Originally published on Global Voices

Mother Nature members (left to right) Long Kunthea, Ly Chandaravuth, Yim Leanghy, Thun Ratha, and Phuon Keoraksmey, leaving the Phnom Penh Capital Court after their fourth trial hearing on June 17, 2024. Photo from Licadho, CC BY-NC 4.0

Ten members of the Cambodian environmentalist group Mother Nature were sentenced to six to eight years in prison for supposedly plotting against the government and insulting the King, but this has only emboldened the youth activists to reaffirm their commitment to fight for environmental justice.

Mother Nature is led by young Cambodians opposing mega-development projects that threaten to displace villagers and destroy the surrounding environment. Some of their campaigns include a video project raising awareness about river water pollution as a result of inadequate waste removal from factories, protests against illegal sand smuggling, and their documentation of sewage pollution near the royal palace.

The activists were previously arrested in 2020 because of their activism and were held in prison for 14 months. The July sentence is related to peaceful protests conducted in 2020 and 2021, as well as reports critical of the government.

Following the sentence, the activists were immediately violently detained and sent to prison, despite outcry outside the courtroom from community members and human rights activists.

This case reflects an alarming pattern of state-backed repression targeting environmental defenders in Cambodia. Between April 2019 and July 2023, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights documented the arrest of 195 individuals, 22 of whom were convicted under various criminal charges, in connection with their land rights activism.

Anticipating the court verdict and their detention, several members were able to write and film messages addressed to the public. Ly Chandaravuth urged Cambodians to overcome fear and oppose the wanton destruction of the environment.

I don't ask the Cambodian people to demand my freedom from the courts, but to free yourselves from the fear that holds you back. This struggle is hard, and if we fall, the suffering will reach our children and grandchildren.

Thun Ratha said he will remain strong despite their incarceration.

If people see this video, it means I am now in prison.

What I want to do most is protect natural resources which belong to the Cambodian people. I have been suffering due to the actions of those who are making use of and benefitting from natural resources with no regard for environmental and social impacts.

I will maintain the strength that I brought here through the immense love of those who support us.

We are sure that what we have done is for the benefit of justice and everyone.

Even though five of the group's members are facing imprisonment, Mother Nature members have continued to advocate for the environment and raise public awareness about the grave impact of some of the government's large-scale projects.

When we advocate for the protection of natural resources, we often face accusations of being anti-development. But should we sacrifice these vital resources in the name of progress? Is development justified if it leads to excessive depletion of our natural heritage? Our five friends have been arrested for standing up against destructive practices masquerading as development.

Mother Nature members have continued to organize campaigns and distributed leaflets and posters aimed at gathering support for the urgent release of their imprisoned fellow activists.

Mother Nature members have a message to Cambodian authorities: “Free our friends”. Photo from the Mother Nature Cambodia Facebook page. Used with permission.

In an online interview with Global Voices, a member of Mother Nature shared how the group has changed their strategy and protocols since its members were slapped with criminal charges.

The arrest has (forced) us to quickly relocate from place to place for our safety because we didn’t want to lose our core members anymore.

And yet we have to reset, refocus on the mission no matter how tough it is. We made our choice to work continuously after the arrest of our friends. We keep our wills of environmental protection ahead of everything.

They reiterated their pledge to continue fighting for a cleaner future.

The more they arrest our members, the more defenders are coming up. We will be always here fighting for environmental justice.

It’s our duty to accomplish our aspiration to live together with nature peacefully. We can’t live without it, can’t live our happy lives without nature. That’s why we are demanding power to the people not the regime.

Indeed, Mother Nature has continued to campaign against illegal logging, sand dredging, and the building of mega dams. They posted this message on X (Twitter) five months after their members were convicted by a local court.

It has been five months since the Cambodian courts arrested and imprisoned activists from the Mother Nature movement under anarchy. After five months of brutal arrests, have the environment and natural resources been better protected, or are they worsening and facing increasing… pic.twitter.com/81HRxkr63d

— Mother Nature Cambodia (@CambodiaMother) December 2, 2024

The persecution of Mother Nature members has been condemned by local and global civil society groups. Several human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Licadho, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, have also called for their release.

At the time of writing this piece, more than 104,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the release of the youth activists.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Mission of Cambodia to the United Nations has called members of Mother Nature “self-proclaimed environmental activists” and insisted that the “defendants had full opportunity to be heard, including the right to counsel, and to disprove the charges as part of the right to a fair trial and due process.”

Written by Mong Palatino

Originally published on Global Voices

Delegates at the sub-regional conference on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in West Africa. Photo by me. Used with permission.

On November 26 and 27, the first-ever conference on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in West Africa was held in Abuja, Nigeria, under the theme “Reducing corruption in West Africa: The importance of whistleblowing and whistleblower legislation.” The conference, which was organized by the African Center for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), brought together delegates from the Network of Anti-Corruption Institutions in West Africa (NACIWA), key civil society actors, media, security, law enforcement, and anti-corruption organizations, government agencies, and various international development organizations.

Across Africa, corruption remains a critical barrier to development, undermining democratic institutions, slowing economic growth, contributing to governmental instability, and fueling organized crime and general insecurity. The 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals most African nations are struggling to make progress against corruption.

The agenda tackled pressing issues in the fight to protect whistleblowers, including a keynote address on the effect of corruption on economic growth and democratic processes in West Africa, a presentation on regional experience in whistleblowing and witness protection, and panel discussions on whistleblower protections.

Role of whistleblowing in combating corruption

In 2001, during the session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government held in Dakar, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted the Protocol on the Fight against Corruption — a set of strategies to prevent, suppress, and eradicate corruption in the region. West African activists are continuing this fight and hoping to bolster whistleblower protections.

Speaking at the conference, Kole Shettima, Africa Director of the MacArthur Foundation, said:

Whistleblowing is one of the major instruments that can be used to improve accountability mechanisms in our region. The fight against corruption requires different tools and whistleblowing is certainly one of the tools. It is the responsibility of citizens to report crime and we have seen so many people coming out to report on so many corrupt practices that have happened.

Of course, whistleblower policy, as we know, has its challenges, and I think that the major challenge we have seen over the number of years is the question of protection. We know there are a number of people who have been victimized because they have come to report or have reported certain people who have done some bad things within their ministry, within their institutions and that issue of protection is certainly a critical factor.

In August 2024, Wale Edun, Nigeria's finance minister, said the government launched sting operations which recovered USD 609 million, NGN 83 billion (USD 52.5 million), and EUR 5 million (USD 5.3 million), respectively, with the help of its whistleblowing policy.

The plight of whistleblowers

Joseph Ameh, an architect who worked as the head of the physical planning division at the Federal College of Education in Delta State, Nigeria, explained the ordeal he experienced after calling out corruption. He told Global Voices that:

Due process was never followed in the engagement of workers. Quacks were engaged to carry out projects. At a point, there was a building collapse. My entire fight was to safeguard the public from danger and the secondary fight has to do with the economic effect of the corrupt practices. In the sense that, when a project is awarded, it is usually overinflated. Before the project even commences, they take out about half the contract sum [for] themselves. In October 2019, I wrote to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). They sent a letter to the institution where I worked and shortly after, my ordeal began. I was threatened, sacked, and trailed in vehicles. I have even been offered checks in millions which I rejected.

Another whistleblower who suffered a similar fate was Ntia Thompson, who was fired for exposing alleged fraud at the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2016 but was later reinstated through sustained advocacy by civic groups. 

AFRICMIL coordinator Chido Onumah, whose organization has been advocating for whistleblowers through its corruption anonymous project, emphasized the need to protect them from retaliation in an interview with Global Voices. 

Whistleblowers have been facing all kinds of retaliation ranging from stigmatization and discrimination, dismissal from a place of work, criminal sanctions, and death in extreme cases for daring to take what is obviously a delicate conscious action. This makes whistleblowers endangered species, so to speak. And we totally agree with the ECOWAS Commission that one of the best ways of giving them cover is for member states to provide a comprehensive legal framework through the whistleblowing legislation for disclosure of information and protection against any retaliation as a result of making disclosures.

The need for whistleblower protection

In July 2016, the ECOWAS commission met in Cotonou, Benin, and fortified its regional anti-corruption efforts by unveiling the ECOWAS whistleblower protection strategy and plan of action. The key focus of the whistleblower protection strategy is to encourage member states to enact a law to protect public interest whistleblowers as a way of reducing corruption and enhancing transparency and accountability in West Africa.

Professor Etannibi E. Alemika, a criminologist and expert in security and criminal justice sector governance, in his keynote address called for the adoption of stronger whistleblower protection legislation across West Africa to combat corruption. He said:

What we need is comprehensive legislation that ensures anonymity, protection from victimization, and, where necessary, relocation of whistleblowers and their families.

Chido Onumah, AFRICMIL Coordinator, noted that “Of the 15 countries that make up ECOWAS, only Ghana has a whistleblower protection law. This is not a good advertisement for ECOWAS, whose region is consistently rated poorly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and the majority of whose member countries are still considered as the most corrupt countries in the world.”

Written by Pamela Ephraim

Originally published on Global Voices

Twelve-year-old Ahmar is working in locomotive workshops to collect automobile parts. Photo by Ramna Saeed. Used with permission.

At Torkham, the bustling Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in North-West Pakistan, the air is filled with the constant buzz of trucks and trailers transporting goods and essential supplies across the border. Amidst the bustle, a striking yet unsettling image unfolds of young children darting between big trucks, their petite frames burdened by loads of stuff.

They navigate the perils with remarkable agility, avoiding the moving traffic and the security personnel's ever-watchful gaze. Their presence highlights critical concerns about survival, exploitation, and the dark economic underbelly of this precarious region.

In the border area of Ghazgi, a town in west Afghanistan, children like twelve-year-old Ahmar face similar hardships. Ahmar, along with other young boys, haul scraps of automobiles across the Afghan border to Pakistan, embodying the struggles of a generation burdened by harsh labour and despair.

Dressed in worn-out clothes and a patched-up traditional Pashtun hat, Ahmar contributes to the family income. For the past year, he has been carrying a five-kilogram bag filled with spare automobile parts back and forth between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He explained that his sister waits for him at the border crossing to take goods from a commission agent or a warehouse in Pakistan or Afghanistan and cross the border. When a shipment of automobile scrap arises at the border, she heads toward her home to bag the commercial goods. Sometimes, she spends the entire night by the roadside, waiting for the chance to help her brother by collecting leftover scrap for him. There are also some children whose parents task them with smuggling commercial goods, and they make the perilous journey to the border on their own.

A warehouse supervisor, speaking to the Global Voices team on the condition of anonymity, revealed that an organized mafia colluding with the border administration is involved in sending and receiving goods across the border. He further explained that many of the children involved in these activities do not have adult family members accompanying them. However, some children are brought by their parents, who work at the warehouse, to assist in smuggling goods across the border. These parents often coordinate with warehouse operators in Afghanistan to transport goods on their return journey. In exchange for their involvement, the parents receive compensation for their work.

Farman Shinwari, the former president of the labor union for workers in Torkham, revealed in a face-to-face interview that more than 3,000 laborers are engaged in commercial activities at the border, 70 percent of whom are children.

Seven-year-old Kashmala is also from Afghanistan. She works as a labourer in Torkham, Pakistan, with her relatives and other neighbouring children. Kashmala's home is located an hour away from Torkham, and she returns home every few days to give her mother 2,000–3,000 rupees (USD 7.2–10.8). This money is used to support her two brothers and three sisters. Upon asking about her work, her parents shared in a pained voice that incidents of sexual assault and violence against children are alarmingly common in this line of work.

According to Farman Shinwari, child labour has not been completely restricted by law in Pakistan because, if it were banned outright, children would attempt to cross the border on foot through dangerous areas, climb over fences, or hide in vehicles and trailers, which could lead to even more accidents. During occasional meetings with Pakistani and Afghan border authorities, he also participates as a labour union representative. He claims that in every meeting, the authorities strongly emphasize the need for restrictions on children bringing and taking goods, and sometimes, they halt the movement of children at the border for several days.

Based on his data, thirty children have died in the past two years after being run over by goods-carrying vehicles. However, the government has no record of these children, and there is no system in place for financially assisting their families.

The sexual abuse of child labourers

Azam Khan is twelve years old and hails from Pakistan's Landi Kotal town. He crossed the border on foot from Afghanistan and reached a warehouse located within Pakistan’s borders, carrying twenty packs (cartons) of cigarettes on his shoulders. His sweat-soaked clothes were weighed down by dust, and he was sitting near a water cooler to quench his thirst. When asked about the marks and scars on his face, he revealed that he had been subjected to physical abuse multiple times by Pakistani security personnel at the border as well as Afghan Taliban fighters.

Azam explained that during work, child labourers become targets for physical and sexual abuse. He mentioned an incident where he once went to a place provided by the warehouse manager to sleep, and there, an attempt was made to molest him.

Ferman Shinwari mentioned that the number of children working in difficult conditions in Torkham has increased due to the arrival of the Taliban in Afghanistan and international sanctions. Ten of 100 children are Pakistani, while the rest are Afghan. Most of these children are the sole breadwinners of their homes whose elders have died or become disabled in the conflict.

Without revealing his name, an official of the Landi Kotal Sub Jail mentioned that in Torkham, children are used for smuggling commercial goods and drug smuggling. He stated that in the past year, 20 children were arrested, but due to the lack of a specific place for children in the jail, their cases are quickly dealt with, and legal action is taken. He further stated that a significant number of arrested children are Afghan, and they are later handed over to Afghan authorities.

Sufyan, Kashmala's elder sibling working in a welding shop on the Torkham border. Photo by Ramna Saeed. Used with permission.

How many child labourers are there?

The exact number of child laborers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is unavailable, according to Lehaz Ali, a journalist working with Agence France Presse. He mentioned that there is no comprehensive data or effective planning by the government to address the issues faced by child laborers in the region, making it difficult to ascertain the exact number of child laborers.

According to the last survey conducted in 1996, around 3.3 million children in Pakistan were engaged in various forms of child labor in specific sectors. Of these, a significant number, approximately 1 million children, were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, tribal areas, Afghan refugees, and informal sectors were not included in this survey.

“The formal data collection work for the survey began in January 2022. After the data collection phase in October 2022, the data validation and correction process started, which was completed in April 2023. It took five months to compile the report. The commission identified Afghan children who were victims of various issues and, with the help of the mentioned authorities, reached out to their families in Afghanistan. Currently, more than thirty Afghan children are present in the commission’s rehabilitation centers”, said the head of the Child Protection and Welfare Commission in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ajaz Muhammad Khan in an interview with Global Voices.

Child protection laws

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after amendments to the Protection of Children and Welfare Act 2010, it was re-passed in 2015, the Compulsory Primary to Secondary Education Act 2017, the Prevention of Child Labor Amendment Act was enacted in 2015, in which the conditions regarding child labor were clarified. After the increase in cases of sexual violence against children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there was increased pressure from social activists and the public to bring amendments to the Protection of Children Act 2010. The bill was presented to the provincial cabinet in 2021, and the draft of the bill was unanimously approved after a disputed section was removed. The disputed proposal suggested making a public a video of hanging child sexual offenders, but it was dropped from the bill after dissenting opinions emerged.

According to the amended law, a person involved in child sexual abuse will be punished with life imprisonment, a death sentence, and a fine of up to PKR 5 million (USD 18,000). Making videos of child sexual abuse will attract 20 years in jail and a fine of PKR 7 million (USD 25,222) while sharing the video will attract 10 years in jail and a fine of PKR 2 million (USD 7,200). The bill removed the death penalty and amputation of the sentence for a sexual assault convict.

It remains to be seen whether this law and other steps against child abuse and dangerous child labor will protect the vulnerable children at the border, but activists are remaining hopful and vowing to continue their fight.

Written by Asfandiyar

Originally published on Global Voices

Screenshot from video “Thousands left stranded in Niger's migrant camps”, uploaded to YouTube by AfricaNews. Fair use.

In the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert, near the border between Algeria and Niger, thousands of Sub-Saharan migrants face a harrowing ordeal. Deported by Algerian authorities, they are often left stranded without food, water, or shelter, forced to traverse the unforgiving desert terrain under extreme temperatures. This practice has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations, which argue that it violates international humanitarian standards and endangers lives. 

In a report from 2020, Human Rights Watch refugee and migrant researcher Lauren Seibert said, “Algeria is entitled to protect its borders, but not to arbitrarily detain and collectively expel migrants, including children and asylum seekers, without a trace of due process.” 

Staggering numbers of expulsions

Since January 2024, Algeria has expelled nearly 20,000 African migrants, including women and children, to neighboring Niger. These expulsions are frequently conducted under harsh conditions, with migrants being abandoned in the desert near the border, compelled to walk for miles to reach safety. The organization Alarme Phone Sahara, which assists migrants in the desert between Algeria and Niger, reported that at least 19,798 individuals were deported from January to August 2024.

According to the organization, migrants deported to northern Niger often find themselves stranded in precarious conditions in the Agadez region in northern Niger, unable to either continue their journey or return home despite some expressing a desire to do so. 

This situation has been exacerbated by extreme weather events between May and August 2024, where severe droughts were followed by devastating floods. “The climate crisis is already a reality, and people on the move, as well as the local population in Niger, are among those most directly affected by its consequences,” the report adds, underscoring the immediate impact of the climate crisis on both migrants and local communities. 

Desperate journeys through the desert

With the European Union putting pressure on North African countries to prevent the flow of migration, mass expulsions have increased, with the EU well aware of the conditions. According to a report by the Associated Press in 2018, the deportation process often begins with mass arrests in Algerian cities, where migrants are detained and then transported to the southern border regions. Upon arrival, they are left in remote desert areas, sometimes at gunpoint, and forced to walk under scorching temperatures reaching up to 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). This perilous journey has resulted in numerous deaths, with migrants succumbing to dehydration, heatstroke, and exhaustion.

Human rights organizations have condemned these actions, highlighting the lack of due process and the inhumane treatment of migrants. In a 2023 statement, the World Organization Against Torture stated that “These migrants are subject to torture and ill-treatment. They are arbitrarily arrested and detained with no procedural guarantees,” accusing Algeria’s migration policies of targeting Black migrants from sub-Saharan countries, and pointing out “security forces’ use of ethnically charged verbal abuse.” 

Between January and April 2023, over 11,000 individuals were deported to Niger, with the trend continuing into 2024 with the International Organization of Migration providing assistance to these migrants, offering food, water, and medical care upon their arrival in Niger.

Ethical and legal questions

The Algerian government, however, maintains that these deportations are conducted in accordance with bilateral agreements with Niger and are necessary to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking. Officials argue that the presence of irregular migrants poses security and economic challenges, necessitating strict measures to control migration flows.

Despite these justifications, the conditions under which these deportations occur have raised significant ethical and legal questions. International law mandates that deportations should be carried out with respect for human rights and dignity, ensuring the safety and well-being of individuals. The practice of abandoning migrants in the desert, without adequate provisions or assistance, starkly contrasts with these principles.

The plight of these migrants is further compounded by the broader context of migration in North Africa. Many Sub-Saharan Africans embark on perilous journeys through the Sahara, aiming to reach Europe in search of better opportunities. However, stringent border controls and restrictive migration policies in North African countries, often supported by European Union initiatives, have made these journeys increasingly dangerous.

Life on the margin

In Algeria, Sub-Saharan migrants live in precarious conditions, balancing the fear of deportation with the hope of establishing a better life. Many find work in construction, and women, often accompanied by children, resort to begging at traffic intersections. Despite the risk of periodic police roundups, some migrants have managed to establish small businesses and live relatively stable lives, providing for their families back home. However, the lack of asylum rights and restrictive labor laws for foreigners make their future in Algeria uncertain.

The international community has a crucial role to play in addressing this humanitarian crisis, supporting organizations assisting migrants on the ground, and ensuring comprehensive migration policies that prioritize human rights and provide safe and legal pathways for migrants. 

As the world grapples with complex migration challenges, the stories of those abandoned in the Sahara serve as a stark reminder of the human cost of restrictive migration policies and the imperative to uphold human rights and protect the most vulnerable among us.

Written by El Mehdi Boufaddi

Originally published on Global Voices

Entrance to a high school in Skopje, North Macedonia. Photo by Meta.mk, used with permission.

This article is based on coverage by Meta.mk. An edited version is republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and the Metamorphosis Foundation. 

The Network for Protection Against Discrimination (NPAD) issued a press release on November 5, expressing concern over the possibility of adoption of draft laws for primary and secondary education which, according to them, would mean backsliding rather than progress in the protection of students from discrimination and violence within the educational process in Republic of North Macedonia (RNM).

The network states that the draft laws, contrary to established legal hierarchy, remove the protected characteristics “gender,” “gender identity,” and “sexual orientation.” According to them this is the first case of backsliding in regard to protection from discrimination in the Macedonian legislation.

Meta.mk interviewed competent officials in the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), as well as representatives of the network, who stated that the draft legislative changes enable gross violation of the rights of children, directly endangering their mental and physical integrity. Their reaction noted:

When institutions systematically exclude and erase certain groups of students, then they directly send a signal encouraging further exclusion and oppression of these groups in society. Additionally, such acts provide a signal to the aggressors, who inflict violence against women, girls and LGBTI+ students, that their actions are an extension of the institutional treatment of these groups, normalizing their violent behavior. By adopting these changes, the laws on primary and secondary education will become contrary to the provisions and the spirit of the Law for Prevention and Protection from Discrimination, which recognizes gender, sexual orientation and gender identity as bases for discrimination.

In addition, Maja Atanasova from NPAD told Meta.mk that, since they issued their reaction, the minister for education and science, Vesna Janevska, received their delegation in a meeting at the MES. Atanasova explained:

The minister was open for discussion, but at the meeting they stated they will not back down on their decision. The minister has previously stated that since the protections based on these characteristics has been covered by the Law for Prevention and Protection from Discrimination, the erased protected characteristics will remain in force through the open clause “and others.” Therefore, strictly legally speaking, the protections remain; however the amended laws would not be harmonized with the Law for Prevention and Protection from Discrimination, which violates the constitutional guarantees for respect of hierarchy of the laws. The problem is that laypersons, who are not trained legal professionals or jurists, would not read the whole legislative framework, but just open the particular law and realize that these grounds are not covered. This increases the risk for schools not to recognize the need to create mechanisms for protection from discrimination based on these characteristics, even though the statistics provided by the Commission for Protection and Prevention Against Discrimination indicate a serious need.

Minister Janevska has reiterated those positions in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty published on November 3.

Vesna Janevska, Minister of Education and Science of Republic of North Macedonia. Photo by Meta.mk, used with permission.

Да не биде недоразбирање, на крајот на реченицата има ’и друго‘ што опфаќа секаков вид на дискриминација. Не знам зашто би требало да го оптоваруваме законот и да ги набројуваме сите видови дискриминации кои постојат, затоа што тоа е номо-техника…

To avoid misunderstanding, I have to note that at the end of the sentence there's “and others” which covers all kinds of discrimination. I don't know why we should burden the law and list all kinds of discrimination that exist, because that's part of nomothetic [expertise pertaining to creation of legislation]…

Representatives of Ministry of Education and Science told Meta.mk on email that they work on upgrading the legislative framework in the area of education and include all stakeholders in the process. According to them:

We especially value public opinion and that’s why we opened public discussion regarding six legislative solutions. We prepared draft-versions which we published on the government ENER system [Unique National Electronic Register for Regulations of the RNM] enabling comments with additional suggestions and proposals. The laws for primary and secondary education are defined in such a way to protect the students from any kind of discrimination, from segregation, and from various program or project activities which are not defined as part of the official curricula, and can harm their development and orientation. However Macedonia has a separate Law for Prevention and Protection from Discrimination in all segments, which means it covers education system also, and it can be applied under any circumstances.

They also clarified that the draft laws for primary and secondary education will be further forwarded to the parliamentary procedure, where the MPs will have opportunities to further amend a more perfect contents.

It’s especially important that MES will not only provide legal protection of students from discrimination and segregation, but that in the upcoming period it will work with the schools and the civil sector on preventive activities and education of students towards respecting diversity and building a peaceful, harmonious and safe studying environment. The minister discussed with the civic associations about these aspects of the education system at a meeting.

The reaction of the NPAD also includes the commitment of the government to implement the obligations imposed through the judgement of the European Court for Human Rights in the case of Elmazova and others vs North Macedonia. This judgement forced the institutions in North Macedonia to upgrade the legislative framework to prevent discrimination against the Roma.

However the network noted that the draft laws contain elements which don’t refer to that verdict, while directly and unequivocally representing violations of the international law and the human rights.  

We remind that all freedoms and rights that the state has guaranteed to the citizens by ratification of international conventions are considered freedoms and rights guaranteed as fundamental value of the constitutional order. The General Comments of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in its general recommendations, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence — have all been ratified and therefore have the same legal force as the existing laws in this Republic. Based on this, we must not allow adoption of laws which are in contrast to the ratified international conventions.

Previously, on November 1, the Gender Equality Platform, composed of 21 civil society organization working in this area, strongly reacted to the MES proposal to amend the laws on primary and secondary education by removing gender, sexual orientation and gender identity as protected characteristics, and replacing them with the words “equal opportunities.” They noted that these acts send a “clear message that certain groups are not protected from discrimination, even in the most sensitive areas of society, such as public education.”

Written by Metamorphosis Foundation

Originally published on Global Voices

Glade Taulu, the confluence of the Sofia and Psysh rivers. Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkessia, Western Caucasus, Russia. Image by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia commons. CC BY 4.0.

As of November 2024, in the ongoing Russian–Ukrainian war, approximately 200 people from Kabardino-Balkaria, 150 from Karachay-Cherkessia, and 200 from the Republic of Adygea, along with about 250 Chechens and 910 Dagestanis, have reportedly died, according to publicly available data. All of them hail from the North Caucasus region of Russia, the most “Muslim” part of the country. To what extent these figures may underestimate the actual numbers is unknown.

The proportion of people conscripted into the war from the North Caucasus appears disproportionate. The mortality rate — the number of deaths per 10,000 men aged 16 to 61 — is 8 in Kabardino-Balkaria, 11 in Karachay-Cherkessia, and 14 in Adygea. For comparison, this figure is 2 in Moscow and 4 in Saint Petersburg, even though Moscow's population is six times larger than the combined populations of these three Caucasian republics. The participation of Caucasian peoples in this war is especially contradictory, given their historical traumas — from the brutal expansion of the Russian Empire and forced deportations during the Soviet period to present-day repression by the Kremlin. While the region may appear loyal to central authority, achieving this appearance has taken the Kremlin two centuries of repression.

The North Caucasus was conquered in 1864 after a century-long Caucasian War — the longest in the history of the Russian Empire. The war ended in mass killings and the expulsion of approximately one million Circassians to the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the majority of the Circassian people live outside their historical homeland, with only a minority remaining on their indigenous land.

This event is referred to in Russian historiography as the “Circassian Muhajirism” (“Circassian Pilgrimage”). However, among Circassians outside Russia, especially in Turkey and the Middle East, it has long been called the “Circassian Genocide” (“The Tlapserykh” or “Tsitsekun”). As of 2024, only Georgia officially recognizes the mass deportation of Circassians as genocide. Similar recognition is now being considered by Ukraine: in June 2024, reports emerged that Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada would consider a resolution to recognize the genocide of Circassians during the Caucasian War of 1763–1864 by the Russian Empire. However, the project of “Ukrainian irredentism,” which aims to claim not only the annexed Crimea and the so-called DPR/LPR but also the Kuban region as historically Ukrainian, has a complicated relationship with the Circassian national project, as both lay claim to the same indigenous lands.

Global Voices spoke with renowned journalist and human rights activist Murat Temirov, an ethnic Circassian from Russia, about how Circassians maintain connections despite being scattered across the world, whether there is a unified Circassian national movement, and what its goals are. Journalist Alexandra Sharopina contributed to the interview's edits. 

Global Voices (GV): Can Circassians maintain national unity despite being scattered across the globe?

Murat Temirov (MT): Yes, a certain connection is maintained, though not necessarily unity.  This connection among Circassians is preserved not only through language, norms of behavior, and traditional clothing but also through a shared tragedy.

The mass deportation, essentially genocide, carried out by the Russian Empire against the Circassians in the 18th and 19th centuries — when Circassians were expelled from their native lands and replaced with loyal populations — serves as a point of consolidation for Circassian identity.

Any Circassian in the world, from Australia to Canada, will tell this story in more or less detail.

The shared identity of the Circassians persists, in part, due to this tragedy. However, I believe it is not entirely beneficial that this tragedy anchors their collective focus in the past. A healthy community should aim toward something more, toward achieving victory.

GV: Is there a unified Circassian movement in the diaspora? Are its goals focused on repatriation and reclaiming indigenous status?

MT: No, there is no unified movement. There are fragmented organizations, often based on regional or local associations. In Turkey, for instance, there are numerous influential organizations like Kafkas Vakfı and Çerkes Vakfı. They are influential but largely avoid engaging in current political matters.

There have been attempts to create a unified pan-Adyghe movement. Three years ago, I proposed holding a Unified Circassian Congress in Belgrade. We began preparations but did not complete them.

From my perspective, creating a unified Circassian movement under current circumstances is impossible. I once had the idea of establishing a Circassian Analytical Center to regularly provide these fragmented organizations with materials and recommendations on key issues involving actors like Ukraine, the United States, and the United Kingdom. This analytical center would have been the first step toward a Circassian movement because analysis must precede action. However, this idea has not yet garnered support or been realized.

The right of Circassians to return to their native lands will only be possible with recognized statehood. There are certainly ideas for restoring statehood, but their realization would only be feasible in the context of a global war, requiring military force — which does not currently exist.

GV: Is it true that the Circassian national project conflicts not only with Russia's neo-imperial ambitions but also with the radical Ukrainian nationalist project, which claims Kuban as solely Ukrainian land, excluding Circassians?

MT: Yes, that is true.  On Circassian lands, those we now call Ukrainians appeared relatively late, just over 200 years ago. These events are well-documented in Russian and non-Russian historical sources.

The so-called Kuban Ukrainians are natural competitors for us. They seized our lands and consider them theirs, with Zelenskyy almost declaring them exclusively Ukrainian. I personally see them as no less dangerous rivals than the Russians.

Yes, this is a global redivision, a world war; it is inevitable, and it is unclear who else will lay claim to our land. However, the fact that we were expelled gives us the right to this land because such a crime has no statute of limitations, and sooner or later, there will be accountability. If not the current perpetrators, then their descendants.

GV: What is your position regarding the Ukrainian Rada's proposal to recognize the Circassian genocide, considering the issues we have discussed?

MT: Yes, I’ve heard this news. It is not yet clear in what form this recognition will come — as a law? I’m not sure Ukraine is prepared to take such a large-scale step, so I believe it will likely be a declaration similar to the one adopted by the Georgian Parliament, without legal consequences.

I, of course, welcome this step by the Ukrainian authorities but do not expect it to bring significant improvements for Circassians in their efforts to reunite on their homeland.

On the contrary, I fear that this move might stigmatize Circassians within Russia, portraying them as collaborators with the enemy. Both Georgia and Russia tend to remember the Circassians when they are in a difficult position. For Georgia, this happened after their defeat in the 2008 war with Russia.
Such declarations often have internal political motivations and are only distantly related to the Circassians themselves.

Written by Ramil Niyazov-Adyljan

Originally published on Global Voices

Daw Sandar Thwin (third from left) at a “flower strike” marking the birthday of detained civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on June 19 this year. Photo by Women's Organization of Political Prisoners.

This article by Yuzana was originally published in The Irrawaddy, an independent news website in Myanmar that has been exiled in Thailand since the military coup in 2021. An edited version is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.

Daw Sandar Thwin knew starting a new life in exile as a woman in her fifties wouldn’t be easy, but it has proved more difficult than she ever imagined.

Her peaceful family life in Yangon now feels like a distant dream.

Daw Sandar Thwin’s life was turned upside down by the 2021 military coup and ensuing national uprising. But even after facing imprisonment and numerous hardships, she remains committed to the revolution amid the daily challenges of exile.

In April 2021, Daw Sandar Thwin and her husband, U Thein Htwe Myint, were arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for “inciting anti-regime activities.”

They had been protesting the coup since February 6, 2021, five days after the military ousted the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government and jailed its leaders, including former president Aung San Suu Kyi. The Yangon couple led the protests in South Okkalapa Township. Their two daughters fled into hiding to avoid arrest on the same charge, leaving the two eldest family members — Daw Sandar Thwin’s father and grandmother — alone in the house.

After nearly three years incarcerated in the notorious Insein Prison, the couple was released on May 2, 2023, just three days before their term was due to expire.

However, their ordeal was far from over.

News that police and the junta-appointed local administrator were searching for them again forced the couple to flee over the border to Thailand in mid-May.

Once a shop owner in her hometown, Daw Sandar Thwin took work in the kitchen of a tea shop in the border town of Mae Sot, while her husband worked as a waiter to support themselves and the revolution.

Most of their belongings, including her husband’s car, were sold back in Yangon to fund prison visits by their friends and family.

“Everything is gone,” Daw Sandar Thwin said.

Supporting the revolution

The newly exiled couple struggles daily to make ends meet, but they still send money from their meager earnings to support the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) — the group fighting the junta forces.

Daw Sandar Thwin lost her grandmother and father during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic while she was in prison. She has also been separated from her elder daughter and beloved grandson. However, she says her sacrifice is nothing compared to that of PDF fighters.

“They are sacrificing their lives for the revolution, so I support them as much as I can.”

Too old to take up arms, she has found another way of joining the revolution.

Campaigning for adequate healthcare in prisons in December 2021. Photo by Political Prisoners Network (Myanmar). Used with permission.

Assisting women political prisoners

Daw Sandar Thwin and fellow political detainees formed the Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners on January 15 this year to support women jailed for opposing the military regime. She has taken charge of finance for the group, which provides food and medicine to female activists imprisoned across the country.

“Women political prisoners requested our help before we were released, so we saved up money and formed a group to assist them as much as we can,” Daw Sandar Thwin explained.

A total of 5,649 female anti-coup activists were arrested between February 2021 and August 31 this year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

The Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners reports that many have been denied family visits and are forced to rely on inadequate prison food.

Daw Sandar Twin is tasked with finding supporters and managing monthly food and medicine supplies for the political prisoners.

“While I was in prison, we shared food with each other. But the junta has now transferred political prisoners to jails where they can’t receive parcels from their families,” she said.

Her organization sent food and medicine to 77 of these women across nine prisons in September and October. Members also sell fried-fish paste — the political prisoners’ main food — to help fund the organization’s efforts.

Hope for the future

Daw Sandar Thwin previously joined the 2007 Saffron Revolution against military rule. Though not a member of the NLD, she expresses deep admiration for its chairwoman, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

She hung NLD flags on streets and cars at her own expense during the 2020 election, which the NLD won by a landslide before being ousted by the military.

Her 19-year-old daughter, an information officer for South Okkalapa Township’s NLD branch and a Dagon University student union member, woke her at 2 am on February 1, 2021, to share news of the coup, tears streaming down her face.

“Even as dictatorships fell elsewhere in the world, they [Myanmar military leaders] remained crazy for power. We don’t accept that. So, I joined the protests to end military dictatorship,” Daw Sandar Thwin recalled.

Their home became a meeting place for student union members, their photocopier used to churn out anti-junta pamphlets.

Now, she still works to eradicate the military regime despite new physical and mental challenges.

“If I were still young, I would take up arms to fight them [junta soldiers],” Daw Sandar Thwin said.

Desperate for the revolution to succeed, she firmly believes that ending dictatorship is the only path to lasting peace.

Former political prisoner Ma Thuzar praises Daw Sandar Thwin and her husband for their unwavering convictions and calmness amid adversity.

“When I first met them, they were working at a tea shop. Aunty [Daw Sandar Thwin] wasn’t in good health, so Uncle took on most of the work, including the cooking. The way they support each other and face difficulties together is truly admirable,” Ma Thuzar said.

After working at the tea shop for more than a year, Daw Sandar Thwin has taken a break for her health. However, she refuses to give up her efforts for political prisoners and the revolution.

“It doesn’t matter if we never get the chance to return home. We will continue to root out the military dictatorship,” she vowed.

Written by The Irrawaddy

Originally published on Global Voices

Protester with ‘Reclaim the vote’ sticker outside parliament on November 17, 2024. Image by Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media used with permission.

This article was first published on OC Media. An edited version is republished here under a content partnership agreement. 

Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on November 28 that Georgia was halting its EU membership bid “until 2028.” The news sparked widespread demonstrations as thousands took to the streets and demanded the government continue its EU trajectory. Riot police in the capital, Tbilisi, have violently cracked down on the protestors and arrested dozens.

In his announcement, the prime minister added that the government would also be refusing any budgetary support from the EU. The latter was in response to the EU's previous announcement that it was halting funding to the Georgian government over the controversial foreign agent law and other anti-democratic moves by the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Exactly one year ago, the European Commission recommended that the EU grant Georgia candidate status, but anti-democratic developments within the country have derailed its plan to become an EU member.

In October, Georgian Dream was reelected in what independent observers described as an unfree and unfair election and called for the vote to be redone. This included the country's President Salome Zourabichvili and four key opposition groups. However, there was no budging from the ruling party, which has further distanced the country from its EU aspirations.

The results have also been challenged in the Constitutional Court, which has yet to make a final ruling. Since the October election, the country has been rocked by protests and drawn harsh criticism from the EU, including a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on November 28 rejecting the legitimacy of Georgia’s parliamentary election and calling for a new vote within a year. Despite the calls, the ruling government approved the mandates of all 150 MPs on November 25, ignoring the explicit dissent of 61 opposition members who were absent during the opening of the parliament in Tbilisi, some of them protesting outside the parliament alongside other demonstrators.

A number of the country’s top legal and constitutional experts have stated that approving mandates while the results of the election were being challenged in the Constitutional Court represented an outright violation of the constitution.

Changing tides

Georgia formally applied for European Union (EU) membership in March 2022. The move represented a U-turn for the ruling party, which had insisted it would not accelerate its initial timeline of applying for membership in 2024.

The shift was largely driven by increasing pressure from the domestic opposition, as well as thousands of protesters who participated in a “March for Europe,” organized by Georgia's liberal activist group, the Shame movement, and other pro-democracy groups in a bid to “demonstrate the commitment of Georgian people to its European choice and Western values.”

In June 2022, Georgia's candidate status was denied, and the state was given a list of 12 conditions the country had to fulfill before their application could be reexamined. Among these conditions were reducing political polarization, reforming the judiciary, ensuring functioning state institutions, strengthening anti-corruption measures, including de-oligarchisation, and others.

Then, in December 2023, Georgia was finally granted this status following an EU Council meeting. That decision, however, came amid a growing rift between Georgia's ruling government and Western allies as well as the local civil society groups insisting that the government has failed to fulfill the 12 priority conditions.

The government continued to crack down on freedoms and human rights with violent dispersals of protests, attacks on the independent media, and a widening rift between society and state leadership.

The ruling party has faced criticism for its deepening anti-LGBTQ+ stance, all the while cozying up with Russia ever since the latter invaded Ukraine. Last year, the ruling party attempted to impeach the country's president but failed to do so.

The country's track record on freedoms and democracy has also been deteriorating. In May 2024, the government adopted a controversial foreign agent bill despite ongoing protests against the law. The bill severely restricts all media outlets and non-governmental organizations in Georgia, and according to local civil society, it “would entail monitoring from the government, which could compromise organizations’ internal communications and confidential sources.”

Pushback against the new government

The official results of the October elections gave the ruling Georgian Dream party a large majority in parliament, with 54 percent of the vote, an increase from the previous 48 percent support the party received in the 2020 election.

The final results were released by the Central Election Commission on November 18, confirming Georgian Dream's victory and prompting more protests by opposition groups and the public at large, accusing the CEC of dismissing documented widespread electoral fraud and irregularities.

On Thursday, November 28, the ruling Georgian Dream party approved a slightly reshuffled government cabinet led by incumbent Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. The new government was endorsed without a single opposition member present, as the new parliament has been boycotted by all four opposition groups.

The same day, Kobakhidze announced that Georgia was halting its EU membership bid.

All four major opposition groups instantly condemned the announcement. The outgoing president, Zourabichvili, called the move a “constitutional coup.”

Kobakhidze's announcement sparked more protests. Thousands of demonstrators stayed overnight on Rustaveli Avenue, one of the key streets in Tbilisi, periodically clashing with riot police who were using pepper spray, water cannons, tear gas, and physical violence against demonstrators, opposition figures, and journalists.

While several demonstrators were detained throughout the night, the Interior Ministry has yet to confirm the number of detainees.

In Tbilisi, protesters gathered around the ruling Georgian Dream party’s headquarters before proceeding to march to Rustaveli Avenue, where parliament is also located.

Written by Arzu Geybullayeva, OC Media

Originally published on Global Voices

A Facebook post which has a caption of “Secretary-President To on the tightrope” was censored in Vietnam. Source: Facebook post of Viet Tan, used with permission.

Tech companies operating in Vietnam are urged to uphold global human rights standards and to protect the rights of their users amid the continuing state-backed restriction of free speech in the country.

The Vietnamese government has long censored criticism and silenced dissenters — particularly those in online spaces. As Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes, “Political dissidents and human rights activists face systematic harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, abuses in custody, and imprisonment.”

Now, international tech companies are being caught in the middle, forced to choose between assisting government censorship or upholding basic digital and human rights.

A report by Legal Initiatives for Vietnam evaluated the response of tech companies such as Meta/Facebook, Google, Netflix, TikTok, and Apple to the Vietnamese government’s requests for content moderation and access to users’ data. While the tech companies largely refused the government's requests to access users’ data, Legal Initiatives for Vietnam found a 90 percent compliance rate in requests for content moderation.

The report flagged the censorship of government criticism.

Our findings show a concerning situation where these companies almost always comply with an increasing number of content moderation requests from the Vietnamese government, with the compliance rate consistently above 90 percent over the years, including geographical restrictions and content removals. At the same time, the government and some tech companies acknowledge that a significant portion of the restricted or removed content is government criticism, which is protected speech under international human rights law.

Meta, specifically, maintains a secret list of officials who cannot be criticized on Facebook, according to Legal Initiatives for Vietnam's reporting. This was reiterated in a separate report by human rights watchdog Viet Tan which revealed that over 100 pieces of their content were blocked in Vietnam when Vietnamese politician To Lam, currently the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, visited the United States in September.

2/3) It details Meta's compliance with government requests to block content critical of Vietnam’s leadership, including political cartoons and discussions of internal power struggles. The report criticizes the lack of transparency and due process in content moderation, urging … pic.twitter.com/k5xGm4R0Ow

— Viet Tan (@viettan) October 2, 2024

It asked Meta to consider the following in addressing the Vietnamese people’s right to information:

Since the Vietnamese government considers all content by activists’ groups as ‘sensitive’ and potentially violating local law, Meta needs to better articulate how it determines when content should be censored for local users. For example, will an informal request from Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications be sufficient? Or should the request also be accompanied by a court order? And what if the underlying content merely expresses a widely held political opinion?

This is not the first time that Viet Tan has called out Meta for complying with “unjust and arbitrary” government requests. In an e-mail interview with this author, Viet Tan’s advocacy director, Michel Tran Duc, shares their plan for holding the company accountable in the United States.

We have raised Meta’s content takedown and restrictions, urging the company to be transparent about their process for blocking content at the request of the government. The next step is to involve members of Congress to hold Meta accountable for their collaboration with the Vietnamese government to censor free speech, and continue to raise awareness through reports of censorship actions that counter Meta’s commitment to its Corporate Human Rights Policy and membership in the Global Network Initiative.

Asked if the selection of a new president would lead to reforms, Michel Tran Duc highlighted the notorious human rights record of the country’s top officials.

The former was a police general, and the current one is an army general. There is no sign that human rights and freedom of the press will be better respected in Vietnam after the change in office. Only domestic and international pressure can advance these rights in Vietnam.

For its part, Legal Initiatives for Vietnam recommended in its report that tech companies resist illegitimate government requests, protect user data, remove cyber troops and trolls that manipulate online discussion, and support the work of human rights defenders.

Written by Mong Palatino

Originally published on Global Voices

Image by Arzu Geybullayeva.

November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. As women across the world took to the streets to mark the day, similar scenes were also witnessed in Turkey.

As in previous years, bans on public gatherings, roadblocks, heavy police presence and subsequent violence did not go unnoticed. According to some accounts, some 200 people were detained. The number of femicides keeps growing, and this year was no exception. According to We Will Stop Femicide, a local group documenting and monitoring violence against women, more than 400 women were killed in 2024 thus far. Another website called Anit Sayac (Turkish for “monument tracker”) reports the number at 412 for 2024.

Women's rights groups say the rise of femicides is the doing of the ruling Justice and Development Party and that the state's policies against abuse are inadequate and are heavily influenced by religious values and outdated norms that condone both abuse and abusers. The ruling government's decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention has only worsened the environment of impunity for women in the country, even if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denies that this is the case.

Istanbul Convention

Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention — a treaty signed by member states of the Council of Europe to prevent violence and domestic abuse against women — over what the ruling government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) called the treaty’s “normalization of homosexuality.” At the time of the withdrawal from the convention, scores of ruling party supporters rushed to endorse the decision, calling the convention “wrong,” “marginal,” “evil.” Meanwhile, President Erdoğan assured women that the state will rely on national laws to prevent gender-based violence. However, numbers reported and documented by local women's organizations tell a different story.

As Esin Izel Uysal, a lawyer for We Will Stop Femicides Platform told DW, “Violence against women has taken on a new dimension. The crimes are becoming more brutal, and the victims and perpetrators are getting younger.” Exposure to violence within homes, attacks on the streets, and lack of changes on an institutional level attest that the promises to protect and prevent gender-based violence delivered by the authorities have thus far failed.

On the opposite end of the domestic political discourse is a proposal by Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu who announced a new “360 degree action plan,” on November 25. The plan includes, among many things, making streets safer for women, introducing incentives for women's economic independence, and policy reforms. The mayor also promised a return to the Istanbul Convention.

“We have worked tirelessly to stand by women and children in this city, and we will continue to do so. Women and children will always be our priority. We will stand with you. You will never walk alone,” said the mayor, speaking in Istanbul on November 25.

Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Turkey witnessed a series of femicides. In October, two women were killed in Istanbul. İkbal Uzuner and Ayşenur Halil were killed by 19-year-old Semih Çelik, who took his own life after committing the crimes. Çelik reportedly had previous convictions and struggled with mental health. He also was connected to numerous “incel” (involuntary celibate) groups in Turkey, which are known for calling on men, via social media platforms, to rape, harass, and murder women. Rojin Kabaiş, a 21-year-old university student who was missing for 18 days, was also found dead.

Also in October, a two-year-old baby died after weeks in a coma after being sexually abused in Tekirdağ province. Speaking to journalists, the head of the Tekirdağ Bar Association, Egemen Gürcün, said child abuse has been on the rise in the province, “citing 283 requests for lawyers in child abuse cases from the bar association in 2023 alone, with 172 requests so far in 2024,” reported Bianet news website.

In September, a 26-year-old policewoman was killed by an assailant who held 26 criminal offenses. The same month, the country was rocked with the devastating news that eight-year-old Narin Güran's body was found near the village where she lived with her family. The little girl's death triggered country-wide protests and calls for state accountability.

In total, 48 women were killed in October and 34 in September. The data for November is yet to be shared by the We Will Stop Femicides platform.

Şebnem Gümüşçü, associate professor of political science at Middlebury College, recently penned a piece for the Wilson Center, in which the author arguing that the issue is political. The legislation, specifically Article 6284, which on paper serves to prevent all forms of violence and abuse against women, is not enforced, and the responsibility is with the state and its institutions, according to Gümüşçü. “Since 2012, hundreds of women have been killed by their partners or other family members. Many were seeking protection from authorities after submitting several complaints to the police. Authorities’ reluctance is partly cultural. However, the ruling party, the AKP, did not attempt to address the cultural components to prevent crimes against women and children. Instead, the party and its leader, Tayyip Erdoğan, not only failed to resolve the problem but exacerbated it in various ways. Erdoğan’s ideology and political concessions to different groups to stay in power played a crucial role in this process,” opined Gümüşçü.

The conservative Islamist narrative is one element, while weak institutions and protective measures are another. Official statements also add insult to injury. On November 21, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya blamed victims for their own murders on the grounds that they failed to follow the rules. Mor Cati, a leading Turkish NGO working to prevent and document domestic violence, responded in a statement blaming the authorities for the lack of state protection and support mechanisms, which often force women to seek their own solutions, including communicating with the perpetrator out of fear if they do not agree, they would subject to further violence.

“Yerlikaya's statement is also an example of the problems caused by treating the fight against violence against women as a public order problem in Turkey. It is not possible to combat violence by only issuing protective measures to women without any social work. We remind once again that the state's duty is not to blame women for being subjected to violence but to establish gender equality, protect women from violence, and punish the perpetrators, and that it should do so in coordination with the Family and Social Services Ministry,” read the rest of Mor Cati's statement.

Detentions

While most of those detained during the march on November 25 have been released, at least three foreign nationals remain in custody facing possible deportation. They are Azerbaijani citizens and queer activists Ali Malikov, and Parvin Alakbarova. Both have been subject to ill-treatment and beating. They are currently in Kocaeli Immigration Detention Center, one of many immigration detention centers where abuse and mistreatment are rampant, as per international watchdog reports. Friends who have had the opportunity to speak with the activists say the conditions in which the two are currently being held are inhumane and that both have been heavily mistreated by the police since their detention.

Written by Arzu Geybullayeva

Originally published on Global Voices

‘A Feral Commons’ is a Global Co-Commission public art project spearheaded by the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN) and led by Dubai-based Alserkal Advisory. Joint project partners are Kingston Creative in Kingston, Jamaica and Victoria Yards in Johannesburg, South Africa. The project is supported by Urban Art Projects, who are implementing tools to gauge the carbon footprint of the climate change art park project in Kingston. Photo by DenniVisuals, courtesy Kingston Creative, used with permission.

By Isis Semaj-Hall, PhD

As a Jamaican writer-scholar, I am inclined to begin a discussion of Chain of Love: Rice and Peas Bush in Lower South Camp (2024), an ecological public artwork by visual artist Camille Chedda when and where Jamaican theorist Sylvia Wynter begins 530 years ago, in May of 1494 when the Tainos of Yamaye discovered Columbus and his men offshore in strange cloud-tipped canoes.

This land’s first people could never have imagined the imposition and exploitation that was to come. They could not have anticipated the planting of flags — first Spanish, then British; nor could they have foreseen diasporas of people forced from Africa and lured from Asia. The fruits, flowers, and fronds stowed on European-commissioned Jamaica-bound ships from Africa and Asia, all for the sake of feeding colonial husbandry, could not have been predicted as the Tainos gazed out on the not-yet-warmer and not-yet-polluted waters of their island home that was not-yet-losing landmass under climate change’s sea-level rise.

Visual artist Camille Chedda looks through the vent blocks that form part of her installation located at the Climate Change Art Park in Parade Gardens, Mannings Park. Photo by DenniVisuals, courtesy Kingston Creative, used with permission.

Why examine a 21st-century art installation through a 15th-century perspective? I begin here because centuries of abuse, exploitation, and neglect continue to impact us and our environment today. But through new and meaningful partnerships, there is a way for us to survive and bloom anew. Through the arts and culture nonprofit organisation Kingston Creative’s participation in the Global Co-commission, an international initiative foregrounding subaltern community knowledge, contextualising the global climate crisis, and driving collective action in public art in urban spaces, Chedda’s Chain of Love installation can plant seeds of community-building possibilities.

The title and theme of the Global Co-commission is A Feral Commons, which refers to the co-dependences and collaborations between humans, plants, animals, and water. What history does the word “feral” hold for a postcolonial place like Jamaica? For many, it recalls those Africans who were freed and who freed themselves to the hinterlands of this island. The Spanish called them “cimarrónes” because these formerly enslaved people were deemed “wild” and feral for stealing off to live free in the island’s densely forested, mountainous, bio-diverse, and colonially inaccessible interior. But Jamaica’s cimarrónes, later anglicized as Maroons, survived because of their knowledge of their environment and their ability to coexist with nature.

I begin with this historical grounding because today, in the legacy of colonialism, plantation devastation, industrial, technological and digital revolutions, and a worsening climate crisis that will unevenly impact small island states like Jamaica, we, like the Tainos, are facing the possibility of annihilation. Just as it was for the Maroons in the 16th century, today, our future as Kingstonians depends on our ability to work with nature. Our chances of climate survival in this urban space depend on the actions we take now to shift away from the abuse of nature and towards building a respectful and reciprocal relationship with our natural environment.

Supporters of the initiative in front of the signage that proudly identifies the Climate Change Art Park in Parade Gardens, Mannings Park. Photo by DenniVisuals, courtesy Kingston Creative, used with permission.

In 2015, Kingston became a UNESCO-designated creative city of music. Decades before, the world came to know Downtown Kingston through the voice and lyrics of Bob Marley of The Wailers, who sang out in 1973 that this place is a hard and difficult “concrete jungle” where few can survive. In a way, Chedda extends the possibilities of the “concrete jungle” through her vision to reinvigorate a community park at Tower Street and South Camp Road. In partnership with Kingston Creative, residents of the community, and local government representatives, Chedda’s vision for an equitable and beautiful multi-species community space blossomed. But true to Kingston’s “concrete jungle” reality, the road to fruition was hard and hot.

This park’s community has seen an unfair share of violence. Meetings with residents were sometimes difficult as people had concerns for their safety. The park needed repairs that could only be completed by elected officials, so when local elections were held during the park's rehabilitation, the change in representation meant unavoidable delays. Still committed to the community and the project, Chedda persisted and forged relationships with the men, women, and children she met in and around the park. She came to know residents like the community gardener Mr. Peary, the cookshop-keeper Miss Madge, and the well-respected and well-loved Mas Joe (Joseph Manning).

Chedda's design of a metal arch above a cement form offers the wild Rice and Peas bush a path to climb. Photo by DenniVisuals, courtesy Kingston Creative, used with permission.

For many in the community, Mas Joe was synonymous with the park. Chedda learned that he planned the park decades ago, and he installed the ironwork that borders the space. On any given day, he could be found there with a warm smile and a gentle spirit. So, when Mas Joe passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Easter Weekend 2024, during the planning and installation process for Chain of Love, sadness swept over everyone in the space and people working on the project. With this heavy loss, Chedda’s artistic vision had a chance to prove its restorative power.

Even before the project was complete, it provided a space of solace and comfort. Her installation of a metal-arch-topped cement structure was designed to give the wild Rice and Peas bush (Antigonon leptopus) a way to climb overhead. It also functions as shaded seating for park-goers to look at photographs of people in the community who worked together to create this “feral commons.” Under the metal-meets-plant archway, the cement base blocks frame what are now deeply sentimental images of Mas Joe’s last days. Because of his role in the park’s original development, Chedda planned to include his likeness in a mural panel, but with his passing, her painting of him evolved to honour his legacy in the community. Sitting in or walking through the commons, the mural depicting Mas Joe’s warm eyes and smiling face can be seen and felt.

The Rice and Peas peek through the concrete blocks at the Climate Change Art Park in Kingston. Photo by DenniVisuals, courtesy Kingston Creative, used with permission.

Alongside Mas Joe, Miss Madge’s cookshop is also featured in one of the many murals painted by Chedda and a group of volunteer artists from the community. Large images of residents’ dogs, cats, birds, and a very large rooster are brightly painted on the commons’ back wall. Depictions of children and adults resting on blankets and benches invite passersby to do the same.

Connecting the mural’s panels are paintings of the pink-flowering vines of the Rice and Peas bush. As a common fast-growing plant on the island, the Rice and Peas bush had taken over this downtown park during its years of disuse. Pretty but not ornamental, Jamaican gardeners tend not to invite Rice and Peas bushes into their botanical spaces. But this feral plant has both nutritional value (the edible seeds are used as a substitute for making the eponymously named dish Rice and Peas) and medicinal value (the leaves are brewed for tea to relieve cold symptoms and menstrual cramps).

Rather than remove the bush and the ecosystem it supports (bees, in particular), Chedda left much of it untouched. While the northern area has been de-bushed to accommodate people and an herb garden, the commons’ southern area remains fully feral. The Hope Royal Botanic Gardens and the Forestry Department donated mint and basil plants, as well as flowering bougainvillea and plumbago plants, to line the commons’ footpaths.

The park is now an area that the community enjoys. Photo by DenniVisuals, courtesy Kingston Creative, used with permission.

Where once there was a park that had fallen into wild disrepair, now thrives an active public space revived by art. In this community park, neighbours now gather in the shade to reflect, and when needed, they can nourish and heal themselves with medical and edible plants that flourish in the space. With climate concerns graduating to climate crisis realities, this ecological public artwork invites the community to return to the land, to their roots for sustenance.

In this “feral commons,” new seeds of climate resilience have been planted. Environmental caretaking now rests in the able hands of the community, just as it did long ago. To survive, people and plants must coexist in the concrete jungle that is Kingston.

Written by Guest Contributor

Originally published on Global Voices

This artwork by Yorgos Konstantinou powerfully reflects Greece's mistreatment of migrants, with a particular focus on the unjust treatment of Homayoun Sabetara. Used with permission.

Greece's controversial anti-smuggling law, characterized by severe penalties and its harsh impact on vulnerable people, has led to the detention of thousands of migrants. Rather than targeting actual criminal networks responsible for smuggling operations, the law has contributed to a significant rise in the prison population, raising doubts about Greece's  accountability in the justice system. Among them is an Iranian migrant, Homayoun Sabetara, who, despite winning an appeal, remains in prison. Mahtab, his daughter, launched the #FreeHomayoun campaign, garnering widespread attention and support to secure his release and address the many who face struggles similar to those of her father. Their plight sheds light on a crucial issue in Greece, where migrants often experience arbitrary detentions and are falsely accused as smugglers.

Homayoun's story

Homayoun had fled Iran for Istanbul and then drove to the Greek border in hopes of reaching Germany to reunite with his children. He was detained by Greek authorities in Thessaloniki in August 2021, accused of organizing the entry of seven other individuals when he crossed the Greek–Turkish border. However, he had been coerced to drive the vehicle by the actual smuggler who abandoned the group near the border.

Initially, he faced a potential sentence exceeding a hundred years. With the help of his lawyer and defense witness statements, including a plea from his daughter, his sentence was ultimately reduced to 18 years, pronounced in 2021. By September 2024, his sentence had been reduced to seven years, which allowed him to apply for early release. However, his detention and charges have been widely criticized as unjust.

A user on X expresses their support for Homayoun, stating:

Homayoun is behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.
Migration is not a crime.
Let’s not allow this injustice to continue. Be his voice and demand justice for him and others. #FreeHomayoun #FreeThemAll https://t.co/6dduAVUA0H

— ap (@apsarfa) September 19, 2024

Homayoun's case is concerning because he was not a smuggler, but rather a victim of circumstance. He was forced to drive the seven passengers because he could only afford half the fare. He promised to pay the rest once he reached his destination, where he planned to meet his daughter. Before the journey, Homayoun and his fellow passengers spent a night in the forest without food or water. After they managed to cross the border, the police intercepted them. The authorities rushed to brand Homayoun a smuggler, despite Homayoun and the passengers denying that was the case. The others were free to go and have never been seen since.

Homayoun's court date was delayed a full year after his initial detention. During his trial, Homayoun could not understand the Greek language spoken, forcing his daughter and lawyer to arrange translators at their own expense. Several human rights organizations have highlighted that Homayoun's proceedings violated EU and Greek law, ignoring the fundamental principles for a fair trial. This has sparked widespread concern about the defendant's right to a fair resolution under international law.

Ever since Homayoun's arrest, his daughter, Mahtab, has advocated for his release, collaborating with numerous human rights and migrant rights organizations. She stated that her father was severely ill at the time of his arrest, but the authorities paid little to no attention to his frail condition despite his age of 57.

Mahtab shares a video detailing her father’s condition, aiming to raise awareness about his poor treatment by the Greek authorities.

In addition, Homayoun had just undergone cancer surgery before his arrest, raising alarming concerns about the adequacy of the medical care he would receive in prison due to the notorious lack of proper equipment and the high violence rates within the prison system. Homayoun had to wait months before finallyreceiving the desperately needed medical supplies.

Homayoun was detained in Korydallos prison in Athens, confined to a basement cell with over 20 other inmates. The poor air ventilation made his health issue worse and left him struggling to breathe. Korydallos is notorious for its inhumane treatment of prisoners, with reports of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Inmates are often forced to sleep on the floor without blankets or mattresses.  The cells lack hot water, and the prison's resources are insufficient to meet the inhabitants’ needs.

Politics is the issue, not the people

Homayoun's case is far from an isolated incident in Greece. This issue reflects a deeply problematic government approach towards immigrants, often quick to be criminalized instead of supported. The entry process is selective, with some individuals welcomed under the guise of humanitarian efforts while others are vilified as smugglers. This discriminatory treatment mirrors sentiments expressed by various European politicians, further fueling the demonization of immigrants and justifying austerity policies targeting them.

The intensification of border security, such as the extension of the border fence along the Evros River, a key border with Turkey, and the increased recruitment of border guards, disproportionately benefits those who scapegoat immigrants while undermining the EU's stated values of solidarity and humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, Greece's deterrence policy often labels individuals needing assistance as criminals. Greece's approach is similar to Italy's, where immigrants frequently face violations of fair trial standards. Many immigrants or refugees, upon arrival, are arrested without clear information about their case or access to legal assistance.

Detention often leads to severe sentences, averaging 44 years of imprisonment, following court hearings that average only 38 minutes. Excessive fines, amounting to hundreds of thousands of euros, are also imposed on individuals with limited or no means to contest the charges.

Corruption and injustice in Greece's treatment of immigrants

Today, Homayoun remains in Trikala Prison, even though he was informed earlier this month that he would be released within 24 hours. He has remained incarcerated since the court ruled for his release on September 25. This prolonged struggle for Homayoun has been a tough battle for his daughter and the network of activists working to secure his freedom.

Mahtab and fellow activists expressed their anger over Homayoun's continued imprisonment.

On Tuesday, Homayoun was told that he would be released from Trikala prison within 24 hours. But he is still behind bars. When he asked why he had not been released, the guards threatened to hold him even longer if he continued to question them. We are fucking angry! pic.twitter.com/qcM3m37OQR

— freehomayoun (@freehomayoun) November 9, 2024

Many other migrants, like Homayoun, suffer under policies of deterrence and arbitrariness. Among them are survivors of tragedies such as the Adriana shipwreck, specifically the Pylos 9 — nine Egyptian men among more than 700 passengers. Even though the Greek Coast Guard’s failure to provide timely and competent rescue efforts contributed greatly to the disaster, the Pylos 9 were falsely accused of smuggling. Only 104 people survived the shipwreck. The Pylos 9 were behind bars for months, and, even after their recent acquittal, they remained in detention for several more weeks.

One of the many controversial topics for this widespread abuse is the Greek state’s involvement with smuggling operations. In 2023, five police officers were arrested for allegedly collaborating with smugglers and are awaiting trial. Investigations by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) revealed that some state actors are complicit in creating smuggling operations to capture smugglers working in Turkey. Further reports have even surfaced that Greek border guards are stealing over EUR 2 million from refugees, confiscating their belongings and money before turning them back to Turkey.

These are just a few examples of Greece’s deeply flawed and controversial anti-smuggling laws, further complicated by corruption and a failure to uphold justice. Hundreds, if not thousands, of migrants face similar treatment worldwide, often reduced to criminals simply because of their migrant status. The cases of migrants like Homayoun highlight how such policies violate human rights, which are integral to being protected under the European Union's values — freedom, justice, and dignity.

Yet, Greece’s authorities have contradicted these core principles.

Written by Elvis Takahashi Mantello

Originally published on Global Voices

Image by Arzu Geybullayeva.

The 29th session of the United Nation's flagship climate summit, also known as COP (Conference of Parties), just wrapped up in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. How did it all begin, how is it progressing, and what's next for the country's civil society now that the spotlight is over? Here's Global Voices’ wrap-up and key takeaways.

How it started

The summit is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The latter was adopted in 1992. With a near-universal membership of 198 states (197 states and one regional economic integration organization), the convention, through COP, is tasked with reviewing “the national communications and emission inventories submitted by Parties; [and] assess the effects of the measures taken by Parties and the progress made in achieving the ultimate objective of the Convention,” according to UNFCCC website.

Since 1995, COP has been convening once a year with country hosts chosen on a rotating basis among the five recognized UN regions — Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Western Europe, and other states. An Eastern European country was slotted to host COP in 2024. This year's host was decided in December 2023, after a weeks-long standstill — a consensus must be reached over the next host by every country in the host region — caused as a result of Russia threatening to veto any European Union country’s bid, given the EU's sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

The selection of Azerbaijan, although it ended the negotiations standstill over the COP29 host, raised many more questions as yet another major energy-producing country with a dismal track record on human rights and freedoms (following Egypt and UAE) as well as its intentions to keep boosting the use of fossil fuels and lack of clear commitments to curtail emissions, was the host of one of the world's most important climate conferences.

Unsurprisingly, very few notable outcomes were reported during and at the end of COP29.

On climate

Just days ahead of COP29, Global Witness leaked a video showing Azerbaijan's deputy energy minister and COP29’s chief executive, Elnur Soltanov promoting the country’s fossil-fuel interests and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). The leaked video was further proof of prior calls, reports and research documents pointing out that the Azerbaijani government was unlikely to offer any real climate change policies on energy efficiency and long-term sustainability. And that COP29 would serve the interests of the state, desperately wanting to be seen as a global player and equal partner and to secure funding for its own energy deals.

Soltanov's promotion of SOCAR and the country's energy prospects also fit into the narrative built ahead of COP29 and expressed by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. The president's remark that the country’s resources were a gift from God while attending the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in April 2024, an annual international climate negotiation hosted by the German Federal Foreign Office, was yet another signal that Azerbaijan had no intention of stopping investing and producing fossil fuels, and that it was set to continue boosting the natural gas exports to Europe.

The boost to climate finance — one of the outcomes that was expected at this year's COP — also failed to meet the expectations. As described by India’s delegate Chandni Raina, the final document was “little more than an optical illusion,” while Nigeria’s envoy, Nkiruka Maduekwe, called it “an insult.” The Climate Action Network Europe described the agreed amount as “breadcrumbs.” At the end of the day, the budget was raised from USD 100 billion (agreed to in 2009) to USD 300 billion a year by 2035 for developing countries. This amount is significantly lower than the more than USD 1 trillion a year that researchers estimate is needed.

The “loss and damage fund,” set up two years ago, also remained underfunded.

Both the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developing Countries blocks walked out of the negotiations on climate finance in protest at the USD 250 billion offered initially. The walkout prompted negotiators to eventually agree on the final amount of USD 300 billion. 

“The world’s wealthiest countries have spent this year’s climate conference bullying lower-income countries into accepting a miserly finance agreement which could saddle them with huge debts. High-income countries and the Azerbaijan presidency are loudly congratulating themselves, but no amount of spin can hide the fact that this agreement is a disaster for the human rights of people and communities on the front line of proliferating climate impacts,” said Ann Harrison, climate justice advisor at Amnesty International.

Some participants and those involved in the negotiations expressed their frustration with the chief negotiator, Azerbaijan's COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev. As per The New York Times, “Instead of rapidly dealing with a number of the smaller issues in play, negotiations moved at a plodding pace and many points of dispute remain unresolved,” reported the paper. During a press conference, Babayev said he, too, was frustrated with negotiations, and placed the responsibility on the parties involved in the process.

Authors Alice C. Hill and Priyanka Mahat wrote in their review for the Council on Foreign Relations: “The conference ended with only modest climate finance goals, failed to deliver on an expected announcement of a new commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and displayed unusually high tensions among nations. The result was deep concern among climate policy activists for the future of climate diplomacy.”

On rights and freedoms

The timing of COP29 marked exactly one year since the government launched a new crackdown against civil society representatives in Azerbaijan. Scores of journalists, political and civic activists, rights defenders and young scholars were handed pretrial detention sentences on bogus charges.

#Climate talks in Baku is about to end, but impunity for crimes against journalists in #Azerbaijan never ends. Sevinj Vagifgizi, Ulvi Hasanli and Mahammad Kekalov from @AbzasMedia were detained on trumped-up charges just 1 year ahead #COP29 for their brave investigative reporting pic.twitter.com/0Vj4qFoHmK

— FreeAbzasMedia (@FreeAbzasMedia) November 21, 2024

During the conference, local courts extended pretrial detentions and dismissed motions by those currently held behind bars to release them under house arrest.

As #Azerbaijan hosts #COP29 (now in its second week), a court in Baku extends the pretrial detention of former diplomat Emin Ibrahimov by another two months. https://t.co/qwfjYe4ckW

— Arzu Geybulla (@arzugeybulla) November 19, 2024

Documentation of torture and ill-treatment in detention and prison facilities was also reported.

URGENT: Journalists from “Abzas Media” – Sevinj Vagifgizi, Nargiz Absalamova, and Elnara Gasimova – have reportedly faced violence in prison.

Family members of “Abzas Media” editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgizi, who is being held in Baku Detention Center No. 1, allege she has been… pic.twitter.com/8JuRkLSJhZ

— Ulviyya Ali (@UlviyyaAli) November 17, 2024

Azer Gasimli, political expert and founder of the Political Management Institute, was barred from leaving the country and placed under a travel ban as negotiations over climate finance went on. Gasimli told Meydan TV in an interview that the decision to ban him was political and his future arrest was possible. Scores of Azerbaijani civic activists are expecting further crackdowns now that the COP29 spotlight over the country is over.

During COP29, the Azerbaijani presidency dismissed questions by Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now newscast, on the status of arrested journalists and activists:

We asked a top Azerbaijani official at the #COP29 summit why activists, journalists and government critics were jailed ahead of the U.N. climate talks. https://t.co/xMjqRPw6wp pic.twitter.com/QRSzQfgJlC

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) November 20, 2024

Arrested civic activist, Imran Aliyev announced he was going on a hunger strike given what he said was his unlawful arrest and the ongoing pretrial detention. Another activist, Nicad Ibrahim, injured himself with a mirror shard in protest of his arrest. An independent economist who was arrested as part of a criminal investigation launched against Abzas Media and Farid Mehralizade penned a letter to the presidential aide and the head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration, Hikmat Hajiyev. He dismissed claims during COP29 that there were any political prisoners or that journalists were persecuted for their reporting.

Mehralizade questioned Hajiyev's claims solely based on his personal experience in a pretrial detention facility where he had been threatened over “speaking too much.” “If indeed I am standing accused of my involvement in some alleged large scale financial machinations, what does ‘teaching me a lesson,’ or other threats mean?” wrote Mehralizade in his letter that was published by Azadliq Radio on November 26.

The presence of a vibrant civil society free from any kind of persecution is one of the building blocks of a democracy. In Azerbaijan, where this presence has been gradually sidelined over the years, it has been replaced with government apologists, as well as fake social media accounts and trolls. Ahead of COP29 and during the conference, several reports shed light on inauthentic accounts promoting the Azerbaijan presidency as well as Hajiyev's comments and statements.

It remains to be seen whether the government of Azerbaijan understands that no amount of fake social media engagement and promotional content can cover up the country's climate and human rights record. However, the decades-long experience of shedding light on these violations by domestic and international rights watchdogs is sufficient to conclude that little will change in Azerbaijan now that the spotlight has shifted.

Written by Arzu Geybullayeva

Originally published on Global Voices

Former political prisoner Sayang Mandabayan holds a poster that says “I reject transmigration.” Photo posted on X (Twitter) account of Veronica Koman, used with permission.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who assumed office on October 20, 2024, has announced the revival of the transmigration program, which encourages citizens to populate the country’s eastern region, including Papua — a province on the Easternmost side of the archipelago that has been fighting for independence from Java for decades. The Indonesian government said it seeks to promote the “people’s welfare,” but critics warn that the plan could further displace the Indigenous Papuan population.

Papua was annexed by Indonesia in 1963, but this was fiercely resisted by the local population and a self-determination movement continues to exist up to this day.

Indigenous Papuans have diverging ethnic roots from Javanese Indonesians as well as unique cultural traditions and histories.  Papuans have long faced racism, discrimination, violence, and displacement from Indonesia, which has fought to keep the resource-rich province.

In an effort to further gain control of Papua and quash any rebellion movements, between 1964 and 1999, the government implemented a transmigration program that facilitated the resettlement of 78,000 families from Indonesia’s densely populated islands, such as Java and Sumatra, to Papua. During this period, witnesses testified that “customary land was taken (and) forests were cut down” while the Indigenous Malind people were prohibited from speaking their native language. The program was paused in 2001, but unofficial transmigration has persisted.

In recent years, Indonesia escalated its military deployment, which led to intense clashes and militarization of communities. According to the United Nations, between 60,000 and 100,000 Papuans were affected by these operations.

Prabowo, a former military officer accused of abducting activists, was the son-in-law of the president who initiated the transmigration program. A few days after his inauguration, he visited Papua to check the progress in developing food estates intended to address the country’s food security. However, some Papuan groups have decried it as a deforestation program that threatens the region’s biodiversity and displaces local villagers.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua highlighted the link between the transmigration revival and the forced conversion of forests into agricultural plantations:

It is not a coincidence Prabowo has announced a new transmigration programme at the same time as their ecocidal deforestation regime intensifies. These twin agenda represent the two sides of Indonesian colonialism in West Papua: exploitation and settlement. Indonesia only wants West Papua’s resources; they do not want our people.

The group’s leader saluted the Papuan students who organized protests against the transmigration policy:

West Papuan students resisting transmigration. These illegal settlement plans are a key part of Indonesia's genocide of West Papua and a deadly threat to our survival. If Melanesian leaders allow this to happen we will be wiped out @MsgSecretariat @ForumSEC @PngPles @DailypostVu pic.twitter.com/H5beps8VvI

— Benny Wenda (@BennyWenda) November 4, 2024

Human rights lawyer Veronica Koman posted photos and videos of protests in Papua against the transmigration plan

The people of West Papua have spoken.

Just today (15/11/24), rallies against Indonesia’s settler-colonial Transmigration plan were held in:

Jayapura, Nabire, Sorong, Manokwari, Yahukimo, Yalimo, Timika, Makassar. pic.twitter.com/u0ucw8RfUW

— Veronica Koman 許愛茜 (@VeronicaKoman) November 15, 2024

Civil society group Civicus has monitored that attacks against peaceful protests in Papua have intensified ahead of Prabowo’s inauguration.

Papuan activists were shot at, faced intimidation for their advocacy as well as harassment and ill-treatment for their activism. Attacks and killing of journalists has persisted, including in Papua.

In addition, five new battalions were deployed, and at least 2,000 troops were sent to Papua in September and October.

Father John Bunay, chairman of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission of Jayapura diocese, sounded alarm over the seizure of lands in Papua. “There are so many migrants coming to Papua. There has been a seizure of living space from the indigenous Papuan people by non-Papuans.”

The International Parliamentarians for West Papua has called on the Indonesian government to allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to check the situation in Papua. The group also criticized the potential negative impact of reviving the transmigration program.

The aim of transmigration was to dilute the Indigenous Melanesian population, while securing control of West Papua’s rich natural resource base.

Transmigration has produced structural discrimination in education, land rights, and employment. There is a high level of income and wealth inequality between Papuans and Indonesians, while migrants dominate the labour market.

But Transmigration Minister Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara asserted that the program will not simply relocate people but “enhance the quality of human resources through socio-cultural approaches.” He added:

Our main focus is no longer merely the relocation of people, a measure misinterpreted as transferring poverty from one place to another in the past. Instead, we will exert all-out efforts to alleviate poverty, boosting people's welfare.

Written by Mong Palatino

Originally published on Global Voices

A screenshot of an old woman at the Dadaab Refugee Camp from the documentary Radio Dadaab by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), used with permission. 

In the documentary Radio Dadaab, produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation(EJF), Fardowsa Sirat Gele remarked, “Back in 1991, during the civil war in Somalia, these people were fleeing from war. But this time, we are seeing more people fleeing Somalia because of drought.”

Sirat, a 25-year-old refugee journalist from Dadaab Camp, the world's largest refugee camp located in Kenya, near the Somalia border, provides insight into the challenges faced by refugees in the camp. The documentary, which was produced during EJF's visit to the camp, captures the experiences of several refugees and highlights how extreme weather events, exacerbated by climate change, are driving a significant increase in migration and displacement. The investigation also reveals the links between global heating and generations of climate migration. 

Dadaab Refugee Camp

Children at the Dadaab Refugee Camp. Photo by EJF, used with permission.

Kenya's Dadaab Refugee Camp houses over 300,000 refugees, primarily from Somalia but also from other parts of Africa. While residents of the camp have access to basic necessities such as food, education, healthcare, commerce, and recreational activities, their movement is restricted to within 50 kilometres (about 31 miles) of the camp. Refugees are not allowed to establish permanent settlements, and individuals like Serat, who was born and raised in the camp, face profound identity challenges. The Kenyan government does not issue birth certificates to these individuals, and returning to their home countries to obtain documentation is not an option due to the prolonged war and conflict in Somalia that has been raging for decades.

Meanwhile, in 2022, the Kenyan government passed the Refugee Act 2021, which states that the refugee camps will be turned into integrated settlements, thus creating opportunities to integrate the refugees into the host community. The Act offers refugees freedom of movement, the right to work, and access to financial services, among other rights.

An aerial view of Dadaab Refugee Camp. Photo by EJF, used with permission.

Consequences of the climate crisis

The number of people displaced within their own countries is increasing. Between 2013 and 2023, extreme weather events caused an annual average of 23.6 million people worldwide to be displaced within their own countries, with internal displacements reaching 32.6 million in 2022 alone. The report shares the impacts of these devastating weather events alongside stories of multi-generational climate refugees in their own words, many for the first time.

The consequences of global heating have been felt keenly in the Horn of Africa, where Somali refugees are finding themselves on the frontlines of the climate crisis, despite contributing almost nothing to the carbon emissions fuelling climate breakdown. In 2019, Somalia had a per capita carbon footprint barely one-fifth of the European Union’s and the entire continent of Africa only contributes around 3.8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, climate modelling reveals that as a conservative estimate, events like the drought that has unfolded in the Horn of Africa are 100 times more likely due to human-indicated climate change. 

The devastating consequences this has had on people’s lives is evidenced by the population living inside Dadaab Refugee Camp, which has been referred to as an “open-air prison,” EJF’s new report says. The camp was originally designed to accommodate 90,000 people, largely consisting of Somali refugees fleeing the 1991 civil war in Somalia.

However, according to the NGO’s report, the population has since increased to over three and a half times that size. Between 2022 and 2023, Dadaab experienced an influx of refugees due to droughts and conflict, which caused the camp’s population to swell from 234,000 in July 2022 to 320,000 in March 2023.

In 2024, severe flooding across East Africa displaced many Somali refugees, forcing them to endure similar hardships in Kenyan refugee camps. According to the EJF's latest report, the intensity of such crises is projected to escalate without urgent intervention and sustained support from the international community.

The EJF team visited the Dadaab Camp in September 2022, following the largest arrival of climate refugees in decades. As evidenced in the documentary, during this trip, the Dadaab residents told EJF how the drought had decimated their cattle and ruined their crops, forcing them to leave their homes and seek refuge. 

One single mother of seven, Halima Hassan Ibrahim, who lives with disabilities in Dadaab told the NGO: “We had ten cows and 50 goats. All of the cows and goats died and everything else was destroyed. I’m a mother and a father for my kids, and I don’t have anything for them.”

According to EJF, the situation has worsened significantly since then, with over 23.5 million people suffering from acute food insecurity in the region at the height of the drought in May 2023. 8.25 million people in Somalia — almost half of the country’s population — were in need of life-saving assistance, and 43,000 people died, with half the deaths among children under 5 years old.

Confronting this crisis together

To address the drought, Somalia’s Federal Government initiated a USD 420 million suite of World Bank-financed initiatives, including the Somalia Urban Resilience Project (Nagaad), through which emergency relief and cash assistance were provided to over 400,000 internally displaced persons arriving in already overstretched urban centers like Mogadishu, Baidoa, and Garowe.

Steve Trent, CEO and Founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, noted in an email to Global Voices:

The significant loss of life, forced displacement and widespread suffering caused by the climate crisis, revealed by our investigation, is a choice. Every fossil fuel CEO prioritising profit over people, every world leader failing to deliver the urgent change we need, is actively picking this course. It’s time to chart another, and for the international community to act quickly and decisively. We call for the international legal framework for the protection of refugees to incorporate and protect climate refugees. We have no time to lose when it comes to global decarbonisation, mitigating global heating and upholding the basic human rights of those most impacted by the climate crisis.

Fardowsa Sirat Gele, a reporter for Radio Gargaar, concluded,

The injustice is stark: those who have contributed the least to global emissions are the first to lose everything. Ignoring this urgent call will not only widen the divide between rich and poor nations but will also fuel conflict, poverty, and instability worldwide. We owe it to the most vulnerable — and to future generations — to confront this crisis with bold action and compassion. A united global response is essential — not only to mitigate future harm but to uphold justice and compassion in the face of this urgent challenge. Let’s protect our most vulnerable and ensure a world where all can thrive.

Written by Zita Zage