Newsroom

Press Release

Women and girls in Ireland finally have a once in a generation opportunity to have their right to decide what happens to their bodies recognized, said Amnesty International ahead of Friday’s referendum on abortion. The long fought-for referendum will give Irish people a chance to vote on removing a constitutional provision which bans abortion in all circumstances other than where there is a risk to the life of the pregnant woman. The provision, known as the Eighth Amendment, has meant that Ireland’s abortion law is amongst the most restrictive in the world. “On Friday, we have a historic opportunity to…

May 22, 2018

Press Release

Wikipedia enthusiasts from around the world are joining forces on 19 and 20 May 2018 to take part in a global edit-a-thon to shine a spotlight on extraordinary unsung women human rights defenders who have devoted their lives to fighting injustice. BRAVE:Edit, a collaboration between Amnesty International and Wikimedia (Wikipedia’s non-profit organization), will see hundreds of online activists from over 20 countries taking to the popular website to upload biographies of women human rights defenders. Women human rights defenders are women, in all of their diversity, working on any human rights issue, and defenders of all genders working on rights…

May 18, 2018

Press Release

Reacting to news that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services may adopt a "domestic gag rule" around Title X, the nation's program for affordable birth control and reproductive health care, Tarah Demant, Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA stated: “The proposal is deadly, discriminatory, and a blatant attempt to restrict women’s reproductive rights. “Such a plan defies human rights standards and puts the lives of all people, especially women of color and low-income women, at risk. It restricts people’s sexual and reproductive rights placing all those who may be pregnant in danger.…

May 18, 2018

Press Release

The Lebanese authorities’ disruption of activities planned for Beirut Pride Week is an outrageous attempt to deny the human rights of LGBTI people, Amnesty International said today. The authorities cancelled events within the program launched to commemorate International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), and briefly arrested Beirut Pride Week’s organizer Hadi Damien.

May 17, 2018

Press Release

Increased global activism is crucial to pressuring Brazilian authorities into solving the killing of the human rights defender and city councilor Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes, said Amnesty International today, two months after they were shot dead in Rio de Janeiro. “Without international solidarity, we fear Marielle’s tragic killing will not be solved. Two months on, we must keep mobilizing to show the Brazilian authorities that people here and all over the world won’t rest until justice is done,” said Jurema Werneck, Executive Director of Amnesty International Brazil. “Every day that goes by without developments casts fresh doubt…

May 12, 2018

Press Release

A Sudanese court’s sentencing today of a 19-year-old woman to death for killing her rapist husband in self-defence highlights the failure of the authorities to tackle child marriage, forced marriage and marital rape, Amnesty International said today.  Noura Hussein Hamad has been held in the Omdurman Women’s Prison since May 2017, and was today handed the death sentence for killing the man her father forced her to marry when she was 16 years old. “Noura Hussein life-long wish was to become a teacher but she ended up being forced to marry an abusive man who raped and brutalized her. Now…

May 10, 2018

Press Release

Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation to Honduras, despite the country’s deep political instability since December 2017. Over 86,000 people from Honduras in the United States are protected by TPS, including mothers and fathers of more than 53,000 U.S. citizens. If forced to return, many of these people could face grave danger and persecution. Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, issued this statement: “The Trump administration is turning its back on thousands of families who arrived from Honduras seeking safety. Many families, including children who…

May 4, 2018

Press Release

The failure to pass a reform to decriminalize abortion during El Salvador’s latest legislative cycle is a sickening step backwards for human rights, said Amnesty International today. “El Salvador’s lawmakers have blood on their hands after declining to even discuss the reform to decriminalize abortion. This desperately needed bill would have saved the lives of countless women and girls who are needlessly put at risk by the total ban on abortion. The wasted opportunity to end this injustice is a terrible blow to human rights in El Salvador,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly…

April 27, 2018

Report

Iraq: Women and children with perceived ties to IS denied aid, sexually exploited and trapped in camps  Iraqi women and children with perceived ties to the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) are being denied humanitarian aid and prevented from returning to their homes, with an alarming number of women subjected to sexual violence, Amnesty International said in a new report published today. The Condemned: Women and Children Isolated, Trapped and Exploited in Iraq reveals widespread discrimination against women living in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) by security forces, members of camp administrations and local authorities, who believe…

April 16, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the abduction of 276 school girls in Chibok, Osai Ojigho Director Amnesty International Nigeria said: “What happened in Chibok should have served as a wake-up call to the Nigerian government. Yet four years on, thousands more women and girls have been taken from their homes and forced to live in captivity, in events largely unnoticed and unreported by media. “The time is long overdue for the government to deliver meaningful action on behalf of all the victims of Boko Haram’s crimes. This starts by doing more to secure the release of…

April 13, 2018

Press Release

Regional leaders must prioritize the protection of human rights in their final declaration at the VIII Summit of the Americas and take immediate action to fulfil that commitment in their respective countries, Amnesty International said ahead of the summit in Lima, Peru, tomorrow. “From the discriminatory polices pushed by the Donald Trump administration to the violent repression of demonstrations in Honduras and Venezuela, the Americas has suffered an alarming pushback against human rights in the last years,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. “Confronted by the growing demonization of communities at risk and human rights defenders, regional leaders…

April 11, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the appointment of Win Myint as the new President of Myanmar, James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: “The Myanmar authorities should use the appointment of a new President as an opportunity to step back from the brink. We’ve seen a dramatic deterioration in the human rights situation in the last year, most especially for the Rohingya community who have been targeted in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing involving crimes against humanity. “While the military still wields considerable power, the civilian-led government most do more to end discrimination and ensure that perpetrators of…

March 28, 2018