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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

In July, the High Court disqualified four 

elected pro-democracy legislators − Nathan 

Law, Leung Kwok-hung, Lau Siu-lai and Yiu 

Chung-yim − for failing to meet the 

requirements specified in the National 

People’s Congress Standing Committee’s 

interpretation of the Hong Kong Basic Law 

when they took their oaths of office in 

October 2016.

In August, the Court of Appeal sentenced 

Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law to 

six, seven and eight months’ imprisonment 

respectively for their part in a student-led 

demonstration in September 2014 which 

triggered the Umbrella Movement. Joshua 

Wong and Alex Chow had been found guilty 

in 2016 of “taking part in an unlawful 

assembly” and Nathan Law of “inciting 

others to take part in an unlawful assembly”. 

A magistrates’ court originally ordered 

community service or suspended sentences 

but prosecutors successfully appealed, 

seeking harsher penalties.

10

 Joshua Wong 

and Nathan Law were released on bail in 

October and Alex Chow in November 

pending their appeals.

The District Court sentenced seven police 

officers to two years’ imprisonment in 

February for assaulting protester Ken Tsang 

during the Umbrella Movement protests. 

After the sentencing, China’s state 

mouthpieces initiated an orchestrated 

campaign attacking Hong Kong’s judiciary. 

Appeals were pending at year end.

RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER 

AND INTERSEX PEOPLE

In April, the Court of First Instance ruled that 

the government’s refusal to extend work 

benefits to the same-sex husband of a civil 

servant was discrimination based on sexual 

orientation.

In September, the Court of Appeal ruled that 

the Immigration Department’s refusal to grant 

a dependant visa to the same-sex civil 

partner of a foreign professional on a work 

visa was discriminatory. The government 

appealed against the decisions in both cases.

MACAO SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE 

REGION

In August, the Macao government stopped 

four Hong Kong journalists from entering 

Macao to report on the destruction and 

clean-up work of Typhoon Hato, which media 

reported caused 10 deaths. In December, 

Macao’s legislature voted to suspend pro-

democracy lawmaker Sulu Sou and to 

remove his legislative immunity. He was 

elected in September and charged in 

November for taking part in a May 2016 

peaceful protest against Macao’s Chief 

Executive.

1. China: Submission on the draft “National Intelligence Law” (

ASA 

17/6412/2017

)

2. China: Submission on the draft “Supervision Law” (

ASA 

17/7553/2017)

3. Liu Xiaobo: A giant of human rights who leaves a lasting legacy for 

China and the world (

Press release

, 13 July)

4. Further information: China − lawyer on bail remains under tight 

surveillance: Xie Yang (

ASA 17/6307/2017

)

5. China: Taiwanese activist sentenced to five years in jail (

Press 

release

)

6. Why China must scrap new laws that tighten the authorities’ grip on 

religious practice (

News story

, 31 August)

7. China’s deadly secrets (

ASA 17/5849/2017

)

8. China: Disclose the whereabouts of two Tibetans who attempted self-

immolation (

ASA 17/6098/2017

)

9. China: Uighur woman incommunicado after secret trial – Buzainafu 

Abudourexiti (

ASA 17/7168/2017

)

10. Hong Kong: Freedom of expression under attack as scores of peaceful 

protesters face “chilling” prosecutions (

News story

, 26 September)

COLOMBIA

Republic of Colombia

Head of state and government: Juan Manuel Santos 

Calderón

The civilian population, especially 

Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant and 

peasant farmer communities, and human 

rights defenders, continued to be the main 

victims of the ongoing armed conflict. 

Although official figures indicated that 

there was a decrease in the number of 

civilians killed in military actions involving 

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the Revolutionary Armed Forces of 

Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian 

security forces from the start of the 

negotiations to signing of the Peace 

Agreement in 2016, the armed conflict 

persisted in 2017 and in some parts of the 

country it seemed to have intensified. 

Concerns remained about impunity for 

crimes committed during the armed 

conflict. Security forces used excessive 

force, sometimes causing civilian deaths. 

Violence against women, particularly sexual 

violence, persisted.

INTERNAL ARMED CONFLICT

PEACE PROCESS

On 11 October, the Constitutional Court gave 

backing to the Peace Agreement signed by 

the Colombian government and the FARC 

guerrilla group on 24 November 2016. 

However, at the end of 2017 legislation had 

yet to be implemented for most of the points 

in the Peace Agreement.

During separate negotiations in Quito, 

Ecuador, between the National Liberation 

Army (ELN) guerrilla group and the 

Colombian government, the parties declared 

on 4 September that a bilateral ceasefire 

would take effect from 1 October until early 

2018. The ceasefire was declared in principle 

for a period of four months, after which the 

Colombian government and the ELN would 

begin to discuss a possible peace agreement. 

However, from October there were various 

reports of ELN attacks against civilians in 

contradiction of the ceasefire agreement. 

ELN acknowledged one such attack: the 

killing of Aulio Isaramá Forastero, an 

Indigenous leader from Chocó, by ELN 

members on 24 October. Civil society 

organizations in the Department of Chocó 

issued a call for a “Humanitarian Agreement 

Now”, directed at the national government 

and the ELN guerrillas, in order to implement 

concrete humanitarian actions to stop ethnic 

communities in Chocó continuing to be put at 

risk by confrontations in their territories.

Between 28 January and 18 February, 

6,803 FARC guerrillas moved into 26 

demobilization zones with the support of the 

UN Monitoring and Verification Mission in 

Colombia established by UN Security Council 

resolution 2261 (2016). The process to verify 

FARC disarmament, which was due to be 

completed in 180 days, began on 1 March. 

On 27 June, the process of surrendering of 

weapons by individuals ended, and on 15 

August the process of removing arms and 

munitions from the 26 FARC camps was 

completed. In accordance with the Peace 

Agreement, the UN Security Council adopted 

resolution 2377 (2017) approving a second 

verification mission on the political, economic 

and social reintegration of FARC members, 

which commenced on 26 September.

Despite the stipulations in the “Ethnic 

Chapter” of the Peace Agreement, there were 

complaints about the lack of guarantees for 

the effective participation of Indigenous 

Peoples and Afro-descendant communities in 

the implementation of the Agreement. On 21 

September, members of the Permanent 

Bureau for Co-ordination with Indigenous 

Peoples and Organizations declared 

themselves to be in a state of emergency and 

permanent assembly to demand that the 

provisions of the Peace Agreement be fully 

complied with.

CIVILIAN VICTIMS OF THE ARMED CONFLICT

The Unit for the Victims’ Assistance and 

Reparation, created in 2011 by Law 1148, 

recorded a total 8,532,636 victims for the 

five-decade duration of the armed conflict. 

This included 363,374 victims of threats, 

22,915 victims of sexual offences, 167,809 

victims of enforced disappearance, 

7,265,072 victims of forced displacement 

and 11,140 victims of anti-personnel mines. 

Crimes against 31,047 victims of the armed 

conflict were recorded for the first time 

between January and October 2017.

In the departments of Chocó, Cauca, 

Antioquia and Norte de Santander, among 

others, crimes under international law and 

human rights violations persisted, including 

targeted killings of members of Afro-

descendant communities and Indigenous 

Peoples, collective forced displacements, the 

forced confinement of communities within 

their territories (limiting their freedom of 

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