Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Artist Detained in Russia Amid Clampdown on Anti-War Feminists
The Vasileostrovsky District Court in Saint Petersburg today placed Aleksandra Skochilenko, an activist who replaced price tags in supermarkets with anti-war slogans, into pre-trial detention amid a wider clampdown on a network of feminist-led anti-war activists, Amnesty International said today.
April 13, 2022
Press Release
Authorities Close Down Amnesty International’s Moscow Office
Today, the Russian authorities have closed down representative offices of Amnesty International and other international NGOs. Reacting to the news, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said: “Amnesty’s closing down in Russia is only the latest in a long list of organizations that have been punished for defending human rights and speaking the truth to the Russian authorities. In a country where scores of activists and dissidents have been imprisoned, killed or exiled, where independent media has been smeared, blocked or forced to self-censor, and where civil society organizations have been outlawed or liquidated, you must be doing something…
April 8, 2022
Press Release
Bernardo Caal Xol should never have spent a day in prison
Today, March 24, 2022, Bernardo Caal Xol was released from the penitentiary centre in Cobán after more than four years of imprisonment. The defender's lawyers reported that a judge had ordered his release for good behavior.
March 24, 2022
Press Release
Over 100 environmental and human rights organizations join Amnesty International’s call for Biden to pardon Steven Donziger
For more than two years, human rights lawyer Steven Donziger - currently serving the remainder of a six month sentence on house arrest - has been arbitrarily detained in apparent retaliation for his work to hold Chevron accountable for its deliberate dumping of more than 16 billion gallons of toxic oil waste into the Amazon rainforest. Despite repeated calls from human rights advocates and governmental authorities for Donziger’s release, the Department of Justice has refused to respond or take any action to remedy this human rights violation. Today, over 100 human rights and environmental organizations from around the world joined…
March 15, 2022
Press Release
Human Rights Must Be Protected in Ukraine as Risk of Further Conflict with Russia Escalates
Responding to news that President Vladimir Putin has ordered “peacekeeping operations” to the so called “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine, Daniel Balson, Europe and Central Asia Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA said: “It is abundantly clear the human costs of a full-blown conflict will be devastating to the people of Ukraine. U.S. officials have already recognized this, and Amnesty International has repeatedly stressed the real and immediate threat that an escalation of violence entails for civilians in Ukraine.
February 23, 2022
Update
Amnesty International USA urges the State Department to protect human rights in Ukraine as the risk of further conflict with Russia grows
On February 16, 2022, Amnesty International USA sent a letter to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman urging the U.S. Department of State to take action in defense of human rights in Ukraine. As Russian troops mount on Ukraine's borders, Amnesty International has warned that a further escalation of violence risks severe consequences for human rights in Ukraine and across the broader region. Previous Russian military interventions, including in Georgia, Syria, and Crimea, have often resulted in severe violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes. Given the risk to human rights posed by another escalation of violence, Amnesty's letter…
February 16, 2022
Press Release
Amnesty International Launches a Holidays Solidarity Action in Support of Prisoners of Conscience in Cuba
Today Amnesty International launches “Write a letter of hope”, a global solidarity action inviting the public, during the 2021 holidays, to write individually to five brave human rights defenders detained in Cuba to express support and solidarity with them and all those incarcerated only for exercising their rights.
December 17, 2021
Update
Biden Administration’s U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue Was a Human Rights Failure – Joint Statement from International, Egyptian Human Rights Groups
In a joint statement released today signed by 12 international and Egyptian human rights organizations, Amnesty International USA and other signatories criticized the Biden Administration's failure in its recent U.S.-Egypt "Strategic Dialogue" on November 8-9, 2021 to uphold seemingly any accountability on Egyptian authorities' myriad human rights violations. A dialogue during which several prominent human rights defenders and critics continued to be tried and sentenced in sham trials for exercising their rights to free speech. Amnesty and the signatories to the letter have thoroughly documented flagrant, systemic human rights abuses and crackdowns by the Egyptian government. The Biden administration’s lack…
November 23, 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
Update
Joint Statement: Biden Administration Must Meet With Palestinian NGOs Targeted by Israeli Authorities, Demand Gantz Rescind Appalling “Terrorist” Designations During DC Visit
In a joint statement released today, Amnesty International USA, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), and Human Rights Watch call on the Biden Administration to publicly challenge and demand the rescinding of Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz's appalling "terrorist" designation of six Palestinian civil society organizations—a decision based on secretive "evidence" allegedly obtained through torture of detainees—and raise its dangerous impact on both Palestinians and Israelis in any engagement with Israeli authorities. The administration must also urgently meet with the six targeted organizations. The groups are Addameer, al-Haq, Defense for Children Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Bisan…
November 5, 2021
Update
Joint Statement: Biden Administration, UN Security Council Must Ensure Inclusion of Critical Human Rights Monitoring in MINURSO
In a joint statement released today, Amnesty International USA and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights called on the Biden Administration - as the mandate's penholder - and the UN Security Council to ensure the critical inclusion of a long-overdue human rights monitoring mechanism in the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which is expected to go to a vote on October 27th. Amnesty has thoroughly documented flagrant, unaccountable human rights abuses and crackdowns by Moroccan authorities in Western Sahara – detailed in a September white paper and an on-the-ground reports by Amnesty’s Morocco researchers in July. The administration’s penholder status…
October 25, 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