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Press Release

One thousand days after the chilling abduction of 276 school girls in Chibok, the Nigerian government must redouble its efforts to ensure the release of the girls, and all other victims of mass abduction, said Amnesty International.   The organization is calling on Boko Haram to put an end to the girls’ suffering and immediately release them and all other civilians they are currently holding.   “This terrible anniversary is a chilling reminder not just of the tragic disappearance of the Chibok school girls, but also all other individuals – many of whom are also children – who remain captive…

January 6, 2017

Update

By Ann Burroughs, Chair of AIUSA’s Board of Directors Donald Trump has made it clear he wants bring back torture. “We should go much stronger than waterboarding,” he said last year, calling it “your minor form” of torture. Now he’s picked Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA – an individual who called the CIA’s program of torture and disappearing under the Bush administration “within the law” and “within the Constitution.” We can’t let Trump bring back the CIA torture program. Trump’s pick for CIA chief must reject torture – and commit to upholding the law. That’s why this week,…

January 5, 2017

Press Release

The Slovenian parliament must reject amendments to the Aliens Act that, once triggered, would deny refugees and asylum seekers the protections to which they are entitled under international and EU law, Amnesty International said following the adoption of the amendments by the government today. Emergency measures set out in the bill would give authorities the possibility to adopt special measures that would deny entry to people arriving at the borders and automatically expel migrants and refugees who had entered Slovenia irregularly, without assessing their asylum claims or the risk of them being tortured or persecuted upon return. The application of…

January 5, 2017

Press Release

In response to the announcement that Dylann Roof was sentenced to death after being convicted in the shooting deaths of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, Margaret Huang, executive director of Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement:

January 4, 2017

Press Release

The conviction of an Israeli soldier who shot dead a Palestinian man involved in a knife attack in Hebron as he lay wounded on the ground offers a small glimmer of hope amid the rampant impunity for unlawful killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said Amnesty International today.

January 4, 2017

Report

Iraq: End irresponsible arms transfers fuelling militia war crimes ·         Militias allied to the Iraqi government have access to arms from at least 16 countries ·         Recent arms transfers have fuelled enforced disappearances, abductions, torture, summary killings, and deliberate destruction of civilian property ·         Iraq is the world’s sixth-largest importer of heavy weaponry Paramilitary militias nominally operating as part of the Iraqi armed forces in the fight against the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) are using arms from Iraqi military stockpiles, provided by the USA, Europe, Russia and Iran, to commit war crimes, revenge attacks and other atrocities…

January 3, 2017

Press Release

As President Obama begins the final days of his presidency, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) launched an aggressive effort urging him to use all the powers of his office to close Guantánamo before his term ends. With an open letter to the president, a hard-hitting bus shelter ad campaign targeting key locations in Washington, D.C., online advertising and a coalition White House rally planned for Guantánamo’s 15th anniversary on Jan. 11, Amnesty is seeking to move Obama to action before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

January 3, 2017

Press Release

The United Nations Security Council’s failure to approve a 23 December, 2016, resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan and placed a travel ban and asset freeze on three senior South Sudanese leaders was deeply disappointing, seven non-governmental groups said today. The measure failed to gain the nine votes needed to pass, with seven in favour and eight abstentions. “South Sudanese civilians had a reasonable expectation that the Security Council would make good on its long-standing threat to impose an arms embargo and extend sanctions to some of the senior leaders who have been responsible for…

December 23, 2016

Press Release

Following the United Nations Security Council’s adoption of a resolution calling on Israel to cease all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Sherine Tadros, Head of Amnesty International’s UN Office in New York, said: “At the close of a shameful year for the Security Council, where divisions repeatedly blocked the adoption of key resolutions to protect the most vulnerable, today’s decision to finally pass a resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements is a welcome step. “This is the first time in almost four decades that such a resolution has been passed. During this time, settlements not only continued to…

December 23, 2016

Press Release

In response to the United Nations General Assembly resolution establishing an independent international mechanism to ensure accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria since March 2011, Anna Neistat, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research said: “With this resolution, the General Assembly helps overcome the Security Council's deadlock on accountability and is the first step toward justice for thousands of victims. “The situation in Syria continued to be one of the most heart-breaking tragedies of our time. It is also a clear example of the failure of the broken international system that was established – with the…

December 22, 2016

Report

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often used against religious minorities and others who are the target of false accusations, while emboldening vigilantes prepared to threaten or kill the accused, a new Amnesty International report says today. 

December 20, 2016

Press Release

The desperate plight of a generation of children is in the balance as the bloody battle for the city of Mosul threatens to become a humanitarian catastrophe, Amnesty International said today following a field investigation.

December 20, 2016