The following media round up on international and foreign policy issues from around the world for the period of 23 April to 29 April 2024.
Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates from the International Criminal Court, European Court of Human Rights, United Nations, European Union and other sources. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.
Australia – 25 April
The Australian government has been called on to include vetting provisions in all bilateral security force cooperation agreements, particularly with Fiji. Otherwise, the Australian military might support, train, or appoint anyone credibly accused of committing severe human rights or humanitarian law violations unintentionally.
The proposed agreement with Fiji should include a vetting clause, setting an important precedent for future bilateral military contracts. Human rights vetting provisions would require the Australian Defence Force to check that any person they work with from a foreign military has not been credibly accused of severe human rights violations.
Saudi Arabia - 25 April
FIFA's four-year global partnership with “Saudi Aramco”, a state-owned fossil fuel company, has raised human rights concerns. Saudi Arabia has invested billions in sports worldwide, with the Saudi government and its Public Investment Fund owning over 98% of the company.
The 2026 men's World Cup will be held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, while the 2027 women's tournament location has yet to be determined. The irony of Saudi Arabian state-owned companies sponsoring the Women's World Cup is palpable. Women like Salma al-Shehab and Manahel al-Otaibi remain imprisoned for peacefully advocating for gender equality. Human rights violations could plague world football unless urgent action is taken to address the country's atrocious human rights record.
Binding agreements are needed to protect people from exploitation, discrimination, and repression before finalising any deal on hosting the tournament. The company's annual profit last year was the largest ever made by a company; income from Aramco should not be used to finance human rights abuses or cover them up through sports washing.
USA – 25 April
Rights groups are outraged over President Biden's expansion of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention system, which has been criticised for its cruel and unnecessary nature. The NGOs argue that the administration's decision to increase ICE detention funding is a betrayal of campaign promises and a wasteful and abusive system.
ICE's detention facilities have been open for over two years despite reports of ineffectiveness and the need for a different approach. The FY2024 spending bill signed by Biden provides ICE $3.4 billion to jail an average of 41,500 immigrants per day, surpassing all four years of the Trump administration. The ICE system is riddled with abuse and impunity, with insufficient standards, inadequate medical care, homophobic and transphobic harassment, lack of basic sanitation, and high rates of violence against black immigrants.
The NGOs urge Biden to consider the legacy his administration intends to leave on immigration policy and encourage him to reverse course on increasing ICE detention.
Lesotho - 25 April
Concern has been expressed over the harassment, intimidation, and threats against journalist and proprietor Phafane Nkotsi, the proprietor of Lesotho Tribune and Lesotho Times. Human Rights Organisations have called for authorities to stop these threats and ensure the safety and security of Nkotsi and his family.
The threats were made about the recent publication of allegations of corruption at the Public Officers Defined Contribution Fund (PDP). Nkotsi has been targeted with his work as a journalist and proprietor of Lesotho Times, with Mergence Investment Managers and Cadient Partners Lesotho allegedly infringing on the Pension Fund since 2011. An urgent application was filed with the High Court of Lesotho to prohibit the Lesotho Tribune from publishing further articles in the series, which the court later dismissed.
Lebanon – 25 April
Lebanon has been facing a surge in repression of Syrians, with authorities arbitrarily detaining, torturing, and forcibly returning them to Syria, including opposition activists and army defectors. Human Rights Watch documented the forcible return of a Syrian army defector and an opposition activist between January and March 2024.
The Lebanese military's intelligence unit also briefly held and allegedly tortured a Syrian man who participated in a solidarity protest for women in Gaza. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported 13,772 individuals deported from Lebanon or pushed back at the border with the Syrian Arab Republic in approximately 300 incidents in 2023.
The situation is further exacerbated by officials' scapegoating of the refugee population. Lebanon's General Security Directorate deported Syrian inmate al-Waer in March, causing four other inmates to attempt suicide. The deportation also led to the hanging of two brothers in Roumieh prison. Al-Atr, a Syrian opposition activist, was detained in January despite a separate military court decision that ordered his release on bail and barred him from leaving the country. Al-Atr's family denies involvement in armed hostilities.
The Lebanese Army has detained al-Waer and al-Atr in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Human Rights Watch has reported that the army deported thousands of Syrians to Syria in 2023, violating Lebanese law and Lebanon's international human rights obligations.
Global – 25 April
The Loss and Damage Fund Board, which will hold its first meeting from 30 April to 2 May in Abu Dhabi, which faces greater restrictions on civil society participation than other bodies under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, such as the Green Climate Fund. The fund was agreed to operationalise at COP28 last year, but more financing is required, especially from states with the most significant responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions.
A complete, fast, fair, and funded fossil fuel phase-out is necessary to limit future loss and damage from global warming. Concerns have been expressed about the restrictions imposed on civil society participation at the first board meeting of the Loss and Damage Fund, emphasising the importance of enhancing and welcoming civil society participation, not severely limiting its involvement, to reflect the views of diverse and marginalised communities whose rights are most affected by the climate crisis.
It is hoped that the Loss and Damage Fund Board will conduct its activities transparently, inclusively, and accountably, ensuring all stakeholders are adequately represented at board meetings, including virtual participation, if required. Its proceedings should also be live-streamed.
Burkina Faso – 25 April
It is suspected that Burkina Faso's military executed at least 223 civilians, including 56 children, in two villages on February 25, 2024. These mass killings are among the worst abuses in Burkina Faso since 2015 and may amount to crimes against humanity. The killings are part of a widespread military campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with Islamist armed groups.
Burkinabè authorities are facing pressure to urgently undertake a thorough investigation, with support from the African Union and the United Nations, to protect its independence and impartiality. The conflict between the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) has led to mass atrocities against civilians and government security forces. The Burkinabé government must exercise criminal jurisdiction over those who commit grave international crimes. The conflict has forced two million people from their homes, leading to the shutdown of over 6,100 schools since 2021.
Severe abuses by the Burkinabè army have been documented during counterterrorism operations, including summary executions, enforced disappearances, and indiscriminate drone strikes. Survivors of the Nondin and Soro massacres have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, calling for adequate reparations, compensation, livelihood support, and long-term medical and psychological healthcare. They also demand justice and accountability for the perpetrators, but the widespread nature of military abuse and entrenched impunity leaves them with little hope.
Iran – 24 April
Iran's Revolutionary Court has issued a death sentence to famous rapper Toumaj Salehi on speech-related charges. Salehi, 33, was arrested in October 2022 amid protests following the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Jina Amini. The authorities charged him with "corruption on earth," a vague charge that can carry the death penalty. In November 2023, Iran's Supreme Court struck down Salehi's six-year sentence, referred the case back to the court of first instance, and released him on bail. Salehi was rearrested 12 days later.
Since the crackdown against protests, Iran's judicial authorities have increased the use of vaguely defined national security charges against protesters that carry the death penalty, including for destroying public property. As of April 2024, the government has executed eight who were convicted in connection to the protests, with the Supreme Court overturning another 11 death penalty convictions.
Gaza - 24 April
The International Court of Justice has issued provisional measures to prevent the destruction of mass graves in Gaza, including granting immediate access to independent human rights investigators. The discovery of hundreds of bodies at Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younes and the al-Shifa medical compound in Gaza City has highlighted the urgent need for access to forensic experts to preserve evidence and carry out independent and transparent investigations.
The lack of access has hampered effective investigations into the full scale of human rights violations and crimes committed over the past six months. Mass grave sites are potential crime scenes offering vital and time-sensitive forensic evidence. Without proper investigations, the truth of the horrors behind these mass graves may never be discovered. The absence of forensic experts and the decimation of Gaza's medical sector due to the war and Israel's blockade are considerable obstacles to the identification of remains.
Dominica – 24 April
The Dominica High Court has decriminalised consensual same-sex relations, making Dominica the fourth Eastern Caribbean country to do so. The ruling, published on April 22, ruled that the Sexual Offences Act in Dominica violated the country's Constitution, specifically the right to liberty, freedom of expression, and protection of personal privacy. The ruling follows efforts by local and regional civil society groups to challenge anti-LGBT legislation in the Eastern Caribbean, led by the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality.
The ruling follows the Anglophone Caribbean's 2016 ruling that laws criminalising same-sex intimacy were unconstitutional, followed by Trinidad and Tobago's High Court in 2018. However, five Caribbean countries still have versions of "buggery" and "indecency" laws, making them outliers in the Western Hemisphere. The criminalisation of same-sex conduct violates international standards, including the right to be protected against arbitrary and unlawful interference with one's private and family life and reputation or dignity.
Japan – 24 April
Japan's Diet is revising the law that allows transgender people to change their legal gender, which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last October. The country's legal gender recognition law has been debated, with proposals such as a lengthy waiting period and compulsory hormone treatment. The World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) has urged lawmakers to reject medical requirements in legal gender change procedures, stating that hormone therapy is an integral part of some transgender people's health care but not desired or necessary for others.
Since 2004, transgender people in Japan have had to appeal to a family court for legal gender change, which has created significant barriers and violated Japan's human rights commitments. Diet members are facing pressure to draft a law removing the five criteria for changing legal gender and replacing them with a simple administrative, legal gender recognition process based on self-declaration that respects the rights of transgender individuals. This would align Japan with other countries, including Germany, which recently enacted a new law.
Iraq - 24 April
Iraqi authorities must halt all executions following the execution of at least 13 men on 22 April in Nasiriyah Central Prison. There is concern that more people may have been executed in secret due to a lack of transparency regarding executions in Iraq in recent months. Security sources had previously confirmed the execution of 13 men on 25 December 2023, the first recorded mass execution since November 2020.
Amnesty International has documented flaws in Iraq's judicial processes that deny prisoners a fair trial, including torture-tainted confessions as evidence and failure to investigate allegations of torture. The organisation has also documented grave concerns regarding the overcrowded and inhumane conditions of detention in Nasiriyah Central Prison, as well as claims of torture and other ill-treatment.
EU – 24 April
The European Parliament has approved a legal proposal requiring large companies to prevent human rights and environmental abuses in their global supply chains and remedy them if broken. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) aims to introduce legal obligations for large corporations to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence in their global supply chains.
The vote was made on the 11th anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, which killed 1,138 garment workers and injured over 2,000 others. It empowers regulators to act against companies failing to conduct due diligence and allows victims of corporate abuses to approach European courts to seek justice.
Human Rights groups, trade unions, and businesses have long called for binding legislation to hold corporations accountable for abuses in their global supply chains. The legislative process, which began in 2020, has been protracted and complex, with the governments of France, Italy, and Germany limiting the scope of the legislation. The law now needs final approval by EU ministers, with the EU ministerial vote expected in late May.
UK/Rwanda – 23 April
The UK's Safety of Rwanda Bill, which passed its final stages in parliament, is set to become law. The bill aims to declare Rwanda safe for asylum seekers despite the UK Supreme Court's November 2023 ruling and evidence to the contrary. The law requires UK courts and civil servants to "conclusively" treat Rwanda as safe while limiting access to appeals and remedies.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that flights will take off in 10 to 12 weeks and reserved 2,200 detention spaces in the UK. UN experts have warned airlines and aviation authorities that removing asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda could make them complicit in violating human rights and court orders. Legal challenges are expected against individual removals and the law itself.
African Union – 23 April
Adama Dieng has been appointed as the first African Union (AU) special envoy for the prevention of genocide and other mass atrocities. According to AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, Dieng will drive the organisation's agenda to "combat the ideology of hate and genocide on the continent.” Dieng has held several positions within the United Nations human rights and justice system, including as a registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and a UN-designated expert on Human Rights in Sudan.
From 2012 to 2020, he was the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, with a mandate to raise the alarm over situations likely to spiral into genocide and mobilise UN Security Council action to prevent such atrocities. Dieng's appointment comes at a time when Africa is witnessing spates of terrible mass atrocities and serious crimes. The appointment of Dieng's regional mandate could be a timely boost to existing international mechanisms on atrocities prevention if it indicates a genuine AU political willingness to end mass abuse and uphold accountability standards.
Kazakhstan – 23 April
Kazakhstan's new law, known as Kazakhstan's "domestic violence" law, aims to strengthen protections for women and children from violence, including domestic violence survivors. However, it fails to explicitly make domestic violence a stand-alone offence in the criminal code or elsewhere. More reforms have been called for to ensure women and children are protected from family abuse by international human rights standards.
The law introduces amendments to Kazakhstan's Criminal Code, the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence, and the Law on Marriage and Family. However, it lacks a separate definition of offences when they occur within family or household relations, a missed opportunity to ensure that other types of violence within the family are adequately investigated and prosecuted.
Angola – 23 April
Angola's parliament is facing pressure to significantly revise or withdraw a proposed national security law that fails to meet international human rights standards. The draft National Security Law passed a first vote in parliament on January 25, 2024, and is expected to be submitted to parliament for final approval. The current draft law would permit excessive government control over private institutions, including media organisations, and undermine the rights to freedom of the press, expression, and association.
The first draft of the law contains provisions contrary to the rights to freedom of expression and the press set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international and regional human rights treaties. The Angolan constitution protects these rights. The bill poses a long-term threat to Angola's democracy. The Angolan government has a history of enacting repressive legislation, and the lack of provisions for judicial oversight in the proposed national security law opens the door for the Angolan government to prosecute and criminally charge media and civil society groups arbitrarily.