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Press Release

During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump touched on issues of national security as well as immigration and asylum, claiming, “we entered into historic cooperation agreements with the Governments of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. As a result of our unprecedented efforts, illegal crossings are down 75 percent since May -- dropping 8 straight months in a row. And as the wall goes up, drug seizures rise, and border crossings go down." In response, Amnesty International USA’s national director of advocacy and government affairs, Joanne Lin, said: “President Trump's remarks tonight show that he has no inclination to…

February 4, 2020

Update

To view PDF version click here: Human Rights on Capitol Hill February 2020 Human Rights on Capitol Hill    published by Amnesty International USA   February 4, 2020  In this edition of Human Rights on Capitol Hill:  1) This Month’s Feature  U.S. - Congress Must Pass the No Ban Act (H.R. 2214, S. 1123) to Nullify President Trump’s Discriminatory Muslim Ban  2) Major Human Rights News  a) Asia  Rohingya – Bangladesh Government Announces Rohingya Refugee Children Will Get Access to Education  Rohingya - World Court Orders the Myanmar Government to Protect Rohingya  Religion - Asian Governments Must End Widespread Religious Persecution  b) Mid-East Israel and Palestine -…

February 4, 2020

Press Release

Amnesty International USA’s Executive Director, Margaret L. Huang, announced today that she will leave the organization to become the new president and chief executive officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and SPLC Action Fund. She begins the role on April 20. Under Huang’s leadership of AIUSA, the organization has grown both in membership and financial stability. Her direction has seen campaigns to protect the rights of refugees and migrants at the US border, gun violence victims, survivors of torture and police brutality, among many others. She has testified before Congress, led human rights missions to our border with…

February 3, 2020

Press Release

Following testimony at Guantanamo over the past two weeks of James E. Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen--two contract psychologists who played leading roles in designing and implementing the CIA’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”--in which Mitchell described in detail their direct participation in torture, Amnesty International issued a call for a criminal investigation to be opened immediately. Zeke Johnson, the senior director of programs at Amnesty International USA, said: "No longer can those responsible for torture justify their brutality by claiming that they were told their actions were legal. These practices were illegal back then and they are illegal now. Not…

January 31, 2020

Press Release

Lawsuits, protests and other actions are planned in several European ports to oppose this week’s return of the Bahri Yanbu, a Saudi Arabian state-owned cargo ship that has previously ferried tens of millions of dollars’ worth of arms to fuel the war in Yemen, Amnesty International said today.

January 31, 2020

Press Release

Amnesty International USA is appalled by the reports that the Trump administration is planning to allow the production and use of landmines in potential future conflicts—a weapon that the global community has rejected as being dangerously indiscriminate. If the reports are confirmed, it would make the United States one of only a handful of state forces worldwide, along with Myanmar, North Korea and Syria, to openly use antipersonnel landmines in recent years despite the weapons being banned by an international treaty in 1997.

January 30, 2020

Press Release

The in loco visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is fundamental for the protection and guarantee of human rights in Chile, said Amnesty International in response to recent statements by state authorities calling on the IACHR not to involve itself in the country’s internal affairs.

January 30, 2020

Update

Written Testimony of Francisco Bencosme Asia Advocacy Manager Amnesty International USA Submitted to the House Oversight & Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties For a hearing on “Ending Global Religious Persecution” January 28, 2020 Chairman Raskin, Ranking Member Roy, and other distinguished members of the Subcommittees. Thank you for the opportunity to testify at this timely hearing entitled “Ending Global Religious Persecution”. This past year in the Asia-Pacific region, we have seen religious repression, but also resistance. Asia’s two largest and most powerful states are trying to impose their own bleak, domineering vision on the continent, perceiving minorities…

January 30, 2020

Press Release

In response to the decision by the National Institute of Migration (INM) to temporarily suspend access by all religious associations and NGOs to the country's migration detention centers, which was denied hours later by the Ministry of the Interior, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said:

January 29, 2020

Press Release

Responding to reports that the Trump administration is expanding what has become known as the Muslim ban, which President Trump signed during his first week in office, Margaret Huang, Amnesty International USA’s executive director said:

January 29, 2020

Report

A wave of youth-led protests across Asia is defying escalating repression and a continent-wide crackdown on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual report on human rights in the region.

January 29, 2020

Press Release

The Trump administration’s dismal package of proposals to violate international law and further strip Palestinians of their rights is a handbook for more suffering and abuses in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Amnesty International said today.

January 28, 2020