Newsroom

Press Release

Dozens of detainees held in dire conditions in poorly ventilated metal shipping containers, fed only once or twice a week and given insufficient drinking water are at risk of death, warned Amnesty International today. 

May 26, 2016

Update

Renowned investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova turns forty on Friday, May 27, celebrating her birthday for the second consecutive year in Baku’s Kurdukhani jail. Please join Amnesty International in wishing Khadija a happy birthday and declaring your support and solidarity with her.

May 25, 2016

Press Release

The release of Khadija Ismayilova by Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court is a welcome step but she will not have obtained justice until her conviction is quashed, said Amnesty International.

May 25, 2016

Report

1. Why does Amnesty International need a policy to protect the human rights of sex workers? Because sex workers are at high risk of human rights abuses in many countries around the world. Our policy outlines what governments should do to better protect them. 2. What kind of abuses are sex workers at risk of? Sex workers are at risk of a whole host of human rights abuses including: Rape Violence Trafficking Extortion Arbitrary arrest and detention Forced eviction from their homes Harassment Discrimination Exclusion from health services Forced HIV testing Lack of legal redress We have recorded many instances…

May 24, 2016

Update

In a significant ruling from the Supreme Court yesterday, the Court reversed the conviction and death sentence of a Georgia man on the basis that prosecutors intentionally discriminated by excluding blacks from the jury. Timothy Foster, an 18-year old black man, was convicted by an all-white jury in 1987 of murdering an elderly white woman.

May 24, 2016

Report

In Hong Kong, selling sex is not illegal if one person operates from a private apartment. However, working in isolation places sex workers in a vulnerable situation at risk of robbery, physical assault and rape.

May 24, 2016

Press Release

As the White House hosts a 50-state convening on gun violence prevention for state and local officials today, Amnesty International USA’s (AIUSA) Senior Campaigner for Gun Violence and Criminal Justice, Jamira Burley released the following statement.

May 24, 2016

Press Release

Amnesty International today published its policy on protecting sex workers from human rights violations and abuses, along with four research reports on these issues in Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Norway and Argentina.

May 24, 2016

Press Release

Almost half of European Union (EU) member states have flouted an EU-wide suspension on arms transfers to Egypt, risking complicity in a wave of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and torture, Amnesty International said today.

May 24, 2016

Report

This policy has been developed in recognition of the high rates of human rights abuses experienced globally by individuals who engage in sex work; a term that Amnesty International uses only in regard to consensual exchanges between adults. It identifies the most prominent barriers to the realization of sex workers’ human rights and underlines states’ obligations to address them.

May 23, 2016

Report

In Norway, purchasing sex is illegal but the direct act of selling sex is not. Other activities associated with sex work are criminalized including “promotion of prostitution” and letting premises used for selling sex. Despite high levels of rape and violence by clients and organized gangs, sex workers have a high threshold for reporting violence to the police.

May 23, 2016

Report

Formally the sale or purchase of sex in Buenos Aires is not illegal; but in practice, sex workers are criminalized through a range of laws that punish related activities, and which fail to distinguish between consensual sex work and human trafficking.

May 23, 2016