GEORGIA VS RUSSIA: THE CRISIS UNVEILED

Thousands of demonstrators have been taking to the streets of Georgia’s capital starting from 20th of June, protesting against the Russian influence in the State. These have been the largest demonstrations experienced by Georgians in 7 years. People rushed out on the streets and in front of the Parliament, shouting “Russia is an occupier” and burning photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets and arresting 300 people. More than 240 people were injured. As predictable, the violence has made relations between the two countries worse. 

In particular, three are the reasons why the protests sparked: 

1) To demand that Russia removes its forces from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. 

2) To call for the Georgian Interior Minister, Giorgi Gakharia, to resign, since he allowed the Russian lawmaker Sergey Gavrilov, a member of the Russian Communist Party, to take part in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). Gavrilov addressed delegates in Russia, angering politicians and Georgians who are opposed to Moscow's presence in the country. 

3) To protest against Putin’s decision to cancel all flights from Russia to Georgia starting from July 8. The strategy is simple: hitting Georgia’s booming tourist industry and to “ensure the national security of the Russian Federation and to protect its citizens from criminal and other illegal actions.” That same day, the Russian trading standards body, Rospotrebnadzor, said in a statement it was introducing tighter checks on wine imports from Georgia (which is 70% of Georgian exports). To further justify its actions, Russia has denounced an attack on Vladimir Putin by a Georgian TV host, Giorgi Gabunia, who insulted Putin and his dead mother on live television. 

An overview of Russian-Georgian relationship: Georgia, which is a US ally, fought and lost a short war against Moscow in 2008. The tension started when the Georgian president at the time, Mikheil Saakashvili, sent troops to regain control over South Ossetia, ruled by a separatists group backed by Russia. The former Soviet Union responded by moving tanks and soldiers through South Ossetia and advancing farther into Georgian territory. When the fighting ended, Russia's military pulled back only as far as South Ossetia, which it sees as an independent state. Moreover, Georgia has ambitions to join the European Union and Nato, making Russia uncomfortable with the idea that its immediate neighbors are turning to its enemies and trying to be more independent from Russian influence. Since 2012, the government has been trying to restore relations with Putin, but, according to a 2018 survey by the Center for Insights in Survey Research, 85% of Georgians consider Russia a “political threat.” 

Giulia Mizzon

References:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/30/thousands-protest-in-georgia-calling-for-an-end-to-russian-occupation
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/22/world/europe/georgia-russia-protests.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/20/europe/georgia-protests-intl/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48710042
https://www.rferl.org/a/protests-in-georgia-reach-two-week-milestone/30036630.html
https://www.rferl.org/a/georgian-protests-continue-in-wake-of-russian-lawmaker-s-visit/30040703.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/08/russia-condemns-georgian-tv-host-attack-on-filthy-invader-vladimir-putin
https://time.com/5615726/anti-russia-protests-georgia/

BRUNEI AGAINST THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY

The new law against the LGBTQ community: The small and oil-rich kingdom of Brunei, a British colony until 1984 with a population of just 450,000 people, is rarely discussed in the news. Unfortunately, the country located on the island of Borneo is now at the center of a human rights crisis. The first week of April 2019, a law that will punish homosexual relations, adultery, sodomy and rape with death by stoning will be implemented and the punishment is said to be ''witnessed by a group of Muslims". The new penal code was announced in May 2014 by the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, who also acts as the country's prime minister. In announcing the change, government's website quoted the Sultan saying that his kingdom ''does not expect other people to accept and agree with it, but that it would suffice if they just respect the nation in the same way that it also respects them''. The Sultan, who is one of the world’s richest leaders with a personal wealth of about $20bn and has held the throne since 1967, described the implementation of the new penal code as ''a great achievement'', as a form of ''special guidance'' from God and as ''part of the great history'' of Brunei. 

Demonstrators protest the punishment of women and LGBT people announced by the Sultan of Brunei near the Beverly Hills Hotel, which is owned by the Sultan (David McNew/Getty Images)

The reaction of the international community: There has been no vocal opposition to the law in Brunei, where public criticism of state’s policies is extremely rare. However, the news sparked horror and shock all over the world. ''Brunei must immediately halt its plans to implement these vicious punishments, and revise its Penal Code in compliance with its human rights obligations. The international community must urgently condemn Brunei's move to put these cruel penalties into practice.'' This is the statement by Rachel Choa-Howard, Brunei Researcher at Amnesty International, who continued: ''as well as imposing cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, it [the law] blatantly restricts the rights to freedom of expression, religion and belief, and codifies discrimination against women and girls.'' She added that some of the potential offences ''should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender''. The Human Rights Campaign Global Director, Ty Cobb, stated from the US that "we are facing a dangerous crisis as Brunei is close to implementing laws that impose state-sponsored torture and murder of LGBTQ people,'' and that ''it's absolutely crucial that the international community speaks out now and demand that the Sultan of Brunei stops these barbaric changes that threaten the lives of Brunei citizens. The Trump-Pence Administration must also immediately make clear that these outrageous human rights abuses will not be tolerated''. Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said Brunei will become the only country in Southeast Asia to punish gay sex with death if it pushes through with the law. He warned that implementation of the law ''will quickly drive the country towards human rights pariah status in the eyes of foreign investors, tourists, and international agencies''. Dede Oetomo, one of Indonesia's most prominent LGBTQ activists, stated: ''it is horrible. Brunei is imitating the most conservative Arab states''. The UK’s international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, said: ''no one should face the death penalty because of who they love. Brunei’s decision is barbaric and the UK stands with the LGBT community and those who defend their rights. LGBT rights are human rights''.

Note:

Homosexuality has been illegal in Brunei since British colonial rule, with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison, and the country has had the death penalty on the books since it was a British protectorate, but in practice executions are not typically carried out. The new laws also introduce amputation of hands or feet as a punishment for robbery. Alcohol is already banned, as are showy Christmas celebrations, and there are fines and jail sentences for having children out of wedlock and failing to pray on a Friday. Moreover, Brunei already prescribes caning as a penalty for crimes including immigration offences, for which convicts can be flogged with a rattan cane. 

Giulia Mizzon 

References: 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6855129/Gay-sex-punishable-stoning-death-vicious-new-Sharia-laws-brought-Brunei.html

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/brunei-to-impose-death-by-stoning-for-gay-sex-and-adultery

https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fworld%2f2019%2f03%2f28%2fbrunei-makes-homosexual-sex-adultery-punishable-by-death-by-stoning%2f%3f&utm_term=.e5baa63136b6

https://www.out.com/politics/2019/3/27/new-brunei-laws-punish-homosexual-acts-stoning-death

https://boingboing.net/2019/03/27/brunei-has-a-new-law-death-by.html

https://news.sky.com/story/brunei-to-punish-gay-sex-with-death-by-stoning-under-sharia-law-11677121

https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fworld%2f2019%2f03%2f28%2fbrunei-makes-homosexual-sex-adultery-punishable-by-death-by-stoning%2f%3f&utm_term=.6222438a6efb

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/world/asia/brunei-stoning-death.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/28/brunei-brings-in-death-by-stoning-as-punishment-for-gay-sex
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/03/25/brunei-stoning-death-under-anti-lgbt-laws/

WHEN PROTESTING BECOMES A CRIME AGAINST THE STATE: THE STORY OF NASRIN SOTOUNDEH

The news that the Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoundeh was convicted on 12th March to 33 years in prison (38 if we count a previous sentence) and to 148 lashes shocked the entire world. Nasrin was accused of representing several women who took their hijabs off during a protest against the obligation of wearing it. By doing that, she also took a stand against the application of an additional note to Article 48 of the Criminal Code, which denies the right to appoint a trusted lawyer to defendants of certain crimes, including those against national security. Therefore, the judge accused her of "collusion against national security", "propaganda against the state", "incitement to corruption and prostitution" and "appearing in public without hijab". The news of her sentence was first released on Facebook by her husband Reza Khandan, after receiving a phone call from jail.

Fig. 1 - Nasrin Sotoudeh (source: BBC)

Nasrin Sotoudeh is one of the most well-know lawyer in Iran. She has focused her entire career on the protection of human rights and she has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. Sotoudeh was arrested the first time in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security and was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Evin Prison, where she currently is. In January 2011, Iranian authorities sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in prison, and barred her from working again as a lawyer and from getting out of the country for 20 years. Later that year, an appeals court reduced her sentence to six years, and her practice ban to ten. She protested against her unfair conviction and treatment in prison with several hunger strikes, especially when denied visits and phone calls from her family. 

Fig.2 - A quote by Nasrin Sotoudeh (source: https://twitter.com/ICHRI)
‏Verified account

The response to her sentence from the international community was immediate: the Center for Human Rights in Iran and the UN condemned her sentence and Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty said: “Jailing a human rights defender for her peaceful activities is abhorrent".

This was the hardest condemnation inflicted in recent years against human rights defenders in Iran, confirming that the authorities, encouraged by the complete impunity enjoyed by those responsible for human rights violations, are exacerbating the repression and Iran's reputation as oppressor of women's rights.

Giulia Mizzon

To sign the petition to free Nasrin, visit Amnesty's website

Sources: 

https://www.amnesty.it/appelli/liberta-per-nasrin/

https://www.rassegna.it/articoli/una-petizione-per-liberare-nasrin-sotoudeh

https://www.articolo21.org/2019/03/liran-e-le-torture-da-medioevo-per-nasrin-sotoudeh/

https://it.aleteia.org/2019/03/14/nasrin-sotoudeh-iran-condanna-carcere-frustate-diritti-donne/

https://www.amnesty.it/iran-nasrin-sotoudeh-condannata-33-anni/

https://www.huffingtonpost.it/luciana-borsatti/nasrin-sotoudeh-le-voci-di-condanna-e-quelle-della-canea_a_23694313/

https://www.avvenire.it/attualita/pagine/solidarieta-nasrin-sotoudeh

https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2019/03/13/nasrin-sotoudeh-la-sua-condanna-e-un-insulto-al-genere-umano/5033176/

https://www.corriere.it/opinioni/19_marzo_17/per-liberta-nasrin-sotoudeh-379beb76-48e7-11e9-a5e6-f2fe0ce139ab.shtml

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47531312

https://twitter.com/ICHRI