By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SALERNO, Italy – The bodies of twenty-six Nigerian girls were laid to rest in Italy on November 17^th after they were discovered drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on November 5^th.

The women, ranging in age from 14 to 18, are believed to have drowned after the dinghies in which they were traveling sank. One victim had suffered internal bleeding from blunt trauma before falling into the water.

Another 100 victims are missing and believed to have drowned. Search and rescue missions have brought nearly 400 migrants to safety.

An investigation into the deaths of the girls was initiated due to fears that they were abused and then killed.

After the discovery of the bodies, two men who are believed to have skippered the boats were arrested on human trafficking charges.

Approximately 168,000 migrants arrived in Italy this year. This represents a 32 percent decline from 2016 and is the result of a controversial agreement between Libya and Italy to keep boats from leaving Libya.

UN Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called the agreement between Libya and Italy “inhuman,” as it results in migrants seeking refuge to be sent back to Libya’s lawless detention centers.

This year, more than 2,700 people have died or are missing at sea.

Since the 1980s, tens of thousands of Nigerian girls have been taken to Italy and forced into prostitution. In the last three years, there has been a 600 percent increase in sex-trafficking victims arriving by sea. Of the 11,000 Nigerian girls who made the trip last year, 80% of them are believed to be victims of trafficking.

In 2014, 1,454 girls arrived. That number rose to 11,009 in 2016.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, 90% of the women arriving in the country display bruises and other signs of violence.

Only two of the victims buried have been identified. “Most of the Nigerian girls travel alone, part of a huge trafficking network, and no one knows exactly who they are,” said Marco Rotunno, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Italy.

The unidentified victims were buried with white cards simply stating the number of their coffins.

A group of Nigerian girls watched the funeral from a distance. “It is not easy for them because they have all made that crossing, that journey,” said Alessandra Galatro, who works with young Nigerian women to help them escape prostitution. “The cruelty that women faced in Libya, they all experienced.”

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Two Dozen African Girls Dead at Sea – 13 November 2017

The Guardian – Teenage Nigerian Girls Drowned at Sea, Italian Autopsies Confirm – 16 November 2017

CNN – 26 Young Nigerian Migrant Women Laid to Rest in Italy – 17 November 2017

The Washington Post – Italy Buries 26 Nigerian Women – Most Without a Name – 17 November 2017

By: Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ATHENS, Greece – The Greek parliament has passed a law making it easier for individuals to change their legally recognized genders, a move that has been met with strong support as well as vehement opposition.

The law passed with 171 votes in favor in the 300-member parliament. It allows Greek citizens over the age of 15 to change the gender listed on identification cards and official documents. This requires a court order but does not require medical tests or surgery. Applicants must not be married and are limited to changing their legal gender twice.

Prior to the law’s enactment, those wishing to change their genders were required to undergo gender reassignment surgery along with a psychiatric assessment. This was criticized by human rights groups and transgender activists as an “outdated and oppressive practice that violates individuals’ bodily integrity.”

In opposition to the law, some churches in the western Greek region rang funeral bells and claimed that “Christian morals have been murdered.”

Some believe that the bill is an attempt to distract the public’s attention away from Greece’s financial problems.

Others believe the minimum age is too young. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the New Democracy party, said “for us it is inconceivable to bar 15-year olds from consuming alcohol, yet enabling them to take such an important decision.”

Before the vote, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pleaded with lawmakers to support the law, saying that “we are on the side of those who have no voice, or whose voice is stifled.”

The transgender community sees the law as a positive step towards inclusion and hopes that it will foster greater acceptance in the largely conservative nation. The Transgender Support Association stated that the vote was historic and that it was a “first positive step toward enjoying basic rights and freedoms.”

In response to those opposed to the law, Prime Minister Tsipras said this: “Absolutely no tradition, no perception of family calls for people to be sidelined or tossed aside into a social and institutional abyss.”

Anna Kouroupou, a 24 year old female who underwent gender reassignment surgery at the age of 24, believes that the new law will help improve the daily lives of those who suffer in the transgender community. She believes that the new law will help people find jobs and “therefore they’ll have health care, all those rights that each person has from the minute they’re born.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Greek Parliament Approves Law Allowing Legal Gender Change – 10 October 2017

NBC News – Churches Ring Funeral Bells Over New Gender Rights Law – 16 October 2017

The New York Times – Greek Transgender Community Hopes New Law Will Improve Lives – 10 October 2017

Reuters – Greece Passes Sex Change Law Opposed by Orthodox Church – 10 October 2017

The Washington Post – Greek Transgender Community Hopes New Law Will Improve Lives – 10 October 2017

By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – Activists in Northern Ireland are urging lawmakers in the United Kingdom to overturn the current restrictions on abortion in the country.

In June, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Council (NIHRC) was unsuccessful in its efforts to convince judges that the rights of sexual assault victims and women with fatal fetal abnormalities were being violated.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom will hear evidence from the United Nations Human Rights Committee beginning on Tuesday, November 7^th. The hearing is scheduled to last three days and end with a vote. The Supreme Court in London is the final court of appeal. Ireland will hold a referendum in 2018 regarding its strict abortion laws.

Criminalization of abortion began in 1861 with the passage of the Offences against the Person Act. Abortion is currently still illegal in Northern Ireland, but a provision was added in 1945 that allows for termination of a pregnancy if there is a threat to the life of the mother. Those who break the law face life imprisonment.

Human rights activists believe that the strict laws strip women of their fundamental human rights. Nathalie Lieven, lead counsel for the NIHRC said that “The impact of the criminal law in Northern Ireland does amount to inhuman and degrading treatment by the state.”

In 2016, the legislature voted against allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest or fetal abnormality.

Ms. Lieven says that the laws cause “trauma and humiliation” and criminalize those who are already in “exceptionally vulnerable position(s).”

The NIHRC has provided testimony from women who have been denied abortion to bolster their case. Ashleigh Topley was four-and-a-half months into her pregnancy in 2013 when she was told by doctors that her baby’s limbs were not growing and that the baby would die. Ms. Topley was forbidden from terminating the pregnancy. Her baby girl’s heart stopped when she went into labor after thirty-five weeks.

A poll conducted by Amnesty International found that the majority of citizens favor a woman’s choice to terminate a pregnancy given certain factors. 85% of citizens in Northern Ireland would support the choice for abortion if the pregnancy is the result of rape, 81% if there is a diagnosis of fetal abnormality and 89% if a woman’s health is at risk.

Colm O’Groman, Executive Director of Amnesty International in Ireland, stated that the public shows strong support for “women making their own decisions about their pregnancies.” He points to the poll as evidence that the issue is not as divisive as the media portrays it.

“Public support varies on the precise gestational limits but it remains solidly behind women making their own decisions about their pregnancies,” said O’Groman.

Litigation regarding the law was initiated by NIHRC is 2014 and has been ongoing ever since.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Northern Ireland Abortion law – 23 October 2017

BBC News – Abortion Laws ‘Punish Sex-Crime Victims’ – 26 October 2017

Reuters – UK Supreme Court Hears Attempt to Change Northern Ireland Abortion law – 24 October 2017

The Washington Post – Rights Group Challenges N Ireland Abortion ban at top Court – 24 October 2017

By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

WARSAW, Poland – Richard Spencer, the American white nationalist, is not welcome in Poland.

The Polish government has issued statements condemning Spencer’s views as a threat to democracy and objecting to his upcoming visit to Warsaw. Foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski stated that Spencer should not appear publicly in Poland, describing him as someone who “defames what happened during World War II, defames the Holocaust.”

Spencer is the white supremacist who organized the Charlottesville, Virginia rally that killed a counter-protestor in August after the rally turned violent. He has since held other rallies and is looking to expand his message to Europe.

He was invited by several far-right Polish organizations to speak at a conference in Warsaw that took place on November 10^th. The National Social Congress announced that Spencer would speak at a panel discussion during its “Europe of Future” meeting. The annual conference is organized by the far-right to celebrate Polish Independence Day. In past years, marches held on November 11^th by far-right extremists were some of the largest extremist gatherings in Europe.

Spencer’s followers consist of members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. They support his condemnation of diversity and embrace his far-right ideologies including nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism. Studies show that anti-Semitism and xenophobia is on the rise in Poland, which will likely help Spencer draw an audience there.

The government had been pressured to prevent Spencer from speaking at the event. “Spencer’s views strike not only the Jewish community or other minority groups. The hatred that Spencer and his followers proclaim is a threat to all who are close to the values of human rights and democracy,” said Agnieszka Markiewicz, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Central European office.

When the Polish Border Guard was contracted regarding the issue, a spokeswoman declined to divulge any information, citing privacy regulations. Spencer did not end up attending.

In 2014, Hungary Spencer’s think tank, the National Policy Institute, was prevented from holding a conference. When Spencer defied the ban, he was arrested, deported and banned from entering Europe’s 26 visa-free countries for three years.

The Polish Foreign Ministry said “As a country which was one of the biggest victims of Nazism, we believe that the ideas promoted by Mr. Spencer and his followers could pose a threat to all those who hold dear the values of human rights and democracy.”

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Poland to Richard Spencer – Keep Out – 27 October 2017

The New York Times – Poland Objects to Visit by White Nationalist Richard Spencer – 27 October 2017

Newsweek – Richard Spencer is too Racist for Poland’s Right-Wing Government – 27 October 2017

The Washington Times – Poland Opposes Visit From Richard Spencer, White Nationalist and Charlottesville Rally Participant – 27 October 2017

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

VIENNA, Austria – After center-right candidate Sebastian Kurz won a surprising victory in the Austrian election, he is now calling for discussion with “alternative right” groups in the country, hoping to give them a voice in the national government.

Mr. Kurz is Austria’s current foreign minister. On October 15th, Austrians voted to give Mr. Kurz’ party, the People’s Party, the power to form the next government. This means that Mr. Kurz is likely to be Austria’s next Chancellor.

The vote reflected a right-wing shift in Austria. The third-place vote-getters were the Freedom Party, a far-right, anti-immigration party with ties to Neo-Nazism.

Mr. Kurz and his party seem to echo the sentiments of the Freedom Party.

During his time as foreign minister, Mr. Kurz was responsible for stopping the flow of refugees into Austria by shutting down borders on the Balkan route. During the campaign, he promised to do the same thing on the Mediterranean route of asylum seekers.

Mr. Kurz’s anti-Muslim sentiment has come out in other policy points. He cited a study that allegedly found that Islamic kindergartens, religious schools permitted under Austrian law, contribute to a “parallel society.”

Yet Mr. Kurz and his party insisted on the campaign trail that shifting to the right is merely an issue of popular viewpoint in Austria.

An anonymous adviser for Mr. Kurz stated that “most European populations don’t want to become half-Afghan or half-Syrian or half-African.” The adviser added that “you have to accept it. If you don’t, we’ll go to the extreme far right.”

Mr. Kurz People’s Party did not gain enough votes in the election to lead the country on their own. In a coalition government, this means that the People’s Party will have to partner with another to achieve its goals.

Mr. Kurz has said that this partner will likely be the Freedom Party.

To back up his choice, Mr. Kurz said that the Freedom Party has shown a “will to bring change in Austria together.”

Austria has been moving consistently further right in the several years since the refugee crisis began.

If the new government is a coalition between two right wing parties, it may lead to even stricter restrictions on refugees fleeing war in the middle east.

Ramazan Demir is an imam and leader of the Islamic Religious Community in Austria. He has expressed concerns over where Austria is going in recent years.

“They did their politics on the backs of Muslims,” Mr. Demir said about the rise of the far-right parties in Austria.

“There’s never been this much Islamophobia in Austria.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Austria: Sebastian Kurz opens talks with Freedom Party – 24 October 2017

The Independent – Austria election winner Sebastian Kurz invites far-right Freedom Party to enter government – 24 October 2017

The Washington Post – For Austria’s Muslims, country’s hard-right turn is an ominous sign – 20 October 2017

Wall Street Journal – Austrian Election Winner Sebastian Kurz Prepares for Talks With Far Right – 20 October 2017

NPR – Austria Election: Center-Right Party Head Likely Next Prime Minister – 15 October 2017