Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Nicaragua: In its attempt to avoid international scrutiny, government makes apparent its responsibility for human rights violations
Following the decision of President Daniel Ortega’s government to expel the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights mission one day after the presentation of its report “Human Rights Violations and Abuses in the Context of the Protests in Nicaragua”, on the serious crisis which the country has been facing since 18 April of this year, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:
August 31, 2018
Press Release
China: Systematic repression of ethnic minorities laid bare in UN findings
In response to the release of concluding observations on China by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Amnesty International’s Deputy East Asia Director Lisa Tassi said:
August 30, 2018
Report
Eswatini: Forced evictions expose flawed land laws as hundreds face homelessness
The Eswatini government must halt forced evictions which have left hundreds of people homeless and pushed them deeper into poverty, Amnesty International said in a new report today. They don’t see us as people: security of tenure and forced evictions in Eswatini details forced evictions in two areas of the country that resulted in more than 200 people, most of them subsistence farmers, being made homeless and without access to land where they could continue farming. Although the evictions involved a long legal process, they were carried out in the absence of adequate notice, genuine consultation and without adequate compensation, in…
August 30, 2018
Press Release
South Asia: Truth and justice still elusive for thousands of victims of enforced disappearance
As the world marks the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance, Amnesty International calls on governments across South Asia to deliver long overdue truth, justice and reparations to the families of thousands of people who have been forcibly disappeared, some of them decades ago. Enforced disappearances have scarred communities across South Asia, where in some countries this heinous crime is still persistent while others have failed to deliver on promises of truth, justice and reparations for the thousands who were wrenched away from their loved ones. “Enforced disappearance is one of the worst human rights violations. People are…
August 29, 2018
Press Release
Government must allow human rights defender Chelsea Manning to come to Australia
In response to the news that the Australian government is considering denying American activist Chelsea Manning a visa to enter Australia for a series of public talks, Claire Mallinson, National Director of Amnesty International Australia said: “Amnesty International is very concerned that the Australian government is seeking to silence American activist Chelsea Manning by intending to deny her a visa into Australia. “By refusing her entry, the Australian government would send a chilling message that freedom of speech is not valued by our government. It is not too late for the Government to change their mind. “Chelsea Manning is travelling…
August 29, 2018
Press Release
Mexico: Peña Nieto insists on covering up the truth about 43 forcibly disappeared students
In reaction to the video released today by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in relation to the enforced disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa in the southern state of Guerrero in 2014, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:
August 29, 2018
Press Release
IRAN: NAZANIN ZAGHARI-RATCLIFFE’S PANIC ATTACKS HIGHLIGHT ‘EXCEPTIONALLY CRUEL’ TREATMENT
Responding to reports from her husband that the jailed British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has suffered panic attacks in Evin Prison in Iran and collapsed this morning, Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK’s Director, said: “What the Iranian authorities are doing to Nazanin is exceptionally cruel. “Not only have they deprived her of her due process rights by locking her up for months in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer and subjecting her to a grossly unfair trial, but they’ve torn her away yet again from her daughter’s arms, subjecting them both to severe mental anguish and trauma. “Nazanin must…
August 29, 2018
Press Release
Open letter urges Google not to capitulate on human rights to gain access to China
Google’s reported plans to launch a censored search engine app in China would represent an alarming capitulation on human rights, and could have devastating consequences in a country where people are routinely persecuted for expressing their views, Amnesty International and other human rights groups said today.
August 28, 2018
Press Release
Yemen: Scathing UN report underscores need for arms embargo, tougher scrutiny
Responding to a scathing report published today by the United Nations Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen (GEE) which concludes that all parties to the conflict may be guilty of war crimes, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, said: “The GEE, in its first report, confirms what we have known for the past three years, namely that all parties to the conflict in Yemen have acted with utter disregard for civilian lives. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition and allied forces, Huthi and Yemeni government aligned forces have consistently carried out unlawful attacks, restricted access to humanitarian aid, carried out…
August 28, 2018
Press Release
Turkey: “We will not rest until they are all free”, Amnesty chief vows
Leading human rights champions – including Amnesty International’s newly appointed Secretary General, Kumi Naidoo, and Amnesty Turkey Honorary Chair, Taner Kılıç, appearing publicly for the first time since his release from prison – will today pledge to intensify the struggle to ensure the release of all those unjustly jailed in Turkey. The gathering, attended by civil society leaders and parliamentarians, will highlight the situation facing hundreds of human rights defenders, journalists, academics, lawyers, artists and others – jailed in the aftermath of the 2016 failed coup attempt. “All over Turkey, ordinary people with extraordinary passion are speaking out for justice and equality despite the…
August 27, 2018
Press Release
UN report adds to mountain of evidence of Myanmar’s atrocities against ethnic minorities
A blistering report released by the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) today brought yet more damning evidence of the Myanmar security forces’ atrocity crimes against the Rohingya and against ethnic minorities in northern Myanmar, Amnesty International said.
August 27, 2018
Press Release
Americas: States can make history by signing regional environmental treaty
Governments across Latin America and the Caribbean can make history and set new standards for protection of the environment and human rights by signing the Escazú Agreement during the UN General Assembly in New York on 27 September, said Amnesty International today in a joint open letter signed by 176 NGOs and delivered to the heads of state of all 33 countries in the region.
August 27, 2018