the ACLU, about 76 percent of incarcerated workers surveyed by the Bureau of Justice Statistics say they are forced to work or face additional punishment.

After the Civil War, the former owners of enslaved people looked for ways to continue using forced labor, wrote Shane Bauer, author of American Prison: A Reporters Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment.

With Southern economies devastated by the war, businessmen convinced states to lease them their prisoners, he wrote. Convicts dug levies, laid railroad tracks, picked cotton, and mined coal for private companies and planters. The system, known as convict leasing, was profitable not only for the lessees, but for the states themselves, which typically demanded a cut of the profits.

About 800,000 of the 1.2 million people in Americas prisons are incarcerated workers. The prison workforce makes $11 billion a year for the U.S. economy. Tennessee once made 10 percent of its state budget from convict leasing, according to Bauer. About 20 states still have a clause that allows captive labor.

Rhode Island was the only state to remove the provision when it was written into the state constitution in 1842, reports show. Voters in Colorado, Utah and Nebraska approved ballot measures to remove the language in 2018, and New Jersey, California, Texas, Florida and Ohio are also considering closing the loophole.

Incarcerated workers in most states are paid cents per hour. However, according to the ACLU, about eight states, including Florida, Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas, do not pay incarcerated workers.

Louisianas ballot measure bans the use of involuntary servitude except as it applies to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice.

Louisiana state Rep. Alan Seabaugh, a Republican who opposed the measure, said the new amendment is symbolic and technically allows slavery in the state notorious for convict labor.

This is the crown jewel of criminal justice reform, said Curtis Ray Davis II, who served 25 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, which was once a cotton plantation. Prison cotton and other penal farms still produce millions of dollars of goods and products today.

Most people believed it was impossible to get the amendment on the ballot in Louisiana, but Louisiana and America should not be in the business of legalized slavery, Davis told Pew Charitable Trusts.

Alabamas measure asks voters to decide whether to remove all racist language from their state constitution, taking it a step further.

U.S. House Rep. Nikema Williams of Georgia last month called on Congress to pass the 2021 Abolition Amendment co-sponsored by 172 other House members. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon has also backed the amendment in the Senate.

Passing the Abolition Amendment now will bring the Constitution closer to its goal of freedom for all as we continue to form a more perfect union, Williams said in a Sept. 16 statement.

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'Crown Jewel of Criminal Justice System': Voters In Five States Will Address Legal Loophole That Still Allows Slavery - Atlanta Black Star

The Tufts University Police Department hosted a Coffee with TUPD event at Hotung Caf on Oct. 5. Tufts Dining provided free coffee and breakfast to students who came to speak with members of TUPD and the Department of Public Safety.

The purpose of the event was to foster closer relationships between the Department of Public Safety and the Tufts community by providing a space for interpersonal connection, according to TUPDs Medford Station Commander Lieutenant Jameson Yee.

The goal is attendees enjoyed their time at the event, and made new positive connections with our staff, and should be comfortable contacting us as a resource and support if ever needed, Yee wrote in an email to the Daily.

Students and officers engaged in casual conversation over their coffees, discussing everything from students majors and hobbies to officers past experiences in law enforcement, as well as any shared interests. TUPD representatives were also able to answer students and community members questions about the department.

Jerry Zhao, a member of the Tufts Dining marketing team and an undergraduate student who attended to take photos, discussed the role the event had in facilitating interactions between students and TUPD.

I think this is really helpful because usually students wouldnt just approach TUPD in the dining hall and talk to them, Zhao, a junior, said. But you know, a more relaxing space [is] more helpful.

Zhao believes that the event benefited both students and officers. He noted that Coffee with TUPD provided students with a better understanding of TUPDs role on campus.

I think the good thing about having more connections will be that the students will [have] more leverage on the resources that the TUPD has not only emergency events but also in cases [where] students simply need help, Zhao said.

He reasoned that events such as these can help officers connect with the community and provide them with a unique opportunity to hear students perspectives.

Itd be nice to get students to really know that these arent just cold officers that are sitting in their office and driving around. [They] actually care about students and [want] to interact with them, Zhao said. And [from] the officers perspective, its good to know what students really want, and that wouldnt be possible without really talking to them.

Kristin Sarkisian, an administrative assistant at The Fletcher School, thought the event was successful in creating more connections with the Tufts community. Coffee with TUPD helped Sarkisian understand what resources were available to her as a staff member.

I work at The Fletcher School, so I work with a bunch of students. I have student workers that report to me, so I talked [with TUPD] about how they could help us as far as safety is concerned, Sarkisian said. I hope to see more events like this in the future.

Another attendee, Angela Chen, a member of the Student Prison Education and Abolition Coalition, noted the importance of centering student safety during interactions with TUPD.

Not everybody feels comfortable around police, because of the general climate of policing in the U.S., Chen, a sophomore, said. Its definitely an obstacle.

Chen was glad that the officers seemed open to communication, and she is thinking about setting up a formal discussion to get to know them better.

I think its maybe a good step to foster more community between TUPD and the students because it seems like theres a pretty big disconnect, Chen said. I think its definitely something that they need to work on.

Chen hopes TUPD will work to foster a more comfortable relationship with students outside of coffee events.

I imagine its much different than if youre encountering the police in a situation of crisis, Chen said. So something like this might be helpful for getting to know students better, but it would be important for them to translate that kind of connection into when theyre actually called onto [the] scene.

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TUPD aims to connect with Tufts community over coffee - Tufts Daily

When Bad Bunny dropped his critically acclaimed album Un Verano Sin Ti, fans flocked to the dream-pop track Andrea, which features the Puerto Rican indie duo Buscabulla. Immediately, many listeners thought of Andrea Ruiz Costas, a Puerto Rican woman who was murdered by her partner in 2021. Though Bad Bunny later said that the song isnt directly about Ruiz, Andrea has become an anthem that speaks to the rampant gender violence and growing femicide rates plaguing his home.

It is perhaps the most poignant moment on the album, one that brings up the deep-rooted history of violence against Puerto Rican women, which includes a forced sterilization program the U.S. ran in the 1950s and coincides with the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, likely to impact access to safe and legal abortion in the U.S. territory. In 2021, Puerto Ricos governor declared a state-of-emergency on the island after growing violence against women, something many grassroots organizations and on-the-groud groups are working to address.

Puerto Rican women, and women in Latin America overall, will continue to suffer behind white patriarchal ideology, says domestic violence lawyer and professor at Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Ro Piedras, Mariana Iriarte. She suggests a history of toxic masculinity behind media and culture is a major reason why there continues to be violent behavior toward women in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Although better data on gender-based violence is needed now more than ever, we know the COVID pandemic heightened femicides and attempted femicides, especially in Latin America, where many countries have been grappling with a deep-seated history of unequal gender dynamics. According to emerging evidence from the World Bank Group, Latin America saw increases in gender-based violence that can be linked to stricter social distancing measures: In Colombia, there was a boost in domestic violence calls by 91 percent, while in Brazil, the probability of femicides more than doubled during intense periods of isolation. Databases like the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean aim to annually consolidate and update statistics on womens violent and gender-based deaths, based on the reported incidents provided by governments, which leaves room for egregious and incomplete documentation.

The Caribbean continues to have some of the highest rates of violence as well. The Dominican Republic had the second-highest rate of femicides reported in 2020, according to the United Nations. Just one motoconcho ride away from the Dominican Republic, the Haitian feminist organization Ngs Mawon hosted a campaign against femicides earlier this year, utilizing street art by local artists like V!cky Onlien. They simultaneously raised awareness about Haitis environmental issues, which they see as a direct correlation with how society treats Haitian women. The organization Alas Tensas Gender Observatory (OGAT) in Cuba, as well as the #YoSiTeCreo platform in Cuba, verified 18 femicides on the island this year alone, leading groups such as Red Femenina de Cuba to urge the Cuban government declare a state of emergency for gender violence.

Despite todays widened visibility and social criticism, femicide continues to rise throughout the Caribbean, with women from Black and poorer regions being disportionately affected, Iriarte explains. She helps victims of domestic violence in Puerto Rico obtain protection orders and works intimately with groups such as Taller Salud, a community-based feminist organization dedicated to improving acess to health care, to reducing violence, and encourage economic growth through education and activism for women. An essential part of the work needed is to examine issues of gender-based violence in an intersectional way that addresses the specific challenges and oppression Black and trans women face.

We have to look at this from an intersectional lens; a white cishetero woman is not in the same position as a Black lesbian woman, she says. These intersectionalities are fundamental; we cannot talk about femicide without talking about the femicide rates involving trans women, let alone Black trans women.

One constant obstacle is a lacking support infrastructure and a police system that often works against the interests of Black women in particular. Weve customarily made the association of safety with law enforcement, and the reality is when you look at the stats, the police do not serve us, Iriarte says. They do not serve our most vulnerable. For Black and trans women in particular, police are quite frankly not an option. She continues, If you are a Black or trans woman in Puerto Rico and you seek help from the cops, you yourself risk going to jail, being physically assaulted, or worse, assassinated under their watch.

She urges the redistribution of wealth in the abolition of police. Weve adopted political strategies from the Black feminist political movements of the United States. Police abolition isnt just a matter of deconstructing police, but of redistributing the funds and resources robbed of the communities theyve sworn to protect and serve Thats money taken away from the communities that need it most.

What is happening is alarming and more so in a scenario of economic and political crisis. We ask for help and support from all projects, organizations, and conscious and sensitive citizens, in seeking solutions to this problem, reads an excerpt from a statement of emergency that Cubas Alas Tensas earlier this year, expressing a similar distrust of police from their neighboring activists in Puerto Rico. The PNR [Polica Nacional Revolucionaria] does not do its job, use social networks and make it viral. If you have information about events of this type, write to us, and we will carefully investigate the sources. We need a citizen alliance for the end of feminicides.

In the Dominican Republic, feminist organizations have also been tackling similar issues. The lack of protections women and girls face in the country has also played out in music and popular culture: On April 22, ahead of Bad Bunnys summer soundtrack, dembow rapper Rochy RD was arrested in Santo Domingo for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor and participating in child sex trafficking. According to a lawsuit filed against him and the artist La Demente 1212, the couple recruited and paid low-income girls between the ages of 16 and younger to engage in sexual activities with the rapper. While the recording artist awaited trial inside La Victoria prison, followers and colleagues across social media protested his innocence while blaming victims under the guise of respectability politics.

Aquelarre RD is one such collective that has been raising awareness of what women and girls are up against since 2019. They formed in response to not just the lack of state protection around Black and queer women in the Dominican Republic, but a lack of solidarity and recognition among other so-called feminist movements on the island.

We realized that the Dominican feminist movement, apart from the fact that it is largely concentrated in the capital of Santo Domingo, is not interested in connecting with all bases of feminism, which is to say that this is a movement made up of women who are privileged and from middle-to-upper class society, says Aquelarre RD founder, Esther Giron. They are not interested in connecting with the many different issues that uniquely impact Black women living in barrios, in populous provinces, in campos, where many are fighting over basic needs, like healthcare, access to healthy food, employment, and education.

Currently, Aquelarre RD consists of 13 members from throughout the Monseor Nouel province in the central city of Bonao. They have dedicated their efforts to creating spaces focused on safety and education for Black and LGBTQ women from neglected environments while championing womens rights and legal protection through popular education (or education in the language of the people), community workshops, and political activism and protest.

In the case of Rochy RD, the violation of various articles of the Dominican Penal Code, including the Code for the Protection of Children and Adolescents were cited, yet local activists understood why justice would likely not be served. There is no social framework for those laws to ever actually be put into action, Dominican cultural critic and educator Zahira Kelly said in a recent interview. The police do not care; theyre the first ones to blame the victim. The laws in this case become useless, because not only does the state not care to enforce those laws, the social norms here say that they should not be enforced either.

In September of last year, many young feminist leaders from various national groups met in Loma de Blanco, Bonao, Dominican Republic to reflect, share, and reimagine the challenges of the womens and feminist movement of the Dominican Republic, hoping to update the nations sex, gender and racial discourse while outlining the deeply fragmented and obscured history of violence against Black and brown bodies.

As a result of that gathering, the National Pre-Encounter of Young Women (PNMJ) issued a political declaration to the state, with a thorough account of demands that include the construction of an anti-racist, plural and popular feminist movement that connects with the demands of Black women of the popular sectors and peripheries, and criticzes the feminism that prevails in the Dominican Republic, which has lost its social base and responds to Eurocentric currents of thought and universalizes the category of women, ignoring the oppressions that go beyond the essentialism of the sex-gender category; such as class and race.

While the fight for womens right frequently focuses on access to abortion, Giron notes that countries in the Carribbean need muli-prong solutions that capture the nuances of the struggles for gender equality. It seems like the Dominican feminist movement stops at abortion, which is super important, but that is simply one struggle, Giron says. We cannot speak about the right to bodily autonomy if we are not considering what that looks like for our most vulnerable women and girls.

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The Ongoing Fight Against Femicides and Violence Against Women in the Caribbean - Rolling Stone

The Herald

Phyllis Kachere Deputy News Editor (Convergence)

For 11 years following his death sentence and confirmation by the High Court and the Supreme Court in Zimbabwe in 2009, Chivhu-born Leo Matibe (39) was confined to a single cell for 23 hours every day.

The remaining hour was dedicated to daily morning and evening 30-minute exercise time at Harare Central Prison.

Locked in his prison single cell for 23 hours a day with only his conscience for company and the prison wardens, during the few minutes they brought him his meals, Matibe had no contact with the outside world.

As a condemned to death prisoner, he had no idea when he would meet his fate as that information was never shared with such inmates.

Any foot-steps shuffling in the prison corridor would bring shivers to his whole body and sweat would break out.

What if the footsteps belonged to the hangman on his way to take him to the gallows?

My fear would be heightened each time there was a reflection of light from the direction of the gallows room lights, said Matibe, a former tout and police officer who turned armed robber and murderer.

That could be a preparation for someones hanging. That someone could be me or any of my fellow condemned prisoners.

For 11 years, I lived with this torture. Never knowing when I would be hanged as prescribed by the sentence I received after I killed South African citizen Martinus Jacobus Oosthuyse during an armed robbery turned carjacking.

Matibe said when he left Harare to go to Bulawayo in 2006, he associated with a gang of two tried and tested criminals, terrorising the community, robbing and committing a spate of murders.

Several times we escaped, even attending the funerals of those we would have murdered, he said.

Matibe had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment in 2020 upon which he was moved to Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service officer-in-charge at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison Chief Superintendent Moses Gukurume said they had 82 inmates, whose death sentences were commuted to life.

We are also housing four death row inmates who are in transit to start the process of having the sentences commuted to life, he said. Removing the death penalty gives the prisoners a second chance to life. It also gives a chance to the work that we do as correctional officers to rehabilitate the prisoners.

In an interview, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said: His Excellency President Mnangagwa, has reiterated that Zimbabwe should abolish the death penalty and as the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, we are in full support of that position. However, our hands are tied as this issue is a matter to be decided by the people of Zimbabwe.

Notwithstanding our position as Government on this emotive issue, we believe that the decision to abolish the death penalty should come from the general public, one which we should not impose on them as Government.

The reason I state this is due to how it was engraved in our Constitution. The current position in the Constitution reflects a compromise agreement between the parties to the Constitution making process, which has largely been viewed as a tremendous starting point towards the total abolition of the death penalty.

Minister Ziyambi said the process of coming up with the Constitution as an activity included public consultations and a referendum where an overwhelming majority of people voted for retaining the death penalty.

Resultantly, section 48 (2) of the Constitution permits the sentencing of men between the ages of 21 and 70 years if they are convicted of murder committed in aggravating circumstances, he said.

Therefore, the sentence cannot be carried out on women and male persons who are under the age of 21 and over the age of 70 years.

We believe that the 2013 Constitution ushered in an era in Zimbabwe which has helped highlight the question of the death penalty and has encouraged to sway public perception to move toward the inevitable abolishment of the death penalty in law and practice.

President Mnangagwa is the leading light in the campaign against the death penalty, having been charged with treason back in 1965 and sentenced to hang only to escape the gallows on account of his young age.

A lawyer with parliamentary and legal watch dog, Veritas, Ms Kuzivakwashe Ngodza told participants to a media sensitisation workshop on World Day Against Death Penalty on October 10: The waiting period between the date of sentence and date of execution contributes to psychological decline of a persons health.

This results in mental distress of anticipating execution. The harsh death row living conditions contribute to physical deterioration. The method of execution causes exceptional pain and anguish not only to the prisoner, but to the family and friends.

The death penalty in Zimbabwe can only be abolished through an amendment of the Constitution following a referendum, he said. Therefore, the motion to amend Section 48 (2) can reasonably be triggered by the representative of the people in the National Assembly.

Therefore, a petition from the general public to the National Assembly might be sufficient to trigger the process, taking into account the resources available to conduct the exercise.

Senior lawyer Mr Brian Crozier told participants that periodically, the President of Zimbabwe amnesties prisoners, commuting death sentences to life imprisonment.

But the courts continue sentencing people to death, so the death row always fills up and conditions remain appalling, he said.

Death penalty is the killing of a person for committing a crime. It is also called capital punishment or the death sentence. In Zimbabwe, the law says it must be carried out by hanging the person by the neck until he is dead.

Section 339(2) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act says that persons sentenced to death must be hanged by the neck until they are dead, they must be strangled to death.

Mr Crozier said the last person to be hanged in Zimbabwe was in July 2005 and since then, the murder rate has not decreased significantly, showing that the death penalty did not deter crime.

Prisoners awaiting execution are kept on death row and are kept in solitary confinement, he said. They are not told when they will be hanged they are in constant suspense. They lose touch with relatives and become just numbers, non-persons.

Out of the 195 United Nations Member States, only 55 (28 percent) keep the death penalty in practice. In Africas 54 States, only 15 (28 percent) carry out executions.

Out of the 16 SADC Member States, only one carries out executions, said Mr Crozier. The UN General Assembly has resolved six times that Member States should suspend all executions pending abolition.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) has called for the death penalty to be abolished and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said that the death penalty has no place in the 21st century.

Mr Crozier said lobbying for the abolition of the death penalty had also involved churches, with the Roman Catholic Church amending its catechism in 2018 to state that the death penalty was inadmissible and that the church worked for its abolition worldwide.

In 1988, the Anglican Church declared that the church would speak out against the death penalty, while the United Methodist Church in its social principles states that the death penalty denies Christs power to redeem human beings, he said.

He argued that Section 48 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe says that a law may (not must) provide for the death penalty.

Parliament can pass an Act to remove the death penalty from all statutes that provide for it, said Mr Crozier. Abolishing the death penalty does not need a constitutional amendment.

With 66 prisoners currently condemned to death to date, Minister Ziyambi said Zimbabwe did not have a hangman.

It is our view as Government that the majority in favour of the death penalty at the time it was enshrined in our Constitution did not realise that section 48 (2) of the Constitution was contrary to section 48 (1) and other provisions of our Constitution that guarantee the right to life for all, he said.

Originally posted here:

Ex-condemned prisoner relives 11-year wait for hangmans noose - The Herald

In the central hall of Tate Britains Neo-Classical home are dozens of figures who are caught mid-step as they process, perhaps out of the museums hallowed galleries and out into the surrounding area. Is this a parade of some kind? Carnival, perhaps? Or are these elaborately dressed people mourning a lost family or friend, whose funeral they are either departing or attending?

These figures are part of Hew Lockes The Procession, this years commission for a site-specific work by a contemporary British artist. His piece is deliberately ambiguous, leaving it open to many different interpretations, all of them intriguing. The overall effect is spectacular.

In a parade, you would typically stand still as the revelers zoom past you. Here, however, viewers are the ones who walk the length of the procession. In doing so, youre able to admire the exquisite details paid to their costumes, headdresses, and banners.

Lockes Procession begins with child drummers, a flutist, figures on horseback, and women in voluminous dresses that makes them appear as they are floating above the crowd. Their garments range from sleek black suits to quilt-like skirts made from brightly colored and patterned fabrics. Locke has described the piece as an extended poem.

But this is no ordinary procession. Instead, its one that contends directly with Britains colonial history and its violent ends. It pays close attention to Henry Tate, the sugar refinery merchant whose wealth was created through the transatlantic slave trade, however indirectly, and whose donation of art during the 19th century helped establish what is today Tate Britain.

In an interview with curator Elena Cripp published by Tate Etc., Locke, who also currently has the faade commission at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, said he was spurred to create the piece after witnessing the press briefing for another Tate Britain show, 2015s Artist and Empire.

The line to toe was laid out: that Henry Tate made his money from sugar cubes, but had nothing to do with slavery, as it was after abolition, Locke told Crippa. Bish bosh, move on, the oracle had spoken, and there was no blame or guilt at the gallery to do with sugar and its problematic history. And I kept thinking, this feels uncomfortable. It was a statement that I had difficulty with.

For over a decade, Locke has collected certificates of company shares for firms that are long defunct, like the Jamaica-based West India Improvement Company or the Black Star Line, a shipping company founded by Marcus Garvey that was part of the Back-to-Africa movement. Images of the former have been used to create garments for several of the figures, while a picture of the latter certificate is exhibited here, blown-up at a huge scale and paired with an archival photograph of sugar cutters in a field, who labor away as workers load bananas onto a boat. The figure holding this banner wears a garment that has incorporated into its design the infamous 1788 illustration of the Brooks Slave Ship, which showed the inhumane conditions in which Africans, densely packed together, were held below deck on their way to be sold into slavery.

Other elements within this grand installation explore the history of the Haitian revolution that led to the countrys independence in 1804; our ongoing climate disaster, which is intimately related to colonialist violence in Global South; and monuments to Empire, in particular those that exist in Guyana, where Lockes father (also an artist) was born and where Locke lived from around 5 until 20, when he returned to the U.K. for art school.

Theres much to glean from this work and the various, connected histories that bind us together in this now-globalized world, no matter how disparate those lineages may initially seem.

Im proposing a complex history, Locke adds in the Tate Etc. interview. There are lots of messy nuances in history, so my commission is like a spiders web, with one thing linking to another. You may think, this doesnt link to that, but for me, even if its not necessarily literal, theres a poetic link. Youre talking about a global situation and thats even more relevant now because of climate change and how that connects us all.

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At Tate Britain, Hew Locke Powerfully Reckons with Colonialist Histories and Their Lingering Aftereffects - ARTnews

DELIVERED BYStatement by Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights

AT77th session of the General Assembly, Third Committee - Item 69

LOCATIONNew York

Mr. Chairperson,Excellencies,

It is my honour to present the Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 48/141.

The report provides an overview of activities by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) between 1 January and 30 June 2022, in line with the thematic priorities reflected in the OHCHR Management Plan 2022-2023.

I also wish to take this opportunity, on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Office, to extend our warmest welcome to Under-Secretary-General Volker Trk, who will take up his official functions as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights next week in Geneva.

We gather at a time of significant upheaval experienced by people everywhere: Water, energy and food insecurity, devastating natural disasters, financial instability and soaring inflation, raging conflict, unprecedented inequalities and persistent impunity.

These interlocking crises are triggering profound uncertainty for what the future holds. Growing disparity between international standards and the reality on the ground is generating mistrust between peoples and communities.

In this context, Our Common Agenda and the Call to Action for Human Rights of the Secretary-General serve as the blueprint for our joint efforts. Guided by the aspirations of the United Nations Charter, they aim at greater fulfilment of human rights world-wide.

As of 30 June 2022, OHCHR had 103 human rights field presences worldwide. Implementing the Call to Action remained central to OHCHRs work during the reporting period. With its emphasis on system-wide responsibility for human rights and on ensuring human rights integration at country-level, the initiative has brought the United Nations system together in seven thematic areas, generating genuine commitment across all entities.

Our Office advised governments and relevant stakeholders on integrating human rights in national legal reforms and economic and social policies to help tackle inequalities and address human rights gaps in efforts to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Office advocated for universal social protection, universal and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good and for universal health coverage as a vital component of the right to health. We also underlined the importance of debt management and relief and creating necessary fiscal space to maintain essential services for people.

Together with UNEP, UNDP, the United Nations Environment Management Group and other partners, OHCHR advanced the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. We also advocated for integrating the right to development into climate action, biodiversity action and South-South Cooperation. Our Office also continued developing guidance for United Nations entities on human rights due diligence and impact of digital technologies.

In the area of sustainable development, OHCHR increased its country-focused advice on integrating human rights and human rights-based approaches into development policies to support realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. From January to June 2022, we collaborated with United Nations field presences on 26 Common Country Analysis, and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework processes towards greener and more inclusive recoveries.

To promote the human rights-based approach to data, OHCHR supported the signing of memorandums of understanding between national human rights institutions and others in Albania, Jordan, Moldova, Mongolia, and the Philippines with a view to operationalizing United Nations guidance in this area.

Together with other United Nations entities, OHCHR advocated for strengthened protection of the right to adequate food, and the rights to water and sanitation.

On the right to development, our advocacy, collaboration and partnerships focused on international cooperation and solidarity, sustainable finance and investment, access to science, renewable energy and environmentally sound technology, including their womens rights and gender equality dimensions.

Excellencies,

In the area of peace and security, OHCHR pursued its substantive and strategic support to human rights components in United Nations peace operations and special political missions. Through its strategic engagement with Security Council members and with other relevant United Nations entities, the Office sought to strengthen the consideration of human rights in Security Council resolutions, and to support implementation of human rights mandates through training, technical assistance and the implementation of compliance frameworks.

Our activities encompassed implementation of the United Nations Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (HRDDP), strengthening OHCHRs information management and data analysis capacity to enhance early warning, prevention, monitoring and response and ensuring that human rights remain a priority in the mandatory training materials for military and police personnel in United Nations missions.

In Ethiopia, between April and June 2022, OHCHR strengthened the capacity of civil society actors to monitor and report on early warning indicators for the prevention of community-based conflicts that could escalate into human rights abuses and violations. Local early warning networks were established and now are operational in six locations across the country. The Office also worked on integrating human rights in the African Unions continental early warning system.

As of 30 June, OHCHR had 22 ongoing Peacebuilding Fund-supported projects across all regions. For instance, in Honduras, OHCHR and FAO launched a project to prevent and manage social conflicts related to access to land in peasant and indigenous communities. In Serbia, OHCHR contributed to the United Nations Country Team Action Plan on Social Cohesion and Building Trust, mapping a strategy for the United Nations in Serbia to address regional reconciliation and hate speech.

Advancing protection of the human rights of women remains a priority. OHCHR strengthened the capacity of women's organizations and key stakeholders on sexual and gender-based violence, strategic litigation on sexual and reproductive rights (for instance in Central America), access to justice and human-rights based investigation of gender-based killings. In Haiti, OHCHR developed a protection analysis on sexual violence against women and girls in marginalized areas of Port-au-Prince related to gang criminality. In Mali, OHCHR launched a Quick Impact Project to support and empower 30 vulnerable women and girls exposed to or survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. In Paraguay, the Office published a guide to address gender stereotyping by the judiciary and strengthened the capacities of judicial personnel. In Sudan, we strengthened the capacity of the Ministry of Social Development to address violence against women and girls.

In the area of humanitarian action, OHCHR also focused on mainstreaming the centrality of protection in the United Nations responses in Afghanistan and in relation to the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and to gang violence in Haiti.

Mr. Chairperson,

Today we know that greater equality can be an even more powerful engine than growth in reducing extreme poverty - a key goal of the 2030 Agenda.

The Office expanded its work to tackle inequality and discrimination, by delivering technical assistance, and monitoring and reporting on violations.

Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 43/1 and 47/21, OHCHR took action towards transformative change for racial justice and equality. For instance, OHCHR provided technical advice on the elaboration of the National Policy for Afro-Peruvians (2022-2030) in Peru and on the draft Law on the Protection of Equality and Prohibition of Discrimination in Montenegro.

The Office conducted monitoring missions to The Gambia and the Colombia-Panama border on migrants rights, and delivered trainings for border officials in Mauritania, Thailand, the Middle East and North Africa as well as workshops on climate change, migration and human rights in the Sahel.

In Brazil, Georgia, Guatemala, Jamaica, Malawi, Moldova, Mozambique and Ukraine, OHCHR advised on the incorporation of international standards on the rights of persons with disabilities into domestic legal systems and their justiciability. The Office also prepared guidance on the rights of older persons within the framework of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, and to the private sector on tackling discrimination against LGBTI persons. The United Nations Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples supported the participation of indigenous representatives in intergovernmental processes, including on climate change.

Excellencies,

Accountability is a crucial component of upholding human rights, and in restoring trust in institutions and governance structures.

OHCHR supported States and other stakeholders in designing and implementing inclusive, context-specific and victim-centred transitional justice processes, including in Colombia, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Guatemala, The Gambia, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, the Republic of Korea, South Sudan and Syria. In the DRC, OHCHR supported the establishment of a civil society working group on transitional justice, of the National Joint Committee charged with conducting community-level consultations and the establishment of a provincial Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission in the Kasai region.

Our Office monitored, trained and advised State institutions and other national stakeholders to strengthen the administration of justice and the rule of law. For instance, in Burundi and Mali, OHCHR advised on the revision of the Military Justice Code and related policies. In the Republic of Korea, OHCHR trained officials in the documentation and preservation of evidence of crimes against humanity. In Mexico, OHCHR promoted the creation of the Extraordinary Forensic Identification Mechanism (MEIF) to address the backlog in the forensic identification of over 52,000 unidentified human remains.

OHCHR continued advocating for the abolition of the death penalty, including in the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore and Zambia. OHCHR also promoted a human rights-based approach to countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism and provided technical advice on national policies and legislation.

Excellencies,

Participation is a central pillar and principle of human rights, and our Office advocated for more inclusive and safer civil society participation in all United Nations processes.

Transparency and broader civic space and participation are indispensable to help steer efforts towards transformative and greener societies, especially in times of crisis. A vibrant civic space is a lever of a stable, secure society. OHCHR continued documenting challenges facing defenders and journalists worldwide, offline and online. The Office supported human rights defenders and defenders networks, including in Southern Africa and in the Pacific, and, together with the Iraqi Network for Social Media, it trained 200 defenders on digital rights and online security. In Mauritius and Uzbekistan, OHCHR trained government officials, NHRIs and youth groups on the right to participate.

As part of the implementation of the Secretary-Generals Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, OHCHR intensified its advocacy for rights-based online content governance by directly engaging with Member States, technology companies and multilateral financial institutions.

OHCHR also monitored human rights and conducted related advocacy in the context of electoral processes including in Chile, Colombia, the Congo, Ecuador, the Gambia, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) and Zambia.

Training and education activities continued in cooperation with universities and institutes, including in Liberia, Mexico and Niger. In February 2022, OHCHR co-published with Equitas a guide on good practices in human rights education programming.

Turning now to the international human rights mechanisms cornerstones of the United Nations human rights system. While all ten treaty bodies have already resumed in-person sessions, COVID-19 related restrictions resulted in a greater backlog. As of 30 June 2022, 426 State reports and 1,868 communications were pending review by the relevant Committees. Drawing on the co-facilitators Report on the process of the consideration of the state of the United Nations human rights treaty body system, the Chairpersons of the treaty bodies agreed to establish a predictable 8-year calendar of reviews that covers all treaty body reporting procedures and all States Parties.

Through virtual and hybrid modalities, OHCHR supported the Human Rights Council in the holding of two regular sessions and one urgent debate and one special session on the Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Ukraine Stemming from the Russian Aggression.

The Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to support the participation of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States in the work of the Human Rights Council facilitated the participation of 11 delegates (4 women, 7 men).

OHCHR assisted governments, National Human Rights Institutions, civil society organizations and United Nations Country Teams in the preparation of reports for the UPR, including in Brazil, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Morocco and Tunisia. 25 Member States benefited from the support of the Voluntary Fund for Participation in the UPR.

With support from our Office, 58 special procedures and their Coordination Committee participated in various United Nations processes, resumed all mandated activities in person, concluded 24 country visits and sent 336 communications.

OHCHR also supported Member States in establishing and strengthening national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up including in the Bahamas, the Comoros, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Malaysia, North Macedonia, the Philippines, Serbia and Togo. OHCHR redesigned the National Recommendations Tracking Database, a tool to assist Member States in managing and tracking implementation of recommendations and in preparing reports. The redesigned version will be rolled out in 2022.

With a view to strengthen integration of human rights mechanisms recommendations into efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the Office produced the UPR Practical Guidance for Heads of United Nations Missions, available in all UN languages, and, jointly with UNDP, a new Repository of United Nations Good Practices on how the UPR process supports sustainable development.

Under its 2023 call for applications, the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture awarded, respectively, annual grants for 43 projects to assist 13,012 victims in 33 Member States and for 184 projects to assist 46,600 victims in 92 Member States.

The trust and support of Member States is critical for the Office to undertake its work. Despite limited resources, OHCHR responds to its growing workload as effectively as it can by continually reassessing and evaluating the impact of our work in people's daily lives. In this regard, by extending its Office Management Plan through 2023, the Office has maintained its overall strategic direction, while placing additional emphasis in areas that are particularly relevant and continuing to implement its mandate and to monitor and report on human rights concerns worldwide.

Excellencies,

Global challenges require global solutions. We need to intensify joint efforts to defend the pillars on which the United Nations was established: universal human rights, peaceful settlement of disputes, in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, and international cooperation and solidarity.

Human rights can chart the course and help inform the necessary decisions to address the root causes of inequality and to meet the threats posed by political and economic instability. When implemented in a way that delivers concrete change for people, human rights can bridge the divide between communities, help make peace with nature and point the way to sustainable development.

Let us not waver from our aim: working together to uphold the enduring principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Thank you.

Originally posted here:

Presentation of the Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - World - ReliefWeb

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Thousands of sanitation employees of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) went on an indefinite strike on Friday demanding their regularisation, and payment of pending salaries and bonus ahead of Diwali. Former mayor Jai Prakash, who led themediation talks between the civic agency and the workers, said the MCD has agreed totwo major demands put up by the latter.

The sanitation workers announced that they will stop sweeping streets, lifting garbage and other sanitation jobs until the corporation agrees to their demands. MCD Safai Karmachari Union, which is leading the strike, said that more than 15,000 sanitation workers have been waiting for their regularisation for 20-25 years. The unions president, Sant Lal Chaurasiya, also said that one months salary of the sanitation workers is pending while they have not received their bonus for the last three years.

The festival of Diwali is around the corner but they dont have money to celebrate it. They are neither getting timely payments nor are they being regularised. This has to stop. So we have decided to go on an indefinite strike from today (Friday), Chaurasiya said. Meanwhile, Jai Prakash, said the MCD has agreed to two major demands put up by the workers.

They demanded abolition of Fundamental Rights (FR) 17 clause which was still in continuation in zones which used to fall under East MCD. Besides, we also agreed to the demand that family members who got employment in place of the deceased MCD staff till 2010 will also be regularised, he told this newspaper.Under FR 17, the staff gets the benefits of regular posts from the day they are regularised in the civic body.

However, the workers union has been demanding the perks given after regularisation in a retrospective manner, from the day a person gets employed with the MCD. Also, only those family members who got jobs on compassionate grounds before 2004 were cleared for regular posting. We urged them (workers) to get back to work. However, they are demanding the orders in writing. We have assured them about this as well. Hopefully, they will discontinue the strike, Prakash added. No immediate comments were received from the MCD.

One months salary pending for workersMCD Safai Karmachari Union, which is leading the strike, said that more than 15,000 sanitation workers have been waiting for their regularisation for 20-25 years. The unions president Sant Lal Chaurasiya said that one months salary of the sanitation workers is pending while they have not received their bonus for the last three years The sanitation workers announced that they will working until their demands are met.

More here:

Sanitation staff on strike over salary delay in Delhi - The New Indian Express

Summary

During the reporting period, many trends documented since the beginning of Burundis human rights crisis in April 2015 persisted. In late April 2015, public demonstrations broke out in response to the late president Pierre Nkurunzizas decision to seek a controversial third electoral term. The Burundian police used excessive force and shot demonstrators indiscriminately. After a failed coup by a group of military officers in May 2015, the Burundian government intensified its repression against suspected opponents and suspended most of the countrys independent radio stations. By mid-2015 almost all Burundis opposition party leaders, independent journalists, and civil society activists had fled the country after receiving repeated threats. Those who remained did so at great risk.

Despite accepting recommendations during its previous Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2018 related to ensuring security forces' respect for human rights and freedom of media and civil society[1], since then and during Nkurunzizas third and final term, independent civil society and media continued to be relentlessly attacked. There has been almost total impunity for these crimes. After a flawed electoral process and the sudden death of Nkurunziza, president variste Ndayishimiye took office in June 2020 and pledged to implement reforms and end impunity. However, since his election, all of the structural human rights issues documented under his predecessor remain in place. These include arbitrary arrests of political opponents or those perceived as such, acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, sexual and gender-based violence, and undue restrictions to the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Independent national and international human rights organizations are still unable to operate in Burundi. Several of the countrys most prominent human rights groups remain either suspended or outlawed since 2015.

Killings, Torture, and Other Abuses by Security Forces and Ruling Party Youths

Throughout the reporting period, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and torture by security forces and ruling party youths continued unabated. Dead bodies of people killed in unknown circumstances were regularly found across the country, often rapidly buried by authorities without further investigation.

Pre-electoral period (2017-2020)

On December 12, 2017, Nkurunziza announced a referendum would take place to revise the constitution. Nkurunziza warned that those who dared to sabotage the project to revise the constitution by word or action would be crossing a red line. In the months leading up to the referendum, police, intelligence services, and members of the Imbonerakure killed, raped, abducted, beat, and intimidated suspected opponents of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la dfense de la dmocratie-Forces de dfense de la dmocratie, CNDD-FDD).[2]

Political violence tied to the May 2018 referendum claimed at least 15 lives, but the actual number killed is likely much higher.[3] Numerous political opponents were arrested, intimidated, or held incommunicado in unknown locations, including members of the then-National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de libration, FNL), the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (Mouvement pour la solidarit et la dmocratie, MSD), and other opposition parties. Some were accused of having told their members to vote against the referendum.

As the 2020 elections neared, Burundianauthorities and ruling party youths carried out dozens of beatings, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, and killings against real and suspected political opposition members.[4] In a concerted campaign against people perceived to be against the ruling party, there appeared to have been an increase in abuses since the registration of a new opposition party in February 2019, the National Congress for Freedom (Congrs national pour la libert, CNL). The CNL was formerly known as the FNL.

The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Burundi mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) confirmed new cases of summary execution, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in 2018. The CoI concluded that the perpetrators of these crimes the national intelligence service (Service National de Renseignement, SNR), the police, and the Imbonerakure operate in a climate of impunity perpetuated by the lack of an independent judiciary. The commission for the first time implicated Nkurunziza directly in recurring calls for hatred and violence.[5]

2020 elections

Although Nkurunziza said he would not contest the presidential election in 2020, tensions continued to rise. People were forced to contribute money to the elections scheduled for May 2020 and to the ruling party. Imbonerakure members and local authorities mainly responsible for collecting the contributions largely did so by using force and threats, often at informal roadblocks set up to verify proof of payment. Those who could not provide receipts or refused to contribute faced violent retribution and intimidation. In some cases, people reported being denied access to public services if they were unable to prove they had contributed. In some provinces, CNDD-FDD and Imbonerakure members forced people to join the construction of local CNDD-FDD offices, and threatened, beat, or detained those who refused to comply, which constitutes forced labor.[6]

The May 2020 elections took place inthe absence of any international observation mission[7]and, on election day, authorities blockedaccess to social media[8] and messagingappsthroughout the country, restricting independent reporting and information sharing. The CNLtold local mediathat over 600 of its members had been arrested during the campaigns and on election day, andBurundian rights organizations reportedmultiple abuses, including arbitrary arrests and beatings of CNL and other opposition party members.[9] Human Rights Watch spoke with several voters, journalists, and human rights defenders who said that in some rural locations, ruling party youths were present at polling places and had intimidated voters, while election officials and the police turned a blind eye to voter harassment and intimidation.[10]

variste Ndayishimiyes presidency (2020-2022)

After August 2020, security deteriorated and there were several reports of clashes between security forces and armed groups, as well as attacks by unidentified assailants, particularly in provinces bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo. In some of these attacks, Imbonerakure members supported the national army. Groups of unidentified armed men were also reported to be responsible for random attacks resulting in civilian casualties. The Burundian authorities denounced these as terrorist or criminal acts and committed abuses against alleged perpetrators and civilians.Fabien Banciryanino,[11] a former member of parliament and outspoken human rights advocate, was convicted of abusive security-related charges on May 7 and sentenced to a year in prison in addition to pay a fine of 100,000 Burundian Francs (US$51). He was released after time served on October 1, 2021.

According to thereport of the CoI, men suspected of belonging to, or assisting, armed groups were executed by police or national intelligence agents throughout 2021.[12] Dozens of real or suspected members of opposition groups have been victims of enforced disappearances. Many people were also detained by the SNR and allegedly subjected to severe torture, rape, and ill-treatment.

Local and international monitoring groups, including Human Rights Watch, documented cases of torture of people suspected of collaborating with armed groups. The CoI on Burundi documented cases where victims died in detention.

After he took power, Ndayishimiye made some efforts to rein in members of the Imbonerakure and their involvement in human rights abuse was less visibly apparent. However, Imbonerakure members have continued to arrest, beat, and kill suspected opponents, sometimes in collaboration with or with the support of local administrative officials, police, or intelligence agents. Rvrien Ndikuriyo, Secretary General of the CNDD-FDD and a hardliner within the party, made several incendiary speeches during gatherings of CNDD-FDD members and Imbonerakure. In August 2022, he called on the Imbonerakure to continue night patrols and to kill any troublemakers[13] and attacked international human rights organizations. Throughout 2022, Imbonerakure members followed training programs on patriotism across the country.[14]

On June 27, 2022, the National Assembly enacted a law on the Burundian national defense forces, which created a new reserve force, the Reserve and Development Support Force (Force de rserve et dappui au dveloppement, FRAD).[15] Its duties include organizing paramilitary trainings, supporting other components in protecting the integrity of the national territory, but also conceiving and implementing development projects, and operationalizing national and international partnerships.

Throughout 2022, the Burundian army conducted operations in neighboring Congo, targeting the Resistance Movement for the Rule of Law-Tabara (Mouvement de la rsistance pour un tat de droit-Tabara, RED-Tabara), an armed group that has launched attacks in Burundi in recent years. Members of the Imbonerakure supported the operations. According to rights groups and media reports, little or no explanation was given to the families of those who died on the battlefield.[16] In August, Burundian troops officially entered Congo as the first deployment of an East African regional force agreed upon by the East African Community (EAC) in April.[17]

Recommendations to the government of Burundi:

Civil Society and Media

Most leading civil society activists and many independent journalists remain in exile, after repeated government threats in 2015 and arrest warrants against several of them. In October 2017, the Interior Minister banned or suspended 10 civil society organizations that had spoken out against government abuses.

Under Nkurunzizas final term, space for civil society and media shrunk significantly. In March 2018, three members of Parole et Action pour le Rveil des Consciences et lvolution des Mentalits (PARCEM), were sentenced to 10 years in prison for having prepared actions likely to disrupt security. The activists were arrested in 2017 while organizing a workshop on arbitrary arrests. They were acquitted upon appeal in December 2018 and released on March 21, 2019.

In April 2018, rights activist Germain Rukuki, a member of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), was sentenced to 32 years in prison on charges of rebellion, threatening state security, participation in an insurrectional movement, and attacks on the head of state. In August 2018, activist Nestor Nibitanga, an observer for the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (Association pour la protection des droits humains et des personnes dtenues, APRODH), was sentenced to five years for threatening state security. Nibitanga was pardoned and released on April 27, 2021. The conviction of Rukuki, was overturned on appeal in June 2021 and he was released.

In early May 2018, the National Communication Council (Conseil National de la Communication, CNC) suspended the BBC for six months for violating press laws and unprofessional conduct after inviting a leading Burundian human rights activist, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, to its program on March 12 of the same year. At the same time, the CNC also banned Voice of America (VOA), also for six months, for the technical reason that it was using a banned frequency.[18] Although the ban on the BBC was lifted in March 2022, the ban on VOA remains in place at time of writing.

On October 1, 2019, authorities suspended the activities of foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for three months to force them to reregister, including by submitting new documentation stating the ethnicity of their Burundian employees. In May 2020, the Supreme Court president ordered that the property of several high profile exiled Burundian human rights defenders and journalists be seized.

Media were heavily restricted in their coverage of the May 2020 presidential elections. The2018 amended press law[19]and a newCode of Conduct for Media and Journalistsin the election period required journalists to provide balanced information or face criminal prosecution, and prevented them from publishing information about the elections that did not come from the national electoral commission.

TheJanuary30, 2020 conviction after a flawed trialof fourIwacujournalists who werearrested while going to report on fightingbetween security forces and therebel group RED-Tabarain October 2019 underscored the dangers of investigating security incidents.[20] Their conviction was upheld on appeal in June, but they were pardoned in December 2020.

Although Ndayishmiyes government lifted some restrictions, including the suspension of the anti-corruption organization PARCEM, and released some detained rights defenders and journalists, the authorities continued to exercise undue interference in and oversight over the operations of civil society and the media.

A lawyer and former human rights defender, Tony Germain Nkina, was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2021, likely due to his past human rights work. On September 29, his conviction was maintained on appeal.[21] He remains in jail at time of writing.

On February 2, 2021, Burundis Supreme Court published the guilty verdictdated June 23, 2020in the case against 34 people accused of participating in a May 2015 coup attempt, including 12 human rights defenders and journalists in exile. After a trial, during which thedefendants were absent and did not have legal representation, the group was found guilty of attacks on the authority of the State, assassinations, and destruction.[22]

On February 11, 2021, the CNClifted the ban on public commentson Iwacu, which had been in place since April 2018, andpledgedto restore access to the website in Burundi. On February 22, the CNC lifted the ban on Bonesha FM, which was required to sign an agreement similar to one Isanganiro, a private radio station, and Rema FM, a pro-ruling party station, signed when they resumed broadcasts in February 2016. On April 21, the CNCauthorizedseveral new radio and television channels to begin operating.[23]

Recommendations to the government of Burundi:

Non-Compliance with United Nations mechanisms on Burundi

In September 2016, the UNHRC adopted a resolution to establish the CoI, mandated to investigatehuman rights violations perpetrated in Burundi since April 2015, and to determine whether they may constitute international crimes. Burundian officials refused to work with the CoI. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) closed its country office in February 2019 at the request of the government of Burundi. In its last report, the CoIconcludedon September 16, 2021, that grave human rights violations continued to be committed in Burundi and that no structural reform has been undertaken to durably improve the situation.[24]

Despite these findings, the European Union delegation in Geneva tabled a resolution at the September 2021 session of the UNHRC, adopted by a vote, which ended the mandate of the CoI and instead created a special rapporteur mandate. The Burundian government has repeatedly rejected the mandate and announced it would never give the mandate holder access to the country. The mandate was extended for a year in October 2022.

Recommendations to the government of Burundi:

[9] Ligue Iteka, Bulletin bimensuel sur le processus lectoral de 2020 au Burundi, May 18, 2020.

Excerpt from:

Human Rights Watch Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Burundi - Human Rights Watch