Author: Human Rights Watch

Pope Francis is in Indonesia as part of a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. His visit comes as numerous discriminatory regulations in Indonesia target religious minorities around the country.

Just a short drive from the Vatican Embassy in Jakarta is the parish of St. Joannes Baptista in Parung, where the local Catholic community had bought land to build a church. Then, in 2006, the Indonesian government introduced the “religious harmony” regulation. Only instead of promoting harmony, the law effectively gives the local religious majority veto power over minority places of worship.

The regulation allowed the Muslim majority in Parung via the official Religious Harmony Forum to deny permission to build the church. Muslim groups then started intimidating the parish’s Christian community.

In 2013, Alexander Adrian Makawangkel, a member of the parish, told me about the continual harassment. “I often stay the night here, guarding the compound and monitoring cameras,” he said.

This week, I visited the parish again. A decade on, there is still no church. The parish uses tents for its 3,000 members, but often must dismantle them because of pressure from the local administration, especially during Christmas and Easter celebrations.

St. Joannes Baptista is not the only Christian group facing pressure. Local groups have estimated that several hundred to perhaps over 1,000 churches have been closed, sealed, or burned in the past two decades. However, Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has failed to gather data on those churches. Other religious minorities, such as Ahmadiyah, Buddhists, Hindus, Kejawen, Millah Abraham, Shia, and Sunda Wiwitan face similar discrimination.

Harassment and violence against religious minorities in Indonesia is rising, facilitated by laws that undermine religious freedom. In 2022, for instance, parliament expanded the toxic blasphemy law from one to six articles, and those found guilty can be imprisoned for up to five years. A University of London study documented more than 700 regulations discriminating against religious minorities, as well as women and LGBT people. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom states that the conditions in Indonesia are “trending negatively.”

Makawangkel died in January 2019, his dream of building the church unfulfilled. Pope Francis should encourage the Indonesian authorities to spare others such anguish and to protect religious freedom for all, not only for the majority.

(Bogota) – Venezuelan authorities are committing widespread human rights violations against protesters, bystanders, opposition leaders, and critics following the July 28, 2024, presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. Concerned governments should push for independent verification of the electoral results and support international efforts to ensure accountability. 

International observers have raised serious concerns about the July 29 announcement by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) that Nicolás Maduro had been re-elected president. Following the announcement, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets, in largely peaceful protests, to demand a fair counting of the votes. Human Rights Watch has documented that Venezuelan authorities and pro-government armed groups known as “colectivos” have committed widespread abuses, including killings, arbitrary detention and prosecution, and harassment of critics. On September 2, a judge issued an arrest warrant against opposition candidate Edmundo González for “conspiracy,” “incitement to disobedience” and other crimes.

“The repression we are seeing in Venezuela is shockingly brutal,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Concerned governments need to take urgent steps to ensure that people are able to peacefully protest and that their vote is respected.”

Venezuelans voted in the presidential election in large numbers, despite irregular government actions and human rights violations in the lead-up to the election, including arrests of opposition members, arbitrary disqualifications of opposition candidates, and restrictions on Venezuelans voting abroad. Several hours after polls closed, Venezuela’s electoral council declared that Maduro had won the election with over 51 percent of the vote. The Electoral Council has not released the tally sheets from the election, nor conducted the audits and citizen verification processes required by law. 

The United Nations Electoral Technical Team and the Carter Center, which observed the elections, said the process lacked transparency and integrity, and questioned the declared result. They indicated that, instead, the precinct-level tally sheets that the opposition made public were reliable. The Carter Center noted that the tally sheets showed, with 81 percent of the votes counted, that González had won the election by a significant margin. 

Venezuelans have taken to the streets across the country, particularly in low-income areas traditionally supportive of the Chavismo movement, where many incidents of repression have taken place. 

Human Rights Watch received credible reports of 24 killings in the context of protests from independent local groups, including Foro Penal, Justicia Encuentro y Perdón, Monitor de Víctimas, and Provea, or discovered them on social media. Human Rights Watch independently documented 11 of these cases, including by reviewing death certificates, verifying videos and photographs, and interviewing 20 people, including witnesses and other local sources. Many relatives, witnesses, and others were not willing to be interviewed because they feared government retaliation.

Human Rights Watch analyzed and verified 39 videos and 2 photographs of protests found on social media platforms or sent directly to researchers by people close to the victims, and by local organizations and journalists. Researchers confirmed the exact locations where these videos were filmed; used information such as shadows, weather patterns, and upload dates to determine the time of day; and consulted with forensic pathologists and arms experts, who analyzed the injuries and weapons that were seen and heard. 

According to Venezuelan authorities, they arrested over 2,400 people in connection with protests. The local pro bono group Foro Penal recorded over 1,580 “political prisoners” who have been arrested since July 29, including 114 children. Prosecutors have charged hundreds with sometimes broadly defined crimes carrying harsh sentences, such as “incitement to hatred,” “resistance to authority,” and “terrorism.”

The government has also intensified its broader repressive tactics, cancelling passports of critics to prevent them from leaving the country, encouraging citizens to report on demonstrators, and conducting abusive raids, especially in low-income communities. On August 15, Maduro’s supporters in the National Assembly passed a law that grants the government broad powers to control and shut down nongovernmental organizations. 

The governments of Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico have called for talks with the Venezuelan government. On August 16, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States, where all member states are represented, approved by consensus a resolution urging Venezuelan authorities to publish the precinct-level tally sheets and carry out an “impartial verification” of the results. It also urged authorities to respect human rights.

The European Union, the US, and several Latin American and European governments have also urged Maduro to release and respect the electoral results and guarantee the rights of opposition leaders, protesters, and critics. 

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, who is investigating crimes against humanity in the country, has said that his office is actively monitoring the situation.

Governments should support efforts to ensure accountability for grave violations in Venezuela, including by renewing the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM) during the upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council session, Human Rights Watch said. They should also support the ongoing investigation of the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC and consider imposing targeted sanctions on those responsible for grave violations. 

For detailed recommendations and information on Human Rights Watch findings on post-electoral government repression, please see below.

Recommendations

Foreign governments should take urgent steps to promote accountability and ensure respect for the electoral results. These include:

• Continue to publicly and privately call on Maduro to end human rights violations, including repression of protesters, publish the precinct-level tally sheets, allow for an independent verification of the electoral results, and respect the will of the Venezuelan people as expressed in the polls on July 28.
• Work multilaterally to explore rights-respecting ways to encourage Maduro’s international allies, including Cuba, and the oil industry in Venezuela to call on Maduro to publish the tally-sheets, to provide for an independent process of verification of the electoral results, and to respect people’s vote.
• Renew the mandate of the FFM, which remains key to push for accountability for widespread violations, during the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
• Impose targeted sanctions on members of the security forces, “colectivos,” judges and prosecutors responsible for grave human rights violations.
• Expand access to asylum and other forms of international protection for Venezuelans leaving their country in line with international standards.
• Support the ongoing investigation of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court into crimes against humanity in Venezuela, and ensure that the court has the resources it needs to support work across its docket.

Killings During Protests 

Human Rights Watch received credible allegations that twenty-three protesters or bystanders, as well as one member of the Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana, GNB) security force were killed during protests, most on July 29 and 30, as the protests peaked. 

Eight cases were reported in Caracas District, particularly in the low-income neighborhoods of El Valle and Antímano. Six occurred during the same protests in San Jacinto, Maracay, Aragua state. The remaining cases occurred in Bolívar, Carabobo, Lara, Miranda, Táchira, Yaracuy, and Zulia states.

Credible evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch implicates security forces, including the GNB and the police (Policía Nacional Bolivariana, PNB) in some killings. 

In other cases, pro-government, armed “colectivo” groups appear to be responsible. “Colectivos” have for years intimidated and harassed critics and informed on them to the government, especially in low-income neighborhoods. In 2020, the FFM found that during past protests “colectivos were in some cases involved in crowd control or violations in coordination with the state armed forces and/or upon the instruction of state political leaders.” 

Witnesses, journalists, and human rights groups who investigated the recent protests described to Human Rights Watch how security forces and pro-government groups clamped down on protesters. Initially, security forces controlled or dispersed demonstrations, often using barricades, throwing tear gas, and arresting protesters. If the demonstrations continued, members of “colectivos” showed up, often using firearms to intimidate or attack protesters. 

In one apparent example of coordination between apparent “colectivo” members and security forces, Human Rights Watch verified a video posted on TikTok on July 29 at 5:59 p.m. local time, in which at least three men in civilian clothes are firing handguns in the air close to fleeing protesters from behind a line of uniformed security forces making the protesters disperse. They shoot their weapons for over a minute. The security forces take no steps to stop or arrest them. Human Rights Watch geolocated the video to have been recorded on Urdaneta Avenue in Caracas.

Isaías Jacob Fuenmayor González (Zulia State, July 29)

Isaías Jacob Fuenmayor González, 15, left his home in San Francisco, Zulia state, on the late morning of July 29 to practice a dance with his friends for an upcoming 15th birthday party, his sister told Human Rights Watch. On his way home, she said, Fuenmayor González joined friends who were participating in a demonstration near the Mathías Lossada high school, which had served as a polling place. A video sent to researchers and verified by Human Rights Watch shows Fuenmayor González walking among protesters, midway from the rehearsal site and his home. The video was filmed late into the day as the light is fading to the west. 

A journalist who was present told Human Rights Watch that National Guard members on motorbikes repeatedly rode into the crowd to try to disperse the protest at different times during that afternoon. Human Rights Watch verified two videos that, in line with the journalist’s report, show GNB members using their motorbikes to disperse protesters. By analyzing shadows, Human Rights Watch found that one of the videos, posted on X at 6:35 p.m., was recorded around 4:10 p.m. The journalist also said that some protesters threw rocks at the local office of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV), located in front of the high school. 

The journalist, local media, and human rights groups say that members of “colectivos” attacked protesters after the National Guard’s initial clash with demonstrators. Some time after 7:30 p.m., a bullet hit Fuenmayor González in the neck. Two videos filmed at night, which Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated to a corner of the Mathías Lossada high school, in front of the PSUV local office, show a boy carrying a clearly injured Fuenmayor González to a motorcycle. 

He was taken on the motorcycle to the nearby Doctor Manuel Noriega Trigo hospital, where he died. His death certificate, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, indicates that he died due to blood loss caused by a gunshot wound to his neck.  

“I want justice for my brother,” Fuenmayor González’s sister told Human Rights Watch. “He was a child who did not deserve to die, a child who was just beginning to live.” 

Anthony Enrique García Cañizalez and Olinger Johan Montaño López (Caracas District, July 29)

On the afternoon of July 29, Anthony Enrique García Cañizalez, a 20-year-old student, left his home in El Valle, Caracas district, to bring food to a family member in the Supreme Commander Hugo Chávez Maternity Hospital, his aunt told Human Rights Watch. As he was returning home, García Cañizalez encountered a protest near the Abigail González school, which had served as a polling place.

Olinger Johan Montaño López, 23, a barber from El Valle, took part in the protest by the Simoncito Libertador school, according to a Facebook video geolocated by Human Rights Watch, approximately 750 meters northeast of the Abigail González school. Montaño López was passionate about music and sang and wrote his own songs under the artistic name “Saffary,” according to his posts on social media. “It is better to die in battle than to die in misery,” Montaño López posted on his social media that day. 

Human Rights Watch verified three videos northeast of the Abigail González school, around Bolívar square, that show National Guard members dispersing the protest, including by throwing tear gas or smoke canisters, and shooting kinetic impact projectiles from riot guns. In one of the videos, filmed at night, a person identifying themselves as a journalist, says that it is 7:32 p.m., which is consistent with nighttime beginning at 7:14 p.m. that day. Protesters are seen throwing what appear to be rocks at security officers, as the security officers throw what appear to be tear gas or smoke grenades, and fire unidentified types of weapons in another direction off camera. 

Two videos geolocated by Human Rights Watch just two hundred meters northwest from the Abigail González school, filmed at night, show a group of people carrying an injured person, whom Human Rights Watch identified as Montaño López, and a group of people around another injured person on the road nearby. A video shared on social media platforms shows a shirtless man covered in blood as a group of people pick him up. García Cañizalez’s aunt identified the man as her nephew. Human Rights Watch geolocated the video having been filmed in the same location as the other two videos. 

García Cañizalez’s aunt told researchers he was shot at around 8:30 p.m. on his way home, 400 meters away. Montaño López had stopped replying to messages around 8:40 p.m., a source said. 

García Cañizalez died that day at the Coche Hospital. His death certificate, reviewed by Human Rights Watch, states that he was killed by massive internal hemorrhaging caused by gunshot wounds. “He was a young boy, with a zest for life, which was taken away from him,” his aunt said. 

Montaño López was also taken to the Coche Hospital, where he died. His death certificate, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, says he died due to a penetrating thoracic trauma caused by a firearm.

Aníbal José Romero Salazar (Caracas District, July 29)

On July 29, Aníbal José Romero Salazar, a 24-year-old construction worker known by his friends as “Pimpina,” took part in a protest in Carapita, a low-income neighborhood in Antímano, Caracas. 

Human Rights Watch verified two videos filmed in quick succession posted on X at 4:43 p.m. and 4:53 p.m. These show protesters on Intercommunal Avenue, 300 meters southwest of the Carapita Metro station, peacefully chanting and banging pots, while passing motorbikes honk their horns. In one video, a group of men are standing on a bus stop and a nearby structure. 

Using weather data, Human Rights Watch confirmed that the videos were filmed after 2:30 p.m. and before they were posted. A third video posted on TikTok at 5:31 p.m. on July 29 shows hundreds of protesters by a nearby pedestrian bridge filmed that afternoon. Dozens of protesters can be seen throwing objects at several police officers in dark uniforms and others with yellow vests who are shielding themselves and running away. Other officers appear to be firing their weapons at protesters. 

Around 7 p.m., a bullet hit Romero Salazar on the right side of his forehead. A photograph posted on X at 7:45 p.m. on July 29 and reviewed by Human Rights Watch shows this wound. He was about 230 meters from the protesters on Intercommunal Avenue. Human Rights Watch reviewed an audio message sent by a witness to a local human rights organization. 

The witness, who said he was at the protest with Romero Salazar, said that when Romero Salazar was injured, police officers from the Directorate of Strategic and Tactical Actions (Dirección de Acciones Estratégicas y Tácticas, DAET) were shooting firearms at protesters near a local church. A video uploaded to TikTok and taken approximately 100 meters south from where Romero Salazar was shot, shows an armed person wearing dark clothing with white letters on his back, consistent with DAET uniforms.

A video posted on YouTube on August 2 filmed from a nearby building, which Human Rights Watch verified, shows the 21 seconds before Romero Salazar was shot and some seconds following. Romero Salazar is outside the church with a group of protesters, holding what appears to be a homemade shield. A gunshot is heard, and Romero Salazar falls. Another video filmed in the same location, which was shared on X at 7:35 p.m. on July 29, shows protesters carrying a wounded Romero Salazar. 

The witness, whose audio Human Rights Watch reviewed, said that police officers did not allow protesters to take Romero Salazar to the hospital. A video filmed after dark shows Romero Salazar lying wounded in the back of a truck that is not moving. Eventually protesters were able to take him to the nearby Pérez Carreño hospital, where he died.

During a news conference on July 31, Maduro showed a social media post that referred to Romero Salazar’s death and said it was “fake news.” Maduro claimed that Romero Salazar had confessed that his death had been faked, and as proof, he showed a video of a man stating that his own death was simulated. 

However, Human Rights Watch has been able to establish that Maduro’s claim that Romero Salazar was not dead is demonstrably false; the name used by the man in the video Maduro showed, and the location at which he claimed the incident happened, did not match Romero Salazar’s case. A local organization that assisted Romero Salazar’s family also confirmed that the person in the video Maduro showed is not Romero Salazar.

Rancés Daniel Yzarra Bolívar (Aragua state, July 29).

Rancés Daniel Yzarra Bolívar, a 30-year-old civil engineer who worked in a food truck, took part in protests in the San Jacinto neighborhood, in Maracay, Aragua state, on July 29. He lived in a social housing complex that had recurring power outages. A person close to Yzarra Bolívar, said that he had been hopeful about the elections and participated in the protests because of a “frustration with the lack of change.”

That morning, people in San Jacinto banged pots and pans from their homes, protesting a power outage and the announced electoral result. At around 2:30 p.m., protesters took to the streets marching toward the Maracay obelisk, 200 meters from the 42nd Parachute Infantry Brigade’s compound. A journalist who covered the demonstration told Human Rights Watch that it was initially peaceful, with demonstrators singing the Venezuelan national anthem and chanting. 

People approached the military compound and called for soldiers to come out and join the protest, a witness said. A soldier asked them to leave. Some left but others stayed. About half an hour later, the National Guard arrived. A video uploaded to Instagram by a journalist and verified by Human Rights Watch shows officers arriving at about 5 p.m. 

In the video, officers equipped with riot gear on motorcycles, accompanied by a riot control vehicle, advance down Avenue 2 Oeste and form a blockade in front of the military compound. Protesters, some on motorcycles and others on foot, are seen chanting “freedom, freedom,” peacefully, close to the entrance. Four other videos Human Rights Watch analyzed show people peacefully protesting near the entrance.

A six-minute video posted on Instagram almost half-an-hour later by a journalist and analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows a cloud of smoke coming from two locations in the vicinity of the military compound. A voice off-camera says it is 5:37 p.m. and that National Guard officers are using tear gas to disperse protesters. Human Rights Watch geolocated the video to be approximately 150 meters from the compound.

A journalist told Human Rights Watch that after the National Guard violently attempted to disperse protesters, some threw rocks and burned police motorcycles in retaliation. In one verified video, protesters are seen throwing Molotov cocktails in the direction of the military compound.

At approximately 6 p.m., a bullet hit Yzarra Bolívar on the left side of his chest, a person close to him said. Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated four videos showing Yzarra Bolívar injured and unconscious. In one verified video, taken by a journalist at 5:50 p.m. and posted 20 minutes later, two protesters are seen carrying Yzarra Bolívar to a location approximately 150 meters from the military compound. Other protesters are heard shouting “they killed him.” 

The video subsequently shows three other protesters carrying him to the back of a white van, which drives away. Yzarra Bolívar’s death certificate, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, says that he died of acute hemorrhagic shock due to the perforation of his thoracic organs. 

Human Rights Watch received credible reports that five other people died from injuries inflicted during same protest. These are: Jesús Gregorio Tovar Perdomo, Anthony David Moya Mantía, Jesús Ramón Medina Perdomo, Gabriel Ramos, and the National Guard officer José Antonio Torrents Blanca. Local human rights groups who documented the cases said that they all died from firearm wounds. 

The Independent Forensic Expert Group (IFEG) of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT) consulted by Human Rights Watch reviewed a video of Tovar Perdomo’s wound, and concluded that it was caused either by a high-velocity gunshot or a gunshot at close range. 

The National Survey of Hospitals, a group of healthcare workers that monitors health issues in Venezuela, reported that about 50 people injured in protests arrived at 3 hospitals in Maracay between July 29 and August 1. Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated four videos in which eight people can be seen bleeding from injuries or being carried by protesters. Some of the patients injured or killed had firearm wounds, the group said. 

Two people close to the victims, and a witness present during the protest said that many protesters were wounded by shots coming from inside the military compound. 

Human Rights Watch verified a video recorded by a local journalist who was shot in his stomach and right leg during the protests. In the video, recorded in front of the building, facing the entrance, three gunshots are heard. The camera angles then become disoriented, and background sounds suggest that the journalist has been injured. The journalist told Human Rights Watch the video was filmed at approximately 5:30 p.m.

Yorgenis Emiliano Leyva Méndez (Miranda State, July 30)

On July 30, Yorgenis Emiliano Leyva Méndez, 35, participated in protests by motorcyclists against the electoral results in Ambrosio Plaza, Miranda state. The previous day, a group of at least three unidentified men threw a Molotov cocktail in the city’s main square, Plaza Bolívar. Human Rights Watch analyzed and geolocated a video of the incident.

The July 30 protest in Guarenas was largely peaceful, a media worker who covered the protest told Human Rights Watch. “The most violent thing I saw was people tearing down electoral propaganda from Maduro and burning it,” they said. Human Rights Watch verified a video of the protest taken at 4 p.m., according to its caption, and posted an hour later on Instagram. 

The video shows a group of people chanting peacefully and carrying flags on the Intercommunal Avenue Guarenas-Guaitare, 7.5 kilometers from Plaza Bolívar. Later, the protest moved toward Guarenas, the media worker said. Witnesses said, and a video reviewed by Human Rights Watch showed that at around 5:50 p.m. a group of people on motorbikes yelling and blaring their horns were protesting around Plaza Bolívar. In the video Leyva Méndez is seen on a motorcycle among the group.

The square was guarded by municipal police and armed men whom local people described as belonging to the “colectivo” Los Tupamaros, said the media worker, who covered the protest. That afternoon pro-Maduro mayor Freddy Rodríguez had published a post on Instagram saying that the “revolutionary forces” were “activated” to “defend” the city. 

Around 6:30 p.m., a bullet hit Leyva Méndez near Plaza Bolívar. The death certificate, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, indicates that he suffered internal hemorrhage from a firearm wound that lacerated his femoral artery. 

Human Rights Watch verified a video that shows Leyva Méndez wounded, his clothes stained with blood, being carried by two people and placed on a motorcycle, approximately 100 meters from Plaza Bolivar, where the Mayor’s Office building is located. In the video, people are heard saying that the shot came from the nearby Mayor’s Office building. A journalist who covered the protest also said that people were shot from there. 

Mass Arrests and Terrorism Charges

Venezuelan authorities have reported that over 2,400 people have been arrested since July 29. The local pro bono group Foro Penal, which reported 1,580 “political prisoners” since who have been arrested since July 29, including 114 children. At least 86 children have been released, some subject to periodic court appearances.

Many of the arrests occurred as part of what the government calls “Operation Knock Knock” (Operación Tun Tun). Venezuelan authorities have asked people to report on others who participate in protests or criticize the government. They have also encouraged Venezuelans to use government apps, like Ven App, to report on people. On July 31, Android and Apple app stores removed this app, but people who have downloaded them on their phones still have access to them. 

Maduro and Attorney General Tarek Saab have said publicly that those arrested were responsible for violent events, terrorism, and other crimes. However, Human Rights Watch repeatedly found cases of people arrested for just criticizing the government or participating in peaceful protests. 

Prosecutors have charged hundreds with sometimes broadly defined crimes carrying harsh sentences, such as “incitement to hatred,” “resistance to authority,” and “terrorism.”

On the basis of interviews with local lawyers, human rights groups and others, Human Rights Watch has identified the following patterns in the arrests:

• Detainees are often kept in incommunicado detention, preventing contact with their families and lawyers, for weeks.
• Most detainees have been denied the right to be represented by a private lawyer of their choosing, even when they or their families explicitly request one.
• Judges and prosecutors have presented detainees at virtual hearings, often in groups. This poses significant problems for the fair administration of justice, making it hard for judges, prosecutors, and public defenders to adequately assess conditions or present evidence and arguments pertaining to each individual detainee.

Other Tools to Stifle Dissent

New Legislation Restricting Civic Space

On August 15, the government-controlled National Assembly approved the Law on Oversight, Regularization, Operations, and Financing of Non-Governmental Organizations and Non-Profit Social Organizations (Ley de Fiscalización, Regularización, Actuación y Financiamiento de las Organizaciones No Gubernamentales y Organizaciones Sociales Sin Fines de Lucro). Maduro has yet to sign it into law.

This law grants the government extensive control over the operation and financing of nongovernmental organizations, requiring all organizations operating in the country to register and submit detailed documents to the executive branch. The law’s vague “prohibitions,” “offenses,” and established grounds to dissolve these groups severely undermine freedom of association. Additionally, the law’s transitory provisions impose extremely short deadlines for compliance, threatening immediate cancellation for organizations unable to meet the requirements in time.

The National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said he wants the National Assembly to pass a law against “fascism,” a term the Maduro government has used to described critics, including peaceful protesters.

Passport Cancellation

Since the July 28 election, Venezuelan authorities have canceled passports of critics, political leaders, and independent journalists, in what appear to be targeted efforts to punish critics and impede them from leaving the country. The authorities have also canceled passports of people already abroad.  

Human Rights Watch received information about six cases – including journalists in Venezuela and abroad and their relatives – who learned from the website of the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration, and Foreigners (Servicio Administrativo de Identificación, Migración y Extranjería, SAIME), the government institution that issues passports, that their passports had been cancelled. The website did not indicate a reason. 

On August 15, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported 36 similar cases. The total number may be higher as several human rights defenders said that they preferred not to check the status of their passport on the website, fearing that authorities could see that as suspicious. 

(Beirut) – The Lebanese Armed Forces and Cypriot authorities work together to keep refugees from reaching Europe, then deport them to danger in Syria, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 90-page report, “‘I Can’t Go Home, Stay Here, or Leave’: Pushbacks and Pullbacks of Syrian Refugees from Cyprus and Lebanon,” documents why Syrian refugees in Lebanon are desperate to leave and try to reach Europe; and how the Lebanese army has intercepted, pulled them back, and summarily expelled them to Syria. In tandem, the Cypriot Coast Guard and other Cypriot security forces have sent Syrians whose boats reached Cyprus back to Lebanon, without regard to their refugee status or risk of being expelled to Syria. Many of those sent back to Lebanon by Cyprus were immediately expelled to Syria by the Lebanese army.

Human Rights watch interviewed 16 Syrian refugees who had tried to leave Lebanon irregularly by boat between August 2021 and September 2023. Human Rights Watch also reviewed and verified photographs and videos sent directly from interviewees, accessed aircraft and boat tracking data to corroborate interviewee accounts, and submitted freedom of information requests to obtain European Union funding documents. Human Rights Watch documented cases of people sent back between August 2021 and September 2023, but Lebanon confirmed to Human Rights Watch that it expelled Cyprus-returned Syrians in April 2024, and publicly announced new pullbacks in August 2024.

“By preventing Syrian refugees from leaving to seek protection elsewhere, and then forcibly returning them to Syria, Lebanon violates the fundamental prohibition on returning a refugee to face persecution, while the European Union helps pay the bills,” said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Cyprus also violates this prohibition by pushing refugees back to Lebanon where they risk being sent to danger in Syria.”

The EU and its member states have provided various Lebanese security authorities with as much as €16.7 million in funding from 2020 to 2023 to implement border management projects mainly aimed at enhancing Lebanon’s ability to curb irregular migration. As recently as May 2024, it allotted a broader €1 billion package to Lebanon through 2027, including money to the “Lebanese Armed Forces and other security forces with equipment and training for border management and to fight against smuggling.”

Human Rights Watch shared its findings and invited comments from 12 relevant agencies, including the governments of Lebanon and Cyprus, EU institutions and agencies, and private entities. Ten of them responded.

Cypriot authorities have collectively expelled hundreds of Syrian asylum seekers without allowing them access to asylum procedures, forcing them onto vessels that traveled directly back to Lebanon. People expelled said that Lebanese army officers handed them directly to Syrian soldiers and unidentified armed men inside Syria.

A 44-year-old Syrian woman said that after the Cypriot Coast Guard intercepted their boat, officers “started grabbing us and shoving us” onto the return vessel, and “used a taser and baton” on her husband. “The blood came from his nose and mouth, everywhere,” she said. Once back in Lebanon, she said, the “army drove us from the port … to a no-man’s land in between the [Syrian and Lebanese] borders … telling us to run to the other side.” She said the Syrian army detained her and her family for nine days.

Once in Syria, the expelled refugees faced not only detention by the Syrian army, but extortion by armed men for payment to be smuggled back to Lebanon.

Lebanon hosts the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, including 1.5 million Syrian refugees, while experiencing multiple compounding crises that have brought about dire socioeconomic conditions for everyone living there. Those conditions contribute to the circumstances driving many Syrian refugees to leave for Europe. Lacking legal migration pathways and fearing persecution in Syria, many interviewees said irregular boat crossings were their only available pathway to a secure, normal life.

Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security, which controls entry and residency status for foreigners, reported arresting or returning 821 Syrians on 15 boats attempting to leave Lebanon between January 1, 2022, and August 1, 2024.

In one case, the Lebanese army, in a joint rescue operation with the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, rescued 200 passengers from a sinking boat, and took them back to Lebanon’s Tripoli port on January 1, 2023. The army then summarily expelled those Syrians via the Wadi Khaled crossing in northern Lebanon. Interviewees said they repeatedly pleaded with both the Lebanese army and UN officers not to take them back to Lebanon because they feared expulsion to Syria.

Interviewees whose boats managed to reach Cypriot waters described Cypriot Coast Guard vessels using dangerous maneuvering tactics to intercept the boats. The Coast Guard also intercepted one boat and then left it to drift overnight without offering the people onboard food or other assistance. Cypriot officers zip-tied the wrists of an unaccompanied 15-year-old boy and loaded him onto a Cypriot vessel that returned him directly to Beirut’s port. The army then immediately expelled the child together with a group of other Syrians via the Masnaa border crossing with Syria.

These summary expulsions are in breach of Lebanon’s obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture and under the customary international law principle of nonrefoulement not to forcibly return people to countries where they face a risk of torture or persecution. The detention and ill-treatment of children, family separation, and other abuses violate Lebanon’s children’s rights obligations.

Cyprus’ pushbacks are collective expulsions prohibited under the European Convention on Human Rights, and violate the prohibition on indirect, chain, or secondary refoulement.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mandated to provide international protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees, maintains that Syria is unsafe for forced returns and that it is neither facilitating nor promoting voluntary returns.

Human Rights Watch found that the EU and some of its member states have contributed substantial funds to Lebanon border management without genuine guarantees to ensure EU funds are not used by entities responsible for violations nor contribute to perpetuating violations.

“The EU has long rewarded Lebanon for keeping migrants from reaching Europe with migration management projects,” Hardman said. “Instead of outsourcing abuses, the EU and other donors should immediately establish direct, independent mechanisms to monitor human rights compliance in Lebanese border-control operations.”

(Berlin) – A Tashkent regional appeals court on August 21, 2024, upheld a woman’s 30-month restricted freedom sentence for alleged anti-constitutional activity in gross violation of her right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said today. Sevara Shaydullaeva, 31, had sent her mother a video clip of Uzbekistan’s late President Islam Karimov speaking to Islamists in 1991, which she had downloaded from YouTube. 

On April 30, a lower court had found Shaydullaeva guilty of “intentionally storing and distributing materials containing an open call to overthrow the constitutional order of Uzbekistan.” As part of her sentence, she is required to observe a curfew and not travel outside Tashkent region without permission, nor take part in any public events.

“Uzbek authorities should never have put Sevara Shaydullaeva on trial for sharing a video of the former president,” said Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “However disagreeable its contents may be to Uzbek authorities, the speech captured in the 33-year-old video is a matter of historical record.” 

Shaydullaeva’s conviction rests on the conclusions of the State Committee for Religious Affairs of Uzbekistan, which the government had commissioned to analyze the contents of the video. The appeals court ruling indicates that there was no evidence that Shaydullaeva said or did anything to incite violence or overthrow the Uzbek government. 

The video Shaydullaeva shared was filmed in 1991 and shows then-President Karimov addressing a crowd of Islamists in the eastern town of Namangan. Karimov can be seen standing next to Tokhir Yuldash, a man who several years later became the political leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an armed militant group that the government held responsible for the 1999 bombings in Tashkent as well as armed incursions in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000. 

About nine minutes into the 13-minute video, Yuldash passes the microphone to Karimov, who addresses the crowd. He says he will consider their call for Uzbekistan to be governed “according to the rules of Islam,” and that he will ask parliament to consider declaring Uzbekistan an Islamic state.

The views Karimov espouses in the 1991 video stand in stark contrast to the abusive anti-Muslim policies that his administration enacted starting in the late 1990s, which continued until his death in 2016. President Karimov and his administration oversaw a prolonged and ruthless campaign against all Muslims who practiced their faith outside state controls, Human Rights Watch said. 

Significant restrictions on freedom of religion and freedom of expression remain in effect under the administration of current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch has long documented the Uzbek government’s misuse of criminal charges to prosecute individuals for exercising their fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression. Article 159 of the Criminal Code—“attempting to overthrow the constitutional order of Uzbekistan”—contains provisions so vague and overbroad that they are wholly incompatible with international human rights norms.

Uzbekistan’s partners should urge President Mirziyoyev not to imitate the rights-violating practices of his predecessor and instead to fulfill his own reform promises, including his pledge to make human rights central to reforms. 

Consideration of a new draft criminal code has stalled since March 2021.

“Sharing a video documenting events that took place over 30 years ago shouldn’t be a crime,” Rittmann said. “Uzbek authorities should immediately quash Shaydullaeva’s conviction and lift all restrictions on her liberty.”

Teams of prominent scientists and ethicists have called for the end of medically unnecessary nonconsensual surgeries on intersex children in two new papers.  

On the heels of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s first-ever resolution affirming the rights of intersex people, the papers signal growing international resolve to address rights violations experienced by people born with variations in their sex characteristics, sometimes called intersex traits.  

Since the 1950s, surgeons have conducted irreversible and medically unnecessary “normalizing” operations on intersex children, such as procedures to reduce the size of the clitoris, which can result in scarring, sterilization, and psychological trauma. Intersex advocacy groups, as well as various medical and human rights organizations, have spoken out against these surgeries for decades. Despite a growing consensus that these surgeries should end, as well as global progress on banningthem, some parents still face pressure from surgeons to choose these operations for children too young to participate in the decision. 

The authors of one of the expert papers found that surgeons’ subjective cosmetic preferences for the appearance of genitals was one of the most commonly reported justifications in the paper’s sampling of elective “normalizing” surgeries on children younger than 10. Cosmetic appearance of genitals has no validated measure, so the data featured surgeons’ subjective descriptions instead. The authors, including five World Health Organization staff members, concluded that, “Legislating and medical regulatory bodies should advocate for ending the conduct of irreversible, elective, ‘sex-normalizing’ interventions conducted without the full, free and informed consent of the person concerned.” 

The second paper, co-signed by dozens of professionals around the world, including physicians, ethicists, and psychologists, examined the ethical implications of “normalizing” interventions on children’s genitals. The authors conclude that clinicians “should not be permitted to perform any nonvoluntary genital cutting or surgery on any child, regardless of the child’s sex traits or socially assigned gender, unless doing so is urgently necessary to protect the child’s physical health.” 

Both papers advocate that children born perfectly healthy – just a little different – should be free to grow up and make decisions about their own bodies. 

This month, Netflix released “The Goat Life,” a movie centered on the experiences of an Indian migrant worker, Najeeb Muhammed, who worked in Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s and, after being stranded in the desert, was forced to work as a goat herder. It is based on the 2008 bestselling book, “Goat Days,” which was written by another migrant worker and author under the pen name Benyamin.

The movie has caused uproar in Saudi Arabia with Saudi nationals calling for a boycott of Netflix on social media and claiming that the movie “dramatically exaggerates” an isolated case of migrant worker abuse, reinforces negative stereotypes of Saudi culture, and is a fundamentally outdated and flawed depiction of Saudi Arabia’s treatment of its migrant workforce.

While the movie likely exaggerates some elements of Najeeb’s story for cinematic purposes and is based on a case from the 1990s, the abuses chronicled in the story are unfortunately more widespread than Saudi social media critics would like to admit. Najeeb also shared further details of his experiences in interviews promoting the movie.

The abuses portrayed in the movie center around animal herders’ isolation, and include the disproportionate control over workers enabled by Saudi Arabia’s kafala (sponsorship) system, rampant wage, and recruitment fee abuses, exposure to extreme heat, and lack of state oversight. These abuses have all been documented in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for decades. Migrant animal herders, similar to domestic workers, suffer some of the worst abuses because they are excluded from Saudi Arabia’s labor laws, and are often victims of trafficking, isolation, and physical abuse.

Trying to dismiss discomforting portrayals of migrant worker abuses as racism, slander, or trying to deflect attention by “whataboutism” is a means of downplaying the abuses enabled by the kafala system, a racialized labor governance system. While Najeeb was held captive by a fraudulent sponsor posing as his employer who took him from the airport, this abusive sponsorship system is still not dismantled even 30 years after he left Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s global ambitions laid out in its Vision 2030 plans, including its recent 2034 FIFA Men’s World Cup host bid submission, relies extensively on migrant labor to make them a reality. The truth is that unless Saudi Arabia prioritizes bold labor protection measures alongside its ambitious projects, there will be many more stories like Najeeb’s, which publicly expose the horrific abuses suffered by migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. 

Last week, a 17-year-old boy died by self-harm in his cell at Banksia Hill Detention Centre in Western Australia. This tragic event was the second death of a child within the state’s youth detention system in less than a year.

In October 2023, Cleveland Dodd, a 16-year-old, lost his life by self-harm in Unit 18, a repurposed unit for child detainees, in Casuarina, a maximum-security adult prison.

An inquest into Cleveland’s death revealed that detainees in Unit 18 faced conditions of solitary confinement and often resided in cells lacking running water.

Dana Levitt, a lawyer representing children currently and previously detained in Banksia Hill and Unit 18 in class action lawsuits against the Western Australian government, told Human Rights Watch that one of her colleagues had interviewed the 17-year-old in late 2023 about his experiences in detention. She said the boy came across as “smart and motivated.”

Levitt reported that the boy, who was then in Unit 18, said that he was a ward of the state, had a disability, and had been repeatedly detained since age 11.

In his interview he detailed the mistreatment he endured during detention, including routine solitary confinement. This account still needed confirmation by departmental documents or records.

Levitt wrote in an email to Human Rights Watch:

“He was subject to the following practices, all of which are incompatible with a trauma-informed model of care: regular verbal abuse by custodial staff; excessive use of force, including the use of chemical agents i.e. pepper spray deployed by prison officers; and routine solitary confinement, including after he had engaged in serious self-harm and attempted suicide.”

Solitary confinement is universally harmful but is especially detrimental to children and people with disabilities. In 2018, Human Rights Watch documented that people with disabilities in Australian prisons were disproportionately placed in solitary confinement. In 2020, Human Rights Watch reported that the Western Australian government was failing to adequately recognize the risk of, provide meaningful mental health support for, and was increasing the likelihood of self-harm and suicide by placing people with disabilities in solitary confinement.

The latest death within Western Australia’s youth detention system underscores the urgent need for reform. The state government should take immediate action to prohibit the use of solitary confinement for children and individuals with disabilities and invest in detention alternatives that uphold children’s rights.

North Korean athletes who took selfies with their South Korean and Chinese counterparts at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games are reportedly facing intense scrutiny and possible punishment upon their return home. In North Korea, even an innocent selfie can have stark implications, given the government’s strict ideological controls and repression.

While the athletes’ selfies were celebrated by many as a sign of unity and sportsmanship, the government’s response to them highlights the harsh realities of North Korea’s oppressive system. The government severely restricts information, dictates what people can read, watch, and discuss, and only allows a few high-ranking officials to access the internet. Unauthorized communication with outsiders is heavily punished.

In March, Human Rights Watch documented how, since 2020, North Korean authorities banned language associated with South Korean culture and imposed new laws further restricting access to unsanctioned information. Last year, a newspaper with contacts inside North Korea reported that a group of North Korean youth athletes received sentences of three to five years’ forced labor for using South Korean slang.

The scrutiny athletes face upon returning from international events demonstrates the North Korean government’s efforts to control behavior beyond its borders. Diplomats, students, and workers abroad have also faced stringent oversight. Five former government officials and two men who worked overseas told me after escaping North Korea that anyone allowed to go overseas undergoes rigorous ideological training, constant monitoring while abroad, and exhaustive evaluations upon return. Even minor deviations from approved conduct are scrutinized, and any signs of outside ideological influence can result in severe unspecified consequences.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the authority over the Olympic Games, has a responsibility to protect athletes from all forms of harassment and abuse, as set out in the Olympic Charter. North Korean athletes should not fear retribution for actions at the Games, not least when their actions embody the values of respect and friendship, on which the Olympic Movement is built.

As we witness these rare moments of international connection, governments around the world should back efforts to hold the North Korean government accountable for its horrific rights violations. The IOC needs to use its influence to help protect these athletes and should not encourage participation by repressive states that do not ensure the safety of those participating.

The Bangladeshi people have shown enormous courage over the past few months, paying a very high price to secure an opportunity for democratic transition and progress on human rights. The European Union should stand by their side and take concrete actions to support them.

The authoritarian rule of Sheikh Hasina’s government ended when she resigned and left the country, following weeks of protest. Hundreds were killed and thousands more injured, in what were among the deadliest crackdowns on protests in Bangladesh’s recent history.

Nobel Prize laureate Mohammed Yunus, who replaces Hasina as interim prime minister, took some positive steps and has committed to enacting reforms and ensuring justice for the abuses. But his ability to deliver on those pledges will rely on support from Bangladesh’s international partners.

Bangladesh is the main beneficiary of the EU’s Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, enjoying lucrative tariff-free exports to the EU conditioned on respect for human rights and good governance. Hasina’s intensifying authoritarianism was in clear breach of those conditions, including the most recent deadly repression, the violent crackdown ahead of the controversial January elections, and other abuses. Yet those responsible faced no consequences. 

To support Bangladesh’s transition, the EU should take a different approach.

As a first step, it should back action at the upcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council to investigate and pursue accountability for recent grave abuses, and secure UN monitoring and reporting on the situation in the country.

Secondly, the EU should urge Bangladesh authorities to disband the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a security force responsible for extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, which was also among the forces deployed during the recent brutal crackdown on protests. That call should be accompanied by the adoption of EU targeted sanctions against the RAB, which has been under US sanctions since 2021.

Finally, the EU should, in the context of EBA negotiations, agree with Bangladeshi authorities public benchmarks for the protection of human rights, including the release of all those unjustly jailed and disappeared, security sector reform and accountability, and other reforms to strengthen independent institutions and respect for human rights.

Through these steps, the EU can help the Bangladeshi people consolidate the human rights gains they have fought so hard for, and lay the foundations for further progress and reforms in the future.

 

(Istanbul) – Türkiye’s Environment Ministry should not approve the planned addition of two more units at Afşin-Elbistan coal power plant A in the southeastern  Kahramanmaraş province in view of the serious harm the plant has caused the surrounding community, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch research found that air pollution levels near plant A – and the later built plant B located two kilometers away – are dangerously high and that residents are experiencing health conditions that academic studies have attributed to toxic air. Despite an early government warning that a cancer explosion was expected in Afşin-Elbistan, the government has failed to monitor and reduce the harm with more stringent regulations and enforcement.

“Toxic air from coal power plants is killing thousands of people every year in Türkiye while authorities do little to prevent the problem or even to warn people of the harm to their health,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of authorizing the expansion of polluting coal power plants, the Turkish government should strengthen and enforce air quality standards and enable a just transition from coal to renewables by 2030.”

The government is continuing to expand coal plants notwithstanding significant progress in Türkiye’s renewable energy sources that research has shown would enable Türkiye to exit coal by 2030. Renewable energy sources currently make up 54 percent of Türkiye’s installed electricity capacity, significantly above the global average of about 30 percent, and the International Energy Agency projects renewable energy use to increase 50 percent between 2021 and 2026.

In May 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed 28 residents about their experiences of air pollution in Afşin-Elbistan, including 11 women and 4 older people; 2 elected village headmen from nearby villages; the mayor of the nearby town of Elbistan, 2 academics, 5 health professionals working in the region, 2 lawyers, 1 public official, and 6 local activists. Human Rights Watch also reviewed and analyzed recent air quality data from the closest governmental monitoring station whose data is publicly available, satellite data of air pollution from the EU Copernicus program, and official government documents.

Human Rights Watch wrote letters to the relevant seven divisions at the Health Ministry and that the parent company of the firm operating coal plant, which had applied for the additional units; to the state-owned electricity generation company; and to local government authorities. It also wrote to the Turkish Statistical Institute requesting health data related to Afşin and Elbistan districts. None have responded.

Residents living near the coal plants said that friends, family, and neighbors had died from cancer and cardiovascular or respiratory ailments they believe were attributable to or exacerbated by the pollution from the nearby plants.

A 57-year-old man in a village about 500 meters from coal plant A has had respiratory illness for the past 13 years: “I have asthma, and my doctor says I need clean air. But there is no clean air. We are all ill here.”

Health care workers interviewed said they had seen increased rates of respiratory problems in areas surrounding the plants.

The coal mine feeding the power plants in Afşin-Elbistan is a so-called carbon bomb, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel production projects with a coal extraction capacity of 4.09 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Expanding the coal plant threatens Türkiye’s energy transition and jeopardizes Türkiye’s obligations under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Despite substantial investment in renewable energy sources, including solar and wind energy, Türkiye’s 2022 National Energy Plan makes no mention of a planned phaseout from coal-based electricity generation.

The country became Europe’s largest coal-fired electricity producer in early 2024 and accounts for 73 percent of planned but not-yet-constructed coal projects within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the EU that are actively seeking necessary approvals and financing. Based on the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, more than 35,000 people died from air pollution in 2019 in Türkiye.

Türkiye should address air pollution as part of its constitutional and international legal obligations to realize the human rights to health, life, and a healthy environment and stop the expansion of coal plants in line with the duty to prevent exposure to toxic substances. The government should tackle the root causes of air pollution by drastically reducing the release of harmful pollutants, including with concrete actions to phase out coal by 2030 and refraining from expanding existing operations.

It should also take concrete steps to better monitor air quality and make the results easy to access and understandable by everyone, and by improving and applying rigorous air quality standards in line with WHO recommendations, especially in areas affected by coal plant emissions. The government should promptly introduce limits for PM2.5 – polluting particulate matter – concentrations in line with current EU regulations, and further strive to update its air quality standards to comply with proposed new EU standards expected to be adopted later in 2024. Data of emissions from large combustion plants should be made public.

“People in Afşin-Elbistan have been paying the price of coal-based electricity generation for decades,” Willamson said. “Instead of expanding a coal plant in an area where people have been exposed to high levels of pollution, the governments should urgently protect their lives and realize their right to a healthy environment.”

For additional details about air pollution and the situation in Türkiye, please see below.

Scientific research has found that exposure to air pollutants from coal power plants is associated with a risk of mortality more than double that of exposure from other sources and that canceling new coal plants would reduce air pollution related mortality globally.

The use of coal for electricity generation, alongside the domestic residential use of coal and wood for heating, creates heavy air pollution in Türkiye’s coal regions. Türkiye produces electricity by burning lignite, a low-quality polluting type of coal found in abundance throughout the country, in outdated coal plants.

Over four decades, successive Turkish governments have built and expanded two of the country’s biggest coal power plants, plants A and B, in Afşin-Elbistan. Emissions from plant A, which lacked technology to reduce emissions from its inception in 1984 through its temporary closure in 2023, are of particular concern, Human Rights Watch said. Plant A is 2.5 kilometers from plant B, which was built in 2004 using newer technologies.

Despite this, the Turkish authorities are due to be presented with an environmental impact assessment that gives the go-ahead for the construction of two additional units at power plant A, with an additional capacity of 688 MW and an investment cost of 37.5 billion Turkish Lira (at the time approximately 1.1. billion USD). A 2022 study commissioned by Greenpeace Mediterranean estimates that the planned expansion of the plant will lead to about 1,900 premature deaths over its 30-year economic lifespan.

Human Rights Watch analysis of air quality data from January 2021 to June 2024 found dangerously high levels of air pollution in the area surrounding the Afşin-Elbistan coal plants. Analysis of satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P mission shows that the average concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) was significantly higher over the plants and in the surrounding villages than over Elbistan, the location of the closest air quality monitoring station whose data is published. Residents living in villages close to the coal plants said they have not received any information about the risks from the plants in the region or how to help protect themselves.

Türkiye’s air quality standards are less strict than those recommended by WHO and do not include a limit for the harmful PM2.5 pollutant, responsible for the most deaths worldwide of any pollutant, leaving a major regulatory gap.

Coal, Health, and Climate Change

Globally, coal plants are responsible for over 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions: more than any other single source contributing to the climate crisis. Burning coal, and in particular lignite, releases significant pollutants including particulate matter and sulphur dioxide (SO2), each of which can significantly harm health.

The impact of particulate matter of less than 10 micrometers (PM10) and of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) on human health is substantial. PM2.5 can reach deep into the lower respiratory tract, leading to serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and can easily enter the bloodstream and penetrate the lungs. Another pollutant of concern is SO2 which can cause harmful effects to the lungs, damage the cardiovascular and nervous systems and contribute to type 2 diabetes and even death.

Although Türkiye’s updated 2023 Nationally Determined Contributions, its climate action plan under the Paris Agreement, aims to increase the share of renewable energy sources in electricity generation, the country has not set a date for a coal exit. Allowing the addition of two new units with a total capacity of 688 MW to the existing 1.355 MW at the coal power plant Afşin-Elbistan A could undermine efforts to phase out coal. 

Despite these advances, government data indicates that 36 percent of the electricity produced in Türkiye in 2022 was generated by coal plants. Türkiye’s operating coal fleet grew by 34 percent between 2015 and 2023.In the first quarter of 2024, the total installed capacity of coal plants was 20.2 GW, with an additional 2 GW capacity expected by 2035.

Coal Feeding Toxic Air

According to 2019 Turkish Health Ministry data air pollution is among the most important factors affecting life expectancy in Turkey. A 2001 scientific study found that communities near coal plants in the western province of Kütahya are more likely to experience health problems such as respiratory problems and reduced lung function, conditions commonly linked to air pollution.

Another study, first published in 2010, found that the impact of air pollution on people in villages near the Bursa Orhaneli coal plant in northwest Türkiye was dependent on their proximity to the coal plant as a predictor of various respiratory diseases. Children living in Türkiye’s coal-mining areas are also at higher risk of exposure to dangerous heavy metals.

Türkiye has f 380 air quality monitoring stations across the country; the closest to Afşin-Elbistan coal plant A with publicly available data is in Elbistan, 22 kilometers away. Other stations are within 3 kilometers of the plant produce no publicly available data.

Human Rights Watch analysis of SO2 concentrations recorded at the Elbistan ground monitoring station between 2019 and June 2024 shows that pollution levels started to decrease when operations of plant A temporarily ceased between February and May 2020 because the government said it had failed to comply with regulatory requirements.

Pollution levels decreased even more significantly when operations of plants A and B ceased for most of 2023 after the two earthquakes of February 6, 2023, affecting the entire region and slightly damaging the plant. The Right to Clean Air Platform (CAP), a national network of environmental groups and health professionals, similarly found that Afşin-Elbistan was a pollution hotspot in 2019.

The SO2 values recorded at the government ground level monitoring station in Elbistan are very likely to be much lower than at the levels at locations closer to the plant. The average SO2 vertical column density at ground level from January 1, 2019, to June 1, 2024, over the village of Çoğulhan, directly adjacent to the plant, was almost three times higher than the average density recorded over the monitoring station in Elbistan  during that period.

The Afsin-Elbistan A plant had been allowed to operate without filters required by environmental regulations for many years. Despite repeated legal challenges and campaigning that resulted in its closure on January 1, 2020 for failure to comply with environmental regulations, the government permitted the plant to reopen in May 2020 and to continue operating until the earthquakes, which damaged the plants. As of December 26, 2023, only one of four A plant units, for the first time fitted with a desulfurization filter, had been permitted to restart.

While the best available technology for desulfurization can drastically lower SO2 emissions, it is unclear whether this technology is used at the unit that has been permitted to restart. There are also concerns that air pollutant filters lose performance efficiency over time. As is acknowledged in the environmental impact assessment, if new units are added to the existing coal plant, SO2 pollution levels in the area will rise. In addition, while the best available desulphurization technology can significantly limit exposure to SO2, it cannot undo the health harm caused by prior exposure.

In November 2018, Çelikler Holding, a private company, took over Afsin-Elbistan A plant, from the state company (EÜAŞ), which previously operated it. Human Rights Watch does not know the terms of the agreement between the state company and Çelikler Holding and key details of the agreement should be made public.

Çelikler Holding says on their website that they “aim to prevent negative impacts on the environment and society and to take appropriate measures [to reduce such impacts] where they cannot be prevented.” The company did not respond to questions about the measures taken to minimize the release of harmful air pollutants and requested projections once filtration is fully installed at the plant.

Human Rights Watch analysis of PM2.5 levels recorded at the government monitoring station in Elbistan from January 2021 to June 2024 found that the average PM2.5 concentration was more than five times the annual WHO recommended level and almost three times the proposed 2030 EU standard. Türkiye has not established PM2.5 limits under its pollution control laws/standards aligned with the EU limits.

Human Rights Watch analysis of PM10 concentrations at the Elbistan air quality monitoring station between January 2021 and June 2024 also shows that pollution levels have remained high in recent years, with an average PM10 concentration more than four times the annual WHO recommended level and 1.75 times the 2019 Turkish standard.

Health Impacts of Toxic Air Fed by Coal in Afsin-Elbistan

The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has told governments that to protect and fulfil the right to health governments are required to implement policies to reduce and eliminate air pollution.

People living in the vicinity of the coal plants in Afşin-Elbistan described health problems that they believe could be related to the toxic air they are breathing.

Hacıkız Savran, 70, who lives less than 500 meters from the power plant and can see the plant’s chimney belching out smoke from her living room, said she has had severe asthma for more than 7 years: “[My] doctor was surprised to hear that I had never smoked in my life. He said, ‘Why did you become [this sick] if you never smoked?’”

Fatma (real name withheld for her own protection) 55, lives in Çoğulhan, has had asthma for 4 years and lost her son to lung cancer which she believes was linked to pollution from the plant. She worries about the impact of air pollution on women: “There is a lot of asthma and a lot of chest and lung conditions among women in the village.… Men can go off in their cars to other places but we as women are always at home. We have to suffer the dirt of the plant.”

Children from Çoğulhan and six neighboring villages attend schools close to the plant. A health professional in Elbistan told Human Rights Watch that they had observed a high incidence of respiratory diseases, particularly among children.

People with certain health conditions, such as asthma or cardiovascular problems, children, older people, pregnant women, workers, those living in poverty, and members of other socially and economically marginalized groups are among those most at risk of exposure and adverse effects of air pollution.

Scientific research drawing on data from 83 countries suggests that the more a country relies on coal power plants to generate energy, the greater the lung cancer risk. While research specific to the health impacts of air pollution for people in surrounding areas of the Afşin-Elbistan coal plant is scarce, a 2009 PhD thesis found that nonsmokers in nearby villages were more likely to experience genotoxic damage than those further away from the plant, which may increase the risk of cancer.

Similarly, a 2007 academic study found nonsmoking workers employed in the transportation of fly ash at Afşin-Elbistan A power plant to be more likely to experience cytogenetic damage (changes in their chromosomes which can lead to cancer).

Several people interviewed expressed concern about high numbers of cancer cases in their families.In 2002, the head of the Health Ministry’s Cancer Control Department stated that a cancer explosion was expected in Afşin-Elbistan, in the ensuing five years. The official noted that a coal power plant had been built there 30 years earlier and that the coal plant poses a serious danger to the people of the region.

A 2017 report by the same ministry identified Elbistan as a priority region for establishing an oncology service, a recommendation that has not been followed. The Health Ministry did not respond to questions regarding cancer prevalence in Afşin and Elbistan districts and whether further studies had been carried out.

Lack of Sufficient Monitoring of Air Quality

In 2019, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment published a report focused on the right to breathe clean air as one of the components of a right to a healthy environment. He outlined key steps governments to take in fulfilling the right to a healthy environment by ensuring clean air, the first of which is to monitor air quality and its impact on health.

Over the years, Türkiye has invested in developing its air quality monitoring systems, supported by EU accession funds. Yet the number of stations remain insufficient and data from areas at high risk of pollution is not available to the public.

While the Turkish government air quality monitoring website provides measurements from ground level monitoring stations across the country,  the historic data is at times incomplete and pollution hotspots like Afşin-Elbistan are not closely monitored. According to analysis of 2016-2019 data, conditions in at least 21 of 81 provinces could not be adequately assessed because data was available for fewer than 75 percent of days, a criterion of the European Environment Agency.

Residents of Çoğulhan said that a monitoring station in the village was no longer operational, and no data from the station is publicly available. Human Rights Watch wrote in May 2024 to government and to the state-run electricity production company (EÜAŞ) seeking any data from the station, but received no reply.

These shortcomings prevent the Turkish government from reliably monitoring the impact of coal plants on air quality.

Lack of Information, Consultation about Power Plant Expansion

Another key step for governments to take to fulfill their human rights obligations is to share information in a timely, accessible way, educating the public about health risks and issuing health advisories.

Yet there is a dearth of information about the real extent of air pollution in the region and related health risks. In addition to the lack of effective monitoring of ground level air pollution, the emissions from large combustion plants, including coal plants, are not publicly available in Türkiye. Even when courts have ordered the government to provide emissions data of coal plants publicly, the authorities have not revealed the data.

Residents in Çoğulhan, Berçenek, and Altunelma, said they have not received any information about the extent of environmental problems in the region, possible health effects, or how to participate in decisions around the coal plant that would enable them to address prevent health risks and seek remediation for health harms suffered.

The Environment Ministry provides some health advice on a website, such as suggesting that members of sensitive groups limit outdoor activities when air pollution levels are high, but it does not provide detailed practical advice for at risk groups.

Residents also raised concerns about their lack of information about the planned expansion of the coal power plant. “They don’t ever tell us anything,” said Savran, the 70-year-old resident. “Everything is decided in Ankara.”

The newly elected mayor of Elbistan said that even municipal authorities were not consulted during the expansion approval process, an apparent violation of Turkish regulations governing the process.

Human Rights Obligations and Air Pollution

Human rights obligations to respect, protect, and fulfil rights including those to life, to bodily integrity, to health, to information and to a healthy environment require governments to take action to prevent air pollution and strive to ensure clean air. The UN Human Rights Committee, in its comment on obligations on the right to life noted that implementation of the obligation to respect the right to life, depends, among other things, on governments taking measures to protect the environment against pollution caused by public and private actors.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment has set out how states must not only not violate the right to breathe clean air through their own actions but also protect the right from being violated by third parties, especially businesses. To do so, governments must establish, implement and enforce laws, policies and programs to fulfil the right. They also have duties to promote education and public awareness; provide access to information; facilitate public participation in the assessment of proposed projects, policies and environmental decisions; and ensure affordable, timely access to remedies.

The European Court of Human Rights has found in several cases that severe environmental pollution affecting individuals’ well-being violated their rights to privacy and  family life. In finding violations of human rights, the court has taken into account the proximity of homes to the source of pollution.

In its case-law, the court has established that governments have a positive obligation to undertake due diligence with respect to pollution hazards, weigh the impact they have on personal and family lives against any competing interests, and take effective measures to protect people’s lives and health, including by preventing or reducing the harmful impacts and providing adequate information to people.