Indonesia has been particularly impacted by Covid-19. According to official data, Indonesia ranks second within South East Asia in terms of positive cases ; fifth in terms of mortality rate. 20,5% of Covid-19 cases were located in the capital city, Jakarta. This blogpost focuses on the legal response adopted in the first phase of the pandemic, i.e. until Mid-June 2020, when regions started to ease “large-scale social restrictions” previously adopted to respond to the pandemic.

On July 24th 2020, the Truth and Dignity Commission’s (IVD) final report has finally been published in a special issue of the Official Gazette of the Tunisian Republic. This report concludes the Commission’s work, which included the hearings of nearly 62.000 victims, the transfer of 204 cases to specialized criminal chambers in charge of prosecuting the perpetrators of human rights’ violations and economic crimes.

The issue of prejudices born out of colonisation, which has long been relegated to the background of public discourse, has recently gained momentum in Europe; particularly in Belgium.

A proposal for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission is currently being debated by Belgian parliamentarians. Belgium thus has a historic opportunity to confront its colonial past, to address the underlying roots of the contemporary injustices faced by its Afro-descendant population and to establish new relationships with the formerly colonised societies.

As the Covid-19 pandemic entered a peak phase in China and was becoming more and more threatening in Europe, Tunisia very quickly deployed a preventative response, conscious of its health system’s weakness to contain such a crisis. The first measures were thus put in place on 26 January, with the installation of thermal cameras and, as of early March, the development of isolation practices for symptomatic people and 14-day self-confinement for asymptomatic people from at-risk areas.

Oeganda, gesterkt door zijn recente ervaring met het aanpakken van het ebolavirus, heeft een masterplan ontwikkeld om de verspreiding van COVID-19 tegen te gaan. Preventieve maatregelen werden vanaf 18 maart genomen, zelfs voordat het eerste geval van besmetting geregistreerd werd in het land. Terwijl het eerste geval geregistreerd werd op 22 maart, was het gezondheidspersoneel al in staat van paraatheid en waren preventieve maatregelen zoals het regelmatig wassen van de handen, al door de autoriteiten gepromoot.

Joint statement adressed to the member states of the African Union and to human rights international organisations in Africa.

ASF has helped create and revitalise networks of observers in the DRC. They are independent, they exist and are managed autonomously by their members. ASF and these networks work together to empower populations impacted by the activities of extractive companies. Today, we invite you to meet its members. They talk about the reasons behind their activism and their daily struggle to defend their communities and their rights.

The signatories strongly condemn all violation of human rights of those seeking asylum in the European Union. On no account does the protection of the EU’s external borders exempt EU Member States from their obligations under European law. None of the current Greek practices of suspending registration of asylum applications, pushing back refugees arriving from Turkey, deporting refugees back to their countries of origin or countries of transit where they will face continued persecution or containing refugees in overcrowded camps without access to basic needs and access to law, are compatible with international and European laws on human rights.

Annie Masengo speaks to us about her struggles within the Congolese League against Corruption (LICOCO). She tells us about the observations that led her to engage in the fight against corruption, an endemic phenomenon in the natural resource sector, and of the importance of all community members, regardless of gender, being able to make their voices heard.

Avocats Sans Frontières, active in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2002, would not be able to act without its partners. It is for this reason that, today, we wanted to give voice to them. These men and women told us about their everyday life, their realities and their convictions. Through a series of profiles, meet these figures who represent the Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace in Boma, the Congolese League against Corruption and the Network of Observers.
Today, Ghislain Lukambo speaks to us about his actions within the Congolese League against Corruption (LICOCO). He tells us about the reasons that led him to engage in the fight against corruption, an endemic phenomenon in the natural resource sector, and of the importance for all community members, regardless of gender, to be able to make their voices heard.