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Press Release

Amnesty International has today launched Write for Rights, the world’s biggest human rights campaign, which this year champions children’s rights and youth activists.

November 17, 2019

Press Release

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement of school-children have been honored with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2019, the human rights organization announced today. “The Ambassador of Conscience Award is Amnesty International’s highest honor, celebrating people who have shown unique leadership and courage in standing up for human rights. I can think of no better recipients this year than Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future climate strike movement,” said Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of Amnesty International. “We are humbled and inspired by the determination with which youth activists across the world are…

June 7, 2019

Press Release

At least 60 people were killed following the January 28 devastating Boko Haram attack on Rann, a border town in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, Amnesty International has confirmed. The organization also analyzed satellite imagery which shows hundreds of burned structures in the town. Many of the destroyed structures only date back to 2017, suggesting they were shelters for internally displaced people who came to Rann seeking protection. “We have now confirmed that this week’s attack on Rann was the deadliest yet by Boko Haram, killing at least 60 people. Using satellite imagery we have also been able to confirm the mass…

February 1, 2019

Press Release

Responding to the Nigerian army’s suspension of UNICEF from operations in northeast Nigeria over allegations of spying and collaborating with Boko Haram, Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said: “Amnesty International strongly condemns attempts by the Nigerian army to demonize UNICEF’s lifesaving work in the northeast of the country, where the Boko Haram conflict has created one of the deadliest humanitarian disasters in the world. We see the suspension of UNICEF as part of a wider drive to intimidate international humanitarian and human rights organizations who are working to save lives in this devastating conflict. “The Nigerian army has accused UNICEF…

December 14, 2018

Press Release

In response to the Nigerian Army’s tweets using President Trump’s words to justify the fatal shooting of rock-throwing protestors. and the subsequent issuing of a statement denouncing Amnesty International’s calls for accountability, Amnesty International Nigeria Executive Director Osai Ojigho said: “Basic human rights are not subject to whims of the world’s leaders. Rather than engaging in a preposterous competition over who does a better job of violating human rights, the Nigerian government must hold its security forces accountable for the horrific killing of at least 45 peaceful protestors. Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, Margaret Huang said: “Donald Trump’s latest…

November 3, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the murder of aid worker Hauwa Liman by Boko Haram, Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria, said: “With yet another horrific killing of a humanitarian worker, Boko Haram has again demonstrated its brazen disregard for life. Hauwa Liman was providing desperately-needed humanitarian services to people affected by the conflict in the northeast of Nigeria. Her killing is a war crime. Under international humanitarian law, all aid workers must be protected from attack. “Boko Haram must immediately and unconditionally release the remaining health worker, Alice Loksha. As news of these grizzly killings emerge, the Nigerian authorities must re-double…

October 16, 2018

Press Release

The Nigerian military is increasingly resorting to threats, intimidation and smears to discredit Amnesty International’s work documenting the human rights violations it has committed, Amnesty International said today. On May 24, 2018 the organization released a report, “They Betrayed Us”, which documented the prevalence of sexual violence against starving women and girls detained in satellite camps under the control of Nigerian soldiers and militia. The Nigerian military responded by organizing smear campaigns and issuing threats to “take action against Amnesty International”. “Rather than taking action to address the issues raised in this report, like investigating countless allegations of rape and other…

June 7, 2018

Report

Thousands of women and girls who survived the brutal rule of the Boko Haram armed group have since been further abused by the Nigerian security forces who claim to be rescuing them, said Amnesty International in a new report released today.   "They betrayed us" reveals how the Nigerian military and Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian JTF) – a militia who work alongside them – have separated women from their husbands and confined them in remote “satellite camps” where they have been raped, sometimes in exchange for food. Amnesty International has collected evidence that thousands of people have starved to death in the camps in…

May 23, 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

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

Responding to today’s release of 101 of the schoolgirls abducted from a school in Dapchi, northern Nigeria by the armed group Boko Haram last month, Amnesty International’s Nigeria Director Osai Ojigho said:

March 21, 2018

Press Release

Nigerian security forces failed to act on advance warnings that a convoy of Boko Haram fighters was heading towards a town where they abducted 110 schoolgirls last month, an investigation by Amnesty International has revealed. The military failed to respond while Boko Haram conducted an armed raid on the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe state, on 19 February in an assault with chilling echoes of the infamous Chibok girls’ abduction of 2014. “The Nigerian authorities must investigate the inexcusable security lapses that allowed this abduction to take place without any tangible attempt to prevent it,” said…

March 19, 2018