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Press Release

Responding to President Biden’s proposed presidential determination to admit up to 62,500 refugees this fiscal year, Joanne Lin, the National Director of Advocacy and Government Relations at Amnesty International USA, said: “It’s absolutely vital for the United States to revamp refugee admissions as soon as possible so that the U.S. can rebuild the capacity and the systems to welcome more people in the years to come. Communities across the United States, from local groups to faith-based institutions, are ready to welcome their new neighbors and thousands of people around the world are waiting to rebuild their new lives in safety…

May 3, 2021

Press Release

The United States Senate should pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), five human rights and labor groups said today in releasing a question-and-answer document about the issue. The Senate should seize on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tackle rampant economic inequality by empowering workers and building a more just and human rights-based economy.  

April 29, 2021

Press Release

Amnesty International USA today joined a cohort of organizations as part of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines – U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition to write to President Biden urging him to adopt a policy that sets the United States on course not just to “curtail the use of landmines,” but to ban their use, production, acquisition, and transfer and to swiftly accede to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Paul O’Brien, the executive director of Amnesty International USA said: “Antipersonnel landmines are inherently indiscriminate weapons that can’t distinguish between fighters and ordinary people and maim and kill long after conflicts end.…

April 28, 2021

Update

Amnesty International USA joined  the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines - U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition (USCBL-USCMC) in a letter to President Biden urging him to ban the use, production, acquisition, and transfer of anti personnel landmines and swiftly accede to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.   Building U.S. Landmines Policy Back and Better   April 28, 2021   President Joseph R. Biden The White House Washington, D.C.   cc:       National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan; Secretary of State Antony Blinken; Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin   Dear Mr. President:   We appreciate the statement by our UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on…

April 28, 2021

Press Release

In advance of the ten-year anniversary of uprisings in countries throughout the MENA region that became known as the "Arab Spring", Philippe Nassif, Advocacy Director, Middle East and North Africa, will be speaking to human rights in the Middle East and North Africa ten years after and implications for U.S. foreign policy. “Ten years on, the human rights situation across much of the Middle East and North Africa paints a bleak picture,” said Philippe Nassif. “Yet despite all, there are clear signs that brave young people have not given up on demanding their rights. In 2019, a new wave of…

April 27, 2021

Update

On April 27, 2021 Amnesty International USA submitted a written statement ahead of a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management hearing on the Southwest Border. Click here to read the statement April 27, 2021   Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Chair Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management Senator James Lankford, Ranking Member Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management   Re: Amnesty International USA Statement for Hearing: The Non-Governmental Organization Perspective on the Southwest Border Dear Chairperson Sinema, Ranking Member Lankford, and Members of…

April 27, 2021

Update

On April 26, 2021, Amnesty International USA issued a statement for the record ahead of a House Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations hearing titled "Unaccompanied Children at the Border: Stakeholder Perspectives on the Way Forward." Click here to read the statement   April 26, 2021   Representative Nanette Barragán, Chair Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, & Operations   Representative Clay Higgins, Ranking Member Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, & Operations   Re: Amnesty International USA Statement for Hearing: Unaccompanied Children at the Border: Stakeholder Perspectives on the Way Forward Dear Chairperson Barragán, Ranking Member…

April 26, 2021

Press Release

This week New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced the launch of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which aims to fund, coordinate and evaluate local gun violence reduction and intervention programs. In response, Amnesty International USA End Gun Violence Campaign Manager Ernest Coverson released the following statement

April 23, 2021

Update

On April 21, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote a letter urging the White House to combat racial profiling within the federal government. Specifically, Amnesty calls on the Biden administration to immediately end the “China Initiative,” which has led to the federal government’s racial profiling and targeting of Asian American and Asian immigrant scientists, researchers, and scholars, particularly by the Justice Department (“DOJ”), the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), and the National Science Foundation (“NSF”). Click here to read the letter April 21, 2021   Ms. Erika L. Moritsugu Deputy Assistant to the President Asian American and Pacific Islander Senior Liaison…

April 21, 2021

Report

The unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic were not enough to deter 18 countries from carrying out executions in 2020, Amnesty International said today in its annual global review of the death penalty. While there was an overall trend of decline, some countries pursued or even increased the number of executions carried out, indicating a chilling disregard for human life at a time when the world’s attention focused on protecting people from a deadly virus. 2020 executioners included Egypt, which tripled its yearly execution figure compared to the previous year; and China, which announced a crackdown on criminal acts affecting…

April 20, 2021

Press Release

In response to Derek Chauvin being found guilty of murder in the death of George Floyd, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) released the following statement: 

April 20, 2021

Update

On April 20, 2021, Amnesty International USA sent a letter to members of the House of Representatives urging them to VOTE YES on the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act (H.R. 1333) and the Access to Counsel Act (H.R. 1573). Click here to read the letter Dear Representative: On behalf of Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), we urge you to VOTE YES on the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act (H.R. 1333) and the Access to Counsel Act (H.R. 1573). Congress must pass these two pieces of legislation to ensure that Presidential power cannot again be used…

April 20, 2021