foreign communications and for surveillance and does not impose due diligence of communication networks without oversight obligations throughout the whole value chain. when the declared aim is to determine the The law also failed to improve the right to usefulness of information for specific compensation for people who experience investigative purposes. abuses as a result of a lack of due diligence In June, the Federal Parliament passed by corporations. further amendments to intelligence laws FAILURE TO TACKLE CLIMATE CRISIS allowing German intelligence services to install surveillance technology (“state In March, the German Constitutional Court trojans”) on devices to monitor even ruled that the Federal Climate Protection Act encrypted communications. The intelligence was partially unconstitutional. The Court services can require that internet service found that the Act violated the rights of future providers assist in this process and can generations by imposing on them the undue exploit critical computer security burden of later drastic restrictions to vulnerabilities when installing the surveillance compensate for current insufficient measures software (so-called “zero-day exploits”). to tackle the climate crisis. Following the global Pegasus investigations, IRRESPONSIBLE ARMS TRANSFERS the German government admitted to the purchase and use of NSO Group’s Pegasus An arms export moratorium on Saudi Arabia, spyware. While the Ministry of the Interior extended in December 2020, remained in noted that it was only used in accordance place until the end of 2021. As in previous with German law for targeted surveillance, years, it only covered Saudi Arabia, not other concerns remained because NSO Group’s countries involved in the conflict in Yemen. spyware had been documented as facilitating The export of German parts and components human rights violations around the world. for joint European arms projects destined for RIGHT TO HEALTH Saudi Arabia remained permitted. Germany contributed €2.2 billion to the ACT- Accelerator and delivered 84 million Covid-19 GHANA vaccine doses to the COVAX initiative. The federal government opposed the TRIPS Republic of Ghana waiver proposed by the WHO and failed to Head of state and government: Nana Addo Dankwa put pressure on BioNTech to join the WHO Akufo-Addo Covid-19 Technology Access Pool or mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub to share its Cases of excessive use of force were knowledge and technology, and scale up reported. Prisons remained overcrowded. global manufacturing. Women continued to suffer discrimination Civil society organizations continued to raise and gender-based violence. Attacks against concerns over the fact that abortion is LGBTI people intensified. Efforts were regulated through criminal law. made to begin vaccinating at-risk people CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY and essential workers against Covid-19. Forced evictions left some people homeless. In June, the Federal Parliament passed the BACKGROUND Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains, which requires corporations based in In January, President Akufo-Addo was sworn Germany with at least 3,000 employees to in for a second term. In May, variations of the conduct human rights and environmental hashtag #FixTheCountry started being used due diligence from 2023. Concerns remained on social media by young Ghanaians calling regarding the limited scope of the law for social and economic reforms. because it only applies to large companies Amnesty International Report 2021/22 176