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The Israeli government’s transfers of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers is cruel and illegal, Amnesty International said today, as it released a new report titled Forced and Unlawful: Israel’s Deportations of Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum-Seekers to Uganda. In October 2017, Israel announced that it would start deporting Eritrean and Sudanese nationals to an unnamed “third country” in Africa that had agreed to receive them, widely reported to be Uganda and Rwanda. However, the Israeli government was unable to confirm which countries had agreed to cooperate in deportation agreements and the Supreme Court ordered the suspension of all deportations of Sudanese and Eritrean nationals.…

June 17, 2018

Update

June 13th, 2018   Amnesty International USA participated in Refugee Council USA's ("RCUSA") Letter A Day campaign in honor of World Refugee Day on June 20th. RCUSA is a coalition of 25 US-based NGOs dedicated to refugee protection and support of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. During the month of June, many members of RCUSA, including Amnesty International USA, sent a letter to Congress explaining why refugee resettlement needs continued support. As World Refugee Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees around the world, each letter hopes to highlight the importance of resettlement as a durable solution to the world's most…

June 15, 2018

Press Release

As the SOS Mediterranee rescue ship, MV Aquarius, heads to the Spanish port of Valencia, Elisa De Pieri, Amnesty International’s Italy Researcher said: “By closing their ports the Italian and Maltese governments are trampling the principle of rescue at sea and undermining the entire search and rescue system. If allowed to go unchallenged, it will discourage and compromise the lifesaving work of NGO’s leaving thousands of migrants and refugees adrift in the Mediterranean. “Whilst the offer by the Spanish government to welcome the Aquarius is a moving example of solidarity, it also highlights the calculated callousness of the Italian and…

June 12, 2018

Press Release

As the SOS Mediterranee rescue ship, MV Aquarius remains stranded between Malta and Sicily with 629 people aboard including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and seven pregnant women, Elisa De Pieri, Amnesty International’s Italy Researcher said: “By closing their ports, Italy and Malta have not only turned their backs on more than 600 desperate and vulnerable people but also on their obligations under international law. “The men, women and children aboard the Aquarius have risked their lives on perilous seas to escape horrific abuses in Libya only to find themselves caught in an unconscionable political stand-off between two European states.…

June 11, 2018

Press Release

The European Court of Human Rights has found that Romania and Lithuania violated the human rights of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, also known as Abu Zubaydah, with their complicity in the ill-treatment of the pair while they were held in US secret detention facilities in the two countries. The judgments are a key milestone in holding European governments accountable for their involvement in illegal CIA activities in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks. “The US could not have operated the rendition and secret detention program without its European allies. Today’s landmark rulings break the…

May 31, 2018

Press Release

Responding to a package of punitive laws tabled in Parliament today that will criminalize migration-related work by activists and NGOs, Amnesty International’s Europe Director, Gauri van Gulik said:

May 29, 2018

Press Release

The Australian government is attempting to walk away from the human rights crisis it has created for refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) by winding back critical healthcare services, despite the ongoing plight of the people trapped in its offshore detention centers, Amnesty International said today. Over the past six months the Australian government has terminated trauma and counselling services for refugees and asylum seekers in PNG, and moved refugees to new detention centers where they have reduced access to healthcare. “Nearly five years after Australia began implementing its harmful and illegal offshore detention policy, the situation…

May 17, 2018

Update

As the FY 2019 budget for Homeland Security is considered, this statement was submitted by Amnesty International USA to the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee.  The statement details the FY 2019 budget request for Customs and Border Protection ("CBP").  The budget request - at $14.4 billion -- is the highest  discretionary funding level in the agency's 15-year history, with an additional $1.6 billion for the construction of a 65-mile border wall system and $211 million to support the hiring of an additional 750 border patrol agents. This Committee should not fund any activities that violate U.S. human rights obligations.  Specifically…

May 7, 2018

Press Release

The U.S. government must stop separating asylum-seeking parents from their children and denying them access to asylum procedures through prolonged detention, said Amnesty International today in response to reports of the Department of Homeland Security’s adoption of a draconian family separation policy that will apply to anyone who presents themselves at the U.S.-Mexico border. The policy was also referenced today in remarks by Attorney General Sessions.

May 7, 2018

Press Release

Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation to Honduras, despite the country’s deep political instability since December 2017. Over 86,000 people from Honduras in the United States are protected by TPS, including mothers and fathers of more than 53,000 U.S. citizens. If forced to return, many of these people could face grave danger and persecution. Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, issued this statement: “The Trump administration is turning its back on thousands of families who arrived from Honduras seeking safety. Many families, including children who…

May 4, 2018

Press Release

On Thursday 26 April, Amnesty International raised a billboard at the San Ysidro Port of Entry (POE) on the US–Mexico border in Tijuana, with a message reminding US and Mexican authorities of their obligations to facilitate asylum claims and to respect the universal human right of all people to seek asylum in other countries. The billboard also invites asylum seekers to report to Amnesty International if authorities turn them away or otherwise violate their human right to seek asylum. Click here for images of the billboard. As hundreds of people who have traveled in caravan from Central America prepare to claim asylum…

April 26, 2018

Update

Since 2016, European governments implemented a series of measures designed to shut down the Mediterranean Sea routes used by refugees, and outsource their border controls to neighboring countries, most notably Turkey and Libya. These policies have made the EU complicit in refugee suffering. This statement details the severe human rights implications of the European Union ("EU")’s migration policies. It was submitted by Amnesty International USA to the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) - Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee for the April 26, 2018 hearing: Mass Migration in Europe: Assimilation, Integration, and Security. EU officials argue that their approach has led…

April 25, 2018