Newsroom

Update

Human Rights on Capitol Hill published by Amnesty International USA  July 17, 2018  In this edition of Human Rights on Capitol Hill: Family Separation: Amnesty International strongly opposes both Family Separation and Family Detention, and urges Congress to safeguard children and families seeking humanitarian protection. Yemen: Eight million civilians face starvation as civil war intensifies at Hodeida. Myanmar: Military leaders must be held accountable for atrocities against the Rohingya. Saudi Arabia: Ends driving ban but continues to imprison human rights defenders who fought for driving rights. Poland: Authorities launch campaign to crack down on peaceful protestors. Sri Lanka: Government is…

July 17, 2018

Press Release

In an interview with Fox News following the Helsinki Summit on 16 July, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the high civilian death toll from the US-led Coalition’s aerial bombardment of Raqqa, Syria. Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf responded: “The US-led Coalition should absolutely face heightened scrutiny for its conduct in last year’s four-month Raqqa offensive. Our field investigations in the bombed-out city revealed hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands injured in the battle to oust the armed group calling itself Islamic State. The Coalition must own up to its record on civilian casualties and pave the way for meaningful investigations and reparations…

July 17, 2018

Press Release

The US-led Coalition’s flurry of responses rejecting the findings of a recent Amnesty International report on the devastation wrought by their aerial bombardment of Raqqa last year demonstrates how deeply in denial they are about the large number of civilians killed and injured by Coalition strikes, the organization said today. Since the publication of “War of annihilation”: Devastating Toll on Civilians, Raqqa – Syria on 5 June, senior figures in the Coalition and its member governments have taken to social media, the airwaves and even the UK Parliament in a bid to dismiss the report’s findings that there was prima facie evidence that…

July 16, 2018

Press Release

The international community cannot abandon the Afghan people who have fled conflict and violence at a time when civilian casualties continue at record highs, Amnesty International said today, calling on governments to halt forced returns to Afghanistan. According to UN figures just released, 1,692 people were killed in the first six months of 2018 – more than at any comparable period of time since records began being compiled a decade ago. Over that same period of time, 3,430 people were also injured. “Given the numbers of people who continue to be killed and injured in Afghanistan, it is unconscionable to…

July 16, 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

“While both Trump and Putin have drawn justified criticism for their respective human rights records, their meeting presents a chance for both to make a profound difference on several global fronts, if they can rise to the opportunity,” said Daniel Balson, Amnesty International USA’s Advocacy Director for Europe and Central Asia ahead of the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland. “Both leaders have a choice: they can help end bloodshed in Syria and relieve the dire humanitarian crisis in Yemen or they can choose to look away from the human suffering their policies helped cause.” In…

July 13, 2018

Update

Ahead of the July 11, 2018 full committee hearing entitled "Advancing U.S. Interests in the Western Hemisphere", Amnesty International USA submitted a statement for the hearing record. The letter addresses Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel and reiterates the importance of strengthening human rights in the region. AIUSA supports foreign assistance that fosters implementation of policies to ensure that local communities, civil society organizations, including indigenous, marginalized groups, and local governments are consulted in the design, and participate in the implementation and evaluation of programs that affect them. This Committee has the duty to shape U.S. foreign policy and assistance that addresses regional…

July 13, 2018

Press Release

In the first six months of 2018, 100 hate crimes have allegedly been committed against people from marginalized groups, said Amnesty International India today, as it released data recorded on its interactive website, ‘Halt the Hate’. The term ‘hate crime’ is applied to criminal acts against people based on their real or perceived membership of a particular group, such as caste, religion or ethnicity. “The first step to ensuring justice and ending impunity for hate crimes is to highlight their occurrence. Our website seeks to draw attention to these alleged hate crimes by tracking and recording them. Many of these incidents…

July 13, 2018

Update

  Ahead of the June 13, 2018 Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing for Kimberly Breier to be Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Amnesty International USA submitted a statement with questions for the hearing record. Since 2015 Amnesty International has documented the deepening refugee crisis from the Northern Triangle region of Central America, its push factors and how Mexico and the United States have responded to the regional crisis. In an open letter to all members of the Organization of American States, in which the United States is a member, Amnesty International cautioned that significant social, economic and participatory…

July 12, 2018

Press Release

An investigation by Amnesty International experts has gathered credible evidence that it was Cameroonian soldiers depicted in a video carrying out the horrific extrajudicial executions of two women and two young children. While an investigation has now been announced, the Ministry of Communication earlier dismissed video footage of the killings as “fake news”. Extensive analysis of the weapons, dialogue and uniforms that feature in the video, paired with digital verification techniques and testimonies taken from the ground, all strongly suggest that the perpetrators of the executions are Cameroonian soldiers. “The Cameroonian authorities’ initial claim that this shocking video is fake…

July 12, 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

Report

Justice remains elusive a year after a network of secret prisons was first exposed in southern Yemen, Amnesty International said in a new report today that documents egregious violations going unchecked, including systemic enforced disappearance and torture and other ill-treatment amounting to war crimes.

July 11, 2018