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Press Release

“The U.S. government has a moral obligation and a responsibility in this conflict to urgently ensure the protection of all civilians and prevent further suffering, in addition to the important stated goal of making sure humanitarian assistance flows into Gaza. President Biden must use this opportunity to engage with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to save thousands of lives. “So far, President Biden and his top officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have shared their grief and outrage over the horrific mass killing of Israeli civilians, hostage taking and other serious violations committed during the October 7 attacks, but they…

October 17, 2023

Press Release

Human rights defenders (HRDs), government dignitaries, an independent United Nations expert, and human rights organizations today urged the US government and the international community to continue to stand with and increase support and protection for human rights defenders worldwide.  Several leading human rights organizations also hosted a delegation of HRDs from Colombia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Ukraine in Washington, D.C., for an event on Capitol Hill to mark the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998. “The US played a key role ahead of the adoption of the UN Declaration, which…

October 17, 2023

Press Release

The Israeli army’s order to people in northern Gaza and Gaza City to “evacuate” to the south of the Gaza Strip, cannot be considered an effective warning and may amount to forced displacement of the civilian population, a violation of international humanitarian law, said Amnesty International. The initial announcement gave people 24 hours to leave northern Gaza “for their safety and protection” - an impossible demand that even the Israeli army spokesperson has admitted cannot be implemented in one day. Regardless of timeframe, Israel cannot treat northern Gaza as an open-fire zone based on having issued this order. Their forces…

October 13, 2023

Press Release

The shutdown of Gaza’s only power plant will exacerbate an already desperate humanitarian crisis for more than 2.2 million people trapped in the Gaza Strip, amid a massive bombing campaign by Israel that has killed at least 1,350 people and injured more than 6,000 people. The airstrikes were launched in retaliation to the attack on 7 October by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups from Gaza who fired indiscriminate rockets and sent fighters into southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and injuring more than 2,700 and taking hostages, including many civilians. “The Israeli authorities must immediately restore Gaza’s electricity…

October 12, 2023

Press Release

Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups flagrantly violated international law and displayed a chilling disregard for human life by carrying out cruel and brutal crimes including mass summary killings, hostage-taking, and launching indiscriminate rocket attacks into Israel, Amnesty International said today. With evidence still emerging of the horrors that unfolded in southern Israel, Amnesty International will continue its investigations in order to determine the full range of crimes under international law. In Israel, more than 1,200 people – mostly civilians, including children – have been killed, and 2,400 have been injured since the attacks began in the early morning of 7 October. In Gaza at least 1,200 people, including children, have been killed by Israeli military retaliation. The recently intensified blockade which completely disconnected…

October 12, 2023

Press Release

Narges Mohammadi, unjustly imprisoned human rights defender, is currently serving multiple sentences amounting to a total of 11 years and 11 months in prison, in addition to other cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishments including 154 lashes.  Reacting to the news that Narges Mohammadi has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:   “Narges Mohammadi receives this prize today from behind bars in Iran where she has been unjustly imprisoned since 2021 solely for her human rights activism. For years, she has worked tirelessly to bring attention to the dire human rights situation in Iran. Even…

October 6, 2023

Report

This Amnesty International report examines how new technologies are increasingly central to how people access work and essential services around the world.

October 3, 2023

Press Release

Many uses of emerging technology, including AI, are directly contributing to widening social, racial, and economic inequality around the world, according to new Amnesty International research. The report, Digitally Divided: Technology, inequality, and human rights (Digitally Divided), takes a wide look at different uses of emerging technology across many sectors and shows how many of today’s emerging technologies are built upon models of economic extraction that perpetuate historical biases, particularly against racialized people, people experiencing poverty, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups. “What we’ve seen around the world, particularly as a result of the pandemic, is a drastic increase…

October 2, 2023

Press Release

Five years have passed since the heinous murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, in an operation that US intelligence found to have been approved by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Despite campaign promises to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder, the Biden administration has not only failed to support an international, independent and impartial investigation, it helped immeasurably in aiding MBS’s rehabilitation on the international stage. Tragically, the result has been the unprecedented worsening of government repression and abuses under the leadership of the crown prince.…

September 29, 2023

Press Release

On Saturday, September 23, 2023, Sudanese diaspora groups and several prominent human rights organizations rallied in Washington, DC outside the White House to call for more strategic action on Sudan from the Biden Administration.  The event was held as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces entered its sixth month. Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence throughout the brutal conflict, with both parties targeting civilian infrastructure and hospitals, and as reports of sexual and gender-based violence proliferate. More than 1,000 people have been killed while over five million people have been displaced, including more…

September 28, 2023

Press Release

Indian authorities are exploiting the recommendations of a global terrorism financing and money laundering watchdog to target civil society groups and activists and deliberately hinder their work, said Amnesty International in a new briefing released today.

September 26, 2023

Press Release

Responding to President Biden’s announcement that he is creating the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, Ernest Coverson, Amnesty International USA director, gun violence prevention, said: “Where Congress is failing, President Biden is leading. Today’s announcement is a decisive move to address an epidemic that has been raging in our country far too long with little or no legislative progress on Capitol Hill.  “The President’s latest effort builds on his executive order issued last March, which is aimed at strengthening gun background checks nationally. Amnesty International USA and our coalition partners have been advocating for this leadership. We…

September 22, 2023