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	Weakening of workers rights in most regions aggravated by crackdowns on freedom of speech & assembly by Sharan Burrow International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)   Weakening of workers rights in most regions aggravated by crackdowns on freedom of speech and assembly, according to the 2016 ITUC Global Rights Index.   Restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, including severe crackdowns in some countries, increased by 22%, with 50 out of 141 countries surveyed recording restrictions.   The ITUC Global Rights Index ranks 141 countries against 97 internationally recognised indicators to assess where workers’ rights are best protected, in law and in practice.   “We are witnessing the closing of democratic space and an increase in insecurity, fear and intimidation of working people. The speed at which attacks on rights are being forced through, even in democracies with the Finish government’s proposals and the new trade union law in the United Kingdom, shows an alarming trend for working people and their families,” said Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary.   “Repression of workers’ rights goes hand in hand with increased government control over freedom of expression, assembly and other fundamental civil liberties, with too many governments seeking to consolidate their own power and frequently doing the bidding of big business, which often sees fundamental rights as incompatible with its quest for profit at any expense.”   The Middle East and North Africa were again the worst region for working people, with the kafala system in the Gulf still enslaving millions of workers.   At the other end of the scale, rights in Europe, traditionally the best-performing region in the Index, continue to deteriorate. Despite the obvious failure of austerity policies, many European governments are continuing to undermine workers’ rights. The failure of most European countries to fulfil their obligations to refugees, including the right to work, is making the problem worse.   The International Trade Union Confederation has been collecting data on violations of workers’ rights to trade union membership and collective bargaining around the world for more than 30 years. This is the third year the ITUC has presented its findings through the Global Rights Index, putting a unique and comprehensive spotlight on how government laws and business practices have deteriorated or improved in the last 12 months.   The ten worst countries for working people are Belarus, China, Colombia, Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Qatar, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.   Cambodia, India, Iran and Turkey joined the ranking of the ten worst countries for working people for the first time in 2016. The Cambodian government approved a new Trade Union Law further limiting workers’ ability to negotiate over their working conditions and pay, while police in India regularly use disproportionate violence against workers holding protests with many detained for simply exercising their rights guaranteed in national laws.   Iran uses heavy prison sentences against workers for peaceful activities, and Turkey is targeting public servants engaging in legitimate and peaceful union activities, with at least 1,390 public sector workers under investigation. The Turkish government has also become synonymous with attacks on freedom of speech, with ten foreign journalists banned since last October and Turkish journalists facing severe repression including trial and imprisonment on bogus grounds including “national security”.   “All four new additions to the rogues’ gallery of the ten worst countries are clear examples of the combined assault on workers’ rights and other fundamental freedoms,” said Burrow.   In other countries outside the ten worst, conditions worsened in the past year, including in Indonesia, Montenegro and Paraguay. Protests in Indonesia against changes to the minimum wage fixing system were brutally crushed with police using water cannons, tear gas and mass arrests. The Paraguayan government is consistently denying the registration of trade unions, exposing workers to discrimination by employers while bankruptcy laws in Montenegro suspend basic rights laws during bankruptcy proceedings with workers in some 2,363 enterprises affected in the past five years.   The reports key findings include:   82 countries exclude workers from labour law. Over two-thirds of countries have workers who have no right to strike. More than half of all countries deny some or all workers collective bargaining.   Out of 141 countries, the number which deny or constrain free speech and freedom of assembly increased from 41 to 50 with Algeria, Cameroon, the United States and Pakistan joining the list.   Out of 141 countries, the number in which workers are exposed to physical violence and threats increased by 44 per cent (from 36 to 52) and include Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia and the Ukraine.   Unionists were murdered in 11 countries, including Chile, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Turkey.   “Working collectively for better wages, rights and conditions makes workers targets of both state security forces and thugs hired by companies,” said Burrow.   “This is happening in both the public and private sectors, including in global supply chains, which are a notorious source of exploitation and poverty. Governments need to uphold their obligations under international law through the legal standards they themselves adopt at the International Labour Organization, and ensure that multinational companies based in their country are answerable for all the workers in their international operations at home and abroad. The alternative is yet more impoverishment of working families and further flatlining of the global economy as people struggle just to pay their daily bills, unable to invest in their children’s future or to make even the most modest purchases.” Visit the related web page
	Journalists’ conviction in Myanmar a message that press ‘cannot operate fearlessly’ by Michelle Bachelet UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Myanmar   Sep. 2018 (UN News)   Stressing that the legal process that led to the conviction of two Reuters journalists in Myanmar “clearly breached” international standards, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for their immediate and unconditional release.   Michelle Bachelet said that the convictions “send a message to all journalists in Myanmar that they cannot operate fearlessly, but must rather make a choice to either self-censor or risk prosecution.”   Earlier in the day, Kyaw Soe Oo (also known as Moe Aung) and Thet Oo Maung (also known as Wa Lone) were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on charges of violating, according to the High Commissioner’s Office (OHCHR), the “ill-defined” Official Secrets Act.   Ms. Bachelet said that the two journalists’ coverage of the Inn Din massacre by the military – for which the military subsequently admitted responsibility – “was clearly in the public interest as it may otherwise never have come to light.”   “I call for their conviction to be quashed and for them to be released, along with all other journalists currently in detention for their legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression,” underscored the UN human rights chief.   Ms. Bachelet assumed her functions as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1 September. She succeeds Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, who held the position since September 2014.   UN independent human rights experts on the right to freedom of expression and on the rights situation in Myanmar denounced Mr. Oo and Mr. Maung’s convictions, calling it “a dark moment for Myanmar.”   “This is yet another clear signal of Myanmar’s distancing from international human rights law,” said David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the country, in a joint news release issued by OHCHR.   “We regret that the court failed to recognise the importance of independent journalism, freedom of expression and the public’s right to know.”   The experts also said that they have previously expressed their grave concerns, and urged greater press freedom after the journalists’ detention.   “We urge the President to pardon the journalists, and if the case is appealed, for the court to take into account Myanmar’s human rights obligations and order their release,” they said. http://bit.ly/2wGeXO7   Sep. 2018   Myanmar: Reuters convictions a massive blow to the rule of law. (International Commission of Jurists)   The Yangon District Court’s decision today to sentence Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to seven years’ imprisonment for violating the Official Secrets Act deals a massive blow to human rights and the rule of law in Myanmar, said the ICJ.   “The Court’s decision effectively punishes these two courageous journalists for exposing human rights violations, following a grossly unfair trial,” said Frederick Rawski, Asia Pacific Director for the ICJ.   “The decision is a miscarriage of justice that inflicts needless suffering on them and their families, threatens freedom of expression, damages Myanmar’s global standing, and undermines its justice institutions all at once,” he added.   The ICJ has monitored the case since the journalists’ initial detention in December 2017.   As previously noted by the ICJ, the detention and trial has violated numerous basic fair trial guarantees.   The prosecutors had a duty to drop charges and the judge should have dismissed the case given the lack of evidence and the unlawfulness of detention because of fair trail rights violations.   “The case is emblematic of how the justice system ends up reinforcing rather than challenging military impunity,” said Rawski.   “The result undermines government claims that it can deliver accountability for human rights violations on its own, and does nothing to build trust that justice system can act independently and impartially after emerging from decades of military rule,” he added.   Members of security forces generally enjoy impunity for the perpetration of human rights violations, including for crimes under international law.   The ICJ has previously reported that victims and their families, as well as journalists, often face retaliation for publicizing human rights violations by the military.   Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in December 2017, and held incommunicado for nearly two weeks, before being charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing documents related to the operations of security forces in northern Rakhine State, during “clearance operations.”   The two reporters had been reporting on human rights violations in Rakhine State, including the killing of Rohingya by the military in Inn Dinn Village.   In a report issued just last week, the UN Independent International Fact Finding Mission found that security forces had perpetrated crimes under international law during these operations, including crimes against humanity and possibly the crime of genocide.   The detention and prosecution of anyone, including journalists, based solely on the collection and publication of evidence relevant to serious human rights violations, is a violation of international law and standards on freedom of expression, the right to participation in public affairs and on the role of human rights defenders.   Legal options remaining for the journalists include appealing of today’s decision, and requesting a Presidential amnesty.   http://www.icj.org/myanmar-reuters-convictions-a-massive-blow-to-the-rule-of-law/ http://www.icj.org/international-ngos-in-myanmar-call-for-un-security-council-action-on-rohingya-crisis/   Apr. 2018   UN experts call on Myanmar to drop prosecution of Reuters reporters. (UN Human Rights Council)   A Myanmar court’s decision to continue pursuing a case against two Reuters reporters gives rise to grave concern for investigative journalism and the public’s right to information in the country, UN experts have said.   “We urge the prosecution to drop the charges against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and we urge the Government to release both journalists immediately,” the experts said.   On 11 April 2018, a court in Yangon rejected a motion to dismiss the case against the two reporters. It scheduled a hearing for 20 April 2018 to hear additional prosecution witnesses.   Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reporting on the widespread assault on the Rohingya population in Rakhine State when authorities arrested them on 12 December 2017. The authorities accuse the journalists of illegally acquiring information with the intention of sharing it with foreign media. On 21 December 2017, UN experts raised concern that the charges brought against the reporters under the 1923 Official Secrets Act are tantamount to the criminalisation of journalism in Myanmar.   On 10 April 2018, seven soldiers were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area for participating in a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in a village in Rakhine State.   “The perpetrators of a massacre that was, in part, the subject of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s reporting have been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. And yet these two reporters face a possible 14 years imprisonment. The absurdity of this trial and the wrongfulness of their detention and prosecution are clear,” the experts said.   “We urge the Government to ensure not only the protection and release of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. We also urge the Government to ensure that investigative journalism, especially journalism relating to human rights violations and the situation in Rakhine State, is duly protected in Myanmar.”   * The Special Rapporteurs are in contact with the Myanmar authorities concerning the case.   http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-reporters-democracy/ http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/can-myanmars-rohingya-return/10894338   * Update: May 7, 2019   Two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar after they were convicted of breaking the Official Secrets Act have been released from prison after spending more than 500 days behind bars, witnesses say. The two reporters, Wa Lone, 33, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 29, had been convicted in September and sentenced to seven years in jail, in a case that raised questions about Myanmar''s progress toward democracy and sparked an outcry from the international community and human rights advocates. Visit the related web page
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