Briefing Notes Group 62 – Information Centre for Asylum and Migration 5 October 2020 Afghanistan COVID-19 pandemic The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) report that food safety has been steadily declining over the last five years. Analyses and forecasts for 2020/21 indicate that, not least due to the pandemic, the situation will continue to deteriorate in the coming winter. It is expected that the indebtedness of private households will rise sharply, both in terms of the number of people in debt and the extent of that debt, the organizations stated. Attacks, hostilities, civilian victims Both government staff and people perceived as close to the government remain in the focus of anti-government forces. On 5 October 2020, a suicide attack was carried out on the governor of Laghman province. The governor survived, but at least four bodyguards and four civilians were killed in the attack, at least 28 other civilians were injured. Between 3 and 4 October, at least five people were killed in attacks in Kabul, among them two army officers and one policeman. Another suicide attack was carried out on 1 October in Kabul against an independent electoral commission representative who survived the assault. Also on 1 October, a woman was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Maimana (Faryab Province) when she was leaving a bus. The local chairman of the Afghan Human Rights Commission suspects a connection with the fact that she was married to a soldier of the Afghan National Army. On 30 September, a car bomb attack targeted a security forces checkpoint in Helmand province, killing five police officers and four civilians who happened to be present at the site. Four other people were injured, among them a child. On 29 September, the police chief of Kohistan district in Badakhshan province was killed in a Taliban attack. According to research by the New York Times, at least 429 pro-government forces and 134 civilians died in security- related incidents in different provinces in September 2020 (as of 1 October 2020). Names of mothers to be included on children’s identity documents In future, the mother’s name is to be recorded on birth certificates and identity documents of children in addition to the name of the father. On 15 September 2020, President Ghani signed a corresponding law. This measure will make it easier for mothers to obtain education, medical care, passports and other documents for their children, as well as to travel with them. This particularly applies to widowed, divorced or separated mothers. Algeria Lawyers strike against continuing political pressure The Algerian bar association has organized a nationwide strike by lawyers in protest against continuing political pressure, arbitrary arrests of demonstrators and the constitutional referendum which does not meet the demands of the protesting population. 1 Armenia / Azerbaijan Battles over Nagorno-Karabakh escalate The violent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have been continuing since 27 September 2020. Fighting in the South Caucasus region is mainly concentrated around the capital of Nagorno- Karabakh, Stepanakert (about 55,000 inhabitants). The local authorities say that the city was attacked with rockets on 4 October 2020 and was left without electricity after the Azerbaijani attacks hit a power supply facility. Already on 2 October, the army of Azerbaijan had destroyed several buildings in the city by heavy artillery fire. Inhabitants sought refuge in cellars and shelters to escape the attacks or left the city partly by bus. The Azerbaijani ministry of defence has stated that the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh, supported by Armenia, have attacked the 335,000-inhabitant city of Ganja, the second largest city in Azerbaijan, located about 100 km north of Stepanakert. While Armenia has denied allegations of an attack, the authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh have stated that their forces had destroyed a military airport in Ganja and that from now on, bases in other Azerbaijani cities would also be targeted. Meanwhile, the fierce fighting is reported to have claimed several hundred lives on both sides. Background The South Caucasus region lies at the interface between Russian and Turkish spheres of influence. Azerbaijan faces accusations of having started the battles over Nagorno-Karabakh, employing high-ranking Turkish officers and thousands of Islamist fighters from the war zones in Syria and Libya as mercenaries in the fight against the Nagorno- Karabakh Armenians. Turkey has repeatedly stressed its support for Azerbaijan, but has not yet confirmed direct involvement in the fighting. At the beginning of the fights around Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkish President Erdoğan had promised to support the Turkic-speaking brother people of Azerbaijan ‘with all means and with all heart’. Given that majority-Christian Armenia is allied with Russia and mostly Muslim Azerbaijan is supported by Turkey, the conflict threatens to spread beyond the region. Belarus Continuing protests against President Lukashenko Last weekend some 100,000 people gathered in Minsk and other cities to demonstrate against President Alexander Lukashenko and to call for the release of political prisoners. This marked the eighth consecutive weekend of protests against the President. Again, protesters were arrested by security forces. On 2 October 2020, the authorities withdrew the accreditation of all foreign journalists with immediate effect, thus restricting independent reporting from the country. Bosnia and Herzegovina Two dead in clashes between migrants in north-west Bosnia According to current media reports, two Pakistani migrants were killed and ten were seriously injured in clashes between Pakistani and Afghan migrant groups in the north-western Bosnian town of Bihac on 30 September 2020. The police in the canton of Una-Sana, to which Bihac belongs, says that the fight between the rival migrant groups started behind the cantonal hospital where some migrants had set up an informal settlement serving as transit point for a route to the Croatian border. In agreement with the public prosecutor's office, the interior ministry has confirmed that a murder investigation is underway. Media reports say that the riots are a further sign that the Bosnian authorities are struggling with a growing migrant crisis. China Hong Kong: Arrest of protesters On China's bank holiday (1 October 2020), hundreds of people protested in the Causeway Bay district, despite a police ban, against the arrest of twelve members of the democracy movement who had been detained by the 2 Chinese coast guard in August 2020 while attempting to escape to Taiwan (see BN of 31 August 2020). Police say that at least 86 people were arrested. Colombia More children recruited by armed groups In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, children are increasingly being recruited by Colombian armed groups, media say referring to a report published on 2 October 2020 by the children’s rights organization Save the Children. Due to the closure of schools and other care facilities, children have become an easier target. In the first six months of the year, the coalition against the involvement of children and young people in the armed conflict in Colombia (COALICO) registered 190 cases of recruitment and use of children by armed groups. i.e. 38 more cases compared to the same period of the previous year. Ex-FARC commanders take responsibility for killings Three leaders of the Fuerza Alternativa Revolucionaria del Común, a party also abbreviated as FARC and the successor to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP), have taken responsibility on behalf of the former FARC-EP leadership for six murders committed between 1987 and 2002, the Colombian Special Justice for Peace (JEP) stated on 3 October 2020. Besides, FARC has offered assistance to clarify the crimes, the Justice for Peace said. The respective letter, which was received on 30 September 2020, was signed by Carlos Lozada, Senator and former FARC Commander, and others. Lozada was one of the negotiators of the peace agreement reached between the FARC-EP and the Colombian government in November 2016. In a recent statement, former FARC leaders described the guerrilla organization’s earlier kidnapping practices as a serious mistake and apologized to the victims and their families (see BN of 21 September 2020). DR Congo 10 years after UN report: call for end of impunity A decade after the publication of a landmark United Nations (UN) report, a call for an end to impunity in the DRC was launched by Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other human rights organizations including local ones. The 2010 "UN Mapping Report" lists 617 alleged violent incidents in the DRC between 1993 and 2003. In particular, there are allegations of genocide against Congolese Hutus and Hutus who had fled Rwanda in 1996-1997. So far, substantial investigations have only been carried out after 1 July 2012 within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. Denis Mukwege, well-known doctor and Co-Nobel Peace Prize winner of 2018, had spoken out in favour of prosecuting the crimes. For this, he has recently received death threats. Until May 2020, he had been under the protection of UN blue helmets. Ghana Members of separatist group in detention after assault On 25 September 2020, supporters of the separatist group Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF) raided two police stations in Juapong village in the North Tongu District of Volta Region. They captured several police officers and firearms and engaged in a firefight with the police. One person was killed in the incident. In addition to the attack, the group took a coordinated action to set up roadblocks along access roads to the Volta Region. 31 suspected separatists were arrested. A court in Accra decided on 28 September 2020 that they remain in custody.