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Responding to reports of a cooperative agreement between the United States and El Salvador, which would potentially force certain asylum-seekers to request asylum there, Charanya Krishnaswami, the advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, said: “This agreement makes a mockery of the right to asylum. People should not be forced to seek safety in countries where they will not be safe.  “El Salvador has one of the highest rates of violence in the world, including gender-based violence so rampant that Amnesty International declared it one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman. It…

September 20, 2019

Press Release

Amnesty International will participate in public hearings on protests and security in Honduras and on limits of access to asylum in the United States, as well as side events on institutional violence and discrimination against women engaged in sex work in the Americas, and on women’s sexual and reproductive rights in Venezuela, during the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ 173rd Period of Sessions from September 23 to October 2 in Washington DC.

September 20, 2019

Press Release

A new Amnesty International field investigation has documented an alarming pattern of the Hong Kong Police Force deploying reckless and indiscriminate tactics, including while arresting people at protests, as well as exclusive evidence of torture and other ill-treatment in detention.

September 19, 2019

Press Release

Antonio Guterres should publicly and unequivocally condemn the Chinese authorities’ abusive policies in Xinjiang and call for an immediate closure of camps containing an estimated one million Turkic Muslims, a coalition of five human rights groups, including Amnesty International, said in a letter to the UN Secretary-General.

September 17, 2019

Press Release

Today, Amnesty International condemned the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the Trump administration’s asylum ban to temporarily proceed. Charanya Krishnaswami, the Advocacy Director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, stated: “The asylum ban the Supreme Court has upheld could be a death sentence for people in search of safety and protection. The asylum ban is grounded in an ideology of hatred and xenophobia, and it cannot stand.  “Every person has the right to seek safety: this is a moment that will prove itself infamous, when the country turned its back on those it used to welcome and chose to ignore…

September 12, 2019

Press Release

Responding to media reports that two British-Australian women and an Australian man have been detained in Iran, with one of the women said to have been sentenced to ten years in jail, Eilidh Macpherson, Amnesty International UK’s Individuals at Risk Campaigns Manager, said:

September 11, 2019

Press Release

Responding to the Ninth Circuit’s decision halting the nationwide injunction of the Trump administration’s third country asylum ban, Amnesty International USA’s advocacy director for the Americas, Charanya Krishnaswami, said: “The Ninth Circuit has restored an impossible and cruel situation, where parts of the U.S. are now asylum-free zones. People’s ability to access safety should not depend on where they happened to ask for protection. “The asylum ban will force people to seek asylum in countries that are unsafe. Asylum-seekers have the right to protection, safety, and a fair process. We are deeply disappointed with this decision.”

September 11, 2019

Press Release

361 local and state elected officials from 46 states expressed their strong support for resettling refugees in their communities in a bipartisan letter sent to President Trump. The letter, supported by Amnesty International, HIAS, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), urges the President to restore the number of refugee admissions to its historical average and resettle at least 95,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2020. The letter was signed by Governors Jay Inslee of Washington and Tim Walz of Minnesota. They were joined by 64 Mayors, including Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Mayor Lori…

September 11, 2019

Press Release

Alejandra Barrera, a transgender Salvadorian activist who had been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention since November 2017, was released late Friday, September 6, 2019, as a result of international advocacy efforts, spearheaded by Amnesty International, the Translatin@ Coalition, National Immigrant Justice Center, and dozens of members of the United States Congress. "Through letters of support, people from around the world gave me the strength to continue in this struggle that was so hard for me. I’m here to keep fighting" said Alejandra in response to advocacy efforts on her behalf. Denise Bell, researcher for refugee and…

September 9, 2019

Press Release

A district court has reinstated the nationwide scope of its decision halting a Trump administration policy which would make people who have transited through other countries ineligible from seeking protection in the United States. Amnesty International USA advocacy director for the Americas Charanya Krishnaswami released the following statement in response: “Before today’s decision, entire parts of this country had essentially become asylum-free zones, where people in search of safety would be arbitrarily barred from asylum based on where they happened to cross the border. The court’s decision correctly recognizes that the right to asylum exists across the United States. "The…

September 9, 2019

Press Release

The on-going uncertainty around Brexit poses serious human rights issues, Amnesty International said today.

September 9, 2019

Press Release

The ongoing and escalating attacks against refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, and looting of foreign owned shops in South Africa, is a direct consequence of years of impunity and failures in the criminal justice system that have left this vulnerable group exposed and unprotected, Amnesty International said today.

September 4, 2019