Amnesty International UK depends on the generosity of our supporters to fund our ongoing fight for human rights. But the lull did not hold: just a few weeks after lockdowns were widely imposed, protests began to reemerge. RT @eevahele: 2020 protests for HumanRights in Helsinki Finland: Finnish Police did arrest hundreds of Protest Marchers violently. Protest is the reflection of public feeling underrepresented in politics, especially groups who are overlooked or ignored. Positive change for human rights would not happen without the right to protest. In early 2020, when little was known about the virus and it seemed like a localized problem, the protest surge that had marked the second half of 2019 continued. This includes therapy that improves social and emotional health along with mental health to . Police violence has also been a defining feature of this year. The coronavirus pandemic should not be used as an excuse to clamp down on fundamental freedoms, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) reminded authorities in Zimbabwe on Friday. In the last year, over 70governmentcriticswereabducted andlater releasedby unidentified men suspected to be state security agents. TALLINN, Estonia (AP) A court on Friday sentenced Belarus' top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, to 10 years in prison.. Benjamin Press is a nonresident research analyst in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program. To be heard, citizens band together in solidarity and demand their rights are respected. Just after 8 p.m., the police, unprovoked and without warning, moved in on the protesters, wielding batons, beating people from car tops, shoving them to the ground, and firing pepper spray into their faces before rounding up more than 250 people for arrest, The New York City police blocked people from leaving before the curfew and then used the curfew as an excuse to beat, abuse, and arrest people who were protesting peacefully, said Ida Sawyer, acting crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. Fraught elections or other political transitions were also a key issue in 2020. Whilereceiving treatment for theirinjuries, thetriowere arrestedatthe hospitalandcharged with making false reportsabout their abduction. Theglobal Black Lives Matter protests that broke out in the wake of George Floyds death show what solidarity can look like inpractice;the extraordinary international effort to develop a. Commenting on the Public Order Bill, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty UK's Chief Executive Director said: These new attempts to reduce protest rights are in breach of international human rights law. It led to(Opens in a new tab) thwarted rallies and increased fears of surveillance and arrest, while people continued to take to the streets. The provision of safe water isan importantmeasure to combat Covid-19. Share this via WhatsApp AOC declares 'we were right. At least 13 legal observers who wear clearly identifiable hats and badges were also detained, in some cases violently, before being released. In fact, 2020 has brought human rights to the fore of public debate. Share this via LinkedIn Credit: Diego Cupolo / NurPhoto via Getty Images. Security forces alsocontinued tocommitarbitrary arrests, violent assaults, abductions, tortureand other abuses against oppositionpoliticians, dissidentsand activists. Registered office 17-25 New Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA. The four officers involved in Floyd's death were not charged until days later, after video of the killing was released and the protests began. Bialiatski, 60, a veteran human rights defender, Score all-time low prices on the M2 Mac mini, Amazon Halo Rise, and LG CordZero A9 Kompressor stick vacuum plus more of today's best deals. MahamaturgedZimbabweanauthorities to exercise restraint in their response to peaceful protests. Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees. If the Public Order Bill passes, people convicted for protesting would not even be allowed to participate. Some were met with pushback from authorities and regular citizens. Most were charged with Class B misdemeanors for curfew violations or unlawful assembly. The Mnangagwa administration has so far failed to implement recommendations of theMotlanthe Commission of Inquiry, established toinvestigate widespread violencein the aftermath of theAugust 2018elections. In March, the governmentacknowledgedthat Zimbabwes prisons, with a capacityof17,000, had a population of 22,000. Human Rights Watch documented at least 61 cases of protesters, legal observers, and bystanders who sustained injuries during the crackdown, including lacerations, a broken nose, lost tooth,. It created new protest triggers as public health measures became objects of political contestation, whether in the form of anger over lockdowns, economic displacement, or government mismanagement of the public health crisis. Activism, Black Lives Matter, Social Good. Although the acute crisis looks likely to gradually ebb in the year ahead, the widespread economic and social devastation it has wroughtas well as citizens anger about aggravated economic realities and the legacy of governance failings by many stateswill be much slower to fade. Belarus jails Nobel winner Bialiatski for 10 years; EU, US protest FILE PHOTO: Human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, founder of the organisation Viasna (Belarus), receives the 2020 Right. The resilience of thesemovementsis extraordinary. The year 2020 highlighted the resilience of protests around the globe. The. Hundreds gathered outside the Glynn County Courthouse to protest inaction(Opens in a new tab) in Arbery's case. One protester described how an officer punched him in the face while another twisted his finger and broke it. Peaceful assemblies can in some cases be inherently or deliberately disruptive and require a significant degree of toleration.. Cambodia: Opposition leader Kem Sokha sentenced to 27 years on fabricated treason charge, Iran: Chilling execution spree with escalating use of death penalty against persecuted ethnic minorities. In Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishek, police detained around 50 protesters, primarily women, after a group of masked men attacked them, tearing apart banners, during the protest, according to Reuters(Opens in a new tab). A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (01735872). The panelsGeneral Comment, notes that protesters have the right to wear masks or hoods to cover their face and that Governments should not collect personal data to harass or intimidate participants. Human Rights Watch is a 501(C)(3)nonprofit registered in the US under EIN: 13-2875808, Witness: Police Kettle, Beat Protesters in New York City. The state is supposed to be the ultimate protector of human rights, but in too many cases states are the biggest abusers. protesting againstthe pillaging of their lands by corporations these movements are our best hope for turning the tide on the repression and discrimination that have been the status quo for too long. Share this via LinkedIn Credit: Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images. The June 4 demonstration was among numerous protests in New York City and around the country after the killing of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died on May 25, 2020, when a Minneapolis police. Civil Society and the Global Pandemic: Building Back Different? Then, of course, the virus disrupted that for a time. During 2020, the Zimbabwe government failed to provide continuous and affordable access to sufficient safe water to people across the country. 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW Though underpinned by years of organizing, the momentous wave of Black Lives Matter protests seen in 2020 started in Minneapolis. Bialiatski, alongside three other human rights activists, was tried on charges of financing protests in Belarus after the 2020 presidential election, which was widely considered fraudulent, as well . The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association,hailed the newinterpretation that the right to peaceful assembly also extends to digital activities. Juneteenth, an annual holiday marking the day in 1865 when news that slavery had been abolished finally reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, has been marked with celebrations for over a century. The commissionpresented its report to President Mnangagwa in December 2018,andfound that 6 peoplehaddied and 35 otherswereinjured as a result of actionsbystate security forces. Those September strikes vaulted climate activist Greta Thunberg(Opens in a new tab), who was 16 at the time, to an even larger stage, inspiring countless other young people to get involved in protesting for climate action. We have some thoughts. Dozens of people spent hours in detention with untreated wounds and their hands bound behind their backs. Black Lives Matter demonstration in Vienna Christopher Glanzl/Amnesty International Austria. By signing up to the Mashable newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications of the Egyptian Initiative on Personal Rights were arrested. Watch what happened next. Then another cop sprayed me in the face with mace, he said. The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox. Receive daily updates directly in your inbox -, How do you define lawful peaceful protest? Small protests also emerged during the earlier months of the pandemic in states like Michigan and Virginia as conservative activists demonstrated their opposition to the science-backed stay-at-home orders meant to slow the coronavirus' spread. Here are some tips and tricks to help you find the answer to 'Wordle' #622. #9. The 99-page report, Kettling Protesters in the Bronx: Systemic Police Brutality and Its Costs in the United States, provides a detailed account of the police response to the June 4 peaceful protest in Mott Haven, a low-income, majority Black and brown community that has long experienced high levels of police brutality and systemic racism. The city paid out $36 million for civil rights violations and related legal fees after police kettled and mass-arrested protesters in a similar manner in 2004. Protest is a key tactic for humanity to win. In Nigeria, a police unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was formed in 1984 to fight crimes like robberies and carjacking. See you at your inbox! On every continent, civic space is being crushed and dissent ruthlessly silenced. In addition, Governments cannot block internet networks or close down any website because of their roles in organising or soliciting a peaceful assembly, according to the Committee. It was a year unlike any other, and it was also an election year. The National Prosecutor's Office stated that almost half of its cases had been closed without charges being brought. Of course, January 1 feels like a lifetime ago. Many people were detained during the protests. ET This story was updated to include protests that took place following the story's initial publication in July 2020. Many of these new protests centered around the core issues that have driven the global protest wave of recent years, such as corruption, electoral manipulation, and police brutality. authoritiesarresting doctors who raised safety concerns; Other leaders have used the crisis as a pretext for further repressing human rights, and activistsorintroducing draconian laws on, Police violence has also been a defining feature of this year. 2020 saw a wave of protests, demonstrations, and marches. During 2020, unresolved cases of abductionsandabuses, includingtorture,of government critics escalatedwithout theabductorsbeing brought to justice. Around 50,000 people took part in an anti-racism demonstration in Vienna on Thursday, 4th of July 2020. Riot police setup cordon during a protest against the national security law on June 28, 2020 in Hong Kong, China . Together, we can keep this fundamental freedom safe. Share this via WhatsApp At the crux of the protest actions were Amazon's working conditions(Opens in a new tab) and climate impact(Opens in a new tab), both of which, depending on who you ask, range from notably subpar to dismal. Instead of cracking down on peaceful protesters and stifling their calls for change, policymakers in New York City and across the country should listen to their demands, Sawyer said. For example, the government proposed Serious Disruption Prevention Orders go even further than Russian Law on Assemblies. Outside of Nigeria, the hashtag #EndSARS, which protest organizers used in Nigeria, spread as well.