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Report
Countries across the Americas are failing to provide protection for Haitians on the move
States across the Americas are failing to provide international protection and safety for Haitians on the move, exposing them to a range of human rights violations, including detentions and illegal pushbacks by authorities; extortion; anti-Black racial discrimination; abuses by armed groups, including gender-based violence; and lack of access to adequate housing, healthcare, and employment, said Amnesty International and Haitian Bridge Alliance in a new briefing published today.
October 28, 2021
Update
Joint Statement: Biden Administration, UN Security Council Must Ensure Inclusion of Critical Human Rights Monitoring in MINURSO
In a joint statement released today, Amnesty International USA and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights called on the Biden Administration - as the mandate's penholder - and the UN Security Council to ensure the critical inclusion of a long-overdue human rights monitoring mechanism in the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which is expected to go to a vote on October 27th. Amnesty has thoroughly documented flagrant, unaccountable human rights abuses and crackdowns by Moroccan authorities in Western Sahara – detailed in a September white paper and an on-the-ground reports by Amnesty’s Morocco researchers in July. The administration’s penholder status…
October 25, 2021
Update
Amnesty International Calls on Biden Administration to Push For Western Sahara Human Rights Monitoring in UN Resolution
Today, Amnesty International USA wrote to the Biden administration regarding the upcoming United Nations Security Council debate on renewal of the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which is expected to go to a vote on October 27th. Amnesty International strongly urges the Biden administration, representing the U.S. as the mandate’s penholder and permanent Security Council member, to ensure the critical inclusion of a human rights monitoring mechanism as it drafts and proposes the resolution for MINURSO’s renewal. Amnesty has thoroughly documented flagrant, unaccountable human rights abuses and crackdowns by Moroccan authorities in Western…
October 19, 2021
Press Release
Taliban Must Allow Girls in Afghanistan to Return to School Immediately – New Testimony
Girls in Afghanistan must be allowed to return to secondary school and continue their education, Amnesty International said today as it published new testimonies from pupils and teachers documenting Taliban threats and violence.
October 14, 2021
Press Release
13 Hazara Killed by Taliban Fighters in Afghanistan’s Daykundi Province According to New Investigation
Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, in Afghanistan’s Daykundi province after members of the security forces of the former government surrendered, a new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed.
October 4, 2021
Update
The Human Rights Crackdown in Western Sahara and the Need for Action by the Biden Administration
Classified as a non-self-governing territory by the United Nations, Western Sahara has been under de-facto annexation by Morocco since the late 1970s. Morocco controls three-fourths of Western Sahara via unilateral annexation, with the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi liberation movement party which fought a war against Morocco for an independent state, controlling the remaining portion. In 1979, the UN via Resolution 34/37 called on Morocco to end its occupation and recognized “the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence,” as it has done several times since including in 1990 and even just last year. In 1991,…
September 27, 2021
Update
Amnesty International USA Calls on Congress to Prioritize Human Rights in National Defense Authorization Act Legislation
On September 22nd, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote to the U.S. House of Representatives in response to continuing advancement and votes on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022 to call on the House - and later the Senate - to prioritize human rights by passing the following amendments and ensuring inclusion in the final legislation of measures addressing critical issues. From suspending the arming of flagrant human rights violators to reducing dangerous militarization of law enforcement in the Untied States, it is essential that Congress take meaningful action for accountability and safety of at-risk communities. A…
September 23, 2021
Press Release
Taliban Wasting No Time in Stamping Out Human Rights in Afghanistan Says New Briefing Â
The Taliban are steadily dismantling the human rights gains of the last twenty years, said Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) in a new briefing published today, which documents the group’s wide-ranging crackdown since their seizure of Kabul little more than five weeks ago. Â
September 20, 2021
Press Release
Minister in Sri Lanka Accused of Holding Tamil Prisoners at Gunpoint Must Face InvestigationÂ
Responding to reports that Sri Lanka’s State Minister for Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation, Lohan Ratwatte, forcibly entered a state prison in Anuradhapura on 12 September and held Tamil prison inmates incarcerated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) at gunpoint and threatened to kill them, Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director said: “These dumbfounding reports go to show that our ongoing concerns regarding Sri Lanka’s treatment of prisoners, especially the authorities’ torture and other inhumane and degrading treatment of PTA detainees are all too valid. They also demonstrate the level of impunity for criminal behavior that is indulged at…
September 15, 2021
Press Release
A Decade of Deaths in Custody Unpunished Amid Systemic Impunity for Torture in Iran
Iranian authorities have failed to provide accountability for at least 72 deaths in custody since January 2010, despite credible reports that they resulted from torture or other ill-treatment or the lethal use of firearms and tear gas by officials, said Amnesty International following yesterday’s reports of yet another suspicious death in custody. Â
September 15, 2021
Press Release
Twenty Years After Authorization for Use of Military Force, Continued Lack of Accountability for those Harmed by Policies and Abuses
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Authorization for Use of Military Force on September 18, 2001, Daphne Eviatar, the director of the Security With Human Rights program at Amnesty International USA said: “On September 18, the 20th anniversary of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, we must not forget the lives destroyed and communities turned upside down as the United States conducted lethal assaults from Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Somalia.
September 14, 2021
Press Release
Continued presence of UN mission in Afghanistan essential to monitor and report on abuses
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must extend the UN’s mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and the UN must supply the staff and resources it needs to monitor, investigate, and report on human rights abuses on the ground in the country, said Amnesty International, ahead of a September 17 vote on renewing the mission’s mandate, which is due to expire that day.Â
September 14, 2021