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Press Release

Girls in Afghanistan must be allowed to return to secondary school and continue their education, Amnesty International said today as it published new testimonies from pupils and teachers documenting Taliban threats and violence.

October 14, 2021

Report

The Curaçaoan and Dutch authorities have violated the rights of Venezuelans seeking international protection in Curaçao, Amnesty International said today in the new report, Still no Safety: Venezuelans denied protection in Curaçao. The organization documented 22 cases of Venezuelans, including children, who have been subjected to human rights violations such as automatic detention under inhumane conditions, ill-treatment, family separations and the denial of their right to seek asylum.

October 11, 2021

Update

Just weeks after a devastating earthquake in August that killed, injured, and displaced hundreds of thousands in Haiti, the Biden administration callously began mass deporting Haitian asylum-seekers, including toddlers, under the misuse of its Title 42 public health authority.

October 7, 2021

Press Release

Last month, Amnesty International USA announced that Alexandra Durbak has been elected Chair of its Board of Directors, effective September 19, 2021. Durbak is a long-time member of Amnesty International, having first gotten involved with AIUSA in high school, and has demonstrated her commitment to advancing and defending human rights – including freedom of expression and women’s rights – throughout her professional and personal endeavors. Currently serving as Director of Ecosystem Strategy at Eisai and a previous Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum, Durbak has held global roles in international business, innovation, financial services, development, and partnerships for…

October 7, 2021

Press Release

Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl, in Afghanistan’s Daykundi province after members of the security forces of the former government surrendered, a new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed.

October 4, 2021

Press Release

Yesterday the D.C. Circuit Court granted the government’s request for stay in Huisha-Huisha v. Mayorkas, allowing the Biden administration to continue expelling families and children to danger under its inhumane Title 42 policy. Two weeks ago a federal judge ruled Title 42 illegal, issuing an injunction that would have taken effect today. The Biden administration’s decision to continue defending the policy in court has put that injunction on pause. The consequences for families and children seeking safety will be deadly.

October 1, 2021

Press Release

Today, Congress passed a continuing resolution that includes funding to support Afghans arriving to the United States and ensures that Afghans arriving on humanitarian parole have access to refugee resettlement benefits.

September 30, 2021

Press Release

The past few months have underscored that American’s rights to abortion remain under attack. Earlier this month, S.B. 8 went into effect in Texas, effectively banning abortions as early as six weeks – before many people even know they are pregnant – and privatizing enforcement against abortion providers. Later this year, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in response to a Mississippi legal case that threatens to overturn decades-old abortion protections established under Roe v. Wade.

September 28, 2021

Update

Classified as a non-self-governing territory by the United Nations, Western Sahara has been under de-facto annexation by Morocco since the late 1970s. Morocco controls three-fourths of Western Sahara via unilateral annexation, with the  Polisario Front, the Sahrawi liberation movement party which fought a war against Morocco for an independent state, controlling the remaining portion. In 1979, the UN via Resolution 34/37 called on Morocco to end its occupation and recognized “the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence,” as it has done several times since including in 1990 and even just last year. In 1991,…

September 27, 2021

Press Release

In response to the mass deportation of Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and horrific reports of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) inhumane treatment against Black asylum-seekers, Paul O’Brien, Executive Director at Amnesty International USA said: “The horrific conduct by CBP in Del Rio, Texas, including officers charging into crowds of Haitian asylum-seekers on horseback, violently dispersing them, taunting them, and forcing them away from safety, is reprehensible and underscores a deeper problem of systemic and racist treatment against Haitian and other Black migrants in the U.S. and at the southern border.

September 24, 2021

Update

Amnesty International urges President Biden to raise critical human rights issues in his upcoming meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi. India has seen an erosion of human rights in recent years. Freedom of expression is under threat and dissent is repressed through unlawful restrictions on peaceful protests and by silencing critics. Human rights defenders, including students, academics, journalists and artists, have been arbitrarily arrested, often without charge or trial. Amnesty International is deeply concerned about ongoing human rights abuses in the country and presses the Biden administration to address these concerns in outreach to India. The full letter is available…

September 23, 2021

Press Release

Angelina Jolie and Amnesty International have joined forces to create a resource for children and young people to learn about their rights, with the publication of a new book which empowers teenagers to speak out against injustice. Know Your Rights and Claim Them explains what child rights are, equips young people with the knowledge they need to protect themselves and others, and shows how governments are failing to uphold their commitment to child rights. It was written in collaboration with Professor Geraldine Van Bueren QC, one of the original drafters of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Angelina…

September 23, 2021