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Press Release

A young woman was shot in the head by Myanmar’s security forces during protests, Amnesty International has confirmed after investigating footage showing the attack. This evidence also contradicts Myanmar military claims that security forces were not carrying lethal weapons.

February 11, 2021

Press Release

A coalition of nineteen human rights and immigrants’ rights organizations filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement, requesting a federal court in Los Angeles to order the administration to release records dealing with the government’s reasons for not releasing detained immigrant families together. On August 4, 2020, the coalition submitted a FOIA request to the Trump Administration seeking access to records regarding family detentions and the Trump administration’s failure to release children, but no records were released. The requesting organizations are opposed to the lengthy detention of migrant family units who are neither…

February 11, 2021

Press Release

Amnesty International USA is launching the Mustafa Kassem Fellowship named after the detained U.S. citizen who died in an Egyptian prison one year ago. Today would have been his 56th birthday.

February 11, 2021

Update

On February 10, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote to Sumona Guha, Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council, outlining the organization's human rights priorities for South Asia. Click here to read the letter Dear Ms. Guha: On behalf of Amnesty International and our 10 million members, activists, and supporters worldwide, we urge the Biden administration to implement the following human rights policy recommendations below: Myanmar: On February 1 the Myanmar military imposed a state of emergency under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and detained scores of elected civilian officials including State Counsellor Aung…

February 10, 2021

Update

You can download the letter here

February 9, 2021

Press Release

Responding to U.S. Customs and Border Protection announcing today the opening of a soft-sided facility in Donna, Texas, Denise Bell, the researcher for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA said: "Children should be in conditions that meet United States and international standards that support the best interests of the child. The Biden administration has inherited a system that holds children in facilities least appropriate for them and it will take time to move away from the system - what we must envision now is a system where detention is not assumed and the standard for families is freedom.…

February 9, 2021

Press Release

Responding to executive actions by President Joe Biden today on restarting the U.S. Refugee Admissions program, Bob Goodfellow, the Interim Executive Director of Amnesty International USA said: “The question today before a new administration and a reorganized Congress is not whether refugees make this country better, which they do, or whether the United States is living up to its historical welcome of refugees, which it is not: it is about the lives, well-being, and human rights of people around the world and about our shared future together. How quickly and how comprehensively we are able to welcome our new neighbors will decide just…

February 4, 2021

Press Release

Responding an announcement today from the Biden administration that the United States will cease support to the Saudi/UAE-led coalition engaged in Yemen, Philippe Nassif, the advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa said:

February 4, 2021

Update

On February 3, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote to Acting U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Gloria D. Steele urging the Biden administration to work with the international community to ensure that distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is equitable in all regions of the world regardless of countries’ income levels and people’s race, ethnic origin, citizenship, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, or other characteristics. Click here to read the letter Dear Acting Administrator Steele: On behalf of Amnesty International and our more than 10 million members and supporters worldwide, we welcome President Biden’s executive actions to remain in the…

February 3, 2021

Press Release

Responding to news that Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with breaching import-export laws for having walkie-talkies in her home, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research, Emerlynne Gil, said:

February 3, 2021

Update

On February 3, 2021, Amnesty International USA addressed a letter to Acting U.S. Trade Representative Maria L. Pagan to request support for the proposed Waiver from Certain Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19. Click here to read the letter Dear Acting USTR Pagan: On behalf of Amnesty International and our more than 10 million members and supporters worldwide, we write to urge you to support the proposed Waiver from Certain Provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of COVID-19.  We request the USTR to engage in constructive negotiations with…

February 3, 2021

Press Release

Responding to executive actions addressing regional migration and border processing and creation of an interagency task force on family reunification, Bob Goodfellow, the Interim Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, said: On family reunification: “Reuniting the more than 5,400 children who were brutally separated from their parents is not an option: it is the only path forward after a policy that inflicted such irreparable harm to families. We cannot forget that decades of anti-human rights policies have contributed to a climate that inflicted cruelty on people seeking safety in this country. As Vice-President, Joe Biden had a role to play…

February 2, 2021