15 NGOs+ send letter to Secretary Blinken to throw pro-Russian anticult organization out from United Nations

On June 2, 15 NGOs plus 33 scholars and well-known activists have written to the US Secretary of State, to ask him to start a procedure to have the UN ECOSOC’s consultative status of the organization FECRIS withdrawn. It’s a very rare request based on the fact that affiliate associations of the FECRIS, a French “anti-sectarian” umbrella organization, has engaged in the Russian anti-western propaganda for years, and continued to support the Kremlin in ominous ways at the beginning of the war against Ukraine. We reproduce here the content of the letter followed by the list of signatories, which includes 15 prominent Ukrainian scholars.

Dear Secretary Blinken,
We write as an informal group of organizations and individuals who are religious and secular leaders, human rights advocates, practitioners, and scholars to respectfully urge you, as a member of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) at the United Nations (UN), to request the withdrawal of consultative status that is currently held by FECRIS (the European Federation of Centres for Research and Information on Sects and Cults) with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

This letter is a multi-faith initiative of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Roundtable, a multi-faith, inclusive (of all faiths and beliefs), equal citizenship forum that has proven it is possible to engage cooperatively and constructively across deep differences and increase mutual understanding, respect, trust, and reliance through joint advocacy actions.

While we hold an extremely broad diversity of theological views and political positions, we all agree on the importance of international religious freedom. It strengthens cultures and provides the foundation for stable democracies and their components, including civil society, economic growth, and social harmony. As such, it is also an effective counter-terrorism weapon as it pre-emptively undermines religious extremism. History and modern scholarship make it clear that where people are allowed to practice their faith freely, they are less likely to be alienated from the government, and more likely to be good citizens.
In signing this letter, we have opted into a multi-faith coalition to urge you to strip FECRIS of its consultative status with ECOSOC.

Indeed, per ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31, the consultative status of NGOs with ECOSOC shall be suspended up to three years or withdrawn in the following case:

If an organization, either directly or through its affiliates or representatives acting on its behalf, clearly abuses its status by engaging in a pattern of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations including unsubstantiated or politically motivated acts against Member States of the United Nations incompatible with those purposes and principles.

FECRIS is a French-based umbrella organization that coordinates with member associations in more than 40 EU countries, and beyond. It was created in 1994 by a French anti-cult association named UNADFI and receives all of its funding from the French government (while its member associations may receive funding from their own governments). In 2009, FECRIS was granted “ECOSOC Special Consultative Status” by the UN.

During its history, FECRIS and its members have accumulated a great number of civil and criminal convictions for their actions that defame minority religions and spread hate-speech against them.

From 2009 to 2021, Alexander Dvorkin, head of the Saint Irenaeus of Lyons Center for Religious Studies in Russia, served as Vice-President of FECRIS. Since 2021, he has continued to serve as a member of its board of directors. Dvorkin, on behalf of FECRIS, has been a key architect of the crackdown on religious minorities in Russia and beyond, as he spread his anti-religious propaganda and misinformation to other countries, including as far as China.

Moreover, Alexander Dvorkin has been a driver of the Anti-West propaganda of the Kremlin for years, and directly and publicly attacked the democratic institutions of Ukraine after the Euromaidan protests, accusing them of being members of cults (Baptists, Evangelicals, Greek Catholics, pagans and Scientologists) being used by Western secret services to harm Russia.

Further, Dvorkin and other members and correspondents of the Russian FECRIS have been involved in the constant propaganda, which prepared the ground and justified the current war in Ukraine, as a war against Western decadence and a war to protect Russian spiritual values.

During the first four weeks of the war in Ukraine, Russian FECRIS associations have been actively supporting the war and openly working with Russian law enforcement agencies to gather information on anyone who would oppose it or even just share information on the casualties in Ukraine.

At the same time, Russia has enacted a law that established a jail sentence of up to 15 years for any person “discrediting the armed forces,” which includes speaking of “war” instead of the official Russian term, “special military operation.”

Until now, no discipline has ever been taken against Dvorkin and/or Russian FECRIS associations for their actions that spread propaganda and catalyze discrimination and persecution of religious communities.

It is known and understood that FECRIS has known about the ideology and actions of its Russian members for years, and has continued to support them, nonetheless.
FECRIS as an entity must be held accountable for the activities of its Russian member associations for the following reasons:

While FECRIS has been alerted about the outrageous ideology and actions of Alexander Dvorkin and Russian member associations for years, it has kept Dvorkin on its board of directors, which elected him twice as Vice President, and has supported the associations all along, having never taken any disciplinary actions against any of them.

In fact, FECRIS has been actively coordinating as an entity with Russian authorities to trigger the crackdown on religious minorities since as far back as 2009—the same year it was granted “ECOSOC Special Consultative Status” by the UN.

The mere ideology and methodology of FECRIS, as a constant, is to use authoritative governments to trigger crackdowns on religious communities it stigmatizes as sects or cults, with no regard to their human dignity, liberty of conscience, and other fundamentals human rights.

In conclusion, FECRIS should be stripped of its ECOSOC consultative status at the UN. Its aims and activities are in complete opposition to the aims and purposes of the UN. Further, Russian FECRIS associates are actively supporting the war in Ukraine.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Respectfully

ORGANIZATIONS
Bitter Winter, a daily magazine on religious liberty and human rights
Boat People SOS (BPSOS)
Campaign to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA)
CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions
Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam
European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FOB)
European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom (EIFRF)
Gerard Noodt Foundation
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Jubilee Campaign USA
The All Faiths Network UK
The Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion Belief and Conscience (LIREC)
The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC)
Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
Union of Councils for Jews in the former Soviet Union (UCSJ)
INDIVIDUALS
Greg Mitchell , Chair, IRF Roundtable, Chair, IRF Secretariat
Prof. Alla Aristova, Ukrainian Encyclopedia
Eileen Barker OBE FBA, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics
Prof. Alla Boyko , Institute of Journalism, Shevchenko University of Kyiv – Ukraine
Keegan Burke, DC branch director Alliance of Religions
Prof. Yurii Chornomorets, Drahomanov University – Ukraine
Anuttama Dasa, Global Director of Communications, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)
Soraya M Deen, Founder, Muslim Women Speakers
Nguyen Dinh Thang, PhD, Laureate of the 2011 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award
Prof. Vitalii Dokash, Vice-President, Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
Prof. Liudmyla Fylypovych, Vice-President Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
George Gigicos, Co-Founder and Chairman, The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC)
Nathan Haddad, Coordinator, OIAC (Organization of Iranian American Communities)
Lauren Homer, President, Law and Liberty Trust
PhD Oksana Horkusha, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Massimo Introvigne, Editor in Chief, Bitter Winter, a daily magazine on religious liberty and human rights
Ruslan Khalikov, PhD, Member of the Board, Ukrainian Association of Researchers of Religion
Prof. Anatolii Kolodnyi, President, Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
PhD. Hanna Kulagina-Stadnichenko, Secretary, Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
Larry Lerner, President of Union of Councils for Jews in the former Soviet Union (UCSJ)
PhD Svitlana Loznytsia, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Prof. Raffaella Di Marzio, Managing Director, Center for Freedom of Religion Belief and Conscience (LIREC)
Hans Noot, President, Gerard Noodt Foundation
Prof. Oleksandr Sagan, Vice-President, Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
Bachittar Singh Ughrha, Founder and President, Center for defence of human rights
Prof. Roman Sitarchuk, Vice-President, Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies (UARR)
Rev. Dr. Scott Stearman, UN Representative, Baptist World Alliance
Prof. Vita Tytarenko, Grinchenko University – Ukraine
Andrew Veniopoulos, Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman, The Orthodox Public Affairs Committee (OPAC)
PhD Volodymyr Volkovsky, Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Martin Weightman, Director, The All Faith Network
Prof. Leonid Vyhovsky, Khmelnytsky University of Law – Ukraine
Prof. Victor Yelenski, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Former member of the Ukrainian Parliament
Honorary Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Latvia files Allegations of Genocide re Ukraine v. Russian Federation

Latvia files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Statute

THE HAGUE, 22 July 2022. Genocide – On 21 July 2022, the Republic of Latvia, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation).

Pursuant to Article 63 of the Statute, whenever the construction of a convention to which States other than those concerned in the case are parties is in question, each of these States has the right to intervene in the proceedings. In this case, the construction given by the judgment of the Court will be equally binding upon them.

To avail itself of the right of intervention conferred by Article 63 of the Statute, Latvia relies on its status as a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”). It states that “[a]s a Party to the Genocide Convention, Latvia has a direct interest in the construction that might be placed upon that treaty in the Court’s decision in the [proceedings”, indicating that it “wishes to intervene in order to make submissions on [the] construction of the Genocide Convention on issues relating to merits as well as jurisdiction”.

In accordance with Article 83 of the Rules of Court, Ukraine and the Russian Federation have been invited to furnish written observations on Latvia’s declaration of intervention.

Latvia’s declaration of intervention will soon be available on the Court’s website.

History of the proceedings

The history of the proceedings can be found in press releases Nos. 2022/4, 2022/6, 2022/7 and 2022/11, available on the Court’s website.

Note. The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only and do not constitute official documents.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). The Court has a twofold role. first, to settle, in accordance with international law, through judgments which have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned, legal disputes submitted to it by States; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system.

President Macron in Benin should demand the release of Reckya Madougou and Joel Aivo

On the eve of President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Benin, the Brussels-based NGO “Human Rights Without Frontiers” urged the French President to demand the release of two famous opposition leaders, Reckya Madougou and Joël Aivo, respectively sentenced to 20 years and 10 years in prison.

This month, Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) has filed a report with the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Benin, in which the organisation outlined its concerns over human rights abuses in Benin, with particular regard to the continued detention of opposition figures Reckya Madougou and Joël Aivo and the fact that they were not included in a list of 17 detainees due to be temporarily released after a 13 June 2022 meeting between President Patrice Talon and Thomas Boni Yayi, former President of Benin (2006-2016).

Reckya Madougou, from her Facebook account

The submission by HRWF included details about the case of Reckya Madougou who was sentenced at the end of 2021 to 20 years in prison for allegedly financing terrorism. She had been arrested in March 2021 accused of wiring thousands of dollars to a military officer for the purpose of killing unnamed authorities. Her candidacy had earlier been rejected by the electoral commission. HRWF went on to detail that Ms Madougou was the leader of the opposition party, Les Démocrates, and a presidential candidate. HRWF’s statement also described Ms Madougou’s civil society campaign — “Don’t touch my constitution” — that rallied against leaders seeking to extend their rule under the guise of constitutional reform. The movement spread across West Africa, gaining her a high profile.

RMTB, CC BY-SA 4.0, Joel Aivo – via Wikimedia Commons

The HRWF report to the UPR also gave details about the case of Joël Aivo and his December 2021 sentencing by the controversial Economic Crime and Terrorism Court (CRIET) to 10 years in prison for allegedly plotting against the state and laundering money.

HRWF explained in their submission that Mr Aivo is a law professor who challenged Talon in the 2021 election. He was held for eight months ahead of sentencing and pleaded not guilty to the charges of plotting against the state and money laundering.

HRWF has been monitoring the backsliding that has been taking place around human rights in Benin since 2016. “We were especially dismayed to see that Reckya Madougou and Joël Aivo were not on the June 2022 list of 17 detainees to be temporarily released. Ms Madougou and Mr Aivo should be fully released immediately. The persecution and detention of opposition figures has no place in a democracy and we are concerned for the welfare of these two politicians. President Macron must use his visit to Benin to demand that President Patrice Talon release them,” Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers told The European Times.

Spanish Psychiatrist Criado condemned to one year in prison

Spanish Psychiatrist Criado has just been condemned to one year in prison for ‘inappropriate, foul and humiliating’ treatment of his patient. In addition, the psychiatrist, with a practice in Seville, will have to compensate the victim with 5,000 euros for moral damages.

Article is written originally in Spanish by Rosalina Moreno. for the famous legal newsroom CONFILEGAL. [Here it is translated to make it known in other languages]

The 9th Criminal Court of Seville (Spain) has condemned a psychiatrist, José Javier C. F., to one year in prison for a crime against moral integrity, with the aggravating circumstance of undue delay, for the “inappropriate, vulgar and humiliating” treatment of one of his patients.

1 YEAR OF PRISON AND 5.000 EUROS COMPENSATION FOR MORAL DAMAGE

In addition to the prison sentence, he was banned from communicating with or approaching the victim within 300 metres for two years and ordered to pay the victim 5,000 euros in compensation for moral damages.

The ruling, handed down on 31 June (352 /2022), was signed by Judge Isabel Guzmán Muñoz and has just become public.

The patient filed the complaint on 17 December 2015 together with seven other women who reported similar events, but for which these proceedings are not being pursued as they have been declared time-barred on appeal by order of 11 January 2017 by the Seville Provincial Court (Seventh Section).

The case has been handled by lawyer Inmaculada Torres Moreno.

THE PROVEN FACTS

The head of Criminal Court 9 of Seville considers it proven that the plaintiff attended the private consultation of José Javier C. F., in Seville, on 20 and 26 January and 4 and 9 February 2015 – the first of them accompanied by her husband -, receiving “at all times inappropriate, foul and humiliating treatment” by the convicted person, who, “without at any time taking an interest in her psychiatric history, continuously uttered denigrating expressions and enquired about her sex life”.

According to her, he asked her “how many times she had fucked that week” or commented that sending her pills was for nothing “because a good fuck would cure her“, urging her to “wear red thongs, red high heels… because that was what her husband and any man would get her like that” (gesturing with his arm to simulate an erection).

wear red thongs, red high heels… because that was what her husband and any man would get her like that

The judge describes in the ruling various phrases that the psychiatrist uttered to the victim in these consultations, in which he frequently addressed her with expressions such as “crazy” (sometimes even in front of other patients), also telling her “this crazy woman cannot be cured“, while at the same time maintaining a jocular attitude towards her for being a fan of the Real Betis Balompié football club or liking Easter Week.

According to the judge, the victim, who presented depressive episodes of anxiety, “used to leave the consultations in a state of despondency and anxiety“, and after consulting with her husband, she decided to stop going…

THE PLAINTIF’S STATEMENT IS ‘TOTALLY CREDIBLE’.

The prosecution charged him with a continuous crime against moral integrity, articles 74 and 173.1 of the Spanish Criminal Code, and asked that he be sentenced to two years in prison and that he be prohibited from communicating with or approaching the victim within 300 meters for three years, and that he compensate the victim with 6,000 euros.

The private prosecution, for its part, accused him of a crime against moral integrity under article 173.1, and demanded two and a half years in prison, a ban on communication and approaching within 500 meters of the victim for a period of five years longer than the prison sentence imposed and 40,000 euros in compensation for the physical and psychological harm and moral damage caused.

In imposing the prison sentence, the judge particularly valued the “seriousness” of the facts, “damaging with his conduct the integrity of a very vulnerable person, in view of his specific medical situation, and likewise, the fact that the action was not an isolated act“, specifying that “criminal continuity is not penalised as such, since in crimes against moral integrity, degrading treatment is integrated by a reiteration of acts that can be inserted in the typical unit of action provided for in article 173. 1 of the punitive text, which in itself excludes the concept of a continuous offence”.

Guzmán Muñoz indicates that it has not been duly accredited that the victim has suffered objective psychological harm as a result of the actions of the convicted person. However, he explains that the accredited reality of the facts and their content demonstrates a situation of “unavoidable moral damage beyond its objective verification“. She argues that in this case, the moral damage “results from the protected legal right and the seriousness of the action that has criminally damaged her“, and therefore sentences José Javier C. F. to compensate the plaintif with 5,000 euros.

An amount that the judge considers “proportionate and adequate” in view of the circumstances of the case, the context in which the events took place and their description; their duration, as well as the impact that the events have had on the victim, their evolution and the damage to dignity caused, without reaching the amount claimed by the private prosecution, on the grounds that the possible consequences suffered have not been expressly defined.

The judge emphasised that the prosecution’s evidence focused on the victim’s witness statement, which “is totally credible”, being “clear and thorough, despite the time that has elapsed since the events, coherent, with no contradictions and persistent“, is “surrounded by objective peripheral corroborations that reinforce the plausibility of her testimony” and “is supported” by various medical and psychological reports.

Thus, the judge refers to the testimony of the plaintif’s ex-husband, who accompanied her in the first consultation, or that of several patients who went to the psychiatrist’s practice for various mental health problems and who agreed “on the humiliating treatment they were given, with the defendant repeatedly engaging in conduct of a sexual nature, [and them] being subjected to continuous interrogations to find out their sexual tastes, which made them feel humiliated and not treated with respect“.

“These witnesses have narrated their different experiences in the oral trial, which will not be dealt with in this decision, so as not to cause any defencelessness as they have been declared time-barred and cannot be prosecuted, but even if they are not examined, their testimony of reference must be valued,” she explains.

FEELINGS OF ANGUISH AND INFERIORITY

The magistrate highlights that in the case in question, “the victim’s statement, persistent, coherent and objectively corroborated, is rationally sufficient to prove the commission of the crime, despite the fact that the defendant, using his right to defence, denies the facts, even having treated patients in a familiar and close manner, or having used some crude expression with them, as the forcefulness of the statements made contradict his version of the facts“.

In the judge’s opinion, “there is no doubt that the subjection by a psychiatrist to a patient with mental disorders to a situation of humiliation with comments” such as those described in the rulin, constitute the behaviour punishable under article 173 of the Spanish Criminal Code, since “such expressions are not only inappropriate for the doctor-patient relationship, but also created feelings of anguish and inferiority in the victim, likely to humiliate her, taking into account that she was a particularly vulnerable person due to her psychiatric history“.

The sentence is not final. An appeal may be filed against it with the Provincial Court of Seville.

such expressions are not only inappropriate for the doctor-patient relationship, but also created feelings of anguish and inferiority in the victim

Hate speech ‘dehumanizes individuals and communities’: Guterres

UNESCO says that hate speech is on the rise worldwide.

Hate speech incites violence, undermines diversity and social cohesion and “threatens the common values and principles that bind us together,” the UN chief said in his message for the first-ever International Day for Countering Hate Speech.

“It promotes racism, xenophobia and misogyny; it dehumanizes individuals and communities; and it has a serious impact on our efforts to promote peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development,” underscored Secretary-General António Guterres.

Dangerous words

He explained that words can be weaponized and cause physical harm.

Ahead of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech and everyday, join UN Human Rights Chief @mbachelet and say #NoToHate. pic.twitter.com/czn8Pokmxf

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) June 17, 2022

The escalation from hate speech to violence, has played a significant role in the most horrific and tragic crimes of the modern age, from the antisemitism driving the Holocaust, to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, he said. 

“The internet and social media have turbocharged hate speech, enabling it to spread like wildfire across borders,” added the UN chief.

Fighting back

The spread of hate speech against minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic has further shown that many societies are highly vulnerable to the stigma, discrimination and conspiracies it promotes.

In response to this growing threat, three years ago, Mr. Guterres launched the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech – a new framework to support Member States in countering the scourge, while also managing to respect freedom of expression and opinion.

It was undertaken in collaboration with civil society, media, technology companies and social media platforms.

And last year, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue to counter hate speech – and proclaimed the International Day.

“Hate speech is a danger to everyone and fighting it, is a job for everyone,” said the UN chief.

“This first International Day to Counter Hate Speech is a call to action. Let us recommit to doing everything in our power to prevent and end hate speech by promoting respect for diversity and inclusivity”.

Hate fuelling hostilities

In a sign of how the phenomenon is becoming an increasing problem, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Nderitu, expressed their “deep alarm” on Friday, over the hate speech that is fuelling violence against civilians, in long-running clashes between the M23 rebel group and Government forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The two top officials called for the uptick in attacks against civilians to stop immediately.

“We call on all parties to respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” they stressed.

The UN senior officials singled out that hate speech and “incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence nationwide” – directed specifically against Kinyarwanda speakers – was an important factor, as the DRC Government has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23.

“Hate speech fuels the conflict by exacerbating mistrust between communities,” they said.

“It focuses on aspects that have previously mattered less, incites a discourse of ‘us vs. them’, and corrodes social cohesion between communities that have previously lived together”.

Spreading hatred

So far, the UN has documented eight cases of hate speech and incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence and it has been spread by political party figures, community leaders, civil society actors, as well as the Congolese diaspora.

“Times of heightened political tensions and armed conflict tend to correlate with increased use of hate speech and incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” the two top officials stated.

“Hateful messages heighten the risk of violence, including atrocity crimes targeting specific groups of people [and] should be roundly condemned by the highest national authorities and curbed.”

Both women encouraged Parliament to expedite the adoption of the bill on “racism, xenophobia and tribalism” to strengthen the legal framework to address and counter hate speech.

 

Council of Europe finalizing stand on deinstitutionalisation of persons with disabilities

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the end of April approved a Recommendation and a Resolution on the deinstitutionalisation of persons with disabilities. These are providing important guidelines in the process of implementing human rights in this field for the years to come. The senior decision-making body of the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers, as part of the final process now asked three of its committees to review the Assembly Recommendation and provide possible comments by mid-June. The Committee of Ministers is then to finalize its and thereby the Council of Europe’s stand on the deinstitutionalisation of persons with disabilities.

The Parliamentary Assembly reiterated in its Recommendation the urgent need for the Council of Europe, “to fully integrate the paradigm shift initiated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) into its work.”

Assembly Recommendation

The Assembly specifically requested support for member States “in their development, in co-operation with organisations of persons with disabilities, of adequately funded, human-rights compliant strategies for deinstitutionalisation”. The parliamentarians stressed this should be done with clear time frames and benchmarks with a view to a genuine transition to independent living for persons with disabilities. And that this should be in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 19 on living independently and being included in the community.

The Assembly secondly recommended the Committee of Ministers to “prioritise support to member States to immediately start transitioning to the abolition of coercive practices in mental health settings.” And the parliamentarians further stressed that in dealing with children, who has been placed in mental health settings, one has to ensure that the transmission is child-centred and human-rights compliant.

The Assembly as a final point recommended that in line with the unanimously adopted Assembly Recommendation 2158 (2019), Ending coercion in mental health: the need for a human rights-based approach that the Council of Europe and its member states “refrain from endorsing or adopting draft legal texts which would make successful and meaningful deinstitutionalisation, as well as the abolition of coercive practices in mental health settings more difficult, and which go against the spirit and the letter of the CRPD.”

With this final point the Assembly pointed to the controversial drafted possible new legal instrument regulating the protection of persons during the use of coercive measures in psychiatry. This is a text which the Council of Europe’s Committee on Bioethics has drafted in extension of the Council of Europe Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. The convention’s article 7, which is the main relevant text in question as well as its reference text, the European Convention on Human Rights article 5 (1)(e), contain viewpoints based on outdated discriminatory policies from the first part of the 1900s.

Prevention versus ban

The drafted possible new legal instrument has been severely criticized as despite its stated seemingly important intend of protecting victims of coercive brutalities in psychiatry potentially amounting to torture it in effect perpetuate a Eugenics ghost in Europe. The viewpoint of regulating and preventing as much as possible such harmful practices is in stark opposition to the requirements of modern human rights, that simply ban them.

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers following the receipt of the Assembly Recommendation communicated it to its Steering Committee for Human Rights in the fields of Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO), for information and possible comments by 17 June 2022. It is noted that this is the very committee, though with a new name, that had drafted the controversial possible new legal instrument regulating the protection of persons during the use of coercive measures in psychiatry.

The Committee of Ministers also sent the Recommendation to the Steering Committee for the Rights of the Child (CDENF) and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) for comments. The CPT had earlier expressed a support of the need to protect persons subjected to coercive measures in psychiatry, as clearly these measures may be degrading and inhumane. It is noted that the CPT, like other bodies within the Council of Europe has been bound by its own conventions including the outdated text of the European Convention on Human Rights article 5.

The Committee of Ministers based on the possible comments from the three committees will then prepare its stand and a reply “at an early date”. It is to be seen if the Committee of Ministers will go beyond the outdated texts of their own conventions to actually implement modern human rights in all of Europe. Only the Committee of Ministers has the full authority to set the direction for the Council of Europe.

Resolution

The Committee of Ministers in addition to reviewing the Assembly’s Recommendation also took note of the Assembly’s Resolution, that address Council of Europe member States.

The Assembly is recommending the European states – in line with their obligations under international law, and inspired by the work of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – to implement human-rights compliant strategies for deinstitutionalisation. The resolution also calls on national parliaments to take the necessary steps to progressively repeal legislation authorising institutionalisation of persons with disabilities, as well as mental health legislation allowing for treatment without consent and detention based on impairment, with a view to ending coercion in mental health.

Russia: A Danish Jehovah’s Witness released after five years in prison

After five years spent in prison, Dennis Christensen was released this Tuesday 24^th May. He is expected to be deported to Denmark on Wednesday morning.

Dennis Christensen has served 5 years of his 6-year sentence. This is because his two years in pretrial detention counts as three years towards his sentence.

He was the first to be arrested and sentenced to prison following the April 2017 Russian Supreme Court ruling that liquidated the Witnesses legal entities. He has been in prison the longest, although in recent years others have been sentenced to longer terms, as much as eight years.

Dennis Christensen was born in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 1972 into a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In 1991 he graduated from the courses of carpentry and in 1993 he received a diploma of construction technician at the Higher School of Craftsmen in Haslev (Denmark).

In 1995 he went to St. Petersburg to volunteer in the construction of Jehovah’s Witnesses buildings in Solnechnoye. In 1999 he moved to Murmansk where he met his future wife Irina, who by then had become a Jehovah’s Witness relatively recently. They got married in 2002, and in 2006 decided to move south to Oryol.

On February 6, 2019, the Zheleznodorozhny District Court found Christensen guilty of extremism. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison to be served in a penal colony located in Lgov (Kursk region). On May 23, 2019, the Court of Appeal upheld this verdict.

Christensen Timeline

• May 25, 2017, he was arrested and detained when heavily armed police officers and Federal Security Service (FSB) raided a peaceful weekly religious service of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Oryol, Russia.
• May 26, 2017, he was ordered to be held in pretrial detention.
• February 6, 2019, he was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.
• May 23, 2019, he lost his appeal.

2017 Russian Supreme Court Ruling

·         The April 20, 2022, Supreme Court ruling, albeit grossly unjust, simply liquidated all of the Witnesses’ legal entities, Local Religious Organizations (LROs), in Russia and Crimea, declaring them “extremist”. During the 2017 Supreme Court hearing, the Russian government claimed that individual Witnesses would be free to practice their faith. However, the government’s claim of allowing freedom to worship has been inconsistent with its actions.

o   Additional references (link1; link2)

Home Raids, Criminal Cases, and Imprisonment (Russia + Crimea)

1755 homes raided, almost one per day, since the 2017 Supreme Court ruling

625 JWs involved in 292 criminal cases

91 total in prison, over 325 have spent some time behind bars

o   23 convicted and sentenced to prison

o   68 in pretrial detention facilities awaiting conviction or have been convicted but awaiting results of first appeal

Longest, harshest prison sentence

§  Male: 8 years—Aleksey Berchuk, Rustam Diarov, Yevgeniy Ivanov, and Sergey Klikunov

§  Female: 6 years—Anna Safronova

§  In comparison, according to Article 111 Part 1 of the Criminal Code, grievous bodily harm draws a maximum of 8 years sentence; Article 126 Part 1 of the Criminal Code, kidnapping leads to up to 5 years in prison; Article 131 Part 1 of the Criminal Code, rape is punishable with 3 to 6 years in 

§  The terms escalated in 2021.  Previous years the maximum sentence was 6.5, but in 2021 it jumped to 8 years, as noted above

§  Number of prison sentences annually steadily increased: 2019-2, 2020—4, 2021—27

WHO: The Quality Rights e-training for a paradigm shift in mental health

Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights delivered a statement for the launch of an unheard “Quality Rights” e-training that will help, among other things, put an end to systemic abuses in psychiatry and mental health.

Michelle Bachelet:

Greetings to all. Thank you to the World Health Organization for inviting UN Human Rights to take part in the launch and rollout of this vital e-training. It is an honour to participate.

Today’s launch of the Quality Rights e-training is timely, and its focus on mental health, recovery and community inclusion could not be more crucial.

As we are all aware, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the devastating social impacts of global health crises. The years of neglect and underinvestment in mental health has been heavily exposed, as has the longstanding stigma of mental health conditions and discrimination against people with psychosocial disabilities.

Their human rights are continuously under threat.

We urgently need a paradigm shift. My Office’s recent report on mental health and human rights highlighted that people with mental health conditions and with psychosocial disabilities face all kinds of discrimination. They are often denied legal capacity on the basis of their disability, forcibly admitted to institutional settings, and coerced into treatment.

This is happening because of outdated laws, policies and practices.

Restoring the dignity and rights of people with mental health conditions and with psychosocial disabilities needs to be our priority. We need to discontinue the use of discriminatory laws and practices and advance towards approaches with equality and non-discrimination at their core. Such approaches must conform with international human rights standards as set out in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Quality Rights e-training will play an essential role in transforming attitudes and practices in mental health. It will provide vital support to countries in their implementation of a rights-based and recovery-oriented approach to mental health services.

I am particularly pleased that the e-training is being integrated and delivered in the context of the Special Initiative for Mental Health. Dr Tedros, I commend you for your vision in creating and accelerating the implementation of this initiative and WHO’s commitment to keep mental health high on the human rights, sustainable development and humanitarian agendas.

My Office is committed to continue our collaboration and to support this excellent initiative. I will be inviting all staff to undertake the training, and – through our web and social media channels as well as at high-level events – to actively disseminate it to relevant audiences throughout the world.

As we recover from the pandemic, we have a crucial opportunity to find the path towards better, more inclusive, sustainable societies. Tools such as this can help us take the steps on that path.

Thank you.

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Council of Europe: The battle for human rights in mental health continues

The decision-making body of the Council has started its review process of a controversial drafted text that aim at protecting human rights and dignity of persons who are subjected to coercive measures in psychiatry. The text however has been the subject of widespread and consistent criticism since the work on it started several years ago. The United Nations human rights mechanism has pointed to the legal incompatibility with an existing UN human rights convention, that outlaw the use of these discriminatory and potentially abusive and humiliating practices in psychiatry. UN human rights experts has expressed a shock that the Council of Europe with the work on this new legal instrument that allows the use of these practices under certain conditions might “reverse all positive developments in Europe”. This criticism has been strengthened by voices within the Council of Europe itself, international disability and mental health groups and many others.

Mr Mårten Ehnberg, the Swedish member of the decision-making body of the Council of Europe, called the Committee of Ministers, told the European Times: “The views regarding the compatibility of the draft with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are of course of great importance.”

“CRPD is the most comprehensive instrument protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. It is also the starting point for the Swedish disability policy,” he added.

He stressed that Sweden is a strong supporter and advocate for the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities, including the right to effectively and fully participate in political and public life on an equal basis with others.

Discrimination on the grounds of disability should not occur

Mr Mårten Ehnberg noted that “Discrimination on the grounds of disability should not occur anywhere in society. Health care must be offered to everyone based on need and on equal terms. Care must be provided with respect of the individual patient’s needs. This is of course also applicable regarding psychiatric care.”

With this he puts his finger on the sore spot. The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – the UN Committee that monitors the implementation of the CRPD – during the first part of the drafting process of this possible new legal text of the Council of Europe issued a written statement to the Council of Europe. The Committee stated that: “The Committee would like to highlight that involuntary placement or institutionalization of all persons with disabilities, and particularly of persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, including persons with ‘‘mental disorders’’, is outlawed in international law by virtue of article 14 of the Convention, and constitutes arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of liberty of persons with disabilities as it is carried out on the basis of actual or perceived impairment.”

To make any doubts on the question whether this concern all coercive psychiatric treatment, the UN Committee added, “The Committee would like to recall that involuntary institutionalization and involuntary treatment, which are grounded on therapeutic or medical necessity, do not constitute measures for protecting the human rights of persons with disabilities, but they are an infringement of persons with disabilities’ rights to liberty and security and their right to physical and mental integrity.”

Parliamentary assembly opposed

The UN does not stand alone. Mr Mårten Ehnberg told the European Times that “The Council of Europe’s work with the current drafted text (additional protocol) has previously been opposed by, inter alia, the Parliament of the Council of Europe (PACE), which on two occasions has recommended the Committee of Ministers to withdraw the proposal to draw up this protocol, on the basis that such an instrument, according to PACE, would be incompatible with the member states’ human rights obligations.”

Mr Mårten Ehnberg to this noted, that the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers in turn had stated that “the utmost should be done to promote alternatives to involuntary measures but that such measures nevertheless, subject to strict protective conditions, may be justified in exceptional situations where there is a risk of serious damage to the health of the person concerned or to others.”

With this he quoted a statement that had been formulated in 2011, and has been used since by those who speak in favour of the drafted legal text.

It was originally formulated as part of the initial consideration whether a Council of Europe text regulating the use of coercive measures in psychiatry would be necessary or not.

During this early phase of the deliberation a Statement on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was drafted by the Council of Europe Committee on Bioethics. While seemingly concerning the CRPD the statement however factually only considers the Committee’s own Convention, and its reference work – the European Convention on Human Rights, referring to them as “international texts”.

The statement has been noted as rather deceptive. It lays out that the Council of Europe Committee on Bioethics considered the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly whether articles 14, 15 and 17 were compatible with “the possibility to subject under certain conditions a person who has a mental disorder of a serious nature to involuntary placement or involuntary treatment, as foreseen in other national and international texts.” The statement then confirms this.

Comparative text on the key point in the statement of the Committee on Bioethics however show it in reality does not consider the CRPD’s text or spirit, but only text straight out of the Committee’s own convention:

• The Council of Europe Committee’s Statement on the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: “Involuntary treatment or placement may only be justified, in connection with a mental disorder of a serious nature, if from the absence of treatment or placement serious harm is likely to result to the person’s health or to a third party.”

• Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, Article 7: “Subject to protective conditions prescribed by law, including supervisory, control and appeal procedures, a person who has a mental disorder of a serious nature may be subjected, without his or her consent, to an intervention aimed at treating his or her mental disorder only where, without such treatment, serious harm is likely to result to his or her health.”

Further preparation of the drafted text

Mr Mårten Ehnberg, said that during the continued preparations, Sweden will continue to monitor that the necessary protective principles are upheld.

He stressed that, “It is not acceptable if compulsory care is used in a way that means that persons with disabilities, including psychosocial disabilities, are discriminated against and treated in an unacceptable way.”

He added that the Swedish Government is highly committed, both nationally and internationally, to further improve the enjoyment of human rights by persons with mental ill-health and disabilities, including psychosocial disabilities, as well as to promote the development of voluntary, community-based support and services.

He finished off noting, that the Swedish Government’s work regarding the rights of persons with disabilities will continue unabated.

In Finland the government also follow the process closely. Ms Krista Oinonen, Director of the Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions, Ministry for Foreign Affairs told the European Times, that: “Throughout the drafting process, Finland has also sought a constructive dialogue with civil society actors, and the Government is keeping Parliament duly informed. The Government has lately organised an extensive round of consultations among a large group of relevant authorities, CSOs and human rights actors.”

Ms Krista Oinonen could not give a conclusive viewpoint on the drafted possible legal text, as in Finland, the discussion about the draft text is still ongoing.

Justice and reparations still critical, 30 years on from Sarajevo siege

Thirty years after the siege of Sarajevo, the UN team in Bosnia and Herzegovina reiterated the importance on Wednesday of pursuing justice and reparation for victims, survivors and their family members.

The siege began after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence in the wake of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. 

Bosnian Serbs largely opposed independence, while the other two large ethnic groups, Muslim Bosniaks and Croats, favoured the split from Belgrade. 

Bosnian Serb troops started bombarding the capital city in April 1992, a sustained assault which lasted for nearly four years. 

This was the longest blockade since the Second World War, with more than 12,000 people killed, and marked a key moment in the Bosnian War. 

Fighting denial of atrocities 

The UN Resident Coordinator for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ingrid Macdonald, has met with survivors’ associations across the country. 

Ms. Macdonald continues to spotlight the importance of countering the denial of atrocity crimes and glorification of war criminals, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, speaking during his daily briefing from New York. 

“She said that such rhetoric perpetuates the suffering of survivors and families of victims and has no place in a democratic society,” Mr. Dujarric told journalists. 

© UNICEF/LeMoyne

Women near the town of Kladanj, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1995).

End hatred and discrimination  

Ms. Macdonald has also appealed for political leaders to take measures to prevent and act upon all manifestations of hatred and discrimination. 

They are also urged to ensure all people there live in an environment of mutual understanding, respect and dignity.   

The UN has repeatedly spoken out against rising hate speech in the country, and in neighbouring Serbia, decades after the Bosnian War. 

The conflict ended in December 1995 and was among the bloodiest fighting to occur in Europe during the last century. 

Horrific crimes were committed, including ethnic cleansing campaigns such as the July 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslim men and boys in Srebrnica. 

Last June, a UN court upheld the 2017 life sentence imposed on Bosnia Serb military chief Ratko Mladić who commanded the killings. 

Moscow Patriarch Kirill: War has a metaphysical significance against gay parade

On March 6, 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. At the end of the service, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church delivered a sermon.[1]

In his sermon, Kirill, who has already been heard several times defending and justifying war since the first day it started, has explained why “this spring has been overshadowed by grave events related to the deterioration of the political situation in the Donbas”.

His explanation, which is aligned with anti-West rethoric to justify war, goes like this:
“For eight years there have been attempts to destroy what exists in the Donbass. And in the Donbass there is rejection, a fundamental rejection of the so-called values ​​that are offered today by those who claim world power. Today there is such a test for the loyalty of this government, a kind of pass to that “happy” world, the world of excess consumption, the world of visible “freedom”. Do you know what this test is? The test is very simple and at the same time terrible – this is a gay parade. The demands on many to hold a gay parade are a test of loyalty to that very powerful world; and we know that if people or countries reject these demands, then they do not enter into that world, they become strangers to it.”

He adds that: “If humanity recognizes that sin is not a violation of God’s law, if humanity agrees that sin is one of the options for human behavior, then human civilization will end there. And gay parades are designed to demonstrate that sin is one of the variations of human behavior.”

So the war “has not only political significance. We are talking about something different and much more important than politics. We are talking about human salvation, about where humanity will end up, on which side of God the Savior, who comes into the world as the Judge and Creator, on the right or on the left…All of the above indicates that we have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance.”

And which side you choose “is today a test for our faithfulness to the Lord, for our ability to confess faith in our Savior.”

And he ends up by praying for soldiers, which we guess are not the “evil forces” of the Ukrainian army: “let us pray that all those who are fighting today, who are shedding blood, who are suffering, will also enter into this joy of the Resurrection in peace and tranquility.”

Is that a good day to die?

Happy crusades!

[1] http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/5906442.html

Russian opposition “disorganized” - War situation in Russia

How is the war being felt inside the Russian Federation? Read here the impact of the invasion in Russia.

The source for this article chose to maintain anonymity.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its 6th day, the situation in Russia gets worse and worse. Not only for the opposition but for all Russians. There are “many” people against the war, but most are afraid to speak out, mainly because most people are public servants or work for oligarch-owned companies, and so don’t want to lose their jobs.

“The people who are against the war want to protest but are too afraid to lose their jobs, get jailed, pay fines or just get hardly beaten by the police…”

The number of people arrested in protests against the war and Putin’s regime are already in the thousands, most sources say.

“The Russian opposition is disorganized, as many left the country or were jailed after Alexander Navalny’s return last year.” – “(…) the Russians aren’t really used to self-organization, especially in protest activity.”

As the western sanctions get tougher and tougher, the economic situation in Russia is starting to get desperate.

“Right now many people are storming shops to buy cars, electronics, and other items before the sanctions go into effect.” – Many international corporations have already said that they will stop imports to Russia.

“My friend told me that many people rushed to buy dollars and euros, as the rouble has become insanely volatile, but the Russian banks are having problems providing for the population.”

According to the source, Russians are having issues entering social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. “The Russian state announced that it will slow social media sites on Russian territory as the companies declined to stop calling Russian media outlets reports as “fake news”.

ETHIOPIA: The UN needs to investigate massacres of civilians in war and no-war zones

An independent UN inquiry commission needs to investigate the innumerable killings of civilians that have been perpetrated on the margin of the frontal conflict opposing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) since November 2020, including in the Afar, Amhara, Benishangul and Oromia regions. The EU-Africa Summit in Brussels this week should also address this issue.

In addition to data collection about war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in the Tigray region, it is urgent to map massacres of civilians of other ethnic groups all over the country, to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. In this regard, the Amhara and Afar regions should be prioritized but tragedies also took place in other places.

After the 3 November 2020 attack of a federal military base in the Tigray region, Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed launched a military offensive in the rebellious region.

During this war, the TPLF troops have killed non-Tigrayan civilians in their own region, invaded parts of the Amhara and Afar regions where they have perpetrated crimes against humanity, and used sexual violence as a war weapon. A few examples.

November 2020: In Maikadra, 600 to 1200 Amhara victims in the Tigray region

Less than a week after the conflict began, a community comprised largely of ethnic Amharas was targeted by a Tigrayan youth group known as “Samri,” close to the TPLF.

On 9 November 2020, at least 717 people in the town of Maikadra (Tigray Region) were brutally murdered in homes they shared with fellow seasonal workers and their families. The victims were largely Amhara.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigated the mass killing and declared in its report: “Before retreating from the advance of the ENDF, the local militia and police security apparatus joined forces with members of the Samri group to carry out door-to-door raids and kill hundreds of people they identified as ethnic ‘Amharas and Wolkait origin’, by  beating them with sticks, stabbing them with knives, machetes and hatchets, and strangling them with ropes’.”

The EHRC then estimated that at least 600 civilians were killed but that the death toll could be higher.

Some other estimates of those killed in Maikadra range as high as 1,200, including bodies discovered in mass graves near Abune Aregwai Church, according to the US 2020 Report Human Rights Report.

August 2021: In two months, 300 cases of sexual violence in the Amhara region

Sexual violence has been used by TPLF combatants as a weapon of war, according to a report prepared by the Amhara Association of America for Amnesty International.

Between August and September, over 300 instances of sexually-based gender violence (SBGV) were reported, including 112 incidents of rape, in the North and South Gondar zones of the Amhara region, though the actual figures are believed to be significantly higher. 

Victims have reported not only the physical and emotional trauma that coincides with sexual violence. They have also faced social stigmatization, venereal diseases and (the threat of) unwanted pregnancy. 

August 2021: Amharas killed in the Oromia region

In August 2021, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), a splinter group of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) killed more than 200 people in the Oromia region, according to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Most of them were Amharas, who had often faced similar attacks in the past.

September 2021: In two days, 120 civilians were killed in the Amhara region

In a village 10 km from the town of Dabat (Amhara region), fighters loyal to the TPLF killed 120 civilians over two days, local officials told Reuters.

Chalachew, the Gondar city spokesperson, said that he had visited the burial area in the village and that children, women and elderly were among the dead. He said the killings occurred during the Tigrayan forces’ “short presence” in the area.

January-February 2022: Massacres in other regions

In this year only, about one thousand homes were burnt down in Benishangul-Gumuz, Metekel zone. In the recent past, 300 civilians were killed in the same region, 80 in January 2021 and 220 in December 2020, as reported by Reuters.

In February 2022, 300 Amharas were first killed in Kiramu (Oromia region, Welega zone) and some days later 168 more, according to a governmental source. Moreover, according to the opposition media outlet Ethio 360, a dozen families with children were captured by an OLF rebel group in the Shewa zone, Oromia region, on the road to Addis Abeba, and a number of them were executed.

In the news in February 2022: UN Deputy Secretary-General in the field

In an article of The Ethiopian Herald, Mengisteab Teshome wrote that the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed, had recently visited towns and villages controlled for a short period by the TPLF.

“The Deputy Secretary-General has observed vandalized and damaged public and private facilities, witnessed mass burial committed by fighters of the terrorist group in Afar and Amhara states; particularly in Kombolcha and South Wollo zone of Amhara State, reported FBC,” he wrote.

In another article of The Ethiopian Herald dated, Solomon Dibaba wrote:

“According to the education sector annual report released by the Ministry of Education in 2021, a total of 7000 schools were destroyed in Amhara and Afar in a single year. Out of this, 455 were destroyed in Afar pushing 88,000 children totally out of school. Through shelling conducted by terrorist TPLF, 240 persons have been killed in a single shelling incident out of which 107 were children.”

A report of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

In November 2021, the EHRC published a 33-page well-documented report titled “Amhara region: Redress and recovery for areas in South Gondar and North Wollo zones affected by the conflict/ The violations and abuses may amount to war crimes.”

The report covers the period July-August 2021. The investigation mission held 128 interviews and 21 focus group discussions with survivors, victims, local civil administration and security officials, CSOs and humanitarian organizations.

The Commission found that at least 184 civilians had been killed and many suffered physical and psychological injuries as a result of the war. TPLF fighters were found to have willfully killed scores of civilians in towns and rural areas they captured and systematically committed large scale looting and destruction of public and private properties.

In his conclusions, the EHRC Chief Commissioner called on all parties to the conflict to respect their obligation not to target civilians and civilian buildings. He also recommended that the perpetrators of such violations be held accountable.

Anti-war Jehovah’s Witnesses claim some Nazi-time archives from Germany

Germany: Property of archives in a German military museum claimed by anti-war Jehovah’s Witnesses

As reported by The New York Times on 25 January, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany are seeking to obtain the extensive archives of the Kusserow family, decimated by the Nazis during WW II, which are currently held by the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, Germany. Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany claim to be the legal heir to the archive.

Noteworthy is that Jehovah’s Witnesses have always been against war and military solutions in conflictual situations between two or several countries. In conformity with their religious beliefs, they have always refused to carry out military service everywhere around the world. Thousands of them in South Korea, Greece, France and many other countries have spent many years in prison because of their anti-war religious beliefs and in Nazi Germany, a number of their objectors were even executed. ‘Irony of history’, a military museum is now in possession of the decimated Kusserow family and beyond the legal property issue, German Jehovah’s Witnesses feel offended by what they call a gross moral injustice. For years, they have only been able to see the Kusserow family archive in a military building exhibiting all sorts of weapons used to kill and destroy.

The 13 members of the Kusserow family were harshly persecuted by the Nazi regime because of their religious identity. Two of the boys, Wilhelm and Wolfgang, were executed for not supporting the Nazi military effort.

Their youngest and only living sibling, Paul-Gerhard Kusserow, asserted: “My brothers died for refusing to participate in military service. I don’t find it proper that this inheritance is stored in a military museum.” Therefore, primarily to address this moral wrong, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany are seeking to obtain the Kusserow archive from the museum.

Additionally, Jehovah’s Witnesses say they have documentation to prove that Annemarie Kusserow, the eldest sibling, bequeathed Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany the archive that she meticulously compiled. The archive consists of over 1,000 items that include photographs, drawings, pre-execution farewell letters, death penalty pronouncements, and classified Gestapo reports.

Annemarie died in 2005. Subsequently, the Witnesses discovered the Bundeswehr Military History Museum had obtained the archive. According to the museum, they bought it in good faith from a Kusserow family member—who was no longer affiliated with Jehovah’s Witnesses and has since died.

For nearly seven years, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany have been unable to reach a peaceful settlement with the museum and have taken legal action to acquire it.

If successful, the Witnesses plan to display the Kusserow archive in their museum at the Central Europe office in Selters, Germany. It will then be accessible to any visitor free of charge.

History of the Persecution of the Kusserow Family

• Wilhelm Kusserow was one of the first conscientious objectors executed by Nazis during World War II. He was killed by firing squad
• Wolfgang Kusserow, a younger brother of Wilhelm, was beheaded two years later
• Franz Kusserow, the father, was imprisoned three times. Annemarie and Waltraud, two of the daughters, were imprisoned
• The mother, Hilda Kusserow, as well as two of her daughters, Hildegard and Magdalena, were imprisoned and subsequently sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp
• Karl-Heinz Kusserow, one of the sons, was sent to the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps
• During the 12 years of the Nazi regime, members of the Kusserow family were sentenced to a total of 47 years and 9 months in prisons or concentration camps
• The three youngest children were abducted and sent to Nazi training schools, forbidden to contact their family. Subsequently, they were placed under the care of families who supported the National Socialist party.

EGYPT: Jehovah’s Witnesses banned since 1960 call upon the UN Human Rights Committee

On the occasion of the upcoming 134^th session of the UN Human Rights Committee (28 February – 25 March 2022), the African Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses (AAJW) and the European Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses (EAJW) have filed a joint submission about the situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Egypt banned since 1960.

They request the Government of Egypt to take the necessary steps to:

1. Ensure that Jehovah’s Witnesses are able to register their local religious organizations

2. End the continuous and intrusive surveillance and interrogations of Jehovah’s Witnesses

3. Allow Egyptian and foreign Jehovah’s Witnesses to worship peacefully and to associate with one another;

4. Cancel the directives of the Administration of Land Registration and Documentation of the Ministry of Justice in Egypt that prohibit its agencies from registering title to property belonging to legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses;

5. Abide by its commitment to uphold the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Covenant for all citizens, including Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Religious freedom violations

A decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs dated 20 June 1960 deregistered the local branch of the Watch Tower Society and effectively banned the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The pretext for the ban was an alleged failure to re-register according to Law 384 of 1956. Efforts to re-register were rejected for “security reasons.” All the property owned by Witness entities were confiscated.

For over 60 years, Jehovah’s Witnesses have not been allowed to build or own places of worship. Consequently, they are obliged to hold their religious meetings discreetly, in private homes. Many Witnesses report continued surveillance of their telephone conversations, their homes and their meeting locations. Additionally, the Witnesses are not permitted to import their religious literature or to manifest their religious beliefs by peacefully sharing a Bible message with persons who wish to receive it.

In February 2020, an Egyptian Witness who owns an apartment arranged for it to be completely renovated so as to be suitable for religious meetings and rented it to fellow worshippers. Since Witnesses cannot obtain a zoning permit to use property for their religious meetings, the NSA repeatedly attempted to obtain a copy of the rental contract in order to file charges against the Witnesses involved. Despite repeated telephone calls and threats, the Witnesses refused to give the NSA a copy of the contract. Their agents then interrogated and harassed the Witness landlord and ordered that the apartment be emptied and closed immediately. Subsequently, Jehovah’s Witnesses have not been able to use the property.

On 28 March 2020, a National Security (NSA) agent visited a Witness family in central Cairo to interrogate them about meetings held in their home.

The NSA searches for and threatens Jehovah’s Witnesses who are foreign nationals, especially those believed to be “leading ministers” and those associating with Egyptian Witnesses. During interrogations, agents try to intimidate them and often threaten them with arrest in order to obtain information both about fellow believers in Egypt and about how they are organized. A few examples:

March 2020: NS agents forcefully entered the homes of at least two Egyptian Witnesses, without a warrant or consent, in order to interrogate them about a married Witness couple who were foreign nationals lawfully resident in Egypt. Because of the threat of arrest and deportation, the couple fled Egypt and returned to the United States.

April/May 2020: NS agents interrogated two Sudanese Witnesses about their religious activities

The above incidents have occurred since the European Parliament’s adoption of the 24 October 2019 Resolution on Egypt, which “stresses the importance of guaranteeing the equality of all Egyptians, regardless of their faith or belief; calls for Egypt to review its blasphemy laws in order to ensure the protection of religious minorities … calls on the Egyptian authorities, including the military and security forces, to respect the rights of Christians, protect them against violence and discrimination and ensure that those responsible for such acts are prosecuted.”

During 2021, owing to Covid-19 precautions, all of Jehovah’s Witnesses religious meetings have been held via videoconference. The NSA has strenuously investigated who holds licences for a proprietary videoconferencing system, how meeting details are distributed, who the hosts are, the names of the attendees, etc. Such details constituted part of the information sought during interrogations of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Background

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been present in Egypt since 1912. In the 1930s, they established congregations in Alexandria and in Cairo. By the post-war years of 1945–1950, there were already a significant number of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Egypt.

Well into the 1950s, Egyptian Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoyed relative freedom of worship. On 3 November 1951, the Cairo Governorate granted recognition to a branch of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (Watch Tower Society), a legal corporation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In 1956, the Governorate of Alexandria granted similar recognition to the local congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In 1959, a campaign of false accusations labelling Jehovah’s Witnesses as “Zionists” caused the police to order the Witnesses to cease holding their religious services.

On 20 June 1960, a decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs deregistered the local branch of the Watch Tower Society and effectively banned the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in all Egypt.

Later on, the Administration of Land Registration and Documentation of the Ministry of Justice in Egypt issued three directives (in 1985, 1993 and 1999) that prohibit its agencies from registering any property as well as marriages.

As a result, property cannot be bought or owned in the name of any organized group of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They cannot even obtain land to bury their dead but must use privately owned cemeteries.

Although more than 60 years have passed, officials continue to deny them the opportunity to meet with key authorities in order to resolve the situation.