By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

EUROPE – The European Union has begun legal action on June 13 against three member countries for not taking in their fair share of refugees. The action will be brought in the European Court of Justice.

The Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary are the countries that may face fines for ignoring EU plans to resettle asylum seekers in the region. This proposal, formed in 2015, was to relocate 160,000 refugees across the European mainland.

In March, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern suggested cutting EU funds to nations that refuse to comply with the measures.

Hungary has taken hardline measures in its asylum policy. They passed a law that would detain asylum seekers into border camps for them to wait for their cases to be handled.

Under the EU plan, each country is assigned to take a certain number of refugees or migrants from the vast number of those coming in. Poland has not accepted any. The Czech Republic has taken 12 of their 2,000 allotment.

Further south, the populist mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, has asked the national government not to send any more migrants into the city. Italy has had an influx of refugees and migrant workers coming in from North Africa for the past three years.

In March, when the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban passed the bill allowing detainment of migrants before asylum, he reinforced his hardline stance on immigration. He claimed that immigration is the “Trojan horse of terrorism,” and argued that this was necessary to “defend [Hungary’s] borders…[So] no one will try to come to Hungary illegally.”

The rising fears among Europe regarding refugees are often based on security concerns. With the recent terror attacks in the United Kingdom, member nations of the EU remain on guard. Anti-immigrant sentiment is by and large in the continent and is an especially popular topic of discussion in local elections.

Immigration advocates push against the rhetoric pushed by anti-refugee leaders around the world. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called Hungary’s law an act “[promoting] toxic notions of ethic purity”.

Human rights group Amnesty International has also been outspoken against the anti-immigration sentiment of the three countries involved in the EU legal action. The European office director of the group, Iverna McGowan, said that the EU’s action shows that “countries will not be allowed to get away with dragging their feet to avoid accepting refugees.”

She continues, “Solidarity is the key to a fair and humane response to refugees in Europe.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Don’t send more migrants, Rome mayor tells Italy’s government – 13 June 2017

BBC News – EU targets Poland, Hungary, and Czechs for not taking refugees – 13 June 2017

New York Times – E.U. Move Against 3 Countries That Don’t Take Refugees – 13 June 2017

ABC News – EU warns 3 countries of legal action over refugee plan – 13 June 2017

Reuters – Rome’s 5-Star mayor calls to half migrants’ flow into city – 13 June 2017

The Guardian – Austria threatens EU funding cuts over Hungary’s hard line on refugees – 8 March 2017

BBC News – Hungary to detain all asylum seekers in border camps – 7 March 2017

 

 

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, United Kingdom – On June 5, a van ran onto the sidewalk of London Bridge and swerved back to hit a crowd of pedestrians. Amid the chaos, the attackers exited their van and proceeded to continue their attack on bystanders with knives and fake bomb belts. At least seven people were killed.

The United Kingdom is still reeling from the Manchester bombing on May 22. The bridge attack was quickly found to be terrorism related to the Islamic State.

In response, Prime Minister Theresa May suggested that the UK will change their human rights laws in order to prevent more terror attacks in the country.

These changes, she said, may include longer prison terms for convicted terrorists and simplified deportation methods for “foreign terror suspects.” It has also been speculated that the United Kingdom may seek to opt-out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The ECHR began in 1953 after the European Convention in Rome in 1950. Article 15 of the treaty would allow the UK to disregard certain aspects of the Convention under certain circumstances. One of the strict circumstances that would permit the UK to forgo their obligations would be a public emergency that “threatens the life of the nation.”

Prime Minister May argues that the United Kingdom should do what it takes to fight the terrorism problem in Britain. She told the British magazine The Sun on Wednesday, “if human rights laws get in the way of doing these things, we will change those laws to make sure we can do them.”

Critics, among them the Labor Party and the Liberal Democratic party, say that P.M. May’s statements are “cynical”. Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg told the BBC that P.M. May’s “[attack] of the principles of human rights legislation is not the right way to keep us safe”.

Given the results of the general election on June 7, it is uncertain whether Prime Minister May will remain in power much longer. Her Conservative party lost the majority in Parliament by a handful of votes. With this, it is unclear whether the Prime Minister’s plans to rollback human rights laws will come to fruition.

For more information, please see: 

NBC News – London Bridge Attack: 18 Minutes of Chaos in Borough Market, on Streets – 5 June 2017

ABC News – Who’s who, what’s at stake in Britain’s unexpected election – 7 June 2017

BBC News – Theresa May: Human rights laws could change for terror fight – 7 June 2017

CNN – Theresa May: UK will change human rights laws if needed for terror fight – 7 June 2017

NBC News – U.K. Election: British PM Theresa Under Pressure After Shock Vote – 11 June 2017

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe 

BERLIN, Germany – One of the few remaining former-Nazi officers died on June 1 while waiting to serve his time in prison.

Last June, Reinhold Hanning, a former Nazi officer at Auschwitz was convicted for crimes committed during World War II. Hanning was charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Yesterday, Hanning died at 95 years old.

Hanning was expected to serve five years in prison.

Hanning was an SS officer between 1942-1944. He was placed at Auschwitz Birkneau, the most notorious concentration camp set up by Hitler to exterminate the Jewish population in Europe.

After a trial that lasted months, Hanning appealed the conviction. His lawyers claimed that, because he personally did not kill anyone, he should not be charged. Up until recently, prosecutors were required to prove that defendants on trial for World War II atrocities had been directly involved with the murders.

In 2011, this requirement was altered when a German judge found that working at a concentration camp for the Nazis is considered to be “complicity in mass murder”.

As for Hanning, the Court sentenced him, despite his appearance of regretting the atrocities. He was handed his sentence and quickly appealed.

While waiting for the appeals process to be complete, Hanning passed away.

During the Holocaust, millions of Jews were tortured and killed at concentration camps. Other groups targeted included the disabled, Gypsies, and those who spoke out against the Nazi regime.

Only one former SS guard remains. At 96 years old, Oskar Gröning waits for his four year sentence to begin. Currently, he waits for the prosecutors to collect medical evidence to determine that he can spend time in prison and still receive appropriate care.

It has been over 70 years since the genocide in Europe.

Many of the victims, and their families, present at Hanning’s trial last June expressed that they were relieved that he had at least been brought to justice.

The Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee, Christoph Heubner, told the New York Times that “the biggest aim was achieved”.

This aim, he says, was to ensure that the judgment of guilt was passed onto those involved in the atrocities.

The most important thing is for people to remember these types of events in order to not repeat the horrors.

“You cannot forget Genocide,” Heubner says. “Even if you try for years to repress it.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Reinhold Hanning: Convicted Nazi guard dies before doing to prison – 1 June 2017

NBC News – Reinhold Hanning, Convicted Former Auschwitz Guard, Dies at 95 – 1 June 2017

BBC News – Former Auschwitz guard Reinhold Hanning convicted – 17 June 2016

The New York Times – Reinhold Hanning, Former Auschwitz Guard Convicted a Year Ago, Dies at 95 – 1 June 2017

The Washington Post – Reinhold Hanning, former Auschwitz guard convicted last year of 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, dies at 95 – 1 June 2017

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe 

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom – Five days after the devastating events of May 22 in Manchester, England, British Prime Minister Teresa May lowers the terror threat level from “critical” to “severe”. Wounded survivors are treated by medical staff in hospitals in the city. Families begin the grieving process after losing their loved ones.

It is the aftermath of another terror attack that has shaken the world. This time, during the closing set of American pop star Ariana Grande’s concert at the Manchester Arena in the United Kingdom.

Late Monday night, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in the space between the Manchester Arena and the Victoria train station.

The blast led to the deaths of 22 people, with reports of 59 others left wounded, some critically.

Reports suggest that this is the worst attack in the United Kingdom since the London Underground bombing of 2005.

The concert venue was filled to capacity with Ms. Grande’s fans. The majority of the concertgoers were young women and teenagers. In the aftermath, a nearby hotel opened up its doors for those who were looking for family members.

Though the Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, this has not been verified. The British authorities continue to investigate and make arrests on those they find were involved in the planning of the attack. As of May 27, 11 people are currently detained in connection with the events.

Terrorism is used as a way to threaten the rights of others through violence and fear. Some have seen this attack as an attack on young women, who were the predominant patrons of the concert. Some find it as a general threat against democracy and individual freedoms.

Yet others are using the events to fuel hate crimes against others as they affiliate terrorism with a specific religion. The Greater Manchester Police told the BBC News on Wednesday that reports on hate crimes doubled from 28 to 56 after Monday’s attack. These included a bomb threat to a school after students were asked if they were Muslim.

Mohammed Ullah, Muslim chaplain of Manchester’s Metropolitan University told the BBC, he “encourage[s] the people to remain undivided.”

Ms. Grande would likely echo this sentiment. Upon her return to the United States, she sent a message out on her Instagram.

“Our response to this violence must be to come closer together, to help each other, to love more, to sing louder and live more kindly and generously than we did before,” she writes.

“We will continue to honor the ones we lost.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Manchester attack: Hate crime ‘doubles’ after incident – 27 May 2017

CBC News – U.K. lowers threat level as 2 more bomb suspects arrested – 27 May 2017

NBC News – Britain’s Terror Threat Level Reduced to ‘Severe’ After Raids Linked to Manchester Bombing – 27 May 2017

The New York Times – The Latest on the Manchester Bombing Investigation – 24 May 2017

Reuters – Twenty in critical condition after Monday’s Manchester bombing – 24 May 2017

CNBC  – Manchester Arena suicide bombing: 22 die at Ariana Grande concert – 23 May 2017

CNN – 22 dead after blast at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester – 23 May 2017

NPR – Why I Think The Manchester Attack Was Aimed At Women And Girls – 24 May 2017

Ariana Grande – Instagram Photo – 26 May 2017 

By: Sara Adams
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Europe

In Italy, a member of the European Parliament was ordered to pay $55,670 in damages to another member of the Parliament, Cecile Kyenge. Ms. Kyenge is Italy’s first black minister, born in the Congo but educated as an ophthalmologist in Italy. Her harasser, Mario Borghezio, had said in a 2013 radio interview that  Ms. Kyenge had “[taken] away a job from an Italian doctor” and that he did not want her to “impose her tribal traditions from the Congo” on Italians.

Before deciding to press charges against Mr. Borghezio, Ms. Kyenge had been given police protection after being physically harassed at a political rally. At the rally, she had bananas thrown at her and was compared to an orangutan by the harassers.

This ruling came at the same time as 20 people in The Netherlands were convicted of online racial and sexist hate speech. Sylvana Simons is a black politician and media personality who had received harassing comments from thousands of people on the internet. Ms. Simons was born in Suriname but raised in the Netherlands. One of her harassers had photo-shopped her face onto a picture of a Ku Klux Klan lynching.

Mr. Borghezio believed that his remarks about Ms. Kyenge were within his rights as a lawmaker to criticize a government minister. He felt as if he was being “politically prosecuted”.

In the Netherlands, four of the 20 convicted were charged with community service while the rest were fined $165 to $500 for their behavior.

Though free speech is valued in both countries, the Dutch court said that when the opinion is an “insult, threat, riot, or discrimination, there is a criminal offense.”

Ms. Kyenge, like Ms. Simons, hope that this verdict will show that racist harassment won’t be tolerated by her country. The Dutch court said they hope that this will deter people from engaging in harassing behavior in the future.

These stories come at a time where right-wing populism is on the rise, bringing with it the resentment of political correctness, or the “culture of tolerance”. It is left unclear whether the decisions by these courts really will prevent future cases of hate speech and defamation.

For more information, please see: 

New York Times – 20 Are Convicted for Sexist and Racist Abuse of Dutch Politician – 18 May 2017

BBC News – Italy’s first black minister ‘vindicated’ by racist slurs verdict – 19 May 2017

New York Times – Italian in Europe’s Parliament Convicted of Defamation for Racial Insult – 19 May 2017

BBC News – Dutch race hate row engulfs presenter Sylvana Simons – 25 November 2016

Aljazeera – Sylvana Simons: Racism is accepted in the Netherlands – 18 January 2017