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Press Release
United Nations Review Will Bring U.S. Human Rights Abuses to Light
As the United States’ human rights record is examined under the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review during a two-week session, which begins today, Amnesty International USA issued the following statement: “Today, the world watches to see whether the United States will seize the opportunity for its policies to be examined fully under the light of transparency or whether it will shirk from the sunlight and bury its human rights record in the shadows of excuses,” said Bob Goodfellow, the executive director of Amnesty International USA. Amnesty International expressed in its Universal Periodic Review submission concerns about policies…
November 9, 2020
Press Release
President-Elect Joe Biden Must Make Human Rights a Priority
Following reports that Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States of America, Amnesty International USA’s Interim Executive Director, Bob Goodfellow, released the following statement:
November 7, 2020
Press Release
HUMAN RIGHTS SNAPSHOT: 2020 U.S. ELECTION
Good morning -- This is the second in a series of morning updates from Amnesty International focused on protests and potential human rights violations occurring around and in response to the 2020 election. See down below for a list of Amnesty experts available for interviews. HUMAN RIGHTS SNAPSHOT There have been public threats of and incitement to violence, including from police and public officials, posing risks to public safety and human rights: Last night, former Georgia House Representative Vernon Jones threatened: “We’re starting now to see the white in their eyes and we’re getting ready to start shooting.” A Colorado police officer was placed on leave…
November 6, 2020
Press Release
Media Briefing 11/5: Monitoring Protests, Potential Human Rights Violations
Good morning -- This is the first of a series of morning updates from Amnesty International focused on protests and potential human rights violations occurring around and in response to the 2020 election. See down below for a list of Amnesty experts available for interviews. HUMAN RIGHTS SNAPSHOT In New York City, police ‘kettled’ and arrested nearly 60 protesters in Manhattan, encircling the group and pushing protesters to the ground as they made arrests. Amnesty’s digital verification experts are analyzing this incident. In Maricopa County, AZ, protesters, some of them armed, claimed the vote had been stolen from President Donald Trump as they…
November 5, 2020
Press Release
First confirmed use of cluster munitions by Armenia is cruel and reckless
Amnesty International has verified the use of banned cluster bombs by Armenia for the first time in the current Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, following an attack on the city of Barda in Azerbaijan. Yesterday, at approximately 1:30pm local time, one or several Smerch rockets were fired into Barda, striking a residential neighborhood close to a hospital. The Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office has stated that at least 21 people were killed, with an estimated 70 more injured. Amnesty International’s Crisis Response experts verified pictures (taken by Vice News reporters in the city) of fragments of 9N235 cluster munitions from Russian-made 9M55 Smerch rockets,…
October 29, 2020
Press Release
Today’s report on family separation highlights need for accountability
Responding to the House Judiciary Committee releasing the findings of its 21-month investigation into the development and execution of the Trump Administration's family separation policy, which resulted in more than 2,500 migrant children becoming separated from their parents, Denise Bell, the researcher for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA said: "Today's report only confirms what this administration's immigration policies have shown: cruelty was always the point. This administration's deliberate policy to separate families inflicted severe mental suffering -- all in order to deter people from seeking safety or to coerce them into giving up. This is called torture,…
October 29, 2020
Press Release
Authorities in Nigeria must stop attempts to cover up Lekki Toll Gate massacre
The Nigerian authorities’ must end their attempts to cover up the Lekki Toll Gate massacre, Amnesty International said, as it released a new timeline investigating the atrocity one week later. The timeline – available here – collates photographs and video footage to confirm that Nigerian Army vehicles left Bonny Camp, a military base approximately a seven-minute drive from the toll gate, at 6.29pm local time on October 20. Footage then tracks the vehicles to the toll gate. At approximately 6.45pm, the Nigerian military opened fire on the #EndSars protesters who were peacefully calling for an end to police brutality. “What happened…
October 28, 2020
Press Release
ICE doubles down on detention to deter and punish families for seeking safety
Responding to the Department of Homeland Security statement regarding the pending Flores court decision, Denise Bell, the researcher for refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA said: "The administration’s statement that the court is forcing its hand to separate families is pure disinformation. On the contrary, it is ICE’s actions that have contributed to this untenable situation. This administration has consistently acted to keep families detained, instead of releasing them together, which is well within its discretion to do. The government has sought a path fundamentally destructive of a child’s best interests and family unity by keeping families together through…
October 27, 2020
Press Release
Killing of eight schoolchildren in Cameroon is a new low in devastating Anglophone crisis
Following the killing of eight schoolchildren in the town of Kumba in the Anglophone region of Cameroon, Tity Agbahey, Amnesty International’s Central Africa Campaigner, said: “The killing of eight schoolchildren inside their classroom is an atrocity that underscores the urgency of protecting ordinary people from the ongoing violence in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions. This horrific attack shows how badly the situation is deteriorating and we call on Cameroon’s authorities to immediately take all possible measures to protect the population. “At least 12 other schoolchildren were injured in the attack. Over the past year there has been a surge in attacks in the Anglophone…
October 26, 2020
Press Release
As Election Season Nears End, New Amnesty International USA Ad Raises Alarm About the Future of the United States
In a new full-page ad in The Washington Post, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is sending an open letter to all U.S. federal, local, and state officials raising grave concern over the state of human rights in the country.
October 26, 2020
Update
Amnesty International Comments on Draconian New Procedural Rules for Asylum-Seekers
For PDF version, click here. Lauren Alder Reid Assistant Director, Office of Policy Executive Office for Immigration Review 5107 Leesburg Pike, Ste. 1800 Falls Church, VA 22041 EOIR Docket No. 19–0010; A.G. Order No. 4843–2020 October 23, 2020 Via electronic submission to eRulemaking Portal RE: Amnesty International USA Comment in Opposition to Proposed Rules on Procedures for Asylum and Withholding of Removal Amnesty International USA submits the following comment in response to the September 23 notice of proposed rulemaking issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which creates insurmountable new bars to accessing asylum.…
October 23, 2020
Update
Secretary Pompeo should demand Armenia and Azerbaijan protect civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
On October 23, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Washington with Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan. The meeting came nearly one month into a conflict between the two countries over the region of Nagorno Karabakh. Amnesty International USA wrote to Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Ambassador Philip T. Reeker to call on the State Department to use the meeting to secure protections for civilians on both sides of the front line. To download a copy of the letter, please click here October 21, 2020…
October 23, 2020