1. China: Prominent legal scholar held incommunicado: Xu Zhiyong (ASA 17/2738/2020) 2. China: Further information: Lawyer charged for inciting subversion: Ding Jiaxi (ASA 17/2645/2020) 3. China: Bookseller handed outrageous 10-year sentence must be released (News story, 25 February) 4. China: Wife of detained lawyer Yu Wensheng tells of ongoing fight for justice (Campaign, 9 July) 5. China: Nowhere feels safe: Uyghurs tell of China-led intimidation campaign abroad (Research, February) 6. China: Joint NGO statement on Item 10 and Draft Resolution on "Mutually Beneficial Cooperation" delivered during Item 10 General Debate at HRC43 (IOR 40/2563/2020) 7. Explainer: Seven ways the coronavirus affects human rights (News story, 5 February) 8. How China used technology to combat COVID-19 – and tighten its grip on citizens (News story, 17 April) 9. China: Zoom must not become a tool in state-sponsored censorship (News story, 12 June) 10. Hong Kong: Missing truth, missing justice (ASA 17/1868/2020) 11. Hong Kong’s national security law: 10 things you need to know (News story, 17 July)
COLOMBIA Republic of Colombia Head of state and government: Iván Duque Márquez Crimes under international law and human rights violations and abuses in the context of the continuing internal armed conflict increased in rural areas where control of territories formerly dominated by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) was disputed. The primary victims continued to be members of rural communities. Sexual violence against women and girls persisted, as did impunity for these crimes. Colombia was widely recognized as the most dangerous country in the world for those who defend human rights. Protection measures for defenders of the territory, land and environment remained limited and ineffective, and impunity for crimes against them continued. In 2020, killings of social leaders reached shocking levels. There were concerns about the withdrawal of protection schemes for human rights defenders, the
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
authorities’ excessive use of force when enforcing mandatory quarantines and the failure to guarantee the right to health of Amazonian Indigenous Peoples in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The police responded to nationwide protests in September with excessive use of lethal force, killing 10 people, and torture. The Supreme Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling in September, ordering measures to guarantee the exercise of the right to peaceful protest and acknowledging the excessive use of force by state security officials.
BACKGROUND The government declared a state of economic, social and environmental emergency on 17 March to curb the spread of COVID-19. The executive approved an unprecedented 164 legislative decrees, some of which the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional. In August, the Supreme Court of Justice ordered that former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez be placed under preventive house arrest in the context of judicial proceedings for alleged bribery, fraud and witness tampering. This was lifted in October, but judicial proceedings continued. The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Verification Mission until 2021. In October, FARC-EP dissidents intercepted a humanitarian mission of the OHCHR Office in Colombia and the Office of the Ombudsperson in Caquetá department, and then set fire to their vehicle. According to the Kroc Institute, which monitors compliance with the 2016 Peace Agreement between the FARC-EP and the Colombian state, implementation of the Agreement was slow. The National Commission on Security Guarantees (CNGS) did not make progress in dismantling criminal organizations or ensuring a state presence in the territories hardest hit by the armed conflict, despite pressure from civil society to step up its efforts.
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