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Update

  February 26, 2019   Re: Amnesty International USA urges a vote “YES” on H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, and H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019   Dear Representative: On behalf of Amnesty International USA (“AIUSA”) and our more than one million members nationwide, we strongly urge you to support the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 (H.R. 8) and the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019 (H.R. 1112). The bills are scheduled for House floor votes as early as February 27th. If passed, these bills would require a background check prior to…

February 27, 2019

Report

The international community’s chilling complacency towards wide-scale human rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has emboldened governments to commit appalling violations during 2018 by giving them the sense that they need never fear facing justice, said Amnesty International as it published a review of human rights in the region last year. The report Human rights in the Middle East and North Africa: A review of 2018 describes how authorities across the region have unashamedly persisted with ruthless campaigns of repression in order to crush dissent, cracking down on protesters, civil society and political opponents, often with tacit support…

February 26, 2019

Update

To view PDF, click here: 2019.02.25 Vote Recommendation on H.J.Res 46 (25 Feb 2019) FINAL February 25, 2019 Re: Amnesty International USA Recommends VOTE YES on Terminating the National Emergency Declaration (H.J.Res. 46)   Dear Member of Congress:   On behalf of Amnesty International USA and our more than two million members and supporters nationwide, we urge you to VOTE YES on the joint resolution to terminate the national emergency declared on February 15, 2019 (H.J.Res. 46). A vote is expected on this resolution on Tuesday, February 26, 2019.   By declaring a national emergency at the southern border, the President…

February 25, 2019

Update

For PDF version, click here: 2019.02.13 House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Venezuela (12 Feb 2019) (for record submission). February 12, 2019 Rep. Eliot Engel Rep. Michael McCaul Chair Ranking Member House Foreign Affairs Committee House Foreign Affairs Committee   RE: Amnesty International Statement for “Venezuela at a Crossroads” Hearing   Dear Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, 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 for the record.   Amnesty International is an international human rights organization with national and…

February 25, 2019

Press Release

Members of Amnesty International USA from around the country and human rights activists from around the world will meet in Chicago from March 1-4 for its Annual General Meeting (AGM) to confront some of the most pressing human rights challenges ahead. This year includes a focus on gun violence, which AIUSA declared to be a human rights crisis in the country in a September report examining how all aspects of life in the United States have been compromised in some way by the unfettered access to guns, with no attempts at meaningful national regulation. “The ability to go about your…

February 25, 2019

Press Release

As US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un at a two-day summit on February 27 - 28 to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam, Francisco Bencosme, advocacy manager for Asia Pacific at Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:

February 25, 2019

Press Release

In the context of the arrival of international aid, and in response to multiple complaints of the use of force and attacks on demonstrators with firearms – including AK-type rifles – in Santa Elena de Uairén, Bolívar state, and in other areas of Venezuela, which have resulted in at least two deaths and 22 people wounded, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: “We demand that Nicolás Maduro put an end to the use of force. The security forces must refrain from using weapons of war and other firearms against the population, and the pro-Nicolás Maduro armed groups must…

February 23, 2019

Press Release

Reacting to reports of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “domestic gag rule” draft around Title X, the nation’s program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care, Tarah Demant, Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA stated: “This rule will be deadly. It will restrict reproductive and sexual rights, putting the lives of all people at significant risk, especially women of color and low-income women who are under-insured or uninsured. “It is clearly aimed at specific reproductive health institutions, like Planned Parenthood, that provide care to over four million people in the United States…

February 22, 2019

Report

Opposition leader Maurice Kamto will today be summoned by a military court on charges which carry the death penalty, as the Cameroonian authorities intensify their post-election crackdown on critics. Kamto, the president of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (Mouvement pour la Renaissance du Cameroun-MRC) is the first of a group of 131 people arbitrarily arrested last month and charged by the military court with rebellion, hostility against the homeland, incitement to insurrection, offence against the president of the republic,  and destruction of public buildings and goods, to be summoned by an investigating judge. They all face the death penalty which is…

February 20, 2019

Report

Governments across the world are increasingly attacking non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by creating laws that subject them and their staff to surveillance, nightmarish bureaucratic hurdles and the ever-present threat of imprisonment, Amnesty International said in a new report released today. Laws Designed to Silence: The Global Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations reveals the startling number of countries that are using bullying techniques and repressive regulations to prevent NGOs from doing their vital work. The report lists 50 countries worldwide where anti-NGO laws have been implemented or are in the pipeline. “We documented how an increasing number of governments are placing unreasonable…

February 20, 2019

Press Release

Responding to news that the government of Nauru has passed a law severely restricting medical transfers to Australia for refugees and asylum seekers, Meghna Abraham, Director of Global Thematic Issues at Amnesty International, said: “This move by the Nauru government is a dangerous and callous act that could have deadly consequences for the women, men and children whom Australia has exiled there. “Nauru has failed to provide refugees with the health care they desperately need. Denying them medical transfers is yet another blow and demonstrates just how far the human rights of refugees have slipped down Nauru and Australia’s agendas.…

February 20, 2019

Press Release

Venezuelan security forces under the command of Nicolás Maduro executed and used excessive force against people, and arbitrarily detained hundreds of others, including teenagers, in an escalation of their policy of repression as a means of controlling the people of Venezuela and particularly to punish residents of impoverished neighborhoods that decided to protest between 21 and 25 January 2019, said Amnesty International today. 

February 20, 2019