Human Rights on Capitol Hill – March 2021 Newsletter

Amnesty International joined a Feb. 26 letter with 400 civil society groups urging the administration to support an emergency COVID-19 waiver from the World Trade Organization’s (“WTO”) Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”) agreement. The waiver, which was on the TRIPS Council agenda on Mar. 10-11, is necessary to provide greater supplies of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tests for lower-income nations. The COVID-19 pandemic cannot be stopped anywhere unless vaccines, tests, and treatments are available everywhere. 

For more on the TRIPS waiver and intellectual property restrictions on the equitable distribution of COVID-19 products, read this Mar. 9 Just Security blog and Amnesty International’s statement for the Mar. 10 House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee hearing titled “A Year into the Pandemic: The State of International Development,” and watch this Mar. 10 interview. Amnesty urges the administration to support multilateral efforts to ensure affordable and equitable vaccine access for all, including the proposed WTO TRIPS waiver and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (“C-TAP”).

Amnesty International USA submitted a statement for the record ahead of a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing titled “The Biden Administration’s Priorities for U.S. Foreign Policy” on Mar. 10. Amnesty’s recommendations focus on five global themes: (1) internet shutdowns and restrictions; (2) Big Tech complicity in censorship; (3) government attacks on civil society and NGOs; (4) the COVID-19 pandemic; and (5) the climate crisis.

Congress should swiftly pass Safe from the Start Act (H.R.571). In humanitarian situations, women and girls face an increased risk of rape, child marriage, domestic violence, human trafficking, exploitation by humanitarian personnel, and other forms of gender-based violence (“GBV”). This legislation would implement the Safe from the Start program which would ensure context-appropriate services for girls and women who are exposed to GBV during humanitarian crises, and would establish tools to promote greater efficiency and accountability of response and recovery efforts.

Congress should pass H.Res.196, a resolution calling for a feminist foreign policy. This landmark resolution, supported by 36 House Members, calls for the adoption of a feminist foreign policy which includes foreign assistance and humanitarian response, trade, diplomacy, defense, immigration, funding, and oversight mechanisms.

On Mar. 2 three women human rights activists in Poland were acquitted on charges of “offending religious beliefs” for distributing posters of the Virgin Mary with a halo in the rainbow colors of the LGBTI pride flag. The activists were facing up to two years in prison simply for standing up for LGBTI rights in a climate of hate and discrimination.

Congress should swiftly pass the Libya Stabilization Act (S.379), which was passed by the House in 2020 with Amnesty’s strong support. Libya has experienced untold suffering, with civilians bearing the brunt of years of conflict, insecurity, and militia rule. The Libya Stabilization Act authorizes U.S. support for efforts to strengthen good governance, promotes anti-corruption measures, and supports economic recovery both during and after a negotiated political solution to the Libyan conflict.

On Feb. 19 Lebanon’s military prosecutor filed terrorism-related charges against at least 23 detainees, including two minors, involved in heated protests in the northern city of Tripoli. Lebanese authorities should immediately stop the use of terrorism-related charges to prosecute protesters and to cease the practice of summoning civilians before military courts. Amnesty is calling for an independent UN-led investigation into the Beirut port blast of Aug. 2020 and the assassination of Lebanese activist Lokman Slim in Feb. 2021.

Following the Feb. 1 military coup, people in Myanmar have been engaged in nationwide demonstrations, which have been overwhelmingly peaceful. New research by Amnesty International, released on Mar. 11, has confirmed that security forces appear to be implementing planned, systematic strategies including the ramped-up use of lethal force. Many of the killings documented amount to extrajudicial executions. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the death toll from the protests as of Mar. 4 stands at 61. This official estimate excludes additional known casualties since Mar. 4. Watch this video summarizing Amnesty’s analysis.

A Feb. 25 Amnesty report documented that illegal logging—the main cause of deforestation in Cambodia’s Prey Lang rainforest—is leading to widespread forest clearings and new roads cleared within the protected area. USAID and DOS, as the main partners of the Cambodian Ministry of Environment in its efforts to protect Prey Lang, should take a firm stance against illegal logging in the rainforest, and strongly oppose the Cambodian government’s plans to construct a 300 km power transmission line through the heart of the forest.