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Press Release

US and Mexican authorities must stop demonizing participants of the caravan from Central America and respect their fundamental right to seek asylum, said Amnesty International today, ahead of their expected arrival at the border between both countries later this week. “Seeking asylum is not a crime in the USA or anywhere. The efforts of US officials to tarnish asylum seekers as criminals are cynical fabrications that ring hollow,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. “Threatening to indefinitely detain, prosecute, and deport these asylum seekers is a cruel effort to stigmatize, terrify and push away traumatized people, many of…

April 24, 2018

Press Release

At least 2,000 Afghans who fled to Turkey to escape conflict and the worst excesses of the Taliban are in detention and at imminent risk of being forced back to danger, Amnesty International said today. The Turkish authorities appear to be ramping up a deportation spree that has seen 7,100 Afghans rounded up and returned to Afghanistan since early April. The Turkish authorities told Amnesty International that all these returns are voluntary, and that the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has periodic access to places of detention. However, in telephone interviews with detainees in the Düziçi container camp in southern Turkey, where…

April 24, 2018

Press Release

Responding to the passing of an asylum and immigration bill that will tighten asylum rules, Cécile Coudriou, President of Amnesty International France, declares: “This bill, and the discussions around its text, fails to address the difficulties faced by migrants and asylum seekers in France and the need to fully respect their rights. Those drafting this bill missed numerous opportunities including putting an end to the detention of children and providing dignified protection for those fleeing war or persecution. “The majority of parliamentarians were aware that the ‘offence of solidarity’ could be wrongfully used to prosecute people providing voluntary assistance to asylum seekers.…

April 23, 2018

Press Release

Rather than be sent to a third country where he may face torture, a U.S. citizen held in for seven months in Iraq as a suspected fighter for the Islamic State must be either formally charged and given a fair trial in U.S. courts, or released if no charges are forthcoming, said Amnesty International today following a hearing on the man’s case. The United States gave notice earlier this week that it intended to send the detainee, who holds both U.S. and Saudi citizenship, to another country, possibly Saudi Arabia. “No one should be held for so long without charge…

April 19, 2018

Update

April 18, 2018

Press Release

The situation faced by an Iraqi man stranded in Egypt and in danger for his life despite being cleared to travel to the United States is emblematic of the cruelty of President Trump’s refugee policies, said Amnesty International USA today.

April 18, 2018

Update

April 12, 2018

Press Release

Regional leaders must prioritize the protection of human rights in their final declaration at the VIII Summit of the Americas and take immediate action to fulfil that commitment in their respective countries, Amnesty International said ahead of the summit in Lima, Peru, tomorrow. “From the discriminatory polices pushed by the Donald Trump administration to the violent repression of demonstrations in Honduras and Venezuela, the Americas has suffered an alarming pushback against human rights in the last years,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. “Confronted by the growing demonization of communities at risk and human rights defenders, regional leaders…

April 11, 2018

Press Release

In the wake of the apparent victory of President Orban's party, Fidesz, in Hungary’s general election, Amnesty International’s Europe Director, Gauri van Gulik said:   “Whilst the climate may be hostile, we are steadfast in our resolve. We will resist the rollback of human rights in Hungary for, and with, all the people and groups who fight for everybody’s rights and freedoms.   “We will continue to push back against attempts to stoke hostility towards refugees and migrants and will continue to speak up for groups that support and defend them. We will not be cowed by those who attempt to muzzle…

April 8, 2018

Press Release

Amnesty International called on the government of Bangladesh to uphold its commitment that Rohingya refugees are only returned in conditions that are safe, voluntary and dignified. In a meeting with Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty, acknowledged the generosity that the country had shown nearly a million Rohingya refugees who were forced out of their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State by crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military. “At a time when many states have callously turned their backs on people fleeing persecution, Bangladesh has shown enormous generosity by opening its doors to nearly…

April 5, 2018

Press Release

The University of Vermont Student Government Association passed a resolution last night declaring the school to be a “Refugees Welcome” zone.

March 21, 2018

Report

Myanmar’s Rakhine State is being militarized at an alarming pace, as authorities are building security force bases and bulldozing land where Rohingya villages were burned to the ground just months ago, Amnesty International said in a new briefing today. Through eyewitness testimony and expert analysis of satellite images, Remaking Rakhine State reveals how flattening of Rohingya villages and new construction have intensified since January in areas where hundreds of thousands fled the military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing last year. New roads and structures are being built over burned Rohingya villages and land, making it even less likely for refugees to…

March 11, 2018