Newsroom

Update

After a US State Department official called for reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka last week, US lawmakers are now taking concrete action to hold the State Department to its own word.

July 28, 2010

Update

In just two days, Arizona's discriminatory bill, SB1070, will officially become law and go into effect. What's more frightening, however, is that other states are now slated to follow Arizona's lead.

July 27, 2010

Update

Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted in 1991 and sentenced to die for an arson that killed his three children in Corsicana, Texas. Throughout, he insisted that the fire was an accident, and after his execution, doubts only increased.  A report commissioned by the Innocence Project concluded that the arson investigation in Willingham’s case was seriously flawed, leading many to suspect that the Lone Star State did indeed execute an innocent man.  In 2008 the Texas Forensic Science Commission agreed to look into the case. On Friday, July 23, the Commission decided that arson investigators had used flawed science, but were…

July 27, 2010

Update

On Mar. 11, I wrote on this site about Prageeth Eknaligoda, the Sri Lankan journalist and cartoonist.  He's been missing since leaving work on Jan. 24.  Amnesty Interrnational and other organizations (like the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders) have all expressed concern and have called on the Sri Lankan government to investigate his disappearance. Well, it's been six months since he disappeared and we haven't seen any evidence of an effective investigation so far.  His wife, Sandhya Eknaligoda, has repeatedly said she holds the government responsible.  This past Saturday, she reportedly went to a famous…

July 26, 2010

Update

Myanmar's junta leader, General Than Shwe has been given the red carpet treatment during his visit to India.  India should be telling this dude that he should be releasing thousands of prisoners of conscience including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.  Do you think that's what the Government of India is doing?  It would make sense given India's strong democratic credentials. Nope. Instead, India is talking about how they score up on natural gas and oil stuff.  According to the BBC: ... analysts say India's desire to do business with Burma, reputed to have large reserves of natural…

July 25, 2010

Update

Here at Amnesty, our staffers have put together a list of books on our summer reading list for human rights. We invite you to read with us as we look to books, non-fiction and fiction alike, on issues in today's world. Here are our top 10 summer must-reads! 1.) Anil's Ghost: A Novel by: Michael Ondaatje Summary: With his first novel since the internationally acclaimed The English Patient, Booker Prize—winning author Michael Ondaatje gives us a work displaying all the richness of imagery and language and the piercing emotional truth that we have come to know as the hallmarks of…

July 23, 2010

Update

Chad’s government seems to have misplaced its copy of the Rome Statute, the founding document of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who was recently charged with the crime of genocide by the ICC, just spent the last two days in Chad, without the Chadian government lifting a finger to respect its obligations under the Rome Statute. Chad ratified the Rome Statute in November 2006 – which means they have an obligation to arrest and surrender to the Court individuals like Al Bashir who have had warrants issued for their arrest by the ICC. But Chad’s government went as far…

July 23, 2010

Update

Last week, at least two Utah state employees were involved in distributing a list of 1,300 names of supposedly illegal immigrants. This 29-page list was sent out to Utah government offices and media and included such personalized details as social security numbers, addresses, and even pregnancy due dates. Many of those on the list are not illegals.

July 22, 2010

Update

Amnesty International's pathbreaking report, Deadly Delivery, documented the maternal health care crisis in the United States: women in the United States have a greater lifetime risk of dying of pregnancy-related causes than women in 40 other countries, with African-American women dying at an almost four times greater rate than Caucasian women. As Amnesty's Mother's Day briefing on Capitol Hill showed, legislators recognize the urgency of this issue and are responding. Today, one of those champions is stepping up and introducing a vital new piece of legislation. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard's (D-CA) "MOMS for the 21st Century Act" would: Strengthen a geographically…

July 22, 2010

Update

Jeffrey David Matthews was slated for execution on June 17, 2010, for the 1994 murder of Otis Earl Short, his great uncle. From the start of the trial process, the conviction of Matthews has been controversial. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and the quality of the police investigation into the crime was, according to one former officer, “sloppy” and “suspicious."

July 21, 2010

Update

HUGE thanks and a heartfelt congratulations to everyone who has been involved in Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women work, and in particular, the work to end sexual violence and rape against Native American and Alaska Native women in the U.S. The House just passed H.R. 725, to which the Tribal Law and Order Act was attached as an amendment, by a vote of 326 yays to 92 nays. This historic and long-overdue legislation will now go to President Obama to be signed into law!! This will be the major solution for the long-overdue problem of disturbing rates of sexual…

July 21, 2010

Update

We were already ecstatic when both the House and the Senate voted in favor of a Wall Street Reform bill that included strong provisions requiring companies that use minerals from Congo to be more transparent. But now that President Obama has signed that bill into law, we can really celebrate. Companies that use minerals from the Congo in their products – like our blackberries, computers, digital cameras... – will now be forced to disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission the steps they're taking to ensure they aren't using minerals from the Congo that fuel human rights abuses. While this is…

July 21, 2010