text:
In the Middle East, words escape prison walls to inspire freedom and hope · Global Voices
Gulf Center for Human Rights

Image by Ohergo/Pixabay
This post was written by Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly in the MENA region.
Human rights defenders have nothing but words to defend the civil and human rights of their people. Their enemies, on the other hand, have all the conventional weapons at their disposal, including imprisonment, in their attempt to end peaceful work aimed at building a prosperous future for all.
Human rights activism continues, though, even from within the confines of a prison cell. “Human rights work does not end with imprisonment,” says Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who in 2017 went on six hunger strikes to demand his rights and those of other prisoners of conscience, while serving life imprisonment for his peaceful human rights work.
His words inspired an online event in Arabic, English and Persian languages entitled “The Prisoner and the Pen,” which was held by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and Amnesty Westminster Bayswater on October 22, 2020. Here we feature some of the thoughts of imprisoned human rights defenders and those of others who participated.
In her poem, “Letter to my father,” Maryam Al-Khawaja, herself an activist, summarises the volcano of pain that rages in the hearts of the families of prisoners of conscience:
How do I tell you
That there are days I long to be a child again
To live in a world I thought I understood
In a world I felt safe
Because you and mama were my superheroes
In another part, expressing her disappointment at not achieving her dreams in a free and just world, she adds:
Baba you’ve been in their prison for 9 years
And to understand me,
I need to tell you about the world
The dreams we had
The dreams we fought for
The price you paid so your daughters could grow up in a better world
Did not go as we hoped
Then, she speaks with strength and clarity of the support that repressive governments are receiving, and the suffering activists face as they seek a safe haven:
And the suffering of the immigrant activists
We live in the same world
Where the West talks about human rights
Then props up those who violate them
In the name of creating jobs and economics
Then rears its ugly head
To those who dare seek refuge from the prop ups
To punish them for existing
Ahmed Mansoor is a dreamy poet, who scatters love like soft raindrops on everyone, and says, “I will make a sun for you with my hands and hang it on the balcony of my heart.” In 2007, the Emirati poet published his first anthology, entitled Beyond the Failure. An excerpt from one of the poems of this collection, entitled “Excess of Fire” talks about time and pain:
Time does not bore my wound anymore
For I have no wound and there is no such a thing as time and no consolation
Syrian human rights lawyer and activist, Razan Zaitouneh, chose to live among her people, share their pain, help them, and did not try to leave to escape the serious threats that she received before her abduction, despite the offers she received to migrate to the West. She lived through the siege in Ghouta in the countryside outside Damascus, and on November 18, 2013, she wrote an article entitled, “In the Diaries of the Siege … The resistance is consumed by waiting,” stating:
“I was destined to experience the siege with a friend of mine who spent many years in prison. Hardly an event goes by without her comparing the siege to prison, saying that the two experiences are greatly similar in more ways than one.”
Prominent feminist activist Dr. Hala Al-Dosari read a letter written by Nouf Abdulaziz, published after her arrest on June 6, 2018, including the following paragraph that explains the tragedy that human rights defenders and activists face when they are treated as enemies because of their peaceful human rights activities:
“Hello, my name is Nouf, and I am not a provoker, inciter nor a wrecker, nor a terrorist, nor a criminal or a traitor. I am the daughter to a great mother who suffers because of me—as I think—and a daughter to an honourable and honest family that has undergone a lot of harm because of what happened to me. I am a postgraduate student that never got the chance to finish her education. I usually sum up myself with a few characteristics: a writer, a reading addict since I was six years old, my father tells me that I am intelligent; I am a quiet girl except for the questions that storm my mind.
“In efforts to end this silly introduction, I will talk to you and share some of the questions that overcome my mind: Why is our homeland so small and tight, and why am I considered a criminal or an enemy that threatens it!”
Nassima Al-Sada is a prominent human rights defender from Saudi Arabia who was arrested on July 30, 2018. She wrote many articles defending civil and political rights including women's rights—such as her right to drive a car. In this excerpt from “Dreams of 2014 for the Advancement of Saudi Women,” she talks about unfulfilled dreams:
“We still have a long way to go in achieving the remaining human rights, which are characterised by being indivisible and inalienable. In order for people to exercise them, there must be written mechanisms and procedures and an effective institutional structure that protects, monitors, and oversees their implementation.”
Finally, an excerpt from the poem “To my mother” by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish:
I yearn for my mother's bread,
My mother's coffee,
Mother's brushing touch.
Childhood is raised in me,
Day upon day in me.
And I so cherish life
Because if I died
My mother's tears would shame me.
Our longing for our detained colleagues does not fade but grows day after day so that our dreams grow to make our countries governed by principles of justice, freedom, equality and human dignity.

author: Gulf Center for Human Rights


text:
Two white snakes, first of their species in the world, found in Nepal · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

One of the leucistic kraits discovered in Nepal. Photo by Dev Narayan Mandal and Ganesh Sah. Used with permission.
According to a research paper published in October 2020, two white-coloured kraits (of the genus Bungarus) discovered during rescue calls in Nepal's southeastern region of Province No. 2, are the first such recorded cases in their species. Kraits are known to be some of the most venomous snakes found in the Indian subcontinent.
On April 25, 2020, a pink-skinned, black-eyed wall’s krait (Bungarus walli) was found in the Dhanushadham municipality in the province's Dhanusha District.
“The snake was kept inside a clay pot,” explained Ganesh Sah, a reptile rescuer and wildlife photographer who spoke with Global Voices by phone. He added that a villager initially assumed that he was not a rescuer but someone who wanted to profit from discovering the snake. “I had to convince the community members before they allowed me to release the snake into [its] natural habitat.”
A little over a month later, on June 3, Sah rescued another leucistic snake that had been discovered in Dhanushadham's Kishanpur region. This Bungarus niger species, commonly called the greater black krait, looked similar to the one found in Matiarba in April:
An example why you should never use only colors for identifying #venomous snakes.
Amazing article by Kamal Devkota and team on first report of #leucism in two species of Krait in Nepal.
Name : Black #Krait ( B. niger) and Wall's Krait (B. walli)
Highly venomous (Neurotoxicity) pic.twitter.com/PHMFLhRDRI
— Amod Ghimire ? (@serpentcatcher) October 10, 2020
Leucism, a genetic condition that is often confused with albinism, is caused by either a complete or partial loss of pigmentation, resulting in white-coloured skin. Eye colour, however, is not affected.
Albinism, on the other hand, is caused by an absence of melanin, which is what gives skin and eyes their colour. The eyes of albino snakes appear pink because the blood vessels shine through their eyeballs.
In a telephone interview, Kamal Devkota, the lead author of the research paper, noted that either leucism or albinism in venomous snakes makes them more vulnerable: their appearance makes them easy to spot, so they often fall prey to predators, and their inability to camouflage presents them with difficulties in finding food. Moreover, they are unable to thermoregulate properly, which affects their movement and digestion.
The photographic guide Venomous Snakes of Nepal states that out of the 89 snake species recorded in the country, 17 — including six different species of kraits — are considered highly venomous and dangerous.
The Wall’s krait (Bungarus walli) variety has a head, body and tail that is typically shiny black, brownish-black or grey, with numerous narrow white or yellowish bands. It has been recorded in Nepal's southeast lowlands, the Gangetic floodplains of northern India, and Bangladesh's delta region.
The greater black krait (Bungarus niger) has a shiny black, brownish-black or dark chocolate head, body and tail with no bands or lines. It has been recorded in the lowlands and lower mountains of Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Kraits are usually active at night and their bites can prove fatal within as little as 24 hours. The World Health Organization estimates that 20,000 people are bitten by snakes each year in Nepal, and more than 1,000 of them die. Many studies suggest, however, that the figures may be higher.
Although less than 20 per cent of the snake species found in Nepal are highly venomous, people tend to be afraid of all snakes. Quite often, rat snakes — which are non-venomous — are mistaken for cobras, as are wolf snakes for kraits.
Such cases of mistaken identity usually result in the killing of these creatures, but awareness programmes and the establishment of snake information centres have helped change people’s perceptions as organisations and individuals alike have been rescuing snakes and educating people about them.

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


text:
Are some citizens being targeted more than others when it comes to Trinidad & Tobago’s COVID-19 legislation? · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

Footage of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) raid of the “Zesser” party in central Trinidad on November 22, 2020. Screenshot taken from a TTT news report about the event uploaded to TTT Live Online's YouTube channel.
After officers of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) raided a paid party that was in full swing in the early hours of November 22, with no mask-wearing or physical distancing in effect, netizens are once again suggesting there is a double standard when it comes to the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols.
The “Zesser party,” as it is being called, came to an abrupt halt with the arrest of at least 250 people who attended the event in central Trinidad. Local reports suggest that women, children and local dancehall performers were among those detained, and that suspected gang members were also in attendance.
In a brief statement on its official Facebook page, the police service noted that the partygoers were in breach of a section of the COVID-19 public health regulations which relates to public parties and fetes.
On his own Facebook page, Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith said that the police “will be placing heavy emphasis on targeting and shutting down any parties of this nature on both private or public property.”
However, a “grand” wedding in an upscale residential neighbourhood on November 21, which was allegedly attended by guests that included “top government officials” only some of whom were wearing masks, was not shut down, leaving many social media users to wonder about the efficacy of the country's COVID-19 rules and how they are being enforced.
Trinidad and Tobago's public health regulations currently mandate gatherings of no more than 10, though there has been some confusion over whether or not the legislation can be applied to private property.
Commissioner Griffith continued:
The next objective is to prevent these Zesser parties, whereby the organizers are trying to beat the system, using the get out of jail free card by stating it is private property.
His statement, which specifically targeted the Zesser culture, left many netizens with the impression that the legislation was being enforced based on class and race, instead of being evenly applied across the board:
Persons inviting their family and personal friends in small numbers to their home on private property is something totally different, as there is no law being broken, but they do have a responsibility to act in consideration of the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols. This is totally different to Zesser parties, where organizers are advertising prior to the event, and patrons are paying a cover charge to enter the premises of persons they do not even know, with a cash bar at the event. This takes away the get out of jail free card of it being private property as such the Police would treat it as a violation of the legislation.
The inconsistency has left a bad taste in people's mouths, and they are sharing concerns  — via WhatsApp and other social media platforms — that such incongruity will add to the public's confusion, resulting in further flouting of the rules.
As Facebook user Panchoo Narine asked:
Zesser party vs Fantasy Wedding…How it is Referring to as 1 Law for the Rich & 1 Law for the Poor….Was the Zesser Party Free? Is Zesser Party for the Poor?
With Christmas on the horizon, typically a time of year that sees an increase in parties and large gatherings (Prime Minister Keith Rowley has said there will be no state-sponsored Christmas parties in the public sector this year, and has asked private companies and citizens to do the same) and the country's COVID-19 cases on the rise, the gap between the legislation and how it is being enforced is an issue many feel warrants immediate attention.

author: Flora Thomas


text:
Belarusians mourn the death of young opposition supporter · Global Voices
Maxim Edwards

Detail from an illustration of Raman Bondarenka by Belarusian artist Ania Redko, 2020. Used with permission.
Belarus is in mourning. On November 20, thousands of protesters arrived at the Church of the Resurrection in the capital of Minsk to pay their respects to Raman Bondarenko, a 31-year-old activist who died in police custody.
The mourners were not deterred by the cold. Winter has done little to diminish the protests which have seized the country since presidential elections in August. Their catalyst was an attempt by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, to stay in power for a sixth consecutive term. Those who take to the streets to oppose him have faced police violence, detention and torture.
One symbol of this movement are ribbons in red and white, the colours of the country's previous national flag. They are now ubiquitous at mass protests as a sign of opposition to the government. So when Bondarenka spotted a group who had arrived to remove them from a courtyard near his home in Minsk on the evening of November 11, he headed out to confront them.
The men beat Bondarenka so severely that he fell to the pavement, hitting his head several times during the attack. He was then driven away in a minibus and surfaced in police custody. By the evening of November 12, Bondareka lay in an intensive care unit at a city hospital, where he died of brain damage after several hours’ surgery.
One of the first summaries of the event was provided by Anton Motolko's popular Telegram channel, which included some footage along with a summary:
Приехали ябатьки с женщинами и детьми срезать ленты. Вышли люди. Завязалась драка. Повыскакивали челы в масках и запихнули человека в бус.
“I'm with Batka” supporters arrived with women and children in order to cut ribbons. People came out. A fight ensued. Guys in masks appeared from nowhere and shoved a man into a bus.
— @Motolkohelp, Telegram, November 11, 2020
The phrase “I'm with Batka”, using the president's folksy moniker, refers to a top-down attempt during the protests to launch a civic movement in support of Lukashenka. While the authorities have suggested that the group, all in plain clothes, were merely “concerned citizens”, the exact identity of Bondarenka's attackers remains unknown.
When Lukashenka commented on Bondarenka's death on November 13, he described the assailants as one of 500 “public order squads” who aimed to remove “pro-Nazi symbols”. And while Belarusian officialdom has urged a transparent and thorough investigation, their line is simply this: Bondarenka got into a brawl between opposition and regime supporters.
Lukashenka also affirmed the Investigative Committee's declaration that Bondarenka was found to have been drunk at the time of the fight. Yet this was denied wholesale by doctors in anonymous interviews to the prominent online news portal Tut.By. Bondarenko's mother later provided the independent newspaper Nasha Niva with scans of her son's blood test results, which showed zero percent ethanol.
Katerina Borisevich, the Tut.By journalist who reported on the allegations of Bondarenka's drunkenness, was detained on November 19 and now faces criminal charges for disseminating confidential medical information.
Furthermore, an investigation by the Russian investigative website MediaZona's identified further gaps in the official account of events. Through examining CCTV footage and interviewing residents near the scene of the attack, its journalists established that the police in fact arrived at the courtyard at 22:30, seemingly paying no attention to the minibus to which Bondarenko had been dragged against his will. This complicates accounts, including that of Lukashenka, that the police had themselves called an ambulance for Bondarenka. The same camera footage suggested that several of these individuals had surveyed the area well before removing the ribbons, implying something rather more organised than a spontaneous action by pro-Lukashenka supporters.
And so, Belarusians’ anger at their government — though few if any protesters still consider it theirs — is now newly inflamed by the possibility of a cover-up. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenka's opponent in the election who has fled to the European Union, recently declared Bondarenka a “Hero of Belarus”. EU officials have threatened new sanctions against Belarusian officials, whom they hold responsible for Bondarenka's death.
Bondarenka's last words, “I'm going out”, shared with a WhatsApp group for local residents, have become a rallying cry and a hashtag (#ЯВыхожу) for a new wave of demonstrations. Judging by reports shared on the popular NEXTA Telegram channel, these have taken diverse forms, from workers at state-owned enterprises downing their tools for a minute of silence to flower laying ceremonies in the squares of nearly all the country's largest cities. Thousands also attended a vigil in the courtyard where Bondarenka was detained, chanting “we will not forgive, we will not forget”.
More traditional mass protests have also been held. On November 15, police used tear gas and water cannon against thousands of demonstrators; the Viasna Human Rights Centre estimates that at least 928 were detained that day alone.
In recent days, Belarusians have posthumously acquainted themselves with the young man whose portrait they hold as they face down riot police.
He was a military veteran, an art teacher, and a designer. He was also the creator of a popular protest mural in Minsk:
Роман Бондаренко – автор мурала диджеев Перемен. У меня всё.
— Альбарутэнец (@sp_oleg) November 14, 2020
Raman Bondarenka was the creator of the “DJs for change” mural. That's all I can say.
Even some public officials have voiced dismay. Valery Voronetsky, a deputy in the Belarusian parliament and ambassador, wrote the following on his Facebook page:
Боль, смутак і жалоба… Гвалт мусiць быць спынены! Закон і справядлівасць – адноўлены!
Such pain, misery and mourning… This violence must end! The law and justice must be restored!
— Valery Voronetsky, Facebook, November 13, 2020
“Bondarenko's death was a bomb in Belarusian society, and it has lead to a growth in protest activity. Not an exponential one, but a significant one”, explains Artyom Shraibman, a political analyst and regular contributor to Tut.By.
“Even the authorities have understood how sensitive this is, so have decided not to call Bondarenko an enemy who deserved his death. On the contrary, Lukashenka expressed his condolences, even while authorities have implicitly suggested that the opposition are guilty by creating such havoc and protests in the first place”, Shraibman told GlobalVoices in an interview.
Perhaps what was remarkable about Raman Bondarenka was how unremarkable his biography was — and how easy that makes it for Belarusians to identify with his fate. They appear convinced that it could befall them, too. The following text, which has circulated on opposition blogs and social media channels for several days, gives form to that foreboding:
Роман Бондаренко служил в спецназе, и это его не уберегло.
Роман Бондаренко не участвовал в митинге, и это его не уберегло.
Роман Бондаренко не держал в руках никакую символику, и это его не уберегло.
Роман Бондаренко вышел из дома, чтобы узнать что происходит. Это стало причиной его смерти.
Перед тем, как спуститься вниз, Роман написал “Я выхожу”.
Raman Bondarenka served in the special forces, but that didn't save him.
Raman Bondarenka wasn't participating in a protest, but that didn't save him.
Raman Bondarenka wasn't holding any symbol in his hands, but that didn't save him.
Raman Bondarenka left his home to find out what was going on. That was the reason for his death.
Before going down, Raman wrote “I'm going out”
— Text from Supola.net
Those fears are informed by precedent. After months of protest, many Belarusians have relatives or friends who have been detained and beaten at police stations.
With the death of Bondarenka, at least four Belarusians are thought to have died during protests since the presidential elections in August. One was Alyaksandr Taraikovski, who may have been killed by police in Minsk on August 10.  Another was Alyaksandr Vikhor, who died in a detention centre in the city of Homyel on August 12. The third was Hennady Shutov, who died on August 19 from a gunshot wound to the head after police used live ammunition on protesters in Brest on August 11.
In the words of Belarusian researchers Alena Minchenia and Nadzeya Husakouskaya, change has already come to Belarus. These deaths bring “a shared sense of living through grief and pain, which cannot be undone”.
The fear is that they also put paid to any hopes of a peaceful transition of power. For some observers, Bondarenka's death was not simply a tragic misstep amid havoc without a clear culprit, but the predictable result of a methodical and paced increase in indiscriminate violence by the Belarusian authorities.
“The death of Roman did indeed intensify the protest mood. But the following events mobilised people to an even greater degree: how the OMON [riot police] dispersed those who had gathered to honour his memory on Sunday, and how protesters had to hide for 15 hours without water or food in the basement of the apartment building where Raman used to live. To add to this, in the following days the water supply [was cut off] to the Novaya Baravaya neighbourhood, which has a strong protest mood and where people hang out white-red-white flags. People believe that the problem is intended to humiliate them”, remarked Kaciaryna Šmacina, a Research Fellow at the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, in an interview for GlobalVoices.
“The authorities are out of touch with reality and are using more and more repression towards their own population”

author: Maxim Edwards


text:
How a grassroots revolt restored democracy in Peru · Global Voices
Camilo Gomez

Protests in Miraflores, Peru, November 12, 2020. Photo by Samantha Hare/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
In November 2020, Peru saw one of the largest protests in its history when thousands of people took to the streets throughout the country in a spontaneous movement led by youth and grassroots organizations.
The protests were propelled by what they deemed to be an unlawful coup against their president, Martín Vizcarra, who had been impeached by the Peruvian Congress on November 9.
While legislators were trying to protect themselves from judicial investigations of corruption, the police were snatching the Peruvian flag from protestors. It was the people in the streets—not Peru's Congress—who were the ones fighting to preserve the country's democracy.
The Congress had used a mechanism of the Peruvian Constitution to oust the president on grounds of moral incapacity, as Vizcarra had corruption accusations pending. Yet, many constitutionalists argued that the legislators had interpreted the constitution in their favor: the original meaning of “moral incapacity” in this context was “mental inability,” not ethical, or moral, ineptitude.
The overwhelming majority of Congress members supported the unpopular measure of ousting the popular president. While it is true that Vizcarra was accused of corruption, 68 out of 130 people in Congress also had judicial issues, many of them corruption cases. Because of this, people began protesting in front of the parliament as they felt that their politicians were trying to preserve their own privileges and pass self-serving laws. The protestors denounced Vizcarra's removal as a coup.
Protests in Miraflores, Peru, November 12, 2020. Photo by Samantha Hare/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Members of the Congress elected their president, Manuel Merino, as president of Peru. This politician from the center-right Popular Action Party was a little known congressman from the Tumbes region in northern Peru. For many, he became the unlawful president of the country.
Protests amplified when Merino named conservative politician, Antero Florez Aráoz, former Defense Minister in the government of President Alan García, as chief of his cabinet. In 2009, Aráoz was Defence Minister when state intervention led to the deaths of 33 people in an incident that became known as “Baguazo,” after Bagua, the Amazon area where indigenous people were protesting against mining in indigenous land. For many, this was obviously not a sign of renovation but rather a return to a dark moment in recent Peruvian history. The next day, on November 12, a cabinet full of far-right members was appointed.
Massive protests were organized around the country via social media and without any kind of central planning; it was the spontaneous order made up of regular people who wanted to show their repudiation of the corruption of the political class.
On November 12, peaceful mobilizations were met with violent police repression and people were injured. More and more citizens went to the protests, and those who did not, organized “cacerolazos” at home, and the loud noise of kitchen instruments resounded to support the protesters. People were noticing that this was becoming a significant moment in history.
Massive mobilizations were called for Saturday, November 14. Thousands of people flooded the streets all over Peru with banners showing their deep feelings both about what they saw as a betrayal to democracy and the increasing police brutality. A placard saying, “Mother, if I don’t return, I went with the Motherland”, illustrates the tension felt by the protesters. Citizens of all backgrounds were filling the streets, from women with “polleras,” the traditional Andean clothing, men in Power Ranger costumes, to nuns, to men playing the “zampoña,” a traditional Andean instrument. Yet, the most distinctive element was that almost everybody was wearing a mask.
The protests were massive, with everyone united around the common goal of showing their indignation against the corruption of the political class. They weren't about defending Vizcarra; they were about defending democracy.
Even though many concur the protests were peaceful, when night came, the police started attacking the protestors with tear gas and lead bullets. But the people did not back down. Some used paintings and skateboards as improvised shields and feminist groups and soccer fans helped deactivate the tear gas canisters by putting them inside cans of water. Yet, later that night, two young men, Jack Bryan Pintado and Inti Sotelo, died as a result of police violence. They were students, much like the rest of the protestors who were fighting for a better future. Calls for Merino's resignation resonated across the country.
Protests in Miraflores, Peru, November 12, 2020. Photo by Samantha Hare/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The day after, Merino had no choice but to resign. The consensus among the population was that Congress should elect a new president among the few who didn’t vote against the ousting of Vizcarra. On November 16, the Congress elected the centrist Francisco Sagasti, a move that appeased the population. Sagasti is a Peruvian engineer, academic, and author.
He was inaugurated the next day and promised that there will be no impunity for those responsible for human rights abuses during the protests. Sagasti also assured that Peru would have presidential elections next year as planned in the electoral calendar.
Many of those who went missing during the protests reappeared in the days that followed. One young man, Luis Fernando Araujo, says he was kidnapped and beaten by the police. Two men who attended the protests—Gabriel Rodriguez Medrano and Johan Arenas Aguirre—are still missing. Peruvians mourn Jack Bryan Pintado and Inti Sotelo as martyrs of democracy as they call for justice for their deaths.
Polls tell us that the majority of people believe that grassroots revolt was able to tear down an illegitimate government. With courage and determination, Peruvians showed to the world that resistance to unlawful political moves is possible.
Peru is set to celebrate 200 years of independence next year but the intense protests show that Peru not only has a past but a future.

author: Camilo Gomez


text:
In Jamaica, backlash over limestone quarry in ecological area sparks youth online activism · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

A Stop sign located at the edge of the Puerto Bueno forest area along Jamaica's north coast. Photo by Wendy Lee, used with permission.
A decision by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in favour of a limestone quarry in an ecologically sensitive area has provoked an angry backlash among environmental advocates, tourism stakeholders and several sectors of civil society.
It has also sparked an energetic social media campaign by a group of young, passionate activists: #Youth4PuertoBueno.
In May, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the regulatory body that issues environmental permits, denied permission to Bengal Development/Jamaica World LLC for the purpose of limestone quarrying. Its antecedent — then-called Diamond Property Development Company — was reportedly owned by the son of the late Vivian Blake, who had applied to mine the area in 2010. Blake was the leader of Jamaica's infamous “Shower Posse” gang.
This most recent application for quarrying the Puerto Bueno Mountain, a largely pristine forested area on the island’s north coast, was turned down for seven specific reasons. #Youth4PuertoBueno created a video which delves into those reasons here:
It's another day and we're still making noise ?? #Youth4PuertoBueno
Want to get involved? There are a couple of ways you can join the campaign. ?? (Thread) pic.twitter.com/sqGVvXW5rF
— ?? Actinomagnificent (@JamaicanLabrat) November 15, 2020
When the mining company appealed, Leslie Campbell, the government minister temporarily in charge of the environment portfolio, upheld it — a decision that Prime Minister Holness approved in July. Upon receiving notice from NEPA that its denial of the permit had been overturned and that quarrying would go ahead, local residents raised the alarm.
Two petitions to protect the area are in active circulation: the first on the Office of the Prime Minister's website, which requires 15,000 signatures by December 27, and is open to Jamaican citizens only, and another started by local resident and botanist Wendy Lee, which has already reached 10,000 signatures.
Jhanell Tomlinson (left) and Ayesha Constable at a Green Climate Fund event in Kingston, November 2019. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
Despite the strong pushback from several influential individuals and civil society organisations — including Dr. Damien King, an economics professor and director of the local think tank CaPRI, and the anti-corruption lobby group National Integrity Action — there is no indication that the prime minister will change his mind. In fact, he has vigorously defended his stance, citing economic and “pragmatic” reasons and stressing that there were stringent conditions attached to the permit.
This has not appeased the #Youth4PuertoBueno, who have no intention of giving up. The core group of four post-graduate students, all active campaigners for climate change action — Ayesha Constable, Dainalyn Swaby, Eleanor Terrelonge and Jhanell Tomlinson — have drawn in a wider group of young people, mostly students, to back the cause. Young People for Action on Climate Change (YPACC), co-founded by Tomlinson, tweeted:
Our collective future is at stake, not with this one ‘override’ but with a precedence that threatens to dismiss the value of scientific evidence and stakeholder input in development planning & the credibility of regulatory agencies. #youth4PuertoBueno @djmillerJA @dmccaulay https://t.co/hWIVC9LVT8
— ypaccJA (@YpaccJ) November 12, 2020
Ayesha Constable shared the tweet while acknowledging the inspiration of Diana McCaulay, founder of the Jamaica Environment Trust:
There's nothing like seeing an idea come to life in a more forceful & impactful way than you envisioned it. #youth4PuertoBueno is a movement & a reminder that going together takes you further! @LynnSwaby @Jaybritz @LynnSwaby I salute you. @dmccaulay we stand on your shoulders??
— JamaicanEcofeminist (@AyeshaConstable) November 22, 2020
Dainalyn Swaby (left) and Eleanor Terrelonge at a Youth Conference on Climate Change in Portland, Jamaica, November 2019. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
Meanwhile, communications student, podcaster and environmental advocate Dainalyn Swaby composed a dub poem that she performed in Patois. Her video was widely shared by young supporters of the cause:
Together we stand, again, to protect our environment from those who only pretend to understand, but only mean to serve themselves!#ProtectPuertoBueno https://t.co/Lbvtgrb2Q6
— Axanna_M (@axanna_m) November 16, 2020
#Youth4PuertoBueno was among the signatories to an Open Letter to the Prime Minister, led by the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council (JCCYC). Eight other youth lobby groups co-signed:
As young people, we are disappointed, not just with this decision, but what seems to be the Prime Minister’s negative attitude toward environmental stewardship. Even though, in his Heroes’ Day address, he called on us to be ‘environmental heroes,’ we are being consistently and publicly disrespected and ignored. The Prime Minister seems to have taken over the role of the technical experts in making decisions. This is far from the democratic model on which our government is expected to operate.
The letter concludes:
To restore confidence in your leadership of the environment agenda and to restore the confidence of the youth of Jamaica that was promised a future, we ask you to consider the following:
Move NEPA to its rightful home as an agency within the Ministry of Housing, Urban Development, Environment & Climate Change (HURECC) as a display of commitment to prioritizing the environment in development.
Commit to review of the legislative framework governing the environment starting with the NRCA Act and EIA process.
Commit to no further mining within the Cockpit Country and revisit the CCPA boundaries previously declared.
Commit to complete transparency of any decision-making process involving our environmental assets.
We are the generation that will have to live with climate change and the negative impacts of today’s decisions. It is therefore important that our seats at the table be seats of value and our involvement in the decision-making processes of our country are given the deference it deserves.
Young Jamaicans have also been very astute about harnessing the power of social media to raise awareness. Founder and Director of the JCCYC, Eleanor Terrelonge, tweeted about a new Instagram Live series, which started on November 21:
Wah so special bout Puerto Bueno??
New IG live series kicks off today with @dragoninfield hosted by @LynnSwaby!
Come get the FACTS. We're telling the WHOLE story. #Youth4PuertoBueno pic.twitter.com/KNmRY2V2SW
— ?? Actinomagnificent (@JamaicanLabrat) November 21, 2020
Adrian Watson (left) of the Caribbean Youth Environment Network and Eleanor Terrelonge, who spoke at a Green Climate Fund event in Kingston, November 2019. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
The interactive series focuses on conversations between young scientists and highlights different aspects of the Puerto Bueno issue, to educate Jamaican youth on its significance.
The first chat focused on the importance of biodiversity in the area. Gavin Campbell, a doctoral ecology student at the University of the West Indies who took part in the episode, observed, “There is no environmental justice without social justice.” Referring to the people impacted by the planned mine whose concerns must be respected, he lamented, “We don’t focus on ecosystems — we focus on what can give us some money right now.”
The series underscores the importance of locally educated experts.
The #Youth4PuertoBueno movement is an important step forward for Jamaican youth, many of whom have already been speaking at meetings and conferences and amplifying their voices online.
As Dainalyn Swaby put it on IG Live, “This is the starting point of a new wave of environmental consciousness in Jamaica.”
Whatever the outcome of the Puerto Bueno controversy, young Jamaican advocates have added a new, energetic dimension to the debate. Not only are they optimistic, but they seem to be in it for the long haul.

author: Emma Lewis


text:
Activists protest dam construction in northwest Georgia · Global Voices
Shota Kincha

A protester in Zhoneti stands behind a Georgian-language banner reading ‘we are defending our homeland’. Photo (c): Shota Kincha / OC Media. Used with permission.
This article originally appeared on OC Media. It is republished here with permission, edited in accordance with GV house style.
A planned US$800 million hydropower project in the Tskaltubo and Tsageri municipalities, the largest in Georgia, is meeting resistance from residents of the Rioni River valley.
On 22 November, opponents of the Namakhvani HPP Cascade Project gathered outside the offices of Enka Renewables in Zhoneti, a village 20 kilometres north of Kutaisi, the capital of the western province of Imereti. They demanded that the company drop their plans to construct the dam.
“We have been protesting for the last three years, but we’ve now moved to a more active phase by camping out here for the last 29 days”, Varlam Goletiani, a 27-year-old local activist told OC Media, before saying the Lord’s Prayer together with other protesters and marching towards the company’s office nearby in Zhoneti.
During the demonstration, protesters claimed that the police prevented some supporters from joining them.
Activists have also been critical of the Environmental Protection Ministry for rushing through public discussions on the project.
“Two years ago, those of us who had questions over the project were just barred from entering the discussion venues, these were the rampant violations”, Varlam Goletiani told OC Media.
On November 22, Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria joined critics and reminded the authorities that participating in the decision-making process on projects with an environmental impact was enshrined in the constitution.
The Namakhvani HPP project would include two dams with a planned combined capacity of 433 MW. The government says this will produce 1514 GWh of electricity per year, over 12% of the country’s electricity consumption.
Zhoneti, a recent epicentre of protests, would primarily be affected by the 333 MW Lower Namakhvani dam and power plant, which would include a 4.4-kilometre tunnel engulfing the River Rioni.
A 2019 environmental impact report by Tbilisi-based agency Gamma Consulting, a group criticised by some green policy advocates for approving unsuccessful energy projects in the past, confirmed that the project would submerge three villages as well as lands used by residents of two other villages in Tskaltubo Municipality.
Additionally, the Lower Namakhvani plant would isolate two more villages, causing the resettlement of a total 297 households in the Tskaltubo Municipality.
“The government does not feel responsible to tell their own population why they are going to build this HPP, why the people have to leave their homes and become migrants in their own country”, Giorgi Ptskialadze, Secretary-General of the Mtsvaneebi (Greens) group, who was present at the rally, told OC Media.
He said that the government pursuing hydropower powerhouses instead of wind or solar energy ‘raised many questions’.
Opponents have also warned against the impact on people’s livelihoods along the Rioni River valley, including damage to the region’s tourism, biodiversity, cultural heritage, and a threat of the whole region.
Residents of Tvishi, a village in Tsageri Municipality in the historical Lechkhumi region, as well as experts, have raised concerns over the project’s impact on wine production. They say local microclimate zones for vineyards growing the local Tsolikauri and Usakhelauri variety of grapes could be directly affected.
Green Alternative, a watchdog group critical of hydropower projects in Georgia, warned last year that going forward with the project in a seismically risky area would ‘definitely endanger human life and property rights’.
The Ilia State University-based Institute of Earth Sciences said in 2019 that in the event an earthquake damaged the 105-metre dam close to Zhoneti, it could trigger a 34-metres wave hitting Kutaisi city in 19 minutes, and that the flow could also flood 18 municipalities in western Georgia.
“Basically, Kutaisi and the whole Kolkheti [lowlands] is going to be submerged… We are talking about 35-metres high wave!”, Tinatin Mardaleishvili, a 56-year-old process engineer, told OC Media.
Enka Renewables, the company responsible for building the Cascade, have claimed that they are currently at the stage of ‘preparatory work’ in Zhoneti.
The company did not respond to OC Media’s inquiry over what they meant by ‘preparatory work’ or if they planned to meet with local residents who were unhappy with the project.
On November 14, a week before the latest demonstration, police broke up a protest by Saving Rioni Valley, a local grassroots movement, after residents from Zhoneti and nearby villages blocked the motorway connecting Kutaisi with the North. They demanded the company vacate the area and withdraw their construction equipment.
Protesters, which included women, children, and the elderly, chained themselves to each other blocking the road. Several said they had been injured as a result of the police response.
Police also confronted activists on October 29 but were unsuccessful in stopping them from erecting a large cross on the spot where the company was attempting to begin construction.
The heavy-handed response from police on November 14 as well as the government’s overall vetting of the project was criticised by several Georgian rights groups including EMC and GYLA.
In a joint statement on November 19, a group of Georgian scholars also condemned what they called the ‘language of force’ used by the government against protests. They urged the authorities to ‘abandon the role of a lobby for the investor’ and to rethink the country's energy policy instead.
On November 19, Georgia's Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava called concerns over the Namakhvani project ‘exaggerated’.
Speaking to OC Media on November 22, protest organiser Varlam Goletiani said that they had ‘got used to statements like this’.
“What does that mean? We had specific questions, there’s a lawsuit filed against it now… You say something specific and they say ‘the project is important'”.
The ministry has also said that construction of the project would employ 1,600 Georgians.
Responding to this, Ramaz Tskhakaia, a war veteran from the town of Martvili who joined the November 22 protest told OC Media that jobs were of no use if they lost their homes. “What’s the use of jobs if we are flooded?!”
One of the appeals against the project still pending was submitted to Tbilisi City Court by the Green Alternative in April.
The group disputed a February 28 decision by the Georgian Environmental Protection Ministry to greenlight changes in the project to expand the capacity of the Namakhvani-Zhoneti dam. Green Alternative argued that a new environmental and social impact assessment needed to be conducted for the changes.
Neither the ministry nor Enka Renewables responded to a request for comment.

author: Shota Kincha


text:
Chronic kidney disease affects 1 out of 10 Salvadorans, including children · Global Voices
Eddie Galdamez

Parents of kids with CKD receiving vitamines and supplies. Photo by Iris Violeta Foundation.
According to a 2019 peer-reviewed study in MEDICC, “chronic kidney disease has reached epidemic proportions in El Salvador.” The number of people affected by this silent illness is staggering; it is the second cause of death in men and the third cause of hospital mortality for adults. A 2017 report by the Salvadoran health ministry revealed that for the years 2014 and 2015, 12.6 percent of the population suffered from chronic kidney disease.
Although one in three men over 60 are ill with CKD, they are not the only ones impacted. The number of children affected by this illness is on the rise and the obstacles they face to get treatment have gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 2014 to 2018, 1,833 cases of minors with renal failure were registered with the Ministry of Health. San Miguel, in the eastern part of the country, and San Salvador, the nation's capital, were the municipalities that reported the most cases.
Nephrologist Salvador Magaña, who practices his profession in the municipality of San Miguel, highlighted that younger people do not have strict control over their eating habits. Therefore, they easily cope with high temperatures and heat by substituting water for other products that could trigger kidney disease. More than one million Salvadorans, or a sixth of the population, have little access to drinking water.
“A la mayoría de personas, por diferentes motivos, les resulta más fácil ir a comprar una soda en lugar de tomarse un vaso de agua.” Dijo Magaña
“Most people, for different reasons, find it easier to go buy a soda instead of having a glass of water.” Said Magaña.
Children with Kidney Disease. Photo by Iris Violeta Foundation, used with permission.
Children and teenagers with this disease have to endure hemodialysis treatments every month, which leave them vulnerable and weak. Additionally, these children face other challenges, such as navigating a flawed Salvadoran health system.
“Once established, the disease tends to progress to chronic kidney failure (CKF) or end-stage renal disease, requiring expensive renal replacement therapies (dialysis) or organ transplantation,” according to the aforementioned study. “In the absence of such interventions, death is inevitable.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded these children's difficulties in accessing public health care, especially those who live in poverty.
Public transportation, which most families depend on to commute back and forth from hospital visits, was shut down for many weeks due to COVID-19 precautions. Also, hospitals functioned with less staff as a high number of medical personal got infected with COVID-19. Both of these issues had an impact on access to CKD treatment.
One of these children is Carlos Daniel Gonzalez, who has been receiving treatment for CKD at a public hospital for children in San Salvador since he was an infant. Yet, since Gonzalez turned 20 this year, he and his family have been struggling to find another government-run hospital that can provide him with the treatment he needs. Going a week without treatment is not an option for Gonzalez. Many public hospitals in El Salvador lack the necessary equipment and medicine to support Gonzalez, and going to a private hospital is financially impossible, according to his mother, Esmeralda Fernandez, who spoke with Global Voices via WhatsApp.
Carlos Daniel Gonzalez. Photo by Iris Violeta Foundation, used with permission
Otilia Sorto Fuentes of US-based Fundacion Iris Violeta told Global Voices via phone:
In a private hospital, each treatment costs US$125, Carlos needs two per week, which ends up being 8 per month. How can his family afford to pay US$1,000 a month in a country where the monthly minimum wage is about US$300. It is just not possible!
Iris Violeta Foundation provides assistance to families and kids with renal failure in El Salvador. Every month, the foundation gives vitamins to children and any other help they can afford. According to Fuentes, the number of children with CDK has gotten worse over the last few years.
Uno de los proyectos de https://t.co/1lb1airwpe es entregar vitaminas a los niños pacientes renales del hospital Benjamin Bloom en San Salvador, esto lo hacemos cada mes tenemos un toal de 37 niños de hemodialisis. pic.twitter.com/u1q23lCRLG
— FUNDACION IRIS VIOLETA (@fundacion_iris) October 23, 2020
One of the projects of Fundacionirisvioleta.org is to deliver vitamins to kidney patients at the Benjamin Bloom hospital in San Salvador, we do this every month we have a total of 37 children on hemodialysis.
Children with CDK need to take medication or vitamins to help them deal with the treatment's side effects. The cost of these supplements surpasses 75 US dollars per month, which can be considered a luxury for families who live in dire financial conditions.
Esmeralda Fernandez says:
Es una lucha lidiar con todo lo que hay que hacer. Si Carlos no se siente bien, tenemos que pagar transporte privado para ir al hospital, algo que no es barato. Además, no podemos llevarlo al hospital local si necesita tratamiento de inmediato; ellos no tienen el equipo necesario. Somos pobres, por lo que lidiar con todas estas dificultades financieras no es fácil.
It's a struggle to deal with everything that needs to be done. If Carlos is not feeling well, we have to pay for private transportation to get to the hospital, which is not cheap. We can't take him to the local hospital if he needs treatment right away; they don't have the necessary equipment. We are poor, so dealing with all these financial difficulties is not easy.
Francis Zablah, deputy for the department of La Libertad in the Salvadoran legislative assembly, told Global Voices via Twitter:
Se tiene que descentralizar y dar el servicio en cada departamento. Pero, en mi opinion, la pandemia no ha dado lugar ha esta administración a revisar ese problema.
[The public health system] has to be decentralized and provide services in each department. But, in my opinion, the pandemic has not given this administration time to review that problem.
Usually, people who are prone to fall ill with CKD have high blood pressure and diabetes. Yet, more and more people throughout the world, and in this case, El Salvador, get CKD due to exposure to agrochemicals and dehydration.

author: Eddie Galdamez


text:
In Pakistan, social media platforms risk bans under new ‘draconian’ rules · Global Voices
R Umaima Ahmed

Pakistan Flag. Image from Public Domain. Via Me Pixels.
The entry into force of new rules governing social media has raised concerns about freedom of expression and human rights in Pakistan. Under the new legislation, social media platforms that do not comply with the content removal demands of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will face bans and fines.
The rules for Removal and Blocking of Unlawful Online Content came into force after the government issued a Gazette Notification on October 20, 2020 whereby it approved them. The rules were finally made public in November when the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) uploaded the Gazette on its website.
Digital rights activists, tech giants and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) denounced the new rules as draconian and in violation of Pakistan's cybercrime laws, and as these were not in line with their recommendations and industry best practices.
Since February 2020, the government has been trying to put in place a set of rules that not only curtail dissent and ban any entertainment assumed against the moral and religious ethics of society, but also clamp down on critical voices. In September, TikTok, PUBG, dating Apps and YouTube were among platforms that received complaints from the PTA to ban content if they wish to continue operating in Pakistan.
The new rules, the Removal and Blocking Unlawful Online Content, 2020 (RBUOC), have replaced the Online Harm to Persons Rules of January 2020, and they are meant to guide the implementation of Section 37 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA).
According to the RBUOC 2020, people can exercise their right to freedom of speech or share information in digital spaces as long as it does not ”intimidate”, harm” or ”excite disaffection towards the reputation of Federal or Provincial Government” or any person holding public office, if done it would be considered as a threat to ‘integrity, security and defense of Pakistan’ and would be removed or blocked. These rules give the telecom industry regulator, the PTA, the power to remove and block anything— including entire online systems— deemed against decency and morality as defined in the Pakistan Penal Code. Social media companies will be obliged to provide PTA with any information or data in a decrypted, readable, and comprehensible format which may include subscriber information, traffic, content and any other information or data.
The rules further extend PTA’s powers beyond the original scope of Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and gives PTA the authority to register international technology companies, a power not given in the original Act and which remains outside the powers originally laid down. Section 9 also lays down new obligations and liabilities for social media companies, which are contrary to the limitation of intermediary liability provisions for technology companies in PECA. In case service providers or social media companies do not comply and remove content within 24 hours or, six hours in case of an emergency, they could face a fine of up to 500 million rupees ($3.14 million), and risk being banned.
There has been a strong reaction from private sector stakeholders who have already registered their concerns about the new rules through multiple statements and letters to the Prime Minister. The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an industry association that includes big tech companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google, has voiced its concerns and said that social media companies may find it difficult to continue their operations in Pakistan under these rules:
The draconian data localization requirements will damage the ability of people to access free and open internet and shut Pakistan’s digital economy off from the rest of the world. It’s chilling to see the PTA’s powers expanded, allowing them to force social media companies to violate established human rights norms on privacy and freedom of expression.
The Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) is considering legal action against the recent rules once their strategy has been formed and may challenge the rules in court too.
Digital Rights activists also condemned the rules and believe that they not only violate citizens’ right to freedom of speech in online spaces but also puts them in a vulnerable situation. Media Matters for Democracy tweeted a detailed thread on the rules:
Here is a short analysis of some of the key concerns with specific sections of the Removal and Blocking of Online Content Rules 2020. #SocialMediaRules#PECA pic.twitter.com/rH6ggxpIzY
— Media Matters for Democracy (@mmfd_Pak) November 19, 2020
They also issued a statement urging the government to “immediately suspend the implementation of these rules and initiate a meaningful consultative process that is credible, transparent, representative, and responsive to the concerns raised about the previous consultative process.”
Farieha Aziz from BoloBhi, a platform working on digital rights and civil liberties, says that the citizens will either have to censor themselves or completely lose access to social media platforms if these rules are not followed. While Digital Rights Foundation issued a statement saying that they were “extremely concerned with both the procedure followed in passing the Rules, devoid of meaningful consultation and transparency, and the implications the Rules have for Constitutional freedoms in the country.” The Association of Pakistan’s Independent Online Journalism Platforms also rejected the new rules.
Tania Aidrus, former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on e-governance and current Head of Digital Pakistan Vision Initiative tweeted:
Threats can never lead to sustainable outcomes. Big tech needs to invest time & resources in understanding local sensitivities & the Govt needs to be pragmatic about its demands.
We MUST get this right, else our citizens get left behind. https://t.co/5MHKXDQKPG
— Tania Aidrus (@taidrus) November 20, 2020
The new rules will only worsen the human rights situation in Pakistan. According to Freedom House's annual Freedom in the World report 2020, which assesses people’s access to political rights and civil liberties in 210 countries and territories, Pakistan scored 38 (partly free) out of a maximum 100 points. On International Internet Day, celebrated on October 20, the Freedom Network issued a report on the state of Digital Rights in Pakistan, noting ”a rise in censorship, hate speech, digital surveillance and breach of privacy and disinformation and misinformation online.”

author: R Umaima Ahmed


text:
Report into Australian special forces war crimes in Afghanistan ‘gut-wrenching’ · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Screenshot: Australian Broadcasting Corporation Four Corners video 16 March 2020 ‘Killing Field’
A report published on November 19 into alleged war crimes by special forces in Afghanistan has stunned Australians. Australia has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001 as part of the International Security Assistance Force. Combat troops were withdrawn in December 2013, with 400 trainers and advisers remaining till today.
Despite media stories and widespread rumours of troop misconduct, the Afghanistan Inquiry report has been described as a horrific bombshell.
The inquiry was conducted by Paul Brereton, a judge and Army reserve Major General. The independent investigation, commissioned by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), reviewed over 20,000 documents and 25,000 images and interviewed 423 witnesses. “57 incidents and issues of interest” were examined in detail.
The investigation followed a 2016 review of special forces culture by military sociologist Dr. Samantha Crompvoets. Crompvoet's investigation was commissioned by the ADF in 2015 after rumours of war crimes circulated in the special forces community. She found that there was, “illegal application of violence on operations, disregard for human life and dignity, and the perception of a complete lack of accountability at times.” The review has a comprehensive list of media reports about special operations overseas from 2000 to 2015 but was finished before the sensational 2017 Afghan Files revelations mentioned below. Her review did not document specific incidents. Media stories helped to inform the Brereton investigations but are not specifically detailed in its report.
Guardian Australia reporter Paul Daley summarised the background and findings of the recent report:
For more than four years, the Maj Gen Justice Paul Brereton has investigated allegations that a small group within the elite Special Air Services [SAS] and commandos regiments killed and brutalised Afghan civilians, in some cases allegedly slitting throats, gloating about their actions, keeping kill counts, and photographing bodies with planted phones and weapons to justify their actions.
Among the findings of the Brereton report are the following:
This screenshot is an example of the heavily-redacted nature of the report, with names and other details blacked out:
Screenshot: Brereton report extract (page 73).
Incidents involving 19 individuals have been referred to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for criminal investigation, which may result in murder charges.
The report also explores the fostering of a ‘warrior hero culture’ as a contributing factor. An example of the toxic culture emerged in September 2020 when an Instagram account run by special forces soldiers, past and present, mocked war crimes allegations. Many Australians on social media were appalled at the time:
These soldiers DO NOT represent MY Australia. They make me sick. I want them OUT.
Australian special forces Instagram account mocks war crime allegations, calls to ‘Make Diggers Violent Again’ https://t.co/OLWTkMBf1S
— Oh for crying out loud! (legitimate blue tick) (@iabanon) September 3, 2020
The report has dominated social media. Afghan-Australian human rights lawyer Diana B. Sayed posted this statement on Twitter:
“We hope that this leads to justice and accountability for those impacted by these alleged war crimes and that this starts the process of healing for a country that has experienced a long and protracted history of war” #BreretonReport #AfghanFiles pic.twitter.com/49Kk2qJ3xF
— Diana B. Sayed (@DsSayed) November 19, 2020
There has been ‘shock and anger’ in Afghanistan. Hani Marifat, CEO of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, raised the implications for other nations:
Heinous violence such as war crime cannot be concealed forever, no matter how much efforts are made to do it, as the Australian case shows. That should be an important takeaway for other countries too. https://t.co/hmg0knUzuI
— Hadi Marifat (@HMarifat) November 19, 2020
The Australian government’s intention to pay compensation to the families of victims in Afghanistan has been welcomed.
However, not everyone accepts the report’s recommendations:
We sent our special forces to fight a a dirty war in Afghanistan and they adapted to that environment. Don't turn on the men who fought that war while the politicians and lawyers sat in their comfortable offices. Change the training if u like but don't blame the fighters #auspol
— Jeffrey Davidson (@Tarnrider) November 12, 2020
The report found that ‘no evidence that there was knowledge of, or reckless indifference to, the commission of war crimes, on the part of commanders at troop/platoon, squadron/company or Task Group Headquarters level, let alone at higher levels such as Commander Joint Task Force 633, Joint Operations Command, or Australian Defence Headquarters.’
In an article on The Conversation, veteran journalist Michelle Grattan questioned how it was possible for those up the chain of command to not know.
If senior officers did not pick up gossip and whispers, surely they should have been enough aware of the broad special forces culture to know that extensive checks should be in place to guard against the ever-present threat of misconduct.
Former soldier Dr. Julian Fidge believes that the culture of military leadership has led to a lack of accountability at higher levels:
This is what happens when your leadership is poorly selected & poorly trained by officers who were also poorly selected & poorly trained. Our military leaders lack depth & quality, so much so that not one of them will resign. They do not accept blamehttps://t.co/AdYfT4npTX
— Dr Julian Fidge (@JulianFidge) November 19, 2020
A potential consequence of the recent report concerns former SAS member Ben Roberts-Smith, a recipient of Australia’s highest military honour the Victoria Cross. The Court has directed him to hand over documents from the Brereton inquiry. The documents may reveal whether he is implicated as a suspect. His old SAS squadron is to be disbanded as a result of the recent report. Roberts-Smith is currently suing newspapers for defamation.
Between 2014 and 2015, Australian Army lawyer David McBride leaked information on war crimes in Afghanistan to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). A criminal prosecution against McBride is still proceeding. There are many people calling for the charges to be dropped:
“It was whistleblowers like McBride… who made the Brereton report possible by refusing to be intimidated into silence…They do not deserve jail cells.” @xenophondavis #Afghanistan #WarCrimes | If moral courage matters, this whistleblower needs defending https://t.co/xzuU8ksN0P
— Australian Centre for International Justice (@theACIJ) November 17, 2020
However, Federal prosecutors are not proceeding with charges against ABC journalist Dan Oakes as it was not in the public interest. Oakes helped expose secret defence force documents leaked to the ABC in 2017 (also known as the Afghan Files), he was also one of the journalists at the centre of an Australian Federal Police raid on the ABC in June 2019.
The chief of the ADF, Angus Campbell, has been accused of hypocrisy:
While Angus Campbell says people should “speak up” if they witness war crimes, he hasn't addressed the treatment of whistleblowers such as David McBride, nor journalists like Dan Oakes who tried to reveal the truth about what Australian troops did in Afghanistan
— Maddison Connaughton (@madconnaughton) November 19, 2020
Colin Hocking blames the Federal police and Prime Minister Scott Minister for the pursuit of the media:
Today @AusFedPolice & @ScottMorrisonMP should hang their heads in shame for raids on @abcnews – & the AFP wanting to fingerprint Dan Oakes & Sam Clark, ABC journalists who produced stories on activities of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan. https://t.co/1VUPheQiYG
— Colin Hocking (@hocking_c) November 19, 2020
On the broader front, the ramifications of these disturbing events will be playing out for years to come, especially criminal charges.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Rubber ducks in Thai protests inspire solidarity and memes · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The inflatable rubber ducks brought in by protesters at the Kiak Kai intersection barricade were later used as shields against water cannon blasts. Photo and caption by Prachatai, a content partner of Global Voices
Rubber ducks became the newest icon of the Thai democracy movement after protesters used them as shields against police water cannons on November 17. The rubber ducks were used again the following day during a rally condemning police violence.
Images of a rubber duck stained with purple-colored chemicals from the water used in the cannons went viral, inspiring memes and messages of solidarity from activists, artists, and internet users in Thailand and also in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The November 17 rally near the parliament was organized to push for constitutional amendments, which is one of the demands of the youth-led protest movement. The other two demands include proposals for monarchy reform and an end to the persecution of critics of the military-backed government.
Prachatai, an independent news website and a content partner of Global Voices, provided background on how the rubber ducks became ‘heroes’ on November 17
At 16.00, on Samsen Road, in front of the Boon Rawd Brewery Co, Ltd, the police fired water cannons and tear gas at the protesters again, while protesters at the Kiak Kai Intersection brought in the giant inflatable ducks, nicknamed “the navy” and previously intended as a mockery of the government, to be used as shields against the water cannon.
Writing for the Thai Enquirer, Jasmine Chia also gave an account of what happened that day:
Huge, yellow, inflatable, the rubber ducks were pushed to the front and took on the brunt of the water cannons. Few knew where they came from. But all witnessed their heroism: protesters, veiled with thin green plastic rain jackets, ducked behind the ducks as wave after wave of chemicals hit the protesters. Afterward, pictures were disseminated in the press: of the rubber ducks, slightly deflated, stained purple but still smiling.
Thailand protests – More rubber ducks resisting water cannons pic.twitter.com/HA5DC85SQL
— Hatice ‘Deniz’ AVCI (@HaticeDenizAVCI) November 17, 2020
Jasmine Chia also wrote about why protesters brought the rubber ducks to the protest:
The image of Thai authorities, armed to the teeth with riot gear and shields, facing off against…rubber ducks…highlights the sheer asymmetry of the battle between protester and state.
In many ways, the yellow duck captures what is so brave about some of today’s protesters: that they are engaging the powers that be without force.
The rubber ducks were welcomed once more during the indignation protest on November 18:
We will have to see what roles these ducks will play today. At yesterday's protest, frontline demonstrators used them as shields against riot police water cannons and projectiles thrown by royalist counter-protesters. #ม็อบ18พฤศจิกา #Thailand #KE #WhatsHappeninglnThailand pic.twitter.com/7FCXEr2iCI
— Khaosod English (@KhaosodEnglish) November 18, 2020
Artists and internet users in Thailand were quick to celebrate the rise of the rubber ducks as an icon of the protest movement:
pls back home safety. It’s a long fight and we won’t give up. #ม็อบ17พฤศจิกา #whatshappeninginthailand pic.twitter.com/Zo6CiHq93T
— #NoCPTPP • ̀- •́ (@planktonenteen_) November 17, 2020
Here’s a depiction of the rubber duck as protector of young activists:
We are human being #ม็อบ17พฤศจิกา pic.twitter.com/y9mzfUmek7
— bitch ❤???? (@wayu3738) November 17, 2020
This Star Wars-inspired political cartoon features the rubber ducks challenging the military ‘empire’:
#ขอบคุณฟันเฟืองประชาธิปไตย @PravitR @FCCThai @pedroletti @RichardBarrow @Thai_Talk @suranand @Piyabutr_FWP @AbbottKingsley A new Hope : X-wing duckfighters vs Death-of-Democracy Star #StarWars pic.twitter.com/2qd20jORBd
— stephff cartoonist (@stephffart) November 19, 2020
Solidarity posts were shared by those who support the Milk Tea Alliance, an informal network of democracy activists in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Prominent Hong Kong youth activist Joshua Wong praised the bravery of Thai activists and the creative use of the rubber ducks:
Apart from #policebrutality, the world should also pay attention to #Thaiprotestors‘ creativity. Probably the first place where the powerless citizens use #RubberDuck to fight against tyranny.
Creativity wins.
Long live rubber ducks.#whatishappeninginthailand #MilkTeaAlliance pic.twitter.com/zwYpjFIDjv
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ? (@joshuawongcf) November 18, 2020
Another activist from Hong Kong made this Hokusai-inspired artwork, which features rubber ducks sailing the ‘great wave’:
I put this together to honour our courageous #Thai friends as they #FightForFreedom and #Democracy#WhatsHappeninglnThailand #ม็อบ18พฤศจิกา #MilkTeaAlliance pic.twitter.com/wn8B9x5m4k
— James Lee Proudfoot (@PhilosophyNook) November 18, 2020
Australia-based Chinese artist and activist Badiucao posted these tweets in support of Thai protesters:
In Rubber Duck, We Trust!
Art for supporting the on going pro democracy #ThailandProtests
Keep up the good fight and be safe everyone!
??泰国加油！???#StandwithThailand #MilkTeaAlliance #ม็อบ18พฤศจิกา #18พฤศจิกาไปราษฎร์ประสงค์ pic.twitter.com/hxjooaXEuJ
— 巴丢草 Badiucao (@badiucao) November 18, 2020
1）Art for supporting #Thailand pro democracy protest.
Last night Giant rubber ducks were used by the young students protesters to protect themselves from the attack of police water cannons.
Thats what inspires the drawing.#ม็อบ17พฤศจิกา #whatishappeninginthailand pic.twitter.com/HBwdoB2JoX
— 巴丢草 Badiucao (@badiucao) November 18, 2020
And finally, a solidarity event was held by activists in Taiwan:
The solidarity event in support of the Thais is happening right now in Taiwan, in front of the Thailand Trade and Economic Office.#StandWithThailand#WhatsHappeningInThailand#MilkTeaAlliance https://t.co/x1yOikjB4V pic.twitter.com/f9biNJeILx
— Roy Ngerng (@royngerng) November 22, 2020

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Can secularism be compatible with Islam? · Global Voices
The Battleground

Anti-terror demonstration, Vienna, November 6, 2020. Photograph courtesy Michael Gubi. Published under a Creative Commons licence.
This article by Samee Alhwash was originally published on The Battleground and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Whether in the boycott-French-products campaign on social media or through conversations with friends, Muslims I know feel conflicted about the recent terrorist attacks in Vienna and Nice.
While they condemn violence, there is also a sense that it is to be expected. Their conflict gets expressed like this:
“We don't condone killing, and those who kill have nothing to do with Islam. But when provocation is disguised as free speech, (for example, Charlie Hebdo), a reaction should be expected.”
Or this:
“Why is it that it's only attacks by Muslims which are branded “terrorist?” Why is French secularism, ‘Laïcité’, applied only to Muslims? Why is it illegal to question the Holocaust but okay to criticize the most sacred elements in Islam?”
Of course, some clear Muslim voices do denounce this confusion between secularism, free speech, and civil liberties. But this conflict is widespread. It seems to come from feelings of disenfranchisement framed in the language of contemporary political Islam.
Where does this rationalization of violence come from?  Is it really something innate to Islam, dooming the religion to be incompatible with key components of democracy, particularly freedom of speech and secularism?
These are important questions as terrorist attacks produce trauma that brings out equally reactionary arguments within European societies, raising questions about cultural diversity, integration, and assimilation.
Anything sounding like an apology for terrorism risks handing political victories to far-right groups, wrongly stereotyping Islam as backward and violent.
We have been here before. In 2005 I watched something that seemed beyond imagination on TV in my small living room in Syria: mass protests across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) against offensive depictions of Prophet Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
The protests were tolerated by oppressive regimes that would otherwise crack down on any form of protest. The demonstrations were the only ones of their kind until the Arab Spring in 2010.
Thinking about them now, I cannot help but question why other incidents didn’t spark the same outcry from Muslims.
The killing of Rohingya Muslims was condemned but it didn't produce the same public outrage. Nor have the Uyghur camps in China.
There was even a widely circulated YouTube video in 2012, one of many to come, of Syrian government thugs forcing an anti-government demonstrator at gunpoint to kneel on a portrait of Bashar Al Assad, in the place of a sajjāda (Muslim prayer rug).
One thug shouted at him, “Pray to your god, Bashar!” True, the actions of the Syrian regime attracted jihadists from all over the world. But this didn’t spark public protests at Syrian embassies like the Danish cartoons did.
This duplicity was intriguing. It tells us something about the nationalistic nature of political Islam today.
It's not a matter of incompatibility between Islam and free speech. Rather, Islam has become an insecure identity that is always undermined by criticism from the Christian or godless, but always colonial, West.
Muslims adhering to moderate schools of thought, and non-practising Muslims, share this sentiment with conservative elements within Islam. Even secular nationalists view Western criticisms of Islam as an attack on their own culture.
Whether they are Muslim or nationalist, most people in MENA countries are poor, uneducated, and have no political representation. Prolonged stagnation makes them more susceptible to destructive narratives that fuel identity politics and exacerbate social issues. The success of Europe is not viewed as a result of humanist philosophy and a bloody fight against nationalism, such as WWII. To many Muslims, secularism is just a Western colonial scheme to strip away Islamic identity and culture.
Many people in the Middle East and North Africa only see Christian imperial Europe and become slaves to their own inherited colonial traumas. Demagogues, kings, and dictators across the Islamic world reinforce this narrative to legitimize their existence. This feeds into a divisive, nationalistic identity politics that negates any positive intercultural relations with Europe.
The problem gets even more complex inside Europe, as immigrant communities find themselves in an alien and often racist environment. They cope by embracing shallow and dogmatic versions of political Islam.
Colonialism exacerbated social problems that Muslim societies already had. It didn't create them. We were unequal, hierarchical, and sectarian even before European colonisation and the Ottoman Empire. European colonialism simply reinforced existing hierarchical political structures and used sectarianism to divide and rule. The dictatorships we suffer under today are a continuation of those structures. That means it’s up to us to lead an intellectual revolution that blocks demagogues from using our worst instincts against ourselves. That involves being self-critical about everything, including fundamental reform of our identity and religion.
I’m not saying communities who suffered under colonialism should just forget about the past and move on. On the contrary, we need to see the legacy of colonialism as a big part of the problem, but not the only one. Colonialism inflicted profound scars on the psychology and politics of MENA cultures, which were not healed The racism that immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa experience only reinforces that.
This is why the legitimate sense of being victimised by colonialism must not be applied to every social ailment.
On the other hand, because of the history of colonialism, Europe has the responsibility to create a politically correct public discourse, respectful of Muslims, aimed at facilitating their integration, as equals. This must coincide with supportive initiatives abroad, in international development and security policy. And in turn, it’s the responsibility of Muslim communities to understand that there is no alternative to reform in today's political Islamic discourse.
Moderate voices within Islam have to make it clear that nothing is sacred in a democracy, and that we must reject political violence without fail.
To initiate this reform, Muslim communities need to look nowhere else but their own history for messages of tolerance, reason, and most importantly shared values with Europe.
There have been many scholars, philosophers, and even military leaders in our history who testify to the rich potential of Islamic culture, and its tolerance of free speech.
One example is the medieval Arab philosopher and poet Al-Ma'arri. In one of his roughly translated poems, he writes “There's a commotion in Latakia between Ahmed and Issa. One rings the bell and the other shouts from a minaret. Each glorifies their religion. Oh my poetry, who is right?”
In Risalat al-Gufran, Al-Ma’arri adds, “There is but one Imam, the mind,” and “Two inhabit the earth: one with brains but no religion and another with religion but no brains.”
This is a philosopher who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate over 1,000 years ago. He was neither beheaded nor prosecuted. On the contrary, he was praised as one of the great Arabic philosophers and poets.
A statue commemorating Al-Ma'arri stood in his hometown in Syria till 2013, only to be destroyed by Al Nusra Front, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda.
On the issue of incompatibility with secularism, the development of the Muʿtazila school of thought brings out similarities with renaissance humanism from which secular humanism emerged.
The Muʿtazila movement came into being following the translation and interpretation of Aristotelian metaphysics and neo-Platonism. It rejected the idea that the Quran is “uncreated,” which dominated mainstream Sunni and Shia doctrines, arguing that the world can be explained through rational thought alongside scripture. It’s not quite secularism as we understand it today, as it doesn’t separate state and religion. But it opens the door for critical and scientific thought, potentially paving the way for secularism.
Secularism is compatible with Islam. It is just incompatible with the current version of political Islam.
Secularism needs reform as well, as it was often used to discriminate against minorities, whose religiosity is far different from the faith it was supposed to restrain.

author: The Battleground


text:
Caribbean football enthusiasts mourn the passing of Diego Maradona · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A graffiti drawing of Diego Maradona on a wall in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo by Wagner Fontoura on Flickr, CC BY 2.0.
Argentinian football virtuoso Diego Armando Maradona, famous for the stunning natural talent that led his team to FIFA World Cup glory in 1986 — and infamous for the “Hand of God” goal that helped clear the path for their eventual victory — died of a heart attack at his Buenos Aires home on November 25, having recently undergone surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. He was 60 years old.
Small in stature but a giant on the field, it is hard to imagine Maradona, who was required to perform at such an elite fitness level, being plagued by health problems. Throughout his career, however, he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction which led to a range of other challenges, including obesity and serious health-related scares like hepatitis.
In 1991, Maradona was suspended from the sport he loved for 15 months, after testing positive for cocaine before a match. Later that year, he was arrested for possession of the drug and given a 14-month suspended sentence.
Come the 1994 World Cup, Argentina's star player was once again part of the team, but before the group stage of the tournament was over, the Argentine Football Association pulled him from the lineup for failing a drug test. FIFA banned Maradona over the incident, essentially putting an end to his international career, which had included representing top clubs like Boca Juniors (Argentina), Barcelona (Spain), and Napoli (Italy).
It was for his performance on the field, however, that Maradona will forever be remembered.
His style of play, full of darts and dribbles, was fearless; from the sidelines, it also looked effortless. There was no one faster or more sure-footed. He demonstrated impeccable ball control, even with several defenders on him at a time. He had an instinct for finding spaces and creating opportunities but was not one to hoard the ball for a chance at glory.
He was, first and foremost, a team player who passed when needed, who captained creatively and helped make Argentina a joy to watch, comparable at their height to the captivating, samba style of fancy footwork their rival Brazil is famous for. The creative moves of La Albiceleste, as the Argentinian national football team is called, felt — under Maradona's influence — at once both fluid and precise, a skilful tango on the turf.
Argentina has declared three days of national mourning. One million people are expected to attend his public wake in Buenos Aires’ Casa Rosada, the national government seat.
Meanwhile, the loss of Maradona is being felt around the world, including across the football-obsessed Caribbean region.
A superstar in his own right, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt posted photos of himself with Maradona on Facebook, accompanied by the caption, “RIP to Legend #Maradona ??”
There was no doubt that Maradona was a flawed and complex hero. The quarter-finals of Mexico 1986 World Cup — when he and the rest of the Argentinian team faced down England, at a time when tensions between the two countries over the Falklands war was still high — was the perfect and enduring example of how he could be both sinner and saint.
The first goal of that match was a desperate handball after 51 long minutes which, controversially, the referee allowed. Maradona scored again just four minutes later, after a dazzling and seemingly impossible dribble around five England players, slipping the ball past the keeper in what most football experts concur was the “Goal of the Century”.
After the match, when a small cohort of reporters bombarded him with questions about the first goal, Maradonna cheekily replied that he had a little help from “the hand of God” — in a quote since eternalized in football history.
Argentina won the game 2–1 and went on to claim the Cup, beating West Germany in the final. Maradona won FIFA's Ballon d'Or for player of the tournament, and for many football fans — despite his frequent missteps off the field — he will remain a player for all time.
Terry Fenwick, one of the England defenders who failed to stop Maradona at that quarter-final match in 1986, agrees. Upon learning of Maradona's passing, Fenwick, who is currently the head coach of Trinidad and Tobago's national football team, said:
Today is an extremely sad day for world football. I would like to extend condolences to Diego’s family, his friends and all of his former teammates, especially all the guys who were on the field that day in ’86.
I can recall it like yesterday. It is one of the matches and moments that never leaves you. For me, he was undoubtedly the greatest to ever play the game and certainly the best I have ever encountered.
As much as we were steaming mad about the [first] goal that was allowed and the fact that we lost and had to pack our bags after that game, we were all in awe of what he was capable of—what he did generally in that game and the tournament as a whole. It was just pure genius.
Indeed a privilege to share the same pitch and come up against such a unique figure. RIP Diego.
In 2000, FIFA created a one-off Player of the Century award, of which Maradona was the joint winner along with Brazil's Pelé.
That same year, Italian club Napoli, for whom Maradona played from 1984 to 1991 in what became the club's most successful years in its history, retired his Number 10 jersey in honour of his achievements. Napoli won two Coppa Italia Series A during that period, marking the first time a southern club claimed the Scudetto, Italy's highest football trophy.
In 2001, the Argentine Football Association asked FIFA to also retire Maradona's Number 10 jersey of Argentina's national team, a request which the international football body did not grant.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Trinidad & Tobago deports Venezuelan women and children as matter of ‘national security’ · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A group of Venezuelan asylum-seekers including 16 children arrive for the second time on Trinidad soil, on November 24, 2020, due to a court order requiring them to appear at a habeas corpus hearing. Screenshot taken from a Trinidad and Tobago Newsday video of the landing, which was posted to the newspaper's YouTube channel.
The Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere has been in a heated discussion over the country's deportation of 16 Venezuelan minors and 11 adults — including nine women — who were reportedly sent away shortly before the group was supposed to have a habeas corpus hearing carded for 2 p.m. on November 22. It's a move that Minister of National Security Stuart Young has defended as part of his remit to protect the country.
After concerns that the vessels carrying them back to Venezuela could not be located and Venezuela's self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó describing Trinidad and Tobago's actions as “cruel, painful and inhumane,” not only has the group been found, but a Trinidadian judge, Justice Avason Quinlan-Williams, has ordered that the state return them to Trinidad for their court hearing.
The asylum-seekers returned to Trinidad shores on November 24, where they were greeted by relatives who reside on the island:
No words. None. https://t.co/8TiIW2hGBq
— Wesley Gibbings (@wgibbings) November 24, 2020
The issue was first brought to public attention by attorney Nafeesa Mohammed, who resigned as deputy political leader of the governing People's National Movement (PNM) mere weeks before Trinidad and Tobago's general election on August 10.
Mohammed says the group was initially arrested on November 17 in south Trinidad, which lies about 11 kilometres north of Venezuela. The South American country's continuing political and socioeconomic crisis has forced thousands of asylum-seekers into Trinidad and Tobago.
In this particular case, however, there were concerns for the well-being of the children especially, which prompted Mohammed to send correspondence to the chief immigration officer asking for dialogue. Although birth certificates and other relevant documentation were reportedly submitted to the country's immigration division, they were not accepted. Upon learning that deportation was imminent, Mohammed succeeded in having the court hearing moved up, but to no avail. She has since suggested that the state's actions in this regard were in breach of its international obligations and wants an investigation to be launched into the matter.
Stuart Young, Trinidad and Tobago's minister of national security, held a press conference on November 24, to address the situation and “send some very strong signals” regarding the nation's safety and the laws that have been put in place to ensure it.
Framing his comments against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Young noted that Trinidad and Tobago's borders are closed to both nationals and non-nationals, and have been since March 17, soon after the country recorded its index case of the virus. Anyone who wishes to enter the country while the border closure remains in effect must get clearance from the minister himself.
Given these parameters, Young continued, the Venezuelans in question were in breach of Trinidad and Tobago's immigration laws, health regulations, and government policy. Mohammed insists, however, that members of the group who were deported all tested negative for COVID-19.
Stressing that the government “cannot be legitimately and justifiably accused” of dealing with non-national migration issues without a humanitarian pillar, Young reiterated:
It is not up to any one person — in a democracy, it doesn't operate like that. It's not up to lawyers, it's not up to courts, it's not up to anyone to just change the law according to how they feel. This government has always approached the issue of non-national migration with a balance that includes the humanitarian aspect.
At the beginning of 2019, however, even as Caribbean nations were attempting to engage in decisive international diplomacy regarding Venezuela’s political impasse, Trinidad and Tobago seemed reticent to label it a humanitarian crisis, opting instead to echo the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) diplomatic position of “non-interference and non-intervention.”
By June of that year, the Trinidad and Tobago government did make good on its promise to regularise Venezuelan asylum-seekers. Many of the conditions and privileges associated with this registration process have since been extended past the initial year-long limit, all of which Young cites as proof of his government's consideration of the humanitarian angle, though it remains unclear what is to happen once the extension is up.
International agencies have not always agreed that the Trinidad and Tobago government has acted in humanitarian ways. Back in April 2018, Trinidad and Tobago's repatriation of 82 Venezuelans attracted harsh criticism from The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which called the move a “forced deportation” that breached international law.
Trinidad and Tobago has acceded to the 1951 Refugee Convention and is a signatory to both the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
At his press conference, Young chastised “international agencies” for bandying about statistics that suggested there were far larger numbers of Venezuelan asylum-seekers in the country than the amount that actually registered during the two-week process in June 2019.
However, a Global Voices report dated June 4, 2019, states that the UNHCR estimated that Trinidad and Tobago's “population of concern” at that time comprised more than 10,000 people — among them, 800 refugees and 9,985 asylum-seekers, most of whom are from Venezuela. The final tally of asylum-seekers who registered was 16,523.
At the end of the process, Trinidad and Tobago instituted a visa requirement for all Venezuelans wishing to enter the country. Unregistered non-nationals would be subject to deportation.
Saying that he “understands the emotion” of the situation, Young warned against those who are attempting to “manipulate the narrative as being about women and children.” For many social media users, however, that was the crux of the matter:
So arrangements are being made in the Cedros police station to deport 16 Venezuelan children including a baby and children aged 2-8).
Their fathers hold MONS permits/UN /Asylum Certificates. They all have relatives here.
Since when have we engaged in family separation?
— S (@shivkgs) November 21, 2020
Attorney Mohammed confirmed that some of the children’s parents are registered in Trinidad and Tobago, while others are UNHCR card-holders. Minister Young countered that Venezuelans with Trinidad and Tobago registration cards who bring friends or family into the country are breaking the law and will be deported, adding that UNHCR registration does not give anyone landed status in the country.
He also raised concerns about situations of this nature being a red flag with regard to human trafficking, since there are active rings in Trinidad and Tobago, and members of law enforcement and border control authorities are suspected of being involved.
Despite referring to Trinidad and Tobago's Immigration Act, which has a clause that refers to an “undesirable” class of people that may be prohibited from entering the country and offers a “further layer of protection,” Minister Young said that while he was concerned for the group's safety, he must uphold the law, which is “clear and cannot be contradicted.”
With regard to the court protocols, he noted:
The persons were returned to Venezuela before any court order was made. So, there is no longer any jurisdiction, there is no breach, there is no misinforming the court or anything like that.
Nevertheless, the court has successfully ensured that the group is back on Trinidad and Tobago soil and that the children have been released into the care of their parents.
The legal process continues, but in the court of public opinion, many have already decided that Trinidad and Tobago's actions were “morally bankrupt.”