Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
WTA’s Decision Should Push for Effective Investigation of Sexual Violence in China
Responding to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)’s decision to halt all competitions in China, Doriane Lau, Amnesty International’s China researcher said: “Amnesty International shares the WTA’s concern about the state censorship around allegations made by Peng Shuai and the related online discussion. The Chinese government has a track record of silencing women who make allegations of sexual violence.
December 2, 2021
Press Release
Biden Administration Must Prioritize Human Rights in US-China Policy
On Monday evening, President Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss US-China policy. In advance of this virtual summit, Carolyn Nash, Asia Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA, said: “The Biden administration must decide if they are going to defend human rights, and if President Xi will see clearly that human rights are central to US-China policy.
November 15, 2021
Press Release
#MeToo journalist and labor activist facing ‘subversion’ charge in China must be released
Responding to Chinese #MeToo activist Sophia Huang Xueqin and labor activist Wang Jianbing being officially detained under the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” Amnesty International’s China Campaigner Gwen Lee said: “The Chinese government’s disdain for human rights has once again been laid bare by these unjustifiable charges for two activists whose only so-called crime has been to peacefully advocate for the welfare of others.
November 9, 2021
Press Release
Release Jailed Wuhan Activist ‘Close to Death’ After Hunger Strike
A Chinese citizen journalist jailed for reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan is at risk of dying if she is not urgently released to receive medical treatment, Amnesty International said today.
November 4, 2021
Press Release
Amnesty International to Close its Hong Kong Offices
Amnesty International will close its two offices in Hong Kong by the end of the year, the organization announced today. The local ‘section’ office will cease operations on October 31 while the regional office – which is part of Amnesty’s global International Secretariat – is due to close by the end of 2021. Regional operations will be moved to the organization’s other offices in the Asia-Pacific.
October 25, 2021
Press Release
Tiananmen Vigil Convictions Highlight Accelerating Collapse of Freedoms in Hong Kong
Responding to the jailing after convictions for “unauthorized assembly” of 12 people who took part in a peaceful vigil to mark the Tiananmen crackdown on June 4 last year, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director Yamini Mishra said: “The jailing of 12 Hongkongers who took part in an entirely peaceful, but ‘unauthorized’, vigil to commemorate the victims of China’s violent Tiananmen crackdown is another outrageous attack on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
September 15, 2021
Press Release
National Security Law has created a human rights emergency in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s National Security Law (NSL) has decimated the city’s freedoms and created a landscape increasingly devoid of human rights protections, Amnesty International said in a new research briefing released today, exactly one year after the Beijing-imposed legislation took effect. ‘In the Name of National Security’ details how the law enacted on June 30, 2020 has given the authorities free rein to illegitimately criminalize dissent while stripping away the rights of those it targets. “In one year, the National Security Law has put Hong Kong on a rapid path to becoming a police state and created a human rights emergency…
June 29, 2021
Report
Draconian repression of Muslims in Xinjiang, China, amounts to crimes against humanity
Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region face systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution amounting to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said as it launched a new report and campaign today. In the 160-page report, ‘Like We Were Enemies in a War’: China’s Mass Internment, Torture, and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response team released dozens of new testimonies from former detainees detailing the extreme measures taken by Chinese authorities since 2017 to essentially root out the religious traditions, cultural practices and local languages of the region’s Muslim ethnic…
June 10, 2021
Report
Governments Must Stop Conniving with Fossil Fuel Industries to Burn Our Rights
The world’s richest governments are effectively condemning millions of people to starvation, drought and displacement through their continued support of the fossil fuel industry, Amnesty International said today. The organization’s new policy briefing offers a damning assessment of global failures to protect human rights from climate change, and outlines how human rights law can help hold governments and companies to account.
June 6, 2021
Press Release
United States Takes Historic Step In Protecting Uyghurs In China
Responding to President Trump signing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act into law, Joanne Lin, National Director, Advocacy and Government Affairs for Amnesty International USA, released the following statement. “Today, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020, which passed Congress overwhelmingly and was widely supported by Republican and Democratic lawmakers, was signed into law. This historic legislation sets into place a reporting system requiring the U.S. government to identify individuals who have committed torture, abduction, prolonged detention, and other human rights violations against Uyghurs and condemns the mass arbitrary detention of Uyghurs. “For years, the Chinese government has wrongfully…
June 17, 2020
Report
Death penalty 2019: Global executions fell by 5%, hitting a 10-year low
Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today. The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country. Meanwhile the number of executions doubled in Iraq, and Iran retained its place as the world’s second most prolific executioner after China, where the exact number of people put to death remains a state secret. However these states are bucking a global trend which saw…
April 20, 2020
Press Release
Disturbing expulsion of U.S. journalists further stifles access to information amid COVID-19 crisis
Responding to the effective expulsion of journalists working for three major U.S. newspapers in China, the Head of Amnesty International’s China team, Joshua Rosenzweig, said: “This shameful assault on freedom of expression targets journalists who have uncovered the reality of numerous human rights violations in China, from Xinjiang to Hong Kong. These publications have also been among those providing in-depth investigations into Wuhan’s COVID-19 outbreak. “This latest escalation of the tit-for-tat row between Beijing and Washington threatens to severely undercut the flow of accurate and independent information from China. At a time when the world needs to work together to…
March 18, 2020