Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
DHS Ceasing Enforcement of Muslim Ban Not Enough, Congress Must Repeal
Following the announcement that the Department of Homeland Security will suspend enforcement of President Trump’s Muslim ban, Eric Ferrero, Amnesty International USA spokesman, released the following statement.
February 4, 2017
Report
Human slaughterhouse: Mass hangings and extermination at Saydnaya prison, Syria
A chilling new report by Amnesty International exposes the Syrian government’s calculated campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison. Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five years, as many as 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the government, were hanged in secret at Saydnaya.
February 3, 2017
Press Release
Trump Australia Call Shows Need for Congress to Act
Following reports of a tense phone call between President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Turnbull centered on refugees and subsequent comments by the president, Margaret Huang, Amnesty International USA executive director, released the following statement.
February 2, 2017
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Mobilizes Members to Pressure Congress on Travel Ban
Following President Trump’s executive order banning immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, Amnesty International USA is mobilizing its over one million U.S. grassroots supporters and activists to tell their senators to speak out against the order.
January 30, 2017
Press Release
Executive Action on Refugees is Cruel and Inhumane
Based on reports and remarks made by President Trump, Amnesty International USA had the following reaction to an executive order regarding extreme and unwarranted restrictions on immigrants
January 26, 2017
Press Release
We Will Fight Trump’s Effort to Close U.S. Borders
Today President Donald Trump issued several executive orders related to immigration, including constructing a wall on the border with Mexico, building more detention centers, and stripping sanctuary cities of federal funding.
January 25, 2017
Press Release
Slovenia: Blatant proposals to strip refugees and asylum-seekers of their rights must be rejected
The Slovenian parliament must reject amendments to the Aliens Act that, once triggered, would deny refugees and asylum seekers the protections to which they are entitled under international and EU law, Amnesty International said following the adoption of the amendments by the government today. Emergency measures set out in the bill would give authorities the possibility to adopt special measures that would deny entry to people arriving at the borders and automatically expel migrants and refugees who had entered Slovenia irregularly, without assessing their asylum claims or the risk of them being tortured or persecuted upon return. The application of…
January 5, 2017
Press Release
EU: Asylum-seekers must be moved from appalling conditions on islands
With the EU-Turkey deal faltering and more than 16,000 refugees languishing in appalling conditions on the Greek islands, Amnesty International is calling on EU Heads of State and Government to commit to concrete action to save lives and restore dignity as they meet in Brussels this week. The organization is proposing six concrete steps, beginning with asylum-seekers being moved from the Greek islands to the mainland where their asylum applications can be processed, with further relocation across mainland Europe. “European leaders want to keep refugees and migrants on the Greek islands - out of sight, and therefore out…
December 13, 2016
Press Release
Homeland Security Pick Must Commit to Human Rights
Responding to reports that President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate Gen. John Kelly to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security, Margaret Huang, executive director for Amnesty International USA released the following statement.
December 7, 2016
Press Release
Obama Speech Offers Lessons for Trump
Responding to President Obama’s speech today on counterterrorism, Naureen Shah, director of Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights program, released the following statement.
December 6, 2016
Press Release
Kenya: Extension of Dadaab closure deadline no change in policy
In response to today’s announcement by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government Joseph Nkaissery that plans to close down Dadaab refugee camp would be delayed by six months, Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said: “While we welcome the Cabinet Secretary’s pledge that repatriations will be carried out in a humane, dignified manner, the announcement is not a change in policy. Thousands of refugees remain at risk of forced repatriation to a war-torn country with and where they are at risk of death or injury in…
November 16, 2016
Press Release
Greece: Obama must shine spotlight on Europe’s abysmal failure to protect refugees
US President Barack Obama should use his visit to Greece, which begins on 15 November, to call for concrete action to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Greece and for European countries to stop shirking responsibility for refugee protection, said Amnesty International. “President Obama must use his visit to shine the spotlight not only on abysmal conditions for the tens of thousands of refugees stranded in Greece, but also on the failure of world leaders to adequately address the wider global refugee crisis,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe Director for Amnesty International. “As winter closes in and the global political climate grows…
November 14, 2016