Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
If you are a member of the press, please reach out to [email protected]
Update
Mapping CIA Black Sites
AGM Countdown: In the run up to Amnesty International's Annual General Meeting in New Orleans this weekend, the Science for Human Rights program will be posting a new blog entry every day this week. All of the projects presented this week—and many more—will be at display in New Orleans. In its most extensive study of secret detention practices to date, the UN released a 222-page report on the practice of secret detention in dozens of countries. The report was to be presented to the Human Rights Council in March but the Council has agreed to postpone the discussion until June.…
April 5, 2010
Update
Why the Health Reform Law Fails to Meet Human Rights Standards
Originally posted to Huffington Post Amidst the celebrations of a 'historical moment,' a healthy dose of realism seems in order as we assess the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the related reconciliation measures. What is seen as a crucial victory for the Obama Administration has been won on the backs of many grassroots activists struggling for health care as a human right and a public good, including women's and immigrants' rights groups. The lengthy health reform process has mobilized many millions of people, some new to political activism and many others veterans of the long struggle for…
April 2, 2010
Update
Vote for the Power of Words!
You may remember last year when YouTube premiered our animated video "The Power of Words" on its homepage with an introduction by actor, Morgan Freeman. We're pleased to announce that this video has been nominated in this year's DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards! We've got some stiff competition in the Best Innovation category, so please cast your votes for human rights before midnight EDT on April 7th. Here's how to vote: Sign into your YouTube account (or if you don’t have one, it's free and easy to create). Then, on the Nonprofit Video Awards page, click on the "Vote" button and…
April 2, 2010
Update
Gaza Blockade: Amnesty International Delivers 23,000 Signatures to Clinton
Today, we delivered a petition to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, asking her to urge the Israeli government to lift the blockade of Gaza immediately. More than 23,000 people signed the petition, making it Amnesty International’s most successful Facebook petition to date. > Check out IRIN News’ photo gallery, which showcases powerful photographs of life in Gaza. Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip leaves more than 1.4 million Palestinians cut off from necessary and life-saving supplies, exacerbating a situation of extreme and desperate poverty. The blockade restricts the entry of basic goods, such as food and fuel, on which the…
April 2, 2010
Update
We'll Make Them Disappear
“If you don’t have enough evidence to charge someone criminally but you think he’s illegal, we [ICE] can make him disappear.” So said James Pendergraph, former Executive Director of the ICE Office of State and Local Coordination, in August 2008. I was in attendance at the Police Foundation National Conference where he made this bold assertion, and I couldn’t believe my ears. I actually asked the person next to me if he had just said what I thought he had just said and she affirmed it. Yes, he had just told an audience of police officers, sheriffs and other law…
April 2, 2010
Update
Less than human rights is not an option for people with disabilities
What comes to mind when you hear the word “disability?” Wheelchairs, canes, Seeing Eye Dogs, handicapped signs, mental illness, deafness… Images and thoughts, more often than not, that imply the person lacks something – is less than a person, even less than human. The disabled—correction—persons with disabilities—struggle with stigma and a long history as being objects of pity, ostracized by mainstream society, and seen as needing to be fixed. And as shocking as it may seem, even in the human rights arena, people with disabilities are often left on the sidelines and forgotten. Now is the time for a paradigm…
April 1, 2010
Update
Saudi Arabia Set to Execute Soothsayer for Sorcery
‘Ali Hussain Sibat was sentenced to death by a court in Madina in November 2009 after secret court hearings where he had no legal representation or assistance. Amnesty International is concerned that the charge of “sorcery” and others arose solely from the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.
April 1, 2010
Update
The Lindsay Lohan Chronicles
For you, the gentle reader, I plumb the depths of the internet looking for content to inform, entertain, and perhaps piss off the folks expecting to read about human rights. Well, today I have to thank Lindsay Lohan for making this arduous task that much easier for me. Yes, for some reason the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation chose the esteemed actress and socialite (is there such a thing as an esteemed socialite?) to do a documentary on child trafficking in India. I'm actually serious-- this is not an April Fool's Day joke. It is actually true. Lindsay Lohan has done…
April 1, 2010
Update
Southern Africa To Be One Country
I was very excited to read today that ten countries in southern Africa decided to join forces, eliminate borders and become one country. This will make it easier for many Westerners who already think the continent of Africa is just one country; or at least think all the countries are exactly the same and therefore propose the same "one size fits all" solutions over and over again to mostly Western created problems. Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana and Angola will now be called South Zamalawimbiqueothobabweibialand. Recognizing this will be a challenge to fit on business cards, government…
April 1, 2010
Update
Haitian Disaster to US Detention
UPDATE: The U.S. freed the 30 Haitian detainees from immigrant detention facilities tonight after they spent about two months behind bars. Here we go again: one more egregious example of the discriminatory treatment of Haitians in immigration law, and another in how the drastic impact of mandatory detention devastates already traumatized people. Unlike any other nationality, US policy requires that all Haitians seeking entry into the US be detained until it is decided by immigration authorities whether they will be admitted. There are no exceptions, and the consequences of this draconian policy were illuminated in a New York Times story…
April 1, 2010
Update
College students read last words of the executed
A couple of days ago, we revealed staggering statistics about countries utilizing capital punishment. Our newest report Death Sentences and Executions shows that the U.S. ranks 7th in the world. Texas leads with the number of executions performed in 2009. Without wasting any time, college students in San Antonio, TX raised their voices in protest against the death penalty. Check out this video from the event: Visit www.amnestyusa.org/abolish or email [email protected] to get involved.
April 1, 2010
Update
From American Soil
The disruption of a plot by a clandestine militant group in Clayton, Michigan, to murder law enforcement officials illustrates perfectly what an unholy and inconsistent mess America’s counter-terrorism architecture has become. Major Hassan’s murderous rampage in Fort Hood, Texas, is repeatedly described as terrorism but the word is barely mentioned when a group of white right-wing extremists plan to do almost exactly the same thing in Michigan. The chosen target was the same – men and women in uniform. The chosen method was the same – murder. In both cases the motivation seems to be prompted by perverted religious teachings.…
March 31, 2010