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The staggering brutality of a recent military offensive in South Sudan – including murder of civilians, systematic rape of women and girls and massive looting and destruction – was fuelled by the authorities’ failure to prosecute or remove suspected war criminals, Amnesty International said in a new report today. ‘Anything that was breathing was killed’: War crimes in Leer and Mayendit, South Sudan, is based on the testimonies of around 100 civilians who fled an offensive by government forces and allied youth militias in southern Unity State between late April and early July this year. “A key factor in this brutal offensive was the failure…

September 18, 2018

Press Release

The decision of the Argentine Senate to reject the draft bill to legalize voluntary termination of pregnancy during the first 14 weeks represents the loss of an historic opportunity for the human rights of women, girls and others who can become pregnant, Amnesty International said today. “The Argentine lawmakers chose today to turn their backs on hundreds of thousands of women and girls who have been fighting for their sexual and reproductive rights. The senators who voted against this or abstained have therefore decided to agree on a system which forces women, girls and others who can become pregnant to…

August 9, 2018

Press Release

The international community must speak up for detained human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said today, after the Canadian ambassador to the country was expelled after calling for their release. “The international community must push Saudi Arabian authorities to end this draconian crackdown and targeted repression of human rights defenders in the country”, said Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns. “Instead of pursuing human rights reform, the government of Saudi Arabia has chosen to lash out with punitive measures in the face of criticism. States with significant influence in Saudi Arabia - such as the USA,…

August 6, 2018

Press Release

As a new law banning the wearing of face coverings in public comes into force in Denmark, Amnesty International’s Deputy Europe Director Fotis Filippou said: “All women should be free to dress as they please and to wear clothing that expresses their identity or beliefs. This ban will have a particularly negative impact on Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab or burqa. “Whilst some specific restrictions on the wearing of full face veils for the purposes of public safety may be legitimate, this blanket ban is neither necessary nor proportionate and violates women's rights to freedom of expression…

August 1, 2018

Press Release

The House Appropriations Committee must reject all funding increases for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in next year’s budget for the Department of Homeland Security, Amnesty International urged in a letter as the committee prepares to mark up the FY19 DHS budget. The current bill proposes increased spending on border enforcement, including an unprecedented $5 billion for President Trump’s Border Wall, as well as funds for 44,000 ICE detention beds per day, a record high. “This bill will threaten asylum seekers at every turn. It will fuel this administration’s cruel policies of detaining, deporting,…

July 24, 2018

Report

A host of austerity measures implemented by the Chadian authorities is pushing people into deeper poverty, undermining access to necessary health care and putting education beyond the reach of many, Amnesty International said in a new report published today. ‘Strangled budgets, silenced dissent: The human cost of austerity measures in Chad’ documents the impact of drastic spending cuts on the rights to health and education. It also charts the government’s crackdown on protesters and activists opposed to the austerity measures implemented in response to an on-going economic crisis. “We spoke to pregnant women who were forced to delay important ante-natal…

July 15, 2018

Press Release

Ahead of President Trump’s visit to the UK this week, Amnesty International is calling for Theresa May to “stand up to Trump” and to put the Anglo-American diplomatic relationship on a new “intelligently critical” footing. Amnesty International UK called on the Prime Minister to take up key human rights issues when she meets the president for talks, including the US administration’s policy of detaining child migrants and the reinstatement and expansion of a highly controversial “global gag rule” affecting funding for international women’s health programs. Meanwhile, Amnesty International, a host of other groups and thousands of members of the public…

July 12, 2018

Press Release

This World Refugee Day, Amnesty International USA is calling on all people living in the United States to welcome refugees and asylum-seekers into their communities. While some elected leaders would have us believe that those seeking safety do not deserve to be welcomed here in the United States, we know this to be false. Every day, we see the tremendous popular support that exists for welcoming refugees and asylum seekers in towns, cities, and public squares around the country. On this World Refugee Day, Amnesty International USA urges individuals to take action to welcome those in search of safety into…

June 20, 2018

Press Release

The Kyrgyzstani authorities must ramp up their efforts to put an immediate end to the appalling practice of “bride kidnapping”, Amnesty International said today as details emerged that an 18-year-old woman has been abducted and raped in an effort to force her to marry her attacker. The latest incident, which occurred on June 10 according to a local human rights organization, follows the kidnapping and murder of 20-year-old medical student Burulay Turdaliyeva in late May which triggered a public outrage. “These two horrific crimes have taken place within just 14 days of each other, suggesting that though laws exist to…

June 15, 2018

Press Release

Responding to reports that Abdulrasheed al-Faqih, the Executive Director of Mwatana Organization for Human Rights, was arrested this morning while on his way to Sey’oun airport in the southern Yemeni city of Mukalla, Samah Hadid, Middle East Campaigns Director at Amnesty International, said: “Abdulrasheed al- Faqih is one of Yemen’s most prominent human rights defenders and has worked tirelessly to expose the myriad human rights abuses committed by all parties in Yemen’s brutal conflict. He was arrested this morning by security forces affiliated to the internationally recognized Yemeni government while travelling to seek medical treatment, and we are now extremely concerned for his safety.…

June 14, 2018

Press Release

The bill to decriminalize abortion in Argentina, approved today by the Chamber of Deputies, is a fundamental step for the rights of women and people capable of conceiving, and a way of combating structural violence, said Amnesty International. “We’re celebrating this first step taken by the Chamber of Deputies in its decision to move towards decriminalizing abortion. New legislation could end a vicious circle where women have no option but to risk their lives, their health, and their freedom if they are sent to prison. Classifying the legal termination of a pregnancy as a crime has no basis in international…

June 14, 2018

Press Release

The Nigerian military is increasingly resorting to threats, intimidation and smears to discredit Amnesty International’s work documenting the human rights violations it has committed, Amnesty International said today. On May 24, 2018 the organization released a report, “They Betrayed Us”, which documented the prevalence of sexual violence against starving women and girls detained in satellite camps under the control of Nigerian soldiers and militia. The Nigerian military responded by organizing smear campaigns and issuing threats to “take action against Amnesty International”. “Rather than taking action to address the issues raised in this report, like investigating countless allegations of rape and other…

June 7, 2018