By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

BARCELONA, Spain – Less than a week after Catalonia’s vote for independence from Spain, the highest federal court in the country has blocked the constitutionality of the vote.

On October 5th, the court ruled that allowing the Catalan parliament to meet and consider declaring independence violates the rights of the Catalonian Socialist Party’s members of parliament.

The court urged that any session of the Catalan parliament defying its decision would be “null.”

They also added that any leaders who hold the session could face “criminal action” if they choose to ignore the court’s verdict.

Despite Catalan leader’s call for “peace and accord” in their quest for independence, violence erupted after the vote on October 1st, much of it stemming from citizens clashing with Spanish police.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, has also stated that the situation will “escalate further” if the Catalan government declares independence.

“[The] best [solution] would be a return to legality and the swiftest possible confirmation that there won’t be a unilateral independence declaration, because that way still greater harm could be avoided,” Mr. Rajoy said in a statement to the Spanish news agency Efe.

King Felipe of Spain has also condemned Catalan attempts to secede from the country, calling Catalan actions as “an unacceptable attempt” to take over the institutions placed there by the federal government.

The vote on October 1st has caused much division, both within the region of Catalonia and outside of it.

The New York Times reports a rise of nationalist sentiment throughout Spain, with many pushing openly against Catalonia.

And while 90% of the votes counted on the October 1 election were in favor of independence, the voter turnout hovered at only 42%. This in part may be due to the many anti-secession Catalans who boycotted the election, hoping to avoid giving “legitimacy” to the vote.

Both anti- and pro-independence rallies are reportedly planned for the next several days.

When asked what they thought about the high court’s decision, the Catalan government told CNN, “we will see.”

Indeed, it remains to be seen whether Catalonia will carry forth with their attempt to gain independence from Spain.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Catalan crisis: Spanish court bars MPs’ independence vote – 5 October 2017

The Washington Post – Catalonia poses a real crisis for both Spain and Europe – 5 October 2017

CNN – Spanish court blocks Catalan parliament’s independence move – 5 October 2017

The Guardian – Spanish court blocks Catalan parliament from declaring independence – 5 October 2017

The New York Times – Catalonia Separatism Revives a Long-Dormant Spanish Nationalism – 5 October 2017

By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

VIENNA, Austria – On Sunday, October 1^st, Austria implemented a law prohibiting Muslim women from wearing Burqas in public.

The “Prohibition for the Covering of the Face” law, commonly known as the “Burqa Ban,” was approved in May of 2017 and implemented on October 1^st. It prohibits women from wearing burqas and niqabs in public.

The decision to prohibit burqas comes at a time when anti-Muslim bigotry is at an all-time high, both in Europe and the United States. The law has thus far garnered strong support in the predominantly Catholic country, reflecting anti-Muslim attitudes.

Similar sentiments have become increasingly prevalent in other European countries. In the midst of elections in Germany in September, the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party campaigned with posters featuring the slogan “Burqas? We prefer Bikinis.”

The upcoming national election in Austria is looking favorably to those who are campaigning on an anti-migrant message.

Five out of seven of those polled that support the law also said they will vote for the two parties that are linked to anti-Muslim rhetoric, the Freedom Party and the People’s Party.

Muslim women leaders are condemning the law, viewing the claim that it is intended to help women as insincere.

Carla Amina Baghajati, spokeswoman for the Austrian Islamic Religious Authority, criticized the law. “They believe that they are ‘freeing these women’ and that they’re taking action to secure the identity of Austria, but this is hypocritical as the idea of an open society is that everybody has the liberty to act and dress as they please as long as nobody else is harmed,” she said.

Activists and experts say that the ban violates religious rights and will only perpetuate the problem of Islamophobia.

Farid Hafez, a senior research fellow at Georgetown University’s Bridge Initiative, said that “Islamophobia is a problem in Austria as it is a problem and a challenge to democracy, human rights and religious freedom in many European countries today.”

Sebastian Kurz, Foreign Minister of Austria, said that the burqa “is not a religious symbol but a symbol for a counter-society.”

Those who defy the law and continue to cover their faces can be fined up to $175. Police are authorized to use force for anyone resisting the law.

Laws such as these are already in effect in France and Belgium. The Alternative for Germany is also calling for such measures.

The ban affects approximately 150 women.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Austria’s Full-Face Veil Ban is a Kneejerk Reaction to the Rise of the Far Right – 1 February 2017

USA Today – Austria Becomes Latest European Country to Ban Burqas – But Adds Clown Face Paint, Too – 27 September 2017

PBS – ‘Burqa Ban” Law Signals Rightward Political Turn in Austria – 30 September 2017

Aljazeera – Austria Face Veil Ban ‘Criminalizes’ Muslim Women – 1 October 2017

BBC – Austrian Ban on Full-Face Veil in Public Places Comes Into Force – 1 October 2017

New York Times – Austria’s ‘Burqa Ban’ Law Comes Into Force – 1 October 2017

Washington Post – ‘Burqa Ban’ Law Signals Rightward Political Turn in Austria – 1 October 2017

By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BAKU, Azerbaijan – Dozens of gay and transgender people in Azerbaijan’s capital city Baku have been detained and sentenced to jail this month.

Those arrested have been sentenced to up to thirty days in jail. They are also being demanded to provide names and addresses of gay and transgender acquaintances.

The detainees have been subjected to beatings and medical examinations, according to the Civil Rights Defenders, a human rights group based out of Sweden. Transgender women have been forced to have their heads shaved.

Azerbaijan government officials claim that the arrests are part of a crackdown on the illegal sex trade in Baku, but Samed Rahumli, a lawyer who is assisting the victims, said the police “targeted homosexuals in general, not prostitutes as they have claimed.”

Rahumli reported that those “detained were subjected to inhuman treatment and torture. Their heads were shaved, some were electroshocked.”

In some instances, police posed online as gay or transgender people looking for dates.

One victim, who identified himself as Hasan, reported that police claimed he was a sex worker, beat him and demanded he provided information pertaining to his alleged clients.

According to activists, the reasoning provided by the government is being used as a pretext for persecution of the LGBT community.

The detainees were being held under “administrative detention”, which is a legal practice in Azerbaijan that allows for the bypass of public hearing prior to sentencing.

A survey conducted in 2016 by a human rights organization ranked Azerbaijan as the worst of 49 European counties in which to be gay.

International organization Human Rights Watch reported that men have been outed to their families and that these relatives have been encouraged to carry out honor killings.

Several victims have been evicted from their apartments as a result of the raids.

The arrests are reminiscent of the detainment and torture of gay men in Chechnya earlier this year. In some cases there, victims were killed.

A spokesman for the country’s interior ministry said “these raids are not against all sexual minorities. The arrested are people who demonstratively show a lack of respect for those around them, annoy citizens with their behaviour, and also those whom police or health authorities believe to be carriers of infectious diseases.”

Evelyne Paradis, European executive director of the International Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, called “for the immediate release of anyone still in detention.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Dozens of LGBT People Detained in Azerbaijan Capital – 29 September 2017

CBC News – Azerbaijan Arresting More LBGT People ‘day by day’, Activist Says 30 September 2017

The Guardian – Outcry as Azerbaijan Police Launch Crackdown on LGBT Community – 28 September 2017

Independent – Mass Arrests of LGBT People in Azerbaijan Condemned by Human Rights Groups – 28 September 2017

NBC News – Dozens of LGBTQ Reportedly Arrested in Azerbaijan – 26 September 2017

New York Times – Azerbaijan Detains Dozens of Gay and Transgender People – 29 September 2017

Washington Post – Dozens of LGBT People Detained in Azerbaijan Capital – 29 September 2017

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

BARCELONA, Spain – Despite the Spanish government deeming the vote “illegal”, citizens in the Catalonia region of Spain on October 1st held an independence referendum.

Catalonia has sought independence from Spain for several years. Barcelona, one of Spain’s biggest cities, is nestled in the region.

Catalonia has its own language, and many of its residents have never felt “Spanish”. This was part of the driving force behind the October 1st vote.

Polls suggest that 7.8 million people in Spain support Catalan independence.

Despite this, the government in Madrid has fought against allowing Catalan to sever from Spain.

The federal government has seized voting materials, imposed fines on officials for supporting the election, and sent several groups of law enforcement to prevent the vote from happening.

Protests quickly erupted in the streets of Barcelona on Sunday, October 1st, which quickly led into violent clashes between law enforcement and citizens.

The police, in riot gear, stormed into an elementary school polling station, while election activists grabbed the ballot boxes, hiding them in various places around the school.

Once the police left, voting recommenced.

However, that was not the end of the chaos.

More than 300 people were reportedly injured in clashes with law enforcement.

Some of the injuries suffered came from rubber bullets from police, who shot at crowds lined up to vote outside polling centers.

Police also faced protestors, dragging them and whipping them with batons.

The scene in Catalonia is being called a “mass act of civil disobedience”. While Spain is a democratic country, its history with authoritarian governments is still fresh in the minds of some citizens.

“The government today is in a position to affirm that we can celebrate the referendum of self-determination-not as we wanted, but [as democracy] guarantees,” Jordi Turull, spokesman for the Catalan government, stated at a news conference.

Under dictator Francisco Franco in the early 1900s, Catalonia was heavily repressed. Citizens were barred from speaking Catalan disallowed to give children traditional Catalan names.

Democracy would not be completely established in Spain until the 1970s. The push for Catalonian independence would not come to its full extent until the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008.

Catalonia was given autonomy, but not independence or sovereignty, by the central government in Spain five years ago.

But on election day, Spain rescinded that autonomy and took control of Catalonian’s finances.

Even with popular opinion indicating a majority of support for independence, it is unclear what will happen next.

“Spain let us vote in 2014,” one of the organizers of the October 1st vote said to ABC News. He was referring to the vote in 2014, where most people who voted said “yes” on a ballot to sever from Spain.

That vote did not go anywhere.

“This time they refuse [to let us vote] because they know it’s happening,” he added. “I hope it’s the last battle.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Catalan referendum: ‘Hundreds hurt’ as police try to stop voters – 1 October 2017

The Telegraph – Catalan Referendum: Riot police ‘fire rubber bullets’ at crowd as they block voters at besieged polling stations – 1 October 2017

The Washington Post – Clashes during Catalan independence vote injure more than 300, including 12 police officers – 1 October 2017

The New York Times – Catalans, Elated but Fearful, Brace for Independence Vote – 29 September 2017

ABC News – What you need to know about the Catalan independence referendum – 26 September 2017

BBC News – Catalonia referendum: Madrid moves to take over local policing – 23 September 2017

By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GENEVA, Switzerland – In a report published on September 25^th, the United Nations cited grave instances of human rights abuses in Crimea.

“There is an urgent need for accountability,” UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said of the situation.

The United Nations ordered the human rights investigation in December 2016. The report is based on interviews conducted from Ukraine, as investigators were not allowed access into the region.

Among the abuses found are incidences of illegal arrests, allegedly taking place to instill fear and stifle opposition. There is also evidence of torture, and a finding of at least one extra-judicial execution. Additionally, between 2014 and 2015, dozens of people were abducted, and ten still remain missing.

The abuses are alleged to have been perpetrated by the Federal Security Service, Russian police officers and a paramilitary group.

Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 in a referendum that was and is not recognized by the international community. It has been condemned by the European Union as well as the United States and has resulted in sanctions against Russia.

The human rights abuses are primarily directed at the Tatars, a Turkic speaking minority in Crimea that makes up about 12% of its population.

The report states that “while those human rights violations and abuses have affected Crimean residents of diverse ethnic backgrounds, Crimean Tatars were particularly targeted especially those with links to the Mejlis.”

The Tatar parliament, the Mejelis, boycotted the referendum on joining Russia and were deemed an extremist organization and banned by Moscow in 2016. The Tatar community has since been limited in its ability to celebrate important dates and display cultural symbols.

Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia’s human rights ombudsman, states that the report is “an unjust and biased assessment of the human rights situation in Crimea.” A Crimean official has also stated that the report is not objective or indicative of reality.

Thousands of Crimean residents have fled rather than be subject to forced Russian citizenship.

The report notes that hundreds of Crimean prisoners were illegally transferred to Russian jails, an act that violates international law. Three detainees who were transferred died after they did not receive medical treatment for serious medical conditions.

“The frequency and severity of these human rights violations, together with the lack of accountability, has created an atmosphere of impunity which encourages the further perpetuation of such violations,” said Fiona Frazer, lead of the investigating mission.

For more information, please see:

Anadolu Agency – UN Says Russia Violating Crimea Tatars’ Rights – 25 September 2017

BBC News – UN Accuses Russia of Violating Human Rights in Crimea – 25 September 2017

New York Times – Russia Committed ‘Grave’ Rights Abuses in Crimea, UN Says – 25 September 2017

Reuters – Russian Occupation of Crimea Marked by Grave Human Rights Violations – 25 September 2017

Washington Post – UN Human Rights Office: Russia Violating International Law in Crimea – 25 September 2017