Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Hungary: New law poses existential threat to NGOs
A new bill which would penalize NGOs that support migration is a deeply disturbing and unjustified assault on civil society, said Amnesty International.
February 14, 2018
Update
Re: Amnesty International urges the Senate to swiftly pass the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2017 (S. 2060)
Dear Senator: On behalf of Amnesty International and our more than seven million members worldwide, we urge you to swiftly pass the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act of 2017 (S. 2060). The bill was marked up by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 7, 2018. Since late August 2017 the Myanmar military has executed an ethnic cleansing campaign that has resulted in the displacement of an estimated 688,000 Rohingya – approximately the population of Washington, D.C. The military’s systematic campaign has consisted of mass murder, scorched villages, and mass rape of women and girls – acts that amount…
February 13, 2018
Press Release
Iran: Authorities refuse to release Canadian-Iranian academic’s body for independent autopsy in “callous cover-up”
In response to reports that the Iranian authorities have said they will refuse to release the body of the Canadian-Iranian academic Kavous Seyed-Emami to his family unless there is an immediate burial and no attempt to conduct an independent autopsy, Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty international’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and Africa said: “The authorities’ refusal to allow an independent investigation into the extremely suspicious death of Dr Seyed-Emami smacks of a deliberately orchestrated attempt to cover up any evidence of torture and possible murder. He was detained in Evin prison where detainees are held under constant surveillance and stripped of all personal possessions.…
February 12, 2018
Press Release
Israel/OPT: Israeli authorities must release teenage Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi
The Israeli authorities must immediately release teenage activist Ahed Tamimi whose continued detention is a desperate attempt to intimidate Palestinian children who dare to stand up to repression by occupying forces, Amnesty International said. Ahed Tamimi’s trial is due to start tomorrow in Ofer juvenile military court in the occupied West Bank. She faces 12 charges, including aggravated assault, after a video was posted on social media showing her shoving, slapping and kicking two Israeli soldiers in her village on December 15. “By refusing to release Ahed Tamimi since her arrest on December 19, the Israeli authorities have shown nothing…
February 12, 2018
Press Release
Baby Separated From Family by ICE Reunited with Mother, Father Remains Unfairly Detained
Three months after being separated from his father by ICE, one-year-old Mateo has been released into the custody of his mother, Olivia. Mateo was separated from his father, Jose, in November 2017 after Jose requested asylum at the San Diego border after fleeing persecution in their native El Salvador. Jose remains in detention despite having followed all procedures for seeking asylum. According to reports in December 2017, the Trump administration is considering a policy that would separate all families seeking asylum at the border. “Under no circumstances should babies and children like Mateo be torn from their families when seeking…
February 9, 2018
Press Release
As U.S. Senate takes up legislation, Amnesty finds fresh evidence of ongoing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar
The Myanmar security forces’ devastating campaign against the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State is far from over, Amnesty International said today, as it published new evidence of ongoing violations that have forced hundreds more people to flee in recent weeks.
February 7, 2018
Press Release
Syria: Witness testimony reveals details of illegal chemical attack on Saraqeb
The Syrian government’s use of internationally banned chemical weapons was laid bare once again on February 4 when a chlorine gas attack on the town of Saraqeb left 11 people in need of emergency treatment, according to testimony gathered by Amnesty International.
February 6, 2018
Press Release
South Sudan: US arms embargo should inspire tougher action from UN Security Council
Responding to news that the US government has imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan, now in its fifth year of an armed conflict that has led to widespread abuses and relentless suffering, Amnesty International USA’s Africa Advocacy Director Adotei Akwei said: “This long overdue announcement by the Trump administration must spur the UN Security Council to take greater action to prevent further killings of civilians and other gross human rights violations in South Sudan by imposing a comprehensive arms embargo to cut off the flow of weapons to the country.
February 2, 2018
Press Release
Re-arrest and detention of Amnesty chair hours after release ordered devastates family, disgraces justice
The decision to renew the detention of Amnesty International’s Turkey Chair mere hours after a court ordered his release must be immediately reversed and Taner Kılıç set free, said Amnesty International. “Over the last 24 hours we have borne witness to a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions. To have been granted release only to have the door to freedom so callously slammed in his face is devastating for Taner, his family and all who stand for justice in Turkey,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty. “This latest episode of his malicious detention has dashed the hopes of Taner…
February 1, 2018
Report
Punishment not protection: Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea
The Australian government has abandoned hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, leaving them in a situation that more closely resembles punishment instead of protection in Papua New Guinea, Amnesty International said in a new report today.
January 31, 2018
Press Release
Turkish court releases Amnesty Chair after nearly 8 months in jail
Following a decision by a court in Istanbul to conditionally release the Chair of Amnesty International Turkey, Taner Kılıç, after nearly eight months in detention, Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International’s Europe Director said the following.
January 31, 2018