Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Survivors of Gender-Based Violence Abandoned Following Taliban Takeover
Essential services for women and girl survivors of gender-based violence in Afghanistan have been decimated following the Taliban’s takeover of the country, Amnesty International said today.
December 5, 2021
Press Release
Biden Administration Continues to Fail Asylum-Seekers as Title 42 is Extended
Citing concerns over the new Omicron variant, today officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an extension to Title 42, a clause in public health law that the Biden and Trump administrations have misused to expel hundreds of thousands of individuals and families arriving at U.S. borders.
December 3, 2021
Press Release
#WelcomeWithDignity Denounces Biden Administration’s Expansion of MPP, Calls for this Unlawful and Cruel Policy to be Ended Once and For All
Today the Biden administration announced it will restart and expand the implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), also known as ‘Remain in Mexico’, with the willing cooperation of the Mexican Government. It is inexplicable and unconscionable that the administration has chosen to expand the populations subjected to the deadly program, despite not being under any obligation to do so. Several #WelcomeWithDignity partners asserted in an amicus brief filed earlier this year that any form of MPP would in fact violate the laws of the United States and its treaty obligations to people escaping persecution. In fact, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in his memo terminating…
December 2, 2021
Press Release
WTA’s Decision Should Push for Effective Investigation of Sexual Violence in China
Responding to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)’s decision to halt all competitions in China, Doriane Lau, Amnesty International’s China researcher said: “Amnesty International shares the WTA’s concern about the state censorship around allegations made by Peng Shuai and the related online discussion. The Chinese government has a track record of silencing women who make allegations of sexual violence.
December 2, 2021
Press Release
Senate Must Take Action to Protect Human Rights
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO), a challenge to Mississippi’s abortion ban that could decimate the right to an abortion established by Roe v. Wade. If Roe is overturned or further gutted, millions of people in 26 mostly southern and midwestern states could lose access to safe abortion.
December 1, 2021
Press Release
Asylum Seekers Being Illegally Detained in New EU-Funded Camp in Greece
Asylum-seekers staying in a new EU-funded refugee camp on the island of Samos are being detained illegally by Greek authorities following a yet unpublished decision from the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, based on information received by Amnesty International.
December 1, 2021
Report
NGO Letter to Secretary Austin on Civilian Harm
We write to express our grave concerns about the Department of Defense’s civilian harm policies and practices and their impact, as evidenced most recently by the August 29 drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed 10 civilians, including an aid worker and seven children; the Air Force Inspector General’s investigation into that strike; and a New York Times report in November that the U.S. military hid the effects of a 2019 airstrike in Baghuz, Syria that killed dozens of civilians and was flagged as a possible war crime by at least one Defense Department lawyer. These strikes, and the Defense Department’s…
December 1, 2021
Press Release
Cameroon Advocacy Network to Congress and Biden Administration: Why is TPS for Cameroon Taking So Long?
Yesterday, the Cameroon Advocacy Network (CAN), in collaboration with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), held a Congressional briefing on the need for a temporary protected status (TPS) designation for Cameroon. The briefing had country conditions experts as well as impacted community members from CAN, Amnesty International, CASA, and the Center for Research, Education and Resources Distribution to the Rural and Underprivileged People. These individuals highlighted the deteriorating country conditions in Cameroon that make safe return impossible as they described the ongoing armed conflict, massive internal displacement, dangerous political conditions, and severe consequences for Cameroonians who have thus far been deported…
December 1, 2021
Press Release
“Exceptional Measures” Normalize Dehumanization of Asylum Seekers in Europe
In response to today’s proposals from the European Commission which would allow Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to derogate from EU rules, including by holding asylum-seekers and migrants at the border for 16 weeks with minimal safeguards, Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European Office said: “The arrival of people at the EU’s borders with Belarus is entirely manageable with the rules as they stand. Today’s proposals will further punish people for political gain, weaken asylum protections, and undermine the EU’s standing at home and abroad. If the EU can allow a minority of member states to throw out the rule…
December 1, 2021
Update
Joint Letter: Congress Must Block Biden Administration’s Wrongful $650 Million Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia or Risk Fueling Further U.S. Complicity in Rights Violations and Yemeni Civilian Suffering
In a joint letter released today signed by 50 international, Yemeni-led, and U.S. human rights and advocacy organizations, Amnesty International USA and other signatories are calling on Congress to block the Biden administration’s wrongful $650 million arms sale to Saudi Arabia by passing the joint resolutions led in the House by Rep. Ilhan Omar and in the Senate by Sen. Rand Paul by December 4th. With this sale, the U.S. government would risk further fueling suffering of civilians and complicity in Saudi force’s violations in Yemen—already one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises rife with unaccountable war crimes, including with…
November 29, 2021
Update
Joint Statement: U.S. Civil Society Letter to President Biden on WTO TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19 Products
On November 19, 2021, Amnesty International USA and 14 U.S. civil society organizations wrote to President Biden requesting his personal engagement in delivering a temporary waiver of certain World Trade Organization (WTO) rules so that countries can remove intellectual property barriers that are limiting the supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests necessary to end the pandemic. A meaningful WTO waiver that can facilitate the necessary scale-up in production will only be agreed if the Biden administration applies maximum diplomatic and political pressure ahead of the WTO Ministerial Conference beginning on November 30. Click here to read the letter…
November 29, 2021
Press Release
Biden Must Deliver COVID-19 WTO TRIPS Waiver at WTO Ministerial, Say Members of Congress, Health, Labor, Human Rights and Faith Leaders at Press Conference as Dozens of Civil Society Groups Deliver Three Million Petitions to Biden Administration
Today members of Congress joined health, labor, faith and development leaders in a press conference urging President Joe Biden to deliver on his pledge to remove intellectual property barriers that limit access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests and prolong the pandemic by securing a waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial starting next week. A meaningful WTO waiver that can facilitate the necessary scale-up in production will only be agreed if the Biden administration applies maximum diplomatic and political pressure to make it happen, the groups said.
November 23, 2021