Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
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Press Release
Same-Sex Marriage to be Legalized in Northern Ireland and UK Must Legislate on Ending Abortion Ban
Today marks huge progress for the rights of Northern Irish citizens, said Amnesty International, as MPs voted through amendments to the Northern Ireland Executive Formation Bill which will see same-sex marriage legalized, while the UK Government is forced to legislate for abortion reform, including decriminalization.
July 9, 2019
Press Release
Trump Administration Commission on Unalienable Rights Politicizes Human Rights for Hate
Reacting to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's announcement today of a creation of a Commission on Unalienable Rights, Joanne Lin, national director of advocacy and government affairs at Amnesty International USA said: "This administration has actively worked to deny and take away long-standing human rights protections since Trump's inauguration. If this administration truly wanted to support people's rights, it would use the global framework that's already in place. Instead, it wants to undermine rights for individuals, as well as the responsibilities of governments. "This approach only encourages other countries to adopt a disregard for basic human rights standards and…
July 8, 2019
Report
“Fleeing my whole life”: Older people’s experience of conflict and displacement in Myanmar
Tens of thousands of older women and men from ethnic minorities across Myanmar who faced military atrocities and were forced to flee their homes are being let down by a humanitarian system that often fails to adequately address their rights and needs, Amnesty International said in a report published today. “Fleeing my whole life”: Older people’s experience of conflict and displacement in Myanmar is the organization’s first comprehensive investigation into the specific ways older people’s rights and dignity are not respected amid armed conflict and crisis, as well in the provision of humanitarian assistance. “For decades, Myanmar’s ethnic minorities have suffered recurrent abuse at…
June 17, 2019
Press Release
More than 1 million people join global campaign to demand Iranian government release Nasrin Sotoudeh
More than a million people in more than 200 countries and territories across the globe have come together to express their outrage at the sentencing of prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh to 38 years and six months in prison and 148 lashes after two grossly unfair trials, Amnesty International announced today, as signatures demanding her release were handed in to Iranian embassies around the world. To mark one year since Nasrin Sotoudeh’s arrest, Amnesty International is organizing a global handover of the signatures collected, calling on the Iranian authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally. Under Iran’s sentencing…
June 12, 2019
Report
Transgender people in China risk their lives with dangerous self – surgery
Transgender people in China are performing highly dangerous surgery on themselves and buying unsafe hormone treatments on the black market because it is almost impossible for them to access the health care they urgently need, Amnesty International said in a new report. “I need my parents’ consent to be myself- Barriers to gender-affirming treatments for transgender people in China” reveals that prevalent discrimination and stigma, restrictive eligibility requirements, and a lack of information, leave transgender people to seek unregulated and unsafe gender-affirming treatments. “China is failing transgender people. Discriminatory laws and policies have left many people feeling they have no…
May 9, 2019
Press Release
Ban on face-veil risks stigmatizing Muslim women in Sri Lanka
Responding to Sri Lanka’s emergency regulations imposing a ban on clothing that conceals the face, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director, Dinushika Dissanayake, said: “At a time when many Muslims in Sri Lanka fear a backlash, imposing a ban that effectively targets women wearing a face veil for religious reasons risks stigmatizing them. They will be forced out of public spaces to stay at home and will be unable to work, study or access basic services. The ban violates their rights to non-discrimination, freedom of expression and religion. “Where there are legitimate security concerns, the authorities can carry out identity checks when…
April 30, 2019
Update
Amnesty International USA Statement for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Review of the FY2020 State Department Budget Request
April 10, 2019 The Honorable James E. Risch The Honorable Bob Menendez Chairman Ranking Member Foreign Relations Committee Foreign Relations Committee U.S. Senate …
April 9, 2019
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Provisional release of three women activists a positive step, but bogus charges must be dropped
Responding to the release of three Saudi women activists, Iman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef and Ruqayyaa al-Mhareb, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research, said: “The release from jail of Iman al-Najfan, Aziza al-Yousef and Ruqayyah al-Mhareb, who will finally be able to return to their homes and loved ones after their 10-month ordeal of arbitrary detention and torture, is welcome news. “This is a long overdue step as these women should never have been jailed in the first place and their release should certainly not be on a ‘temporary’ basis. They have been locked up, separated from their loved ones,…
March 28, 2019
Report
If they can have her, why can’t we?
Police in the Dominican Republic routinely rape, beat, humiliate and verbally abuse women sex workers to exert social control over them and to punish them for transgressing social norms of acceptable femininity and sexuality, said Amnesty International in a new report released today. ‘If they can have her, why can’t we?’ chronicles the stories of 46 Dominican cisgender and transgender women sex workers, many of whom reported suffering various forms of violence, much of which amount to gender-based torture and other ill-treatment. The criminalized status of sex workers combined with profound machismo, fuels arbitrary detentions by police and enables these grave human…
March 28, 2019
Update
Amnesty International USA Statement on US State Department’s Foreign Policy Strategy and Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2020
March 25, 2019 The Honorable Eliot Engel Chairman Foreign Affairs Committee U.S. House of Representatives 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 The Honorable Michael McCaul Ranking Member Foreign Affairs Committee U.S. House of Representatives 2170 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 RE: Amnesty International USA Statement on State Department’s Foreign Policy Strategy and FY20 Budget Request Dear Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, and members of the Committee: On behalf of Amnesty International and our more than seven million members and supporters worldwide, we hereby submit this statement for the record. Amnesty International is an international human rights…
March 25, 2019
Press Release
Saudi Arabia: Women activists persecuted under bogus charges. Speaking to Amnesty is not a crime
The prosecution of 11 women activists before a Criminal Court in Riyadh for their human rights work and contact with international organizations is an appalling escalation of the Saudi authorities’ crackdown on peaceful activism.
March 14, 2019
Press Release
Brazil: After a year of impunity, authorities must bring Marielle Franco’s killers to justice
One year on from the killing of the human rights defender and Rio de Janeiro city councillor Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes, Brazilian authorities are still failing to provide their families and society with adequate answers, and their inability to identify those responsible and bring them to justice continues to put other human rights defenders at risk.
March 10, 2019