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SIMFEROPOL, CRIMEA - AUGUST 17: People walk by fresh graffiti depicting Vladimir Putin in Simferopol on August 17, 2015 in Simferopol, Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill in March 2014 to annex the Crimean peninsula but Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize its annexation. (Photo by Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images)

Update

Amnesty International USA urges the State Department to protect human rights in Ukraine as the risk of further conflict with Russia grows

On February 16, 2022, Amnesty International USA sent a letter to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman urging the U.S. Department of State to take action in defense of human rights in Ukraine. As Russian troops mount on Ukraine's borders, Amnesty International has warned that a further escalation of violence risks severe consequences for human rights in Ukraine and across the broader region. Previous Russian military interventions, including in Georgia, Syria, and Crimea, have often resulted in severe violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes. Given the risk to human rights posed by another escalation of violence, Amnesty's letter…

February 16, 2022

Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images

Press Release

Further Armed Conflict in Ukraine Would Have Devastating Consequences for the Human Rights of Millions 

With the threat of Russia using military force looming, Amnesty International warns that another escalation of the armed conflict in Ukraine will have devastating consequences for human rights in the region; threatening civilian lives, livelihoods and infrastructure; driving acute food shortages; and potentially causing mass displacement.

January 27, 2022

Video grab at Lima's Lurigancho prison, where relatives of inmates demanded authorities forr medicine, after a deadly riot took place in another prison in the city, over fear of contagion of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Lima on April 28, 2020. (Photo by Jesus OLARTE / AFPTV / AFP) (Photo by JESUS OLARTE/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

Press Release

Amnesty International Calls for the Release of All Prisoners of Conscience Worldwide

Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all the prisoners of conscience it is campaigning for worldwide, who are now at heightened risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

May 4, 2020

BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images

Press Release

Generation Z Ranks Climate Change Highest as Vital Issue of our Time in Amnesty International Survey

Climate change leads as one of the most important issues facing the world, according to a major new survey of young people published by Amnesty International today to mark Human Rights Day.

December 9, 2019

People rally for transgender's rights in Kyiv, Ukraine, November 18, 2018. International day for the remembrance of transgender people is held around the world on November 18. (Photo by Sergii Kharchenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Press Release

Ukrainian Authorities Must Guarantee Safety and Security of Trans March Participants

The Ukrainian authorities must ensure the safety and security of all participants in the Trans March taking place in Kyiv tomorrow, Amnesty International said, warning that participants are at serious risk of violent attacks. In 2018 the police failed to protect participants in a similar peaceful rally from violent groups who hurled abuse and threw smoke grenades.

November 22, 2019

People hold placards with an appeal to free Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov during a rally in Kiev on July 1, 2018, to demand the release Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia. - Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Russia, who have spent more than a month on hunger strike in jail to demand Moscow release Ukrainian political prisoners. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo credit should read GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and others freed in prisoner swap

Reacting to the news that Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and dozens of other detainees have been released as a part of prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “Oleg Sentsov and many others jailed following Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea are simply victims of politically-motivated prosecution and they should never have been imprisoned in the first place. While it is a relief that they are now free, it is a travesty to see them being used as human bargaining chips in political deals. “The conflict in eastern…

September 7, 2019

Press Release

Lawyer detained in Crimea in latest campaign of harassment targeting human rights defenders

Responding to the news that Crimean lawyer Emil Kurbedinov was detained by the de-facto authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea and is now facing charges for a Facebook post he made five years ago, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia said: “Following yesterday’s arrest of prominent human rights defender Lev Ponomarev in Moscow, the detention of Emil Kurbedinov is the second time in two days that a human rights defender has been thrown behind bars over a Facebook post. “The similarities of these two cases are obvious, even if they are not directly related. Both men are…

December 6, 2018

Press Release

Amnesty and Sofar Sounds partner for Write for Rights concert and letter writing event

On Saturday, December 8, human rights organization Amnesty International USA in partnership with live music events startup Sofar Sounds will host a powerful evening of collective action along with an intimate concert experience in New York City.  The event, Write for Rights, is aimed at securing justice for women human rights defenders under threat and in need of urgent help as a result of speaking out and taking action against various human rights abuses. Write for Rights will feature a letter-writing session during which members of the public will be asked to write government officials in support of specific cases…

November 30, 2018

Nawal Benaissa, 36 yeards-old, is a mother of 4 who joined Hirak early on and became one of its main female leading voices. She took part to several protests with her husband and children and has been very active on social media. Her Facebook profile gained more than 80 000 followers, before authorities asked her to shut down during one of her detention in custody. She was arrested and held in custody for few hours four times between June and September 2017. This last time she was sued and on mid-February 2018, she was sentenced to 10 months suspended sentence and a fine of 500 hundred dirhams for inciting to commit an offence (by speech, cries or threats made in the places where public meetings, either through posters exposed to the public or by any means fulfilling the condition, advertising, including electronically, on paper and by audio-visual channel, if the provocation has not been followed by effect. Article 299 of the penal code). Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, the Court of Appeal has yet to rule. Benaissa responded to the court's decision on her Facebook page by expressing her continued support for the Rif protests. "I am proud to take part in the protests in the region and I denounce the imprisonment of Hirak activists. I demand their immediate release," she wrote. Few weeks ago, she moved from the northern city of Al Hoceima to another Moroccan city in order to flee harassment from authorities.

Press Release

Amnesty International launches world’s biggest human rights campaign

Women human rights defenders around the world are facing unprecedented levels of abuse, intimidation and violence, said Amnesty International as it launched its global Write for Rights campaign, in a bid to shine a spotlight on brave women who have been harassed, jailed, tortured or even killed for their human rights work. Women continue to face multiple forms of discrimination, targeted because of their gender and other characteristics, as well as for their human rights work. However, women refuse to stay silent and have been at the forefront of the battle for human rights in 2018. “Across the world, women are…

November 28, 2018

People hold placards with an appeal to free Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov during a rally in Kiev on July 1, 2018, to demand the release Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia. - Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence in Russia, who have spent more than a month on hunger strike in jail to demand Moscow release Ukrainian political prisoners. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo credit should read GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

Amnesty International denied access to Oleg Sentsov, on hunger strike for 81 days

Reacting to the Russian authorities’ refusal to grant Amnesty International access to Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, currently 81 days into a hunger strike in a penal colony in the Russian Artic, Oksana Pokalchuk, Amnesty International’s Ukraine Director, said:  “Denying us the right to visit Oleg Sentsov is indefensible. After almost 3 months on hunger strike, there are grave concerns for his health. We were planning to visit Oleg accompanied by an independent medical expert who would be able to evaluate his health. In order to dispel all doubts about Oleg’s health condition and the adequacy of medical assistance provided to…

August 2, 2018

Participants attend a gay pride march in central Kiev on June 17, 2018. - Several thousand people took part in Kiev's gay pride event amid a heavy police presence as nationalist protesters tried to halt the event. Ukrainian police detained 56 far-right activists who tried to interrupt the gay pride march, the police said in a statement. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo credit should read GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images)

Press Release

Ukraine: “March of equality” in Kyiv is a new human rights triumph

This year’s Kyiv Pride demonstration, which brought together thousands of people in a display of solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in Ukraine, is a significant human rights achievement for the country, Amnesty International said today. “In a country where homophobic attitudes are still strong, and where LGBTI rights activists face growing intimidation, harassment and violence from far-right groups, the Kyiv Pride demonstration was a genuine achievement and celebration of national significance,” said Amnesty International Director Oksana Pokalchuk. “Respect for human dignity, freedom and equality is the cornerstone of any healthy society. One cannot but…

June 18, 2018

Press Release

Ukraine: Attack on LGBTI event highlights police failure to confront far-right violence

Responding to the disruption by far-right groups of an LGBTI rights meeting organized by Amnesty International in Kyiv on Thursday evening, Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, said:

May 11, 2018