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Press Release

Law enforcement agencies across the United States are failing to facilitate people’s fundamental right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and to protect protests and counter-protests from violent disruption by armed groups among others, Amnesty International said today in a new report, Losing the Peace: US Police Failures to Protect Protesters from Violence.  Since the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020, there have been thousands of peaceful anti-racism and political protests and counter-protests across the United States. Yet in nearly 200 incidents where violence occurred between participants in conflicting protests, Amnesty International found that US police forces frequently failed…

October 23, 2020

Press Release

Responding to the United States signing on to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, Tarah Demant, the Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity program at Amnesty International USA said: “Today’s news marks another giant step backwards for the United States as it joins a list of countries willingly endangering people’s health and lives. The United States’ stance flies in the face of human rights and decades of health research.   “Every woman, girl or person who can become pregnant has the human right to abortion. Full stop. This is about people living full lives that are their own - not the lives…

October 22, 2020

Press Release

Responding to reports that the United States Department of State, under Secretary Pompeo’s initiative, may categorize several non-governmental organizations as antisemitic and call on governments worldwide to stop funding them, Bob Goodfellow, the Interim Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, issued the below statement: “Secretary Pompeo’s baseless accusations are yet another attempt to silence and intimidate international human rights organizations. The administration is spreading misinformation and working to undermine those who are working to protect human rights. Amnesty International USA is deeply committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate worldwide, and will continue to protect people wherever justice,…

October 21, 2020

Update

Advocacy Letter to Deputy Secretary of State Biegun and Acting USAID Administrator Barsa Regarding Rohingya Refugees In advance of the virtual donor conference on Rohingya refugees - jointly hosted by the United States, United Kingdom, the European Union, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees  - Amnesty International USA's Senior Policy Advisor, Ryan Mace, sent the below letter to Deputy Secretary of State Edward Biegun and Acting U.S. Agency for International Administrator John Barsa, who are to make remarks at the start of the conference. The letter urges the U.S Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Government…

October 21, 2020

Press Release

An on-the-ground investigation by Amnesty International has confirmed that the Nigerian army and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters yesterday at two locations in Lagos. The killings took place in Lekki and Alausa, where thousands were protesting police brutality as part of the #EndSars movement. Evidence gathered from eyewitnesses, video footage and hospital reports confirm that between 6:45pm and 9:00pm on Tuesday 20 October, the Nigerian military opened fire on thousands of people who were peacefully calling for good governance and an end to police brutality. Witnesses at the Lekki protest grounds told Amnesty international that solders arrived at…

October 21, 2020

Press Release

City and state officials in the United States should review their laws, policies, and practices ahead of the November 3, 2020 general elections to ensure that they protect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, five international human rights organizations said on October 20, in letters to over 3,500 mayors and city council members throughout the country, as well as to all governors.  

October 21, 2020

Press Release

For a second consecutive year, Amnesty International has documented how African governments are grossly undermining regional human rights bodies by failing to comply with their decisions, ignoring their urgent appeals, neglecting to report to them on national human rights situations and starving them of resources they desperately need for operations. Governments also neglected the rights of people with disabilities and older persons by failing to ratify treaties relating to their protection. In the second edition of The State of African Regional Human Rights Bodies and Mechanisms 2019-2020, released on the African Human Rights Day, Amnesty International said the mechanisms established to safeguard…

October 20, 2020

Press Release

The trial of three police officers accused of killing prominent human rights lawyer Tahir Elçi presents a long overdue chance for justice, Amnesty International said today. On November 28,2015, Tahir Elçi was shot in the head shortly after giving a statement at a press conference in the city of Diyarbakır, where the first trial hearing of three of the accused begins today.  A 2019 report by Forensic Architecture concluded, by a process of elimination, that Tahir Elçi was most likely killed by one of three police officers present at the scene. These officers face charges of ‘causing death by culpable…

October 20, 2020

Update

On October 19, Amnesty International USA addressed a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo ahead of his Oct. 27 visit to Sri Lanka urging him to call on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to reverse some of their recent actions which undermine human rights and take steps to address impunity. Click here to read the letter October 19, 2020 The Honorable Michael R. Pompeo Secretary of State U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20520 Re: Request to address deteriorating human rights situation during Oct. 27 visit with Sri Lanka’s President and Prime…

October 19, 2020

Update

Amnesty International, CIVICUS and Transparency International call on G20 Finance Ministers to take concrete for just post COVID future through a just recovery by providing  transparent and sustainable international assistance, strengthening transparency to improve delivery and empowering  the civil society watchdogs to protect relief funds. A PDF of the joint statement can be found here: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/IOR3032152020ENGLISH.PDF         Bangladeshi people queue up to collect subsidized food items during a government-imposed shut-down as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 17, 2020. (Photo by Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images)   AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT                      …

October 15, 2020

Press Release

Civilians must be allowed safe passage out of Lashkar Gah following three days of intense fighting between Afghan government and Taliban forces that has blocked all exit routes from the city and forced at least 35,000 people to flee their homes, said Amnesty International. The heavy fighting, in which Afghan forces supported by United States airstrikes are defending the Helmand Province capital from a Taliban assault, has taken out power across the entire city as well as telephone lines and internet access. With nowhere to go, some of the tens of thousands displaced are reported by local media to have…

October 14, 2020

Update

For PDF, click here. Michael J. McDermott Security and Public Safety Division, Office of Policy and Strategy U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department of Homeland Security 20 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20529–2240 (202) 272–8377   USCIS Docket No. USCIS–2019–0007-0001   October 13, 2020   Via electronic submission to eRulemaking Portal   RE: Amnesty International USA Comments on “Collection and Use of Biometrics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services”   Amnesty International USA submits the following comment in response to the September 11 notice of proposed rulemaking which, if implemented, would authorize mass, unwarranted, indefinite surveillance of immigrants and their…

October 13, 2020