AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

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statistics remained classified as a state secret. Death sentences were reported in the media. There was no available information about executions. 1. Viet Nam: Crackdown on human rights amidst Formosa related activism (ASA 41/5104/2016) 2. Viet Nam: Convictions of Nguyễn Hữu Vinh and Nguyễn Thị Minh Thúy are an outrageous contravention of freedom of expression (ASA 41/3702/2016) 3. Ending torture of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam (News story, 12 July) 4. Viet Nam: Vietnamese human rights blogger arrested (ASA 41/4979/2016) 5. Viet Nam: Detained pastor on hunger strike since 8 August (ASA 41/4759/2016) 6. Viet Nam: Government cracks down on peaceful demonstrations with range of rights violations, including torture and other ill-treatment (ASA 41/4078/2016) 7. Viet Nam: Minority group’s protest met with violence (ASA 41/4509/2016) 8. Viet Nam: Failing to uphold human rights as land rights activist sentenced to 20 months in prison (ASA 41/4866/2016) 9. Prisons within prisons: Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam (ASA 41/4187/2016) 10. Viet Nam: Imprisonment of asylum-seeker forcibly returned by Australia would be unlawful and could be disastrous for her young children (ASA 41/4653/2016) YEMEN Republic of Yemen Head of state: Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi Head of government: Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr (replaced Khaled Bahah in April) All parties to the continuing armed conflict committed war crimes and other serious violations of international law with impunity. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized Yemeni government bombed hospitals and other civilian infrastructure and carried out indiscriminate attacks, killing and injuring civilians. The Huthi armed group and forces allied to it indiscriminately shelled civilian residential areas in Ta’iz city and fired artillery indiscriminately across the border into Saudi Arabia, killing and injuring civilians. Huthi and allied forces severely curtailed the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in areas they controlled, arbitrarily arresting critics and opponents, including journalists and human rights defenders, forcing NGOs to close. They subjected some detainees to enforced disappearance and to torture and other ill-treatment. Women and girls continued to face entrenched discrimination and other abuses, including forced marriage and domestic violence. The death penalty remained in force; no information was publicly available on death sentences or executions. BACKGROUND The armed conflict between the internationally recognized government of President Hadi, supported by a Saudi Arabialed international coalition, and the Huthi armed group and allied forces, which included army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, continued to rage throughout the year. The Huthis and forces allied to former President Saleh continued to control the capital, Sana’a, and other areas. President Hadi’s government controlled southern parts of Yemen including the governorates of Lahj and Aden. The armed group al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) continued to control parts of southern Yemen and to carry out bomb attacks in Aden and in the port city of al- Mukallah, which government forces recaptured from AQAP in April. US forces continued to target AQAP forces with missile strikes. The armed group Islamic State (IS) also carried out bomb attacks in Aden and al- Mukallah, mostly targeting government officials and forces. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 4,125 civilians, including more than 1,200 children, had been killed and more than 7,000 civilians wounded since the conflict began in March 2015. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 3.27 million people had been forcibly displaced in the conflict by October and nearly 21.2 million people, 80% 400 Amnesty International Report 2016/17
of the population, relied on humanitarian assistance. In April, UN-sponsored peace negotiations between the parties to the conflict began in Kuwait, accompanied by a brief lull in hostilities. Fighting intensified after the negotiations collapsed on 6 August. On 25 August, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a “renewed approach to negotiations”; this had produced no clear outcome by the end of the year. Huthi and allied forces appointed a 10- member Supreme Political Council to rule Yemen, which in turn appointed former Aden Governor Abdulaziz bin Habtoor to lead a government of “national salvation”. In September, President Hadi ordered the Central Bank to move from Sana’a to Aden, deepening the fiscal crisis caused by the depletion of its reserves and the humanitarian crisis by curtailing the ability of the de facto Huthi administration in Sana’a to import essential food, fuel and medical supplies. ARMED CONFLICT Violations by armed groups Huthi and allied forces, including army units loyal to former President Saleh, repeatedly carried out violations of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. They endangered civilians in areas they controlled by launching attacks from the vicinity of schools, hospitals and homes, exposing residents to attacks by pro-government forces, including aerial bombing by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition. They also indiscriminately fired explosive munitions that affect a wide area, including mortars and artillery shells, into residential areas controlled or contested by opposing forces, particularly in Ta’iz city, killing and injuring civilians. By November, Huthi and allied forces had reportedly carried out at least 45 unlawful attacks in Ta’iz, killing and injuring scores of civilians. One attack on 4 October killed 10 civilians, including six children, and injured 17 others in a street near the Bir Basha market, the UN reported. The Huthis and their allies also continued to lay internationally banned anti-personnel landmines that caused civilian casualties, and to recruit and deploy child soldiers. In June, the UN Secretary-General reported that the Huthis were responsible for 72% of 762 verified cases of recruitment of child soldiers during the conflict. In Sana’a and other areas they controlled, the Huthis and their allies arbitrarily arrested and detained critics and opponents as well as journalists, human rights defenders and members of the Baha’i community, subjecting scores to enforced disappearance. Many arrests were carried out by armed men belonging to Ansarullah, the Huthi political wing, at homes, workplaces, checkpoints or public venues such as mosques. Such arrests were carried out without judicial warrant or stated reasons, and without disclosing where those arrested were being taken or would be held. Many detainees were held in unofficial locations such as private homes without being told the reason for their imprisonment or allowed any means to challenge its legality, including access to lawyers and the courts. Some were subjected to enforced disappearance and held in secret locations; Huthi authorities refused to acknowledge their detention, disclose any information about them or allow them access to legal counsel and their families. Some detainees were subjected to torture or other illtreatment. In February, one family reported seeing guards beat their relative at the Political Security Office detention facility in Sana’a. Anti-Huthi forces and their allies led a campaign of harassment and intimidation against hospital staff, and endangered civilians by stationing fighters and military positions near medical facilities, particularly during fighting in the southern city of Ta’iz. At least three hospitals were shut down due to threats against their staff. The Huthis and their allies also curtailed freedom of association in areas under their de facto administration. Amnesty International Report 2016/17 401
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/1
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CONTENTS ANNUAL REPORT 2016/17 Abbr
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ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN Association of
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PREFACE The Amnesty International R
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FOREWORD “2016 saw the idea of hu
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its stranglehold on communications
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AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW Mass prote
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democracy activist Itai Dzamara, af
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continue attacking its civilian pop
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leader to be prosecuted before a co
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AMERICAS REGIONAL OVERVIEW Despite
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HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AT RISK In m
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economic need rather than soaring v
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that were perpetrated in the contex
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ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL OVERVIEW Whil
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ill-treatment was hindered by const
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landline, mobile and internet servi
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ahead of Cambodia’s elections pla
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EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA REGIONAL OV
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EU and member state foreign policy.
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members appointed by the Prime Mini
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surveillance, while independent med
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MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION
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Government of National Accord (GNA)
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law allowing detention without char
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number of countries, exacerbated by
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Affairs (UNOCHA) reported some 25,0
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defenders. Threats continued agains
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prosecutor revealed the scale of th
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activist Kameleddine Fekhar and oth
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efore the Supreme Tribunal. The Tri
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Supreme Court ultimately ordered th
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and others. On several occasions, p
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RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, T
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ights defenders, journalists, polit
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group reported receiving threats fr
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of protesters for questioning, incl
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Regulation Act which significantly
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DEATH PENALTY On 18 April, Siarhei
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employment. Several individuals and
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eport on Bolivia. Among its recomme
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found Radovan Karadžić, the warti
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BRAZIL Federative Republic of Brazi
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In July the Attorney General reques
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children - were deported, many with
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administrative detention, often for
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ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS Throughout t
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declared in August and cases of mal
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The operational phase of the Truth
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28 April and charged with bribing a
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civilians. On 10 February in the to
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On 2 August, three young men were a
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case involving Tahoe Resources’ G
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REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED P
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demonstration on 5 April to demand
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contains several provisions that ar
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LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL OR INSTITUTIO
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lawyers of their choice for at leas
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Uighur teachers to schools througho
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SECURITY FORCES There were continue
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industrial projects known as Zones
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l'alternance démocratique” (IDC-
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d’Ivoire, was charged with threat
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politicized and unimplemented in so
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convicted for the beating of a deta
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custodian of the child, was unconst
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the prosecutor opened an investigat
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On 11 October, Gedeon Kyungu Mutang
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American States (OAS) was held in S
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Corporation, accusing it of violent
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ailed Amro Badr on 28 August and Ma
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information. The court sentenced si
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esult in human rights violations, a
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charge at the end of the year. Over
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REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS
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of terrorist acts punishable by up
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Changes to the asylum procedure aff
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authorities did not have the capaci
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footage of an opposition candidate
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treatment by police were reported.
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304,900 arrivals between January an
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continued to face discrimination, v
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and the constitutionality of the co
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surgery. In June, the Athens Magist
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BACKGROUND Local elections were pos
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Tension between President Vaz, the
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outbreak. The UN continued to deny
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HUNGARY Hungary Head of state: Ján
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the applicant’s vulnerability in
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Court rejected a petition challengi
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grounds. Hundreds of people, includ
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District and Pontianak City, West K
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1. Indonesia: Defamation investigat
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to punish prisoners or to coerce
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government announced that optional
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Following a suicide bombing that ki
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FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION - MEDIA WORKE
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safeguards when threatened with and
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continued to arrest hundreds of Pal
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1,460 Palestinian civilians were ki
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In August, Italian and Sudanese pol
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of officers named in the Commission
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In June, the Kumamoto District Cour
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plans to amend Article 308 and othe
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FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION NGOs Leading
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EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS Police and
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esidents agreed that permanent resi
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iefly detained incommunicado, inter
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eing sanctioned by the government.
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term in a separate case but he hand
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they believed to be sex workers and
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people remained stateless. Individu
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Syrian and Palestinian refugee wome
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ongoing construction of Polihali Da
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General National Congress abducted
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Libya’s coastguard service, which
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dubious grounds related to national
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Act and Penal Code that increased t
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Rohingya were released and some wer
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MALI Republic of Mali Head of state
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policy framework relating to the re
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three years’ imprisonment for usi
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Dozens of mass graves were uncovere
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2014. The GIEI confirmed that the a
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generally restrained, occasionally
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Conservation Foundation. The Nation
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office after the Minister of Justic
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law to combat human trafficking. In
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him that they had been ordered to l
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LACK OF HUMANITARIAN ACCESS From Ap
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In March, the UN Human Rights Counc
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Omid Masoumali, an Iranian refugee,
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sowing “social discord” in soci
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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS Se
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NIGER Republic of Niger Head of sta
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treatment. Conditions in military d
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military and later arrested by the
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state, were forcibly evicted when s
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under vaguely worded public order,
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allegedly ill-treated and denied pr
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On 8 May, the Pakistani Taliban sho
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UNFAIR TRIALS In both the West Bank
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the outcomes were not known at the
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Guaraní de Sauce community in conn
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hours a day as an “escort” in a
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amounts of drugs. The bills sparked
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FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY In December, th
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wellbeing. The reform of the police
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on whether to appoint a commission
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created but was not operational at
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NGOs continued to face administrati
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Failure to provide adequate medical
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preparing and planning the genocide
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internationally recognized governme
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TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Sec
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Amendments to the Code of Criminal
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across the country. Infections and
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the Committee on the Rights of the
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“most serious crimes” under int
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REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS Before
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intensified attacks and called on f
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death in proceedings that fell shor
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displaced. Earlier in the year, res
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discovered in a shallow grave. Part
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arbitrary arrests, prolonged and -
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investigate crimes committed during
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protection for some of the most vul
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newspaper editor Lasantha Wickremat
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In January, Parliament passed an am
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In February, NISS officials and stu
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emedies available to them under dom
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Page 357 and 358: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION The authoriti
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Page 369 and 370: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY The authorities
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Page 373 and 374: UGANDA Republic of Uganda Head of s
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Page 377 and 378: ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS Bo
Page 379 and 380: detention centre in the vicinity of
Page 381 and 382: and his son, Mohammed Eldarat, both
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Page 385 and 386: In January, an Independent Review i
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Page 389 and 390: ecommendations that would limit the
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

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