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]
Press Release
Amnesty International USA Joins Senate Push for Gun Violence Prevention Funding in COVID-19 Stimulus, Calls for Passage of Break the Cycle of Violence Act
Today, Senators Tammy Duckworth and Corey Booker, along with 18 other Senators released a letter to U.S. Senate leadership building on Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) research to call for increased funding in support of communities affected by gun violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes on the heels of an AIUSA letter sent earlier this week to Senators calling for increasing funding for vital community programs that work to prevent gun violence, along with the release of people in immigration detention at risk for COVID-19.
May 22, 2020
Update
Why the U.S. Must Halt Deportations and Expulsions During COVID-19
For PDF, click here. | Versión en español. Explainer on U.S. Deportations and Expulsions During the COVID-19 Pandemic Updated June 18, 2020 U.S. deportation and expulsion practices are recklessly exposing an entire region to increased risk of COVID-19. Since the onset of the pandemic, even as it has suspended asylum processing, paused most immigration court proceedings, and issued broad travel restrictions, the Trump administration has continued deportations apace, reportedly operating hundreds of deportation flights, including many to countries whose already strained healthcare systems could collapse as a result of COVID-19. Over 150 people deported from the United States…
May 20, 2020
Update
Letter to Senators on Immigration Detention and Gun Violence (May 20, 2020)
PDF version May 20, 2020 Dear Senator: Following last week’s passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act), a historic relief package targeted at addressing the many harms wrought by COVID-19, and as the Senate considers future legislation to address the impact of COVID-19, we urge you to include measures that will protect those facing outsize harm as a result of the pandemic: people in immigration detention and communities at heightened risk of gun violence. Amnesty International is the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization, comprising a global support…
May 20, 2020
Press Release
Media briefing on family separation during the COVID-19 pandemic
Family residential centers that are detaining families throughout the United States are now weaponizing the public health response to COVID-19 to punish and deter people seeking safety, much as they have previously done with the “zero tolerance” family separation policy, Amnesty International USA and immigration advocates will discuss, in a new media briefing.
May 19, 2020
Press Release
Hungary’s decision to strip trans people of the right to legal gender recognition is “step back into the dark ages”
Everyone’s gender identity should be legally recognized and everyone must be allowed to change their legal name and gender markers on all official documents
May 19, 2020
Press Release
Countries are failing to protect rights of health workers at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic
The cost of curing: Health workers’ rights in the Americas during COVID-19 and beyond documents how those on the forefront of the pandemic are often working in unsafe conditions with insufficient protective equipment and risk reprisals from authorities or employers if they speak out, while some have even suffered death threats and physical attacks. The report also calls on governments to ensure safe working conditions for cleaners and other support staff who are at risk due to their work in healthcare facilities and nursing homes.
May 19, 2020
Press Release
Missouri plans to execute Walter Barton, as he maintains his innocence
The planned execution of Walter Barton demonstrates why the death penalty is far too flawed to ever fix. Barton maintains his innocence after it took five trials which lasted over a decade to convict and sentence him. He faces execution despite the existence of expert opinion and evidence, never heard by a trial jury, which counters key elements that led to his conviction. This is not justice, it is cruelty.
May 18, 2020
Update
Amnesty International USA Joins 84 Organizations Calling On Congress To Fully Fund United Nations Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
(May 15, 2020) Amnesty International USA joined 84 other organizations in calling for Congress to fully honor its financial obligations to the United Nations. The United Nations is at the fore front of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple UN bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and others are playing a pivotal role in supporting vulnerable communities during the global health pandemic. To fulfill their mandate, these bodies rely on a predictable stream of funding. By falling…
May 18, 2020
Update
Amnesty International USA joins 84 organizations calling on Congress to fully fund United Nations amidst COVID-19 pandemic
(May 15, 2020) Amnesty International USA joined 84 other organizations in calling for Congress to fully honor its financial obligations to the United Nations. The United Nations is at the fore front of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple UN bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and others are playing a pivotal role in supporting vulnerable communities during the global health pandemic. To fulfill their mandate, these bodies rely on a predictable stream of funding. By falling…
May 15, 2020
Press Release
Immigrant rights groups call on governors, health officials to release people in immigration detention
We are coming together to amplify pressure on ICE to act. As states address the public health and humanitarian challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are urging governors to use their public health authority to press ICE and federal immigration detention facilities and county and local jails and prisons to immediately and substantially reduce occupancy in facilities detaining immigrants and asylum-seekers. We hope that they will hear us and act swiftly to save lives.
May 15, 2020
Press Release
Israeli court sets hearing seeking to lift travel ban on Amnesty campaigner
Laith Abu Zeyad, Amnesty International’s campaigner on Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), a Palestinian living in the occupied West Bank, has been barred from traveling abroad by the Israeli authorities since October 2019, for undisclosed “security reasons”. Amnesty International’s previous attempts to repeal the ban through administrative channels have been rejected.
May 15, 2020
Press Release
Anniversary marks two-year detention of women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia
Amnesty International is calling on King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia to release several notable women’s rights defenders, two years after they were detained. On May 15, 2018, a number of prominent Saudi women’s human rights activists were arrested. They had been peacefully advocating for years for the right of women in the kingdom to drive, as well as broader reforms related to the repressive male guardianship system.
May 14, 2020