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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 IV. Using and changing the law P. 43 INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION P. 54 P. 56 P. 60 P. 68 P. 70 P. 72 P. 76 P. 78 P. 79 P. 81 V. Appendix PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS LEGAL INTERVENTIONS CURRENT CASES AND PROJECTS PUBLICATIONS EVENTS COUNCIL, ADVISORY BOARD AND TEAM PARTNER LAWYERS AND ACADEMICS NETWORKS AND DONORS FINANCES 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

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. I tried to return the stone, it felt like too much responsibility— but the person was already backing away, weeping and thanking me. What should I do with it? I asked. It felt so heavy in my palm, it felt like I had been given the world. Recognize its worth, the person said, then pass it on. The person was gone, and I was holding this bronze stone. I took a picture of it and went on, enjoying its weight and warmth. I began to imagine what I would do with the stone, where I would display it, how I would tell the story of being chosen. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I had to give up the stone right away, that if I did not do so now perhaps I would never manage. I saw this clearly, yet I did not want to surrender what had come to me just minutes before, but felt like it had belonged to me forever and should remain mine alone for all time. I continued towards the law, clutching the stone. Why me? I wondered. And then, before I could think, I stopped a stranger and presented the stone, pressing it into unknown hands, which were smaller than mine and carefully accepted my offering. Then it was me, weeping and waving the stone off on its way. I was reluctant to present the picture, it was all I had left of the exchange, but maybe the spirit of the stone was still with me and guided me on. So I presented and received the message: thank you for a missing part. Please continue. I could barely believe my eyes. What did this mean? I stumbled out, elated and confused. It felt so heavy in my palm, it felt like I had been given the world It wasn’t over. That was what everyone confirmed when I described what had happened. Only the nature of the task changes, I was told, you still have to keep presenting. The search doesn’t end. Nothing is set in stone. I felt baffled. It was an odd puzzle that any piece could fit, yet no piece could end. A greedy puzzle, I said, that kept setting new hurdles. Those around me went silent. A generous puzzle, one finally said, open to all, inviting another try. The others nodded, and I found myself nodding too. The following day I came upon a crowd of refusers protesting the practice of presenting. They waved banners and shouted slogans: Perfectly Complete Just As We Are. No Need For Other Parts. Nothing To Fix Except The Fixation On Fixing. There was a counter-demo too with their own banners and slogans: Can You Ever Stop Looking? Much May Not Be Visible But Still We Know It Is There. Does It Matter More To See Or Be Seen? I watched from a distance and wondered if we were all refusers deep down, or if it was just me who resisted even as I accepted, who held back as I gave, who received with a desire to own. 8

2020 ANNUAL REPORT After that, I missed a year of presenting. The strange thing was that even then, my eyes sought the missing, alighted on absences, wandered after fragments, and all the while I spoke to strangers asking if they had ever received a bronze stone. Nobody had, but many knew of other stones with other stories: stones that had made walls or roads; stones that marked death and life; stones from all places and all times. They shared these with me; some even gave me a stone, which I in turn passed on, but somehow I ended up with more stones than I gave. I have a box filled with stones from that period. The box is tied with ribbon; it sits on my table, in full view. Recently, somebody asked me if it was a present. I said, no. And then, I changed my mind and said, yes. A gift I found hard to live with, but needed to keep. PRIYA BASIL IS A WRITER AND ACTIVIST. SHE HAS PUBLISHED BOOKS OF FICTION AND NON-FICTION, AND NUMEROUS ESSAYS. A LONG-STANDING ECCHR PARTNER, SHE BECAME A BOARD MEMBER IN 2020. 9

CHALLENGING THE GRAVEST CRIMES The gravest human rights abuses and crimes against humanity must be legally challenged—regardless of who commits them or where they are committed. Whether in dictatorships or democracies, state officials who repeatedly perpetrate, aid and abet, or fail to sanction international crimes must be held to account. Those responsible for such crimes, especially from powerful states like the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, often manage to evade legal accountability. Impunity for international crimes, torture and sexual violence must end, especially when they are ordered, committed or tolerated at the highest political and military levels. Affected societies can only heal when injustice is addressed. ECCHR therefore uses various legal means and forums to highlight legal imbalances and double standards in efforts to achieve justice for grave crimes. Donate now HOLDING EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL ACTORS TO ACCOUNT. WE INTERVENE WHEN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POWER THREATEN TO TRUMP JUSTICE. OUR WORK AIMS TO STOP TORTURE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND WAR CRIMES FROM GOING UNPUNISHED. ECCHR.EU/DONATE

Rape and sexual violence are not merely physical forms of violence; they also destroy the soul. Can Syrian women’s souls survive if society does not recognize these crimes, restore victims’ dignity and provide them with support, care and services? Shouldn’t these crimes be condemned and the perpetrators punished, even though investigating them is challenging and requires a deep and engendered understanding of their patriarchal context? Indeed, the Assad family’s dictatorial regime that for decades has traumatized us Syrians with detention, torture, murder and rape, has allied with religious authorities and strengthened the patriarchy to silence people, suppress their souls and prevent victims from disclosing the crimes committed against them. What I am certain of more than ever before is that justice cannot be divided between sexual crimes and other international crimes. Justice will not be achieved without identifying the systematic nature of sexual and gender-based violence and holding the perpetrators accountable. JOUMANA SEIF IS A SYRIAN LAWYER AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST. IN 2017, SHE JOINED ECCHR AS A RESEARCH FELLOW WITH A FOCUS ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE. INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY Justice cannot be divided JOUMANA SEIF In spring 2018, in a café on the Spree riverbank in Berlin, I met “Maya,” a young woman in her mid-20s, with a sweet smile and light- colored hijab that added serenity to her look. We planned to talk about detention in Syria. Maya, an activist and survivor, wanted our conversation to be fun, but soon she was crying silent tears as she spoke about her rape in a Syrian prison. What agonized her most were her rapist’s words: “You’ll never recover. Each time you attempt to do so, you’ll remember me. Do not forget to tell your family about this.” I was deeply moved by her openness; I had not been prepared to hear her tragedy. Even more painful was what she said next: “I would never reveal it to anyone else. Please forget everything I said. I need to start a new life.” Pain can never subside without justice Helpless thoughts scrambled through my head. Will Maya be okay? Professionally, I had to respect her decision. But from the human, moral perspective, I knew that she should receive psychological support. And that pain like hers can never subside without actual justice. Today, I am still haunted with similar questions. When will Syrian women be able to report sexual violence against them? How long will they keep saying, “I don’t dare tell anyone”? How long will victims continue to fear stigma and feel guilty? “Thirty years later, I am still training myself to forget,” a survivor said to me once. Another stated, “I cannot forget. In front of my husband and children, I pretend I am fine, but I cry alone at night.” 13

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY A first step Addressing Syrian state torture in Germany What does it take to bring torture by the Syrian Assad government to justice? The first trial worldwide on state torture in Syria, which began in April 2020, showed that it takes years of work by survivors and NGOs, seven criminal complaints filed by ECCHR and its partners in four European countries, and investigations by authorities around the world. The main defendant before the Koblenz Higher Regional Court, Anwar R, a former General Intelligence Service official, is charged with complicity in 4000 cases of torture, the killing of 58 people, and two cases of sexual violence between April 2011 and 2012. In February 2021, his associate Eyad A was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for aiding and abetting 30 cases of torture and grave deprivation of liberty. This is the first time a former member of the Syrian intelligence services has been convicted for crimes against humanity. This trial sends an important message to survivors and the international community Fifty-two days of hearings took place in Koblenz in 2020. Survivor testimonies composed some of the most important moments of the trial. They clearly described how torture, abuse and inhumane living conditions are everyday occurrences in Syrian intelligence service detention centers. ECCHR supports 29 survivors in the trial, 14 of whom are joint plaintiffs, and documents every day of the proceedings.1 This trial sends an important message to survivors and the international community. However, the German judiciary still has catching up to do in how it handles international cases. For example, the al-Khatib trial takes place in German mostly without interpretation for members of the Arabic-speaking public, preventing their deeper engagement in the trial. Another weakness was the approach to investigating sexual violence. But as of March 2021, the court is finally trying sexual and gender-based violence in the al-Khatib Branch for what it is: a crime against humanity committed as part of the systematic attack on the Syrian population. This followed a submission by ECCHR partner lawyers in November 2020. Already in June of that year, ECCHR together with torture survivors and the Syrian organizations Urnammu and Syrian Women’s Network had filed a complaint with the German Federal Public Prosecutor and demanded that the German judiciary prosecute sexual violence in Syria as an international crime in its investigations and future trials. 1 DAILY TRIAL REPORTS ARE AVAILABLE AT ECCHR.EU/SYRIA 14

15 1 ECCHR SUBMITTED ALL CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS TOGETHER WITH SYRIAN TORTURE SURVIVORS AS WELL AS SYRIAN AND LOCAL PARTNERS2002 JUNEGermany’s Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetz-buch) comes into force. The principle of universal jurisdiction makes it possible to investigate grave crimes, even if they were not committed in Germany 2012ECCHR starts working to address human rights crimes in Syria NOVEMBERCriminal complaint in Germany against members of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, including its head Jamil Hassan SEPTEMBERCriminal complaint in Germany against Syrian Intelligence Service and Military Police officials; thousands of “Caesar photos” documen-ting corpses from Syrian detention centers are handed over to the Federal Public Prosecutor 2017 MARCHECCHR files first criminal complaint in Germany against Syrian Military Intelligence officials for human rights crimes 1NOVEMBERCriminal complaint in NorwayOCTOBERGerman Federal Prosecutor charges Anwar R and Eyad A with crimes against humanity and other crimes FEBRUARYGerman Federal Court of Justice has two former members of the Syrian General Intelligence Service, Anwar R and Eyad A, arrested in Germany2019 FEBRUARYCriminal complaint in Sweden 2021 FEBRUARYEyad A is sentenced to four years and six months in prison. Anwar R’s trial will continue at least until fall 2021Investigations against high-ranking Syrian officials in Germany, Austria, France and Sweden continueMARCHSexual violence in al-Khatib Branch charged as crime against humanity 2000 JULYBashar al-Assad succeeds his father Hafez as president of Syria. The country has been under the dictatorial rule of the Assad family since 1970 2011MARCHArab Spring, Syrians openly demonstrate against the Assad governmentAssad reacts with massive, systematic violence, arrests, disappearances and torture. Syrians increasingly flee the country, including to Europe Germany’s Federal Prosecutor opens structural investiga-tions into Syria2016NOVEMBERThose affected, ECCHR and Sherpa file a criminal complaint in France against the French cement manufactu-rer Lafarge for aiding and abetting war crimes in Syria, alleging that Lafarge colluded with the Islamic State, among other crimes JUNEGerman Federal Court of Justice issues arrest warrant for Jamil Hassan, thanks in part to ECCHR’s criminal complaints 2018 MAYCriminal complaint in AustriaNOVEMBER For the first time, a German citizen joins a criminal complaint against the Syrian intelligence services. He was detained in Syria in 2018 as a humanitarian aid worker JUNECriminal complaint about sexual and gender-based violence in Syrian detention centers as a crime against humanity 2020APRILThe world’s first trial on Syrian state torture, the al-Khatib trial, begins in Koblenz, Germany, against Anwar R and Eyad A

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY Application No. 4871/16 Hanan v. Germany 63. Notably, Germany did not remove nor even temporarily discharge the Colonel responsible for the strike. Instead, he was tasked with the fact-finding the morning after (and later even promoted to General). […] 88. To conclude: Germany is responsible for the strike that killed the children of the Applicant […] and Germany failed to properly investigate the strike and the right to life violations. It is on this basis that we ask this Court to declare that Germany violated articles 2 and 13 of the Convention. 89. As Mr. Abdul Hanan recently emphasized to us, he and the people of his village are still traumatized by the devastating consequences of that bombing. He appreciates the fact that today’s hearing is taking place. He wants justice for his sons, and he wants to be treated like everybody else. He is not demanding anything but the application of the Convention in accordance with the Court’s long-standing case law. IN FEBRUARY 2020, THE GRAND CHAMBER OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN STRASBOURG HEARD THE CASE OF ABDUL HANAN WHO LOST TWO SONS IN A GERMAN AIRSTRIKE NEAR THE KUNDUZ RIVER IN AFGHANISTAN IN SEPTEMBER 2009. ECCHR HAS BEEN ASSISTING HIS CASE FOR OVER TEN YEARS. IN FEBRUARY 2021, THE COURT DECIDED: GERMANY MADE MISTAKES, BUT DID ENOUGH OVERALL TO INVESTIGATE THE AIRSTRIKE. EXCERPT: ORAL SUBMISSION ON BEHALF OF THE APPLICANT EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS GRAND CHAMBER HEARING 26 FEBRUARY 2020 READ BY: WOLFGANG KALECK (ECCHR GENERAL SECRETARY AND LAWYER) AND DAPO AKANDE (PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD) Honorable Judges, 1. On September 4th 2009, an airstrike near Kunduz in Afghanistan killed the children of my client, Mr. Abdul Hanan, and many civilians. Abdul Bayan and Nesarullah were only 8 and 12 years old. 2. The strike was ordered by the German Colonel Klein, at the German Army base. […] 3. Since that fatal night, Abdul Hanan has been struggling to get justice. […] 4. […] As we will show, Germany could and should have taken specific measures to comply with its obligations under articles 2 and 13 of the [European Convention on Human Rights], even in the difficult security conditions of Afghanistan at the time. 5. We will first show the admissibility of the case by addressing the exhaustion of remedies, and then […] the parts of attribution and jurisdiction. Afterwards, I will continue with the merits of the case. […] 9. My client argued that the investigations were ineffective because, inter alia: · A number of relevant witnesses, such as the bomber pilots, were not heard; · The assumptions of the German Colonel that led to the strike were not challenged; · Independent military experts were not heard; · The causes of deaths of the Applicant’s sons and of the other estimated 100 civilians were not established. […] 16

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY Killing from afar Germany enables US drone strikes that violate international law Four missiles fired by US drones hit a family gathering in the Yemeni village of Khashamir in summer 2012. Two members of the bin Ali Jaber family were killed, and many survivors remain traumatized to this day. The US attack is just one of thousands in the so-called war on terror that hit innocent people time and again, and for which the US receives support from Europe: without facilities like the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the US drone program would not be possible. The airbase in southwest Germany serves as a central data interface for the US, radio equipment (a relay station) there enables the US Air Force to control drones in Yemen and Somalia, for example. In November 2020, the German Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig could have put an end to drone attacks via Ramstein, which violate international law. Back in 2014, three members of the bin Ali Jaber family, together with ECCHR and Reprieve, filed a lawsuit against Germany at the Cologne Administrative Court. In March 2019, the Münster Higher Administrative Court ruled that the German government must take action to ensure that the US military respects international law in using Ramstein. But on appeal, the Leipzig court ruled that it was sufficient for the US to have assured German officials in diplomatic talks that its actions comply with international law. In its ruling, the Leipzig court ignored the fact that US drone strikes frequently involve international humanitarian law violations. The plaintiffs are now preparing a constitutional complaint. Without facilities like the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the US drone program would not be possible In 2020, the German government also discussed whether arming German military drones was ethically and legally justifiable. ECCHR made clear at a hearing in the German Parliament defense committee that armed drones enable violations of international law, so Germany should not allow them in the first place. The decision is still pending. There is hope that in the future, Germany will more consistently reject the use of armed drones, including attacks from German soil that violate international legal standards. 17

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY When might makes right No trial for British war crimes in Iraq Despite confirmed evidence that British troops systematically committed grave crimes, including torture, murder and rape, during the Iraq War and subsequent occupation, the International Criminal Court will not continue to investigate UK nationals in relation to these crimes. In December 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor in The Hague announced it was closing its six-year-long preliminary investigation because it could not prove that British authorities were “unwilling” to adequately investigate the alleged crimes. The verdict is a severe blow to Iraqi survivors and affected communities. The ICC can only take on cases that a country’s judiciary is unwilling or unable to adequately address. This is precisely the case for British war crimes committed in Iraq between 2003 and 2009, which the UK has failed across the board to examine. There have been no criminal prosecutions in response to hundreds of complaints filed by affected Iraqis and no high-ranking UK officials have had to answer for these crimes in court. The British Ministry of Defense and military also allegedly covered up evidence. It is therefore difficult to understand how the ICC chief prosecutor arrived at her verdict—especially as she again confirmed that war crimes had indeed been committed. The UK failed across the board to address the crimes in Iraq In 2014, the Office of the Prosecutor began preliminary investigations into alleged crimes by UK troops in Iraq for the second time, following a communication filed by ECCHR and Public Interest Lawyers. Then in 2017, the prosecutor declared that there was a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes had been committed. In 2019, ECCHR submitted additional evidence that the UK was failing to adequately address its troops’ systematic abuses in Iraq. The ICC’s 2020 decision again demonstrates the double standards of international law enforcement, proving that powerful actors can still get away with torture. It also shows that the ICC is unwilling to address the impunity gap at the national level, the very task for which it was created. 18

INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY “ He should have to answer to justice, no matter where he is” INTERVIEW WITH ANAHÍ MAROCCHI Why did you come from Argentina to Germany to file a criminal complaint against former Argentine military officer Luis K? My brother Omar was among the victims of Luis K’s alleged crimes. Luis K was part of the Argentine dictatorship’s repressive apparatus, and had a high degree of responsibility. However, he took refuge in Germany and obtained German citizenship, thereby avoiding the Argentine judiciary’s summons for crimes against humanity. But he should have to answer to justice, no matter where he is. Our Argentine lawyer put me in touch with Simon Rau, who worked for ECCHR in Germany.1 In him, I found an extraordinary ally. He had a great warmth, and provided a door to my search for justice. Through him, I met ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck, whose personal support strengthened our bond despite the distance. Your brother was disappeared more than 40 years ago. Why is it still important to fight for accountability today? I knew this complaint would take an emotional toll on me, but it also had a gratifying, reparative effect. Our quest was to reconstruct the truth and obtain justice for the murdered victims and to build collective memory. Only this can guarantee that these atrocities occur nunca más (never again). When the case became public, I received immediate support and solidarity in this call for justice, from Argentine institutions and civil society organizations as well as Germany. Even though my criminal complaint is individual and for my brother, all the other victims are part of this claim. What do you expect from German judicial authorities? What do you hope for? Justice for my brother and all other victims. I think of my and everyone’s grandchildren, for whom we need to build a present that guarantees the future we deserve. Without justice—if impunity prevails—the foundations of such a future are profoundly weakened. The road to the legal truth is not easy when such abhorrent crimes were committed and hidden by the state. I trust that German authorities will show the necessary commitment to achieve the justice for which we long. FORMER ARGENTINE MILITARY OFFICER LUIS K IS WANTED IN ARGENTINA FOR HIS INVOLVEMENT IN CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY DURING THE COUNTRY’S MILITARY DICTATORSHIP (1976–83). AS A GERMAN CITIZEN, HE CANNOT BE EXTRADITED, BUT THE GERMAN JUDICIARY CAN INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE HIM. IN JUNE 2018, ANAHÍ MAROCCHI, SUPPORTED BY ECCHR, FILED A CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST LUIS K WITH THE BERLIN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR. 1 PERSONAL NOTE: I WOULD LIKE TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF SIMON RAU, WHO DIED IN JUNE 2019, AND WHO WON OUR HEARTS DURING THE TIME WE SHARED TOGETHER WHILE HE CARRIED OUT THIS EXCELLENT AND COMMITTED INVESTIGATION 19

THE BUSINESS OF IRRESPONSIBILITY Companies routinely violate human rights. Industries involved in raw material extraction frequently displace people, exploit mineworkers and destroy the environment. Factory working conditions cost lives. Exports are not neutral business transactions either: companies from the Global North contribute to human rights violations worldwide by exporting weapons, surveillance technology and raw materials to dictatorships and warring parties. But export licenses do not release corporate actors from their human rights due diligence obligations—a license to export is not an obligation to do so. Companies have their own human rights due diligence obligations. In 2020, ECCHR intervened to ensure that the principle of “human rights before profit” prevails, and companies face their responsibilities. We want to help change unequal power relations in the global economy to make sure that those affected receive justice, and to reform legal frameworks governing prevailing business practices worldwide. Donate today ENFORCING SOCIAL HUMAN RIGHTS. WE HOLD CORPORATIONS THAT EXPLOIT PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT FOR PROFIT TO ACCOUNT. TOGETHER WITH THOSE AFFECTED, WE USE LEGAL MEANS TO FIGHT FOR GLOBAL SOCIAL JUSTICE. ECCHR.EU/DONATE

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Garment supply chains in intensive care? Human rights due diligence in times of (economic) crises Still, human rights are the benchmarks by which government and business activity must be measured, and they remain applicable in times of severe economic crises. This current crisis clearly shows that if governments and corporations had more seriously fulfilled and respected human rights in recent years, especially economic and social rights, fewer workers would be hit as hard by the current situation. Social security systems—to which all people have a right—prepare societies to alleviate hardships created by crises such as COVID-19. Their absence allows full-blown violations of social and economic human rights like those to food, adequate housing, health and social protection. THIS TEXT IS AN EXTRACT OF AN ECCHR POLICY PAPER FROM APRIL 2020. MIRIAM SAAGE-MAASS HEADS THE BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM, WHERE CORINA AJDER AND BEN VANPEPERSTRAETE WORK AS LEGAL ADVISORS. CORINA AJDER, MIRIAM SAAGE-MAASS & BEN VANPEPERSTRAETE The new coronavirus affects almost every area of people’s lives and economic activity and has led to a significant disruption of world trade. The current situation demonstrates how precarious our global systems of production and consumption are. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant number of consumer countries in Europe declared a “lockdown,” imposed movement restrictions and closed retail shops. This has led to a drastic drop in demand, hitting garment sector brands and retailers particularly hard. Many global brands and retailers’ instant reaction was to unilaterally cancel orders for goods already produced or in the process of being produced. Faced with the COVID-19 crisis, textile companies fall back on exactly what their supply chains are designed for: externalizing costs, outsourcing economic risk, and shifting the responsibility for workers’ social rights to suppliers. They simply leave behind corporate social responsibility promises as well as human rights obligations. With this reaction, once again, the garment sector is a paradigmatic example of the dynamics in global supply chains. 23

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Voluntary commitments are not enough Supply chain laws for Germany and the EU Time and again, companies claim that they do enough voluntarily to protect people and the environment. But it is not just cases like the Ali Enterprises factory fire in Pakistan, the Brumadinho dam failure in Brazil and Électricité de France’s wind farms in Mexico that show this is not true. Along supply chains—particularly when it comes to suppliers and subsidiaries’ factories abroad—European companies often avoid complying with international human rights standards. Less than a quarter of all companies in Germany voluntarily comply with human rights due diligence requirements. Accordingly, the German government has long debated a mandatory due diligence law that would finally require companies to protect people and the environment. With petitions, third-party interventions and protests, the Initiative Lieferkettengesetz (the Supply Chain Law Initiative), of which ECCHR is an active member, has shown that a mandatory human rights due diligence law in Germany and on the EU level is not just necessary, but feasible. A human rights due diligence law in Germany and the EU is feasible In February 2021, the responsible ministers in Germany finally announced their agreement on a draft law. But due to business association lobbying, the draft was severely weakened. We at ECCHR will do everything we can to ensure that Germany passes an effective and strong due diligence law that serves the interests of those most affected by corporate human rights abuses, rather than the interests of powerful corporations. 24

Current situation without a due diligence law LACK OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE What do we need to change that? LEGALLY BINDING OBLIGATION FOR COMPANIES TO RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS ACROSS THE ENTIRE SUPPLY CHAIN Reporting Evaluating measures LEADS TO PREVENTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ABUSES Risk analysis Prevention and remediation measures To implement this, a law needs: SCOPE Due diligence along the entire production and value chain VERIFIABILITY State authorities must be able to check—and sanction—compliance with the law ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Human rights and environmental protection belong together CIVIL LIABILITY Those affected by corporate human rights violations should be able to sue for damages in court Who should it apply to? LARGE COMPANIES With more than 250 employees, a balance sheet of more than 20 million euros, or more than 40 million euros in annual sales (2 of these factors) SMALL AND MID-SIZED COMPANIES From high-risk sectors, such as textiles Consequences of non-compliance: FINES NO ACCESS TO PUBLIC SUBSIDIES 25

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Bem-vindo, presidente!1 CLAUDIA MÜLLER-HOFF “The struggle is the same today as it was then.” The first time I heard Lúcio Bellentani speak about his time as a prisoner of the military dictatorship in Brazil, a shiver went down my spine. He was talking on a stage in a Berlin theater and I was sitting in the back row. And yet, that energy transferred: from his experience in a Brazilian torture prison in 1972 to my reality in urban Germany in the fall of 2017. The price is that the company does not have to acknowledge any wrongdoing During the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964–1985), Bellentani worked at Volkswagen do Brasil, a subsidiary of the German automaker VW, and was an active trade unionist. In July 1972, secret police officers arrested him at his workplace—in full view of VW factory security. Bellentani then spent eight months in a torture prison and 16 months in another prison. In September 2015, he and other trade unionists filed a complaint against VW do Brasil. They alleged that the company had spied on its workforce and turned in members of the opposition to the secret police. Investigations concluded that VW systematically passed on information about undesirable workers to the dictatorship’s torture apparatus. A verdict was never reached. Lúcio died in June 2019. Shortly before that, he was full of energy and asked who would carry on his mission of memory and justice. I can still hear him enthusiastically saying, “Now, under [President] Bolsonaro, […] young people are interested, they want to fight!” And they do. In September 2020, with affected workers’ involvement, the authorities and VW do Brasil signed an out-of-court “commitment to change behavior.” The price, as usual, is that the company does not have to acknowledge any wrongdoing. At the very least, however, VW must pay approximately 5.6 million euros to support those affected and commission academic research about its actions during the military dictatorship. However, much more is needed to “change behavior.” Companies must actively reject anti-democratic policies and refuse to cooperate with illiberal governments. Otherwise, they endanger human rights. This is just as true today as it was then. Companies must choose wisely on which side they want to be. CLAUDIA MÜLLER-HOFF IS A SENIOR LEGAL ADVISOR IN ECCHR’S BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM AND HAS WORKED FOR MANY YEARS TO ADDRESS LATIN AMERICAN DICTATORSHIP CRIMES. ECCHR GENERAL SECRETARY WOLFGANG KALECK WAS LÚCIO BELLENTANI’S LAWYER. 1 COMPANIES LIKE THE VOLKSWAGEN SUBSIDIARY VW DO BRASIL EMBRACED NEW PRESIDENTS OF THE BRAZILIAN MILITARY DICTATORSHIP WITH PHRASES LIKE “WELCOME, MR. PRESIDENT!” 26

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Toxic double standards in the pesticide business Legal action against Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta Products that are so toxic that they are banned in Europe should not be used elsewhere. But the European pesticide industry takes advantage of less strict regulations in other countries, and exports highly toxic pesticides to the Global South. There, workers often lack adequate protective gear and some cannot even read the products’ hazard labels. This frequently results in—sometimes fatal—poisonings. But Indian farm workers are now fighting back. Spraying Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta’s insecticide Polo on their cotton fields led to several severe cases of poisoning. Polo’s active ingredient, diafenthiuron, has been banned from use in the EU since 2002, and Switzerland withdrew the product from its market over ten years ago. People in the Global South should not pay with their health for double standards of the Global North In September 2020, the widows of two farmers who died from pesticide poisoning and a survivor filed a lawsuit against Syngenta in Switzerland. The claimants demand that Syngenta be held liable for damages caused by defects in its product. They claim the company failed to adequately inform farmers about Polo’s dangers and knowingly sold it to people without access to suitable protective equipment. ECCHR and the law firm schadenanwaelte support the plaintiffs. The lawsuit is the first of its kind and could help many affected people—even beyond Syngenta and India—file claims for damages. In addition, PAN India, the Maharashtra Association of Pesticide Poisoned Persons, ECCHR and the Swiss organization Public Eye filed a complaint on behalf of 51 affected families with the OECD National Contact Point in Bern. In January 2021, Syngenta agreed to participate in negotiations. The Syngenta case shows once again that companies must be legally obligated to protect people and the environment, whether it concerns the extraction of raw materials or the safe use of consumer products. People in the Global South should not continue to pay with their health for the toxic double standards of companies from the Global North. 27

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS “ Amplifying our work on the ground” Our partnership with ECCHR gave Mwatana’s accountability team the opportunity to learn more about the tools of international legal accountability. We were able to contribute our practical experience from conducting case work, and two team members had the opportunity to join ECCHR in Berlin for three months each, which was a very beneficial experience. Our partnership also helped our research team develop field documentation tools to support our legal efforts. We are very proud of our partnership with ECCHR. It has both added value to and helped amplify the difficult work Mwatana does on the ground to obtain evidence of human rights abuses and international crimes. RADHYA AL-MUTAWAKEL IS A HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER AND THE COFOUNDER AND CHAIRPERSON OF MWATANA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, AN INDEPENDENT ORGANIZATION PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS IN YEMEN. ECCHR HAS BEEN WORKING WITH MWATANA ON EUROPEAN ARMS EXPORTS USED IN THE YEMEN WAR SINCE 2017. RADHYA AL-MUTAWAKEL Several years after the war in Yemen started, Mwatana for Human Rights began conducting field research at sites where parties to the conflict had committed human rights violations. Based on this work, Mwatana publicly advocated to show how the war in Yemen impacts civilians. Eventually, we felt the need to start working in the field of legal accountability as well. This is where the partnership with ECCHR became important— and unique. We did not take it for granted that Mwatana, a Yemen-based organization, would be able to find a true partner like ECCHR to take serious steps together towards accountability. Our cooperation made us strong Mwatana’s cooperation with highly competent experts, particularly those with a deep belief in human rights and experience in using the law to push for ending abuses, made us feel strong and confident. With our European partners, we were able to file a complaint in Italy regarding a Saudi Arabia/UAE-led coalition airstrike in which bomb parts manufactured in Italy played a role. We also submitted a communication to the International Criminal Court on the potential complicity of Western companies and states in war crimes in Yemen. This work gave us the opportunity to engage in inspiring discussions on possible avenues for holding all warring parties in Yemen—and those who support them—accountable for the grave human rights violations and international crimes they commit. 29

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS The dirty business of clean energy French energy company disregards indigenous rights The global climate crisis is one of the most pressing problems of our time, with devastating impacts on many fronts, including human rights. In some areas, habitats are flooding, while in others, droughts destroy crops and clean drinking water. Those affected worst by the climate crisis live in the Global South: the people who contribute the least to its causes. That is why Western energy companies in particular must become climate-neutral. But “green” energy is not always “clean”—as the case of the indigenous community Unión Hidalgo in Mexico shows. Électricité de France, France’s largest energy company, wants to build a wind farm on indigenous land in Oaxaca. However, the population has not been adequately consulted or comprehensively informed about the project. This violates their right to free, prior and informed consent for projects that affect their land. This right is essential for indigenous communities’ social cohesion and future, as they often have a unique relationship with their land. Where local communities are not adequately consulted, infrastructure projects can threaten indigenous land and culture. EDF and its Mexican subcontractors have also reportedly promised benefits to project supporters, while project critics and human rights defenders are being attacked and criminalized. Infrastructure projects can threaten indigenous culture and land In October 2020, members of the Unión Hidalgo community, along with ECCHR and the Mexican organization ProDESC, filed a civil lawsuit in France. The French Duty of Vigilance Law, similar to Germany’s planned supply chain law, obliges companies to analyze the negative impacts of their activities on the environment and human rights, and take appropriate measures to mitigate these risks. In particular, the plaintiffs demand that EDF suspend the project until the entire community is properly consulted, and the right to free, prior and informed consent is guaranteed. This is the only way EDF can prevent further human rights violations related to its project and fulfill its human rights due diligence obligations. For renewable energy to be truly clean, it must be free from human rights abuses. 30 30

BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS On climate justice MIRIAM SAAGE-MAASS The current climate crisis is a complex, multidimensional predicament—including, but not limited to, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions—that has political, economic and cultural dimensions. In this regard, human rights law must be used to challenge those actors responsible for the causes of the climate crisis—as in the case of a Peruvian farmer who sued energy giant RWE in Germany for future damages caused by its carbon dioxide emissions. However, human rights lawyers should also target the underlying causes of the current climate crisis: the prevailing capitalist economic and development model based on exploitation. This will require rethinking legal concepts of causation and responsibility, as this crisis is intergenerational, global and difficult to capture with classic notions of cause and effect. Human rights are dependent on the quality of the environment We need a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between humans and nature. And we have to accept that human life and natural ecosystems are interdependent: ecological systems support the resources on which human rights like those to water, adequate food, and housing rely. We need to embrace concepts such as the human right to a healthy environment that highlight the connection between humans and nature. Human rights are dependent on the quality of the environment and vice versa. ECCHR’s Business and Human Rights program has long touched upon environmental and climate justice issues like the case of the Brumadinho dam breach in Brazil that killed 272 people and polluted the local river. We also engage in legal interventions that challenge the negative impacts of the extractive industries and agribusiness. We will continue fighting for the rights of indigenous peoples, smallholder farmers and agricultural workers. And we are developing options to widen our legal interventions for climate justice. We hope to not only legally challenge the status quo of climate injustice, but also to advocate for alternative political and economic systems that are better prepared to ensure that global social rights are respected and fulfilled. MIRIAM SAAGE-MAASS IS ECCHR’S VICE LEGAL DIRECTOR AND HEADS ITS BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM. 31

HUMAN RIGHTS WITHOUT BORDERS Time and again, refugees and migrants seeking sanctuary in Europe experience the exact opposite. Instead of receiving help and protection from war or persecution, they are often rejected and treated with hostility. Indeed, refugees and migrants are frequently met with violence and disenfranchisement at Europe’s external borders rather than support in claiming their human rights. Current European asylum and migration policies legitimize this treatment. Activists who assist those affected and save lives, such as in the Mediterranean Sea, are also increasingly harassed and prosecuted. But Europe’s borders are not a lawless zone. Everyone has the right to have rights, and to demand that those rights be upheld in court. ECCHR is committed to supporting refugees and migrants, as well as the activists working alongside them. Donate now PROTECTING PEOPLE WHO ARE FLEEING WAR AND HARDSHIP. WE ARE COMMITTED TO ENSURING THAT HUMAN RIGHTS ONCE AGAIN DETERMINE EUROPEAN MIGRATION AND ASYLUM POLICY. EVERY PERSON HAS THE RIGHT TO HAVE RIGHTS. ECCHR.EU/DONATE

MIGRATION “ Civilian sea rescue is human rights protection” INTERVIEW WITH MARKUS BEEKO In 2020, the Iuventa crew of sea rescuers received the Amnesty Human Rights Award. How are human rights and civilian sea rescue in Europe connected? Where states deliberately disregard their search and rescue duties and people are at the mercy of drowning or violent militias, civilian sea rescue is a form of human rights protection. The Iuventa has rescued more than 14,000 people in the Mediterranean. For this, some crew members are facing up to 20 years in prison. The Amnesty prize therefore also goes to everyone facing persecution for defending the lives and rights of people on the move. The situation in the Mediterranean remains dramatic and civilian sea rescuers’ work continues to be massively hampered. To make matters worse, in 2020, ports were closed due to the pandemic and many rescued people could not be disembarked. What has been the impact of Italy’s campaign to intimidate and systematically criminalize sea rescue? Many sea rescuers have not been discouraged. But criminalization and media defamation campaigns are an enormous burden and undermine societies’ crucial solidarity with refugees and rescuers alike. Does the media’s focus on sea rescuers push migrants and refugees’ suffering into the background? That danger does exist. But every report about sea rescuers is a chance to shine a light on the fact that people are criticized and punished for saving lives. And a chance to remind ourselves to take action. What can legal interventions in international forums, such as ECCHR’s submissions to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, accomplish? They make clear that injustice is happening here. They raise the issues of civilian sea rescue, suffering, and the lack of adequate human rights protection at the international level. They attract global attention and increase the chance that states will have to explain and answer for their actions. Where Amnesty works to ensure that protection standards are created, rights are known and injustices are named, ECCHR contributes to enforcing those rights. MARKUS BEEKO IS SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE GERMAN SECTION OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AND A MEMBER OF ECCHR’S ADVISORY BOARD. ECCHR HAS BEEN WORKING ON THE CRIMINALIZATION OF SEA RESCUE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SINCE 2019 AND SUPPORTS THE CREWS OF IUVENTA AND SEA-WATCH 3. 35

MIGRATION The limits of the rule of law Unlawful push-backs in Europe Push-backs, the practice of forcing people fleeing war, persecution and hardship back over a border immediately after they cross it, often brutally and without giving them a chance to be heard or apply for asylum, are unlawful. Article 4 of the 4th Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights states that the “(c)ollective expulsion of aliens is prohibited.” This is just one of many provisions that forbid push-backs. And yet, for years, border police have repeatedly pushed people back, usually by force, without examining their individual cases. Especially at the European Union’s external borders, this is a daily occurrence for those seeking protection in the EU from persecution or war. In February 2020, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered a devastating judgment in ND and NT v. Spain. The court rejected the complaints that ND and NT (names withheld for the applicants’ protection) filed with ECCHR’s support against Spain in 2015. The men had crossed the border fence structure in Melilla, which separates Morocco from Spain, in August 2014, and were immediately pushed back—without a hearing—along with approximately 70 other people. Push-backs are unlawful In its ruling, the ECtHR found that Spain’s push-backs did not violate the ban on collective expulsions. It reasoned that those affected should have formally sought legal protection at the border. By crossing the border “illegally,” the court ruled, they forfeited their right to protection from collective expulsion. Civil society and the legal community, both in Spain and internationally, strongly criticized the judgement because the reality at the border looks very different than the image painted by the court: Moroccan border guards’ racially motivated patrols make it impossible for Black people to reach the official border post where they could formally request asylum. An investigation by ECCHR and the research institution Forensic Architecture also confirmed these findings in June 2020. With the help of spatial analyses, reports from human rights authorities and NGOs, witness testimony, and official statistics, the research team created a video analysis. A reconstruction of the situation at the border near Melilla shows how Europe systematically keeps out refugees and migrants. 36

The border is surrounded by a complex security system and three barbed wire fences up to six meters high. 6M “Anyone would prefer to claim asylum, and not jump the fence. … It’s impossible … For us, Black persons, if we dare to set foot in town [Beni Enzar] … we are chased by the Moroccan police and military!”—Abou Bakar Sidibé, activist and filmmaker from Mali who lived in the Moroccan border area To reach the official border post and formally apply for asylum, one would first have to evade constant police surveillance in the town of Beni Enzar and pass through three police checkpoints—where Black people are systematically denied passage—and not just reach the border post, but also make one’s case there. Prior to the day ND and NT were pushed back, no asylum applications were registered at the border. However, it is clear that people did try to cross the border before that—none of whom had been able to formally apply for asylum. Ninety-nine percent of asylum applications filed at the Melilla border between 2014 and 2017 were by people from the Middle East and North Africa. This highlights how people from Sub-Saharan Africa continue to be denied access to protection in Europe. “This is racism. Nothing else.”—Abou Bakar Sidibé 37 MELILLA BORDER FENCESPAINMOROCCOSATELLITE IMAGE OF THE BORDER AREA300MSPAINMOROCCOASYLUM CLAIMS MADE TO SPAIN AT BENI ENZAR (SEPT 2014 — MAY 2017)MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA: 9,385 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: 2MOROCCOALGERIATUNISIAYEMENSENEGALGUINEABENI ENZAREGYPTLEBANONPALESTINEJORDANIRAQ

MIGRATION The closed Balkan route? Until the end of 2015, the so-called Balkan corridor was considered a comparatively safe route for people trying to reach Northern and Western Europe via Greece, Croatia, Bosnia or Slovenia. In spring 2016, however, the Balkan states closed their borders. To this day, migrants continue to try to reach Europe via this route that has been declared closed. Together with partner organizations and activists, we work to ensure that people along the Balkan corridor are informed of their rights and have access to fair procedures. TRANSBALKAN SOLIDARITY COLLECTIVE SIMON CAMPBELL (BORDER VIOLENCE MONITORING NETWORK) “The situation along the border is unbearable for thousands of people who are forced to struggle for survival daily. Many are undocumented, have no access to the health system or any kind of protection. People on the move are exposed to perpetual push-backs and physical abuse by the Croatian and Bosnian police. Human rights lawyers are desperately needed, as is support to local professionals offering free legal services.” JACK SAPOCH (NO NAME KITCHEN) “Recent testimonies have described forced removal of clothing, prolonged beatings and the ‘stacking’ of people on top of each other by Croatian authorities. We also noted an increasing trend in 2020 of people being returned from Italy and Austria in so-called chain push-backs. ECCHR’s long-term approach to strategic litigation provides a vital complement to the work of grassroots activists such as ourselves working along the Croatian border.” “Conditions at the Croatian border remain extremely violent, with the continued and systematic use of push-backs to remove transit groups. Challenging illegal push-backs at the European Court of Human Rights is a critical step in holding perpetrating authorities to account and upholding the principle of freedom of movement.” MADDALENA AVON (CENTRE FOR PEACE STUDIES) “In 2020, COVID-19 restrictions further limited our work at the border. But we networked with local activists and organizations in the border areas. Thanks to that, we succeeded in writing several reports, filing complaints, and getting positive results in court. ECCHR’s work on migration is essential. We firmly believe in trans-border cooperation and solidarity.” NICOLE VÖGELE (JOURNALIST) “Migrants trying to seek protection in the EU are denied the possibility to apply for asylum and packed into cargo vans and dumped— like human garbage—outside the EU. There has yet to be a single verdict on such push- back cases at the Croatian-Bosnian border.” 38

MIGRATION Push-backs at the Bosnian-Croatian border Push-backs are commonplace at the EU’s external border between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Those who want to enter the EU via Croatia report being beaten, tasered and pepper-sprayed. In most cases, refugees are stripped of all of their possessions before they are returned to Bosnia. They do not have the possibility to apply for asylum. Time and again, NGOs, activists and journalists have confirmed these reports. This practice at Croatia’s borders violates European law and the European Convention on Human Rights. Despite overwhelming evidence, authorities continue to deny all knowledge of it, and so it persists undeterred. The EU, meanwhile, continues to support Croatia as well. To finally hold the country accountable, three Syrians, ECCHR and PRO ASYL filed a complaint against Croatia with the European Court of Human Rights in April 2019. SB, AA and AB (names withheld for the applicants’ protection) were repeatedly detained, beaten and pushed back to Bosnia by Croatian border guards. In March 2020, the court transmitted the case to the Croatian government, which responded in February 2021. ECCHR will send its reply to the ECtHR. This practice at Croatia’s borders violates European law In December 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee transmitted a different complaint to Croatia. The applicant is a Syrian who was also repeatedly mistreated by Croatian border guards and pushed back to Bosnia with other refugees. With ECCHR’s support, he filed a complaint with the UN body demanding Croatia’s push-back practice be denounced. 39

MIGRATION The “Seehofer Deal” Germany’s illegal agreement with Greece Illegal forced returns do not only occur at Europe’s external borders, but also at the German-Austrian border. Under an administrative agreement between Germany and Greece signed in summer 2018, entry to Germany is refused to people who arrive via Austria and have previously made an asylum application in Greece. Instead, they are detained and deported to Greece within 48 hours. They do not have the opportunity to apply for international protection or present their reasons for fleeing to Germany, and they are denied a legal examination of their removal in an expedited procedure. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is responsible for this agreement, which not only ignores the Dublin Regulation system that determines which European state is responsible for carrying out an individual’s asylum procedure, but also bypasses the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights. In practice, this means asylum seekers are forcibly returned to Greece despite its dysfunctional asylum system and well-documented degrading living conditions there. Regulations are ignored, human rights standards bypassed This became reality for Syrian asylum seeker HT (name withheld for the applicant’s protection), who arrived in Germany in September 2018. After entering the country, he was stopped by the police in Bavaria and arrested. Without the possibility to apply for asylum or access a legal remedy, he was forcibly returned by plane to Athens. As soon as he arrived, the Greek authorities detained him for months in order to deport him to Turkey. In March 2019, HT filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg with the support of the Greek Refugee Council. In October 2020, ECCHR, PRO ASYL and the Greek organization Refugee Support Aegean filed a third-party intervention with the ECtHR arguing that Germany must adhere to binding human rights standards and must not, like other states, deny refugees the protections to which they are entitled. Refugees and migrants must have access to justice—everywhere. 40

documented or not is irrelevant; states must actively assess the “best interests” of the child; and children cannot be returned to a country where they risk irreparable harm. Spain was ordered to compensate DD and to amend its laws and take action to prevent similar violations. To this day, it has done none of these things. What it takes from ECCHR’s side now is to work towards the implementation of such decisions, to continue to bring new claims and to build on international solidarity. We needed a network of prominent academics, practitioners and activists to further child rights litigation. 2020 marked its creation. Thanks to a partnership between the Global Campus of Human Rights and the Right Livelihood Foundation, the Advancing Child Rights Strategic Litigation project was launched, coordinated by the University of Nottingham, of which ECCHR is a partner. Its goal is to strengthen the capacity of such litigation to uphold child rights globally. As rightly put by Jacqueline Bhabha, when it comes to child rights, “without this active engagement of concerned outsiders … the right to have rights that Hannah Arendt famously described, becomes illusory.” CLAIRE TIXEIRE IS A SENIOR LEGAL ADVISOR WITH ECCHR’S INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION, WHERE SHE HEADS THE CRITICAL LEGAL TRAINING PROGRAM. ECCHR HAS CONDUCTED CHILD RIGHTS LITIGATION WITH A FOCUS ON MIGRATION SINCE 2014. MIGRATION Bridging the child gap CLAIRE TIXEIRE Outrage at injustice is felt all the more keenly when children are the victims. We all know that children bear a real, extra layer of vulnerability. Children are confronted with established systems that are fundamentally adult-centered. They are directly dependent on adults’ actions and inactions. This vulnerability is increased further when combined with the omnipresent discrimination of race, gender, class, immigration status or disability. While human rights law provides for the right of children to have rights, these are seldom implemented on the ground. At the EU’s external borders, for example, where policies focus on violent deterrence and fortification, children pay the price for this gap. Human rights law provides for the right of children to have rights DD (name withheld for the applicant’s protection), was a 14-year-old unaccompanied minor from Mali when he set foot on Spanish soil in the Melilla enclave. Upon arrival, no one wanted to hear about his age, identity or circumstances. Instead, border guards handcuffed him and immediately pushed him back to Morocco—a routine practice towards sub-Saharan migrants at that land border. ECCHR and Fundacion Raíces supported DD in filing a complaint to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The committee responded with a damning decision against Spain in February 2019. It ruled that the Convention on the Rights of the Child does apply at borders; whether a child is 41

USING AND CHANGING THE LAW Whether someone receives justice in court still often depends on factors like where they come from, their gender, race or ability to wield influence. This is why ECCHR’s work goes beyond individual legal cases. We aim to disrupt unjust power structures, initiate social and (legal) policy debates, and thus contribute to struggles for social justice. Our work entails more than merely applying current law. The Institute for Legal Intervention critically examines, contextualizes and attempts to change the law by cooperating with artists and research institutions, as well as working with and critically training human rights defenders. Donate now CHANGING THE LAW. NOT ONLY IN COURT, BUT ALSO IN SOCIETY. WE INITIATE ACADEMIC AND LEGAL POLICY DEBATES, COOPERATE WITH ARTISTS, AND CRITICALLY EDUCATE FUTURE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS. ECCHR.EU/DONATE

INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION The law must be decolonized Reckoning with historical injustices Many fundamental principles of international law are based on European ideas. They were established by force during colonization; racial theories were developed to justify colonial violence. Today, international law continues to facilitate exploitation and inequality in many ways. After all, who has access to justice? Often those with financial resources. And are legal language and norms today capable of addressing colonial crimes when they were established to justify colonial genocides, thus making these crimes possible in the first place? In order to make law more just, we must decolonize it. With this in mind, the anthology Dekoloniale Rechtskritik und Rechtspraxis (Nomos Verlag), edited by Karina Theurer, director of the Institute for Legal Intervention, and Wolfgang Kaleck, ECCHR’s general secretary, was published in September 2020. The book collects fundamental texts on decolonial legal theory in German translation for the first time, supplemented by practical reflections by activists and lawyers. In so doing, it harnesses the transformative potential of combining both theory and practice. Access to justice depends on resources Colonial injustice should not just be discussed by experts, as Morten Bergsmo, Wolfgang Kaleck and Kyaw Yin Hlaing underline in their anthology Colonial wrongs and access to international law (Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2020). Lawyers have a special responsibility to address colonialism and its legal history in order to understand and counteract its consequences today, writes Kaleck. The law must be changed and decolonized. This will transform it from a tool of the powerful to a means of emancipation for those affected by prevailing unjust conditions. 45

INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION With ownership comes responsibility—especially for vital medicines MIRIAM SAAGE-MAASS, FLORENCE STÜRMER & KARINA THEURER The knowledge needed to produce important medicines is essential, especially in times of COVID-19. Access to this knowledge must therefore be guaranteed worldwide. From a legal perspective, we must weigh the protection of intellectual property, secured by patents, against the public interest and human rights to life and health. Thus, it must follow that with ownership comes responsibility, also with regard to intellectual property. Decolonizing patent law can help us find a fair balance between property rights and human rights. Because only through the brutal colonization of large parts of the world did the European idea of an exclusive patent system spread at all. The international patent system in force today is disturbingly unbalanced. Medico international reports that two billion people worldwide have no access to essential medicines. This is because they are too expensive and are not produced for “unprofitable” markets. Multinational pharmaceutical companies have the power to set prices. Based on profitability, they decide who is supplied and who is not. The resulting power struggles and dependencies mirror those of colonial times. What concrete solutions would result from a decolonial approach to international patent law? Indigenous and local research must be recognized. It has, after all, contributed significantly to the search for treatment and vaccines in non-Western scientific systems with fewer resources. In addition, a patent pool could be established at the World Health Organization that would centrally collect information on active ingredients and treatments for serious diseases—such as COVID-19. Open to all, such a pool would particularly benefit countries in the Global South, giving them the opportunity to produce affordable medicines unhindered by patents and fulfill their obligation to guarantee the human right to health. THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED UNABRIDGED IN GERMAN IN THE FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU ON 20 OCTOBER 2020. MIRIAM SAAGE-MAASS HEADS ECCHR’S BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAM. FLORENCE STÜRMER WORKS IN THE INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION AT ECCHR, WHERE KARINA THEURER IS THE DIRECTOR. 46

INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION The murder of Patrice Lumumba Belated justice for colonial crimes? Although it happened 60 years ago, Patrice Lumumba’s assassination still concerns Africa and Europe today. On 17 January 1961, the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was assassinated after a short term in office—with the complicity of international actors, above all the former colonial power Belgium. Only a few months earlier, in June 1960, the Republic of the Congo celebrated its independence. Lumumba openly denounced the crimes and racist practices of colonial rule, to the displeasure of foreign powers. It was not until 40 years later that a parliamentary inquiry in Belgium found that Belgian government officials shared responsibility for the murder. However, it held that Belgium was only morally complicit—not legally responsible. In 2011, Lumumba’s son therefore filed criminal charges against eleven Belgian citizens for their involvement in the assassination. ECCHR supports his case. We filed an amicus curiae brief on statutes of limitations in 2011 and another submission in June 2020, arguing that the murder should be assessed as a war crime, even though wars of national liberation were not recognized as international armed conflicts until 1977 in the first Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. The classification as an international crime is critical to making sure the murder does not go unpunished, because under Belgian law, grave crimes have a 30-year statute of limitations. One of the last colonial crimes in which those directly involved are still alive The Lumumba case is one of the last colonial crimes in which those directly involved are still alive and can therefore be held criminally liable. Many colonial era crimes, such as genocide and exploitation, have never been addressed or prosecuted. Yet these crimes continue to resonate—their effects and the structural disadvantages of those affected continue to this day. For years now, an increasing number of people have therefore called for the colonial past to be confronted, including in Belgium. 47

INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION “Any human rights discourse is incomplete without international collaboration” INTERVIEW WITH ISHA KHANDELWAL You have come to ECCHR three times in different capacities. How and why? What are you currently working on at ECCHR? The first time was for the amazing Bertha Women’s Group gathering in 2014, where I met radical women lawyers from all over the world. There, I got a better understanding of the kind of work and politics in which ECCHR engages. Since then, I have always wanted to come back. In 2018, I returned as a Bertha Global Exchange fellow, and in 2020, I came again as an Alexander von Humboldt German Chancellor fellow. As a Humboldt fellow, I research approaches to transitional justice and conflict transformation. Given the absence of remedies to address mass crimes, the idea behind my research is to study the practices Germany adopted, taking particular note of what succeeded and what did not, to effectively address war crimes. I am also working on some of ECCHR’s current cases to understand and learn from the organization’s strategic litigation practices. What do you research? What do you see as the most pressing topic right now? How does your time at ECCHR affect your work back in India? I have studied the Indian criminal justice system from close quarters through my work on issues like false incarceration, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence in the Indian Chhattisgarh conflict area. The Indian judicial system has historically failed to provide any semblance of justice. Rather, it has contributed to a culture of impunity that we are still witnessing currently. The courts have become increasingly pliant to the current government, which uses them as a tool. The rise of Hindu right-wing politics and the ongoing destruction of judicial institutions are some of the many pressing issues in India right now. My work at ECCHR exposes me to the innovative strategies it uses to work towards accountability. The vibrant and political space has also introduced me to the amazing work of many movements and organizations around the world—which has been motivating on a more personal level. Any discourse or even understanding of “human rights” is incomplete without international collaboration. It is important that voices from and the gaze of the Global South are not just involved, but also dominate this discourse to change the power imbalance that presently exists. ISHA KHANDELWAL IS A LAWYER AND COFOUNDER OF THE INDIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION JAGDALPUR LEGAL AID GROUP. IN FALL 2020, SHE JOINED ECCHR AS AN ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT FOUNDATION GERMAN CHANCELLOR FELLOW. SHE WAS A BERTHA GLOBAL EXCHANGE FELLOW AT ECCHR IN 2018/19. 48

INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION Staying connected ECCHR’s network in the time of COVID-19 The year 2020 was a dramatic reminder of how important connectedness is—not just for our work, but for our well-being. ECCHR’s global network is our strength. It allows us to work across borders, disciplines and generations. Around 400 human rights practitioners from over 40 countries now make up our diverse alumn* community. As participants of Critical Legal Training, Bertha Global Exchange and Justice fellows, or staff members, they have all been part of ECCHR, and will remain so as alumn*. Our network helps us foster momentum and develop creative approaches to human rights work, and enables us to keep up with and make new friends. Our global network is our strength In light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we hosted the annual ECCHR Alumn* Reunion digitally for the first time. It included discussions, an exclusive film screening of “Discount Workers” directed by ECCHR alumnus Christopher Patz and Ammar Aziz, and live illustrations by Yorgos Konstantinou. More than 100 alumn*, staff, board members and external guests talked about the future of human rights and met with old friends and new members of the ECCHR family. We discussed strategic litigation as a tool for climate justice, the dominance of multinational corporations, and legal work against police violence and discrimination. Wolfgang Kaleck and ECCHR’s Advisory Board ended the reunion with a conversation about global solidarity in the time of the pandemic. To stay even more connected in the future, we also redesigned the ECCHR CONNECT online platform in November 2020. It now offers our alumn* and staff the opportunity to stay in touch, jointly develop ideas for human rights work, share knowledge and support one another—all in the spirit of global solidarity. 49

And working from home, it turns out, can be fun, as in our online improv sessions. A few Skype calls and Zoom meetings into my internship, my nervousness began to subside. Critical Legal Training was organized similarly. Its leaders Claire Tixeire and Marie Badarne connected trainees digitally with virtual coffee breaks and critical reading debriefs. We would all have preferred to be able to attend sessions under normal circumstances, but staying home during this time was an act of solidarity. And discussing topics like the revolutionary history of the 1 May in front of your screen with a coffee in hand is definitely a privileged way to wait out a pandemic. Marie and Claire did their best to make the time as educational and enjoyable as possible. And in this way, despite the coronavirus pandemic, I had an inspiring, exciting time at ECCHR. One thing is for sure: ECCHR’s spring 2020 trainees definitely have a high level of media competence. That surely cannot hurt for creative human rights work. ADRIAN BORNMANN WAS AN INTERN IN ECCHR’S MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT FROM APRIL TO JUNE 2020. HE REJOINED ECCHR IN JULY 2020 AS A WORKING STUDENT. INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION The unexpected internship ADRIAN BORNMANN On 1 April 2020, the first day of my internship at ECCHR, it was already clear that my time here would be different from those who came before me. In February 2020, I applied for an internship in ECCHR’s Media and Communications department. At the time, the coronavirus still felt far away from Berlin. As a communications intern, I also took part in Critical Legal Training, ECCHR’s educational program for lawyers and human rights activists. But how could this take place when work was forced to move within one’s own four walls? Over the next three months, I experienced ECCHR’s first physically distanced and predominantly digital Critical Legal Training. Staying home during this time was an act of solidarity Before my first day, I was given digital access to my ECCHR computer and told to work from home for the time being. It was a weird feeling to start an internship without sitting in the same room as my team—I was nervous. However, digital networking made it easier for me to get started. In my department, for example, a whole collection of channels was set up to ensure that information would not get lost between home offices. Video calls, messenger apps, chat programs, emails and phone calls proved that when there is a will, there is a way, even in times of COVID-19. 50

INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION Selected activities TRAINEE MEETINGS “ICC communication on European arms in Yemen” LUNCH TALKS “Human rights activism in times of COVID-19” Presentation: Laura Duarte Reyes “Reflections on the intertwining of social entrepreneurship and strategic litigation” Andreas Wulf (physician, medico international Berlin office) Moderation: Damia Taharraoui, Gwinyai Machona Presentation: Simon Simanovski “The ECtHR and the Kurdish conflict” Dilek Kurban (Marie-Curie-Fellow, Hertie School of Governance) Moderation: Sarah Lupi, Rojda Tosun HUMAN RIGHTS CINEMA “For Sama,” followed by a discussion with director Waad al-Kateab and lawyer Joumana Seif (ECCHR) Moderation: Damia Taharraoui WORKSHOP “Techniques, tools and safety tips for digital investigations” Laura Ranca, Wael Eskandar (Tactical Tech) “Frontex—The accountability conundrum” Presentation: Nora Ebeling, Abby d’Arcy “Rights of intersex people and the inhumane treatment they face” Presentation: Son Olszewski “The benevolent dictator—An introduction to the concept and postcolonial perspectives on democracy and human rights” Presentation: Ann-Charlotte Stürzel READING DEBRIEFS “On international lawyers and social movements: Possibilities for transformation and resistance” Moderation: Claire Tixeire “Gender, cultures and religion” Moderation: Luxcy Alex Lambert 51

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS NORTH AMERICA ASIA · American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) NEW YORK · Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) NEW YORK · Center for Justice & Accountability SAN FRANCISCO · Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez MEXICO CITY · City University of New York NEW YORK 1 · Earth Rights International WASHINGTON, DC · Global Justice Center NEW YORK · Magnum Foundation NEW YORK · Open Society Justice Initiative NEW YORK · PILnet NEW YORK · Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC) MEXICO CITY · Syria Justice and Accountability Center WASHINGTON, DC · Urnammu QUEBEC CITY CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA · ANDHES TUCUMÁN · Articulacão Internacional dos Atingidos e Atingidas pela Vale (AIApV) RIO DE JANEIRO · Associação Comunitária da Jangada (ACJ) BRUMADINHO · Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI)/ Institute for Justice & Democracy PORT-AU-PRINCE/BOSTON · Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) BUENOS AIRES · Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear · · Restrepo (CCAJAR) BOGOTÁ Instituto de Defensa Legal LIMA International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) BUENOS AIRES · La Unión de Afectados por Chevron-Texaco (UDAPT) QUITO AFRICA · Association Marocaine des Droits de l’Homme (AMDH) NADOR · Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) JOHANNESBURG · Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) CAPE TOWN · Legal Resources Centre JOHANNESBURG · Ovaherero Genocide Foundation WINDHOEK · Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) JOHANNESBURG · Activist Anthropologists DAKAR · Baldia Factory Fire Affectees Association KARACHI · Bangladesh Legal Aid and Service Trust (BLAST) DAKAR · Center for International Law (CenterLaw) MANILA · Foundation for Fundamental Rights ISLAMABAD · Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) NEW DELHI · Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas MANILA · Lawyers Beyond Borders, India Chapter TAMIL NADU · Maharashtra Association of Pesticide Poisoned Persons (MAPPP) YAVATMAL · Malaya Lolas Organization PAMPANGA · Michael Sfard Law Office TEL AVIV · Mwatana for Human Rights SANAA · National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) KARACHI · Nariphokko DAKAR · Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) KARACHI · Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) GAZA CITY · Pesticide Action Network Asia-Pacific (PAN-AP) and PAN India PENANG/KERALA · Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (RCCHR) KARACHI/LAHORE · Syrian Women’s Network GAZIANTEP EUROPE · Airwars LONDON · Akademie der Künste BERLIN · Amnesty International LONDON · Amnesty International Deutschland BERLIN · · Associazione per gli Studi Giudici sull’immigrazione (ASGI) ROME/MILAN ask! Arbeitsgruppe Schweiz-Kolumbien BERN · Bahrain Centre for Human Rights BERLIN · Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy LONDON · Berlin Information Center for Transatlantic Security (BITS) BERLIN · borderline-europe BERLIN · Brot für die Welt BERLIN · Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung BONN · Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) LONDON · Caesar Files Group BERLIN · Campaign Against Arms Trade LONDON · CCFD-Terre Solidaire PARIS IN 2020, WOLFGANG KALECK WAS A SCHOLAR-IN- 1 RESIDENCE AT THE SORENSEN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AT THE CUNY SCHOOL OF LAW

· Center for International Law Research and Policy (CILRAP) BRUSSELS/BERLIN · Center for Legal Aid—Voice in Bulgaria SOFIA · Centre Delàs BARCELONA · Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) AMSTERDAM · Centre for the Enforcement of Human Rights International (CEHRI) VIENNA · Civil Rights Defenders STOCKHOLM · Civitas Maxima GENEVA · Clean Clothes Campaign/Kampagne für saubere Kleidung AMSTERDAM/WUPPERTAL · Coalition Against Arms Trade (CAAT) LONDON · Coalizione Italiana Libertá e Diritti civili (CILD) MILAN · Comité catholique contre la faim et pour le développement (CCFD) PARIS · Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) · Deutsche Menschenrechtskoordination Mexiko STUTTGART · EuroMed Rights COPENHAGEN · European Coalition of Corporate Justice BRUSSELS · European Forum on Armed Drones UTRECHT · Federación Andalucía Acoge SEVILLA · Fédération Internationale de Ligues des Droits de l’Homme (FIDH) PARIS · FoodFirst Informations- & Aktions-Netzwerk (FIAN) COLOGNE · Forensic Architecture LONDON · Forschungs- und Informationszentrum Chile-Lateinamerika (FDCL) BERLIN · Forum for International Criminal and Humanitarian Law (FICHL) BRUSSELS · Freiheit für Westsahara BREMEN · Fundación Raíces MADRID · Germanwatch BONN/BERLIN · Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) GALWAY/LONDON · Global Campus of Human Rights VIENNA · Goethe-Institut MUNICH · Goldsmiths, University of London LONDON · Hafiza Merkezi (Truth Justice Memory Center) ISTANBUL · HIAS in Greece ATHENS/LESBOS · HumanRights360 ATHENS · Human Rights Institute, La Universidad de Deusto BILBAO · Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham NOTTINGHAM · Human Rights Watch (HRW) BRUSSELS/BERLIN · · Initiative Lieferkettengesetz BERLIN Internationale Akademie Nürnberger Prinzipien NUREMBERG · Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL) LONDON · LGBT Network SAINT PETERSBURG · Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA) SKOPJE · Medica Mondiale COLOGNE · medico international FRANKFURT AM MAIN · MISEREOR AACHEN · Movimento Consumatori ROME · Moving Europe · Multiwatch BERN · Norwegian Helsinki Committee OSLO · Nürnberger Menschenrechtszentrum NUREMBERG · Observatori DESC BARCELONA · PAX UTRECHT · Postkolonial e.V. BERLIN · PRO ASYL FRANKFURT AM MAIN · Public Eye ZURICH · REDRESS LONDON · Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) CHIOS · Reporter ohne Grenzen BERLIN · Reprieve LONDON · Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein (RAV) BERLIN · Rete Italiana per il Disarmo ROME · RüstungsinformationsBüro (RIB) FREIBURG · Saferworld LONDON · Sherpa PARIS · Sri Lanka Advocacy Group · Syrian Archive BERLIN · Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research (SCLSR) BERLIN · Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) PARIS/BERLIN · Tactical Tech BERLIN · Transitional Justice Clinic THE HAGUE · TRIAL International GENEVA · Voix des Migrants BERLIN · Western Sahara Resource Watch LONDON · Women Now For Development PARIS · Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice THE HAGUE · Women’s League for International Peace and Freedom GENEVA · Zentrum ÜBERLEBEN BERLIN PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS IN THE BERTHA JUSTICE INITIATIVE

LEGAL INTERVENTIONS INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY Afghanistan German airstrike in Kunduz Oral argument in the hearing of the case concerning the German Armed Forces’ airstrike near Kunduz on 4 September 2009. HEARING: 26 FEBRUARY 2020 GRAND CHAMBER OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, FRANCE Austria Torture in Syria Application of a Syrian torture survivor to become a joint plaintiff in the case through an ECCHR partner lawyer. SUBMITTED: 16 MARCH 2020 VIENNA PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, AUSTRIA Germany Sexual and gender-based violence in Syria Criminal complaint on behalf of seven Syrian plaintiffs regarding sexual and gender-based violence committed in Syrian Air Force Intelligence detention facilities as a crime against humanity. SUBMITTED: 18 JUNE 2020 FEDERAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, GERMANY Germany Access to information—Al-Khatib trial Support of a constitutional complaint filed by journalist Mansour al-Omari and a representative of the Syrian Justice and Accountability Center through ECCHR partner lawyers to grant Arabic-speaking journalists access to the trial’s simultaneous Arabic interpretation. SUBMITTED: 3 AUGUST 2020 FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL COURT, GERMANY Germany Airstrike in Gaza Submission of further evidence in the investigation of an Israeli military airstrike in Gaza that killed members of the Kilani family. SUBMITTED: 10 SEPTEMBER 2020 FEDERAL PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, GERMANY Germany Crimes during the Argentine military dictatorship Submission in the investigation of the German citizen Luis K, who was allegedly involved in crimes committed during the Argentine dictatorship. SUBMITTED: 16 SEPTEMBER 2020 BERLIN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, GERMANY Colombia Crimes against humanity Proposal of benchmarks for evaluating the ICC’s preliminary examination on Colombia. SUBMITTED: 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, NETHERLANDS Philippines Sexual slavery during World War II Response on behalf of 28 survivors of sexual slavery to the government of the Philippine’s submission. SUBMITTED: 5 OCTOBER 2020 UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, SWITZERLAND Germany Armed drones and US Air Base Ramstein Representation of three Yemeni nationals in appeal proceedings on the use of the airbase Ramstein in Germany for US drone strikes in Yemen. PREPARATORY SUBMISSION: 4 NOVEMBER 2020 HEARING: 27 NOVEMBER 2020 FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE COURT, GERMANY 56

APPENDIX Italy Armed drones and US Naval Air Station Sigonella Appeal of the Regional Administrative Tribunal’s decision in the freedom of information act litigation regarding armed drones and the US Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily. SUBMITTED: 11 NOVEMBER 2020 SUPREME ADMINISTRATIVE COURT, ITALY Germany Crimes against humanity in Syria— Al-Khatib trial Support of a motion by ECCHR partner lawyers to expand the charges against Anwar R to include rape and sexual coercion as part of the alleged crimes against humanity. SUBMITTED: 19 NOVEMBER 2020 KOBLENZ HIGHER REGIONAL COURT, GERMANY BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Europe European human rights due diligence law Study on corporate human rights due diligence in global supply chains. SUBMITTED: 24 FEBRUARY 2020 EUROPEAN COMMISSION, BELGIUM Germany Arms exports and women’s rights Joint submission on the impact of German arms exports on women’s rights in conflict regions. SUBMITTED: 27 FEBRUARY 2020 UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, SWITZERLAND Italy Arms exports and social rights Submission on the impact of Italian arms exports on economic, social and cultural rights in conflict regions. SUBMITTED: 13 MARCH 2020 UN COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, SWITZERLAND Germany Public investment in agribusiness Request for access to information on the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau’s environmental and social action plan with the agricultural company Paraguay Agriculture Cooperation. SUBMITTED: 9 SEPTEMBER 2020 KREDITANSTALT FÜR WIEDERAUFBAU, GERMANY Switzerland Pesticide poisoning in India Civil lawsuit by three Indian farmers against Swiss pesticide manufacturer Syngenta for compensation for deceased relatives and severe damage to health. SUBMITTED: 18 SEPTEMBER 2020 BASEL-STADT CANTON CIVIL COURT, ARBITRATION AUTHORITY, SWITZERLAND and OECD complaint against Syngenta by 51 affected families, together with partner organizations. SUBMITTED: 18 SEPTEMBER 2020 SWISS NATIONAL CONTACT POINT FOR THE OECD GUIDELINES FOR MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES, SWITZERLAND France Wind farms in Mexico Civil lawsuit by four members of the Unión Hidalgo indigenous community against the French energy company EDF to respect indigenous rights in a wind park project in Mexico. SUBMITTED: 13 OCTOBER 2020 PARIS CIVIL COURT, FRANCE 57

Croatia Push-backs to Bosnia and Herzegovina Additional submissions on the complaints of three Syrians, one of whom is a minor, regarding their collective and violent expulsion to Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 2018. SUBMITTED: 16 OCTOBER 2020 EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, FRANCE and Individual complaint by a Syrian against Croatia for six push-backs to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fall/winter of 2018/19. SUBMITTED: 11 DECEMBER 2020 UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE, SWITZERLAND Germany Push-backs under the Seehofer Deal Third-party intervention in the case of a Syrian who appealed his expulsion at the German border with Austria and immediate deportation to Greece. SUBMITTED: 2 NOVEMBER 2020 EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, FRANCE APPENDIX Argentina Corporate involvement in military dictatorship crimes Amicus curiae brief on historical and international standards relating to corporate aiding and abetting of crimes under international law. SUBMITTED: 3 DECEMBER 2020 FEDERAL CRIMINAL COURT, ARGENTINA MIGRATION Italy Sea rescue criminalization—Sea-Watch 3 Letter of complaint about Italian authorities’ criminalization of rescue at sea. SUBMITTED: 29 JANUARY 2020 UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, SWITZERLAND North Macedonia Push-backs to Greece Additional submissions on the complaints of eight people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan regarding their collective expulsion to Greece. SUBMITTED: 24 AUGUST 2020 EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, FRANCE Europe Frontex’s participation in push-backs in Croatia Request for access to Frontex documents on its deployment at the Croatian border. SUBMITTED: 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 EUROPEAN BORDER AND COAST GUARD AGENCY (FRONTEX), POLAND 58

APPENDIX INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION Belgium The Lumumba case Amicus curiae brief in the case of Belgian nationals’ alleged aiding and abetting of Patrice Lumumba’s murder in 1963, focusing on crimes under international law and decolonization. SUBMITTED: 30 JUNE 2020 BRUSSELS PUBLIC PROSECUTOR, BELGIUM Germany Genocide in Namibia Submission on the disregard of the Ovahero and Nama’s right to participate in the German and Namibian intergovernmental negotiations on the 1904–08 genocide and discussion of possible reparations. SUBMITTED: 31 OCTOBER 2020 UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE PROMOTION OF TRUTH, JUSTICE, REPARATION AND GUARANTEES OF NON- RECURRENCE, SWITZERLAND 59

CURRENT CASES AND PROJECTS INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND ACCOUNTABILITY Austria Assad intelligence officials under investigation Austrian authorities are investigating systematic torture in Syria. Together with 16 Syrian survivors and Syrian and Austrian partners, ECCHR filed a criminal complaint against 36 high-ranking Assad government officials in 2018. TORTURE France Investigations into torture at Guantánamo Since 2002, two former French Guantánamo detainees have been fighting to ensure that senior US officials are held accountable for torture at the US military prison in Cuba. ECCHR is assisting the two men in the proceedings and has submitted several dossiers on suspects in the case. In December 2019, the French appeals court confirmed the case’s closure. The men are now appealing to France’s Supreme Court. TORTURE Germany Crimes in Colonia Dignidad The German sect Colonia Dignidad in Chile saw years of grave human rights violations. ECCHR supports affected people’s struggle to hold two former leading members of the sect to account in Germany. In spring 2019, however, public prosecutors in Münster and Krefeld closed their investigations. An appeal was dismissed in December 2020. ECCHR has now filed a disciplinary complaint. Those affected also submitted a request for legal examination. REPRESSION Germany ECtHR complaint on airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan In September 2009, a German army colonel ordered US fighter jets to bomb two tanker trucks and a large group of people near Kunduz. ECCHR supported the case of Abdul Hanan, whose two sons (aged 8 and 12) died in the strike. In February 2020, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights heard the case. In February 2021, the court ruled: Germany made mistakes, but ultimately did enough to review the case. WAR CRIMES Germany First trial worldwide on state torture under President Assad In April 2020, the world’s first trial on state torture in Syria began in Koblenz, Germany. The case deals with two former officials of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s General Intelligence Directorate, Anwar R and Eyad A. ECCHR supports Syrian torture survivors, who are witnesses and joint plaintiffs in the proceedings. TORTURE Germany Germany must prosecute Argentine dictatorship criminals The Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office should investigate Luis K, a former Argentine officer, who allegedly participated in crimes against humanity during the military dictatorship. Because he faced imprisonment in Argentina, he fled to Germany in 2013. ECCHR supports the sister of a “disappeared” Argentine. REPRESSION 60

APPENDIX Germany International arrest warrant for former Syrian Intelligence Chief Jamil Hassan In June 2018, the German Federal Court of Justice issued an international arrest warrant against former Head of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence Service Jamil Hassan. The warrant is the result, among others, of four criminal complaints that ECCHR submitted with 24 torture survivors against senior Assad government officials. TORTURE Germany War crimes during the Sri Lankan civil war There have been no effective legal proceedings to date addressing crimes committed during the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009). ECCHR seeks to initiate appropriate criminal investigations into high-ranking military officers’ criminal responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual violence, e.g. on the basis of universal jurisdiction. WAR CRIMES Germany Ramstein Air Base and US drone strikes In summer 2012, a US drone strike in Yemen killed two members of the bin Ali Jaber family. The US Ramstein Air Base in Germany played a role in the strike. Because it allowed the US to use Ramstein for drone strikes, three Yemenis sued the German government with ECCHR’s support. In March 2019, the Higher Administrative Court in Münster, Germany, found in favor of the Yemeni claimants on key points. But in November 2020, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig overturned the ruling. ECCHR is now preparing a constitutional complaint. DRONE STRIKES Germany Sexual violence by Syrian intelligence services is a crime against humanity The German justice system should prosecute sexual and gender-based violence in Syrian detention centers for what it is: a crime against humanity. That is the goal of a criminal complaint that seven Syrian survivors of Assad’s torture system, supported by ECCHR and partners, filed with the German federal public prosecutor in June 2020. Germany War crimes in Gaza Members of the German-Palestinian Kilani family were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City in July 2014. Israeli authorities failed to examine the case. Having filed a criminal complaint with the German federal public prosecutor, family members and ECCHR continue to call on Germany to investigate. WAR CRIMES Italy Naval Air Station Sigonella’s role in the US drone program Armed US drones are stationed at Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily and deployed in military operations. The agreement between the US and Italy about the presence of the drones and rules for their deployment have not been made public. ECCHR filed a freedom of information act request to reveal this information. In October 2019, the Italian Supreme Administrative Court decided that the dispute over the release of information by the Italian Ministry of Defense will again be investigated in court. SEXUAL VIOLENCE DRONE STRIKES 61

APPENDIX Norway Syrian torture survivors demand justice To end impunity for Syrian state torture, five survivors from Syria and ECCHR filed a criminal complaint in Norway. It focuses on 17 high-ranking intelligence and military officers who were directly involved in or ordered torture, rape and murder. TORTURE Philippines Sexual violence in World War II During World War II, women in the Philippines were sexually enslaved by orders of the Japanese military. ECCHR and Filipino partners submitted a complaint to the UN in 2019 demanding the Philippines support members of the Malaya Lolas survivors’ organization in their fight for compensation from Japan. SEXUAL VIOLENCE Sweden Europe’s role in fighting impunity for torture in Syria Following criminal complaints in Germany and Austria, nine witnesses, along with ECCHR and Syrian and Swedish partners, filed a similar complaint against senior Syrian government officials in Sweden in February 2019. They are accused of committing and ordering torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity. An investigation is ongoing. TORTURE United Kingdom Torture by British military in Iraq British military and government decision- makers must be held accountable for UK torture in Iraq. ECCHR has filed multiple communications to the International Criminal Court documenting numerous allegations of abuse of former Iraqi detainees. Nevertheless, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor closed preliminary investigations in December 2020. TORTURE USA Criminal complaint against CIA Director Gina Haspel ECCHR is calling on the German federal public prosecutor to investigate former CIA Director Gina Haspel. The prosecutor should examine Haspel’s role in the torture, including waterboarding, of detainees in a secret CIA prison in Thailand. TORTURE BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS Argentina Mercedes Benz Argentina’s role in military dictatorship crimes ECCHR demands an investigation into a Mercedes Benz employee who worked in a factory near Buenos Aires and was allegedly complicit in the enforced disappearance and murder of trade unionists during the Argentine military dictatorship. Argentine companies Ledesma and Minera Aguilar face similar allegations. CORPORATIONS + REPRESSIVE REGIMES 62

France Wind parks in Mexico The French company Electricité de France has been working on the Gunaa Sicarú wind park project in Mexico since 2015. Turbines are to be built on Unión Hidalgo territory, but the indigenous community has not been sufficiently consulted. Unión Hidalgo representatives, ProDESC and ECCHR filed a civil lawsuit under the French Duty of Vigilance Law in October 2020. EDF should stop the project until human rights standards are met. RESOURCE EXPLOITATION Germany Heckler & Koch arms exports to Mexico The German company Heckler & Koch supplied assault rifles to police in the Mexican state of Guerrero in 2008–09. The weapons were allegedly used to shoot 43 Ayotzinapa college students in 2014. In February 2019, the Stuttgart Regional Court sentenced two former Heckler & Koch employees for fraudulently obtaining export licenses. In February 2021, the appeal hearing began at the German Federal Court of Justice. ECCHR supports the family of a victim that was not allowed to join the proceedings. ARMS + SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY APPENDIX Brazil VW do Brasil’s role in military dictatorship crimes Since its establishment, ECCHR has investigated corporate collaboration in military dictatorship crimes, such as those in Brazil. Since 2017, ECCHR has supported the case of persecuted trade unionists who worked at VW do Brasil. CORPORATIONS + REPRESSIVE REGIMES Europe ICC communication about corporate complicity in the Yemen war ECCHR and international partner organizations submitted a communication to the International Criminal Court in December 2019 to clarify corporate and state actors’ responsibility for alleged war crimes in Yemen. It focused on weapons manufacturers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, including Airbus, Leonardo and Rheinmetall. ARMS + SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY France Lafarge on trial for doing business with armed groups in Syria French courts are investigating the Lafarge cement company and its executives for financing terrorism and endangering the lives of its workers. Former Syrian employees filed criminal charges with ECCHR’s support in 2016. The company is accused of complicity in war crimes and colluding with IS to maintain operations. The French Supreme Court will hear the case of alleged complicity in war crimes in 2021. CORPORATIONS + REPRESSIVE REGIMES 63

APPENDIX Germany Spyware “made in Germany” for Turkish authorities? The Munich-based companies FinFisher, FinFisher Labs and Elaman are suspected of selling spy software to Turkish authorities without an export license from the German government. Following a criminal complaint by ECCHR and partner organizations GFF, RSF Germany and netzpolitik, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office opened investigations in August 2019. In October 2020, it searched several offices of the conglomerate in Germany and Romania. ARMS + SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY Italy European arms manufacturers’ role in war crimes in Yemen In August 2016, a Saudi Arabia and UAE-led coalition airstrike killed a pregnant woman and her four children in northern Yemen. ECCHR and partners from Yemen and Italy filed a criminal complaint in Rome in 2018 to establish the shared liability of RWM Italia— a subsidiary of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall—and Italian export authorities. In October 2019, the Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the case be dismissed. However, the competent court granted ECCHR’s appeal and is continuing the investigation. ARMS + SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY Germany TÜV SÜD’s role in the Brumadinho dam failure The January 2019 dam breach near Brumadinho, Brazil, killed 272 people. Only four months earlier, German certifier TÜV SÜD’s Brazilian subsidiary declared the dam stable. To clarify TÜV SÜD’s joint responsibility, five Brazilians and ECCHR filed complaints against the certifier and one employee with the Munich Public Prosecutor in October 2019. The Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated investigations. RESOURCE EXPLOITATION Italy RINA’s joint responsibility for factory fire deaths in Pakistan The Italian certification company RINA awarded the Ali Enterprises factory in Pakistan a safety certificate. Three weeks later, a fire there killed 258 people as a result of breaches in fire safety. ECCHR supports those affected and submitted an OECD complaint against RINA in 2018. After lengthy negotiations, RINA refused to sign the OECD mediation process agreement in December 2020. GLOBAL PRODUCTION CHAINS 64

APPENDIX Romania Mining company ignores human rights and environmental law Residents of Ros¸ia Montana˘, Romania, have been fighting to stop a gold mine’s construction. Canadian-British mining firm Gabriel Resources sued Romania at an international arbitration tribunal. In 2018, ECCHR submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of the residents. Arbitration in Washington, DC, is ongoing. RESOURCE EXPLOITATION Switzerland Indian victims take action against chemical company Syngenta In Yavatmal, India, hundreds of farmworkers were poisoned in 2017, some severely. Government documents show that the Swiss chemical company Syngenta’s pesticide Polo played an important role. Therefore, three affected persons filed a civil lawsuit for damages against Syngenta in September 2020 with the support of ECCHR and its partners. Another 51 families filed an OECD complaint against Syngenta in Switzerland. PESTICIDES 65 MIGRATION Croatia ECtHR demands answers from Croatian government For the first time, Croatia must answer the European Court of Human Rights for its push-back practices at its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. In May 2020, the court asked the Croatian government a series of questions based on individual complaints from three Syrian refugees, whom ECCHR supports. In February 2021, the Croatian government took a position on the matter. ECCHR will now respond. PUSH-BACKS Croatia Push-backs before the UN Human Rights Committee A Syrian refugee was repeatedly and violently pushed back at the Croatian border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. With ECCHR and PRO ASYL’s support, he filed an individual complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee, which was communicated to Croatia in December 2020. PUSH-BACKS Germany Deportations under the Seehofer Deal violate the European Convention on Human Rights The so-called Seehofer Deal allows Germany to immediately push-back refugees and migrants who come to Germany via Greece. This happened to Syrian asylum seeker HT. In October 2020, ECCHR and its partners therefore filed a complaint before the European Court of Human Rights. ASYLUM PROCEDURES

APPENDIX Italy Criminalizing sea rescue I The Iuventa search and rescue ship has helped many refugees and migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. In August 2017, Italian authorities seized it, marking the beginning of a targeted campaign to criminalize civilian sea rescue. In November 2019, ECCHR turned to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. She publicly condemned Italy’s actions in October 2020. SEA RESCUES Spain Fatal push-backs at the Moroccan border (Ceuta) At least 15 people died in a Guardia Civil push-back at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta’s Moroccan border in February 2014. ECCHR supports two survivors in criminal proceedings against the Guardia Civil officers. The investigation has been closed three times to date, most recently in October 2019. ECCHR’s two previous appeals were successful; the third is pending. PUSH-BACKS Spain Push-backs at the Moroccan border (Melilla) In February 2020, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights dismissed ND and NT’s complaints against Spain. In 2014, the men crossed the Spanish enclave of Melilla’s border fence structure into Spanish territory, and were immediately pushed back to Morocco. With ECCHR’s support, the men filed individual complaints about this to the ECtHR, and were initially granted justice in 2017. PUSH-BACKS Italy Criminalizing sea rescue II Italy systematically criminalizes, threatens and harasses activists who rescue refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean. In January 2020, ECCHR filed a complaint with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders that focused on Sea-Watch 3 and its captain Carola Rackete. In October 2020, the UN expert publicly condemned Italy’s actions against Rackete. SEA RESCUES North Macedonia Forced returns at the Greek border Eight refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria lodged individual complaints in September 2016 against North Macedonia at the European Court of Human Rights with ECCHR’s support. The refugees accuse North Macedonia of immediately returning them back to Greece in March 2016, in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. PUSH-BACKS 66

APPENDIX INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL INTERVENTION Belgium The Lumumba case Patrice Lumumba, former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had only been in office for a few months before he was assassinated in 1961. The former colonial power Belgium was one of the parties involved. Fifty years after Lumumba’s assassination, his son filed a criminal complaint; the case is currently pending. ECCHR has supported his case with several amicus curiae briefs, most recently in July 2020. COLONIAL CRIMES Germany (Post)colonial injustice in Namibia To this day, Germany has never apologized or paid reparations for its genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples in Namibia (1904–08). ECCHR supports Ovaherero and Nama descendants in raising awareness about this injustice in Germany, and in asserting their demands. COLONIAL CRIMES 67 World map ALL PAST AND ONGOING ECCHR CASES AND PROJECTS ARE MARKED ON THE ENCLOSED WORLD MAP.

PUBLICATIONS ECCHR PUBLICATIONS BOOK CHAPTERS ECCHR Tackling impunity: Self-empowerment of survivors of international crimes (2020) ECCHR Garment supply chains in intensive care? Human rights due diligence in times of (economic) crises (2020) ECCHR/Brot für die Welt/MISEREOR Menschenrechtsfitness von Audits und Zertifizierern: Ein Forderungspapier (2020) ECCHR/ILAW/Worker Rights Consortium Farce majeure: How global apparel brands are using the COVID-19 pandemic to stiff suppliers and abandon workers (2020) ECCHR/FIDH/REDRESS Breaking down barriers: Access to justice in Europe for victims of international crimes (2020) BOOKS Wolfgang Kaleck et al. (eds.) Recht gegen Rechts: Report 2020 (2020) Wolfgang Kaleck/Morten Bergsmo/ Kyaw Yin Hlaing (eds.) Colonial wrongs and access to international law (2020) Joumana Seif/Wejdan Nassif Stimmen gegen das Schweigen (2020) Karina Theurer/ Wolfgang Kaleck (eds.) Dekoloniale Rechtstheorie und Rechtspraxis (2020) Wolfgang Kaleck/Carolijn Terwindt “Non-governmental organization fact-work: Not only a technical problem,” in Morten Bergsmo/Carsten Stahn (eds.), Quality control in fact-finding (2020) Linde Bryk/Miriam Saage-Maaß/ Simon Simanovski “Individuelle strafrechtliche Verantwortung für Waffenexporte unter dem Rom-Statut,” in Katrin Höffler (ed.), Criminal Law Discourse of the Interconnected Society (2020) Miriam Saage-Maaß/Carolijn Terwindt “Recht im Kontext imperialer Lebensweise,” in Sonja Buckel/Ralph Christensen/Andreas Fischer- Lescano (eds.), Neue Theorien des Rechts (2020) ACADEMIC ARTICLES Wolfgang Kaleck “Diese Krise kommt nicht aus dem Nichts,” (2020) 13 Journal der Künste Wolfgang Kaleck “Fundierte Hoffnung. Der Kampf für Menschenrechte in Krisenzeiten,” (2020) 20 Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte Carsten Gericke “Zwischen effektivem Menschenrechtsschutz und Realpolitik. Die jüngere Rechtsprechung des EGMR zum Rechtsschutz an den EU-Außengrenzen,” (2020) 12 Asylmagazin, Zeitschrift für Flüchtlings- und Migrationsrecht Chantal Meloni “Individual criminal responsibility,” (2020) Oxford Bibliographies Claudia Müller-Hoff/Miriam Saage-Maaß “Kontrolle statt Freiwilligkeit: Konzerne an die Kette,” (2020) 1 Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 68

APPENDIX Miriam Saage-Maaß/Armin Paasch “Lieferketten unter Corona: Den Letzten beißen die Hunde,” (2020) 5 Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik Andreas Schüller/Mirka Fries “Inferno im Paradies: Fehlende Aufarbeitung von Kriegsverbrechen und deren Folgen,” (2020) 40/2 Südasien Andreas Schüller “Deutschland vor Gericht: Der Luftangriff bei Kundus,” (2020) 3 FriedensForum Andreas Schüller “Eine willkürliche Tötung,” (2020) 2 plädoyer BLOG POSTS Wolfgang Kaleck “Julian Assange: Pressefreiheit vor Gericht,” netzpolitik, 29 December 2020 Michael Bader “Beauty and the virus: Fashion brands, the UNGPs and (imagined) solidarity in pandemic times,” Völkerrechtsblog, 26 May 2020 Michael Bader “Working toward the world we want to live in,” Völkerrechtsblog, 15 June 2020 Linde Bryk/Marina Aksenova “Extraterritorial obligations of arms exporting corporations: New communication to the ICC,” Opinio Juris, 14 January 2020 Laura Duarte Reyes “Navigating new rights and responsibilities in the Colombian Atrato River—An ecocentric approach to human rights,” Università degli Studi di Padova, 1 December 2020 Hanaa Hakiki “N.D. and N.T. v. Spain: defining Strasbourg’s position on push backs at land borders?” Strasbourg Observers, 26 March 2020 69 Alexandra Lily Kather “First Yazidi genocide trial commences in Germany,” Just Security, 23 April 2020 Cannelle Lavite “The French loi de vigilance: Prospects and limitations of a pioneer mandatory corporate due diligence,” Verfassungsblog, 16 June 2020 Cannelle Lavite/Claire Tixeire/ Marie-Laure Guislain “Holding transnational corporations accountable for international crimes in Syria: Update on the developments in the Lafarge case (Part I+II),” Opinio Juris, 27/28 July 2020 Claudia Müller-Hoff “Der Dammbruch von Brumadinho—Wenn Normab- weichungen zum Normalzustand werden,” Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, May 2020 Miriam Saage-Maaß “Between utopia and affirmation of the status quo,” Völkerrechtsblog, 20 June 2020 Miriam Saage-Maaß “Überwachungstechnologie und menschenrechtliche Sorgfaltspflichten,” netzpolitik, 9 March 2020 Miriam Saage-Maaß/Maren Leifker/ Armin Paasch “Ein Lieferkettengesetz—wichtiger denn je,” Verfassungsblog, 4 June 2020 Andreas Schüller “The ICC, British war crimes in Iraq and a very British tradition,” Opinio Juris, 11 December 2020 Andreas Schüller “Werkzeuge für den Völkerrechtsbruch: Die Drohnen- bewaffnung in Deutschland und Rechtspositionen der Bundesregierung,” Verfassungsblog, 7 May 2020 Andreas Schüller “Tools to violate international law: Armed drones in Germany and the government’s legal position,” Opinio Juris, 22 May 2020 Ben Vanpeperstraete “Corona crisis lays bare the need for responsible conduct in dealing with business relationships,” SOMO, 20 April 2020

EVENTS Humboldt University Winter School: Human rights violations in Germany: Gender, colonial crimes and transnational corporations Karina Theurer, Judith Hackmack, Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) and others 6–24 JANUARY 2020 Made in Europe, bombed in Yemen: How we can use legal means to stop arms exports to war zones Ali Jameel (Mwatana for Human Rights), Hannah Neumann (MEP), Sabine Visser (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Teri Schultz (journalist) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) 6 MAY 2020 Deutsche Bomben und Flugzeuge für den Krieg im Jemen: Wie geht es weiter nach der Strafanzeige beim Internationalen Strafgerichtshof? Kai Ambos (Universität Göttingen), Bonyan Gamal (Mwatana for Human Rights), Ronen Steinke (Süddeutsche Zeitung) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) 3 JUNE 2020 Menschenrechtliche Sorgfaltspflicht— Was bedeutet das für Rüstungsunternehmen? Jochen von Bernstorff (Universität Tübingen), Carola Hausotter (Deutsche Menschenrechts- koordination Mexiko), Charlotte Kehne (Ohne Rüstung Leben) and Christian Schliemann (ECCHR) 9 JULY 2020 Sexualisierte Gewalt im System Assad Rula Asad (Syrian Female Journalists’ Network), Alexandra Lily Kather and Joumana Seif (ECCHR) 2 SEPTEMBER 2020 70 Second International Summer School: Human rights law in context Robert McCorquodale (University of Nottingham), Daniel Crampton (Daimler AG), Faisal Siddiqi (Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights), Markus Krajewski (Friedrich-Alexander- Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Linde Bryk, Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) and others 7–11 SEPTEMBER 2020 Surveillance. Privacy. Civil liberties. Wolfgang Kaleck in conversation with Edward Snowden Edward Snowden (whistleblower), Camille Massey (City University of New York) and Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR) 10 SEPTEMBER 2020 Conference and discussion: Lieferkettengesetz Made in Germany Susanne Gasde (German Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), Johanna Kusch (Initiative Lieferkettengesetz), Nina Richter (Tchibo), Andreas Rühmkorf (Sheffield University) and Michael Windfuhr (Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte) 21 SEPTEMBER 2020 Advancing child rights strategic litigation Aoife Nolan (University of Nottingham), Manu Krishan (Global Campus of Human Rights), Karabo Ozah (University of Pretoria), Leo Ratledge (Child Rights International Network), Ann Skelton (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child) and Claire Tixeire (ECCHR) 23 SEPTEMBER 2020 French arms exports and the conflict in Yemen: State responsibility and corporate duty of vigilance Aymeric Elluin, Sabine Gagnier (Amnesty International France), Ali Jameel (Mwatana for Human Rights), Dominique Potier (French MP), Patrick Wilcken (Amnesty International Secretariat) and Cannelle Lavite (ECCHR) 7 OCTOBER 2020

Strafverfolgung ohne Grenzen— Gerechtigkeit für Völkerrechtsverbrechen vor deutschen Gerichten Claudia Roth (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), Bente Scheller (Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung), Leonie Steinl (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Joumana Seif and Patrick Kroker (ECCHR) 12 NOVEMBER 2020 Syrian crimes before European courts: SGBV as a weapon of war Amal Nassar (Global Survivors Fund), Nasser Yassin (American University of Beirut), Mona Zeineddine (Road to Justice Campaign) and Joumana Seif (ECCHR) 19 NOVEMBER 2020 Syrian road to justice: Bridging the gap between accountability efforts and the needs of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Syria Walter Stevens (EU Delegation to the UN in Geneva), Miriam Shearman (UK Mission to the UN in Geneva), Michelle Jarvis (International, Impartial and Indepen- dent Mechanism—Syria), Noura Aljizawi (Start Point), Mona Zeineddine (Women Now for Development), Rand Sabagh (Syrian Female Journalists’ Network) and Alexandra Lily Kather (ECCHR) 7 DECEMBER 2020 APPENDIX Film talk “Discount Workers,” Berlin Human Rights Film Festival Christopher Patz (director) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) 6–7 OCTOBER 2020 School of resistance: A global jurisdiction for a global economy Sylvestre Bisimwa (Das Kongo Tribunal), Eva-Maria Bertschy (International Institute of Political Murder) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) 22 OCTOBER 2020 Das Kongo Tribunal—Kolwezi Hearings Colette Braeckman (Le Soir), Marc-Antoine Vumilia (author and director), Dorothée Baumann-Pauly (Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights), Nina Burri (Brot für alle), Oliver Classen (Public Eye), Mathias Binswanger (Fachhochschule Nordwest- schweiz), Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) and others 25 OCTOBER 2020 Italian arms exports to Yemen: State and corporate responsibility Bonyan Gamal (Mwatana for Human Rights), Francesco Vignarca (Rete Italiana Pace e Disarmo), Francesca Cancellaro (Studio legale Gamberini) and Cannelle Lavite (ECCHR) 27 OCTOBER 2020 Landmark trials in Europe on Syria Yusef Wehbe (Syrian Legal Development Programme), Haneen al-Naqry (Syrian Archive), Nasser Yassin (American University of Beirut) and Patrick Kroker (ECCHR) 11 NOVEMBER 2020 71

COUNCIL, ADVISORY BOARD AND TEAM COUNCIL Lotte Leicht EU director, Human Rights Watch, Brussels Dieter Hummel Lawyer and chair, Vereinigung Demokratischer Juristinnen und Juristen e.V., Berlin Andrea Bührmann Professor of sociology of diversity and director of the Institute for Diversity Research, Universität Göttingen, Göttingen Joshua Castellino Director, Minority Rights Group International/ Professor and dean, School of Law, Middlesex University London, London Tobias Singelnstein Professor, chair of criminology, Ruhr -Universität Bochum, Bochum Gaston Chillier Director, Department for International Affairs, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Buenos Aires EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD Theo van Boven Professor emeritus of international law, Maastricht University/Former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Maastricht Peter Weiss Former vice president, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York ADVISORY BOARD Alejandra Ancheita Lawyer, founder and director, ProDESC, Mexico City Priya Basil Writer and activist, Berlin Markus N Beeko Secretary general, Amnesty International Germany, Berlin Reed Brody Lawyer, Human Rights Watch, New York 72 Colin Gonsalves Lawyer and founding director, Human Rights Law Network, Delhi Florian Jeßberger Professor, chair of criminal law, criminal procedure law, international criminal law and contemporary legal history, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Bonita Meyersfeld Human rights lawyer/Assistant professor, School of Law, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg Manfred Nowak Professor of international law, University of Vienna/Former UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Vienna Jennifer Robinson Lawyer, London Annemie Schaus Professor of international and public law, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels Ole von Uexkull Director, Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Stockholm Vince Warren Executive director, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York

APPENDIX STAFF Wolfgang Kaleck General secretary Miriam Saage-Maaß Vice legal director/ Business and Human Rights Andreas Schüller International Crimes and Accountability Karina Theurer Institute for Legal Intervention Corina Ajder Business and Human Rights (since February 2020) Marie Badarne Institute for Legal Intervention Michael Bader Business and Human Rights/ Institute for Legal Intervention (Bertha Justice Fellow since September 2020) Maria Bause Media and Communications (since September 2020) Corey Barber Media and Communications Anabel Bermejo Media and Communications (through October 2020) Linde Bryk Business and Human Rights (consultant) Laura Duarte Reyes Business and Human Rights (Bertha Justice Fellow since October 2020) Rieke Ernst Assistant to the general secretary/ Institute for Legal Intervention 73 Mirka Fries International Crimes and Accountability (Bertha Justice Fellow through September 2020) Carsten Gericke Migration (consultant) Judith Hackmack Institute for Legal Intervention Hanaa Hakiki Migration Sönke Hilbrans International Crimes and Accountability/ Business and Human Rights Alexandra Lily Kather International Crimes and Accountability Arite Keller Media and Communications/ Institute for Legal Intervention Antonia Klein International Crimes and Accountability (Bertha Justice Fellow) Albert Koncsek Operations manager Patrick Kroker International Crimes and Accountability Cannelle Lavite Business and Human Rights Chantal Meloni International Crimes and Accountability (consultant) Claudia Müller-Hoff Business and Human Rights Hannah Müssemann General Operations/ Fundraising and Partnerships

APPENDIX Anna Ramskogler-Witt Fundraising and Partnerships (consultant) Silvia Rojas-Castro International Crimes and Accountability (since March 2020) Christian Schliemann-Radbruch Business and Human Rights Anne Schroeter International Crimes and Accountability (since July 2020) Yaroslavna Sychenkova International Crimes and Accountability Matthias Tasser Fundraising and Partnerships (since February 2020) Claire Tixeire Institute for Legal Intervention/ Business and Human Rights Michelle Trimborn Media and Communications Ben Vanpeperstraete Business and Human Rights (consultant) Matija Vlatkovic´ Migration (Bertha Justice Fellow) Allison West International Crimes and Accountability (since October 2020) Vera Wriedt Migration (Bertha Justice Fellow through August 2020) Nicolina Zimmermann Fundraising and Partnerships (since February 2020) 74 RESEARCH FELLOWS Ibrahim al-Kasem International Crimes and Accountability Britta Redwood International Crimes and Accountability (through July 2020) Delphine Rodrik Migration (September–November 2020) Joumana Seif International Crimes and Accountability Florence Stürmer Institute for Legal Intervention (since July 2020) PROJECT STAFF Adrian Bornmann Media and Communications (since July 2020) Hend Hussein Media and Communications (since September 2020) Simon Simanovski Business and Human Rights (through June 2020) Monalisa Business and Human Rights (through June 2020) Magdalena Kaffai International Crimes and Accountability (through July 2020) Alexander Gorski Business and Human Rights (since December 2020)

COOPERATION WITH UNIVERSITIES In 2020, we continued to work with: Bonavero Institute for Human Rights, University of Oxford (UK); Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, New York University (US); Centre for Human Rights Erlangen- Nürnberg, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen- Nürnberg (Germany); Chayes International Public Service and Arthur Helton Fellowship Programs, Harvard Law School (US); EUCLID, Clinique du Droit de l’Université de Paris Nanterre (France): HUWISU, Winter- und Sommeruniversität, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany); IHL Law Clinic, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University (Netherlands); International Humanitarian Law Clinic, Emory University School of Law (US); Law Clinic Grund- und Menschenrechte, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany); Law Clinic Praxis der Strafverteidi- gung, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany); School of Law, Università degli Studi di Milano Statale (Italy) APPENDIX CRITICAL LEGAL TRAINING PARTICIPANTS In 2020, Critical Legal Training participants came from ten countries: Argentina, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Morocco, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States 2020 legal trainees Teresa Amigo, Abby d’Arcy, Ole Bäßmann, Sophie Beermann, Anne-Lea Berger, Nicola Bier, Matthieu Binder, Amanda Brown, Annabell Brüggemann, Andreas Buser, Soraia da Costa Batista, Joe Delgrande, Laura Duarte Reyes, Nora Ebeling, Emilia Fischer, Sophie Früchtenicht, Alexander Gorski, Belén Goyeneche, Zeyneb Nuri Hamid, Magdalena Kaffai, Dominik Koos, Helena Krüger, Luxcy Lambert, Fin-Jasper Langmack, Ha Mi Le, Shaza Loutfi, Sarah Lupi, Gwinyai Machona, Monalisa, Franziska Oehm, Son Olszewski, Katia Perez Niño, Hannah Rainer, Lea Rösner, Maria Saab, Giuseppe Sambataro, Sophie Scheytt, Lina Schmitz-Buhl, Simon Simanovski, Ann-Charlotte Stürzel, Damia Taharraoui, Viola Tassarelli, Rojda Tosun, Estelle Zirn Media and Communications Adrian Bornmann, Sebastian Buck, Simona Koch, Lina Richert Bertha Justice fellows Michael Bader, Laura Duarte Reyes, Mirka Fries, Antonia Klein, Cannelle Lavite, Matija Vlatkovic´ Bertha Global Exchange fellows Michael Bader (Rasheed Razvi Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, Pakistan) Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung German Chancellor fellow Isha Khandelwal Internships, exchanges and research visits were generously sponsored by: Bertha Foundation, Kreuzberger Kinderstiftung 75

PARTNER LAWYERS AND ACADEMICS Dapo Akande Professor of public international law, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM Matthieu Bagard Criminal and human rights law PARIS, FRANCE René Bahns Criminal, administrative and constitutional law, Herzog & Kollegen FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GERMANY Ernesto Belisario Administrative law, Studio E-Lex Belisario Scorza Riccio & Partners ROME, ITALY Marcel Bosonnet Kanzlei Bosonnet und Wick ZURICH, SWITZERLAND William Bourdon and Apolline Cagnat Cabinet Bourdon & Forestier PARIS, FRANCE Gonzalo Boye and Isabel Elbal Criminal and human rights law, Boye-Elbal & Asociados MADRID, SPAIN Berenice Böhlo Asylum and migration law BERLIN, GERMANY Kirsten Campbell Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM Francesca Cancellaro Criminal law, Studio Gamberini Associazione Professionale BOLOGNA, ITALY Bernhard Docke Criminal law, Hannover und Partner BREMEN, GERMANY Björn Elberling and Alexander Hoffmann Copyright and media law KIEL/LEIPZIG, GERMANY Maik Elster Asylum and migration law JENA/LEIPZIG, GERMANY Julie Février Criminal and human rights law PARIS, FRANCE Jenny Fleischer Asylum and migration law BERLIN, GERMANY Élise le Gall International criminal law and environmental criminal law, Cabinet LE GALL PARIS, FRANCE Olaf Griebenow Labor law, TCI Rechtsanwälte BERLIN, GERMANY Halvard Helle and Vidar Strømme Schjødt OSLO, NORWAY Göran Hjalmarsson Advokatfirman Guide AB STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 76

Petra Schlagenhauf BERLIN, GERMANY Faisal Siddiqi Public interest litigation KARACHI, PAKISTAN Silke Studzinsky Criminal and international criminal law, Kanzlei Studzinsky | Hermanns BERLIN, GERMANY Babette Tondorf Criminal law, Kanzlei Menschen und Rechte HAMBURG, GERMANY Rodolfo Yanzón Criminal law BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA APPENDIX Matthias Lehnert Migration law, Jentsch Rechtsanwälte BERLIN, GERMANY Nadja Lorenz Asylum and criminal law VIENNA, AUSTRIA Thilo Marauhn Professor of public and international law, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen GIESSEN, GERMANY Christophe Marchand and Crépine Uwaschema Criminal and international criminal law, Jus Cogens BRUSSELS, BELGIUM Carsten Momsen Professor of criminal law, Freie Universität Berlin BERLIN, GERMANY Cecilie Nakstad Criminal law, Matrix Advokater OSLO, NORWAY Franziska Nedelmann Asylum and migration law BERLIN, GERMANY Hannah Rajbenbach Criminal and international criminal law PARIS, FRANCE Silvio Riesen Liability and insurance law, schadenanwaelte ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Sebastian Scharmer and Peer Stolle Criminal law, dka Rechtsanwälte | Fachanwälte BERLIN, GERMANY 77

NETWORKS AND DONORS ECCHR IS A MEMBER OF Bertha Justice Initiative Network, London, UK; Koalition gegen Straflosigkeit. Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit für die deutschen Verschwundenen in Argentinien, Nuremberg/Berlin, Germany; CorA—Netzwerk für Unternehmensverantwortung, Berlin, Germany; European Coalition for Corporate Justice, Brussels, Belgium; Forum Menschenrechte, Berlin, Germany; OECD Watch, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Allianz Rechtssicherheit für politische Willensbildung, Lübeck, Germany; Initiative Lieferkettengesetz, Berlin, Germany; and has consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. DONORS We are very grateful to the individuals and organizations who generously support ECCHR. Thanks to you, ECCHR is able to use legal means to defend human rights, and to act independently and operate effectively. We receive funds from various sources, including private, political and religious foundations, individuals, as well as publications, events and other activities. Some supporters wish to remain anonymous, and we respect their wish. ECCHR does not accept donations from sources that could foreseeably interfere with our independence or undermine our integrity. Nor do we accept donations from sources that work with organizations or states that violate human rights. WE WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND OUR SPECIAL THANKS FOR THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS WERE MADE POSSIBLE BY 78

Decolonizing the camera in practice Ixmucané Aguilar in Namibia WOLFGANG KALECK In his book Decolonising the camera, Mark Sealy describes how Western photographic practice has been used as a tool for creating Eurocentric, violent visual regimes. He asks, “Has photography been a liberating device or an oppressive weapon?” To explore this question, he references a group of British missionaries that documented abuses and killings in the early 1900s in the Congo Free State, then privately owned by the Belgian king. The photographs had a huge impact, forcing Leopold II to withdraw from the Congo, he was later replaced by the Belgian state. This “success,” however, was based on racist ascriptions and did not lead to the Congo’s liberation. Rather, it resulted in the construction of a “morally higher” colonial power. Aguilar’s ideas circle around the connection between the individual and the collective Ixmucané Aguilar is aware of these ambivalences. Born in political exile—far from Guatemala, where genocidal crimes were just one consequence of a colonial past and centuries of indigenous peoples’ violent oppression—she graduated from Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. We met in spring 2019 in Namibia, where she was traveling for several months and ECCHR was organizing conferences in Windhoek and Swakopmund on the genocides of the Ovaherero and Nama. Aguilar’s stories touch upon (post)colonial issues that continue to be discussed today. Between 1904 and 1908, the Germans slaughtered tens of thousands of Ovaherero, Nama and others, and robbed their land in what is now Namibia. The colonizers put their prisoners into concentration camps, where thousands of colonized people died, and others were tortured and raped. Many of the women who survived rape in these camps gave birth to children, the vast majority of whom were never acknowledged by their German fathers or the German authorities— not even today. Aguilar’s ideas for an exhibition—hopefully soon and in Namibia—circle around the connection between the individual and the collective. In her portrait series of people in present-day Namibia, she lifts each individual out of complex realities. Those depicted are full of self-awareness and dignity, not suffering victims of (post)colonial injustice. The pictures of Namibian landscapes and animals spread throughout this annual report form the backdrop against which the portraits can be understood—like the natural environment in which human history takes place. How can we achieve reparations for a genocide after 115 years? This difficult task must be organized as a multilayered process: indigenous communities must have their say, as well as civil society in both countries. Together with testimonies and archival material, Aguilar’s work contributes to reconstructing the collective memory that still struggles to be acknowledged. She demonstrates how thoughtful artistic interventions encourage us to think about this process that is long overdue. 81

FRAITAXTSE––S SORES TSÎN GE RA=⁄=⁄ GÂ [ E V E N F R I D A Y S S U N S E T S ] Ixmucané Aguilar Even Fridays sun sets — This is a Nama-phrase. It refers to a specific Friday. It was a traumatic Friday, a Friday full of fear — a day on which dignity and pride were traded for life. This Friday the men of the village were lured into the church. — to pray — but they were surrounded by german soldiers of the Schutztruppe, by machine gun of iron and taken hostage within the holy walls. The praying did the women … … even this day took an end with the setting sun. however, the certainty of fear remained … The history of Namibia has left many stories behind, stories consisting of living voices longing for acknowledgement and recognition. Injustice, genocide and violence enforced during the German colony are confronted today with the physical and psychological inheritance of the descendants. Genocide is a turbulent matter in Namibia, yet — and perhaps for this reason — largely ignored, underestimated and denied. Whilst staying in different parts of Namibia, I had the opportunity to exchange with descendants of the victims — who can vividly recall memories and ruptures left by human and land loss. From these personal encounters emerged documental fragments in form of portraits followed by poems, lamentations, family testimonies — complemented with archival material as cross- referencing sources. This photo-documentary compiles a portrait of the Genocide against the Herero and Nama people. It is neither an academic work on general history, nor a political statement. Rather than a depiction of individual stories and characters, the sequence of portraits and narratives are a collective evidence of human perspectives and its trans-generational effects. Pieces of humanity and time, which are recognisable as episodes from the present, past and future.

I S L A N D O F D E A T H Not a single plant grows on grey granite, gravel and rock — only bulks of seaweed rise and fall in the monotone rhythm of cold waves washing over bones. 11 500 Km by ship from Hamburg lies the small town of Lüderitz. Built on rocks and sand it is wedged in between the vast Namib desert and the cold southern Atlantic ocean. In 1883 Heinrich Vogelsang purchased a few hectares of dunes here — seemingly dead land. But it soon became the gateway for german settlers and officials to move into the interior and colonise theland. The town looks onto the bay, which is made up of stone structures protruding from the water. One of these stones is called Shark Island. It is a small peninsula, really, and the extension of the town’s main street, Bismarckstraße, leads right onto it. There is a camping place now. And there are white marble plaques in heroic commemoration of soldiers of the Schutztruppe. What is virtually invisible, though, is that this island was a place where thousands of Nama and Herero people were kept as prisoners of war under german colonial rule: a concentration camp. The fact that the living and working conditions on Shark Island were virtually unsurvivable make the majority of historians come to the conclusion that this was not only a prisoner’s camp, but rather a death camp — run by the military for military purposes. … It was a tactic of war and a continuation of the „extermination order” pronounced a few months earlier.. On the 12th December 1904, the Kaiser received a report from one of his African colonies. Fifty-five handwritten pages by officer Georg von Stillfried. His report describes in detail the implementation of what he called Geschlossene Niederlassungen — “confined areas”. He alludes to the “concentration camps” that the British had used in the Boer War in South Africa. What was new about Stillfried’s “confined areas” was that in addition to being concentration camps, the prisoners would be subjected to forced labour. Shark Island was one of many concentration camps in the former colony. Prisoners of war: men, women and children, were kept under sometimes harsh and sometimes lethal conditions. Native’s body- parts were skinned by women prisoners to be packed and sent to Germany for collectors and race scientists. Prisoners were „rented out“ to companies and settlers as a cheap workforce to develop the very land that was taken away from them. Harbours were built, railways were constructed, ships were unloaded, buildings were built, roads were built, land was fenced in, small and large enterprises emerged … within a couple of years the colony was a thriving land in which the german government could reinforce its reign in tranquility. 83

Omatjete Erongo Region, Western Namibia Herero Land Once I went to Germany and we visited the Schutztruppe-cemetery. I found myself in front of the grave of Major Klink … Katanaura — God is unchangeable. That was the name of my father — born in 1891. Tjingeeri Katanaura. He told me — He told me how he was imprisoned. Enslaved together with his people, men, women, children. My father was only a boy. They were taken to the island of death — Shark Island. Lüderitz. Cold rock, icy winds, no shelter — only hessian sacks. Uncooked rice and hard work … Five of my father’s family died. I want to see that island — it is 931 km from here. There is poor transport. In Lüderiz they were forced to work on the harbour and the railway tracks through the desert. The Lenz Company from Berlin was contracted. Thousand of prisoners from the island carried out the work. Unpaid. Thousands of people died. My father survived. He managed to escape with his uncle, whom the germans called „Dunkel-mann“. He was pitch black. His real name was we are killing people. Working on different farms they made their way back to their home region, it was now German occupied land. The town of Omaruru. Central Hotel. Germans dressed in white paraded to receive royal family. My father was given coffee to drink from a jam-tin. He now worked on his ancestral land for a white man. The white man’s name was Major Klink. [ ARCHIVE ] See Archive Nr. NANZBU_D-IV-l.170. 86

[ ARCHIVE. NANZBU_D-IV-l.169 ] [ STATISTICS ON DEATHS AMONG PRISONERS OF WAR OF THE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY ] Hereby, I respectfully submit to the Imperial Government statistics on the deaths among the prisoners of war transferred for the Lüderitzbucht railroad construction for the period from the beginning of the transfer until now. I assume that the figures will be of interest for comparison with the mortality rate on Shark Island. The figures differ somewhat from those reported in the appendix to the annual report. The figures given there are based on the reports of the railroad construction company in charge; the figures now given are taken from information provided by the construction management and are likely to be more accurate. The remittances were almost exclusively from Herero. 87

Bethanien IIKaras Region, Southern Namibia. Nama Land … I close my eyes. I can see Magdalena Witbooi. She was the wife captain Cornelius Frederick, a feared Nama worrier. When they were captured they were sent to Shark Island. She was separated from her husband and taken to a room. In this room she was raped by one german soldier after the other. I can see her … She can’t take it any longer. She begs for another duty. Through the window she sees other women, they are forced to boil the heads of their people and scrape off the flesh. With pieces of broken glass. Magdalena is sent outside to do the same — she has to scrape the heads and stack clean sculls into wooden boxes to be sent to german museums and race scientists. One day she sees her husband again. She holds him in her hands. The sound of glass on bone is the last thing we remember of our captain. 89

Maltahöhe IIKaras Region, Southern Namibia Nama Land Our Community was divided. On the one side of the dry river bed was the location where the black people were staying, and on the other side was the whites only residential area. I was a child in the house of my grandmother, together with my cousins. Oumama used to send us to buy bread in town. We had to cross the river. The white kids were waiting there and throwing stones at us. My grandmother instructed us every time, not to throw stones back at them. But we did — we had to, it was like a frenzy! The boys kept fighting, while the girls ran to get the bread. Grandmother was angry. She sent us to get branches from the „peperboom“. Oumama would beat each one of us. With every lash she cried out, stay away from those white children! Stay away from those white children! Stay away from those white children! or you will end up on the island … I didn’t know what island she was talking about, only years later I understood that it was Shark-Island, the island of death. The elders said that Oumama was born on that Island. 90

M O T H E R S „German blood runs through my veins“ — this is a statement made by many Herero and Nama people. It is an unpleasant matter, yet, simultaneously is not a taboo. Outright intimate violence, coercion, or wanted relationships that nonetheless were based on a power gap between German soldiers/ settlers and female prisoners, who had been stripped of most if not all rights in the colony, were a hidden normality in the early century. Colonise the land means colonise the people. 1904: 8000 soldiers of the Schutztruppe in South-West-Africa. 1906: over 15,000 soldiers of the Schutztruppe in South-West-Africa. 1913: 1746 “Mischlinge“ counted. All members of the Schutztruppe were white germans. It was undoubtedly a masculine world. Many settled on the newly acquired land. Rhetorics and general conceptions of race expansion, german superiority, rough and masculine, pioneers in the name of the Kaiser fostering greater militancy, war, the existential dependence of Herero and Nama workers on their „new masters“, the distances to the next neighbour, the silence in the bush. It was so easy and so tempting, so generally overlooked. Abuse and oppression … their way of mastering. What is a suppressed woman for a rough frontier in the desert? It did not matter. With every abuse the dignity of the native people sank a little lower, until it was covered by the dust on the ground. Women carry much of a people’s dignity. They are the mothers. Again they became mothers and this time the love for a child was mixed with the taste of a suppressor’s sweat. Routined masculine sadism, legitimised by a military cause. A particular way of waging war, not only against the leaders but against a people — against women. German fatherhood in Herero and Nama families and the general acceptance of seemingly inevitable war tactics make the reticence and resistance of the German Namibian community to act for reparatory justice even more deeply frustrating and unsettling. 91

Maltahöhe IIKaras Region, Southern Namibia Nama Land There was only one bed, we carried it outside every night. My grandmother slept on the bed, while my cousins and I slept on the ground next to the bed. The boys on one side, the girls on the other. With the open sky above us, we used to comb my grandmother’s hair. Among the girls we were fighting for a turn. Her hair was long and fine. Caucasian hair. It was very strange — I can still feel it between my fingers. Why was her hair different to ours? The brush didn’t get stuck, like it would get stuck in my hair. „Why is your hair like that? Why is it different to ours?“ We adored her soft long hair. „That’s not a child’s business!!“ the curiosity of a child was in me. I asked her over and over again, it was easy to guess that it was something that she didn’t want to talk about. Over time my grandmother opened up. With sadness in her voice she said: „I am the child of a german“. I couldn’t understand — black and white do not mix! In fact it was not allowed … Her mother was brought to a concentration camp. Women were rented out as slaves for german men. She got pregnant. twice … one girl and one boy. The father was a german settler. the girl is my grandmother … the boy got lost. 1915 — World War I The British troops crossed the borders. They found the concentration camp near Karibib. Okawayo. The people were transported by train. As the mother of my grandmother was getting on the train, she asked a Herero woman to hold the boy for her … The moment she wanted to pick up her son, the train left. The Herero woman ran after the train „take your boy! take your boy!“ But the train left! That is how my grandmother lost her brother. That is how my grandmother was released from the camp. I can see her and all the prisoners clutching to their meagre belongings in a desperate wish to get away from there … yet, probably wondering if it was another trap. 92

Gobabis Omaheke Region, Eastern Namibia Herero Land I am not a young man anymore. At the time of the Genocide, my grandmother was a young woman. Women were selected to be taken to the german farms. As a maid she worked in the kitchen. The man of the house was a former german soldier, now a farmer. His name was Statz Heinrich Bennecke. He is my grandfather. I don’t know if it was rape but it was without consent. He trained for 14 years as an officer in Germany and served for 17 years in Okahandja. He was married. His wife left him and went back to Germany. He never acknowledged the two daughters that he had with my grandmother. When he passed away his wife inherited his land. She came back and sold it all. Our land! … just like that … … then she left again. I searched for his grave — I wanted to see it. He is buried in Omaruru. It is 403 Kilos from here, the grave is abandoned. I am collecting money to mend it. I brought him flowers. He is my blood. 93

Otjimbingwbe Erongo Region, Northern Namibia. Herero Land Much of my childhood I spent with my aunt. She had a lighter skin than me, her father was a German man. Way back in the 60’s my aunty took us to our communal land in the reserve. Sheep, cattle and goats were our livestock. One day, a sheep was in labour. It was dying. I heard the noises that the sheep made. I ran to my aunty and told her. I was scared. She said: run and tell your uncle to boil his razors. She prepared two bottles of sheep milk with diluted water. My aunty cleaned the stomach of the sheep. She shaved it with my uncle’s razors … she cleaned it again with water. She cut the sheep open and two lambs came out of it. It was unbelievable that the two lambs were alive. The most unbelievable thing is how she knew they were two. My curiosity took me back to her: „how did you know that if you cut the sheep open there were going to be two lambs?“ „Do you know the picture of the white baby at our house in Karibib?“ — she asked. „Yes!“ — I said. „I also took that baby out of her mother, who died while she was giving birth.“ — she said. She told me how she learned to help giving birth: As a Child she was captured and taken to the concentration camp together with her mother. One day a german soldier was abusing her mother. She was a tall girl with a strong will. She overpowered the soldier to save her mother from the disgrace. Other soldiers laughed at the man. He stabbed my aunt through her hand with the bayonet on his gun. I remember my aunty’s hand was crippled. She gained respect together with her mother. She was now allowed to run along with the soldiers to see whatever they were doing. She followed the soldiers, when they were looking after their animals, when the animals gave birth. She observed — not in vein. She became a midwife. 94

L A N D When speaking of genocide, it is not only about human loss, but also about land. Lives were taken and land was taken. Between 1904 and 1908, German soldiers systematically killed or worked to death approximately 80,000 Herero and Nama people. Meanwhile, the colonial administration had enough time and enough forced labour to cast the foundation for a German society on the ancestral land of the victims. By 1908 the German government had grabbed a total of 46 million hectares of land. Five years later 15,000 german settlers, united by race and culture, inhabited this land. Land was forcefully de-habitated and ready to be re-habitated. Enthusiastic settlers turned the land into private property … … fences were installed, brick houses were built, dams were constructed; life stock, vegetables, trees, roads, boreholes, water tanks, water pipes, flushing toilets! Kolonialarbeit : progress as justification! A german wife, many children. Mischehenverbot — Ban on mixed marriages. Abendbrot, folklore songs, tales and rimes, Beethoven, Karl May, the Kaiser and his birthday, German sports clubs, German Carnival German beer — Deutsches Reinheitsgebot, Vaterland. Deutsche Werte: Nostalgia and race as justification! A German society that would distort, reinvent and deny history in speeches, literature, national flags and bronze statues … … until today. [ ARCHIVE ] See archive NAN_BKE224 -224a Progress achieved with forced labour of the same people who were dispossessed of their land. 95

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[ E H I ] Herero and Nama people were driven off their land. Land of the people — people of the land. The meaning of Land goes beyond substance and productivity. Omumborombonga — the tree that gave birth to the Ovaherero people and their cattle. The branches rise up, the wood is heavy as lead and the roots are firmly woven into the soil. Soil, land, country — there is only one word for them all: Ehi. Land where their ancestors are buried and the spirits remain living. Ancestors cannot be seen, but they reveal themselves to the world through the landscape. Every Herero who sets his feet on ancestral ground, sinks down and eats some of the soil — it is part of him. Land that sustained rituals. Mourning rituals. Holy fire. Speaking to the ancestors. Land that sustained culture. Land that sustained community. Land that sustained life. [ L E B E N S R A U M ] „We are like the tree that roots in a crevice. Either we push the rock apart and grow further — or we wither away … … It is not right either among nations or among individuals that people who can create nothing should have a claim to preservation. No false philanthropy or racial theory can prove to reasonable people that the preservation of any cattle-breeding South African negroes or their cousins on Lake Kivu and Lake Victoria, by any degree of independence, self-reliance and lack of culture, are more important for the future of humanity than the expansion of the great European nations and the white race in general. Should the German people renounce to become bigger and more efficient, to look for a freer living space for their sons and daughters in the world, because … some black tribe leads its barbaric natural existence on a piece of land, where ten thousand German families could have a flourishing life and increase the juice and strength of our people? Only by learning to create values in the service of the superior race … does the native gain a moral right to self-assertion.“ ** PAUL ROHRBACH, DER DEUTSCHE GEDANKE IN DER WELT Paul Rohrbach was a much read political author and professor for colonial economy at the Handelshochschule Berlin. Between 1903 and 1906 he acted as the settlement commissioner in South-West-Africa. 102

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[ ARCHIVE. NAN_BKE2244-224a ] The district offices determine the need for prisoners for labor purposes and indicate it to the Etappenkommando. 1. The accommodation of the prisoners shall be regulated by the respective administration. In villages they will be gathered in guarded stables, so that escape is prevented as far as possible. 2. 3. Clothing and food shall be provided by the employer. Children shall also be provided with meals … 4. As prisoners, they are not paid for their work. People working with prisoners shall pay compensation to the civil administration for this privilege. For each prisoner who is able to work, regardless of gender, 50 pfennigs per day are to be paid, or 10 marks per month in the case of a permanent transfer. 103

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Otjinene Omaheke region Herero Land [ H O W I T A L L B E G A N ] „In every nation’s life, there comes a time of ultimate sacrifice. There comes a time when every source the nation possesses is tested; a time when life seems unfair; a time when all life saving bridges are washed away by the storms; a time when our values, our faith, our patience and our ability to persist are pushed to their ultimate limits and beyond. When the white man ventured to travel on high seas of the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, by boats and ships, without a candle or a lantern, in the dead of the night, destined for a continent he had never seen before, his journey meant business. For the people of the land which is now Namibia, the man of no colour came out from the Atlantic Ocean. He indeed came from nowhere, so it seemed. But today, like scripture to marble, Africa and the white man are two inseparable twins. He posseses land. He paid for it in sweat and sundry, in blood and flesh, in kind and money, he argues. However, he took his power beyonds its limits for whatever possessions his children have in Africa today! … bear with me, the underground is painful. Human remains, the bones of our people are scattered all over our land. Dust hast settled, however the Genocide left a Void … by Adolphus S. Kangootui, descendant of Kandji family — which is well known among the Herero community for their unique healing attributes and spiritual connection to their ancestors. In the red dunes in front of the Otjimanangombe community lie the remains of this family, which were assassinated by german soldiers in 1904. From that day on, the dunes have remained holy. Today no one touches these dunes, there is not a single house, only human remains. 104

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Gam Region Otjozondjupa, North East Namibia Border with Botswana My ancestral land is near Okakarara … 432 Km from here. It is a challenge to live in Gam. It is a challenge to live in a so-called Native Reserve. We live here because of the diaspora. We are Herero, We live off the livestock, we live off the cows, we live off the land. Gam, is far away from everything, The closest place with health services is Grootfontein — 409 Kilometers. There is not a real transport infrastructure. People cannot afford a car. We were settled here more than 25 years ago. We came back from Botswana. We are the children of those Hereros, who fled over the Omaheke desert in 1904. We were always unwanted strangers in Botswana. … then we returned to our mother country And we were brought to this second-rate location. … nothing, only dust. Look at the drought in Gam, the land is overgrazed. We have our cows in cattle posts … 20 to 50 household stay in one plot. Obviously that is not sustainable for our livestock. so far, we have survived … There is a poisonous plant which kills our cattle. the „Otjikuryoma“ plant it grows easily in this drought, the cattle are hungry, how can they not be tempted to chew on the lush green leaves? Our cattle are dyeing. Germans in Namibia? I have no contact with any of them. I wouldn’t mind. 105

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IMPRINT PUBLISHER European Center for Constitutional European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V. ( and Human Rights e.V. (ECCHR ECCHR) ) General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck (V. i. s. d. P.) General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck (V. i. s. d. P.) Zossener Str. Zossener Str. 5555––5858, Staircase D , Staircase D 10961 Berlin Berlin 10961 Germany Germany Tel + Tel + 4949 (0) Fax + Fax + 4949 (0) (0) 3030 4040 0404 8585 9090 (0) 3030 4040 0404 8585 9292 info@ecchr.eu info@ecchr.eu www.ecchr.eu www.ecchr.eu THIS REPORT COVERS THE PERIOD THIS REPORT COVERS THE PERIOD 1 January to 1 January to 3131 December December 20202020 EDITORIAL DEADLINE 2020 March March 20212021 EDITING AND TEXTS Arite Keller Arite Keller Michelle Trimborn Michelle Trimborn TRANSLATION AND EDITING Corey Barber Corey Barber EDITORIAL SUPPORT Maria Bause Maria Bause David Kerkhoff David Kerkhoff Allison West Allison West IMAGES Ixmucané Aguilar Ixmucané Aguilar DESIGN Gregor Schreiter Gregor Schreiter PRINTING AND BINDING Druckerei Sportflieger Druckerei Sportflieger