Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Turkey: Court defies logic as Amnesty Turkey Chair kept in jail
In response to the continued detention of human rights defender, Taner Kılıç, after the latest hearing against him, Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General said: “Today’s heart-breaking decision to keep our colleague in jail is yet another travesty of justice. “After more than a year away from his family, and without a a shred of credible evidence presented to substantiate the absurd charges made against him, his cruel and protracted incarceration defies all logic. “Earlier this month, any fig-leaf of legitimacy for the prosecutor’s case was stripped away with the submission of the long-delayed police report. By failing to find any evidence that Taner…
June 21, 2018
Press Release
Nicaragua: Violence and state repression intensify despite numerous efforts at dialogue
Nicaragua remains mired in an ongoing cycle of violence, despite numerous efforts by Nicaraguan civil society for national dialogue and calls from international organizations to stop the grave violations of human rights committed by state agents and affiliated groups. Amnesty International has continued to monitor and document the grave human rights crisis in the country and can confirm that state repression and violence have intensified in recent weeks. According to the Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH), the number of people killed, most at the hands of the police and pro-government armed groups, has risen to over 190. The harassment…
June 21, 2018
Update
Sri Lanka: House Foreign Affairs Committee – Congressional Statement for the Record
On June 20th, 2018, Amnesty International USA submitted a Congressional statement for the record in anticipation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee Hearing on “Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka.” Please find a link below to the statement for the record: AIUSA-Statement-on-Human-Rights-Concerns-in-Sri-Lanka-Final-1.pdf Date: June 20, 2018 RE: House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Hearing on Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka Statement by Amnesty International USA In 2015, Sri Lanka made important commitments to the UN Human Rights Council that it would finally provide truth, justice and reparations to victims of human rights violations and that it would…
June 20, 2018
Press Release
Executive Order Imprisons Families Indefinitely, Inflicts Further Harm on Children
President Trump signed an executive order today mandating for children to stay with their parents in detention while their asylum claims are processed. This executive order seeks to modify the Flores Agreement, which states that children should not be held in detention for more than 20 days. Denise Bell, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Amnesty International USA, issued this statement:
June 20, 2018
Update
IT’S WORLD REFUGEE DAY. NOW WHAT?
Ryan Mace, Grassroots Advocacy & Refugee Specialist Today is World Refugee Day. Today is a day that we should pause to honor the millions of refugees who show us the best of humanity during some of its worst moments. When the United Nations established World Refugee Day, it did so to honor the courage, resilience, and strength that refugees show in the face of tremendous hardship. While the refugee crisis today is complex, there is one truth that cuts through it all: refugees are people, in need of a helping hand. Some are living amidst a constant state of war,…
June 20, 2018
Press Release
Turkey: “When I am released I want to carry on” says jailed Amnesty Chair
On the eve of the resumption of his trial, jailed Amnesty International Turkey’s Honorary Chair, Taner Kılıç, has made an impassioned plea for people not to stay silent on the issue of human rights abuses in Turkey and vowed to carry on his work when he is released. “When I am released I want to carry on. I know now more than ever how important human rights are,” Taner told Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty, who visited him in Şakran high security prison today. “Others in are in a worse situation than me,” Taner continued, stressing the need for solidarity with everyone…
June 20, 2018
Press Release
Hungary: Draconian anti-NGO law will be resisted every step of the way
Following the passing in Hungary of a package of punitive laws, including one criminalizing lawful migration-related work by activists and NGOs, Amnesty International’s Europe Director, Gauri van Gulik said: “It is a bitter irony that as the world marks World Refugee Day, the Hungarian Parliament voted today to introduce a law that targets organizations and individuals who support asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants. "Criminalizing essential and legitimate human rights work is a brazen attack on people seeking safe haven from persecution and those who carry out admirable work to help them. It is a new low point in an intensifying crackdown…
June 20, 2018
Update
Amnesty International urges House members to Vote NO on Speaker Ryan’s “Border Security and Immigration Reform Act” and Goodlatte’s H.R. 4760
On behalf of Amnesty International USA and our more than two million members and supporters nationwide, we have written a leter to Members of Congress, urging them to VOTE NO on both Speaker Ryan’s Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018 and Chairman Goodlatte’s Securing America’s Future Act of 2018 (H.R. 4760). If passed into law, these bills would only exacerbate the deeply damaging policy of separating asylum-seeking families from their children and denying them meaningful access to protection. We urge Congress to instead pass a clean and robust DREAM Act that provides permanent residency and a pathway to U.S.…
June 20, 2018
Press Release
Welcoming Refugees and Asylum-Seekers: Every Person Can Make A Difference This World Refugee Day
This World Refugee Day, Amnesty International USA is calling on all people living in the United States to welcome refugees and asylum-seekers into their communities. While some elected leaders would have us believe that those seeking safety do not deserve to be welcomed here in the United States, we know this to be false. Every day, we see the tremendous popular support that exists for welcoming refugees and asylum seekers in towns, cities, and public squares around the country. On this World Refugee Day, Amnesty International USA urges individuals to take action to welcome those in search of safety into…
June 20, 2018
Press Release
USA Leaves the UN Human Rights Council
Following the announcement that the United States will leave the United Nations Human Rights Council, Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said: “Once again President Trump is showing his complete disregard for the fundamental rights and freedoms the US claims to uphold. While the Human Rights Council is by no means perfect and its membership is frequently under scrutiny, it remains an important force for accountability and justice. “The US should urgently reverse this decision, which places it squarely on the wrong side of history. It is wilfully choosing to undermine the human rights of all people everywhere, and their…
June 19, 2018
Press Release
City of Rutland Passes “Refugees Welcome” Resolution
The Rutland Board of Aldermen in Vermont unanimously voted to approve a resolution declaring that refugees are welcome in their city. The vote occurred two days before World Refugee Day on June 20.
June 19, 2018
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Endorses Keep Families Together Act
Amnesty International USA is endorsing the Keep Families Together Act as introduced today in the House of Representatives by Representative Jerrold Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
June 19, 2018