NewzIntel.com

Category: NGOs

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Oxfam reaction to USAID funding cuts in DRC

    Source: Oxfam –

    Commenting on news today that the US has confirmed the termination of USAID funding for multiple life-saving projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Oxfam Country Director Manenji Mangundu said:

    “These USAID cuts will have an immediate and devastating impact on millions of the world’s most vulnerable people who depend on humanitarian aid for survival.  

    “For the half a million people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, already desperate for food, water and shelter due to the spiralling conflict, the impact will be immediate and life-threatening.

    “USAID was the leading donor in DRC and most aid agencies here relied on its funding to provide life-saving assistance. Without it, agencies will be forced into having to make terrible triage decisions including who gets to live and who might needlessly die.

    “The health of up to one million people could be at risk due to the impact of this decision on the work of humanitarian agencies in the DRC. We will be forced to cut vital clean water and sanitation services, increasing the risk of the spread of cholera, measles and mpox.  

    “Multiply this by all the humanitarian agencies dependent on USAID funding not only in DRC but around the world, and the impact of this decision will be catastrophic.” 
     

    Oxfam is helping over 670,000 people in eastern DRC with food, clean water, sanitation, cash assistance as well as hygiene kits for women and girls. Renewed fighting has led to an escalation of the humanitarian crisis with camps for displaced people destroyed and vital water and sanitation infrastructure damaged. 

    The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the leading humanitarian donor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Last year’s report indicates that it provided over $838 million in 2024 alone, including $414 million specifically for humanitarian needs resulting from the ongoing conflict and displacement. 
     

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel blocks aid to Gaza as Ramadan begins – Oxfam reaction

    Source: Oxfam –

    Israel’s decision to block aid to over two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as Ramadan begins, is a reckless act of collective punishment, explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law.  

    Humanitarian aid is not a bargaining chip for applying pressure on parties, but a fundamental right of civilians experiencing urgent need in challenging and life-threatening circumstances. 

    When our teams assessed the conditions in Gaza in the wake of the January 19th announcement of a temporary ceasefire, they encountered apocalyptic scenes of complete destruction and famine-like conditions.  

    People in Gaza need everything:  lifesaving water, food, sanitation and other necessities, as well as equipment critical for the restoration of water and electricity. The goods that were able to enter during the weeks of ceasefire have brought some relief, but remain a drop in the ocean.   

    The international community must apply immediate pressure on Israel to ensure vital aid urgently gets into Gaza. The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to ensure aid deliveries at scale throughout Gaza.  

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: US: Commuting death sentence is step toward justice for Rocky Myers

    Source: Amnesty International –

    © Private

    In response to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuting the death sentence of Rocky Myers, TJ Riggs, Alabama State Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Amnesty International USA said the following: 

    “We celebrate the news that Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has commuted Rocky Myers’ death sentence, even more so at a time when the state had initiated the process to set his execution date. After over 30 years on death row, this moment could not come any sooner.

    “The U.S. criminal justice system is terribly flawed and discriminatory, and Rocky Myers’ case has been emblematic of many of those flaws. Today’s decision by Governor Ivey to commute his death sentence is a first critical step towards justice for him and his family. 

    “The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. We urge Governor Ivey to pause all other executions in the state. She must conduct a review of all cases, including the more than two dozen individuals like Rocky Myers who remain on death row even though they were sentenced through the now outlawed practice of judicial override.  

    “Amnesty International has advocated for Rocky Myers alongside so many others. Thank you to the hundreds of thousands of activists across Alabama, the United States, and the world who took action for Rocky Myers by sending letters, making phone calls, and signing petitions.” 

    Rocky Myers

    Rocky Myers, a Black man with an intellectual disability, was on death row since 1994 despite flawed legal proceedings and no evidence directly linking him to the crime for which he was convicted.

    Amnesty has long advocated for Rocky Myers, and he was part of the organisation’s Write for Rights campaign in 2023, in which hundreds of thousands of people from around the world signed a petition asking Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to commute his death sentence.

    Amnesty opposes the death penalty unconditionally, in any cases and under any circumstances.

    View latest press releases

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: UK/Egypt: PM call to President Sisi on Alaa Abdel Fattah ‘welcome’ but pressure must continue at this critical time

    Source: Amnesty International –

    © KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

    Keir Starmer raised case of Alaa Abdel Fattah during a call with Egyptian President today

    The timing is urgent – Alaa’s mother, Laila Soueif, is critically ill in hospital having spent more than 150 days on hunger strike

    “This cannot be a moment where too little action is taken too late” – Sacha Deshmukh

    Responding to news that the Prime Minister pressed for the release of jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah during a phone call with the President of Egypt this afternoon, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said: 

    “It is welcome news that the Prime Minister has raised the case of Alaa Abdel Fattah in a call with President Sisi today. This is an urgent time in the campaign for Alaa’s release – his mother’s health is in a critical condition having been on hunger strike for more than 150 days, desperate for the release of her son.

    “This cannot be a moment where too little action is taken too late. Whilst a phone call is a promising step, this needs to be the beginning of a sustained dialogue between the UK and Egyptian governments that results in the safe and prompt release of Alaa.

    “Keir Starmer must keep ramping up the pressure. The suffering that this whole family has had to endure must be put to an end.”

    View latest press releases

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global Ocean Treaty two years on: Australia’s chance for international cooperation

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    SYDNEY, Tuesday 04 March 2025 — Two years after the United Nations agreed to bring the historic Global Ocean Treaty into force, Greenpeace is urging the Australian government to make good on its pledge for ocean protection and finally ink the treaty into law.

    The UN treaty to protect the high seas was agreed two years ago today in 2023. It is a legally binding pact to conserve international waters, a crucial component in global efforts to protect 30% of the world’s oceans and lands by 2030. While 110 countries have signed the treaty, only 18 countries have ratified the treaty into law so far. 

    Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner Georgia Whitaker said:

    “The government has been sitting on the Global Ocean Treaty for two years while other countries rapidly move to ratify and bring the treaty into force. We are an ocean-loving nation, and the Australian government could act as a proud leader on the world stage by making good on its promise to protect the high seas now. Our oceans don’t have the luxury of time – we need to ratify now, then deliver protected ocean sanctuaries in our big blue backyard: the Tasman Sea.”

    Once the treaty is in force, governments can propose ocean sanctuaries for the high seas. A 2023 scientific report by Greenpeace identified the South Tasman Sea and Lord Howe Rise – the high seas between Australia and New Zealand – as being of critical importance for protection.

    Until the treaty enters into force, the management of our global oceans is very fragmented. There is no legal global instrument that allows for the creation of sanctuaries in international waters. To this day, less than 1% of the high seas – the largest habitat on Earth, comprising 64% of the world’s ocean – is fully or highly protected from human activities.

    The countdown is on, as the pivotal UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) will take place in Nice, France, in less than 100 days.

    “UNOC is a unique chance for Governments to show global leadership for ocean protection. Australia must use this opportunity and ratify the treaty before arriving in Nice,” added Whitaker.

    —ENDS—

    For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Kimberley Bernard on +61 407 581 404 or [email protected]

    Notes to Editor

    High res images and footage of Australia’s oceans can be found here

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Over 500,000 people demand oil & gas companies pay for climate damages

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    Cape Town, February 28, 2024 — Greenpeace Africa delivered on Friday 28th February a global petition on behalf of more than half a million people, calling on governments to force fossil fuel companies to “stop their climate wrecking activities” and “repair and pay for the damage they have caused.” The petition was handed over to a coalition of 17 countries and groups currently reviewing “polluter pays” levies [1] at the sidelines of the meeting of the Finance in Commons Summit in Cape Town.[2] In parallel, Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain National Park is being consumed by wildfires, in the midst of the worst drought in more than 100 years across Southern Africa.[3]

    Sherelee Odayar, Greenpeace Africa’s Oil and Gas Campaigner, said: “It is unfair to expect that ordinary people will face the climate crisis with cents and rands, while the polluters in chief will pocket billions. It is also impractical: Most world governments simply cannot afford to provide climate solutions at the needed scale. Drought, extreme heat, storms, floods and fires are disproportionately affecting Africa and other Global Majority countries. Science and technology can help bring relief, now governments must make polluters pay to deliver justice and raise the necessary funds.”  

    Signatures by people from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia were collected between 2023-24, the two hottest years since records began, replete with extreme weather events fuelled by greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry. At the same, five oil and gas corporations alone reported over US$100 billion cumulatively in profit for last year. 

    The collective demand was presented to the secretariat of the Global Solidarity Levies Taskforce, a coalition of 17 countries and groups, co-led by Barbados, France, and Kenya. It contributes to a public process of consultation which started last month concerning a series of proposals being considered by the governments who are members of the Taskforce, including options to apply levies on fossil fuel industry profits and extraction to fund climate action.

    A letter accompanying the petition reminds that oil and gas companies “knowingly lied about climate change and lobbied to slow action” and are failing to pay their fair share. “Super rich individuals and other polluting industries… should also be held to account. Making polluters pay for the damages they have caused is vital to help communities across the world to recover, rebuild and invest in climate solutions.” 

    The petition’s demands are in line with public polling across a range of geographies, including research recently commissioned by Greenpeace International, which has consistently demonstrated the strong popularity of increasing taxes on oil and gas profits. 

    Greenpeace Africa calls for designing tax and penalty mechanisms in a way that is fair and proportionate – including: ensuring a well-managed and just transition out of coal, oil and gas, while imposing more polluter taxes and fines on the industry to help fund the transition; taking steps to prevent knock-on increases in prices and the cost of living, especially for people living in poverty; and ensuring that people most impacted by climate change benefit the most from revenues raised. 

    Notes:

    [1] The Global Solidarity Levies Task Force: For People and the Planet explores feasible, scaleable and sensible options for levies to raise additional resources for climate and development: https://globalsolidaritylevies.org/world-leaders-pledge-action-on-climate-finance-as-coalition-for-solidarity-levies-launched-at-cop29/ 

    [2] The 5th Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), co-hosted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB): https://www.financeincommonsummit2025.com/ 

    [3] A night of flames: Table Mountain fire lights up the Cape Town skyline https://www.capetownetc.com/news/a-night-of-flames-table-mountain-fire-lights-up-the-ct-skyline/ ; Climate change behind the 2021 Table Mountain fire – study https://mg.co.za/the-green-guardian/2023-03-02-climate-change-behind-the-2021-table-mountain-fire-study/ 

    Photos: Handover of petition by Greenpeace Africa campaigner

    For more information, contact: 

    Greenpeace Africa Press Desk: [email protected] 

    Greenpeace International Press Desk: [email protected], +31 (0) 20 718 2470 (available 24 hours). Follow @greenpeacepress for our latest international press releases.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/OPT: Civilian hostages and Palestinian detainees must not be treated as ‘political pawns’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire set to begin

    Release of civilian hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians must be immediate and not hinge on ceasefire negotiations

    ‘The release of both civilian hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained – especially those held without charges or trial – should not be a matter of negotiation; it is a matter of international law’ – Erika Guevara Rosas

    Responding to the first phase of the hostage-prisoner swap deal drawing to a close, Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said:

    “Israeli and foreign hostages and Palestinian detainees must not be treated as political pawns in a despicable power struggle over the next phase of the ceasefire deal. Only a durable ceasefire, including unhindered humanitarian assistance for Gaza, will end suffering for all.

    “The release of both civilian hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained – especially those held without charges or trial – should not be a matter of negotiation; it is a matter of international law. Hostage taking is a war crime. There can be no justification for abducting anyone to use as a hostage, nor for the prolonged, arbitrary detention of individuals to serve as bargaining chips.

    “Outrages to personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, are prohibited by international humanitarian law. Yet we have witnessed hostages being paraded in public as trophies of war or coerced to participate in propaganda videos. Hamas and other armed groups must immediately put an end to these degrading spectacles and ensure all hostages and human remains are treated with respect and dignity.

    “Continuing to arbitrarily hold thousands of Palestinians without any legal grounds is cruel, unjustified and blatantly unlawful. Israeli authorities must stop using arbitrary detention and refrain from holding the bodies of deceased Palestinians as bargaining chips. Until the detainees are released, Israel must allow international monitors access to detention facilities. All individuals in custody must be protected from torture and provided with adequate food, water and medical treatment, as well as access to their families and lawyers.

    “Israel and Hamas must release all unlawfully held individuals – immediately – regardless of the outcome of political negotiations over phase two of the ceasefire.”

    Civilian hostages

    At least 250 individuals, alive and dead, were taken hostage in southern Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023. An Israeli forensic examination of the bodies of at least six deceased hostages retrieved in August 2024 indicates they were shot dead at close range shortly before their retrieval suggesting they were killed by their captors.

    At least 59 hostages, the vast majority of them Israelis, remain in captivity in Gaza, of whom at least 24 are believed to be alive. Hamas has also withheld the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since 2014. One of those bodies was recovered by Israeli forces during a military operation in January 2025.

    Israeli media reports indicate some released hostages described being held in tunnels while in chains, deprived of food and with very limited exposure to daylight. They also reported being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

    Hamas has publicly paraded hostages and forced them to participate in humiliating public handover ceremonies in front of crowds. In one incident, the coffins of deceased Israeli hostages, including two children, were displayed publicly in front of a poster depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. 

    Palestinian detainees

    Over 4,000 Palestinians are held without charge or trial either under administrative detention or based on the Unlawful Combatants’ Law, which violates international law. 

    The release of Palestinian detainees and Israeli hostages in recent weeks has raised grave concerns over inhumane treatment in custody and dire conditions of detention for both hostages in Gaza and detainees in Israel.

    Palestinian detainees released during the ceasefire deal have also emerged from detention looking gaunt and bearing signs of torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty has previously documented how detainees have been subjected to enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention and widespread torture in custody including through beatings, starvation and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment. At least 60 Palestinian detainees have died while in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023.

    Israeli authorities also forced Palestinians to undergo degrading and humiliating treatment during their release, including forcing them to wear shirts with a Star of David logo and the slogan “we will not forget or forgive”.

    In one case in September 2024, Israeli forces also sent containers including the remains of at least 88 unidentified Palestinians to Gaza, who were then buried in a mass grave. The bodies of at least 600 Palestinians continue to be held by Israeli forces as bargaining chips under a long-standing illegal Israeli practice that predates October 2023.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: “I really worry about what will happen to people’s mental health in Gaza. The ceasefire needs to hold.”

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Katrin Glatz Brubakk, a child psychotherapist and mental health activity manager for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), recently returned from her second mission in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. She answers three questions about the state of people’s mental health in Gaza and why it is crucial for the ceasefire to hold. 

    1. You’ve been to Gaza twice, once from August to September 2024 and then from January to February 2025, what can you tell us about the state of people’s mental health when the ceasefire was announced? 

    When the ceasefire started, people could finally breathe a bit easier. They had been in survival mode for more than 15 months and finally didn’t have to worry that bombs would drop on their tents during the night or that their children might get killed while they went out to fetch bread or water. They started to gain a bit of hope that life might go back to some form of normal.

    But then they started to worry about the future. How long would the ceasefire last? Could they move back to their old homes? How long would it take before their children could get back to school, and would there even be any kind of normal life again in Gaza with all the destruction?

    What I saw was the ‘grief of peace’ emerging. During the war, survival was the only focus, but with the ceasefire, people began to grieve everything they’d lost: their houses, their normal life, family members—some still under the rubble—their children’s education, their sense of security, prosperity, and hope for the future. Even though the bombs weren’t falling anymore, there was still a lot of worry.

    Katrin Glatz Brubakk, a child psychotherapist and mental health activity manager What I saw was the ‘grief of peace’ emerging. During the war, survival was the only focus, but with the ceasefire, people began to grieve everything they’d lost…

    Katrin Glatz Brubakk, mental health activity manager, Palestine, Gaza, February 2025.
    © MSF

    They’ve been clinging to the hope of getting back to their lives for as long as the ceasefire lasts. One of my colleagues said, “It doesn’t matter how much has been destroyed, it doesn’t matter that we’ve lost everything as long as they’re not killing us.” I really worry about what will happen to people’s mental health in Gaza. The ceasefire needs to hold. Children have been looking forward to going back to their rooms, seeing their friends, and going to school again. If the ceasefire doesn’t continue, that hope will be gone, and it will be devastating for the people of Gaza.

    2. You worked at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis and at the modular field hospital in Deir-al-Balah, what can you tell us about the patients you treated there?

    The mental health of both children and adults in Gaza has been severely affected. They have gone through immense trauma, worrying about their lives for more than a year. We see depressive symptoms in adults and children—some pulling out their hair, biting themselves, being restless all the time, or becoming totally withdrawn from the world because they can’t take it anymore.

    One of the children I met in Gaza is ’the koala bear.’ It’s her mother who calls her that because she clings to her all the time. She’s a beautiful little girl, three years old, with curly hair and curious eyes, but as soon as you get close, she moves back, fearful, and clings even tighter to her mother. She lived in northern Gaza with her family. First, they were bombed, and she was injured. Then they didn’t have enough food, and her little sister, just one year and two months old, starved to death. After that, this little girl started to cling to her mother constantly.

    She doesn’t leave her side, when she’s sleeping, when she’s awake—even when she gets curious about something—she always makes sure to stay very close. These are the effects of war on children. They spend their entire time being scared, living this life is full of uncertainty and they wonder if the worst will happen to them. They don’t spend time being children as they should—playing, learning, exploring, making friends.

    All the things that are the basis of healthy human development are being taken away from them. This war will live in these children for years to come.

    3. Why is it important that the ceasefire lasts?

    The ceasefire needs to hold because without it, these children will once again be trapped in extreme survival mode, where every moment is about staying alive. It needs to hold because their future is being stripped away from them. The ceasefire needs to hold because the toll of this war on the people in Gaza has been immense, both physically and psychologically. They can’t take it anymore. They can’t take the fear of getting killed every day or of keeping their children alive. The ceasefire in Gaza needs to hold because the uncertainty, fear and trauma have lasted too long for anyone to bear. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: ‘Warriors for Justice’: On anniversary of Castle Bravo nuclear test, Greenpeace calls for justice and reparations from United States

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    SYDNEY/MAJURO, MARSHALL ISLANDS, Saturday 1 March 2025 — 71 years since the most powerful nuclear weapons tests ever conducted were unleashed across the Marshall Islands by the United States, Greenpeace calls for the US government to comply with Marshallese demands for nuclear justice.

    On 1 March 1954, the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb was detonated on Bikini Atoll — an explosion 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. 150 kilometers on Rongelap Atoll, radioactive fallout rained down with children mistaking it for snow. 

    Today, communities continue to endure the physical, economic, and cultural fallout of the nuclear tests — compensation from the US has fallen far short of expectations for the Marshallese people, who are yet to receive an apology, and the accelerating impacts of the climate crisis threatens further displacement of communities.

    Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “The Marshall Islands bears the deepest scars of a dark legacy — nuclear contamination, forced displacement, and premeditated human experimentation at the hands of the U.S. government. To this day, its people continue to grapple with this injustice, all while standing on the frontlines of the climate crisis — facing yet another wave of displacement and devastation for a catastrophe they did not create

    “But the Marshallese people and their government are not just survivors — they are warriors for justice, among the most powerful voices demanding bold action, accountability, and reparations on the global stage. Those who have inflicted unimaginable harm on the Marshallese must be held to account and made to pay for the devastation they caused. Greenpeace stands unwaveringly beside Marshallese communities in their fight for justice. Jimwe im Maron.”

    Greenpeace flagship vessel the Rainbow Warrior III will arrive in the Marshall Islands in early March to reaffirm its solidarity with the Marshallese people. A scientific mission led by Greenpeace will undertake much-needed independent research across the country, to support the National Nuclear Commission and Marshallese government in their ongoing legal proceedings with the US and at the UN. 

    The trip also marks 40 years since Greenpeace’s iconic Rainbow Warrior I evacuated the people of Rongelap after toxic nuclear fallout rendered their ancestral lands uninhabitable. The ship was bombed months later in Auckland harbour.

    Ariana Tibon Kilma, Chairperson at Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission, said: “The immediate effects of the Bravo bomb on March 1 were harrowing. Hours after exposure, many people fell ill — skin peeling off, burning sensation in their eyes, their stomachs were churning in pain. Mothers watched as their children’s hair fell to the ground and blisters devoured their bodies overnight.”

    “Without their consent, the United States government enrolled them as ‘test subjects’ in a top secret medical study on the effects of radiation on human beings — a study that continued for 40 years. Today on Remembrance Day the trauma of Bravo continues for the remaining survivors and their descendents — this is a legacy not only of suffering, loss, and frustration, but also of strength, unity, and unwavering commitment to justice, truth and accountability.”

    Members of the Greenpeace Australia Pacific team will be on board the Rainbow Warrior, expected to arrive in Majuro, Marshall Islands on March 11.

    —ENDS—

    Archival footage and images from the evacuation that Greenpeace conducted in 1985 is available here

    Archival footage and images from the US nuclear weapons testing collected here 

    For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Kate O’Callaghan on +61 406 231 892 or [email protected] 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global: Failure to consult Indigenous Peoples on future pandemics will further harm children’s education

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The failure of governments around the world to consult Indigenous Peoples on Covid-19 school closures and other emergency pandemic responses violated their rights, as children continue to feel the effects five years after the first global lockdown, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

    Indigenous leaders interviewed by Amnesty International for its report What If Indigenous Consent Is Not Respected?, testified to sharp and sustained increases in post-pandemic absenteeism and school dropout rates, of more than 80 per cent in some cases, among Indigenous children in more than 10 countries. Indigenous leaders and activists also voiced concerns that the often discriminatory, desultory or non-existent response by authorities to the educational needs of Indigenous children during the pandemic worsened long-standing inequities faced by Indigenous communities – with Indigenous girls and children with disabilities particularly disadvantaged. Going forward, the organization is calling for Indigenous Peoples to be consulted during future pandemics.  

    The Indigenous leaders and activists we spoke to felt completely ignored by governments during the pandemic.

    Chris Chapman, Amnesty’s researcher on Indigenous rights

    “The Indigenous leaders and activists we spoke to felt completely ignored by governments during the pandemic, which had an enduring and damaging impact on their rights and prospects,” said Chris Chapman, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Indigenous Rights.

    “They said that remote learning solutions were often unavailable to Indigenous children. Those in rural areas, where Indigenous communities often lacked devices, internet connections, electricity and the technological knowledge or capacity to participate in virtual classes or remote learning, were worst affected.”

    When lower-tech solutions such as printed materials were distributed to other groups, Indigenous communities in several different countries said they were passed over, ignored, or asked to pay for them.

    Indigenous campaigner Sylvia Kokunda said: “For the most part these materials were distributed by the local government, since it can be easier for the village chairperson to identify the people in this community. However, local officials would not give the materials to these Batwa people, they would give only to their people.”

    Radio or television-based educational broadcasting during the pandemic was often unavailable in Indigenous languages. An Ogiek activist said that although Sogoot FM 97.1, an Ogiek language radio station, was used to reach the community to inform them about Covid-19 and its impacts, it was not used for school coursework.  

    The report is based on data and more than 80 interviews or collected responses that Amnesty International gathered to explore how Indigenous students around the world were impacted by pandemic-related school closures, including in Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Russia, Taiwan and Uganda. There are 476 million Indigenous people worldwide in more than 90 countries, belonging to 5,000 different Indigenous groups and speaking more than 4,000 languages.

    Technology, discrimination and dropout rates

    Where Indigenous families had limited access to technology for remote learning during the pandemic, boys were often prioritized.

    According to Indigenous women activists from Nepal,“If some families have a mobile, then only one or two will use it. And if there are more children in the house, one has to sacrifice their education. When it comes to the sacrifice, the girls are sacrificed more.”

    Even if Indigenous students had devices capable of being used for remote learning, their families were sometimes unable to afford sufficient data. In addition, remote teaching was rarely provided in Indigenous languages.

    Children with learning difficulties or disabilities which required specialist teaching, for instance through use of sign language or braille, were often excluded, including among Indigenous communities.

    Interviewees in many states said there was often little or no government monitoring, or consideration of the effectiveness of alternative learning initiatives for Indigenous communities. Information on how to access education when schools closed – and they stayed shut for more than 18 months in some countries – was rarely provided in Indigenous languages.

    “Boys who had begun working as motorcycle taxi drivers to earn money for their families also dropped out.

    Indigenous activist from Kenya

    Students with little or no access to education during the pandemic often worked instead, and never returned to schools when they reopened. Those who did return when schools reopened, often found that they had fallen behind their classmates. If they were unwilling to retake a year, or could not be supported financially, they too dropped out.

    In Kenya, the majority of dropouts of Ogiek students were girls, especially girls who got pregnant during Covid-19 or were subjected to early marriage. However, it affected boys too. An Indigenous activist from Kenya said: “Boys between the ages of 12 and 18 who had begun working in jobs such as motorcycle taxi drivers or farm workers to earn money for themselves and their families also dropped out.”

    Some schools across many states never reopened, further reducing access to education for Indigenous children, Indigenous activists reported.

    Asked to reply to Amnesty’s findings, the Mexican government stated that it responded to the “unprecedented challenge of Covid-19″ by working with Indigenous schools and teachers to roll out a set of measures including distributing materials in five Indigenous languages, sometimes in printed formats where access to internet or devices was restricted, developing new digital educational materials, and capacity-building for schools and parents to use digital platforms.

    Recommendations

    “Significantly more resources are now required to safeguard, restore and improve the educational opportunities and rights of Indigenous communities,” Chris Chapman said.

    “States must work with Indigenous communities to immediately restore and enhance the right to education for all Indigenous children including a focus on re-enrolling Indigenous girls, and Indigenous students with disabilities.”  

    Alongside the report, Amnesty International has shared a guide for researchers who wish to investigate the extent to which the human right to participate effectively in decision-making has been violated, especially when it comes to Indigenous communities.  

    “Governments must consult with Indigenous Peoples on Covid-19 response measures and other pandemic and emergency response measures, otherwise they risk violating their right to consultation, and their right to give or withhold their consent to decisions affecting them. Our study highlights the risks of failing to take into account the realities, cultures and rights of Indigenous Peoples,” said Chris Chapman.

    “While our report sets out the devastating impact of this lack of inclusion, it’s hoped that Amnesty’s guide will ensure Indigenous people are included in discussions that affect them in the future. Every child has the right to free, high-quality primary education. States must therefore ensure that no child is left behind.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Release of civilian hostages held in Gaza and arbitrarily detained Palestinians must be immediate and not hinge on ceasefire negotiations

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The release of Israeli and foreign national civilians held hostage by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, and Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel, must take place immediately and should not be contingent on the outcome of political negotiations over the next phase of the ceasefire, said Amnesty International, as the first phase of the hostage-prisoner swap deal draws to a close.

    Overnight on 26/27 February, Hamas returned the bodies of four Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of 640 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, as part of the last exchange deal under the first phase of the ceasefire agreement. The release of Palestinian prisoners had been delayed by Israel in previous days. Negotiations over the second phase of the ceasefire are set to agree the release of remaining Israeli hostages and further Palestinian detainees and prisoners, as well as a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a permanent end to hostilities.

    “Israeli and foreign hostages and Palestinian detainees must not be treated as political pawns in a despicable power struggle over the next phase of the ceasefire deal. Only a durable ceasefire, including unhindered humanitarian assistance for Gaza, will end suffering for all. But the release of both civilian hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained – especially those held without charges or trial – should not be a matter of negotiation; it is a matter of international law. Hostage taking is a war crime. There can be no justification for abducting anyone to use as a hostage, nor for the prolonged, arbitrary detention of individuals to serve as bargaining chips,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.

    “Israel and Hamas must release all unlawfully held individuals – immediately – regardless of the outcome of political negotiations over phase two of the ceasefire.”

    Israeli and foreign hostages and Palestinian detainees must not be treated as political pawns in a despicable power struggle over the next phase of the ceasefire deal

    Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior

    At least 59 hostages, the vast majority of them Israelis, remain in captivity in Gaza, of whom at least 24 are believed to be alive.

    Over 4,000 Palestinians are held without charge or trial either under administrative detention or based on the Unlawful Combatants’ Law, which violates international law.  

    The release of Palestinian detainees and Israeli hostages in recent weeks has raised grave concerns over inhumane treatment in custody and dire conditions of detention for both hostages in Gaza and detainees in Israel.

    At least 250 individuals, alive and dead, were taken hostage in southern Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023. An Israeli forensic examination of the bodies of at least six deceased hostages retrieved in August 2024 indicates they were shot dead at close range shortly before their retrieval suggesting they were killed by their captors.

    Hamas has also withheld the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since 2014. One of those bodies was recovered by Israeli forces during a military operation in January 2025.

    Israeli media reports indicate some released hostages described being held in tunnels while in chains, deprived of food and with very limited exposure to daylight. They also reported being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

    Hamas has publicly paraded hostages and forced them to participate in humiliating public handover ceremonies in front of crowds. In one incident, the coffins of deceased Israeli hostages, including two children, were displayed publicly in front of a poster depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. 

    “Outrages to personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, are prohibited by international humanitarian law. Yet we have witnessed hostages being paraded in public as trophies of war or coerced to participate in propaganda videos. Hamas and other armed groups must immediately put an end to these degrading spectacles and ensure all hostages and human remains are treated with respect and dignity,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

    “All those who remain in captivity must be treated humanely and protected from torture and other ill-treatment and be given access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, and to medical care.”

    Palestinian detainees released during the ceasefire deal have also emerged from detention looking gaunt and bearing signs of torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International has previously documented how detainees have been subjected to enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention and widespread torture in custody including through beatings, starvation and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment. At least 60 Palestinian detainees have died while in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023.

    “Continuing to arbitrarily hold thousands of Palestinians without any legal grounds is cruel, unjustified and blatantly unlawful. Israeli authorities must stop using arbitrary detention and refrain from holding the bodies of deceased Palestinians as bargaining chips. Until the detainees are released, Israel must allow international monitors access to detention facilities. All individuals in custody must be protected from torture and provided with adequate food, water and medical treatment, as well as access to their families and lawyers,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

    Israeli authorities also forced Palestinians to undergo degrading and humiliating treatment during their release, including forcing them to wear shirts with a Star of David logo and the slogan “we will not forget or forgive”.

    In one case in September 2024, Israeli forces also sent containers including the remains of at least 88 unidentified Palestinians to Gaza, who were then buried in a mass grave. The bodies of at least 600 Palestinians continue to be held by Israeli forces as bargaining chips under a long-standing illegal Israeli practice that predates October 2023.

    “The bodies of the deceased should never be treated as a battleground. All parties to the conflict have a clear obligation to respect and uphold the dignity of the living and the dead, including ensuring that bodies and remains are properly identified and handed over with dignity,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: El Salvador: Criminal law reforms exacerbate human rights violations against children and adolescents

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Serious violations of human rights in El Salvador in the context of the state of emergency have reached alarming levels, with over 84 000 detentions, many of them arbitrary, and hundreds of reports of torture, forced disappearances and deaths in state custody.

    On 12 February 2025, the Legislative Assembly approved reforms that exacerbate and facilitate continued human rights abuses, particularly against persons not yet of legal age (18 years), as documented by civil society organizations and regional and international human rights bodies.

    Amendments to the Prisons Law, the Juvenile Criminal Law and the Law against Organized Crime worsen the conditions of persons deprived of their liberty and establish a disproportionate and punitive prison treatment, particularly for children and adolescents. These reforms consolidate mass repression without adequate safeguards, which could lead to further human rights violations.

    In this regard, Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, stated:

    The reforms that came into effect on 22 February institutionalize deprivation of liberty as the state’s only response, including for children, in clear violation of international human rights standards

    -Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International

    “Since the declaration of the state of emergency in March 2022, the government of El Salvador has dismantled due process guarantees and normalized mass detentions with insufficient evidence. The reforms that came into effect on 22 February institutionalize deprivation of liberty as the state’s only response, including for children, in clear violation of international human rights standards.”

    “Using the legislative branch to consolidate a model of unchecked repression shows that emergency rule is no longer a temporary measure, but a permanent government strategy.”

    Children treated as adults in a punitive system

    Since the declaration of the state of emergency in El Salvador, a significant number of detentions of children and adolescents have been reported. Human rights organizations indicate that more than 1000 children and adolescents have been convicted, mainly on charges of unlawful association, in proceedings characterized by a lack of sufficient evidence, pressure to plead guilty, and inhumane conditions of imprisonment.

    Reforms to the Juvenile Criminal Law will now allow the transfer of adolescents convicted of organized crime offences to adult prisons, under the administration of the General Directorate of Penal Centres, in direct violation of international standards. Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Beijing Rules state that children in conflict with the law should receive differentiated treatment aimed at rehabilitation, rather than simply punitive imprisonment.

    Moreover, the Prisons Law will allow the creation of special sections within prisons for children under 18 and adults up to 21 years of age, without guaranteeing an adequate system of protection and reintegration. Simply separating by age groups does not protect against violence or abuse, nor does it guarantee access to education or rehabilitation programmes.

    “With these reforms, the Salvadoran state is sentencing adolescents to a prison system designed for adults, where torture, extreme overcrowding, and the deaths in custody of more than 300 people have already been documented. Instead of ensuring their protection and reintegration, the authorities are exposing children and adolescents to inhumane conditions that may constitute torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”

    Instead of ensuring their protection and reintegration, the authorities are exposing children and adolescents to inhumane conditions that may constitute torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment

    -Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International

    The deprivation of liberty should be a measure of last resort applied only in exceptional circumstances, as established by international standards. These reforms are in direct breach of this principle, putting the safety of thousands of young people in the country at risk.

    Harsher sentences

    Furthermore, the reforms to the Law on Organized Crime eliminate access to prison benefits, such as conditional release, for persons convicted of offences specified in the law, whether they are under 18 years of age or adults. This undermines the possibility of social reintegration, in contravention of the Mandela Rules and the American Convention on Human Rights.

    “These changes to prisons legislation consolidate a model of incarceration based on punishment and repression, with no effective judicial oversight mechanisms. Rather than guaranteeing justice, the reforms reinforce existing violations of due process and increase the risk of torture and inhumane treatment in detention centres.”

    Urgent appeal to the international community

    Amnesty International again calls on the Salvadoran authorities to allow international human rights bodies access to prison centres, and on the international community to drive independent monitoring mechanisms to document the country’s prison crisis.

    El Salvador must urgently reverse these reforms and ensure that its prison system meets international human rights standards. The country’s security policy cannot be based on mass incarceration and the weakening of legislation that guarantees the protection of people’s rights.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: An interview with Chris Chapman

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Chris Chapman is Amnesty International’s Advisor on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. Working with communities around the world, he has seen how states continue to violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples, failing to involve them in decisions that affect them, most recently during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Inspired by the incredible people he’s met and interviewed, and his years working in human rights, Chris has now penned a research guide on how to assess whether people have been effectively involved in decisions that affect them and been able to influence them.

    Can you tell me about your role at Amnesty and what it involves?

    I am a researcher and advisor for Indigenous Peoples’ rights. I’m currently focusing on conservation and protected areas and how they impact Indigenous Peoples. Quite often, protected areas are established on lands claimed by Indigenous Peoples. For example, on the borders of Paraguay and Brazil, an Indigenous People has been evicted to make way for a hydroelectric dam. The company has created protected nature reserves around the new borders of the river, yet the displaced Indigenous People have no right to go into those nature reserves, due to lack of consultation by governments.

    I also support people at Amnesty who are doing research on the situations of Indigenous Peoples and provide advice.

    Is there a piece of research that has had a lasting impact on you?

    I was inspired by a joint project between Amnesty’s human rights education team and our Philippines office. They worked with communities all over the Philippines, shared lots of resources on running human rights campaigns, and now they apply these to the most important and pressing issues in their communities. It’s a great example of how Amnesty can share skills and experience and empowers others.

    Another inspiring experience was working with Elias Kimaiyo, an activist and leader for the Sengwer Indigenous People in Kenya. We worked together on a report that came out in 2018. Elias never had the opportunities many of us have had but it’s not held him back. He tells the truth about what is happening to the Sengwer whether it’s to his local MP, in Nairobi, or in Geneva or Brussels. He’s also an amazing photographer and video maker. While I was writing up the research, I learnt he had been out in the field filming the Kenya Forest Service who were evicting his people from their forest. He was shot at by one of the rangers and it permanently damaged his arm. But he continues the work.

    When governments take decisions that might impact on people’s human rights, there is an obligation to consult those people and involve them meaningfully in decision-making.

    Chris Chapman

    What’s the aim of Amnesty’s new research guidelines, Public participation in decision-making ?

    Amnesty’s new guide is for researchers on how to research processes of public participation in decision-making. When governments take decisions or implement projects that might impact on people’s human rights, there is usually an obligation to consult those people and involve them meaningfully in decision-making.

    This guide provides guidance to researchers who want to research such processes to make sure the government has fully complied with its obligations. The researchers could be from NGOs like Amnesty, or academics, or people from the affected communities themselves. It’s about seeing if things are being done as they should – whether that involves consulting the public on projects such as clearing informal settlement housing, building a dam, or passing a new law which will affect a particular group of people.

    The research guide is incredibly engaging – it’s beautifully presented and packed with photographs, so hopefully it’s appealing and useful to those who want to use it. Within it, there’s a series of practical tools for researchers, such as example lists of questions which you need to ask in a particular situation. For example, if a mine or a dam is being built, there is a checklist for what information communities should receive. I really hope researchers will pick it up and use it.

    Why is the guide needed?

    When the public aren’t consulted by the government on issues that affect them, it can affect their human rights negatively. In some cases, governments just tell people what they’re going to do without listening to them. In addition, Indigenous Peoples have the right to free, prior and informed consent, which means that they should be not only consulted, but that the proposal should not go ahead against their will.

    During the pandemic, governments were scrambling to take emergency action very quickly – they closed schools and learning went online. Many Indigenous communities who live in rural areas didn’t have sufficient access to the Internet. In some cases, there weren’t enough devices for a remote connection for schooling and materials weren’t provided in specific languages.  

    Aymara indigenous women walk their children to the Ladislao Cabrera school during their first week of face to face classes, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The children of the Machacamarca highlands town in Bolivia started face to face classes, due to the lack of means to access virtual education.

    Governments took steps to close down schools without taking into account the issues Indigenous peoples would face. They weren’t ready for these challenges and failed to adapt their policies, which led to a detrimental impact on children’s education. Their schooling effectively ended, causing a long-lasting impact.

    How does it feel to hear these stories?

    It’s really sad. Sometimes we talk about how human rights researchers get a bit blasé because they hear so many accounts and you’re exposed to human rights violations every day. But when you hear first-hand accounts, it’s obviously going to affect you and if it doesn’t, maybe it’s time to reach out for support, as it could be a sign that you’ve reached burn out.

    How could Indigenous Peoples be included in their government responses to emergencies?

    Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines have put an emergency response protocol in place, covering what the government should do when there’s an emergency. Initially designed for floods and hurricanes, it could easily be adapted for pandemics.

    The plan details what the government should do immediately after a disaster, as well as numerous initiatives that can be done immediately or staggered over time. It’s a great idea and if Indigenous Peoples have such a protocol, governments should comply with them, it would provide a starting point for knowing how to consult on pandemic responses.

    Finally, how did you get into this area of work?

    I was always interested in human rights. I was a member of a local Amnesty group in my twenties and passionate about dealing with injustices in the world. I travelled around and worked in Guatemala just as the peace accords had been signed, ending decades of civil conflict. There were people who had gone into exile and who wanted to return, or they had gone into hiding in remote places in Guatemala. They wanted to return to normal life, but they wanted international observers in their communities because they still didn’t trust the army. So I worked in a rainforest community for five months, teaching maths, and getting involved in the community’s activities – it was an incredible experience where people told me about what happened during the civil war. It was powerful and inspired me to work within the human rights field.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: New EU Commission proposal turns supply chain law into empty shell

    Source: Oxfam –

    The EU Commission has just presented its plans for the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) as part of the omnibus legislation.

    In response, Franziska Humbert, lawyer and Policy Advisor at Oxfam Germany, said:

    “The removal of civil liability equates to a loss of hard-fought legal recourse for survivors, who would finally have been able to litigate for years of human rights violations. For instance, they could have taken companies to court over health damage caused by pesticide use on banana plantations.

    “With the omnibus package, Commission President Von der Leyen is taking a chainsaw to environmental and human rights protections. The Directive is a milestone. Without binding due diligence obligations, companies will not take responsibility – something the disasters of recent years have made painfully clear: collapsing textile factories, dam failures in mining, and pesticide poisoning on banana plantations.

    “A retreat from responsibility would be disastrous. The CSDDD is a response to decades of turning a blind eye and sends a clear message: those who profit from international markets must also protect people and the environment. Undermining the law’s core obligations would harm not only the people in producing countries but also the EU’s credibility as an economic partner.”

    The proposal includes catastrophic changes to civil liability provisions and a shift away from climate protection legislations – ultimately dismantling the core of the EU’s Supply Chain Directive. The proposal put forward by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen significantly weakens existing European supply chain regulations, affecting both environmental standards and human right obligations that companies must uphold along their global supply chains.

    Joint NGO statement: “Omnibus proposal will create costly confusion and lower protection for people and the planet.”

    Giulia Melchionda  | Brussels, Belgium | giulia.melchionda@oxfam.org

    Jade Tenwick | Brussels, Belgium | jade.tenwick@oxfam.org | mobile +32 473 56 22 60 | WhatsApp only +32 484 81 22 94  (currently on leave)       

    For more information on our work and to see our latest press releases, please visit oxfam.org/eu.      
     
    For updates, follow us on Twitter, BlueSky and LinkedIn.       

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Australia releases coordinates of coral destruction by NZ fishers to Greenpeace

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    SYDNEY, Friday 28 FEB 2025 – Despite the New Zealand government refusing to release the location where a New Zealand bottom trawler hauled up deep sea coral in the Tasman Sea late last year, Australia has released the coordinates on request from Greenpeace, a move the group applauded as “promising ocean protection leadership”.

    The Tasman Viking, a New Zealand bottom trawler, pulled up 37kg of deep sea coral in the Lord Howe Rise area, renowned for diverse marine life in October 2024. This triggered a rule under the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), to temporarily close the area.

    Under SPRFMO, the best available information is meant to be provided on the nature of an encounter with coral such as this, and Greenpeace has offered to document the site as part of their Seamounts Expedition, due to commence in March 2025.

    But requests from Greenpeace for the coordinates of the closed area were declined by the New Zealand Government due to ‘commercial sensitivity’. The Australian SPRFMO Commissioner has now released these coordinates in response to requests from Greenpeace.

    Georgia Whitaker, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Senior Campaigner, said:

    “It’s promising to see the Australian Government prioritising ocean protection and scientific research over commercial interests. By releasing the coordinates of bottom-trawling vandalism, the Australian government has proven it can and will stand up for the ocean.

    “What we need to see now is the Australian Government take a step further to protect these waters by finally ratifying the Global Ocean Treaty into Australian law, and proposing that rich biodiverse areas like the Tasman Sea can become ocean sanctuaries free from destructive industrial fishing.”

    Earlier this week, both major Australian political parties indicated their intent to take ocean protection seriously this election. Labor has acknowledged that only 24% of Australia’s waters are highly protected from industrial fishing and oil and gas – Greenpeace is calling for that number to be increased, not just in domestic waters but in adjoining international waters.

    “True ocean protection leadership on the global stage is about hoisting the sails and facing the wind — we need strong policies that protect the ocean and the high seas between Australia and New Zealand, with no loopholes for industry,” Whitaker added.

    Greenpeace Aotearoa expedition lead Ellie Hooper is calling the New Zealand government’s refusal to share the coordinates “ludicrous” and  “a blatant example of the Luxon-led government running interference for the fishing industry.”

    Hooper says: “These coordinates have already been shared with all fishing companies and SPRFMO countries, so why is the information being hidden in order to prevent research and documentation?

    “Australia clearly has a more progressive and transparent approach when it comes to deep-sea management, and has provided us with the chance to go to this area and attempt to survey it.”

    It’s estimated that coral brought to the surface by trawlers is only a small fraction of what’s destroyed on the seafloor.1

    New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling in the high seas of the South Pacific and has faced criticism for blocking protection measures at SPRFMO this month.

    Notes:
    Coral in nets to destroyed on seafloor ratios:
    1. Geange, S. et al 2017, SC7-DW14, and Stephenson, F. et al 2022, SC10-DW04  

    —ENDS—

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Mozambique: Authorities must investigate reports of more than 300 unlawful killings during post-election protest crackdown 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Mozambique’s Frelimo-led government must urgently launch investigations into reports of widespread human rights violations committed during the ongoing crackdown on protests following disputed national elections and commit to making the findings public, Amnesty International said.  

    Nationwide demonstrations erupted on 21 October 2024 following the killing of two prominent opposition-aligned figures. Since then, there have been credible reports of widespread human rights violations with more than 300 people reported killed, including children and bystanders, in an attempt to crush the protests, with the vast majority of deaths blamed on security forces, according to tallies by monitoring groups. Government forces have also shot and wounded more than 700 others and arbitrarily detained thousands, according to the same tallies, with reports of torture and other ill-treatment in custody. The authorities have also reportedly targeted journalists, restricted internet access and deployed the military. 

    “The crackdown on protests in Mozambique following last year’s election has been appalling. It is the bloodiest election cycle in Mozambique’s post-civil war history, yet the suspected perpetrators have enjoyed complete impunity,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Khanyo Farisè. 

    President Daniel Chapo must prove his readiness to break this cycle of impunity by championing calls for urgent investigations.

    Khanyo Farisè, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa

    “Mozambique’s new government must promptly open independent, effective and thorough investigations into all deaths, incidents of torture and other ill-treatment, and other reported human rights violations during the ongoing crackdown, with clear timelines to publicize results. President Daniel Chapo must prove his readiness to break this cycle of impunity by championing calls for urgent investigations and ensuring full cooperation with the investigative authorities. He must also ensure effective reparation to victims and survivors and use his authority to end human rights violations by security forces during protests.”  

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: MSF adjusts emergency response around Goma DRC amid mass departures from displacement camps 

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Following fighting and evacuation orders from the Mouvement du 23 Mars/Alliance Fleuve Congo (M23/AFC) group, hundreds of thousands of people have left the displacement camps around Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In response to this development, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has adapted our approach by sending mobile teams to support people who are, once again, on the move. The many people returning to hometowns they had previously fled face uncertain and perilous conditions.  

    Julien Binet explains the situation in and around Goma.
    MSF

    The landscape of Goma, the capital city of the North Kivu province, has dramatically changed in just a few weeks. Before the M23/AFC seized the city at the end of January, Goma, hosted around 650,000 displaced people – most of them living in makeshift sites on the city’s outskirts – and was home to two million residents. 

    Some camps started to empty as fighting escalated in late January, and virtually all were abandoned after the de facto new authorities ordered people to return to their places of origin. 

    While some displaced people chose to stay near Goma, the majority left north or west toward neighbouring territories, unsure of what awaited them. Within days, endless lines of men, women, and children appeared on the roads, carrying what little they could by foot, motorbike or shared minibus. Some patients told us they sometimes walked for days without food or water. 

    “Given these massive movements, we deployed teams along the return routes to assess the health facilities that would be overwhelmed by this sudden influx of patients,” says Anthony Kergosien, head of MSF’s mobile activities around Goma. “Everywhere, we found the same reality: health facilities that were already barely functional before the crisis were either abandoned or, at worst, destroyed or looted. 

    “These facilities are now expected to cope – and there is risk that diseases such as cholera, mpox or measles, which were present in the camps, could spread,” he says.

    A mother and her baby at a health consultation in Masisi territory, Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 February 2025.
    Daniel Buuma

    Based on early assessments, MSF teams began providing equipment, medicines, and staff to more health centres in the territories of Nyiragongo and Masisi. Teams also set up mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas to provide free medical care to people returning and passing through. 

    An urgent need to improve conditions for people returning 

    One of the facilities supported by MSF in this emergency response is the referral health centre in Sake, a small town located 25 kilometres west of Goma. 

    Sake has seen its share of intense fighting in recent years given its strategic location. The city serves as a critical crossroads for people travelling to Masisi town to the west, Kitchanga to the north, and further south to Minova and South Kivu. 

    “Residents come back to Sake, and the city is the only junction point for those returning to Masisi territory or South Kivu after leaving the camps in Goma,” says Kergosien. “That’s why we decided to carry out emergency repairs to the health centre, which had been severely damaged during the recent fighting. We also rebuilt the cholera treatment unit, which is currently treating around 20 patients daily.” 

    “Now, nearly 200 consultations are carried out in the health centre every day, mainly for respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases. But we’re also seeing cases of mpox and patients seeking care after experiencing sexual violence,” he says.

    MSF teams move supplies to support the emergency response. Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 February 2025.
    Daniel Buuma

    From Sake, MSF teams have launched mobile medical services and supported other health facilities along the mountainous roads. Access to free healthcare is crucial for people returning from the camps, now in an extremely vulnerable state, often without money, crops, and in some cases, without even tools to grow them. 

    “I’ve been back in Kabati for a week now. It’s peaceful, but hunger is a real problem,” says Bigirimana, who spent two years in the Bulengo camp before returning home. “We need medicine. Most of us are ill—there’s a lot of diarrhoea, especially among the children.”

    “The risks linked to food insecurity are serious,” says Kergosien. “That’s why we’ve re-established several therapeutic nutrition units. On top of that, we face the threat of epidemics that have been concentrated around Goma. There’s an urgent need to improve living conditions and access to essential services in areas of return. And to ramp up humanitarian support. Sadly, very few organisations are currently operating in these areas.” 

    As of 26 February, MSF’s emergency mobile teams were supporting health facilities in the remote areas of Buhumba, Kilolirwe, Sake, Kingi, Luhonga and Makombo. Alongside these activities, MSF continues to provide care in several health centres and hospitals across North Kivu, as well as for the wounded at Kyeshero and Virunga hospitals. We are also supporting several facilities in Goma providing basic healthcare, malnutrition and cholera treatment, and care for victims of sexual violence.  

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: On the move again: MSF adjusts emergency response around Goma DRC amid mass departures from displacement camps 

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Following fighting and evacuation orders from the Mouvement du 23 Mars/Alliance Fleuve Congo (M23/AFC) group, hundreds of thousands of people have left the displacement camps around Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In response to this development, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has adapted its approach by deploying mobile teams to support people who are, once again, on the move. The many people returning to hometowns they had previously fled face uncertain and perilous conditions.  

    Julien Binet explains the situation in and around Goma.
    MSF

    The landscape of Goma, the capital city of the North Kivu province, has dramatically changed in just a few weeks. Before the M23/AFC seized the city at the end of January, Goma, hosted around 650,000 displaced people – most of them living in makeshift sites on the city’s outskirts – and was home to two million residents. 

    Some camps started to empty as fighting escalated in late January, and virtually all were abandoned after the de facto new authorities ordered people to return to their places of origin. 

    While some displaced people chose to stay near Goma, the majority left north or west toward neighbouring territories, unsure of what awaited them. Within days, endless lines of men, women, and children appeared on the roads, carrying what little they could by foot, motorbike or shared minibus. Some patients told us they sometimes walked for days without food or water. 

    “Given these massive movements, we deployed teams along the return routes to assess the health facilities that would be overwhelmed by this sudden influx of patients,” says Anthony Kergosien, head of MSF’s mobile activities around Goma. “Everywhere, we found the same reality: health facilities that were already barely functional before the crisis were either abandoned or, at worst, destroyed or looted. 

    “These facilities are now expected to cope – and there is risk that diseases such as cholera, mpox or measles, which were present in the camps, could spread,” he says.

    MSF teams have organised mobile clinics in several remote areas in North Kivu to assess the needs and provide support to displaced people who have returned to their villages of origin from camps in Goma. Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 February 2025.
    Daniel Buuma

    Based on early assessments, MSF teams began providing equipment, medicines, and staff to more health centres in the territories of Nyiragongo and Masisi. Teams also set up mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas to provide free medical care to people returning and passing through. 

    An urgent need to improve conditions for people returning 

    One of the facilities supported by MSF in this emergency response is the referral health centre in Sake, a small town located 25 kilometres west of Goma. 

    Sake has seen its share of intense fighting in recent years given its strategic location. The city serves as a critical crossroads for people traveling to Masisi town to the west, Kitchanga to the north, and further south to Minova and South Kivu. 

    “Residents come back to Sake, and the city is the only junction point for those returning to Masisi territory or South Kivu after leaving the camps in Goma,” says Kergosien. “That’s why we decided to carry out emergency repairs to the health centre, which had been severely damaged during the recent fighting. We also rebuilt the cholera treatment unit, which is currently treating around 20 patients daily.” 

    “Now, nearly 200 consultations are carried out in the health centre every day, mainly for respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases. But we’re also seeing cases of mpox and patients seeking care after experiencing sexual violence,” he says.

    MSF teams have organised mobile clinics in several remote areas in North Kivu to assess the needs and provide support to displaced people who have returned to their villages of origin from camps in Goma. Democratic Republic of Congo, 12 February 2025.
    Daniel Buuma

    From Sake, MSF teams have launched mobile medical services and supported other health facilities along the mountainous roads. Access to free healthcare is crucial for people returning from the camps, now in an extremely vulnerable state, often without money, crops, and in some cases, without even tools to grow them. 

    “I’ve been back in Kabati for a week now. It’s peaceful, but hunger is a real problem,” says Bigirimana, who spent two years in the Bulengo camp before returning home. “We need medicine. Most of us are ill—there’s a lot of diarrhoea, especially among the children.”

    “The risks linked to food insecurity are serious,” says Kergosien. “That’s why we’ve re-established several therapeutic nutrition units. On top of that, we face the threat of epidemics that have been concentrated around Goma. There’s an urgent need to improve living conditions and access to essential services in areas of return. And to ramp up humanitarian support. Sadly, very few organisations are currently operating in these areas.” 

    As of 26 February, MSF’s emergency mobile teams were supporting health facilities in the remote areas of Buhumba, Kilolirwe, Sake, Kingi, Luhonga and Makombo. Alongside these activities, MSF continues to provide care in several health centres and hospitals across North Kivu, as well as for the wounded at Kyeshero and Virunga hospitals. We are also supporting several facilities in Goma providing basic healthcare, malnutrition and cholera treatment, and care for victims of sexual violence.  

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: UK: ‘Little or no regard’ shown to people fleeing conflict and persecution – immigration stats

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Thousands of people including Afghans, Iranians and Eritreans refused protection

    Responding to new Government statistics released today (27 February) showing a significant number of people refused asylum, Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK’s Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said:

    “Today’s data show the Home Office is now deciding protection claims with over 40,000 decisions made in the last quarter of 2024.                                        

    “However, thousands of people, including Afghans, Iranians and Eritreans, are being refused asylum with the risk of creating a new backlog of people wrongly placed in limbo – albeit at the end of a badly functioning system rather than at the start of a system that wasn’t functioning at all.

    “As with the Border Security Bill – being considered by MPs this afternoon – this data starkly demonstrates the Government remains committed to an impossible and callous strategy of deterrence and penalty for refugees and victims of modern slavery who seek safety in the UK.

    “It is simply not enough to remove some of the last administration’s worst policies while keeping others that also violate international law obligations and show little or no regard to the realities of people made vulnerable to the cruel exploitation of smuggling gangs. The Government must immediately change course and address the needs and rights of people fleeing conflict and persecution.”

    View latest press releases

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Northern Ireland: latest police figures show race hate crimes hit ‘all-time high’ during summer 2024

    Source: Amnesty International –

    New PSNI report shows 1,777 racist incidents and 1,150 racist crimes in the year to end of December 2024

    Level of race hate incidents hit new high during the summer period of June, July and August, peaking at 351 incidents in August

    Hate crimes now represent more than 1 in 50 of all crimes in Northern Ireland

    More than half of recorded race hate crimes were in Belfast

    ‘Years of complacency about the rise of racism here left bigoted thugs, including paramilitaries, emboldened to carry out an ever-greater number of attacks’ – Patrick Corrigan

    Amnesty International has expressed concern at the level of racist hate crime in Northern Ireland, as new figures published today show attacks hit an all-time high during summer 2024.

    The figures were published today in a report by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), which tracked recorded hate crimes and incidents for the twelve months to the end of December 2024.

    The report reveals that there were 1,777 racist incidents and 1,150 racist crimes recorded by the police during 2024. There were 454 more race incidents and 292 more race crimes recorded in 2024 than the previous year. 

    Six of the eight highest monthly levels of race incidents since records began in 2004 were recorded between May and October 2024.

    The summer period of June, July and August recorded a new highest monthly level of race incidents, peaking at 351 incidents in August, the highest since police records began in 2004.

    More than half (604) of recorded race hate crimes in 2024 were in Belfast. The second highest area for recorded race hate crimes during the year was Antrim and Newtownabbey (133).

    Racist crimes represented 1.3% of all recorded crime during 2024. Hate crimes now represent more than 1 in 50 (2.15%) of all crimes in Northern Ireland.

    Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Director, said:

    “The last year has seen a devastating surge in hate crime in Northern Ireland, with thousands of victims left feeling afraid and unprotected, and race hate incidents hitting an all-time high during the summer.

    “Years of complacency about the rise of racism here left bigoted thugs, including paramilitaries, emboldened to carry out an ever-greater number of attacks, particularly during the far-right violence in the summer.  

    “That hate crime now represents more than one in fifty of all recorded crimes in Northern Ireland must be a wake-up call to both police and politicians.

    “Tackling racism and hate crime in Northern Ireland will require not just a more consistent response from the police but unambiguous political leadership and effective strategies from the Executive, something which has hitherto been lacking.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Thailand: ‘Deportation’ of Uyghurs to China ‘unimaginably cruel’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to reports that a group of about 40 Uyghurs who have been detained in Thailand since 2014 were today deported to China, Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks said:

    “The forcible return of these men, or indeed any Uyghurs, to China would place them at risk of serious human rights violations. We urge the government of Thailand to clarify their status.

    “Their ordeal is already chilling: they fled repression in China, only to find themselves arbitrarily detained in Thailand for more than a decade. The fact that they now may be forcibly returned to a country where Uyghur and other non-Han ethnic groups in Xinjiang have faced torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance is unimaginably cruel.

    “The Thai government should have protected these men, but instead it has wilfully exposed them to these grave risks. In doing so it has ignored pleas from Amnesty International and United Nations (UN) experts who urged it not to violate the internationally and domestically recognized principle of non-refoulement. And this just as Thailand has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council.

    “We now call on the governments of Thailand and China to disclose the whereabouts of these individuals, and – if they continue to be in custody – to ensure that the full spectrum of their rights is respected, including their right to be free from torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

    “Many of these men are in extremely poor health after enduring years in detention. They must have access to appropriate and adequate medical care. We call for an end to their ordeal, and urge authorities to uphold their right to freedom of movement. It is past time  that they are allowed to safely rejoin their families.”

    Background

    The men deported today are among about 300 Uyghurs who were apprehended by the Thai authorities on 13 March 2014 after they had fled persecution and discrimination in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. A total of 109 people from the group were deported to China in July 2015. 

    Amnesty International has documented massive and systematic abuses by the Chinese government against Uyghurs in Xinjiang – including in internment camps, where over a million people have been arbitrarily detained.

    In a 2021 report, Amnesty found that the Chinese government has committed at least the crimes against humanity of imprisonment, torture and persecution against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang.

    In a letter to the Thai government in January 2025, a group of UN experts said 23 of 48 men remaining in detention were reportedly suffering from serious health conditions including “diabetes, kidney dysfunction, paralysis of the lower body, skin diseases, gastrointestinal illnesses and heart and lung conditions”.

    Thailand is bound by the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the transfer of persons to any country or jurisdiction where they would face a real risk of serious human rights violations.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Lebanon: New government must prioritize critical need for human rights protections

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to the vote of confidence in the new Lebanese government passed by the country’s parliament today, Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

    “Today’s vote marks a crucial opportunity for Lebanon to break with the shortcomings of past governments and place human rights at the centre of much-needed reforms.

    “Today’s vote marks a crucial opportunity for Lebanon to break with the shortcomings of past governments and place human rights at the centre of much-needed reforms” – Kristine Beckerle, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

    “In the past five years alone, government failings led to an unprecedented financial and economic crisis and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. Yet, the Lebanese people have yet to see any justice or accountability.

    “More recently, the escalation in hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel resulted in mass displacement and thousands of civilian casualties. Israeli military attacks, some of which may amount to war crimes, killed healthcare workers, journalists, and civilians. Justice will remain elusive as long as Lebanon fails to join the International Criminal Court.

    “The new government must go beyond rhetoric and prove its commitment to human rights by taking decisive steps to address these and other longstanding issues. This includes ending the crisis of impunity by enabling independent and transparent investigations into the Beirut port explosion. It also means pursuing accountability for grave violations committed on and from its territory by joining the ICC and ensuring reparation for victims of violations.

    “We further call on the new government to reinforce social and economic rights protections, including through the establishment of a universal social protection scheme. It also must take meaningful steps to safeguard free expression, combat gender-based violence and discrimination, and protect the rights of all individuals, including migrants, refugees, and detainees.”

    Background

    On 9 January 2025, Lebanon’s Parliament elected a new president, Joseph Aoun, after a more than two-year presidential vacancy. On 13 January 2025, President Aoun designated the former president of the International Court of Justice and Lebanon’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Nawaf Salam, to form and lead a new cabinet of ministers.

    The government’s ministerial statement, presented to Parliament by Prime Minister Salam, pledged to “rescue, reform, and rebuild” the crisis-hit country. The statement promised an “independent judiciary that is immune to interference… and plays its role in ensuring rights and safeguarding freedoms,” including preventing obstruction of investigative judges’ work, particularly in the Beirut port explosion investigation. The government also committed to economic reforms and advancing rights, including access to health care, social security, and the inclusion of persons with disabilities.

    The ministerial statement, however, is non-binding and only presented government plans in key areas, for example to address the country’s ongoing financial and economic crisis, at a general level. Amnesty International examined the devastating impact the financial and economic crisis on people’s socio-economic rights, and put forward specific recommendations for reform, in a recent report.  It now falls to the new government to develop plans to implement human rights-based reforms and put those plans into practice.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/OPT: Masafer Yatta community in occupied West Bank under imminent threat of ‘relentless land grab’ by settlers – new briefing

    Source: Amnesty International –

    2024 was the worst year for settler violence across the occupied West Bank

    Violent settler attacks rose from an average of two a day in 2022 to four a day in 2024

    Spike in state-backed settler violence due to new military seizure orders and failure to prevent and punish settler attacks

    ‘Once they broke our door and beat our children with their rifles’ – Hadeel Jabareen, resident

    ‘Israel is deliberately creating a coercive environment that as a result drives Palestinians like those in the Shi’b Al-Butum off their land’ – Erika Guevara Rosas

    The Palestinian community of Shi’b Al-Butum in Masafer Yatta is at imminent risk of forcible transfer due to increasing state-backed settler attacks, as well as home demolitions, restrictions on access to land and illegal settlement expansion by the Israeli authorities, Amnesty International said today.

    The herding community, home to some 300 Palestinians, is one of the 12 communities that make up the area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and that for decades has been subjected to growing state-backed settler attacks and oppressive measures by the Israeli authorities. Since 7 October 2023 the situation has significantly worsened. Unless measures are immediately taken to hold violent settlers accountable, stop home demolitions and the expansion of nearby settlements, this community – like others in the area – will be forcibly displaced.

    Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, said:

    “The situation of the Shi’b Al-Butum community is a microcosm of what Palestinians, in particular herding and Bedouin communities, are facing across most of the occupied West Bank. Settlers trespass on their land, vandalise and steal their property, harass and physically assault them with total impunity.

    “Through the cumulative impact of decades of occupation and apartheid, including violence, institutionalised discrimination and illegal settlement expansion, Israel is deliberately creating a coercive environment that as a result drives Palestinians like those in the Shi’b Al-Butum off their land. Unlawful transfer –the forced removal of civilians against their will – is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and amounts to a war crime.

    “Deeply entrenched impunity for settler violence and the longstanding failure of the international community to act to halt the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements or to end Israel’s occupation are facilitating the unlawful transfer of Palestinian communities. Instead of continuing to enable Israel’s relentless land grab, with devastating consequences for Palestinians, world leaders must press Israel to end its unlawful occupation and dismantle its system of apartheid against Palestinians.”

    The spike in state-backed settler violence along with measures by the Israeli authorities have resulted in the forced displacement of Palestinians across the West Bank. These include implementation of new military seizure orders, a sharp increase in the destruction of Palestinian property as well as the participation in, support for, or failure to prevent and punish settler attacks against Palestinians.

    According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2024 was the worst year for settler violence across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the organisation began keeping records 20 years ago. Between 7 October 2023 and 31 December 2024, OCHA documented 1,860 incidents of settler violence that led to the displacement of over 300 families (1,762 people, including 856 children). OCHA also recorded a rise in the number of violent settler attacks in the West Bank from an average of two a day in 2022 to four a day in 2024. Israeli human rights organisations, including Yesh Din and Haqel, have also documented the failure of Israeli law enforcement to protect Palestinian residents in the unlawfully occupied West Bank.

    Amnesty has documented how the intensification of the coercive environment created by Israel, including through state-backed settler violence, has already led to the forcible transfer of the herding community of Zanuta, in the south Hebron Hills. Shi’b Al-Butum is now facing a similar fate.

    Evidence of forcible transfer in Zanuta

    Amnesty visited the abandoned site of Zanuta, previously home to some 250 people, including 100 children in March and conducted interviews with five community members who previously lived in Zanuta, who said the frequency and violence of settler attacks against them intensified following the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, forcing the entire community to leave.

    They described how settlers from a nearby outpost, Meitarim Farm, have regularly attacked and harassed them since 2021. Despite the fact that such outposts are also considered illegal under Israeli law, settlers also built structures and began herding their sheep on Zanuta’s farming land, causing damage to the crops.

    After 7 October 2023 residents said settler attacks escalated occurring almost daily leading many Palestinians to leave. On several occasions, settlers set property on fire or pumped sewage water into farming land.

    Hadeel Jabareen, said:

    “Settlers attacked us at our home more than once after 7 October 2023. Once they broke our door and beat our children with their rifles. They broke the windows as we were sleeping.”

    The community was fully displaced by 22 October 2023. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered that the residents of Zanuta be allowed to return to their community in July 2024. However, after some families returned in August 2024, settler attacks resumed swiftly, forcing the residents to leave once again. The last families left Zanuta on 18 October 2024.

    Adel A-Tal, former resident, said:

    “The settlers were armed and kept attacking us. We were the last family there. Everyone else had left, so we had to leave as well, for the safety of our children and livestock. We were afraid, it was terror.”

    Shi’b Al-Butum: a community at risk

    Amnesty also documented a rise in Israeli settler violence targeting Palestinian shepherds in grazing areas surrounding Shi’b Al-Butum since 7 October 2023 who now risk a similar fate to Zanuta. Amnesty interviewed six people from the community and verified 38 videos of the attacks.  Residents told Amnesty that settlers from the nearby outpost of Mitzpe Yair and the settlement of Avigayil harass and attack them almost on a daily basis. Avigayil is one of 10 outposts the Israeli security cabinet retroactively “legalised” in February 2023.

    The residents described how settlers regularly approach herders threatening them, using abusive language and often falsely reporting to Israeli law enforcement that Palestinians stole their sheep.  Similar incidents have been reported in other communities in the South Hebron Hills area and elsewhere in the West Bank.

    Instead of protecting Shi’b Al-Butum’s Palestinian herders, the Israeli military ordered them not to use these areas, confining them to their village where there is not enough food for their flocks. This has placed a huge financial burden on many shepherds who cannot afford to buy animal feed all year round and are forced to sell some of their sheep, their main source of livelihood, to make ends meet.

    One shepherd, Khalil Jabarin, told Amnesty:

    “No one dares to go herd outside the village anymore. They took everything they wanted, but it’s still not enough for them…they want us to leave. They come here and tell me that I have no land here and that I should go to Yatta [a nearby Palestinian city].”

    Residents described how in particular, since early September 2024, one settler from Mitzpe Yair outpost regularly enters the village at any hour of the day or night, armed with a gun and dressed in military uniform. He walks around, takes photos and vandalises property, especially agricultural land and structures. In videos recorded by the residents, he is seen destroying gates and fences around their agricultural lands. As a result, community members live in constant fear.  In other videos, verified by Amnesty armed settlers are seen walking around the community or speeding through on their motorbikes to intimidate Palestinians.

    Iman Jabarin, who resides in the community and has seven children, said:

    “We don’t feel safe at home. We don’t have security or safety, not me, nor my children or my husband.”

    In a video verified by Amnesty from 19 July this year, a group of eight settlers, accompanied by one soldier, attacked members of the Najjar family who were sitting outside their house. According to the family, the settlers beat them with sticks as the soldier stood by. Video footage also shows the soldier pointing his gun at the Palestinian family, then shooting in the air. Two members of the family were hospitalised for their injuries. One of them, 64-year-old Wadha Najjar, said ongoing impunity for such attacks means they have no hope of justice within the Israeli legal system.

    Israeli authorities have also carried out demolitions of Palestinian homes and property in Shi’b Al-Butum. On 22 November 2023, Israeli forces demolished eight structures in the community due to lack of Israeli building permits, which are virtually impossible to obtain. According to OCHA, demolitions caused the displacement of 19 Palestinians from Shi’b Al-Butum, including 11 children. On 8 July 2024, Israeli forces demolished two residential structures citing lack of permits, displacing 14 people. According to Israeli organisation Peace Now!, which monitors settlement expansion, Israeli planning authorities did not approve a single building permit or appeal for residential purposes for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank. 

    Settlers above the law

    Settlers continue to enjoy near-total impunity for the violence they perpetrate against Palestinians. Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, found that around 94% of police investigations into settler violence against Palestinians across the West Bank between 2005 and 2024 concluded with no indictment. These numbers back Palestinian residents’ conviction that the Israeli law-enforcement system is designed to privilege the interests of settlers at their expense.

    International inaction has also allowed Israeli settlement policies and settler violence to thrive and has entrenched impunity. On 21 January, President Donald Trump revoked all US sanctions on violent Israeli settlers. The very existence of all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) – regardless of their status under Israeli law – flagrantly violates international law, yet states have repeatedly failed to stop their expansion or to ensure protection for the occupied population in the OPT. Even after the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of July 2024 declared Israel’s presence in the OPT unlawful and called for its dismantling with 12 months, states have failed to act.

    In addition to Shib al-Butum, nine other communities in Masafer Yatta are at imminent risk of forced displacement as the Israeli military declared their villages part of a military training zones. The plight of these communities, and their struggle to remain on their ancestral lands are featured in the documentary “No Other Land“, recently nominated for the Oscars.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Indonesia: Flogging of gay men a horrifying act of discrimination

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to the flogging of two university students in Indonesia’s Aceh province for having consensual same-sex sexual relations, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director Montse Ferrer said:

    “Indonesia’s flogging of two gay men is a horrifying act of discrimination. Intimate sexual relations between consenting adults should never be criminalized, and no one should be punished because of their real or perceived sexual orientation.

    “Having already had their privacy brutally invaded when they were ambushed by members of the public while having sex, these men were then humiliated and physically harmed.

    “These flogging punishments are cruel, inhuman and degrading, and may amount to torture. Aceh and Indonesian central government authorities must take immediate action to halt these practices and revoke the bylaws that allow them to take place.

    “Such laws must be brought in line with international human rights law and standards, and with Indonesia’s obligations under its own Constitution. Aceh’s regional autonomy, which is its basis to apply Sharia law, must not come at the expense of human rights.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Türkiye: Acquittal of Taner Kılıç after eight-year ordeal comes amid new wave of repression of rights defenders 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The case of Taner Kılıç, who has finally been acquitted after a judicial process that has lasted almost 8 years, is a stark example of the Turkish authorities’ politically motivated attempts to criminalize human rights defenders, said Amnesty International.

    Taner Kılıç, a refugee rights lawyer and former Chair of Amnesty International’s Türkiye section, was arrested in June 2017 and detained in prison for more than 14 months. Despite a complete absence of any credible evidence, in July 2020, he was convicted of “membership of a terrorist organisation” and sentenced to more than six years in prison. The end of the almost eight year ordeal for Taner Kılıç comes amid a new wave of detentions in which rights defenders, journalists, political activists and others have been targeted. 

     Taner Kılıç’s tenacity and resilience, coupled with our determination to undo this injustice, demonstrates that when we come together, we can move mountains  

    His acquittal follows the Court of Cassation’s rejection of the prosecution’s appeal against its previous decision to overturn Taner’s baseless conviction.  

    “Today, as we mark the end of Taner’s agonizing ordeal, our feelings are bittersweet. The cruelty inflicted on Taner – the years stolen from him and his family – can never be forgotten. His tenacity and resilience, coupled with our determination to undo this injustice, demonstrates that when we come together, we can move mountains,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General who spoke with Taner by video call today. 

    “For me this nightmare that has gone on for almost eight years is finally over. My imprisonment for more than a year has caused great trauma to my family. This unfair trial was like a sword of Damocles hanging not just over me but over the head of the entire human rights community in Türkiye. While it was for the prosecution to prove my guilt, this case went on for years despite my repeatedly proving my innocence,” said Taner Kılıç. 

    “The ordeal has created huge uncertainty in my life. The only thing I was sure of throughout this process was that I was right and innocent, and the support from all over the world gave me strength. I thank each and every one who stood up for me.” 

    In May 2022, the European Court of Human Rights reaffirmed that the authorities in Türkiye did not have “any reasonable suspicion that Taner Kılıç had committed an offence” when they remanded him in pre-trial detention for over 14 months in 2017/18. It found that his imprisonment on terrorism-related charges was “directly linked to his activity as a human rights defender”.  

    For me this nightmare that has gone on for almost eight years is finally over 

    In November 2022, the Court of Cassation in Turkey ruled to overturn the conviction of Taner Kılıç on the grounds that the investigation was “incomplete”. The trial court agreed with the Court of Cassation ruling in June 2023, but the prosecutor appealed the decision, insisting that Taner Kılıç’s conviction should stand. With this latest and final decision, the Court of Cassation rejected the prosecution’s appeal, ending the ordeal for the human rights defender.  

    “Taner’s protracted prosecution is emblematic of how Turkish courts have been weaponized to silence critical voices and of the ongoing crackdown by Turkish authorities on rights and freedoms and those who defend them. The flagrant miscarriage of justice he was subjected to for so long is sadly just one of many. But we will take strength from Taner’s acquittal in our fight against the curtailing of human rights in Türkiye, and on behalf of those who refuse to be silenced by the authorities’ threats,” said Agnès Callamard.

    The acquittal comes amid a crackdown in which more than 1,600 people have reportedly been investigated for their alleged links to the Peoples’ Democratic Congress, a platform for civil society organizations and political parties. Last week, at least 50 people were detained in several provinces and 30 among them unlawfully remanded in prison on ‘terrorism’ related allegations after being questioned about their peaceful activities dating from more than a decade ago. 

    Background 

    Taner Kılıç is a founding member of Amnesty International Türkiye. Over the last 20 years, he has played a crucial role in defending human rights as part of the organization and the wider human rights community in Türkiye. See here for more about his prosecution.  

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/OPT: Masafer Yatta community in occupied West Bank under imminent threat of forcible transfer

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The Palestinian community of Shi’b Al-Butum in Masafer Yatta is at imminent risk of forcible transfer due to increasing state-backed settler attacks, as well as home demolitions, restrictions on access to land and illegal settlement expansion by the Israeli authorities, Amnesty International said today.

    This herding community, home to some 300 Palestinians, is one of the 12 communities that make up the area of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, and that for decades has been subjected to growing state-backed settler attacks and oppressive measures by the Israeli authorities. Since 7 October 2023 the situation has significantly worsened. Unless measures are immediately taken to hold violent settlers accountable, stop home demolitions and the expansion of nearby settlements, this community – like others in the area – will be forcibly displaced.

    “The situation of the Shi’b Al-Butum community is a microcosm of what Palestinians, in particular herding and Bedouin communities, are facing across most of the occupied West Bank. Settlers trespass on their land, vandalize and steal their property, harass and physically assault them with total impunity,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

    “Through the cumulative impact of decades of occupation and apartheid, including violence, institutionalized discrimination and illegal settlement expansion, Israel is deliberately creating a coercive environment that as a result drives Palestinians like those in the Shi’b Al-Butum off their land. Unlawful transfer –the forced removal of civilians against their will – is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and amounts to a war crime.”

    “The situation of the Shi’b Al-Butum community is a microcosm of what Palestinians, in particular herding and Bedouin communities, are facing across most of the occupied West Bank,”- Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns

    Since 7 October 2023, a spike in state-backed settler violence along with measures by the Israeli authorities have resulted in the forced displacement of Palestinians across the West Bank. These include implementation of new military seizure orders, a sharp increase in the destruction of Palestinian property as well as the participation in, support for, or failure to prevent and punish settler attacks against Palestinians.

    According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2024 was the worst year for settler violence across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the organization began keeping records 20 years ago. Between 7 October 2023 and 31 December 2024, OCHA documented 1,860 incidents of settler violence that led to the displacement of over 300 families (1,762 people, including 856 children). OCHA also recorded a rise in the number of violent settler attacks in the West Bank from an average of two a day in 2022, to four a day in 2024.

    Israeli human rights organizations, including Yesh Din and Haqel, have also documented the failure of Israeli law enforcement to protect Palestinian residents in the unlawfully occupied West Bank.

    Amnesty International has documented how the intensification of the coercive environment created by Israel, including through state-backed settler violence, has already led to the forcible transfer of the herding community of Zanuta, in the south Hebron Hills. Shi’b Al-Butum is now facing a similar fate.

    Evidence of forcible transfer in Zanuta

    Amnesty International visited the abandoned site of Zanuta, previously home to some 250 people, including 100 children, in March 2024. The organization also conducted interviews with five community members who previously lived in Zanuta, who said the frequency and violence of settler attacks against them intensified following the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, forcing the entire community to leave.

    They described how settlers from a nearby outpost, Meitarim Farm, have regularly attacked and harassed them since 2021. Despite the fact that such outposts are also considered illegal under Israeli law, settlers also built structures and began herding their sheep on Zanuta’s farming land, causing damage to the crops.

    After 7 October 2023 residents said settler attacks escalated occurring almost daily leading many Palestinians to leave. On several occasions, settlers set property on fire or pumped sewage water into farming land.

    “Settlers attacked us at our home more than once after 7 October 2023. Once they broke our door and beat our children with their rifles. They broke the windows as we were sleeping,” said Hadeel Jabareen.

    The community was fully displaced by 22 October 2023. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered that the residents of Zanuta be allowed to return to their community in July 2024. However, after some families returned in August 2024, settler attacks resumed swiftly, forcing the residents to leave once again.

    The last families left Zanuta on 18 October 2024.

    “The settlers were armed and kept attacking us. We were the last family there. Everyone else had left, so we had to leave as well, for the safety of our children and livestock. We were afraid, it was terror,” said former resident, Adel A-Tal.

    Shi’b Al-Butum: a community at risk

    Amnesty International has also documented a rise in Israeli settler violence targeting Palestinian shepherds in grazing areas surrounding Shi’b Al-Butum since 7 October 2023 who now risk a similar fate to Zanuta. The organization interviewed six people from the community and verified 38 videos of the attacks.

    Residents told Amnesty International that settlers from the nearby outpost of Mitzpe Yair and the settlement of Avigayil harass and attack them almost on a daily basis since 7 October 2023. Avigayil is one of 10 outposts the Israeli security cabinet retroactively “legalized” in February 2023.

    The residents described how settlers regularly approach herders threatening them, using abusive language and often falsely reporting to Israeli law enforcement that Palestinians stole their sheep.  Similar incidents have been reported in other communities in the South Hebron Hills area and elsewhere in the West Bank.

    Instead of protecting Shi’b Al-Butum’s Palestinian herders, the Israeli military ordered them not to use these areas, confining them to their village where there is not enough food for their flocks. This has placed a huge financial burden on many shepherds who cannot afford to buy animal feed all year round and are forced to sell some of their sheep, their main source of livelihood, to make ends meet.

    One shepherd, Khalil Jabarin, told Amnesty:“No one dares to go herd outside the village anymore. They took everything they wanted, but it’s still not enough for them…they want us to leave. They come here and tell me that I have no land here and that I should go to Yatta [a nearby Palestinian city].”

    Residents described how in particular, since early September 2024, one settler from Mitzpe Yair outpost regularly enters the village at any hour of the day or night, armed with a gun and dressed in military uniform. He walks around, takes photos and vandalizes property, especially agricultural land and structures. In videos recorded by the residents, he is seen destroying gates and fences around their agricultural lands. As a result, community members live in constant fear.  In other videos, verified by Amnesty International, armed settlers are seen walking around the community or speeding through on their motorbikes to intimidate Palestinians.

    Iman Jabarin, who resides in the community and has seven children, said: “We don’t feel safe at home. We don’t have security or safety, not me, nor my children or my husband.”

    In a video verified by Amnesty International from 19 July 2024, a group of eight settlers, accompanied by one soldier, attacked members of the Najjar family who were sitting outside their house. According to the family, the settlers beat them with sticks as the soldier stood by. Video footage also shows the soldier pointing his gun at the Palestinian family, then shooting in the air. Two members of the family were hospitalized for their injuries. One of them, 64-year-old Wadha Najjar, said ongoing impunity for such attacks means they have no hope of justice within the Israeli legal system.

    Israeli authorities have also carried out demolitions of Palestinian homes and property in Shi’b Al-Butum. On 22 November 2023, Israeli forces demolished eight structures in the community due to lack of Israeli building permits, which are virtually impossible to obtain. According to OCHA, demolitions caused the displacement of 19 Palestinians from Shi’b Al-Butum, including 11 children. On 8 July 2024, Israeli forces demolished two residential structures citing lack of permits, displacing 14 people. According to Israeli organization Peace Now!, which monitors settlement expansion, Israeli planning authorities did not approve a single building permit or appeal for residential purposes for Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank. 

    Settlers above the law

    Settlers continue to enjoy near-total impunity for the violence they perpetrate against Palestinians. Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, found that around 94% of police investigations into settler violence against Palestinians across the West Bank between 2005 and 2024 concluded with no indictment. These numbers back Palestinian residents’ conviction that the Israeli law-enforcement system is designed to privilege the interests of settlers at their expense.

    “Instead of continuing to enable Israel’s relentless land grab, with devastating consequences for Palestinians, world leaders must press Israel to end its unlawful occupation and dismantle its system of apartheid against Palestinians”- Erika Guevara Rosas

    International inaction has also allowed Israeli settlement policies and settler violence to thrive and has entrenched impunity. On 21 January, President Donald Trump revoked all US sanctions on violent Israeli settlers. The very existence of all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) – regardless of their status under Israeli law – flagrantly violates international law, yet states have repeatedly failed to stop their expansion or to ensure protection for the occupied population in the OPT. Even after the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of July 2024 declared Israel’s presence in the OPT unlawful and called for its dismantling with 12 months, states have failed to act.

    “Deeply entrenched impunity for settler violence and the longstanding failure of the international community to act to halt the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements or to end Israel’s occupation are facilitating the unlawful transfer of Palestinian communities, which is a war crime. Instead of continuing to enable Israel’s relentless land grab, with devastating consequences for Palestinians, world leaders must press Israel to end its unlawful occupation and dismantle its system of apartheid against Palestinians,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.

    In addition to Shib al-Butum, nine other communities in Masafer Yatta are at imminent risk of forced displacement as the Israeli military declared their villages part of a military training zones. The plight of these communities, and their struggle to remain on their ancestral lands are featured in the documentary “No Other Land“, recently nominated for the Oscars.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Greenpeace USA supports the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act in California

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    WASHINGTON, DC (February 26, 2025)— In response the introduction of the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act in California’s State Assembly and Senate, a common sense law that would require fossil fuel corporations to pay for the climate devastation they have fueled, Zachary Norris, Greenpeace USA’s California Climate Campaign Director said: 

    “California must seize this opportunity to protect workers and communities from the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. For decades, the oil and gas industry has polluted without consequence, raking in massive profits while leaving our communities to suffer — it’s time to make polluters pay for the damage they’ve caused. This landmark law will safeguard vulnerable communities and ensure Californians are not left alone to pay for climate disasters.”

    This Act was introduced after the devastating January firestorm in Los Angeles County that damaged or destroyed over 7,800 structures in the Palisades Fire, almost 10,500 structures in the Eaton Fire, and claimed the lives of 29 Californians. The Polluter Pay Superfund Act of 2025, SB 684 and AB 1243, was introduced by Senator Caroline Menjivar (D- San Fernando Valley) and Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D- Morro Bay).

    “We applaud the authors of this bill and hope that every other legislator will seriously consider and support this common sense law. True leaders not only know the climate crisis is real and caused by polluters, but they take action to end the financial injustice imposed on California families by climate disasters.”

    Contact: Gigi Singh, Communications Manager at Greenpeace USA
    (+1)  631-404-9977, [email protected]  

    Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: EU: Catastrophic changes proposed to key sustainability laws would erode human rights and environmental protections

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Reacting to today’s publication by the European Commission of a “simplification” Omnibus proposal which envisions damaging changes to key EU sustainability laws, including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:  

    “Confronted with growing recognition of the many human rights abuses taking place in the value chains for everyday products, and corporations’ impact on worsening climate disasters, the EU should look to raise standards, not weaken them. The sheer volume and scope of proposed changes to these vital laws are completely at odds with Europe’s green ambitions and its climate action commitments. Eroding the very core of the laws intended to promote responsible business practices and sustainable investment, corporate accountability and transparency, at a time when these are vitally needed, would be unbelievably shortsighted and outright dangerous”.

    “If implemented, the proposed changes could render these instruments no more valuable than the paper they’re written on. Particularly alarming are the amendments envisioned to civil liability provisions, due diligence obligations, and climate transition plans, among others. As it stands, the proposal would also postpone by one year the timeline for EU Member States to reflect the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in their national laws.”

    The sheer volume and scope of proposed changes to these vital laws are completely at odds with Europe’s green ambitions and its climate action commitments.

    Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard

    “It is not too late to block the proposal and ensure these laws are protected. The Council of the EU and the European Parliament must show strong leadership and avoid undermining precious human rights, environment and climate protections”.   

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Scotland: Amnesty welcomes review of Scottish Enterprise human rights checks

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Amnesty International have today welcomed the Scottish Government’s agreement to review the human rights checks conducted by Scottish Enterprise, following a Scottish Parliament debate brought by the Scottish Greens in which MSPs from a range of parties expressed concerns about Scottish Enterprise grants to arms companies.

    Commenting after the debate, Neil Cowan (Scotland Programme Director at Amnesty International UK) said:

    “Today’s debate made clear that is simply not acceptable to continue to award Scottish Enterprise grants to companies involved in the manufacture and sale of arms to states accused of grave human rights abuses, including Israel.

    So we strongly welcome the fact that the Scottish Government have listened to Amnesty’s long-standing call, and the call of many others including MSPs from a range of parties, and agreed to conduct a review of the human rights checks in place at Scottish Enterprise. It has long been clear that, with no company ever failing one of the checks, they are not credible and require overhaul.

    It is now essential that the Scottish Government sets out what that review will involve, with it being critical that it includes independent input, review and analysis, and that it is focused on meeting Scotland’s international obligations.”

    View latest press releases

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Serbia: Cellebrite halts product use in Serbia following Amnesty surveillance report 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to Cellebrite’s announcement that it will stop the use of its digital forensic equipment for some of their customers in Serbia, following Amnesty International’s report on the misuse of spyware and mobile forensic products by Serbian authorities to unlawfully target activists and journalists, Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, Head of the Security Lab at Amnesty International, said: 

    “This decision reinforces Amnesty International’s December findings that Serbian police and intelligence routinely misused Cellebrite’s digital forensic equipment outside legally sanctioned processes to target civil society activists and independent journalists critical of the government.  

    “Withdrawing licences from customers who misused the equipment for political reasons is a critical first step. Now, Serbian authorities must urgently conduct their own thorough and impartial investigations, hold those responsible to account, provide remedies to victims and establish adequate safeguards to prevent future abuse.   

    “This important finding demonstrates that Cellebrite’s due diligence processes should be revamped to ensure its products are not being used to abuse human rights. It is crucial that this is done before reinstating suspended customers or issuing new licences to any customers in Serbia.  

    “Any further exports of surveillance or digital forensics technology to Serbia must be stopped until the authorities have implemented an effective and independent system of control and oversight over any measures that could restrict people’s right to privacy, freedom of expression or peaceful assembly.” 

    Background 

    Announcing its decision in a statement issued on 25 February 2025, Cellebrite stated that, “After a review of the allegations brought forth by the December 2024 Amnesty International report, Cellebrite took precise steps to investigate each claim in accordance with our ethics and integrity policies. We found it appropriate to stop the use of our products by the relevant customers at this time.” 

    It added that it takes “seriously all allegations of a customer’s potential misuse of our technology in ways that would run counter to both explicit and implied conditions outlined in our end-user agreement.” 

    The Cellebrite UFED suite of products, developed for law enforcement and government entities, allow data extraction from various mobile devices, even without access to device passcodes. 

    Amnesty International’s report, “A Digital Prison: Surveillance and the Suppression of Civil Society in Serbia,” released in December last year, detailed how mobile forensic products were used to extract data from journalists and activists’ mobile devices, and in some cases enabled the infection of those phones with spyware. 

    This digital surveillance in Serbia is taking place amid ongoing anti-government demonstrations and persistent harassment of civil society critical of the authorities. On Tuesday, Serban police raided the offices of four NGOs to investigate the alleged “abuse of USAID funds,” citing statements by senior US Government officials on the USAID funding freeze.  

      

    MIL OSI NGO –