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Press Release

Responding to reports that Sri Lanka’s State Minister for Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation, Lohan Ratwatte, forcibly entered a state prison in Anuradhapura on 12 September and held Tamil prison inmates incarcerated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) at gunpoint and threatened to kill them, Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director said:  “These dumbfounding reports go to show that our ongoing concerns regarding Sri Lanka’s treatment of prisoners, especially the authorities’ torture and other inhumane and degrading treatment of PTA detainees are all too valid. They also demonstrate the level of impunity for criminal behavior that is indulged at…

September 15, 2021

Press Release

Iranian authorities have failed to provide accountability for at least 72 deaths in custody since January 2010, despite credible reports that they resulted from torture or other ill-treatment or the lethal use of firearms and tear gas by officials, said Amnesty International following yesterday’s reports of yet another suspicious death in custody.  

September 15, 2021

Press Release

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Authorization for Use of Military Force on September 18, 2001, Daphne Eviatar, the director of the Security With Human Rights program at Amnesty International USA said: “On September 18, the 20th anniversary of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, we must not forget the lives destroyed and communities turned upside down as the United States conducted lethal assaults from Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Somalia.

September 14, 2021

Press Release

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must extend the UN’s mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and the UN must supply the staff and resources it needs to monitor, investigate, and report on human rights abuses on the ground in the country, said Amnesty International, ahead of a September 17 vote on renewing the mission’s mandate, which is due to expire that day. 

September 14, 2021

Press Release

Following the ongoing humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, Amnesty International USA is joining Welcome.US – a newly launched national initiative built across sectors, political parties, and all walks of life – to empower Americans to welcome and support our new Afghan neighbors.

September 14, 2021

Press Release

Internal documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal reportedly show that Facebook is using a system that exempts high-profile users from some or all of the platform’s terms of use. Responding to the reports, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said:   “These shocking allegations show, once again, how Facebook’s platform fuels the spread of harmful and abusive content globally.   “Facebook claims it ‘does not profit from hate’. Yet according to company documents provided by an anonymous whistleblower, it has created a system that gives powerful users free rein to harass others, make false claims, and incite violence.  “The message from Facebook is…

September 13, 2021

Press Release

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, Daphne Eviatar, the director of the Security With Human Rights program at Amnesty International USA said: “Two decades after the attacks of September 11 were carried out the survivors and their families have yet to see any justice, reparation, or accountability for that heinous crime. “Rather than fair and transparent trials, the military commissions created at Guantánamo Bay have been a dismal failure -- denying survivors and their families justice, skirting United States and international law, and abusing the rights of those who remain…

September 8, 2021

Report

Syrian security forces have subjected Syrians who returned home after seeking refuge abroad to detention, disappearance and torture, including sexual violence, Amnesty International said today. In a new report, “You’re going to your death,” the organization documented a catalog of horrific violations committed by Syrian intelligence officers against 66 returnees, including 13 children. Among these violations, Amnesty International documented five cases whereby detainees had died in custody after returning to Syria, while the fate of 17 forcibly disappeared people remains unknown. With a number of states - including Denmark, Sweden and Turkey - restricting protection and putting pressure on refugees from Syria to go home, the…

September 7, 2021

Update

The U.S. government must commit to providing protection and safe passage to all Afghans left behind, who face risk of persecution from the Taliban.

September 6, 2021

Press Release

Responding to Texas law TX SB8 going into effects, which bans the right of people to seek an abortion at the six-week mark, before many are aware of their pregnancies, Tarah Demant, the director of the Gender, Sexuality and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA, said: “This ban will have dire consequences; it endangers pregnant people’s lives, and criminalizes healthcare providers for providing vital care – it must be condemned unequivocally for undoing decades of safeguards for the well-being of pregnant people. “The only person who should ever make decisions about a pregnancy is the pregnant person. Yet this ban…

September 1, 2021

Press Release

Responding to President Biden’s remarks today, Paul O’Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA said:  “Adhering to his arbitrarily determined deadline, President Biden failed to put in place a successful plan for the evacuation of all Afghans at greatest risk. His plan fails those most at risk in Afghanistan and abdicates the U.S. government’s obligations to the Afghan people, obligations made heavy by the weight of a two-decade military presence. At this very moment at-risk journalists, interpreters, and women’s rights activists left behind in Afghanistan desperately phone their contacts abroad, asking for help. Their fears are real.” Amnesty International…

August 31, 2021

Update

Enforced disappearances have a chilling effect on political freedom, civil society, independent media, and human rights advocacy. Victims of enforced disappearances are at heightened risk of other human rights violations, such as sexual violence, torture, and murder. In recent years, Bangladesh has seen an intensifying wave of state repression targeting independent media and journalists, civil society actors, and political activists. We urge the U.S. government to press Bangladeshi authorities for urgent action to end these intensifying attacks on human rights, provide for the safe return of any person whose whereabouts remain unknown, and deliver justice for the families of disappeared…

August 30, 2021