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LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - MAY 24: Refugees and migrants are seen swimming and yelling for assistance from crew members from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) 'Phoenix' vessel after a wooden boat bound for Italy carrying more than 500 people capsized on May 24, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. Numbers of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy has risen since the same time last year with more than 43,000 people recorded so far in 2017. In an attempt to slow the flow of migrants Italy recently signed a deal with Libya, Chad and Niger outlining a plan to increase border controls and add new reception centers in the African nations, which are key transit points for migrants heading to Italy. MOAS is a Malta based NGO dedicated to providing professional search-and-rescue assistance to refugees and migrants in distress at sea. Since the start of the year MOAS have rescued and assisted 3572 people and are currently patrolling and running rescue operations in international waters off the coast of Libya. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Press Release

Response to termination of operations of Aquarius rescue ship from Kumi Naidoo

Responding to news from MSF and SOS Mediterranée that the Aquarius search and rescue vessel has been forced to end operations, Amnesty…

December 7, 2018

LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - MAY 24: Refugees and migrants are seen swimming and yelling for assistance from crew members from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) 'Phoenix' vessel after a wooden boat bound for Italy carrying more than 500 people capsized on May 24, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. Numbers of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy has risen since the same time last year with more than 43,000 people recorded so far in 2017. In an attempt to slow the flow of migrants Italy recently signed a deal with Libya, Chad and Niger outlining a plan to increase border controls and add new reception centers in the African nations, which are key transit points for migrants heading to Italy. MOAS is a Malta based NGO dedicated to providing professional search-and-rescue assistance to refugees and migrants in distress at sea. Since the start of the year MOAS have rescued and assisted 3572 people and are currently patrolling and running rescue operations in international waters off the coast of Libya. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Press Release

Greece: Smuggling charges against humanitarian workers who saved refugees must be dropped

Responding to the release on bail of volunteers and staff who provided life-saving assistance to refugees, Kondylia Gougou, Amnesty International’s…

December 4, 2018

Nawal Benaissa, 36 yeards-old, is a mother of 4 who joined Hirak early on and became one of its main female leading voices. She took part to several protests with her husband and children and has been very active on social media. Her Facebook profile gained more than 80 000 followers, before authorities asked her to shut down during one of her detention in custody. She was arrested and held in custody for few hours four times between June and September 2017. This last time she was sued and on mid-February 2018, she was sentenced to 10 months suspended sentence and a fine of 500 hundred dirhams for inciting to commit an offence (by speech, cries or threats made in the places where public meetings, either through posters exposed to the public or by any means fulfilling the condition, advertising, including electronically, on paper and by audio-visual channel, if the provocation has not been followed by effect. Article 299 of the penal code). Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, the Court of Appeal has yet to rule. Benaissa responded to the court's decision on her Facebook page by expressing her continued support for the Rif protests. "I am proud to take part in the protests in the region and I denounce the imprisonment of Hirak activists. I demand their immediate release," she wrote. Few weeks ago, she moved from the northern city of Al Hoceima to another Moroccan city in order to flee harassment from authorities.

Press Release

Amnesty International launches world’s biggest human rights campaign

Women human rights defenders around the world are facing unprecedented levels of abuse, intimidation and violence, said Amnesty International as…

November 28, 2018

Yellow and white graphic with the Amnesty international logo on the bottom left and the word

Press Release

US government endangers asylum seekers with unlawful policies

Unlawful US border policies are leaving thousands of asylum seekers stranded in Mexico, where they are facing threats of deportation…

November 26, 2018

Sheet of paper Report

Papua New Guinea: Australian and PNG leaders must act urgently to save lives on Manus Island

The misery of indefinite detention in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is pushing increasing numbers of refugees and people seeking asylum…

November 21, 2018

Migrants seeking for asylum in the United States await near the US-Mexico border at El Chaparral crossing in Tijuana, Mexico on May 7, 2017. (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

Court Grants Temporary Relief to Desperate Families Seeking Asylum

In response to a court decision temporarily blocking the Trump administration from denying asylum to people seeking protection arriving between…

November 20, 2018

Press Release

This World Children’s Day, Children Must be Safe and Free from Detention

Ahead of World Children’s Day on November 20, Amnesty International is calling for all children currently being held at the…

November 19, 2018

LAMPEDUSA, ITALY - MAY 24: Refugees and migrants are seen swimming and yelling for assistance from crew members from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) 'Phoenix' vessel after a wooden boat bound for Italy carrying more than 500 people capsized on May 24, 2017 off Lampedusa, Italy. Numbers of refugees and migrants attempting the dangerous central Mediterranean crossing from Libya to Italy has risen since the same time last year with more than 43,000 people recorded so far in 2017. In an attempt to slow the flow of migrants Italy recently signed a deal with Libya, Chad and Niger outlining a plan to increase border controls and add new reception centers in the African nations, which are key transit points for migrants heading to Italy. MOAS is a Malta based NGO dedicated to providing professional search-and-rescue assistance to refugees and migrants in distress at sea. Since the start of the year MOAS have rescued and assisted 3572 people and are currently patrolling and running rescue operations in international waters off the coast of Libya. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Press Release

Libya: Refugees and migrants refuse to disembark ship in desperate plea to avoid detention and torture

Libyan, European and Panamanian authorities must ensure that at least 79 refugees and migrants who are on board a merchant…

November 16, 2018

Rohingya refugees from Myanmar's Rakhine state arrive near the Khanchon border crossing near the Bangaldeshi town of Teknaf on Septebmer 5, 2017. Nearly 125,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since a fresh upsurge of violence in Myanmar on August 25, the United Nations said September 5, as fears grow of a humanitarian crisis in the overstretched camps. The UN said 123,600 had crossed the border in the past 11 days from Myanmar's violence-wracked Rakhine state. / AFP PHOTO / K M Asad (Photo credit should read K M ASAD/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

Myanmar: Rohingya returns plan puts thousands at risk

Bangladesh and Myanmar authorities must immediately halt plans to send Rohingya refugees back to Rakhine State, Amnesty International said today.

November 14, 2018

Press Release

Cruel European migration policies leave refugees trapped in Libya with no way out

A year after shocking images purporting to show human beings being bought and sold in Libya caused a global outcry, the situation for…

November 12, 2018

Yellow and white graphic with the Amnesty international logo on the bottom left and the word

Press Release

Trump’s Proclamation to Restrict the Rights of People Seeking Asylum

In response to President Trump’s Proclamation to limit the rights of people seeking asylum along the Southern border, Amnesty International´s…

November 8, 2018

Migrants seeking for asylum in the United States await near the US-Mexico border at El Chaparral crossing in Tijuana, Mexico on May 7, 2017. (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

President Trump must abandon plan to close southern border to Central Americans seeking asylum

In response to reports that President Trump plans to take executive action blocking refugees and people seeking asylum from Central…

October 26, 2018