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Press Release

After Coup, Myanmar Military Puts Chokehold on People’s Basic Needs

The Myanmar military has been carrying out indiscriminate attacks on its civilian populations and obstructing access to necessities critical to their survival since it seized power nearly a year ago on February 1, 2021, Amnesty International said today.

December 16, 2021

(MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Sheet of paper Report

Government Collapse in Afghanistan Marked by ‘Repeated War Crimes and Relentless Bloodshed’ – New Report

The Taliban, United States military, and Afghan security forces were all responsible for attacks that resulted in extensive civilian suffering before the country’s government collapsed earlier this year, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

December 14, 2021

Press Release

Survivors Describe Killings, Mass Displacement and Terror Amid Fighting in Western Equatoria, South Sudan

Dozens of civilians in South Sudan were killed and tens of thousands displaced amid fighting between armed groups in Western Equatoria state from June to October this year, Amnesty International said today, after carrying out an in-person investigation and interviewing dozens of survivors.

December 8, 2021

(Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Update

Joint Letter: The U.S. Must Comply with the Convention against Torture

On December 1, 2021, Amnesty International USA and eight other human rights organizations wrote to the Biden administration to express deep concerns about reports that the U.S. government has submitted to human rights treaty monitoring bodies, and to urge the administration to take the steps necessary to comply fully with its international human rights treaty obligations. In 2021, the United States issued three reports regarding its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment…

December 6, 2021

(Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

Press Release

Survivors of Gender-Based Violence Abandoned Following Taliban Takeover

Essential services for women and girl survivors of gender-based violence in Afghanistan have been decimated following the Taliban’s takeover of the country, Amnesty International said today.

December 5, 2021

Residential building destroyed by an airstrike by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition on 25 August in Faj Attan, Sana’a, killing 16 civilians and injuring 17 more. This photo was taken on 25 August. On 25 August, an air strike by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition hit a cluster of houses in Sana’a, severely damaging three of them, and killing seven children including all five of Buthaina’s brothers and sisters. The bomb that destroyed a residential building in Yemen's capital last month, killing 16 civilians and injuring 17 more - including five-year-old Buthaina who lost her entire family in the attack - was made in the USA.

Update

Joint Letter: Congress Must Block Biden Administration’s Wrongful $650 Million Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia or Risk Fueling Further U.S. Complicity in Rights Violations and Yemeni Civilian Suffering

In a joint letter released today signed by 50 international, Yemeni-led, and U.S. human rights and advocacy organizations, Amnesty International USA and other signatories are calling on Congress to block the Biden administration’s wrongful $650 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia by passing the joint resolutions led in the House by Rep. Ilhan Omar and in the Senate by Sen. Rand Paul by December 4th. With this sale, the U.S. government would risk further fueling suffering of civilians and complicity in Saudi force’s violations in Yemen—already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises rife with unaccountable war crimes, including with…

November 29, 2021

NEW JERSEY, USA - JULY 30: Mohamed Soltan, an Egyptian-American human rights Advocate who was a political prisoner in Egypt from August, 2013 to May, 2015 is seen in New Jersey, United States on July 30, 2017. Mohamed was shot, imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to life in prison on trumped-up and politically motivated charges. The U.S. government intervened at the highest levels and successfully facilitated his release and return to the United States on 31 May 2015. He stated that I tried forgetting the feeling of guilt that I was taking up the time and effort of the doctors in the makeshift hospital for a minor bullet wound when others, who are critically injured, needed their attention. I tried forgetting the pain I walked around with after getting the wound stitched up or the sound of bullets for 11 straight hours. I tried forgetting the smell of death, the rusty iron smell of blood and the smoky sharp smell of gunpowder as I laid on the floor unable to move, feeling debilitated, hopeless and helpless unable to scream or even utter a cry for help, just waiting for the bullet that missed my head to take me far away from that bloody war zone. I tried forgetting being shot at while running back to the hospital hours later to try and take refuge in a place that is suppose to have some sanctity. I tried forgetting the feeling of suffocation as a ton of people like me got shoved into the hospital. I tried forgetting the broken smile on little Ali's face as he sat next to me on his injured dad's lap, gasping for air. I tried forgetting Ali's dad twisting his wrist holding the makeshift paper fan he was using to air his suffocating son so he could do the same for me. I tried forgetting drifting in and out of consciousness as tear gas was shot inside crowded room full of injured people. I tried forgetting being in excruciating pain and suffocating at the same time. I tried forgetting being told that a safe exit was negotiated 11 hours later, but it was every man/woman f

Update

Biden Administration’s U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue Was a Human Rights Failure – Joint Statement from International, Egyptian Human Rights Groups

In a joint statement released today signed by 12 international and Egyptian human rights organizations, Amnesty International USA and other signatories criticized the Biden Administration's failure in its recent U.S.-Egypt "Strategic Dialogue" on November 8-9, 2021 to uphold seemingly any accountability on Egyptian authorities' myriad human rights violations. A dialogue during which several prominent human rights defenders and critics continued to be tried and sentenced in sham trials for exercising their rights to free speech. Amnesty and the signatories to the letter have thoroughly documented flagrant, systemic human rights abuses and crackdowns by the Egyptian government. The Biden administration’s lack…

November 23, 2021

(Photo by AMANUEL SILESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Press Release

Survivors of TPLF Attack in Amhara, Ethiopia Describe Gang Rape, Looting and Physical Assaults

Sixteen women from the town of Nifas Mewcha in Ethiopia’s Amhara region told Amnesty International they were raped by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the group’s attack on the town in mid-August 2021.

November 9, 2021

Update

Joint Statement: Biden Administration Must Meet With Palestinian NGOs Targeted by Israeli Authorities, Demand Gantz Rescind Appalling “Terrorist” Designations During DC Visit

In a joint statement released today, Amnesty International USA, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), and Human Rights Watch call on the Biden Administration to publicly challenge and demand the rescinding of Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz's appalling "terrorist" designation of six Palestinian civil society organizations—a decision based on secretive "evidence" allegedly obtained through torture of detainees—and raise its dangerous impact on both Palestinians and Israelis in any engagement with Israeli authorities. The administration must also urgently meet with the six targeted organizations. The groups are Addameer, al-Haq, Defense for Children Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Bisan…

November 5, 2021

(Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images)

Press Release

Sweeping Emergency Powers and Alarming Rise in Online Hate Speech in Ethiopia as Tigray Conflict Escalates

Ethiopia is teetering on the brink of a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe, Amnesty International warned today, amid worrying developments linked to the escalating Tigray conflict. 

November 5, 2021

(Photo by Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

Press Release

U.S. Military Denies Misconduct Involved in Kabul Drone Strike That Killed 10 Civilians

Yesterday, senior defense officials concluded there was no misconduct among U.S. military personnel who conducted a drone strike on August 29 in Kabul that killed 10 civilians.

November 4, 2021

Sheet of paper Report

Over 100 Organizations Sign Letter to National Security Council Calling for More Support for Afghans at Risk

We, the undersigned leaders of 103 non-governmental organizations in the international development, humanitarian, peacebuilding, refugee, immigration and resettlement, and veterans affairs sectors, write to express our alarm at the estimated tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans who were left behind after the August 31 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. These individuals played key roles in efforts to strengthen Afghanistan’s government, judiciary, civil society, and media and to protect human rights. For their work, many now face the threat of violent retaliation at the hands of de-facto authorities. Given the urgency of this matter, our community respectfully requests a CEO or…

November 1, 2021