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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

DISCRIMINATION

Australia’s justice system continued to fail Indigenous people, especially children – with high 

rates of incarceration and reports of abuse and deaths in custody. Ill-treatment of Indigenous 

children in the Northern Territory, including tear gassing, choking, restraints and solitary 

confinement, was exposed by leaked footage.

LGBTI people suffered discrimination in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. 

Reports of hate speech against members of Australia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, 

intersex and questioning (LGBTIQ) community increased, despite newly introduced penalties. 

In Indonesia’s Aceh province two men were publicly caned 83 times each for consensual 

same-sex sexual activity.

Numerous women defending human rights faced harassment, threats, imprisonment and 

violence.

Papua New Guinea remained one of the world’s most dangerous countries to be a woman, 

with increased reports of violence against women or girls, sometimes following sorcery 

accusations.

There were convictions under Indonesia’s blasphemy laws of people belonging to minority 

religious communities who had been peacefully practising their beliefs.

The Australian Parliament passed legislation to create marriage equality in December. The 

postal survey process chosen by the government failed to acknowledge that marriage equality 

is a human right and generated divisive and damaging public debate.

DEATH PENALTY

At least four executions took place in Malaysia. In Singapore execution by hanging continued 

to be carried out for murder and drug trafficking; among those executed was Malaysian 

national Prabagaran Srivijayan whose execution was carried out despite an appeal pending in 

Malaysia.

ARMED CONFLICT

Although receiving less international attention than the situation in Rakhine State, there were 

similar patterns of violations by Myanmar’s military in northern Myanmar. War crimes and 

human rights violations were committed against civilians in Kachin and northern Shan States, 

including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, indiscriminate shelling, 

forced labour, and restrictions on humanitarian access. Ethnic armed groups committed 

abuses including abductions and forced recruitment. Both the army and armed groups used 

landmine-like weapons that harmed civilians.

In the Philippines, a five-month battle in Marawi between the military and an alliance of 

militants aligned with the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS), caused the 

displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, dozens of civilian deaths, and widespread 

destruction of homes and infrastructure. The militants targeted Christian civilians for 

extrajudicial killings and mass hostage-taking, and the armed forces detained and ill-treated 

fleeing civilians.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Communities living close to the giant Letpadaung copper mine in Myanmar continued to call 

for a halt to its operations. Thousands of families living near the mine were at risk of being 

forcibly evicted from their homes or farmland, and the authorities used repressive laws to 

harass activists and villagers.

In Indonesia there was labour exploitation on plantations owned by suppliers and subsidiaries 

of Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil trader. Abuses included women being 

forced to work long hours under threat of having their already meagre pay cut, children as 

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young as eight doing hazardous physical work, and workers injured by toxic chemicals. Wilmar 

International’s subsequent campaign to cover up the abuses, including by intimidating staff 

into denying the allegations, was aided by the Indonesian government’s failure to investigate 

claims against the company.

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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA 

REGIONAL OVERVIEW

The space for civil society continued to shrink across Europe and Central Asia region. In 

Eastern Europe and in Central Asia, a discourse hostile to human rights remained 

prevalent. Human rights defenders, activists, the media and political opposition were 

frequently targeted by authorities. Across the region, the rights to freedom of association 

and peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of opinion and expression came under 

attack. Public protests were met with a range of restrictive measures and excessive use of 

force by police. Governments continued to implement a range of counter-terrorism 

measures disproportionately restricting people’s rights in the name of security. Millions of 

people faced an erosion of their economic, social and cultural rights, which led to 

diminished social protection, increased inequality and systemic discrimination. States 

repeatedly failed to meet their protection responsibilities towards refugees and migrants. 

Women and girls continued to experience systemic human rights violations and abuses, 

including torture and other ill-treatment, and faced widespread gender-based violence. 

Discrimination and stigmatization of minorities remained common with groups facing 

harassment and violence. Some prisoners of conscience were released.

In 2017, for the first time in Amnesty International’s almost 60 years of existence, both the 

chair and director of an Amnesty International section became prisoners of conscience 

themselves. In June, Taner Kılıç, Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, was arrested. In July, 

10 other human rights defenders, known as the “Istanbul 10”, including Idil Eser, Director of 

Amnesty International Turkey, were detained while attending a routine workshop in Istanbul. 

The Istanbul 10 and Taner Kılıç were later put on trial for terrorism-related offences, their 

arrests falling into a broader pattern of repression against civil society following the failed coup 

attempt of July 2016. By the end of the year, the Istanbul 10 had been released pending trial, 

but Taner Kılıç remained in detention. Although the prosecutor failed to provide any 

incriminating evidence against them, they remained at serious risk, facing an ongoing trial on 

absurd charges carrying up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

The crackdown on dissenting voices in Turkey was part of a broader trend of shrinking space 

for civil society across Europe and Central Asia. Human rights defenders faced huge 

challenges, and the rights to freedom of association and assembly in particular came under 

attack.

In the east, a discourse hostile to human rights remained prevalent, frequently leading to the 

repression of human rights defenders, political opposition, protest movements, anti-corruption 

campaigners and sexual minorities. This hostile discourse also inched westward and found its 

first legislative expression in Hungary with the adoption of a law effectively stigmatizing NGOs 

that received foreign funding.

Violent attacks caused deaths and injuries, including in Barcelona, Brussels, London, 

Manchester, Paris, Stockholm, St Petersburg and multiple locations across Turkey. In 

response, governments continued to implement a range of counter-terrorism measures 

disproportionately restricting people’s rights in the name of security.

Millions of people faced an erosion of their economic, social and cultural rights. This led to 

diminished social protection, exacerbated inequality and systemic discrimination in many 

countries. Those most affected by higher levels of poverty included women, children, young or 

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