Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Myanmar: Forced starvation of Rohingya highlights danger of premature returns
Reacting to the UN’s claim that Myanmar is continuing its campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya including through “forced starvation”, James Gomez, Amnesty International’s Director of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: “The UN’s findings sadly echo our own – there is no question that the Myanmar authorities’ vicious campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya is still ongoing. Fleeing Rohingya told us how they are still being forcibly starved in a bid to quietly squeeze them out of the country. “This is yet more evidence that any plans for organized repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh are extremely premature. No…
March 6, 2018
Press Release
Baby Separated From Family by ICE Reunited with Mother, Father Remains Unfairly Detained
Three months after being separated from his father by ICE, one-year-old Mateo has been released into the custody of his mother, Olivia. Mateo was separated from his father, Jose, in November 2017 after Jose requested asylum at the San Diego border after fleeing persecution in their native El Salvador. Jose remains in detention despite having followed all procedures for seeking asylum. According to reports in December 2017, the Trump administration is considering a policy that would separate all families seeking asylum at the border. “Under no circumstances should babies and children like Mateo be torn from their families when seeking…
February 9, 2018
Report
Punishment not protection: Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea
The Australian government has abandoned hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, leaving them in a situation that more closely resembles punishment instead of protection in Papua New Guinea, Amnesty International said in a new report today.
January 31, 2018
Press Release
DHS Imposes Further Restrictions on Refugees, Leaving Thousands in Peril
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced further restrictions on refugees as a result of a 90-day review of the admissions process. Ashley Houghton, tactical campaign manager at Amnesty International USA said the following in response
January 29, 2018
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Marks First Anniversary of Muslim Ban
A year ago tomorrow President Trump signed an executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States and temporarily banning all refugees. Naureen Shah, senior director of campaigns at Amnesty International USA, released the following statement.
January 26, 2018
Press Release
Yemen: ‘Heart-breaking’ mass drowning a symptom of devastating conflict and humanitarian crisis
Responding to reports that at least 30 Somali and Ethiopian refugees and migrants drowned after leaving the coast of south-western Yemen to flee back to Africa, Lynn Maalouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said the following.
January 26, 2018
Press Release
Bangladesh/Myanmar: Postponing returns arrangement provides temporary relief for Rohingya refugees
The government of Bangladesh’s announcement that it is to postpone the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar is a welcome relief for hundreds of thousands currently living in Bangladesh, Amnesty International said today. Implementing a returns arrangement finalized last week in its current form would put the safety and rights of more than 650,000 Rohingya who fled a brutal military crackdown last year in serious jeopardy.
January 22, 2018
Press Release
Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees must not be relocated to uninhabitable island
The Bangladesh government must abandon all plans to relocate more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees on to an uninhabitable island, Amnesty International said today.
November 28, 2017
Report
No Safe Place: LGBTI Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans Seeking Asylum in Mexico
The lives and safety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) from violence-ridden El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are at an increased risk as authorities in their countries fail to protect them, leaving them with no choice but to flee their countries and face further dangers in Mexico, Amnesty International said in a new report today.
November 27, 2017
Press Release
Amnesty International Responds to Tillerson’s Myanmar Meetings
In response to Secretary Tillerson’s meetings with government and military officials in Myanmar, Joanne Lin, national director of advocacy and government relations at Amnesty International USA, issued the following.
November 15, 2017
Press Release
Manus Island: Court ruling jeopardizes lives
Critical services - including food, water and medical treatment - must be restored to the more than 600 refugees and vulnerable men inside the Lombrum detention centre on Manus Island before a major tragedy occurs, Amnesty International said today as researchers returned from Manus Island.
November 7, 2017
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Delivers Petitions to Ivanka Trump, Urging the End of Family Detention
CONTACT: Nidya Sarria, [email protected] WASHINGTON – Amnesty International USA delivered petitions today to Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President, urging her to intervene on behalf of the families held at Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania after seeking asylum. Over 33,000 people around the world signed personalized postcards and petitions. Currently, there are dozens of children and parents held at Berks, one of three such family detention centers, which are akin to jails, in the United States. “Over and over again, the Trump administration has sought to close our borders to people fleeing horrific violence. The world is watching as…
October 30, 2017