Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Update
Trump-Putin Helsinki Summit: Human Rights Must be Front and Center
On July 16, President Trump will meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland. No formal agenda for the summit has been released but, given the severity of multiple global humanitarian crises, human rights must be front and center! On July 11, Amnesty International's Executive Director, Margaret Huang, and Eurasia Advocacy Director, Daniel Balson, sent a letter to President Trump calling on him to use the conference to tackle burning human rights challenges in Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine. The letter is reproduced below. July 11, 2018 President Donald J. Trump 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500 …
July 11, 2018
Press Release
Amnesty International calls for the release of Toffiq al-Bihani and the closure of Guantanamo Bay
As arguments begin in the case of Toffiq al-Bihani and ten others seeking release from arbitrary detention in Guantanamo Bay, Amnesty International reiterated its call for their release and the closure of the facility. “It is unconscionable that Mr. al-Bihani remains imprisoned without charge or trial at Guantanamo eight years after being cleared to leave, and having never even been accused of a crime” said Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA’s Director of Security with Human Rights. “Toffiq al-Bihani’s case highlights how the United States continues to employ arbitrary imprisonment, while offering impunity to those responsible for torture.” Al -Bihani, who…
July 11, 2018
Press Release
Nicaragua: State repression has reached deplorable levels
The repressive actions of the Nicaraguan government have reached deplorable levels, Amnesty International said today, after one of the bloodiest weekends since the repression of protests began almost three months ago.
July 10, 2018
Press Release
China: Liu Xia free and on way to Germany
Responding to reports that artist Liu Xia, widow of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, has left China and is traveling to Germany, Patrick Poon, China Researcher at Amnesty International, commented: “It is wonderful news that Liu Xia is finally free and that her persecution and illegal detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities has come to an end, nearly one year since Liu Xiaobo’s untimely and undignified death. “Liu Xia never gave up on her wrongfully imprisoned late husband, and for this she was cruelly punished. The Chinese authorities tried to silence her, but she stood tall for human rights.…
July 10, 2018
Report
Zimbabwe: Elections offer a chance to break with decades of gross human rights violations
Zimbabwe's election at the end of the month will take place in the context of decades of politically motivated gross human rights violations, including mass killings, the forced disappearance of critics and suppression of peaceful protesters, Amnesty International said in a new briefing published today. The briefing, Breaking away from the past: A human rights manifesto for Zimbabwe’s political parties and candidates, offers seven human rights recommendations for the candidates and political parties battling for control of Zimbabwe in the 30 July election. “As the country holds its first elections without former president Robert Mugabe on the ballot paper, it…
July 9, 2018
Press Release
Colombia: Killings of human rights defenders continue under a cloak of impunity and the silent complicity of the state
Colombia faces a grave human rights crisis as a result of repeated targeted killings of human rights defenders, while the authorities look on unperturbed, Amnesty International said today.
July 9, 2018
Press Release
Myanmar: Charging of Reuters journalists a black day for press freedom
Responding to today’s decision by a Yangon court to formally charge Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, with breaching the country’s Official Secrets Act, Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International’s Director of Crisis Response, said: “This is a black day for press freedom in Myanmar. The court’s decision to proceed with this farcical, politically motivated case has deeply troubling and far-reaching implications for independent journalism in the country. “In their investigations of military operations in Rakhine State, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were simply doing what journalists are meant to do – expose the truth and hold the powerful to…
July 9, 2018
Press Release
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s eighth Secretary General, to join Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy as Senior Fellow in 2018-19
Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced today that Salil Shetty, the outgoing Secretary General of Amnesty International, will join the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy as a Senior Fellow for the 2018-2019 academic year.
July 9, 2018
Press Release
Turkey: Conviction of six Zaman journalists “sends further shock through an already devastated media landscape”
Following the sentencing of six former columnists and editors of the shuttered Zaman newspaper to jail terms of between eight-and-a-half and ten-and-a-half years, and the acquittal of five others, Fotis Filippou, Amnesty International’s Campaign Director for Europe said:
July 6, 2018
Press Release
Amnesty International movement to vote on abortion and drug control policy positions
Amnesty International will be debating proposals to tackle the devastating human rights consequences of misguided attempts by countries to criminalize and restrict abortion and to punish people for using drugs. Delegates from around the world will be gathering in Warsaw, Poland, over July 6-8 to hold crucial votes on the organization’s positions on safe and legal abortion and how States control the production, sale and use of drugs. “We want to make sure we are well placed to fight for the human rights of millions of people whose lives are impacted by how governments criminalize or restrict access to abortion…
July 5, 2018
Press Release
Israel’s demolition of Khan al-Ahmar and transfer of its inhabitants are war crimes
Israel’s forcible transfer of Palestinians from their homes and settling of Israeli civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violate the Fourth Geneva Convention and are war crimes, Amnesty International said as it continues to monitor the fast-changing situation on the ground in the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar. This morning Israeli security forces closed off the areas surrounding the Khan al-Ahmar community in preparation for the demolition of the entire village, including schools, farmland, a mosque and the homes of all families living in the village. “Going ahead with the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar is not only profoundly cruel; it…
July 5, 2018
Press Release
UN: Next week, world leaders must take steps to end child migration detention for good
With hundreds of traumatized children still trapped in detention centres in the USA as a result of the Trump administration’s family separation policy, Amnesty International is calling on world leaders to take action by including a commitment to end child migration detention in the text of the Global Compact on Migration (GCM), which enters the final stage of negotiations next week.
July 5, 2018