Newsroom

Update

Getting past the hype of the celebrity laden Charles Taylor trial to the real issue: blood diamonds and human rights abuses in Africa.

August 12, 2010

Update

Sometimes the best defense is no defense.  That may be the moral of the story by Dan Barry in yesterday’s New York Times about James Fisher, who accepted a plea deal that freed him from death row after almost three decades behind bars, on the condition that he leave Oklahoma and never return. This doesn’t mean he was guilty of the crime for which he was sentenced to die; after two grotesquely unfair trials, he had simply lost faith in the system’s ability to defend his rights.  And no wonder.  The victim of the 1982 murder was a man who…

August 12, 2010

Update

By Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.  Neve is currently at Guantánamo to observe the military commission trial against detainee Omar Khadr. This is the third post in his series from the field. 11 August 2010 Over the past two days I have been observing the process of selecting the “jury” for Omar Khadr’s military commission trial here at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Known as a “panel”, this is the group of US military officers who will decide whether Omar Khadr should or should not be convicted of any of the five charges…

August 12, 2010

Update

A new UN report reveals that civilian casualties caused by the Taliban have increased nearly 31%. The Taliban and other insurgent groups to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes. Unless the international community takes a stand, Afghan civilians will continue to believe that they will be abandoned by the world and left to endure another regime of barbarism.

August 11, 2010

Update

I remember vividly my recent encounter with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, who angrily dismissed any concerns regarding alleged war crimes committed during Sri Lanka's civil war. Unfortunately for the minister, and luckily for the human rights movement, I am not the only one who is concerned about serious human rights violations that were committed by both the government and the Tamil Tigers during the final stage of the conflict. International concerns regarding alleged war crimes are not fading. To the contrary, this week new pressure is building up to ensure true accountability. This week, fifty-seven eight members of Congress sent…

August 11, 2010

Update

UPDATE 2: Lado Sikaka was released, so please stop action.  Mr. Sikaka says that while he was there, he was beaten on his hands and legs, and interrogated about whether he had links with supporters of banned Maoist groups. and was involved in any violent incidents in the Niyamgiri Hills. He replied in the negative. However, his captors forced him to sign two blank pieces of paper, before taking him to the nearby town of Kalyansinghpur and releasing him there. He is currently walking back to Lakpaddar, the village where he lives, accompanied by several Dongria Kondh Indigenous people.  The Rayagada…

August 11, 2010

Update

Today Amnesty International USA will be hosting a Tweet Chat with Tom Parker, our Policy Director for Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Human Rights. Today also marks the beginning of the Military Commission proceedings for Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr, who has been in U.S. custody since the age of 15.  While the U.S. ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict in 2002, which Khadr should be protected by, the military commission trial completely fails this international obligation.  What's more is that some of Khadr's statements may have been…

August 10, 2010

Update

The military junta leader of Myanmar (Burma), (senior) General Than Shwe, went on a multi-day visit to India.  While there, Than Shwe (responsible for widespread human rights violations in Burma, including the detention of thousands of prisoners of conscience) received a most marvelous gift from the Government of India, a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, the "apostle of non-violence." Surely the sense of irony is lost on the victims of human rights in Burma. So, again a hearty congratulations to the leader of Myanmar junta Than Shwe for the successful trip to India and a special congratulations to the Government of…

August 10, 2010

Update

The judge in Omar Khadr's military commission proceedings ruled that coerced statements Khadr made while he was allegedly being tortured will be admitted as evidence at the trial. None will be excluded.

August 10, 2010

Update

It was the early summer doldrums of late June.  The year was 1972.  The number one song was Neil Diamond’s Song Sung Blue (really??), and the movies that came out that weekend were The Candidate and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (not exactly blockbusters like The Godfather).  But there was some relatively big news – bigger, at least, than the news from twelve days earlier that five men had been arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate Hotel.  The bigger news was that the US Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, had banned…

August 10, 2010

Update

Amnesty International's Alex Neve is currently at Guantanamo to observe the military commission trial against detainee Omar Khadr, in US custody since he was 15.

August 9, 2010

Update

TODAY August 9th 2010, marks the 17th annual International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples represents an effort to further strengthen international cooperation in solving the problems faced by Indigenous communities in areas such as culture, education, health, human rights, the environment, and social and economic development. Help us honor this day: Call on President Obama to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) now! Indigenous Peoples are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable peoples in the world.…

August 9, 2010