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Update

Senator William Smith Chair Senator Jeff Waldstreicher Vice Chair Maryland Senate: Judicial Proceeding Committee Re: Amnesty International Statement for September 22 Hearing: Bill Hearings on Police Accountability and Law Enforcement Reform, JPA1 Amnesty International USA1 respectfully submits this statement to the record, in connection with the above referenced hearing before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and ask that this statement be submitted as part of the official hearing record. Each year police kill over 1,000 people in the US and in Maryland between 2013 and 2019 128 people were killed by police, 80 of them Black. In these years Black…

September 21, 2020

Press Release

Today, 540 local and state elected officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia expressed their strong support for resettling refugees in their communities in a bipartisan letter sent to President Trump. The letter, supported by Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), urges the President to raise refugee admissions for Fiscal Year 2021. 

September 17, 2020

Press Release

Responding to reports that there have been hysterectomies performed on immigrant women detained in the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Georgia, Denise Bell, Researcher on Refugee and Migrant Rights, said:

September 16, 2020

Update

For PDF version, click here. Sept. 15, 2020 Amnesty International USA Recommends All Senators Support Immediate Passage of the Venezuela TPS Act of 2019 (H.R. 549/S. 636) through Unanimous Consent   Venezuela is undergoing a massive humanitarian and human rights crisis, one which has forced nearly five million Venezuelans to flee the country. An estimated 200,000 Venezuelan nationals in the United States could be protected from deportation and have access to livelihoods through Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – yet, inexcusably, the United States has, to date, failed to act to protect them.   On April 15, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and…

September 15, 2020

Press Release

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh must be given the right to participate in decisions affecting their lives and speak for themselves, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing. The briefing, “Let us speak for our rights”, outlines how exclusion from decision-making is impacting the human rights of Rohingya refugees – from freedom of expression, assembly and movement to access to healthcare and education. The briefing also calls for a full and thorough investigation into allegations that Rohingya refugees have been subjected to extrajudicial executions. “For decades, the Rohingya were subjected to persecution and discrimination in Myanmar, with hundreds of thousands…

September 15, 2020

Update

President Donald J. Trump 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington DC 20500   Re: Amnesty International urges President Trump to raise human rights concerns in meetings with Bahrain Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayan, UAE's Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu   Dear President Trump, On behalf of Amnesty International USA (“AIUSA”), and Amnesty International’s more than seven million members and supporters worldwide, I am writing to urge you and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to raise the following human rights issues during meetings you may have with Bahrain Foreign Minister Dr.…

September 15, 2020

Update

AIUSA statement for Record on Egypt

September 15, 2020

Press Release

Residents of Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and the Washington D.C. area will see billboards across their states and districts for four weeks calling on the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to stop detaining families who came to the United States seeking safety. As part of a campaign to free people from ICE detention, human rights organization Amnesty International USA chose today to target ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to call on the agencies to free families and children, following in-depth research into immigration detention facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Billboards that read,…

September 15, 2020

Update

Read our September 2020 Newsletter

September 14, 2020

Press Release

As the Rwandan National Public Prosecution Authority examines the case file of Paul Rusesabagina, a political opponent best known internationally as the manager of a hotel in Kigali where over 1,200 people sought refuge during the genocide, Amnesty International calls on the Rwandan authorities to guarantee his right to a fair trial. The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) carried out investigations into Rusesabagina on allegations including terrorism, arson, kidnap and murder allegedly committed in Nyaruguru district in June 2018 and Nyamagabe district in December 2018. They handed over his case file to the public prosecution on September 9, 2020.  “The lack…

September 14, 2020

Report

An Amnesty International investigation has exposed how international businesses are linked to the financing of Myanmar’s military, including many units directly responsible for crimes under international law and other human rights violations. Leaked official documents analyzed by Amnesty International reveal how Myanmar’s military receives huge revenues from shares in Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a secretive conglomerate whose activities include the mining, beer, tobacco, garment manufacturing and banking sectors. MEHL has partnerships with a range of local and foreign businesses including Japanese beer multinational Kirin and South Korean steel giant POSCO. MEHL shareholder records show that military units, including combat divisions, own about one…

September 9, 2020

Update

  August 24, 2020 Dear Representative: On behalf of Amnesty International USA, I am writing to share our top foreign policy and human rights policy recommendations. The list of issues that follows is not meant to be exhaustive but should be high priorities for the next HFAC Chair and Ranking Member’s agenda. Amnesty International’s experts stand ready to provide briefings on any issues outlined below Please do not hesitate to contact me at 202/281-0017 or [email protected]. Sincerely,   Joanne Lin National Director Advocacy and Government Affairs Amnesty International USA 202/509-8151 Email: [email protected] Twitter:@joannelindc       1. Protect Persecuted Populations…

September 8, 2020