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Category: NGOs

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: France: Discriminatory algorithm used by the social security agency must be stopped 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The French authorities must immediately stop the use of a discriminatory risk-scoring algorithm used by the French Social Security Agency’s National Family Allowance Fund (CNAF), which is used to detect overpayments and errors regarding benefit payments, Amnesty International said today.

    On 15 October, Amnesty International and fourteen other coalition partners led by La Quadrature du Net (LQDN) submitted a complaint to the Council of State, the highest administrative court in France, demanding the risk-scoring algorithmic system used by CNAF be stopped.  

    “From the outset, the risk-scoring system used by CNAF treats individuals who experience marginalization – those with disabilities, lone single parents who are mostly women, and those living in poverty – with suspicion. This system operates in direct opposition to human rights standards, violating the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to privacy,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International.

    In 2023, La Quadrature du Net (LQDN) got access to versions of the algorithm’s source code – a set of instructions written by programmers to create a software – thereby exposing the discriminatory nature of the system.

    Since 2011, CNAF has used a risk-scoring algorithm to identify people who are potentially committing benefits fraud by receiving overpayments. The algorithm assigns a risk score between zero and one to all recipients of family and housing benefits. The closer the score is to one, the higher the probability of being flagged for investigation.

    Overall, there are 32 million people in France living in households that receive a benefit from CNAF. Their sensitive personal data, as well as that of their family, is processed periodically, and a risk score is assigned.

    The criteria that increase one’s risk score include parameters which discriminate against vulnerable households, including being on a low income, being unemployed, living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, spending a significant portion of income on rent, and working while having a disability. The details of those who are flagged due to having a high-risk score are compiled into a list that is investigated further by a fraud investigator.

    “While authorities herald the rollout of algorithmic technologies in social protection systems as a way to increase efficiency and detect fraud and errors, in practice, these systems flatten the realities of people’s lives. They work as extensive data-mining tools that stigmatize marginalized groups, and invade their privacy,” said Agnès Callamard.

    Amnesty International did not investigate specific cases of people flagged by the CNAF system. However, our investigations in Netherlands and Serbia suggest that using AI-powered systems and automation in the public sector enables mass surveillance: the amount of data that is collected is disproportionate to the purported aim of the system. Moreover, evidence by Amnesty International also exposed how many of these systems have been quite ineffective at actually doing what they purport to do—whether it be identifying fraud or errors in the benefits system.

    While authorities herald the rollout of algorithmic technologies in social protection systems as a way to increase efficiency and detect fraud and errors, in practice, these systems flatten the realities of people’s lives. They work as extensive data-mining tools that stigmatize marginalized groups, and invade their privacy.

    Agnès Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International

    It has also been argued that the scale of errors or fraud in benefits system has been exaggerated to justify the development of such tech systems, often leading to discriminatory or racist or sexist targeting of particular groups, particularly migrants and refugees.

    Over the past year, France has been actively promoting itself internationally as the next hub for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, culminating in a summit scheduled for February 2025. At the same time, France has also been legalizing mass surveillance technologies and has consistently undermined the EU’s AI Act negotiations.

    “France is relying on a risk-scoring algorithmic system for social benefits that highlights, sustains and enshrines the bureaucracy’s prejudices and discrimination. Instead, France should ensure that it complies with its human rights obligations in the first place that of non-discrimination. The authorities must address current and existing AI-related harms amid the country’s quest to become a global AI hub,” said Agnès Callamard.

    Under the newly adopted European Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act), AI systems used by authorities to determine access to essential public services and benefits are considered to pose high risk to rights, health and safety of people. Therefore, they must meet strict technical, transparency and governance rules, including an obligation on deployers to carry out an assessment of human rights risks and guarantee mitigation measures before deployment.

    In the meantime, certain systems, such as those used for social scoring, are considered to pose unacceptable level of risk and therefore must be banned.

    It is unfortunate that EU lawmakers have been vague in explicitly defining social scoring within the AI Act. The European Commission must ensure that its upcoming guidelines provide a clear and enforceable interpretation of the social scoring ban, especially as it applies to discriminatory fraud detection and risk-scoring systems. 

    Agnès Callamard

    It is currently unclear whether the system used by CNAF qualifies as a social scoring system due to a lack of clarity in the AI Act on what constitutes such a system.

    “It is unfortunate that EU lawmakers have been vague in explicitly defining social scoring within the AI Act. The European Commission must ensure that its upcoming guidelines provide a clear and enforceable interpretation of the social scoring ban, especially as it applies to discriminatory fraud detection and risk-scoring systems,” said Agnès Callamard.

    Regardless of its classification under the AI Act, all evidence suggests that the system used by CNAF is discriminatory. It is essential that authorities stop employing it and scrutinize biased practices that are inherently harmful especially to marginalized communities seeking social benefits.

    Background

    The European Commission will issue guidance on how to interpret the prohibitions in the AI Act prior to their entry into force on 2 February 2025, including what would qualify as social scoring systems.

    In August 2024, the AI Act came into force. Amnesty International, as part of a civil society coalition led by the European Digital Rights Network (EDRi), has been calling for EU artificial intelligence regulation that protects and promotes human rights.

    In March 2024, an Amnesty International briefing outlined how digital technologies including artificial intelligence, automation, and algorithmic decision-making are exacerbating inequalities in social protection systems across the world

    In 2021, Amnesty International’s report Xenophobic Machines exposed how racial profiling was baked into the design of the algorithmic system by the Dutch tax authorities that flagged claims for childcare benefits as potentially fraudulent. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Netherlands: Mass police surveillance of protests part of ‘growing control culture’ – new report

    Source: Amnesty International –

    “All facial recognition technology for identification purposes should be banned and clear rules for police surveillance at protests must be established.” – Dagmar Oudshoorn

    Fear amongst protestors that camera surveillance may lead to negative repercussions

    Transparency needed from Dutch police about use of materials gathered at protests

    A new report from Amnesty International has found that widespread use of digital surveillance technology by police combined with a lack of transparency about its deployment and how materials gathered are analysed, stored and used is having a discriminatory and chilling effect on protest in the Netherlands.

    Recording dissent: Camera surveillance at peaceful protests in the Netherlands, finds that Dutch police are using an array of digital means to monitor peaceful protesters, from drones to video cars and bodycams to conduct mass surveillance of protesters which is detrimentally impacting the right to protest.  

    The report collates the experiences of protesters from a wide range of movements, including climate protests, pro-Palestine protests and protests relating to COVID. The research involved observation of 24 protests between 2022 and 2024, several interviews with protesters and police as well as an analysis of protest rules and practice. Across the range of demonstrations, protesters expressed fears that their identities could be logged in police databases and that this could have negative repercussions for them. 

    One organiser of COVID protests told Amnesty: “I would like to work at a ministry one day. If I have a mark against my name somewhere, I might never get in, so I want to avoid that. Those fears are really deep with everyone in our group.”  

    Dagmar Oudshoorn, Director of Amnesty International Netherlands, said:

    “Peaceful protest is a right, not a privilege but in the Netherlands an increasing risk-based approach to protest by authorities and a growing control culture is putting this right a risk.

    “Dutch laws and policies are not formulated with sufficient precision with regard to what police may or may not do when surveilling protests. This creates a risk of arbitrariness or abuse and is having a discriminatory and chilling effect.

    “It is unacceptable that images are stored in police data banks without any clarity as to what is done with them. This can lead to abuse – or fear of abuse – which can really have far-reaching consequences for people’s personal lives.

    “Camera surveillance is being deployed because protests are being perceived as a security risk rather than a fundamental right and a vital part of a healthy society. All facial recognition technology for identification purposes should be banned and clear rules for police surveillance at protests must be established.”  

    The new research shows that police routinely fail to explain to organisers, protesters and the public why camera surveillance is in place. Opaque practices make it unclear what resources are being deployed and what images of protesters are being used for. Without adequate safeguards in place, surveillance practices are open to widespread abuse.  Police are able to use facial recognition technology to identify people. This risk is especially serious for migrants, who could be included in a facial recognition database when they apply for a residence permit.

    One climate activist told Amnesty: “It’s unpredictable. I’ve seen camera surveillance in all forms…Police in uniform photographing, and camera cars with a telescopic camera on the roof…Not once have the police informed us about the surveillance.” 

    Protest rights under threat across continent.

    This report is part of Amnesty ‘s global “Protect the Protest” campaign which challenges attacks on peaceful protest, works in solidarity with those targeted and supports the causes of social movements pushing for human rights change.  

    A report published in July 2024 looking at the state of protest across Europe found that the right to protest is being systematically undermined across Europe. See https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/07/europe-sweeping-pattern-of-systematic-attacks-and-restrictions-undermine-peaceful-protest/ 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: France: Government must stop using dangerous AI-powered surveillance to tackle benefit fraud

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Authorities must immediately stop using discriminatory algorithm used by the social security agency

    The risk-scoring system treats marginalised individuals with suspicion

    ‘This system operates in direct opposition to human rights standards, violating the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to privacy’ – Agnès Callamard

    The French authorities must immediately stop the use of a discriminatory risk-scoring algorithm used by the French Social Security Agency’s National Family Allowance Fund (CNAF), which is used to detect overpayments and errors regarding benefit payments, Amnesty International said today. 

    On 15 October, Amnesty and 14 other coalition partners led by La Quadrature du Net (LQDN) submitted a complaint to the Council of State, the highest administrative court in France, demanding the risk-scoring algorithmic system used by CNAF be stopped.

    In 2023, LQDN gained access to versions of the algorithm’s source code – a set of instructions written by programmers to create a software – exposing the discriminatory nature of the system.

    Since 2011, CNAF has used a risk-scoring algorithm to identify people who are potentially committing benefits fraud by receiving overpayments. The algorithm assigns a risk score between zero and one to all recipients of family and housing benefits. The closer the score is to one, the higher the probability of being flagged for investigation.

    Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International, said:

    “From the outset, the risk-scoring system used by CNAF treats individuals who experience marginalisation – those with disabilities, lone single parents who are mostly women, and those living in poverty – with suspicion. This system operates in direct opposition to human rights standards, violating the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to privacy.

    “While authorities herald the rollout of algorithmic technologies in social protection systems to increase efficiency and detect fraud and errors, in practice, these systems flatten the realities of people’s lives. They work as extensive data-mining tools that stigmatise marginalised groups and invade their privacy.

    “France is relying on a risk-scoring algorithmic system for social benefits that highlights, sustains and enshrines the bureaucracy’s prejudices and discrimination. Instead, France should ensure that it complies with its human rights obligations in the first place that of non-discrimination. The authorities must address current and existing AI-related harms amid the country’s quest to become a global AI hub.”

    Putting people at risk

    There are currently 32 million people in France receiving a benefit from CNAF. Their sensitive personal data, as well as that of their family, is processed periodically, and a risk score is assigned.

    The criteria that increase one’s risk score include parameters which discriminate against vulnerable households, including being on a low income, being unemployed, living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, spending a significant portion of income on rent, and working while having a disability. The details of those who are flagged due to having a high-risk score are compiled into a list that is investigated further by a fraud investigator. 

    Amnesty did not investigate specific cases of people flagged by the CNAF system. However, its investigations in the Netherlands and Serbia suggest that using AI-powered systems and automation in the public sector enables mass surveillance and the amount of data collected is disproportionate to the purported aim of the system.

    Amnesty has also exposed how many of these systems have been quite ineffective at doing what they purport to do—whether it be identifying fraud or errors in the benefits system. 

    It has also been argued that the scale of errors or fraud in benefits system has been exaggerated to justify the development of such tech systems, often leading to discriminatory or racist or sexist targeting of particular groups – particularly migrants and refugees.

    Over the past year, France has been actively promoting itself internationally as the next hub for  AI technologies, culminating in a summit scheduled for February 2025. At the same time, France has also legalised mass surveillance technologies and consistently undermined the EU’s AI Act negotiations.

    Under the newly adopted European Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act), AI systems used by authorities to determine access to essential public services and benefits are considered to pose high risk to rights, health and safety of people. Therefore, they must meet strict technical, transparency and governance rules, including an obligation on deployers to carry out an assessment of human rights risks and guarantee mitigation measures before deployment. 

    In the meantime, certain systems, such as those used for social scoring, are considered to pose unacceptable level of risk and therefore must be banned.

    It is currently unclear whether the system used by CNAF qualifies as a social scoring system due to a lack of clarity in the AI Act on what constitutes such a system. 

    Regardless of its classification however, all evidence suggests that the system is discriminatory. It is essential that authorities stop employing it and scrutinise biased practices that are inherently harmful – especially to marginalised communities seeking social benefits.

    Regulation and algorithms of discrimination

    The European Commission will issue guidance on how to interpret the prohibitions in the AI Act prior to their entry into force on 2 February 2025, including what would qualify as social scoring systems.

    In August 2024, the AI Act came into force. Amnesty, as part of a civil society coalition led by the European Digital Rights Network, has been calling for EU artificial intelligence regulation that protects and promotes human rights.

    In March this year, an Amnesty briefing outlined how digital technologies including artificial intelligence, automation, and algorithmic decision-making are exacerbating inequalities in social protection systems across the world.

    In 2021, Amnesty’s report Xenophobic Machines exposed how racial profiling was baked into the design of the algorithmic system by the Dutch tax authorities that flagged claims for childcare benefits as potentially fraudulent. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Poland: Plans to suspend the right to seek asylum ‘flagrantly unlawful’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Reacting to the Polish government’s new migration strategy which cites the threat of Russia and Belarus using migration to ‘destabilize the country’ and proposes temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Europe, Dinushika Dissanayake said:

    “Suspending the right to seek asylum is flagrantly unlawful and Prime Minister Tusk knows this. EU member states like Poland are playing politics with the rights of refugees and migrants. From Poland to Finland, Greece and Germany, so-called emergencies are being weaponized to enact laws that gravely undermine access to asylum and the protection from refoulement.

    “These proposals endanger the rights of people seeking safety. They penalize people who may have been subject to violence and trafficking, or lured to EU borders under false pretenses. They provide for a temporary and territorial suspension of ‘the right to submit asylum applications’, affecting both people crossing ‘irregularly’ along the land border and to those at official border crossing points, referring to Finland’s recently passed law on this issue.

    “These proposals are also blatantly inconsistent with the newly approved EU crisis and force majeure regulation as part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. States have a range of tools available to respond to security concerns, which must in all cases uphold human rights, including the right to asylum, as protected by the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights.

    “Since 2021, the EU has been tolerating practices enacted by Poland, Latvia and Lithuania at their borders with Belarus that go beyond all powers granted to them under EU law, and more recently at Finland’s border with Russia. It is high time for the European Commission to take its role as guardian of the treaties seriously and send a clear message that fundamental rights cannot be bent to political interests.”

    Background

    States refer to “instrumentalization” of migration to designate actions by third states or other actors that facilitate irregular migration movements into another country in an attempt to destabilize it.

    The plans for the suspension of asylum applications form part of Poland’s strategy on migration for 2025-2030, approved by the Government on 15 October 2024.

    These plans are the latest in the Polish government’s efforts to undermine the human rights of refugees and migrants arriving at the Polish-Belarussian border. The proposal also comes as Poland, together with Lithuania and Latvia (in separate but similar cases), faces imminent scrutiny at the European Court of Human Rights for the situation of a group of Afghan people seeking asylum who were stranded at the border with Belarus in 2021, as the Polish authorities allegedly prevented from accessing asylum and summarily returned them.

    For more information, please contact [email protected]

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: MSF urges Polish authorities to retract announced suspension of right to seek asylum

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    • We are deeply concerned by the Polish government’s plan to suspend the right for people to seek asylum in Poland.
    • This is a major escalation in a series of actions to dehumanise migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.
    • MSF urges the Polish government to change their course of action and ensure migrants and refugees are protected in the country.

    Warsaw- Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is deeply concerned by the Polish government’s plan to suspend the right for people to seek asylum in Poland. Such a suspension will have predictable dramatic consequences for people seeking safety in Europe. MSF calls on the Polish authorities to drastically change course of action and take all necessary measures to ensure the protection and rights of refugees and migrants.

    Over the last days, the Polish government announced a strategy to reform the country’s migration policy, including the possibility of a temporary suspension of the right to seek asylum in Poland in order to “regain control” of borders and “ensure security”.https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/10/15/polish-government-approves-tough-new-migration-strategy-including-possibility-to-suspend-asylum/

    While the full details of the government’s plan are yet to be disclosed, MSF warns that such restrictive and punitive measures against people seeking safety, denying them legal pathways to protection, would only lead to more harmful border practices at the Poland-Belarus border and further expose already vulnerable people to life-threatening conditions.

    “The Polish government’s willingness to further restrict and suspend the right to seek asylum is extremely concerning and risks leading to more unchecked pushbacks and violence against people crossing the border,” says Uriel Mazzoli, MSF Head of Mission in Poland.

    “The new Polish government had an opportunity to reform the country’s asylum and reception system but has instead only deepened existing and dangerous political rhetoric, rooted in a ‘crisis’ narrative, further normalizing a militarized response, violent practices and denial of humanity to people seeking safety in the European Union,” says Mazzoli.

    Since November 2022, MSF teams have treated over 400 people, many of them stranded for weeks in uninhabitable forests and exposed to violent practices at the border. Given the extreme conditions of deprivation people experience in the border area, MSF patients suffer from a wide range of severe medical conditions ranging from exhaustion, hypothermia, dehydration, trench foot to mental health issues.

    In 2024, our teams have also witnessed a sharp increase in people carrying the scars of physical assaults, including bruises and dog bites. In July 2024, MSF teams treated for the first time injuries related to the use of rubber bullets being fired. Additionally, half of people MSF has seen in 2024 have reported having been pushed back, some of them several times.

    This latest announcement represents a further escalation of an already extremely hostile environment for people on the move and those providing humanitarian assistance to them. In June 2024, the Polish authorities imposed a ban on access to the border zone, which has prevented civil society and humanitarian organizations from accessing people in need in these areas. 

    Layers of barbed wire on the Poland-Belarus border at the river in Kozłowe Borki. Poland, January 2024.
    Jakub Jasiukiewicz/MSF

    Despite official requests for unrestricted and independent access to the entire border region, MSF has been granted access to only a limited part of the buffer zone. This buffer is an exclusion zone along 60 kilometers of the country’s border with Belarus and includes key locations where most people on the move have been crossing the border since 2021.

    Not only does this ban prevent the delivery of essential assistance, but it also enables much of the violence reported by people we treat to take place out of sight.

    “The restrictions on humanitarian and medical aid at the Poland-Belarus border are already alarming, with entire zones where humanitarian workers are prevented access and a legislation that could favor the use of violence by state authorities,” says Mazzoli. “Delaying assistance and medical care to people at the border can have life-threatening consequences as many of the patients we see experience health issues that can rapidly deteriorate.”

    The suspension of territorial asylum will have far-reaching consequences on the capacity of people seeking safety in Poland to access medical care and protection. Worryingly so, such extraordinary measures are becoming the despicable new normal in the European Union (EU), where governments and institutions have increasingly seized upon the notion of ‘crisis’ as a reason to derogate from minimum standards and people’s rights.

    Over recent years, MSF teams have witnessed many examples of the detrimental consequences of policies that put border controls above human life across our projects in Greece, Libya, the Central Mediterranean Sea and Belgium. For too long now, EU member states have been waging a war on some of the world’s most vulnerable people under the guise of ‘instrumentalisation’ by third countries.
     
    MSF calls on the Polish authorities to retract the announced suspension of the right to seek asylum and to end this gross dehumanisation of refugees and migrants and the increasing militarisation of responses towards them.

    MSF activities in Poland:
    After a short intervention along the Poland–Belarus border region in 2021, MSF teams returned in the Podlasie region, near the border with Belarus, in November 2022. Since then, our medical team provides basic medical care through mobile teams in remote locations and organise emergency referrals and follow-up, in close cooperation with other organisations and civil society groups. Furthermore, since 2022, MSF supports the Polish Ministry of Health to offer medical and psychosocial care to patients with tuberculosis.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: COP16: States must reinforce human rights protections in Global Biodiversity Framework

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Ahead of the COP16 Biodiversity summit, which runs from 21 October to 1 November in Cali, Colombia, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said: 

    “At the last meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal in 2022, states agreed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a set of ambitious targets to strengthen the protection and promotion of biodiversity globally by 2030. That was an important first step towards tackling the biodiversity crisis that has brought about the total or near extinction of countless species and threatens the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

    “The Global Biodiversity Framework includes many human rights safeguards, but it will only prove effective if states agree on a robust mechanism to monitor and enforce it. Delegates at COP16 must finalize a monitoring framework that comprehensively tracks all of those human rights safeguards and the appropriate channelling of funds, holds states accountable for failing to respect them, and is informed by submissions from Indigenous Peoples, peasant and Afro-descendant organizations, and civil society.

    “The Global Biodiversity Framework, including its monitoring mechanism, is particularly crucial for Indigenous Peoples and land-dependent communities who are bearing the brunt of the loss of biodiversity but are also victimized by the responses to this loss. In particular, and as documented by Amnesty International, they are at risk of being thrown off their land in the name of creating protected conservation areas – a shameful practice known as fortress conservation.

    The Global Biodiversity Framework includes many human rights safeguards, but it will only prove effective if states agree on a robust mechanism to monitor and enforce it.

    Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard

    “It is therefore crucial that the monitoring framework to be agreed in Cali contain indicators to measure the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and their traditional and scientific knowledge and practices, as well as the rights of Afro-descendants, peasants and other local land-dependent communities. The monitoring mechanism must track the channelling of biodiversity financing directly to those actors, and formally recognize their conservation work on their lands, which is often more effective than state-sanctioned protected areas.

    “Similarly, environmental defenders and land protectors often risk their lives to protect our planet and its biodiversity. Delegates must keep this harsh reality at the front of their minds as they meet in Colombia, long the world’s deadliest country for environmental activists. The monitoring framework must thus include metrics to capture initiatives and legal protections for land defenders, and their impact and outcome, including on impunity.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for, Oxfam finds

    Source: Oxfam –

    Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance —nearly 40 percent of all climate funds disbursed by the Bank over the past seven years— is unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping practices, reveals a new Oxfam report published today ahead of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings in Washington D.C.

    An Oxfam audit of the World Bank’s 2017-2023 climate finance portfolio found that between $21 billion and $41 billion in climate finance went unaccounted for between the time projects were approved and when they closed.

    There is no clear public record showing where this money went or how it was used, which makes any assessment of its impacts impossible. It also remains unclear whether these funds were even spent on climate-related initiatives intended to help low- and middle-income countries protect people from the impacts of the climate crisis and invest in clean energy.

    “The Bank is quick to brag about its climate finance billions —but these numbers are based on what it plans to spend, not on what it actually spends once a project gets rolling,” said Kate Donald, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington D.C. Office. “This is like asking your doctor to assess your diet only by looking at your grocery list, without ever checking what actually ends up in your fridge.”

    The Bank is the largest multilateral provider of climate finance, accounting for 52 percent of the total flow from all multilateral development banks combined.

    The issue of climate finance will take center stage at this year’s COP in Azerbaijan, where countries are set to negotiate a new global climate finance goal, the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). Climate activists are demanding the Global North provide at least $5 trillion a year in public finance to the Global South to pay for climate adaptation, the loss and damage caused by the impacts of climate breakdown, and a just transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Oxfam warns that the lack of traceable spending could undermine trust in global climate finance efforts at this critical juncture.

    “Climate finance is scarce, and yes, we know it’s hard to deliver. But not tracking how or where the money actually gets spent? That’s not just some bureaucratic oversight —it’s a fundamental breach of trust that risks derailing the progress we need to make at COP this year. The Bank needs to act like our future depends on tackling the climate crisis, because it does,” said Donald.

    Oxfam’s investigation revealed that obtaining even basic information on how the World Bank is using climate finance was painstaking and difficult.

    “We had to sift through layers of complex and incomplete reports, and even then, the data was full of gaps and inconsistencies. The fact that this information is so hard to access and understand is alarming —it shouldn’t take a team of professional researchers to figure out how billions of dollars meant for climate action are being spent. This should be transparent and accessible to everyone, most importantly communities who are meant to benefit from climate finance,” said Donald.
     

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: IKEA Foundation supports MSF in Sudan crisis scale-up

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    The war in Sudan, now 550 days in, has triggered one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in decades. According to the UN, one in five people has been displaced, and half of the country’s people face acute food insecurity. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), with over 1,000 staff running 15 hospitals, 9 health centres, and mobile clinics in Sudan, is scaling up the response thanks to €35 million from the IKEA Foundation. Despite these efforts, the needs of people remain overwhelming and a collective increase in aid is urgently required.

    “This life-changing gift will allow us to respond to the medical needs, providing access to free health care services, and giving displaced people the opportunity to be treated and live a healthy life,” says Alaa Ahmed, an MSF nurse working in Sudan.

    “The Sudan war is a massive, underreported emergency”, says Stephen Cornish, Director General of MSF’s Operational Centre in Geneva. “We are grateful to the IKEA Foundation and other donors who have stepped up for the people of Sudan. We are determined to deliver more lifesaving treatment for those in need.”

    In response to this escalating crisis, the IKEA Foundation—a long-standing partner of MSF, as part of the Foundation’s focus on underreported emergencies—has committed €35 million to help MSF scale up efforts.

    “This is now one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world,” says Jessica Anderen, CEO of the IKEA Foundation. “We are humbled by the work MSF is doing to support the Sudanese people and encourage other funders to join us in supporting their efforts.”

    “This devastating situation is not getting the attention or funding it deserves. More needs to be done to provide critical support for those impacted,” says Hayley Kornblum, Programme Manager at the IKEA Foundation. “We are so encouraged to see other private sector organisations, like Mastercard Foundation, taking strong action through donations to UNHCR, but much more is required from both government and the private sector.”

    The war in Sudan has displaced over 10 million people within the country and driven nearly three million more to seek refuge in neighbouring countries, such as Chad and South Sudan. Over half of Sudan’s population—around 25.6 million people—are now facing critical levels of food insecurity, according to the UN.

    MSF is scaling up relief and lifesaving activities, focusing on treating severely malnourished children, and addressing the needs of displaced people and refugees. In addition, MSF is providing water and sanitation services, and ensuring the delivery of essential aid in refugee camps, like Adré transit camp in Chad, where MSF teams provide over one million litres of water per day.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: UK: David Lammy must use China visit to challenge Beijing’s brutal suppression of human rights

    Source: Amnesty International –

    © AFP via Getty Images

    ‘The Government should ensure that talks on trade and security relations with China aren’t pursued at the expense of human rights’- Sacha Deshmukh

    Commenting on Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s first visit to China expected to take place tomorrow and Saturday, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

    “This visit is a crucial opportunity for the Foreign Secretary to demonstrate the Government’s true commitment to challenging publicly and privately Beijing’s brutal suppression of human rights in China and Hong Kong.

    “Behind closed doors but also in public, David Lammy needs to tackle the Chinese government over its systematic, industrial-scale repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, its widespread imprisonment of peaceful activists and its completely unacceptable intimidation of students and campaigners here in the UK.  

    “The Prime Minister’s statement that the immediate release of the unjustly-imprisoned UK businessman Jimmy Lai is a UK priority is welcome, and Mr Lammy should also seek to secure the immediate release of fellow prisoners of conscience Hong Kong lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung and Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, as well as the long-held Uighur economist Ilham Tohti and #MeToo activists Sophia Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing.

    “Throughout this trip, the Government should ensure that talks on trade and security relations with China aren’t pursued at the expense of human rights.”

    Long arm of Chinese state repression

    The Chinese authorities routinely target peaceful critics via pervasive online censorship, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture. Human rights defenders, pro-democracy activists and religious leaders and practitioners have been among those subjected to systematic persecution. The widespread repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet has continued despite significant international criticism.

    In Hong Kong, journalists, broadcasters and book publishers have been among those prosecuted and imprisoned under the territory’s notorious National Security Law and other repressive legislation, while civil society organisations both in Hong Kong and abroad have faced criminal charges or harassment for their legitimate activities. The long arm of Chinese state repression has meant that Chinese and Hong Kong communities in the UK, other parts of Europe and North America have all suffered various kinds of threats and intimidation, part of a sinister pattern of “transnational repression”.

    View latest press releases

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Time for $5: Over 200,000 people support MSF’s call for Danaher to make medical tests more affordable News Oct 17, 2024

    Source: Doctors Without Borders –

    To make sure everyone has adequate access to testing and save more lives, Danaher, the company that owns Cepheid and its GeneXpert tests, must drop the price to $5 for all GeneXpert medical tests sold in low- and middle-income countries. The petition has been signed by 206,937 people from 194 countries. 

    Testing is essential as it’s the first step to diagnosing someone who is sick, getting them on the treatment they need, and preventing further spread of infectious diseases—especially in the places MSF works where health care services are often limited for those who fall ill. Danaher’s GeneXpert medical test is critical for diagnosing diseases at the “point of care,” meaning close to where people live and are seeking medical care. Access to “point of care” testing is critical since laboratories are often scarce in lower-resource settings. The GeneXpert tests are used to diagnose people with diseases like drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, and Ebola.

    “Danaher and Cepheid, it’s time for you to listen to the more than 200,000 people around the world demanding immediate access to affordable lifesaving medical tests for people in low- and middle-income countries,” said Mihir Mankad, director of global health advocacy and policy at MSF USA. “Our research shows that Danaher and Cepheid could charge $5 per test and still make a reasonable profit, so it’s inexcusable that they are still charging more than triple that price in even the poorest countries for most of the tests they produce.”

    More timely diagnosis means more lives saved

    MSF published research in 2019 estimating that each GeneXpert test produced by Cepheid could be sold at a profit for $5 at the sales volumes that Cepheid and Danaher reached long ago. In response to pressure mounted by the Time for $5 coalition and TB activists in September 2023, Danaher announced it would lower the price of the primary test used to diagnose TB from $10 to $8, which was an important first step. According to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, this price reduction is expected to result in annual savings of $32 million, enabling the purchase of an additional 3.6 million tests every year. This means that many more people with TB will receive timely diagnosis and treatment, and ultimately more lives will be saved.

    However, Cepheid and Danaher intend to continue to charge between $15 and $20 for the same type of test used to diagnose extensively drug-resistant TB ($15), HIV ($15), hepatitis ($15), STIs ($16-$19) and Ebola ($20). These prices are 200 percent to 400 percent higher than the $5 it’s estimated to cost Cepheid and Danaher to make one test and still be able to sell it at a profit. This is especially egregious considering that Danaher and Cepheid benefitted from $252 million in public funding to help develop the product. MSF purchases more than $2 million worth of GeneXpert tests each year for use in its medical programs in approximately 70 countries.

    People cannot wait any longer

    In September 2023, Danaher committed to an annual third-party assessment of what it costs them to make GeneXpert tests—an important opportunity to demonstrate it was not heavily marking up its prices. However, over one year has passed since that promise, and no information has been made available by the corporation about how the audit will be conducted and who will be allowed to see the results.

    “It’s been over a year since Danaher committed to coming clean about what it costs them to make the GeneXpert tests, but all we have so far is deafening silence from the corporation,” said Stijn Deborggraeve, diagnostics advisor for the MSF Access Campaign. “This silence comes even after we published recommendations for how Danaher can ensure the audit is rigorous and transparent. And now, the people who need these tests around the world cannot wait any longer: Danaher must immediately make public the information about its planned audit and ensure affordable access to lifesaving tests.”

    MSF has sent an open letter asking Danaher and Cepheid to respond to the demands and concerns raised in the petition by October 25. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Up to 21,000 people are dying each day from conflict-fuelled hunger around the world

    Source: Oxfam –

    On World Food Day, hunger has reached an all-time high exposing the flaws in global peacebuilding and conflict recovery efforts 

    Between 7,000 to as many as 21,000 people are likely dying each day from hunger in countries impacted by conflict, according to a new Oxfam report published on World Food Day.

    The report, Food Wars, examined 54 conflict-affected countries and found that they account for almost all of the 281.6 million people facing acute hunger today. Conflict has also been one of the main causes of forced displacement in these countries, which has globally reached a record level today of more than 117 million people.

    It argues that conflict is not only a primary driver of hunger, but that warring parties are also actively weaponizing food itself by deliberately targeting food, water and energy infrastructure and by blocking food aid. 

    “As conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws, causing an alarming rise in human deaths and suffering. That civilians continue to be subjected to such slow death in the 21st century, is a collective failure”.

    Emily Farr, Oxfam’s Food and Economic Security Lead

    Oxfam

    “As conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws, causing an alarming rise in human deaths and suffering. That civilians continue to be subjected to such slow death in the 21st century, is a collective failure”, says Emily Farr, Oxfam’s Food and Economic Security Lead. 

    “Today’s food crises are largely manufactured. Nearly half a million people in Gaza – where 83% of food aid needed is currently not reaching them – and over three quarters of a million in Sudan, are currently starving as the deadly impact of wars on food will likely be felt for generations.”

    The report also found that the majority of the countries studied (34 out of 54) are rich in natural resources, relying heavily on exporting raw products. For example, 95% of Sudan’s export earnings come from gold and livestock, 87% of South Sudan’s come from petroleum products, and nearly 70% of Burundi’s come from coffee.

    In Central America, meanwhile, mining operations have led to violent conflicts, uprooting people from their homes as they no longer become able to live in degraded and polluted environments.

    Oxfam argues that current peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction efforts are too often based on encouraging more foreign investment and export-related economies. However, this focus on economic liberalization can instead create more inequality, suffering and the potential for conflict to resume.

    “It is no coincidence that the lethal combination of war, displacement and hunger has often occurred in countries rich in natural resources. The exploitation of these raw commodities often means more violence, inequality, instability, and renewed conflict. Too often, large-scale private investment—both foreign and domestic —has also added to political and economic instabilities in these countries, where investors seize control over land and water resources forcing people out of their homes,” said Farr.

    Conflict often compounds other factors like climate shocks, economic instability and inequalities to devastate people’s livelihoods. For example, climate shocks like droughts and floods, coupled with the surge in global food prices associated with pandemic shut-downs and additional food-chain disruptions connected to the Russia-Ukraine war, have fueled the hunger crises in East and Southern Africa.

    Many of those fleeing are women and children. Aisha Ibrahim, age 37, told Oxfam that she had to walk four days with her four children, leaving their home in Sudan for Joda, across the border in South Sudan. She left her husband behind to protect their home. “I used to live in a proper home. I could never imagine myself in this situation,” she said.

    The international community’s pledge of “zero hunger” by 2030 remains out of touch. Oxfam says that states and institutions globally, including the UN Security Council, must hold to account those committing “starvation crimes” in accordance with international law.

    “To break the vicious cycle of food insecurity and conflict, global leaders must tackle head-on the conditions that breed conflict: the colonial legacies, injustices, human rights violations, and inequalities – rather than offering quick band-aid solutions.” 

    “We cannot end conflict by simply injecting foreign investments in conflict-torn countries, without uprooting the deep inequalities, generational grievances, and human rights violations that fuel those conflicts. Peace efforts must be coupled with investment in social protection, and social cohesion building. Economic solutions must prioritize fair trade and sustainable food systems,” said Farr.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Urgent joint statement: Northern Gaza is being erased – global leaders must act now to end Israel’s atrocities

    Source: Oxfam –

    Oxfam and 37 other humanitarian organisations are raising the alarm about the catastrophic situation in Northern Gaza

    The Israeli forces’ assault on Gaza has escalated to a horrifying level of atrocity. Northern Gaza is being wiped off the map. Under the guise of “evacuation,” Israeli forces have ordered the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. This is not an evacuation—this is forced displacement under gunfire. Since 1 October, no food has been allowed into the area, and civilians are being starved and bombed in their homes and their tents. 

    Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are being ordered to evacuate. They are running out of fuel and essential supplies, while doctors and nurses battle to save lives with what little they have left. The wounded flood in – children, older people, victims of Israeli airstrikes – but with no resources to treat them. 

    Dr. Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, described the dire situation: “The Israeli military has contacted us more than once to evacuate the hospital… [All] the departments are full of wounded people and we are discharging even the wounded who have minor or moderate injuries, because we do not have [enough] beds for them. I [told the Israeli military] clearly that we would not evacuate the hospital unless there are ambulances that can preserve the lives of the wounded people we have and reach another hospital that provides better service to the wounded.” 

    The world cannot continue to stand by as the Israeli government commits these atrocities. Global leaders have both a legal and moral duty to act now. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention including “killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group”. There is no evidence that Israel has adhered to these orders, and the killing of Palestinians has only intensified. 

    Any attempt to alter the territorial integrity of Gaza constitutes a blatant violation of international law. This is especially egregious in light of the recent ICJ advisory opinion, which significantly heightens the obligation of third states to take decisive action. Failure to do so risks their complicity in perpetuating the illegal occupation. 

    All parties must allow unimpeded access for humanitarian organisations to deliver aid based on need, without restricting types, volumes, or locations. Aid delivery must remain impartial and independent of military objectives to prevent its instrumentalisation or politicisation. Civilians must not be forced to flee to receive aid; those choosing to stay in their homes must be protected under international law. 

    We demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation. Global leaders must act in line with the UN General Assembly Resolution on the ICJ Advisory Opinion and fulfil their obligation not to facilitate or support Israel’s illegal occupation. Third states must halt now the transfer of all weapons, parts and ammunition that could be used to commit further violations of international humanitarian law.

    This is not a time for silence – this is a time for action. The people of Gaza cannot wait. The world must intervene now before more innocent lives are lost. 

    The forcible transfer of Palestinian civilians in Gaza is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and does not amount to a permissible evacuation. Relocation areas have not provided safety, adequate shelter or essential services, and there has also been no guarantee that displaced populations will be able to return once hostilities end. 

    Signatories:

    1. ActionAid 
    2. Action For Humanity 
    3. Afri (Action from Ireland) 
    4. Amos Trust 
    5. Bloody Sunday Trust 
    6. Centre for Global Education 
    7. CESVI 
    8. Children Not Numbers 
    9. Christian Aid 
    10. Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) 
    11. Comhlamh Justice for Palestine 
    12. Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) 
    13. Embrace the Middle East 
    14. Feminist Humanitarian Network (FHN) 
    15. Gender Action for Peace and Security (GAPS) 
    16. Global Justice Now 
    17. HelpAge International 
    18. Interpal 
    19. Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign 
    20. Islamic Relief 
    21. KinderUSA 
    22. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) 
    23. Médecins du Monde Spain 
    24. Middle East Children’s Alliance 
    25. Muslim Aid 
    26. Novact Institute for Nonviolence 
    27. Oxfam 
    28. Plan International Jordan 
    29. Sabeel-Kairos UK 
    30. Sadaka-The Ireland Palestine Alliance 
    31. TDH Italy 
    32. Trócaire 
    33. Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union/ Aontas Mac Léinn Choláiste na Tríonóide (TCDSU/AMLCT) 
    34. Vento di Terra 
    35. War Child 
    36. War on Want 
    37. WeWorld 
    38. Welfare Association 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Geneva: UN Human Rights Committee to review Pakistan’s human rights records amid ‘rampant rights abuses’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Pakistan’s second review under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the country is a state party, is scheduled for this week on 17 and 18 October at the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva.

    “Pakistan’s review comes at a crucial time for the country, as human rights violations and abuses remain rampant,” said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia.

    “Two blasphemy-related extrajudicial executions by the police, crackdown on protests, enactment of the restrictive Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024, arbitrary detention and mass arrests of opposition workers and leaders, ban on the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, and harassment of human rights defenders like Mahrang Baloch – have all been reported in the duration of past month alone.

    “The review presents an opportunity for the Pakistani government to take stock of the state of human rights in the country and implement concrete measures to address the human rights concerns raised during the review.”

    The review presents an opportunity for the Pakistani government to take stock of the state of human rights in the country and implement concrete measures.

    Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Gaza: Israel must rescind unlawful evacuation orders in the north

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Israel issued so-called ‘evacuation’ orders to cities and camps across North Gaza governorate on 7, 10 and 12 October

    400,000 civilians currently enduring a siege with little food, fuel or clean water 

    ‘What remains beyond any comprehension is how the international community has let this horror continue to happen again and again’ – Heba Morayef

    The Israeli authorities must rescind cruel and unlawful “evacuation” orders – Israel’s euphemism for forced displacement – issued during the past week to residents of the North Gaza governorate, and allow the immediate, unhindered entry of essential supplies – including food and fuel – to the area, said Amnesty International today, as fears grow for the fate of thousands of civilians trapped under siege.

    In recent days, the civilian death toll across Gaza has continued to mount and horrifying scenes have emerged following deadly Israeli airstrikes, particularly in the North Gaza governorate. Civilians have endured relentless Israeli bombardment and shelling, without access to basic supplies, including food and clean water. 

    The latest Israeli “evacuation” orders issued to cities and camps across the North Gaza governorate on 7, 10 and 12 October – and the tightened siege on the area – are a terrifying escalation of the long list of horrors inflicted in the past year on people in the area north of Wadi Gaza.

    A year ago, on 12 October 2023, an estimated 1.1 million Palestinians north of Wadi Gaza were subjected to an unlawful mass “evacuation” order which forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee south seeking safety. For many months, the hundreds of thousands of people who remained were largely cut off from the rest of Gaza by a fortified Israeli military zone. In December 2023, the world’s leading experts on famine reported that hunger was particularly widespread and severe there, yet the Israeli authorities repeatedly obstructed and denied humanitarian access to the area. In recent days the situation has grown even more desperate following Israeli tightened siege. All three partially-functioning hospitals in the north – Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, and the Indonesian hospital – face “evacuation” orders. 

    Global leaders must demand an immediate ceasefire to alleviate unprecedented suffering in Gaza during the past year. Israel has been emboldened, with the help of arms transfers from countries like the US and the UK, to continue its destructive course in Gaza with total impunity.

    Some 400,000 civilians continue to live north of Wadi Gaza, which consists of the North Gaza and Gaza governorates, which is around one-third of the area’s population before October 2023. In addition to devastating bombardment and destruction, those who have stayed have had to endure an Israeli-engineered food emergency which reached horrifying levels in February and March, with people resorting to eating animal food. While access to the area north of Wadi Gaza improved slightly in mid-2024 after an international outcry, Israel has, once again, cut civilians off from life-saving aid.

    Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director, said: 

    “These orders must be rescinded and there must be an immediate ceasefire by all parties to halt the avalanche of suffering that has been engulfing civilians in Gaza for over a year.

    “After a year of death and destruction, it is agonising to hear from doctors in North Gaza that they have to perform multiple amputations every day, or from families trapped under siege that dozens of unrecognisable bodies are scattered on the streets or that people are unable to bury their loved ones amidst ceaseless bombardment.  

    “The scenes coming out of Jabalia refugee camp have been especially harrowing, for over a week, residents of the camp have been scared to leave their homes, even to look for a bag of flour for fear of being shot by the omnipresent quadcopter drones. 

    “What remains beyond any comprehension is how the international community has let this horror continue to happen again and again.

    “As well as an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s cruel and inhuman blockade on Gaza and its siege in the north, Israel must grant independent monitors immediate access to Gaza to investigate all attacks.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: A year after Tusk came to power, why is access to safe and legal abortion still a distant dream in Poland?

    Source: Amnesty International –

    A year ago, Anna Błuś travelled home to her native Poland to vote in an election whose result she hoped would usher in a change to the country’s near total ban on abortion. What went wrong?

    Exactly a year ago on the eve of Poland’s elections, I joined a huge queue snaking around a polling station in Warsaw on a cold autumn day.  Despite the chill and the hours spent waiting to vote, the atmosphere was festive. There was a mood of anticipation in the air: a palpable sense that change was coming after eight years of regressive rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.

    As I watched the exit polls in a packed bar later that night, it became clear that this had been an election like no other with a record turnout (74%) and unprecedented numbers of women and young people coming out to vote.  

    Among the things that had galvanized so many people had been the assurances by Donald Tusk and his Civic Coalition, that they would liberalize Poland’s draconian abortion law which only allows terminations in cases of rape, incest or risk to the pregnant person’s health or life. While abortion has already been severely restricted in Poland since 1993, the Constitutional Tribunal’s 2020 ruling, which went into effect the next year, removed one of the legal grounds for abortion – in cases of fetal impairment – and leaving a near-total ban.

    If elected, Doland Tusk promised he would make access to free, safe and legal abortion for all a reality within 100 days of coming into power.

    And yet those 100 days have come and gone and a year after Tusk swept to power, the possibility of Poland providing access to safe and legal abortion for all who need it, seems as distant as ever.

    In July 2024, the Parliament failed to vote through a bill tabled in an effort to undo the harm caused by the tightening of the abortion law during PiS’s rule and the 2020 judgment of the PiS-controlled Constitutional Tribunal.

    The bill, which also proposed to end the criminalization of “aiding with an abortion”, was defeated by members of the ruling coalition, the Polish People’s Party (PSL) who voted it down alongside members of PiS and other conservatives.

    Both PSL and centrist Poland 2050 politicians have spoken in favour of reinstating a “compromise” abortion law dating back to 1993,which allowed for terminations in cases of severe or fatal fetal impairment in addition to the current legal grounds. Alternatively, they have suggested putting the matter to vote in a referendum. Both these propositions are contrary to international human rights law and standards, which require states to decriminalize abortion and guarantee access to safe abortion to all who need it without discrimination and with respect to personal autonomy and human rights.

    In August, Donald Tusk said, matter-of-factly, that it will not be possible to get a parliamentary majority to support the liberalization of the abortion law until the next election. The implication of this statement is that no further efforts will be made to push through reform for at least another three years.

    But for Polish women, girls and any person who can become pregnant, waiting three years is not an option.

    Since the restrictions came into force in January 2021, they have been keenly felt and have had sometimes tragic consequences for women and their families.  A  “chilling effect” has meant that doctors are more likely not to take lifesaving steps for pregnant patients and since the ruling restricting the law came into force, several women lost their lives.

    New guidelines on abortion that the government issued in August were presented as a measure that would help mitigate the “chilling effect” on healthcare staff. Yet, while they clarify that mental health grounds should be respected in the same way as other health grounds for abortion, they simply reiterate the very limited circumstances in which legal abortions can be performed.

    Polish women are well used to broken promises and to our votes being instrumentalized. We were under no illusion that the much-needed change would come thanks to the political goodwill of any man happening to lead our next government. Because we have been at the forefront of this change.

    Polish women have been marching and facing arrest. They have been pursuing legal challenges in the courts and lobbying the politicians in parliament. They have been doing grassroots reproductive rights work in Poland and abroad and some – like Justyna Wydrzyńska – have provided abortion pills to those in need and been prosecuted as a result.

    And despite the risk of criminalization, we are continuing to take our reproductive health and autonomy into our own hands. The women-led grassroots organization Abortion Dream Team is crowdfunding to open the first abortion clinic in the country. And in September, the longstanding Federation for Women and Family Planning (FEDERA) opened its first sexual and reproductive health clinic in Warsaw.  

    Women cannot keep dying from gender-based violence committed by our own state. The government’s lack of action on abortion is unacceptable and untenable. Prime Minister Tusk and the other leaders of the coalition parties (men, naturally) need to wake up and recognize our human right to abortion, accessed freely, safely and legally, in Polish law. 

    The man we elected as Prime Minister must uphold his promise to the women of Poland and work with rights holders, civil society and experts to bring his coalition partners to a place where legal abortion in Poland becomes a reality. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: TACTiC: Test avoid cure TB in children

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    This new report details how children with tuberculosis continue to be left behind in the global effort to end the disease. The report, TACTIC: Test, Avoid, Cure Tuberculosis in Children, surveyed tuberculosis policy guidelines in 14 countries* with a high burden of tuberculosis, revealing that many countries lag behind in aligning their national tuberculosis policies with the latest guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO). 

    We urge all countries to update their national guidelines to be in line with the WHO recommendations for the care of children with tuberculosis, and to allocate the needed resources—along with developing clear plans with timelines to implement the policies and increase access to tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the children with tuberculosis in the country. International donors and technical support agencies must provide sufficient funding to countries to support paediatric tuberculosis policy reforms and implementation.

    TACTiC: Test, avoid, cure TB in children pdf — 4.65 MB Download

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/ OPT: Israel must rescind latest ‘evacuation’ orders for North Gaza and allow immediate, unhindered humanitarian access

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Israeli authorities must rescind the cruel and unlawful “evacuation” orders – Israel’s euphemism for forced displacement –   issued over the past week to residents of the North Gaza governorate and immediately allow the unhindered entry of essential supplies, including food and fuel to the area, said Amnesty International, as fears grow for the fate of civilians trapped under siege.

    In recent days, the civilian death toll across the occupied Gaza Strip has continued to mount and horrifying scenes have emerged following deadly Israeli air strikes, particularly in the North Gaza governorate. Civilians have had to endure relentless Israeli bombardment and shelling, without access to basic supplies critical for the survival of the civilian population, including food and clean water. 

    It has been nine months since the ICJ warned the risk of genocide in Gaza is real yet Israeli authorities continue to violate the provisional measures ordered by the court.

    Heba Morayef, Amnesty International

    The latest “evacuation” orders issued by the Israeli military to cities and camps across the North Gaza governorate on 7, 10 and 12 October and the tightened siege on the area are a terrifying escalation of the long list of horrors inflicted on people living in the area north of Wadi Gaza since October 2023. 

     “The Israeli military has intensified its efforts to forcibly displace the entirety of the civilian population in the area north of Wadi Gaza to the south, starting with the North Gaza governorate, forcing civilians to choose between starvation or displacement, while their homes and streets are relentlessly pounded by bombs and shells,” said Heba Morayef, Middle East and North Africa’s Regional Director at Amnesty International. 

    “The world must stop standing by while Israel uses siege, starvation and atrocity crimes to forcibly displace and destroy civilians and civilian life.  These orders must be rescinded and there must be an immediate ceasefire by all parties to halt the avalanche of suffering that has been engulfing civilians in Gaza for over a year.”

    A year ago, on 12 October 2023, an estimated 1.1 million Palestinians living in the area north of Wadi Gaza were subjected to an unlawful mass “evacuation” order, which forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee south, seeking safety. For many months, the hundreds of thousands of people who remained north of Wadi Gaza were largely cut off from the rest of the Strip by a fortified Israeli military zone. In December 2023, the world’s leading experts on famine reported that hunger was particularly widespread and severe there, yet Israeli authorities repeatedly obstructed and denied humanitarian access to the area. In recent days the situation has grown even more desperate following the Israeli military’s tightened siege on the area. All three partially functioning hospitals in the north – Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, and the Indonesian hospital – face “evacuation” orders. 

    “After a year of death and destruction, it is agonizing to hear from doctors in North Gaza that they have to perform multiple amputations every day, or from families trapped under siege that dozens of unrecognisable bodies are scattered on the streets or that people are unable to bury their loved ones amidst ceaseless bombardment. The scenes coming out of Jabalia refugee camp have been especially harrowing, for over a week, residents of the camp have been scared to leave their homes, even to look for a bag of flour for fear of being shot by the omnipresent quadcopter drones. What remains beyond any comprehension is how the international community has let this horror continue to happen again and again,” said Heba Morayef.

    “It has been nine months since the ICJ warned the risk of genocide in Gaza is real yet Israeli authorities continue to violate the provisional measures ordered by the court.”

    Global leaders must demand an immediate ceasefire to alleviate the unprecedented suffering that we have been witnessing over the past year. Israel has been emboldened, with the help of arms transfers from states like the US, to continue its destructive course in Gaza with total impunity.

    “As well as an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s cruel and inhuman blockade on Gaza and its siege in the north, Israel must grant independent monitors immediate access to Gaza to investigate all attacks. There must be accountability for the devastation that has been waged against the people of Gaza over the past year,” said Heba Morayef. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: TB ALGO PED paediatric TB study

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Full report on the Cross-cutting lessons from the implementation of new treatment decision algorithms for pulmonary tuberculosis in children: results from the TB-ALGO-PED study.

    This report, from MSF’s TACTiC project and the Access Campaign, summarises key findings from the implementation of paediatric tuberculosis treatment decision algorithms across five study sites and highlights potential lessons for future implementation efforts.

    Cross-cutting lessons from the implementation of new treatment decision algorithms for pulmonary tuberculosis in children: results from the TB-ALGO-PED study pdf — 860.7 KB Download

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Remembering our colleagues killed in Gaza

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    We mourn the tragic loss of our colleagues who have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. We are outraged that many of these people were killed while providing care for patients or sheltering with their families. We remain deeply concerned for the safety of all our staff members and patients living under fire and siege.

    Nowhere in Gaza is safe. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked health workers and medical facilities, making it nearly impossible for us to continue to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance. MSF is calling for an end to attacks on health workers and health facilities. We are also demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    Mohammed Al Ahel

    MSF lab technician killed on 6 November 2023.

    Mohammed Al Ahel was at his home in Al Shati refugee camp on 6 November  when the area was bombed and his building collapsed, reportedly killing dozens of people, including Mohammed and several members of his family. He was a laboratory technician and had been working with MSF for two years.

    Alaa Al Shawa

    MSF volunteer nurse supporting MSF teams at Al-Shifa hospital; killed 18 November 2023.

    Alaa was killed during an attack on an MSF convoy on 18 November while it was en route to southern Gaza to reach a safer place. “We arrived at the clinic and started to try to give Alaa life support, trying to stop the bleeding from his head,” said an anonymous MSF staff member present during the convoy attack. “We couldn’t do anything. He died while we were trying to save his life.”

    MSF had informed both parties to the conflict of the evacuation. The convoy followed the itinerary indicated by the Israeli army and reached Salah Al-Deen Street along with other civilians trying to leave the area. The convoy reached the last checkpoint near Wadi Gaza, which was overcrowded at that time due to extensive screenings of Palestinians by Israeli forces. Despite prior authorization from Israeli authorities, the MSF convoy wasn’t allowed to cross the checkpoint and was left waiting for hours. Shots were later heard by our staff, who out of fear decided to head back to the MSF premises, around four and a half miles north of the checkpoint.  

    On their way back, between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time, the convoy was attacked on Al-Wahida Street near its junction with Said Al-A’as Street, close to MSF’s office. Two of the MSF cars were deliberately hit, killing Alaa and injuring a family member of another staff member, who later also died from his wound.

    “We stood up, just shocked by his death and all that had happened to us,” said another MSF staff member present that day. “I was speechless and just not able to think. My kids were crying and people were discussing how to bury our colleague.”

    Dr Ahmad Al Sahar.
    MSF

    Dr Ahmad Al Sahar

    MSF doctor killed on 21 November 2023.

    Dr Ahmad Al Sahar was killed in the 21 November strike on Al-Awda hospital that also killed MSF’s Dr Abu Nujaila and another doctor, Dr Ziad Al-Tatari. Dr Al Sahar and Dr Abu Nujaila were working when the hospital’s third and fourth floors were hit. MSF has regularly shared information about Al-Awda, including making it clear to warring parties that it is a functioning hospital with medical staff.

    Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila.
    MSF

    Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila

    MSF doctor killed on 21 November 2023.
     

    Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila was killed in a strike on Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza on November 21, along with MSF’s Dr Ahmad Al Sahar and another doctor, Dr Ziad Al-Tarari. Before his death, Dr. Abu Nujaila wrote a message on a whiteboard in the hospital normally used for planning surgeries: “Whoever stays until the end will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.”

    Reem Abu Lebdeh.
    Tetiana Gaviuk/MSF

    Reem Abu Lebdeh

    MSF physiotherapist and MSF UK board member killed in December 2023.

    Though the exact circumstances and date of Reem Abu Lebdeh’s death remain unclear, we believe she was killed along with members of her family at their home in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Some members of her family remain unaccounted for.

    When the Israeli military campaign moved more extensively into Khan Younis over two months ago, we knew Reem was sheltering with her parents and siblings. Regrettably, contact with Reem was lost shortly thereafter and all attempts to regain it failed due to telecommunications networks being cut off.

    However, news of Reem’s death and that of her family members gradually emerged in the following weeks. To this day, the zone around their house, which was heavily bombarded by Israeli forces, remains too dangerous to approach.

    Reem worked as a physiotherapist for MSF in Gaza from 2018 until 2022, and last year was appointed as an associate trustee of the MSF UK Board.

    Fadi Al-Wadiya.
    MSF

    Fadi Al Wadiya

    MSF physiotherapist, killed 25 June 2024.

    Fadi Al-Wadiya was killed on June 25 along with five other people, including three children, near an MSF clinic in Gaza City. He was cycling to work at the time, on his way to provide medical care to others who had been injured. Fadi was a 33-year-old physiotherapist and father of three who joined MSF in 2018.

    On 26 June, Israeli authorities shared several posts on social media accusing Fadi of involvement in military activities in Gaza. MSF is deeply concerned by these allegations and is taking them very seriously.

    MSF has reached out to Israeli authorities asking for clarifications about the circumstances of Fadi’s killing. Only an independent investigation can establish the facts.

    Our colleague Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh.

    Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh

    MSF driver, killed 10 October 2024

    Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh died on 10 October after sustaining shrapnel injuries to his legs and chest on 8 October in Jabalia, north Gaza. Since 7 October, Jabalia was under relentless attacks by Israeli forces, and people were trapped, unable to flee. After being injured, Nasser first received emergency care at Al Awda hospital, Jabalia in north Gaza, and was later transferred to Kamal Adwan hospital. He is survived by his wife and two children.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: MSF mourns and condemns the tragic killing of our colleague in northern Gaza

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are mourning the loss of 31-year-old Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, our colleague. Nasser was killed by shrapnel injuries he suffered to his legs and chest on 8 October in Jabalia, north Gaza. Since 7 October, Jabalia has been under relentless attacks by Israeli forces, and people have remained trapped since then without being able to flee.

    Nasser died from his injuries on 10 October in Kamal Adwan hospital. He is survived by his wife and two children.

    Nasser joined MSF as a driver in March 2023 and has not been working since the war started as MSF activities in north Gaza were severely affected. MSF has been trying to expand activities in the north of Gaza, but it has been impossible so far.

    After being injured, Nasser first received emergency care at Al Awda hospital, Jabalia in north Gaza, and was later transferred to Kamal Adwan hospital. He was unable to receive the necessary level of care due to the hospital´s lack of capacity and an overwhelming number of patients in the facility.

    Our colleague Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh.

    All over Gaza, family members and loved ones continue to be killed and injured by relentless fighting and bombings. Nasser is the seventh MSF colleague killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war. This bloodshed needs to end.

    For over a year, Israeli forces have systematically dismantled the health system in Gaza, impeding access to life-saving care for people. At the same time, medical evacuations have become extremely challenging, particularly in the north which has been largely cut off from the rest of Gaza, further making it difficult for people to access care.

    We are horrified by the killing of our colleague which we strongly condemn and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians. In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family and all colleagues mourning his death.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: UK: new touring Palestine photography exhibition to launch in Birmingham

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Amnesty International UK is supporting a new touring exhibition from photographers and activists which aims to increase awareness about Israeli apartheid and raise funds for grassroots human rights organisations working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Lebanon.

    The touring version of the “Memories Carried” exhibition, an Art Forward project backed by Amnesty UK, will launch at Birmingham’s Museum of Islamic Arts and Heritage on Saturday 26 October (6-9pm).

    The exhibition series – which will later visit Newcastle, Paris and Berlin – brings together more than 20 photographers and activists, including artists from Palestine, the wider Middle East, the UK, the Americas and elsewhere.

    The exhibition artists are: Cherry Adam, Koutaiba Al Janabi, Ahmad Badarne, Mohamed Badarne, Dan Burwood, JC Candanedo, Julio Etchart, Eylem Fidan, Zeina Idris, Dalia Jacobs, Liron Leibu, Yamam Nabeel, Julia Neal, Ishtar Obaid, Matt Payne, Celia Peterson and Hareth Yousef, with further artists to be added.

    The project includes a “Wall of Hope” initiative which invites members of the public to take portraits of family and friends with a personal message of hope, which can be submitted online with a donation and an invitation to others to do the same. In addition to raising funds, the aim is to create a digital wall of portraits to offer hope and solidarity with the people of Gaza. This will be exhibited online and internationally at events, including projections on public landmarks.

    Funds raised from the Memories Carried series will be donated to Al-Haq, Al-Mezan, The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund and Health Workers 4 Palestine.

    Attendance is free but booking is required via this site.

    Event details

    What: Exhibition of Palestine photographs

    Where: Museum of Islamic Arts and Heritage, 496 Mosely Road, Birmingham B12 9AH

    When: Saturday 26 October 2024, 18:00-21:00

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Gaza: Medical care under fire UPCOMING EVENT Oct 15, 2024

    Source: Doctors Without Borders –

    Palestinian Territories 2023 © Pierre Fromentin/MSF

    UPCOMING EVENT

    Palestinian Territories 2023 © Pierre Fromentin/MSF

    October 15, 2024

    1:00PM-1:45PM ET

    Event type: Live online

    October 15, 2024 | 1:00PM-1:45PM ET

    Gaza: Medical care under fire

    We invite you to join us for a live online event on Tuesday, October 15, from 1:00-1:45 pm ET, with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) aid workers reflecting on the catastrophic health impacts of the war in Gaza.

    MSF teams were already active providing medical care in Gaza when conflict escalated following the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7. In response, the Israeli government launched a ferocious military offensive on Gaza. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, tens of thousands more have been injured, and some 1.9 million people have been displaced–often multiple times. Much of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble.

    MSF staff are providing urgent medical care even while facing the personal impacts of the war themselves–the deaths of loved ones, destruction of their homes, and constant dangers everywhere. Hospitals and health facilities have repeatedly come under fire or been forced to evacuate. The medical needs are exploding, including the spread of infectious diseases and the risk of starvation.

    Join us for a conversation with Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, emergency physician and former medical team leader in Gaza, and Dr. Amber Alayyan, pediatrician and medical program manager for MSF in Palestine, Afghanistan and Haiti. Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, will share testimony directly from Khan Younis, and Avril Benoît, MSF USA chief executive officer, will moderate the live discussion. Together they will bear witness to this unfolding emergency and reflect on the medical challenges ahead.

    Meet the speakers

    Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim

    Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim is an emergency physician and was president of MSF UK from 2017-2021. Born and raised in the UK to Sudanese Iranian parents, Javid volunteered with MSF as a medical student, and later joined MSF as an aid worker for his first assignment to Iraq. Since then, he has worked for MSF in conflict zones, crises and disease outbreaks around the world. He has completed assignments in Ukraine, Haiti, Lebanon/Syria, South Sudan, Sierra Leone (for Ebola), and on the Mediterranean Sea on one of MSF’s search and rescue vessels. Most recently, he worked as an emergency medical team leader in Gaza. 

    Dr. Amber Alayyan

    Dr. Amber Alayyan is a pediatrician and international public health consultant with over 20 years of experience in health care in conflict and post-conflict zones particularly in the Middle East, as well as malnutrition and environmental health in conflict settings. She currently works as MSF’s medical program manager for Afghanistan, Palestine, and Haiti and previously managed medical programs for Peru, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq. In her current role, she manages the medical operational strategy and activities in the West Bank and Gaza. These activities include burn and trauma surgery and multi-disciplinary pre/post-operative care, pediatric inpatient care, antibiotic resistance management, primary health care, mental health, and sexual and gender-based violence. Her work with MSF over the past 13 years includes assignments in the Central African Republic, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan/Syria, Turkey/Syria, Lebanon, Croatia and Greece.

    Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaisib

    Dr. Mohammed (Abu Abed) Abu Mughaisib is the deputy medical coordinator for MSF’s operations in Palestine. He holds degrees in both medicine and mental health and has worked with MSF for nearly 23 years. Last fall, he was forced to flee his home in Gaza City, and was displaced multiple times thereafter. While his wife and children managed to cross the border into Egypt, Abu Abed continues to provide lifesaving care as a critical member of our project team in Palestine. 

    Avril Benoît

    Avril Benoît is the chief executive officer of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in the United States (MSF USA). She has worked with the international medical humanitarian organization since 2006 in various operational management and executive leadership roles, most recently as the director of communications and development at MSF’s operational center in Geneva, a position she held from November 2015 until June 2019. Throughout her career with MSF, Avril has contributed to major movement-wide initiatives, including the global mobilization to end attacks on hospitals and health workers. She has worked as a country director and project coordinator for MSF, leading operations to provide aid to refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in Mauritania, South Sudan, and South Africa. Avril’s strategic analysis and communications assignments have taken her to countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. From 2006 to 2012, Avril served as director of communications with MSF Canada. Prior to joining MSF, Avril had a distinguished 20-year career as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in Canada. She was a documentary producer and radio host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), reporting from Kenya, Burundi, India, and Brazil on HIV stigma, rapid urbanization, sexual violence in conflict, and political inclusion of women, among numerous other assignments and topics. Recent articles: Surge of humanity needed for migrants and refugees  

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    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Your words can change people’s lives. This is how.

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Every year, people from around the world take part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign.

    It’s a really easy way to make a big difference by doing something “little”. It doesn’t take much time – all you need to do is write a letter, send a post or sign a petition. Honestly, it’s that easy to change the world!

    Since Write for Rights started in 2001, millions of people have changed the lives of those whose human rights have been taken away. In fact, over the past 20 years more than 56 million actions have been taken, while over 100 people featured in our campaign have seen a positive outcome in their case.

    It’s a privilege to see how your actions make a difference.

    Meet three incredible people whose lives have been changed for the better and find out what people power means to them.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Human Rights Education toolkits for Write for Rights 2024

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Amnesty International’s “Write for Rights” campaign takes place annually around 10 December, which is Human Rights Day (marking the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948). Write for Rights aims to bring about change to the lives of people or communities that have suffered or are at risk of human rights violations.

    Some 20 years ago, a small group of activists in Poland ran a 24-hour letter-writing marathon. Over the following years, the idea spread. Today, Write for Rights is the world’s biggest human rights event.

    From 2,326 letters in 2001 to more than 6 million letters, tweets, petition signatures and other actions in 2023, people the world over have used the power of their words to unite behind the idea that geography is no barrier to solidarity. In 2023 alone, more than 1.4 million people were engaged through human rights education activities. Together, these individuals have helped transform the lives of more than 100 people over the years, freeing them from torture, harassment or unjust imprisonment.

    The human rights education toolkit for this year’s Write for Rights campaign can help educators and participants to gain more understanding and build solidarity, preparing them to take action. These human rights education activities can take place in a variety of settings, such as a school classroom, a community group, a family or an activist group. As a facilitator, you can adapt the activity to best suit the needs and context of the group you are working with. For example, you may want to consider what knowledge the group already has about the issues discussed, the size and age range of your group and how to best organize the activity to allow for active participation, the physical setting of your activity, delivering it in-person or online and any limitations. When participants want to take action on a case, discuss with them whether it is safe for them to do so.

    The activities are all based on participatory learning methods in which learners are not merely presented with information, they explore, discuss, analyze and question issues relating to the stories they will work with in each activity. This methodology allows participants to:

    • develop key competencies and skills
    • form their own opinions, raise questions, and gain a deeper understanding of the issues presented
    • take control of their learning, and shapes discussions according to their interests, abilities and concerns
    • have the space required for them to engage emotionally and develop their own attitudes

    Write for Rights 2024 General Activity

    Neth Nahara, Angola

    Joel Paredes, Argentina

    Maryia Kalesnikava, Belarus

    Wet’suwet’en Nation land defenders, Canada

    Kyung Seok Park, South Korea

    Manahel al-Otaibi, Saudi Arabia

    Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Türkiye

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global: New human rights ranking of electric vehicle industry exposes laggards

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Although a rapid transition from fossil fuel powered to electric vehicles is urgently needed to accelerate decarbonization and help slow the rate of global temperature rise, it comes with a hidden cost. 

    “Mining for the minerals used in electric vehicles can entail huge risks for people and the environment. Amnesty International’s previous research has shown how industrial cobalt is linked to forced evictions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Car companies need to use their massive leverage as global minerals buyers to influence upstream mining companies and smelters to mitigate these human rights risks,” said Agnès Callamard.

    In terms of supply chain mapping disclosures, companies like BYD, Geely Auto, Hyundai, General Motors, and Mitsubishi Motors scored the lowest, failing to provide detailed information about their supply chains. Furthermore, BYD does not disclose smelter, refiner, or mine site names. Geely Auto provided only general supplier locations without specifying mineral extraction sites. 

    Hyundai and Mitsubishi Motors demonstrated a similar lack of transparency, with no evidence of comprehensive supply chain mapping or mine site identification for cobalt, copper, lithium, and nickel, making it difficult for stakeholders to verify how these operations affect nearby communities.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Yemen: UN and NGOs renew their call for the immediate release of detained personnel

    Source: Oxfam –

    Principals of Affected United Nations entities and International Non-Governmental Organizations renew their call for the immediate release of detained personnel

    Saturday, 12 October 2024 – We are extremely concerned about the reported referral to “criminal prosecution” by the Houthi de facto authorities of a significant number of arbitrarily detained colleagues, including three United Nations personnel—two from UNESCO and one from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR)—who were detained in 2021 and 2023.

    At a time when we were hoping for the release of our colleagues, we are deeply distressed by this reported development. The potential laying of “charges” against our colleagues is unacceptable and further compounds the lengthy incommunicado detention they have already endured.

    Such a decision further raises serious concerns about the safety and security of our staff and their families, and will further impede our ability to reach millions of Yemenis who need humanitarian aid and protection, with detrimental consequences for their well-being and status.

    We, the Principals of the affected United Nations entities and International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), renew our urgent call for the immediate and unconditional release of all personnel from UN entities, international and national non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, and diplomatic missions arbitrarily detained in Yemen by the de facto authorities.

    The targeting of humanitarians in Yemen—including arbitrary detention, intimidation, mistreatment, and false allegations—must stop, and all those detained must be released immediately.

    The United Nations, INGOs, and partners are working through all possible channels and with multiple governments to secure the immediate release of those detained.

    Signed by:

    • Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme, UNDP
    • Amitabh Behar, Executive Director, OXFAM International
    • Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, UNESCO
    • Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF
    • Cindy McCain, Executive Director, WFP
    • Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General
    • Hans Grundberg, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Yemen
    • Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children International
    • Reintje van Haeringen, CEO, CARE Nederland and Executive Committee Chair, CARE International
    • Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Urgent action needed as governments and donors fail children with tuberculosis

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    • A new report released today shows that children are being left behind in the global fight to end tuberculosis.
    • Surveying tuberculosis policies from 14 countries, MSF found many countries are behind on the latest guidelines and policies from the WHO.
    • MSF urges all countries to update their national guidelines.

    Geneva- A new report released today by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), shows that children with tuberculosis continue to be left behind in the global effort to end the disease. The report, TACTIC: Test, Avoid, Cure Tuberculosis in Children, surveyed tuberculosis policy guidelines in 14 countriesAfghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, India, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Uganda.  with a high burden of tuberculosis, revealing that many countries lag behind in aligning their national tuberculosis policies with the latest guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO). 

    We urge all countries to update their national guidelines to be in line with the WHO recommendations for the care of children with tuberculosis, and to allocate the needed resources—along with developing clear plans with timelines to implement the policies and increase access to tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the children with tuberculosis in the country. International donors and technical support agencies must provide sufficient funding to countries to support paediatric tuberculosis policy reforms and implementation.

    “Tuberculosis is curable, also in children. The WHO has updated policies to guide countries in providing the best possible care to children with tuberculosis, one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases,” says Stijn Deborggraeve, diagnostics advisor at MSF’s Access Campaign. “Yet countries are lagging behind in adopting and implementing these solutions for testing, preventing, and treating tuberculosis in children. We urge countries, donors and technical agencies to put an end to this deadly status quo and step up their efforts to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis in children. We can no longer afford inaction—every delay means that more children die unnecessarily.”

    Of the 14 policy indicators measured in our report, only one country’s policies are fully aligned with WHO guidance, while seven countries have more than 80% alignment, and four countries still fall below 50% alignment. The largest gaps were found in policies related to diagnosing tuberculosis in children. For example, only 5 out of 14 countries have adapted their guidelines to initiate tuberculosis treatment in children when symptoms strongly indicate the disease, even if bacteriological tests are negative. Additionally, only 4 of these 5 countries have the necessary resources to implement this guidance effectively.

    The WHO estimates that 1.25 million children and young adolescents (0-14 years) fall ill with tuberculosis each year, but that only half of these children are diagnosed and treated. Based on the latest scientific evidence, WHO revised its guidance in 2022 for the management of children and adolescents with TB and made several key recommendations, including the use of treatment decision algorithms that allow many children to be diagnosed based on symptoms alone in absence of lab confirmation, and offering short oral regimens to treat and prevent tuberculosis in children. If adopted and implemented, this would drastically improve the diagnosis and quality of care for children with tuberculosis.

    “Since we started implementing the WHO recommendations for children in Bombali district, we have begun to find and treat many more children with tuberculosis,” said Joseph Sesey, clinical officer with MSF in Makeni, Sierra Leone. “These new recommendations have helped us avoid misdiagnosing children: doctors who were hesitant to start children on tuberculosis treatment without positive tuberculosis test results now feel more confident diagnosing tuberculosis based on clinical symptoms alone by using the WHO recommendations. I have noticed a significant reduction of deaths among children with tuberculosis in many health centres.”

    However, the work does not stop with policy reforms. For example, new, shorter, all-oral regimens are now recommended by the WHO for both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in children, but their rollout in countries remains slow. Additionally, while new and child-friendly tuberculosis drugs are available for drug-susceptible and drug-resistant tuberculosis, these are not always procured by countries. 

    “It’s unfortunate that child-friendly formulations of tuberculosis drugs are still not available in many countries due to bureaucratic barriers and funding gaps,” says Dr Cathy Hewison, head of MSF’s working group on tuberculosis. “As a result, children with tuberculosis are forced to swallow crushed and bitter medicines without appropriate weight-based doses, putting them at grave risk of side effects and treatment failure. This neglect must end now. We call on governments, donors, and global health organisations to act with urgency, ensuring no child dies or suffers from a preventable, treatable disease like tuberculosis. The tools and treatments we have must reach the children who need them most – now.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Philippines: Authorities increasingly using Facebook to stifle young activists’ right to freedom of expression and protest 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Philippines authorities are increasingly using Facebook in red-tagging campaigns targeting young activists, including those who investigate alleged human rights violations by the military, police and other government agencies, Amnesty International said today in a new report.  

    The new report, “I turned my fear into courage”: Red-tagging and state violence against young human rights defenders in the Philippines, details how the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has increasingly weaponized digital tools, misinformation and vague anti-terror laws to harass, intimidate and repress young activists.  

    At the heart of this coordinated campaign is the practice of “red-tagging”, through which leading political figures and state security officials vilify human rights activists and other perceived opponents of the state as alleged “Communist rebels” and “terrorists.” 

    Activists and other critical voices are being red-tagged and identified as targets by the government, and then pursued online. However, in the Philippines, the issue does not only concern online harassment; it also results in tangible harm offline.

    Damini Satija, Director of Amnesty Tech

    “Over the years, red-tagging has been used to instigate direct threats and attacks on those who criticize and oppose the government and Meta is playing an enabling role in this.” 

    Young activists interviewed for this report described how they have personally suffered from being red-tagged, which has led to a climate of fear and self-censorship, or individuals giving up on their work as activists or journalists. 

    As recently as August 2024, young environmental rights defender Rowena Dasig went missing and is feared to have become the target of a series of enforced disappearances of human rights defenders under President Marcos Jr.   

    Ana*, a 26-year-old student activist said, “When you’re harassed online or when you’re posted online, that makes you a target. It’s letting people know that this person is a target, that you should not get close to this person … Of course, if you’re not yet organized, it would make you think that you wouldn’t want to be an activist because your life would be put in danger.”  

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Northern Ireland: Journalists, lawyers and NGOs urged to make surveillance concerns known to KC-led investigation 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    One week left to respond to Angus McCullough KC call for evidence

    ‘We now need answers to wider questions about the full extent of police use and misuse of secret surveillance powers in Northern Ireland. The McCullough Review can help provide those answers.’ – Patrick Corrigan 

    Journalists, lawyers and activists in Northern Ireland who suspect they have been spied on by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) should make a complaint to the McCullough Review before the October 18 deadline, Amnesty International said today.

    The McCullough Review is an independent inquiry into PSNI surveillance of journalists, lawyers, non-governmental organisations and police oversight bodies, led by London lawyer Angus McCullough KC. The review was commissioned by Chief Constable Jon Boutcher after campaigners raised concerns following evidence disclosed at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal pointed to potential widespread use of covert surveillance powers by the police.

    The call for evidence issued by McCullough has a deadline of 5pm on Friday 18 October 2024 and Amnesty is encouraging affected parties to contact the review before the cut-off date.

    Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Director of Amnesty International, and a member of the McCullough Review group of experts and stakeholders, said:

    “The evidence disclosed to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal investigating spying on Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney has pointed to worrying surveillance practices by the PSNI in relation to journalists, lawyers and the office of the Police Ombudsman.

    “We now need answers to wider questions about the full extent of police use and misuse of secret surveillance powers in Northern Ireland. The McCullough Review can help provide those answers.

    “It is important that anyone who falls within the remit of the review and has information or evidence that they may have been subject to covert surveillance by the PSNI contacts McCullough.

    “It will also be crucial for former or serving police officers to bring what they know to this investigation. The Chief Constable has already committed to full cooperation with this review and we would encourage anyone with evidence to make it known via the confidential questionnaire on the McCullough Review website.

    “While this review does not have all the powers of a statutory public inquiry – and we may still need such an inquiry – it can play a hugely important role in shining a light on hitherto shadowy practices and point to potential breaches of human rights of surveillance targets.”

    View latest press releases

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: UK: Alaa Abdel Fattah’s family to hold in-conversation event ahead of jailed activist’s book launch

    Source: Amnesty International –

    On Tuesday 22 October (7-9pm), Amnesty International UK will host an in-conversation event at its east London offices with the family of Alaa Abdel Fattah, the UK national arbitrarily detained in Egypt.

    Mona Seif, Abdel Fattah’s sister, will be in conversation with Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive. 

    The event comes shortly before the publication of a new edition of Abdel Fattah’s acclaimed book You Have Not Yet Been Defeated: Selected Works 2011-2021, which is set to be republished in a special new edition on 24 October by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

    There will be readings from the book by the British-Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh, as well as an audience question-and-answer session.

    Abdel Fattah, 42, a prominent blogger and writer who has been in detention in Egypt since September 2019, has already served his five-year jail sentence on trumped-up charges of “spreading false news” after a grossly unfair trial. Recently, the family was told by the Egyptian authorities that they will not consider releasing Abdel Fattah until January 2027. 

    The in-conversation event and publication of a new edition of You Have Not Yet Been Defeated are part of an ongoing campaign to secure Abdel Fattah’s release.

    You Have Not Yet Been Defeated comprises a selection of Abdel Fattah’s speeches, interviews, social media posts and essays since the Egyptian revolution in January 2011, many written from his jail cell. The book, which has a foreword by Naomi Klein, will be available for sale on the evening.

    The event will be followed by an informal drinks reception. Attendance is free but booking is required via Eventbrite.  

    Event details

    What: in-conversation event with family of Alaa Abdel Fattah and Sacha Deshmukh ahead of a new edition of You Have Not Yet Been Defeated, with readings from the book by Selma Dabbagh

    Where: Amnesty International UK’s office, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA

    When: Tuesday 22 October 2024, 19:00-21:00

    MIL OSI NGO –