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A new Amnesty International report draws a shocking picture of the fate of women and girls who fled the violence in Darfur to neighboring Chad: Instead of finding safety in refugee camps across the border, many become victims of sexual violence. Chadian police, trained and supported by UN forces, do little to protect women from sexual attacks in and outside the camps. In a statement to the Associated Press, a spokesman for the Chadian government denied any responsibility for protecting the refugees: "If there are cases of rape in the camps we cannot prevent them. The government is not responsible…

September 30, 2009

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What's Up This Week: Crackdown in China Food Crisis in Africa Upcoming Dates China: Crackdown in Preparation for 60th Anniversary Party In preparation for the October 1st celebration of the 60th anniversary of Communist rule, China has initiated a crackdown of human rights activists, press and private citizens in an effort to eliminate disruptions or protests that would reflect negatively on the country’s message of social harmony. The repression has included the increased surveillance, harassment and imprisonment of activists, students, religious practitioners, and ethnic minorities. An estimated several hundred individuals are either under surveillance, house arrest or are being forcibly removed…

September 29, 2009

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Today the Zimbabwe Supreme Court ruled in favor of the motion brought by Jestina Mukoko's lawyer that all charges against her should be dropped due to the torture she experienced at the hands of state security agents. Late last year, Jestina Mukoko, head of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was abducted from her home, illegally detained, tortured and charged with recruiting persons to participate in alleged militia camps in Botswana. She was one of 18 persons abducted and tortured around this time and charged with variations of the same crime. On June 25th of this year, the Supreme Court heard a petition from…

September 29, 2009

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Big news. According to our latest count, the Myanmar government has granted amnesty to at least 126 political prisoners, including high profile Amnesty cases Khaing Kaung San, Ko Aung Tun and Myo Yan Naung Thein. The repressive Myanmar regime tried to silence these peaceful voices by putting them behind bars. We've been ratcheting up pressure on Myanmar for months, and it's working. Just a few weeks ago, 20,000 Amnesty activists sent postcards calling for the release of more than 2,000 people detained in Myanmar simply for exercising their human rights. Amnesty members helped secure the release of Burmese dissident Ma…

September 29, 2009

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Gouri has wrapped up her on-the-ground reporting from Sierra Leone -- but the Amnesty International caravan is still campaigning for the right to maternal health. Follow Africa campaigner Khairunissa Dhala's posts on the International Secretariat's Livewire blog. Today: in the rain in Kabala.

September 29, 2009

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By Laura Moye, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign Director This is just a quick note from Savannah, Georgia, where I am right now with a wonderful delegation of folks from the UK who are here visiting to support Troy Davis. Many Amnesty International activists around the world have been working hard on the Troy Davis campaign.  AI UK is one of the sections that has made Troy's case a priority.  They wanted to send a team here to visit Troy and offer their solidarity for our struggle.  Their anti-death penalty campaigner, Kim Manning-Cooper, is here with Alistair Carmichael, a Member of…

September 28, 2009

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President Robert Mugabe granted an interview to CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour today - his first interview with a Western news agency in years. Mugabe spoke to Amanpour while he was in New York attending the UN General Assembly meeting. The interview yielded many choice soundbites. Here are a few of my favorites: He denied that Zimbabwe is in economic shambles, saying it grew enough food last year to feed all its people. Which is interesting because the World Food Program is busily feeding 1.8 million people in Zimbabwe and Malawi is busily selling maize to Zimbabwe because it needs to import food to feed its…

September 25, 2009

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Shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a shift in U.S. policy towards the oppressive military regime in Burma (Myanmar), new details emerged about a U.S. citizen who was arrested on September 3: Activist Kyaw Zaw Lwin is being held in the infamous and feared Insein Prison, where Burmese authorities tortured him during recent interrogations. The torture and ill-treatment that Kyaw Zaw Lwin suffered included beating and kicking. He has also been denied medical treatment for the injuries he sustained from the torture.  He was deprived of food for seven days and moved between different interrogation centers. He was…

September 25, 2009

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Gouri is in Sierra Leone this week to get a first-hand perspective of how maternal mortality affects the women and families living there. She will be sharing stories throughout her trip as a part of our Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone series. Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Today, we travelled with the caravan to Makeni, in northern Sierra Leone.  The trip from Freetown took us about three hours, and we arrived in Makeni to a festive welcome.  We were greeted by young women in traditional dress doing a traditional dance.  They had painted their faces and wore bushels of leaves on…

September 24, 2009

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Mostly I've been blogging about the internally displaced civilians who are being held in internment camps in northern Sri Lanka.  The Sri Lankan government says they can't be released until they've been screened to determine if any are former fighters with the opposition Tamil Tigers.  Amnesty International is conducting our "Unlock the Camps" campaign to demand that these displaced civilians get the freedom of movement they're entitled to. Today, however, I want to talk about the more than 10,000 suspected Tiger members who are being held, separately from the displaced civilians, by the Sri Lankan government.  Amnesty International reported today that one of…

September 24, 2009

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Gouri is in Sierra Leone this week to get a first-hand perspective of how maternal mortality affects the women and families living there. She will be sharing stories throughout her trip as a part of our Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone series. Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Just back from the official launch of the Sierra Leone Maternal Mortality report (pdf).  Amnesty launched the report at a school's grounds near Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown. There were several thousand people there for the launch as a result of the outreach done by the Amnesty International section in Sierra Leone.  AI…

September 23, 2009

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Update: Amnesty International released a report today confirming the abuse of media representatives and political activists outside the prison when Mario Masuku was released. [T]he security officers reacted aggressively to the presence ... of some 50 noisy but peaceful, unarmed supporters ... journalists were standing near them. Without any official warning to disperse, security officers charged into the group at the gate. They severely assaulted a number of leading political activists and demanded that the journalists stop filming and photographing their actions. They seized cameras ... and verbally abused, threatened and physically assaulted several journalists." Mario Masuku was acquitted of all charges and released from…

September 23, 2009