Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Afghanistan Must Have Access to Funds to Avoid Humanitarian Disaster
The international community must urgently ease existing financial restrictions on Afghanistan that are blocking the provision of healthcare, food and other essential services, and expedite delivery of scaled-up humanitarian assistance to avert a mounting crisis that threatens the lives of tens of millions of people, said Amnesty International.
November 23, 2021
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Update
Biden Administration’s U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue Was a Human Rights Failure – Joint Statement from International, Egyptian Human Rights Groups
In a joint statement released today signed by 12 international and Egyptian human rights organizations, Amnesty International USA and other signatories criticized the Biden Administration's failure in its recent U.S.-Egypt "Strategic Dialogue" on November 8-9, 2021 to uphold seemingly any accountability on Egyptian authorities' myriad human rights violations. A dialogue during which several prominent human rights defenders and critics continued to be tried and sentenced in sham trials for exercising their rights to free speech. Amnesty and the signatories to the letter have thoroughly documented flagrant, systemic human rights abuses and crackdowns by the Egyptian government. The Biden administration’s lack…
November 23, 2021
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Press Release
Amnesty International USA Condemns Racist Vigilantism and White Supremacy in the US Criminal Justice System
In response to today’s not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said: “Today, Kyle Rittenhouse walks free after arming himself, shooting, and killing two people at Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, WI in August 2020. The painful reality is that our country’s criminal justice system — and our society — is predicated on white supremacy and anti-Black racism.
November 19, 2021
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Press Release
Only a Robust and Coordinated State Response Will Resolve the Situation of Grave Risk Faced by Human Rights Defenders in Colombia
Colombia has failed to comply with its international obligation to guarantee a safe and enabling space for the defense of human rights in the country, but today it has the opportunity to change this, Amnesty International will say at a public hearing in Congress on the situation of human rights defenders in Colombia today.
November 19, 2021
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Update
Vote Recommendation: Amnesty International USA Recommends a YES Vote on the Build Back Better Act and Supports Funding for Community Violence Intervention Programs
On November 18, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote to members of the House of Representatives to urge them to vote YES on H.R. 5376, Build Back Better Act. The bill includes $5 billion funding (over eight years) to support community violence intervention (“CVI”) programs, as requested by President Biden in his American Jobs Plan. Studies have demonstrated the lifesaving value of CVI programs, which include street outreach, community call-ins, and hospital intervention providing gun violence survivors and families with counseling, support, and mediation. H.R. 5376 would transform CVI programs nationwide and would reduce gun violence in Black and brown communities.…
November 18, 2021
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Report
Perpetrators Must Face Justice in Nigeria After #EndSARS Panel Confirms Shootings of Protesters at Lekki Toll Gate
Responding to the findings of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS and Related Abuses, set up to investigate the shooting of #EndSARS protesters at Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, Osai Ojigho Director Amnesty International Nigeria said: “Amnesty International welcomes the panel’s report, which confirms that Nigerian army and police shot peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020. The panel’s findings reveal the truth about what happened at Lekki toll gate and contradict the blatant denial by the Nigerian government that deadly force was used…
November 16, 2021
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Press Release
Biden Administration Must Prioritize Human Rights in US-China Policy
On Monday evening, President Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss US-China policy. In advance of this virtual summit, Carolyn Nash, Asia Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA, said: “The Biden administration must decide if they are going to defend human rights, and if President Xi will see clearly that human rights are central to US-China policy.
November 15, 2021
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Press Release
Tigrayans Targeted in Fresh Wave of Ethnically Motivated Detentions in Addis Ababa
Security forces in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, have targeted Tigrayans, including children and the elderly, with arbitrary arrests and mass detentions as part of an escalating crackdown, Amnesty International said today. Most detainees are being held without charge or access to a lawyer.
November 12, 2021
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Update
Human Rights on Capitol Hill – November 2021 Newsletter
Amnesty International USA is proud to join human rights groups, refugee resettlement agencies, veterans groups, and Afghan-Americans for lobby days on Nov. 9-10 in support of an Afghan Adjustment Act.
November 10, 2021
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Press Release
Survivors of TPLF Attack in Amhara, Ethiopia Describe Gang Rape, Looting and Physical Assaults
Sixteen women from the town of Nifas Mewcha in Ethiopia’s Amhara region told Amnesty International they were raped by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the group’s attack on the town in mid-August 2021.
November 9, 2021
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Press Release
#MeToo journalist and labor activist facing ‘subversion’ charge in China must be released
Responding to Chinese #MeToo activist Sophia Huang Xueqin and labor activist Wang Jianbing being officially detained under the charge of “inciting subversion of state power,” Amnesty International’s China Campaigner Gwen Lee said: “The Chinese government’s disdain for human rights has once again been laid bare by these unjustifiable charges for two activists whose only so-called crime has been to peacefully advocate for the welfare of others.
November 9, 2021
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Update
Joint Statement: Biden Administration Must Meet With Palestinian NGOs Targeted by Israeli Authorities, Demand Gantz Rescind Appalling “Terrorist” Designations During DC Visit
In a joint statement released today, Amnesty International USA, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), and Human Rights Watch call on the Biden Administration to publicly challenge and demand the rescinding of Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz's appalling "terrorist" designation of six Palestinian civil society organizations—a decision based on secretive "evidence" allegedly obtained through torture of detainees—and raise its dangerous impact on both Palestinians and Israelis in any engagement with Israeli authorities. The administration must also urgently meet with the six targeted organizations. The groups are Addameer, al-Haq, Defense for Children Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Bisan…
November 5, 2021