Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Amnesty International USA Calls on ICE to Release Young Girl and Father
Four years after arriving in the U.S. to seek safety, fourteen-year old Astrid and her father Arturo were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the middle of the night and sent to Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania.
March 8, 2018
Press Release
NGO Statement on Reported Changes to U.S. Policy on Use of Armed Drones and Other Lethal Force
In advance of a deadline for the Trump Administration to disclose reported changes loosening the restrictions for using lethal force overseas, 13 organizations signed this statement of concern.
March 7, 2018
Press Release
Myanmar: Forced starvation of Rohingya highlights danger of premature returns
Reacting to the UN’s claim that Myanmar is continuing its campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya including through “forced starvation”, James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: “The UN’s findings sadly echo our own – there is no question that the Myanmar authorities’ vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya is still ongoing. Fleeing Rohingya told us how they are still being forcibly starved in a bid to quietly squeeze them out of the country. “This is yet more evidence that any plans for organized repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh are extremely premature. No…
March 6, 2018
Press Release
Honduras: Arrest of DESA executive must be followed by further action against those behind the killing of Berta Cáceres
president of Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA), for his involvement in the killing of environmental human rights defender Berta Cáceres, Erika Guevara-Rosas, the director of Amnesty International in the Americas, said:
March 5, 2018
Press Release
Syria: UN Human Rights Council must ensure those responsible for atrocities in Eastern Ghouta are held to account
Responding to the impending vote at the United Nations Human Rights Council on a resolution on the situation in Eastern Ghouta, Kevin Whelan, Senior Advocate at Amnesty International said:
March 3, 2018
Press Release
Honduras: Failure to identify those behind Berta Cáceres’ murder puts other activists at risk
The Honduran authorities’ failure to identify those who ordered the brutal murder of the environmental human rights defender Berta Cáceres and bring them to justice puts hundreds of human rights defenders at grave risk, said Amnesty International on the second anniversary of her killing on 2 March.
March 2, 2018
Press Release
Egypt: Use of banned cluster bombs in North Sinai confirmed by Amnesty International
Analysis of a Video released by the Egyptian Armed Forces proves beyond doubt that banned cluster munitions have been used in recent airstrikes in North Sinai, Amnesty International said today.
February 28, 2018
Press Release
Afghanistan: Civilian lives must be at the heart of the Kabul Process
The Kabul Process conference must put the protection of Afghan civilians and accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the heart of its discussions this week, Amnesty International said.
February 28, 2018
Press Release
Syria: Hundreds of civilian lives at risk as Afrin offensive escalates
Turkish military, and to a lesser extent Kurdish forces, are carrying out indiscriminate attacks in the embattled Syrian towns of Afrin and Azaz respectively in northern Aleppo, killing scores of civilians, according to eyewitness testimonies obtained and verified by Amnesty International.
February 27, 2018
Press Release
Syria: Alleged chemical weapons pact with North Korea would represent ‘a betrayal of humanity’
Reacting to a New York Times article alleging that an unpublished United Nations report reveals that from 2012 to 2017 North Korea secretly shipped supplies to Syria that could be used to produce internationally banned chemical weapons, Lynn Malouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said:
February 27, 2018
Press Release
Iran: Dozens of women ill-treated and at risk of long jail terms for peacefully protesting compulsory veiling
A warning by Iranian police that women could be jailed for up to a decade for joining protests against compulsory veiling has put dozens at immediate risk of unjust imprisonment and represents an alarming escalation of the authorities’ violent crackdown on women’s rights, said Amnesty International. More than 35 women have been violently attacked and arrested in Tehran alone since December 2017 for taking part in ongoing peaceful protests against the discriminatory and abusive practice of compulsory veiling. In an official statement on 23 February, the police warned that women would now be charged with “inciting corruption and prostitution,” which…
February 26, 2018
Press Release
Amnesty International Ads Rejected By WMATA to be displayed across Washington
An ad campaign from Amnesty International USA that was rejected by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) will be displayed across the city today and tomorrow, calling on activists to join together with the global human rights group in holding world leaders to account. The series of ads, which depict US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, warn that “a storm is brewing.” “We want to send a message to Washington – there’s a storm brewing and we’re ready to stand strong for human rights. Our world leaders, including President Trump, need…
February 26, 2018