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Update

Despite decades of discrimination and inequality, women are being denied a role in the creation of a new Egypt. They are being excluded by both the caretaker government and the international community. Most recently, a new national committee formed to write the new Egyptian constitution was composed only of men.

March 8, 2011

Update

A flash mob is a" group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire." Flash mobs might be pointless and designed to entertain, but Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) borrowed the concept today for a very different purpose. To commemorate International Women's Day, 500 dedicated  WOZA and MOZA (Men of Zimbabwe Arise) activists formed "flash protests" in downtown Bulawayo. Unlike typical WOZA protests where activists sing, march and converge on a central target where they practice peaceful civil disobedience in…

March 8, 2011

Update

Sometimes referred to as an International Bill of Rights for women, the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the most comprehensive international treaty on basic human rights for women. It offers countries a practical blueprint to promote basic rights and open opportunities for women and girls in all areas of society. It is a useful tool to reduce violence and discrimination against women and girls, ensure girls and women receive the same access as boys and men to education and health care, and secure basic legal recourse for women and girls…

March 8, 2011

Update

Troy Davis' legal team is appealing the federal district court ruling that Davis did not meet the court’s self-described “extraordinarily high” standard to prove his innocence following the two-day evidentiary hearing that took place in Savannah last June.

March 8, 2011

Update

Wow! International Women’s Day is celebrating 100 years of women’s empowerment and progress towards complete gender equality! To celebrate this momentous benchmark, Amnesty International USA plans to kick off the first full week of March with a series of blog posts highlighting the work we continue to do address women’s human rights issues. International Women’s Day represents two sides of the push for women’s rights: one is a celebration of how far we’ve come, and the other is a reinvigoration of the push for total gender equality. For years, Amnesty has been striving to ensure universal rights for all women…

March 7, 2011

Update

It would have been a better title for former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s recently released memoir. There are things Rumsfeld remembers and things he has conveniently forgotten. What we called in the interrogation room “selective memory.”

March 7, 2011

Update

In the past 10 days, it has been estimated that more than 180,000 people have fled Libya and are seeking refugee in neighboring countries. Yet many thousands remain stuck at borders, especially the one between Tunisia and Libya, in freezing conditions. Prior to the crisis, Libya was home to more than a million asylum-seeking refugees from sub-Saharan Africa. Many of these refugees are now seeking asylum in Tunisia, however, Amnesty International is concerned that these migrants in Libya are now being turned back at the Tunisian border.  Additionally, many foreign workers are seeking to return back to their country of…

March 7, 2011

Update

With a stroke of his pen, President Obama today extinguished any last lingering hopes that his administration would eventually do the right thing on Guantanamo and restore due process rights to all the detainees held there. In an Executive Order and accompanying fact sheet and press release, the White House formally announced the resumption of Military Commission hearings – memorably denounced as “an enormous failure” by candidate Obama – and outlined the new review process that will accompany the indefinite detention of individuals deemed to dangerous to release and to hard to prosecute. The decision to resume Military Commissions has…

March 7, 2011

Update

Yesterday, March 3rd, the Georgia House voted 116-56 to pass HB 87, the anti-immigrant Arizona copycat law. The vote was down party lines, with only one Republican casting a “no” vote.

March 5, 2011

Update

On Friday Iraqis will take to the streets again in mourning over the 29 peaceful demonstrators who were killed last week in Baghdad’s Day of Rage. Among the protesters killed was a 14-year-old boy. As in previous protests, demonstrators will also demand political reform, an end to corruption, and jobs as well as clean water, food and electricity. In an effort to prevent demonstrators from reaching Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on February 25, bridges and roads leading to Baghdad were closed off, a curfew was set in place and Al-Maliki said on television that Al-Qaeda operatives might be shooting people at…

March 4, 2011

Update

President Obama and President Calderon will meet on March 3rd at the White House. We are urging them to make human rights a priority and we look forward to working with both administrations to ensure that human rights are enjoyed by all on both sides of the US-Mexico border.

March 3, 2011

Update

Count down is on, and we are only 16 days until Amnesty International’s 50th Annual General Meeting and Youth Summit. Meet us in San Francisco for an exciting weekend where you will hear from inspirational speakers, attend workshops on human rights advocacy and community organizing, and network with other Amnesty activists from all over the country.

March 3, 2011