More than 250 activists defend the right to protest at the organization’s 49th General Assembly

2023-04-20 09:00:00

Image of the 48th General Assembly of Amnesty International Spain held in Donosti in 2022. Copy: AI

• Amnesty International presents ten international and national human rights work priorities for 2023

More than 250 members of Amnesty International come to Santander this weekend to celebrate the organization’s 49th General Assembly.

The meeting will be at the Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria on April 22 and 23 and there they will discuss the action plan of the organization in Spain for the next year and will review the work done during the last year. They will also elect and renew different government positions in the organization.

Here are ten Amnesty International priorities for 2023:

Five international priorities

1. Fight against the brutal repression of protesters who have suffered and are suffering tens of thousands of people in Iran for mobilizing in favor of women’s rights, in Peru for protesting against government policies, which have also had racist overtones against indigenous people and peasants, or in Thailand for showing their opinions against the government, where the persecution has focused on girls and boys.
2. Continue defending the right to abortion in places like the United States, Poland or Andorra and support the defense of the rights of women and girls throughout the world, highlighting the situation in Afghanistan and Iran due to the serious human rights violations that suffer and the lack of international visibility they receive.
3. Intensify the denunciation of the persecution of defenders, activists, journalists, dissidents and civil society in the world, with special mention of Central America, where the situation is particularly serious.
4. Continue working against human rights violations that occur in armed conflicts, especially in Ukraine, but without losing sight of those that remain forgotten, such as Yemen or Ethiopia and whose number of victims grows year after year.
5. Work to stop climate change, which is a human rights crisis that affects millions of people around the world in all latitudes and that affects especially the most vulnerable people.

And five in Spain

1. Protect the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly after the lost opportunity with the recent brake of the Interior Commission on the processing of the reform on the Gag Law.
2. Consolidate the important advances achieved in terms of gender equality, a trend that should continue after the 2023 elections, for which greater political will and a greater commitment of the parties to human rights are necessary.
3. Fight against the climate of impunity aggravated in the last year by the lack of accountability in areas such as the violation of human rights at the border, the espionage of journalists, authorities and members of civil society and the abandonment suffered by the elderly who lived in residences during the state of alarm.
4. Make the right to housing a reality for the first time in democracy in Spain, through the approval and implementation of a Housing Law.
5. Stop the weakening of the right to health by demanding that investment in Primary Care reach 25% of the total health investment recommended by the World Health Organization.

Public act in defense of the right to protest

Amnesty International activists will also hold a public event on Saturday 22 April at 7:30 p.m. calling for the protection of the right to protest throughout the world.

The event will start at the Palacio de Festivales and will reach the esplanade next to the Botín Center, along the Paseo Marítimo. In the Botín Center, a photo will be taken to make visible the threats suffered by people who go out to demonstrate around the world and are included in the priority campaign of the organization “Let’s protect the protest”.

According to Amnesty International’s monitoring, in 2022 there were allegations of the unlawful use of force against demonstrators by state security forces at peaceful protests in at least 85 of the 156 countries the organization examined. Also in the past year, there have been reports of the use of less-lethal weapons against protesters by security forces at peaceful protests in at least 67 of 156 countries. And, in the same period, the army was deployed to control demonstrations in at least 31 of the 156 countries the organization analyzed.

From Russia to Sri Lanka, from France to Senegal and from Afghanistan to Nicaragua, in addition to the already mentioned cases of Iran or Peru, the authorities of the different States are increasingly adopting measures of all kinds to repress organized dissent. Protesters across the globe are facing a potent mix of backlash: increasing laws and other measures to restrict the right to protest; improper use of force; expansion of illegal surveillance, both massive and selective; Internet blackouts and censorship, and abuse and stigmatization. Meanwhile, even more barriers are being erected for marginalized and discriminated groups. Denouncing these situations is a priority for the human rights movement.