SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
amnesty international
COP29 Host Deal Revealed Amid Azerbaijan's 'Vicious Crackdown' on Critics
"In the months leading up to COP29, Azerbaijani authorities have arrested dozens of prominent activists and media figures on baseless, serious criminal charges," notes a new report.
Oct 10, 2024
Human Rights Watch on Thursday revealed the host country agreement between the United Nations and Azerbaijan for next month's climate summit, on the heels of an HRW report exposing "the government's concerted efforts to decimate civil society and silence its critics."
COP29 is scheduled for November 11-22 in Baku. Although the agreement was signed in August by U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary Simon Stiell and Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan's minister of ecology and natural resources, it was not made public until the U.S.-based human rights group obtained a copy.
Myrto Tilianaki, senior advocate for HRW's environment and human rights division, said it "is disappointing but not surprising" that the 20-page document "is replete with significant shortcomings and ambiguities on the protections for participants' rights."
As Tilianaki detailed in a Thursday dispatch on the HRW website:
For instance, the agreement states that while conference participants "shall enjoy immunity for legal process in respect of words spoken or written and any act performed by them," a separate clause requires them to respect Azerbaijani laws and not interfere in its "internal affairs."
There is no clarity in the agreement about what actions could constitute "interference" with Azerbaijan's "internal affairs," and whether Azerbaijan's laws apply in the U.N.-run conference zone. Given Azerbaijan's strict limitations on freedoms of expression and assembly, which violate international human rights law, participants' actions within the zone could be subject to reprisals outside the zone.
Tilianaki cited HRW and Freedom Now's Tuesday report, 'We Try to Stay Invisible': Azerbaijan's Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Civil Society, which states that the Caucasus country "has had a poor human rights record for many years, with the government regularly targeting those who play important watchdog roles in society, including human rights defenders, journalists, and independent civic activists."
"The government's vicious crackdown on critics and dissenting voices intensified over the last two years," the report emphasizes. "Among the methods the government uses to target these individuals are arrests and prosecutions on politically motivated, bogus criminal charges, as well as the arbitrary enforcement of highly restrictive laws regulating nongovernmental organizations. This system effectively excludes independent activists and media from lawful ways of carrying out their work, thereby pushing them to the margins of the law and heightening their vulnerability to retaliatory criminal prosecution."
"Azerbaijan is rich in oil and natural gas, depends heavily on fossil fuels for its state budget, and in 2024 is also hosting COP29, the United Nations Climate Conference," the 74-page document adds. "In the months leading up to COP29, Azerbaijani authorities have arrested dozens of prominent activists and media figures on baseless, serious criminal charges. The arrests are overwhelmingly linked to highly restrictive laws on nongovernmental organizations."
COP29 continues a trend in which a country hosts a summit that is supposed to bring world leaders together to tackle the climate emergency despite being incredibly involved with fossil fuels and repressive of critics—as Alex Galitsky of the Armenian National Committee of America wrote in a Thursday opinion piece for The Hill, "letting Azerbaijan host the U.N. climate conference is a sick joke."
Civil society groups, Tilianaki noted, "have repeatedly called for host country agreements to be made public for participants to have confidence that their rights will be protected when attending climate conferences," pointing out that Amnesty International obtained a copy of the last year's agreement only months after the United Arab Emirates hosted COP28.
As Amnesty explained in July, "In 2023 conclusions of the Bonn Climate Conference, parties to the UNFCCC highlighted that host countries should reaffirm their commitment to upholding the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international human rights law before, during and after UNFCCC sessions and mandated events, and to ensure that participants can exercise those human rights without fear of intimidation and repercussions."
Although the COP28 agreement "contains some positive elements," Amnesty said, the 2023 conclusions "were not implemented" in the document. The group detailed various "elements of concern" and published the full text. It has also documented the history of human rights abuses in Azerbaijan.
Tilianaki declared Thursday that "it is regrettable that these agreements are shrouded in secrecy, and it shouldn't fall to civil society organizations to share them publicly."
"In the interests of transparency and accessibility, the UNFCCC should publish past, current, and future agreements on its website," she said. "More urgently, it should publicly call upon the Azerbaijani government to respect its human rights obligations and facilitate a rights-respecting climate conference."
Keep ReadingShow Less
One Year After October 7, Jewish Peace Group Says: 'We Cannot Only Mourn'
"We must fight like hell for the living," said the anti-occupation group Jewish Voice for Peace. "Today, we recommit ourselves to that fight."
Oct 07, 2024
Monday marked a day of mourning for those appalled by the deadly Hamas-led attack that took place exactly one year ago and the devastating Israeli response, which continues in the present with no end in sight.
But while mourning is necessary, it is not enough, said the anti-Zionist advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in its statement on the somber anniversary.
"We believe that every life is precious," said JVP, which has spent the past 12 months organizing tirelessly in support of a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement and against U.S. complicity in Gaza, where nearly the entire population is displaced, hungry, and at growing risk of disease due to Israel's relentless airstrikes and siege that began hours after the Hamas-led attack.
"Every life taken, every parent, child, grandchild killed this past year was someone else's entire world," the group continued. "We mourn the at least 42,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, knowing the true death toll is likely far higher. We mourn the 1,200 Israelis killed in Hamas' attacks. And we mourn the 2,000 Lebanese killed by Israeli bombardment."
"But we cannot only mourn, with millions under current threat—we must fight like hell for the living," said JVP. "Today, we recommit ourselves to that fight: for an end to U.S. bombs and funding to the Israeli military, for a cease-fire and the release of 100 Israeli and 10,000 Palestinian hostages, and for an end to Israeli genocide and apartheid. To a future of liberation for all."
IfNotNow, a youth-led American Jewish group, echoed that sentiment.
"October 7 is not where the story begins or ends, and the pain we feel today has spanned generations. We reject the lie that decades of occupation, apartheid, and siege that has subjugated Palestinians will ever keep Jews or Israelis safe," the group said in a statement posted to social media. "To truly honor the lives lost, we must commit to building a world where freedom and safety are not reserved for some, but for all."
"Mourn the dead. Fight for the living," the group added. "Not another bomb. Free them all."
Israel's yearlong, U.S.-backed bombing campaign has left much of Gaza in ruins: According to United Nations estimates, Israel's airstrikes have left roughly 40 million tons of debris and rubble that could take a decade and a half to clear.
Officially, Israel's assault has killed just over 41,900 people in Gaza, more than half of them women and children. But the Gaza health ministry's tally is likely a dramatic underestimate, given that tens of thousands of people are missing and believed to be dead under the enclave's destroyed homes and buildings.
A group of American medical professionals who served in Gaza wrote to U.S. President Joe Biden last week that "it is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza's population."
Biden's role in fueling Israel's catastrophic military campaign—which has relied heavily on American weaponry and diplomatic support—was a major subject of reflection on the one-year anniversary of the war's start.
"The Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 were an abominable crime. The Israeli government had both the right and responsibility to protect its people. Biden was right to respond with support and solidarity," Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy (CIP) and a former foreign policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, wrote for The New Republic on Monday.
"It was also right to expect him, at some point over the last year, to pivot to real pressure to end the war and save human lives. He never did," Duss noted. "By taking the option of suspending military aid off the table, Biden signaled from the outset that his red lines were meaningless. His stubborn refusal to impose any costs on Netanyahu (except for a token suspension of a few shipments of bombs that was quickly superseded by massive deliveries of new weapons) is what all but ensured that his May cease-fire proposal would wither and die."
Duss' organization published a brief Monday outlining five steps it is urging the Biden administration to take to bring Israel's war on Gaza to an end, prevent the entire region from plunging into all-out war, and lay the groundwork for a sustainable peace.
The steps are:
- Finally use U.S. leverage to press for a full cease-fire;
- Fully enforce U.S. law and arms policy to ensure accountability and adequate humanitarian aid delivery;
- Focus diplomacy toward a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on multilateral rather than bilateral normalization efforts;
- Take meaningful anti-occupation, anti-annexation steps; and
- Substantially expand support for the Palestinian people and Palestinian leaders who seek peace with Israel.
"We see the anguish of Israelis who lost loved ones and whose government has prioritized clinging to power above the return of hostages taken among other atrocities in the Hamas-led attacks against Israeli communities one year ago," said Nancy Okail, CIP's president and CEO. "We cannot look away from the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians killed, wounded, orphaned, and malnourished as a result of Israel's ongoing and often indiscriminate assault on Gaza."
"And we are outraged," Okail added, "as the United States government continues to arm this carnage in violation of its own laws, hobbling the diplomacy it is engaged in to end the fighting and stop its spread to Lebanon and beyond."
"These last 12 months are not only a marker of the brutal violence inflicted on Palestinians but an indictment of our collective humanity."
Since October 7, the Biden administration has sent Israel over 50,000 tons of weaponry and other military equipment. A report released Monday by the Costs of War project estimates that the U.S. government has approved $17.9 billion in "security assistance for Israeli military operations in Gaza and elsewhere since October 7."
That aid, along with the assistance of other world powers and the inertia of global institutions, has helped Israel's military inflict incalculable physical and psychological damage on Gaza's population, which is overwhelmingly young.
"These last 12 months are not only a marker of the brutal violence inflicted on Palestinians but an indictment of our collective humanity," said the Association of International Development Agencies, a coalition of more than 80 aid organizations. "It reflects the failure of the international order—particularly powerful nations whose inaction and enabling of Israel's actions have compounded Palestinian suffering and shattered international norms. This failure extends far beyond Gaza, undermining the very foundations of what the global community has strived to uphold since its establishment."
Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard, who previously served as a U.N. special rapporteur, also decried the violence of the past year and the inability to secure a cease-fire as "a collective failure of humanity."
"This anniversary is a sobering reminder of the urgent need to address the root causes, cut the supply of arms to all parties, and end longstanding impunity that have seen Israeli forces, Hamas, and other armed groups flout international law for decades without fearing any consequences," said Callamard. "The world must never forget the victims and the anguish of the affected families. Humanity must prevail."
This story has been updated to characterize Jewish Voice for Peace as an anti-Zionist group, not just anti-occupation.
Keep ReadingShow Less
South American Leaders Implored to Act on Record Wildfires
"The world is watching and cannot wait for the Amazon basin and other precious ecosystems in the continent to be saved from extinction."
Sep 23, 2024
Amnesty International on Monday called for an "unprecedented response" from South American leaders as the continent faces wildfires that threaten the Amazon rainforest and other important ecosystems.
Citing two months of record-breaking wildfires, Amnesty issued an open letter to the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru calling for coordinated government action.
"The world is watching and cannot wait for the Amazon basin and other precious ecosystems in the continent to be saved from extinction," Ana Piquer, Amnesty's director for the Americas, said in a statement.
"South American leaders must, more than ever, take urgent action to prevent climate catastrophe that could have irreversible consequences for the entire planet and future generations," she added. "The time to act is now."
Official satellite data from Brazil showed earlier this month that the continent had seen more fire hotspots this year than any other on record. Fires in the Amazon have created a "toxic smoke cloud" in an area larger than the entire United States, according toLive Science.
Wildfire smoke leads to thousands of premature deaths in South America per year. The recent upsurge in fires has led to cries for action from public health advocates and climate justice activists in many countries.
Indigenous leaders from the region will hold a press conference to address the crisis on Wednesday, September 25, in New York, according to Amazon Watch.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular