Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Global: Facebook must help ‘lead fight against hate speech online’
Responding to the news that Facebook will no longer allow content supporting white nationalism and white separatism to be published, Tanya O’Carroll, Director of Amnesty International Tech, said:
March 28, 2019
Press Release
Brunei: Heinous punishments to become law next week
Cruel and inhuman punishments such as death by stoning for same-sex sexual acts and amputation for robbery will come into effect in Brunei Darussalam next week.
March 28, 2019
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Provisional release of three women activists a positive step, but bogus charges must be dropped
Responding to the release of three Saudi women activists, Iman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef and Ruqayyaa al-Mhareb, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research, said: “The release from jail of Iman al-Najfan, Aziza al-Yousef and Ruqayyah al-Mhareb, who will finally be able to return to their homes and loved ones after their 10-month ordeal of arbitrary detention and torture, is welcome news. “This is a long overdue step as these women should never have been jailed in the first place and their release should certainly not be on a ‘temporary’ basis. They have been locked up, separated from their loved ones,…
March 28, 2019
Report
If they can have her, why can’t we?
Police in the Dominican Republic routinely rape, beat, humiliate and verbally abuse women sex workers to exert social control over them and to punish them for transgressing social norms of acceptable femininity and sexuality, said Amnesty International in a new report released today. ‘If they can have her, why can’t we?’ chronicles the stories of 46 Dominican cisgender and transgender women sex workers, many of whom reported suffering various forms of violence, much of which amount to gender-based torture and other ill-treatment. The criminalized status of sex workers combined with profound machismo, fuels arbitrary detentions by police and enables these grave human…
March 28, 2019
Press Release
Syria: Unlawful attacks by government forces hit civilians and medical facilities in Idlib
Syrian government forces, supported by Russia, hit a hospital, blood bank and other medical facilities as well as a bakery and a school in towns and cities under the control of armed opposition groups in Idlib, in what appear to be direct attacks on civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks, Amnesty International said today after verifying six attacks.
March 27, 2019
Press Release
Kenya must not force refugees back to Somalia by closing Dadaab camp
Responding to news that the Government of Kenya plans to close the Dadaab refugee camp by the end of August, Amnesty International Kenya’s Executive Director Irungu Houghton said:
March 26, 2019
Update
Amnesty International USA Appropriations Requests for Fiscal Year 2020
March 26, 2019 On behalf of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and our more than two million members and supporters across the country, we submitted the following appropriations requests for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) to Congress today. As Congress debates funding priorities in the coming months, we urge that the U.S.’ contributions to global efforts ensure human rights are upheld, preserved, and protected. We request that the budgets for the Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) topline accounts be robustly funded to support human rights functions. Table of Contents Asia Americas Border Security…
March 26, 2019
Update
Amnesty International USA Recommends All House Members VOTE YES on veto override of H.J.Res. 46, Terminating the National Emergency Declaration
March 26, 2019 Dear Member of Congress: On behalf of Amnesty International USA and our more than two million members and supporters nationwide, we urge you to override President Trump’s veto and vote YES on the House Resolution to terminate President Trump's national emergency declaration. As we wrote in February, when the House originally voted on this resolution, by declaring a national emergency at the southern border, the President has manufactured a crisis for the purpose of militarizing the southern border region and blocking asylum seekers from safety in the U.S. The emergency declaration enables the President to raid…
March 26, 2019
Update
Amnesty International USA Statement on US State Department’s Foreign Policy Strategy and Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2020
March 25, 2019 The Honorable Eliot Engel Chairman Foreign Affairs Committee U.S. House of Representatives 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Michael McCaul Ranking Member Foreign Affairs Committee U.S. House of Representatives 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 RE: Amnesty International USA Statement on State Department’s Foreign Policy Strategy and FY20 Budget Request Dear Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, and members of the Committee: On behalf of Amnesty International and our more than seven million members and supporters worldwide, we hereby submit this statement for the record. Amnesty International is an international human rights…
March 25, 2019
Update
Amnesty International Statement for March 26 Hearing on “The Department of Homeland Security’s Family Separation Policy: Perspectives from the Border
For PDF version, click here: 2019.03.25 House Homeland Security Committee Hearing on Family Separation March 25, 2019 Rep. Kathleen Rice Chair Rep. Clay Higgins Ranking Member Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations Re: Amnesty International Statement for March 26 Hearing on “The Department of Homeland Security’s Family Separation Policy: Perspectives from the Border” Dear Chairwoman Rice, Ranking Member Higgins, and Members of the Committee: On behalf of Amnesty International and our more than two million members and supporters in the United States, we hereby submit this statement…
March 25, 2019
Press Release
Costa Rica: Authorities must guarantee the human rights of people fleeing the crisis in Nicaragua
The international community must support Costa Rica in its efforts to receive, protect and support people fleeing the human rights crisis in Nicaragua, said Amnesty International today.
March 25, 2019
Press Release
Trump Administration Reckless in Recognizing Israel Sovereignty Over Golan Heights
Condemning today’s announcement that the U.S. is recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Philippe Nassif, Middle East advocacy director at Amnesty International USA, made the following statement:
March 25, 2019