In releasing the 32nd edition of its world report, in which it describes the situation of human rights in almost all of the approximately one hundred countries where it operates, the NGO Human Rights Watch lamented the violations of these rights in dictatorships such as China, Venezuela and Cuba, but expressed optimism by highlighting that the increase in repression and fraud in the democratic game in these countries represents a weakness of authoritarian regimes.
“In one country after another, large numbers of people have taken to the streets, even at the risk of being arrested or killed, which shows that the call for democracy is still strong,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW, in a statement released by the organization.
“But elected leaders need to do more to address key challenges and show that democratic governments deliver on their promises,” he added.
In the statement, in addition to the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations such as those held in Cuba and Hong Kong, HRW highlighted that “as autocrats can no longer rely on subtly manipulated elections to preserve their power, an increasing number, from Nicaragua to Russia, is resorting to explicit electoral fraud to guarantee the desired result, which does not confer the expected legitimacy of an electoral process”. “This increasing crackdown is a sign of weakness, not strength,” Roth said.
China is one of the main targets of the report, mainly due to the repression in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. HRW has counted more than 150 people arrested for violating the severe National Security Law imposed on the autonomous territory in June 2020.
In addition, he denounced that the Beijing authorities “turned the quasi-democratic institutions of Hong Kong into bodies of mere formality”, by imposing “electoral reforms” so that only those loyal to the Chinese Communist Party could occupy seats in the local legislature.
In Xinjiang, HRW pointed to crimes against humanity that victimize the Uighurs and other Muslim minorities, which include mass arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, separation of families, forced return to China, forced and sexual violence.
The organization highlighted that the control of information about abuses in the region has become stricter due to restrictions on movement due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Venezuela
The HRW report found that the dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, used the state of emergency decreed by the arrival of Covid-19 to intensify his control over the population.
The organization said the Maduro regime and its security forces “are responsible for extrajudicial executions, disappearances for a short period of time, as well as for the arrest of opponents, for trying civilians in military courts and torturing prisoners.”
“They used the state of emergency established in response to Covid-19 as a pretext to intensify their control over the population. The lack of judicial independence contributed to the impunity of their crimes. Judicial authorities participated in or were complicit in the abuses,” the organization said.
HRW said the UN independent international fact-finding mission on Venezuela “identified patterns of violations” of human rights and crimes that were part of systematic and widespread conduct. He also recalled that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced in November last year his decision to formally open an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela.
The report highlighted that Venezuela faces a serious humanitarian emergency with “millions of people without access to adequate health care or nutrition”.
“Limited access to safe drinking water in homes, health centers and a vaccination plan affected by opacity may have contributed to the spread of Covid-19,” the text reads.
Also according to the report, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) in the November 21 local and regional elections reported that some opponents were “arbitrarily disqualified” and that there was “unequal access to the media”. .
Furthermore, “the lack of judicial independence and the rule of law undermined the impartiality and transparency of the elections”.
Other concerns include “abject conditions” in prisons, impunity for human rights violations and harassment of human rights defenders and independent media.
“The exodus of Venezuelans fleeing repression and the humanitarian emergency represents the biggest migratory crisis in Latin America’s recent history,” he reiterated.
In the report, HRW also said that “the government has detained political opponents”, eliminating them from potential candidates for elections. He cited the report by the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal, released on October 25, which reported that there were 254 detainees classified by it as political prisoners, a figure updated this week to 243.
He also highlighted that security agents and security forces “tortured several detainees and their families”, recalling that the 2020 report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia rejected HRW’s annual report. “Mr. (director of the NGO’s Americas Division, José Miguel) Vivanco says goodbye to HRW doing what he does best: manufacturing files to please his funders. His latest report, full of inaccuracies and without any mention of the harmful effects of coercive measures against the people of Venezuela, is pure myth,” the chancellor said on Twitter.
Cuba
Regarding Cuba, HRW stressed in the report that the regime continues to “repress and punish virtually all types of dissent and public criticism” on the island. The Cuba part of the study highlights the “brutal repression” carried out in the wake of last year’s July 11 anti-government protests, the country’s biggest in decades.
The NGO said that more than 1,000 protesters, most of them peaceful, had been detained, as well as activists, artists and journalists, in a “systematic” and “arbitrary” manner.
Also cited were the arrests of members of the dissident artist collectives San Isidro, 27N and Archipiélago, as well as people related to the protest song “Patria y Vida”, which became the “anthem” of the demonstrations.
The report highlighted the detention of “political prisoners”, their persecution “without judicial guarantees”, “disproportionate” sentences and the use of “summary trials” after the July 11 protests, in which the Cuban judiciary “acted in practice” to favor of the regime.
HRW particularly denounced the case of the opposition José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), a party considered illegal in the country. He was arrested on July 11 while on his way to the demonstration.
Ferrer was sentenced in August to more than four years in prison after a court ruled that he did not “strictly abide by the laws” or did not have an “honest attitude towards work”, sufficient grounds for imprisonment in his situation, as he was already serving a previous sentence – “arbitrary”, according to HRW – of “restrictions on liberty” for aggression.
The report also criticized restrictions on the right to information and freedom of the press and expression, which were tightened in the middle of last year with a new cybersecurity law. The NGO points out that independent journalism is still prohibited on the island.
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