Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Viet Nam: President Hollande must back one woman’s fight for justice
President Francois Hollande of France must confront Vietnamese authorities over their treatment of one women’s fight for justice when he visits the country this week, Amnesty International said today. Amnesty International calls on the French president to raise in particular the case of Ngô Thanh Kiều, a young man who died in police custody in Phú Yên province in 2012. Since his death, his sister Ngô Thị Tuyết and her family have undertaken a brave crusade for justice in the face of physical attacks, death threats and other forms of intimidation. Recently, the family found the carcass of a shaved…
September 6, 2016
Update
“We have become a disposable people”: Why Amnesty went to Cannon Ball, North Dakota
Last Wednesday, August 24, Amnesty International USA sent a delegation of human rights observers to Cannon Ball, North Dakota, to observe protests, led by Indigenous people against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline
September 1, 2016
Press Release
Human Rights Abuses in Laos, the Philippines and Myanmar Must Lead Obama’s Human Rights Agenda for Asian Summit
As President Obama prepares for next week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Laos, Amnesty International USA has urged him to press leaders to address human rights abuses in the region.
September 1, 2016
Press Release
Australia: Reforms to justice system essential to protect the rights of Indigenous youth
Major reforms must be undertaken by the authorities in the Australian state of Queensland to protect the rights of Indigenous children from a youth justice system that criminalizes them out of all proportion to the general population, a new Amnesty International report says today. The report Heads Held High: Keeping Queensland kids out of detention, strong in culture and community will be launched at Parliament House, Brisbane today. “While the Queensland authorities have recognized the need for reform, much more needs to be done. In particular, a shift to supporting Indigenous-led initiatives could make a significant difference to prevent another…
August 31, 2016
Report
Honduras/Guatemala: Attacks on the rise in world’s deadliest countries for environmental activists
An insidious wave of threats, bogus charges, smear campaigns, attacks and killings of environmental and land activists in recent months has made Honduras and Guatemala the most dangerous countries on earth for those protecting natural resources, Amnesty International said in a new report six months after the brutal murder of Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres. We defend the land with our blood explores the increasing stigmatization, threats, attacks, killings and lack of justice faced by individuals and communities fighting to protect the environment from large-scale mining, logging and hydroelectrical projects. “Defending human rights is one of the most dangerous professions in Latin…
August 30, 2016
Update
Could you Live with “Ambiguous Loss”?
Having a loved one missing creates a suffering that is unique and different from other kinds of loss. Unlike families who lose a loved one through death, where the loss is clear, the loss of having a missing person is ambiguous.
August 30, 2016
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Calls on Authorities to Protect Peaceful Protest at Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Site
After sending a delegation of human rights observers to monitor protest conditions, Amnesty International USA today called on state and local authorities to take specific steps to protect Indigenous communities’ right to peacefully protest at the site of a disputed pipeline in North Dakota.
August 30, 2016
Press Release
Laos: #WhereIsSombath
As the International Day of the Disappeared is marked around the world, the Laos authorities must promptly, thoroughly and effectively investigate the abduction and suspected enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone, Amnesty International said today. On 15 December 2012, Sombath Somphone, a leading member of Lao civil society, was stopped by traffic police and taken away in a pick-up truck. His whereabouts remain unknown, his family has not been kept informed by the authorities, and there has been no credible investigation into his enforced disappearance. “Next week, Barack Obama will become the first US President to visit Laos. He must seize…
August 30, 2016
Press Release
Kenya: Set up judicial inquiry into hundreds of enforced disappearances and killings
The Kenyan government must set up a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate and bring to justice all those suspected of criminal responsibility for extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, said 13 Kenyan and global human rights organizations today as they marked the International Day of the Disappeared. Kenyan and global human rights organizations have documented more than 300 cases of individuals who have gone missing while in the hands of security agencies since 2009, some of whom have later been found killed. “Enforced disappearances have become a widespread practice, and a dark stain on the fabric of law enforcement in…
August 30, 2016
Press Release
DRC: Release of pro-democracy activists cause for celebration
The release of four Congolese pro-democracy activists, including Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala, is cause for celebration but they remain at risk of re-arrest unless the charges are dropped, warned Amnesty International today. “The release of Fred, Yves and others is a rare positive step in what has been a very difficult year for freedom of expression in the DRC. The charges against them were politically motivated and must be dropped to ensure that their ordeal is over once and for all,” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn…
August 30, 2016
Press Release
Bangladesh: Halt imminent execution of Mir Quasem Ali after unfair trial
The Bangladesh authorities must halt the imminent execution of a senior political leader who has been sentenced to death following a deeply flawed trial, Amnesty International said today. “The people of Bangladesh deserve justice for crimes committed during the War of Independence. The continued use of the death penalty will not achieve this. It only serves to inflame domestic tensions and further divide a society riven by violence,” said Champa Patel, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director. The Bangladesh Supreme Court today upheld the conviction and death sentence against Mir Quasem Ali, a key financier of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, after rejecting…
August 30, 2016
Press Release
Australia: Official documents reveal serious incidents of abuse in Queensland juvenile detention centres
Australia must establish independent bodies to investigate child abuse in its detention facilities across the country, Amnesty International said today after it obtained more than 1,000 pages of government documents revealing abuses in two more centres. The documents -- obtained by Amnesty International through a Freedom of Information request – showed a number of serious incidents, including where staff at the centres in the state of Queensland put child detainees in solitary confinement, deployed a security dog where a child was threatening suicide, caused bone fractures as a result of restraint and control techniques, and conducted partial strip searches using…
August 30, 2016