Enforcing Human Rights Through Legal Means USING the LAW
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2020 ANNUAL REPORT Enforcing human rights through legal means USING THE LAW. TO WORK TOGETHER FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE. WE USE THE LAW TO FIGHT FOR A JUST WORLD FREE FROM TORTURE, OPPRESSION AND EXPLOITATION. SUPPORT OUR WORK WITH A DONATION. ECCHR.EU/DONATE BANK DETAILS ACCOUNT HOLDER: ECCHR BANK: BERLINER VOLKSBANK IBAN: DE77 100 90000 885360 7011 BIC/SWIFT: BEVODEBB 2020 ANNUAL REPORT ENFORCING HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH LEGAL MEANS CONTENTS EDITORIAL The art of making a difference P. 4 WOLFGANG KALECK LETTER FROM A FRIEND The law—An allegory P. 7 PRIYA BASIL I. Challenging the gravest crimes P. 11 INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY II. The business of irresponsibility P. 21 BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS III. Human rights without borders P. 33 MIGRATION I V. Using and changing the law P. 43 INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION V. Appendix P. 54 PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS P. 56 LEGAL INTERVENTIONS P. 60 CURRENT CASES AND PROJECTS P. 68 PUBLICATIONS P. 70 EVENTS P. 72 COUNCIL, ADVISORY BOARD AND TEAM P. 76 PARTNER LAWYERS AND ACADEMICS P. 78 NETWORKS AND DONORS P. 79 FINANCES P. 81 DECOLONIZING THE CAMERA IN PRACTICE: IXMUCANÉ AGUILAR IN NAMIBIA 3 EDITORIAL The art of making a difference WOLFGANG KALECK In his book Die Kunst, Unterschiede zu machen,1 filmmaker Alexander Kluge tells the story of a teacher, Gaby Teichert, who experiences— and survives—the bombing of Halberstadt, Germany, in April 1945. During the bombing, Gaby asks herself what she could have done differently in life so that she would not now be sitting, powerless, in a bomb shelter. In that moment, she was as powerless as we have been over the past year, overwhelmed by the pandemic, but under considerably different conditions. “But,” Kluge elaborated in a 2020 interview, “in 1929, she and 40,000 other teachers could have educated adults in a way that might have prevented the rise of Hitler, who had low election results at the time.” He continued by noting that Gaby Teichert “would have had power in 1929, but not in 1945. In 2021, together we have the power to advocate for the fate of our children and our republics. Power over something that, if we are inert, may give us a nasty surprise in 2032. We must be active.” It is important to remember that there are other major crises in the world besides the pandemic, and always have been. At no time in history—neither during the Spanish flu outbreak that followed World War I, nor during World War II, all of which caused more destruction and death—did people bury their heads in the sand and become as paralyzed in their actions as they often seemed to be in 2020. Recognizing differences and privileges has been our guiding principle in 2020 It is clear that we all have to fight. This goes for each and every one of us, as well as for ECCHR. As an organization, we made it through the year well with reliable IT infrastructure and the ability to work from home. However, we realized once again that human rights work in other parts of the world is much riskier and often more exhausting and grueling—now more than ever. Recognizing these differences and our privileges while still trying to act together in a spirit of global solidarity has been our guiding principle in 2020. This has not been, and will not be easy in the future. We have adjusted to this ongoing process, which does not mean that it has been simple. 4 2020 ANNUAL REPORT At least—and we already consider this an enormous achievement— we were able to advance our legal work, unfortunately with mixed results. The European Court of Human Rights’ negative ruling in ND and NT v. Spain on illegal push-backs at the Spanish-Moroccan border in February 2020 was blatantly wrong and the result of political pressure (see p. 36). The December 2020 decision by the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor not to open a formal investigation into the thousands of cases of abuse, murder and rape committed by British troops in Iraq also falls into this category (see p. 18). We appreciate even small successes, though, of course, we always strive for more and do everything we can to achieve it. For example, international media coverage of the two cases mentioned above offers a more nuanced picture: namely that the ICC also found that the alleged abuses, as well as the failure to investigate them, did in fact occur. And internationally, the ECtHR’s ruling that failed to condemn Spain for the practice of brutally pushing back refugees has been overwhelmingly criticized by lawyers and NGOs around the world. Those are no small feats. But smart legal briefs are not enough, particularly because we know who we are dealing with in our cases: opponents with disproportionately more political and economic power. We want to effectively enforce human rights We want to achieve more than just small gains. We want to effectively enforce human rights, including in situations resulting from systemic injustices, such as growing economic inequality and the denial of access to social and health systems. If the global right to health for all people had been respected over the past two decades, we would all be better off today. To enforce these rights, we need partners in Germany and around the world. We need to work with academics, social movements and artists, all of whom inspire our work, and whom our work in turn drives forward. We need to foster and strengthen institutions for political education. All of this—our work and that of our partners and friends—requires diverse support during the pandemic and in the face of an impending economic downturn. We would like to thank you for your support and take this opportunity to ask for it once again. We want to continue to make the necessary difference so that our future holds fewer unpleasant surprises. WOLFGANG KALECK IS THE GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE EUROPEAN CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN RIGHTS. 1 ENGLISH: THE ART OF MAKING A DIFFERENCE 5 6 LETTER FROM A FRIEND The law— An allegory PRIYA BASIL Something is still missing. Please try again. It popped up as usual, the same old message, the words that greeted my attempts to present. Yet another detail was needed. Only when the missing part was there could things proceed. The routine used to be simpler; it was clear who mattered, who was presumed innocent or not. You went through the motions, and justice was said to be served. Now, things were changing in a bid to help people look differently, stay alert, close the gap between word and deed: you had to find and bring an image that might solve a puzzle, only you never got to see all the pieces. It was like trying to have an entire world in your head at once, then identify any omissions. How do you spot what you’re not even aware is there to see? Of course, I remained committed. I’m a professional after all. Just because my job had to be done differently didn’t mean I was no longer qualified. I returned again and again to the law with a new image, and was told: something is still missing. I never skipped a chance to present, no matter my state of mind or body—unlike others, who were lazier, or disdained the practice altogether. I was advised to get help, but I believed I could work this out. I would put it on my card: figured it out for myself. It was just one image, after all. I must be close. Next time, I always told myself. But, gradually, weariness began niggling at me, like the stones that showed up sometimes in my shoe, those I threw away, the fatigue was harder to throw off. Still, I continued the practice. As I went about, I noticed more people present in the streets; groups waving placards, chanting names, seeking justice. Many carried bags, some of which were bulging, their owners bent under the load. I wondered what they held, but I was too busy to stop and ask. Once, after I’d presented, the woman behind me said, in everything you see only yourself. What do you know? I thought. She didn’t look like an official. I tried to make out what she was presenting and glimpsed some acronym on her image, three letters. Her submission was accepted. As she left, I spotted her bulky backpack. I asked what was in there and to my surprise she paused to reply: The weight of change, she said. How much are you prepared to give up or to shoulder? After that I stopped bothering, just presented pictures at random, whatever was at hand: a sweet wrapper, a news clip, my lunch. The message didn’t alter. One day, on my way to present, a stranger stopped me in the street and handed me a stone, explaining that it was part of a set of twins, one of which was natural stone, one a cast of the other in bronze. The person had been meaning to give away one stone ever since acquiring them a decade before. The stones were a pair that would only be complete once separated, but all this time the person could not bear to part with one, let alone decide which to give away. 7 LETTER FROM A FRIEND The person had often walked around with a stone, in search of someone to whom they might offer it. Nothing ever felt more precious than in the moment when you reached for it with the intention of relinquishing possession, and that was why countless times the person had failed to let go.