Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Update
Human Rights and Compounding Crises in Lebanon, 2020-2021 Update
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, MASS PROTESTS, ARBITRARY ARRESTS, AND BRUTAL REPRESSION WITH IMPUNITY Government corruption and economic collapse, violent repression, and devastation of parts of Beirut from a historic explosion have left Lebanon in a spiraling humanitarian crisis with overwhelming poverty. 18 months ago in October 2019, mass protests erupted due to tax hikes and failures of the government. For years, public anger has grown with soaring inflation, unemployment, utility shortages, drastic food insecurity, and severe mismanagement of and inaction towards the country’s economic crisis by the ruling class. The lira’s value sank 85%, prices of basic necessities and food have risen…
June 24, 2021
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Urges Congress to Pass the Break the Cycle of Violence Act
At a time when guns are killing more and more Americans, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV) took bold action today by reintroducing the Break the Cycle of Violence Act. Their leadership is a call-to-action for all Senators to join them in battling the United States’ decades-long gun violence epidemic.
June 24, 2021
Update
Amnesty International Statement for the Record on Impacts of COVID-19 in MENA Region, Need for U.S. Action – House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee
On June 22, 2021, Amnesty International USA’s Middle East and North Africa advocacy director Philippe Nassif and Mustafa Kassem Fellow Amit Dadon submitted the following statement for the record to the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee June 23 hearing on “COVID-19 in the MENA Region: Addressing the Impacts of the Pandemic and the Road to Recovery”. In the statement, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) details our research on and human rights concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, especially as pertaining to its compounding effect of existing devastating crises and armed crises on countries'…
June 24, 2021
Press Release
Biden Expands Plan to Bring Back Asylum Seekers Forced to Wait in Dangerous Border Towns Under Trump’s Remain In Mexico Policy
This week, the Biden administration announced that it would take steps to allow additional asylum seekers to come back to the U.S. to safety after they were subjected to the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP). This decision will help thousands of immigrants who were forced to remain in Mexico while waiting for their U.S. asylum cases to be heard. Members of the Welcome With Dignity Campaign applaud this step to unwind the Trump administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy but are advocating for the Biden administration to swiftly end other cruel policies of the former administration, including mass expulsions of asylum seekers…
June 23, 2021
Press Release
Global Coalition of Over 200 Groups Call for Permanent End to Global Gag Rule
A coalition of over 200 international civil society organizations, organized by Planned Parenthood Global and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, released a joint statement today calling for a permanent end to the U.S. global gag rule. The statement — released as part of a week of action to end the global gag rule — was released in Arabic, English, French, and Spanish, demonstrating the diversity of just some of the communities harmed by the rule over the past 37 years. In addition to the over 200 organizations from 88 countries across six continents that signed the statement today — and countless other people…
June 22, 2021
Press Release
Executives of surveillance companies Amesys and Nexa Technologies indicted for complicity in torture
Responding to the news that four executives of French surveillance companies Amesys and Nexa Technologies have been indicted for complicity in torture over the sale of surveillance technology to governments in Libya and Egypt, Amnesty Tech Director, Rasha Abdul Rahim, said: “The indictments are unprecedented. When left unchecked, the activities of surveillance companies can facilitate grave human rights violations and repression, including the crimes of torture and enforced disappearance. “These indictments send a clear message to surveillance companies that they are not above the law, and could face criminal accountability for their actions. “This case also shows the urgent need…
June 22, 2021
Report
New Report Finds Biden’s Immigration Approach Falls Short of Promises
According to a new report released today by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Biden administration’s approach to people seeking safety not only falls short of expectations but is in urgent need of course correction as we approach World Refugee Day and reaffirm our commitment to supporting refugees worldwide.
June 17, 2021
Update
Amnesty International USA Calls on President Biden to Raise Human Rights Concerns with President Putin at June 16 Geneva summit
On June 11, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote to the Biden administration about the swiftly deteriorating human rights situation in Russia ahead of President Biden's meeting with President Putin on June 16. The letter urged President Biden to put human rights firmly on the agenda during the Geneva summit and express concern about the Russian government's suppression of peaceful protests, the efforts to silence civil society, the violation of the rights of LGBTI people, and more. Against the backdrop of a sweeping crackdown on dissent and deepening restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in…
June 11, 2021
Report
The United States and Mexico deporting thousands of unaccompanied migrant children into harm’s way
The US and Mexican governments are forcibly returning tens of thousands of unaccompanied children seeking safety to the countries they just fled, without adequate screenings or protection from the harms they may face upon return, Amnesty International said in the new report published today, Pushed into Harm’s Way. As Mexican President López Obrador and US Vice President Harris met this week in Mexico City, they pledged to increase coordination on immigration enforcement across the region. In reality, that translates into expanding the interception and forced returns of thousands of unaccompanied children to potential harm in their countries of origin. Children…
June 11, 2021
Press Release
Advocacy Groups Release Recommendations for Expanded Community Sponsorship Program for Refugees
Today, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), and the Niskanen Center published a joint paper offering recommendations to the Departments of State (DOS) and Health and Human Services (HHS) as they design an expanded community sponsorship system that includes a new private sponsorship program for refugees. President Biden’s Executive Order 14013, issued February 4, 2021, directed the Secretaries of State (DOS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to deliver a report to the White House detailing their plan to expand opportunities for communities to partner in welcoming refugees to the United States. The Secretaries were due to deliver their…
June 10, 2021
Press Release
Aleksei Navalny’s NGOs Banned as “Extremist,” Depriving Thousands of Their Rights
Reacting to the news that a Russian court designated three organizations founded by Aleksei Navalny as “extremist”, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, said:
June 10, 2021
Report
Draconian repression of Muslims in Xinjiang, China, amounts to crimes against humanity
Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region face systematic state-organized mass imprisonment, torture and persecution amounting to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said as it launched a new report and campaign today. In the 160-page report, ‘Like We Were Enemies in a War’: China’s Mass Internment, Torture, and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response team released dozens of new testimonies from former detainees detailing the extreme measures taken by Chinese authorities since 2017 to essentially root out the religious traditions, cultural practices and local languages of the region’s Muslim ethnic…
June 10, 2021