Amnesty International Report 2017/18

26

Amnesty International Report 2017/18

BUSINESS AND CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY

In DRC, children and adults risked their lives and health working in cobalt mines for a dollar a 

day. In South Africa, Lonmin Plc, a UK-based platinum mining giant, allowed its workforce to 

live in squalor in Marikana, in spite of making legally binding commitments to build 5,500 new 

houses over 10 years before. No one was held to account for the killing in 2012 of 34 people 

protesting against poor conditions at the mine.

At the same time, there were growing signs of public pressure, action and demands for 

corporate accountability in various countries.

In June, a landmark civil case was launched against Shell in the Netherlands – accusing it of 

complicity in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of the Ogoni nine, hanged by 

Nigeria’s military government in 1995. International organizations called for Shell to be 

investigated for its part in these serious human rights violations committed by the Nigerian 

security forces in Ogoniland in the 1990s.

Some governments took positive steps. The DRC government committed to end child labour 

in the mining sector by 2025, in what could be a significant step towards eradicating the use 

of children as young as seven in dangerous mining work. Ghana ratified the UN Minamata 

Convention on Mercury, which aims to protect workers from toxic liquid metal by reducing 

mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining and to protect children from exposure.

LOOKING AHEAD

While 2017 saw protracted and, in some cases, deepening challenges to the state of human 

rights in Africa, it also offered hope and opportunities for change. A key source of hope lay in 

the countless people across the region who stood up for human rights, justice and dignity – 

often risking their lives and freedoms.

Africa’s regional bodies remained key to the realization of positive change; they too are 

presented with many opportunities. During the year, the AU endorsed an ambitious plan to 

realize its commitment to “silence the guns” by 2020. It embarked on a major institutional 

reform agenda, which includes mobilizing significant resources for its operations and for peace 

and security interventions. This holistic approach and the AU’s ambition to address the root 

causes of conflict offer real opportunities to mobilize an effective regional response for better 

protection of civilians, respect for human rights and tackling the entrenched culture of 

impunity.

The year also marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the African Commission 

on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which – despite many challenges – made significant 

contributions towards the promotion and protection of human rights, including by formulating 

an impressive list of instruments and standards. In 2017 alone, the Commission adopted at 

least 13 such instruments; these gave specific content to the broad provisions of the African 

Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and 

Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa.

The Commission should build on these successes and work towards refining and 

strengthening its processes and mechanisms; it needs to develop a single set of consolidated 

state reporting guidelines and to apply consistently the Commission’s procedure for following 

up the implementation of its decisions and recommendations to states.

---

Amnesty International Report 2017/18

27

AMERICAS REGIONAL OVERVIEW

Discrimination and inequality continued to be the norm across the continent. High levels of 

violence continued to ravage the region, with waves of killings, enforced disappearances 

and arbitrary detentions. Human rights defenders experienced increasing levels of violence. 

Impunity remained pervasive. Politics of demonization and division increased. Indigenous 

Peoples faced discrimination and continued to be denied their economic, social and 

cultural rights, including their rights to land and to free, prior and informed consent on 

projects affecting them. Governments made little headway in protecting the rights of 

women and girls, and of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.

Huge numbers of people across the Americas region faced a deepening human rights crisis, 

fuelled by the downgrading of human rights in law, policy and practice, together with 

increasing use of the politics of demonization and division. Such regression risked becoming 

endemic in many countries. It exacerbated a lack of trust in the authorities – manifested in low 

levels of participation in elections and referendums – and in institutions such as national 

justice systems.

Rather than using human rights as a way to secure a more just and sustainable future, many 

governments fell back on tactics of repression – misusing their security forces and justice 

systems to silence dissent and criticism; allowing widespread torture and other ill-treatment to 

go unpunished; and presiding over rampant inequality, poverty and discrimination sustained 

by corruption and failures in accountability and justice.

Major regression in human rights was also driven by a series of executive orders issued by 

US President Donald Trump, including what became known as the “Muslim ban” and plans to 

build a wall along the US border with Mexico.

Extreme and persistent violence was commonplace in countries including Brazil, El Salvador, 

Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela. Violence across the region was frequently driven by the 

proliferation of illicit small arms and the growth of organized crime. Violence against LGBTI 

people, women and girls, and Indigenous Peoples was widespread.

According to a UN report, Latin America and the Caribbean remained the most violent region 

in the world for women, despite strict laws aimed at addressing the crisis. The region had the 

world’s highest rate of non-intimate partner violence against women, and the second highest 

rate of intimate partner violence.

Mexico witnessed a wave of killings of journalists and human rights defenders. Venezuela 

faced its worst human rights crisis in modern history. Killings of Indigenous people and Afro-

descendant leaders in Colombia exposed shortcomings in the implementation of the country’s 

peace process.

Land rights activists were targeted with violence and other abuses in many countries. The 

region continued to suffer from an alarming rise in the number of threats and attacks against 

human rights defenders, community leaders and journalists, including through misuse of the 

justice system.

Huge numbers of people fled their homes to escape repression, violence, discrimination and 

poverty. Many suffered further abuses while in transit or upon reaching other countries in the 

region.

The pardon granted to Peru’s former president Alberto Fujimori, who in 2009 was sentenced 

for crimes against humanity, sent a worrying signal about Peru’s willingness to confront 

impunity and respect the rights of victims.

---