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Press Release
20 Years Since The US-Led Coalition Invaded Iraq, Impunity Reigns Supreme
On the 20-year anniversary of the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, Amnesty International today renewed its calls for justice and full reparation for gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by the United States-led Coalition.
March 20, 2023
Update
Amnesty International USA Statement for the Record for February 9th hearing on “‘Targeted Killing’ and the Rule of Law: The Legal and Human Costs of 20 Years of U.S. Drone Strikes”
On behalf of Amnesty International USA and our members and supporters in the United States, we hereby submit this statement for the record to address our concerns that the United States has at times failed to abide by international humanitarian law and international human rights law in its use of air strikes that have harmed large numbers of civilians over the past 20 years.
February 9, 2022
Press Release
Mass execution of 21 individuals in Iraq is an outrage
Responding to the execution on Monday of 21 individuals in Iraq, including individuals allegedly affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) and convicted of terror-related charges, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said: “It is high time the Iraqi authorities put an end to executing people. Retaliatory executions not only fail to deliver justice to the victims and to their families, they serve to reinforce perceptions of partial justice, at a time when the authorities are quiet in regards to other serious violations such as torture and enforced disappearances that are still taking place…
November 17, 2020
Press Release
Yezidi child survivors of ‘Islamic State’ facing unprecedented health crisis
Almost 2,000 Yezidi children who have returned to their families after being held captive by the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) are facing a physical and mental health crisis, Amnesty International warned in a new report published today. The report, Legacy of Terror: The Plight of Yezidi Child Survivors of ISIS, also addresses the urgent need to end the enforced separation of women and their children born of sexual violence by IS members. Between 2014 and 2017, IS committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and what the UN describes as genocide against the Yezidi community in Iraq. The…
July 28, 2020
Press Release
Defense Department undercounts civilian casualties in new reporting
Responding to the Pentagon’s report on U.S. civilian casualties to Congress, Daphne Eviatar, the director of the Security with Human Rights program at Amnesty International USA stated: “The Department of Defense’s submission of this year’s report marks some progress in terms of transparency of U.S. military operations. The content of the report, however, suggests that the Pentagon is still undercounting civilian casualties. It still fails to acknowledge hundreds of civilian casualties that Amnesty International’s researchers investigated on the ground in Raqqa, Syria, and assessed from the U.S.-led military operation in 2017. “The Defense Department appears to have dismissed out of hand many of the…
May 6, 2020
Report
Death penalty 2019: Global executions fell by 5%, hitting a 10-year low
Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today. The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country. Meanwhile the number of executions doubled in Iraq, and Iran retained its place as the world’s second most prolific executioner after China, where the exact number of people put to death remains a state secret. However these states are bucking a global trend which saw…
April 20, 2020
Press Release
Workshop for media featuring Nazanin Boniadi and the Middle East Institute will examine COVID-19 impact on the Middle East and North Africa
As part of a series of workshops exploring human rights concerns related to the COVID-19 response, Amnesty International USA will be holding a workshop titled “The impact of COVID-19 on the Middle East and North Africa”. The workshop will cover how COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of millions of people living throughout the Middle East and North Africa and discuss ways the impact can be mitigated, ways that the public is coming together during the pandemic, as well as recommendations of how governments can respond. These are extraordinary times, but it’s critical to stress that respect for human rights is…
April 7, 2020
Press Release
Protest Death Toll in Iraq Surges as Security Forces Resume Brutal Repression
Chilling eyewitness testimonies and verified video analysis by Amnesty International confirm that security forces have resumed their campaign of deadly violence against largely peaceful protesters in Baghdad and cities in southern Iraq, the organization warned today.
January 23, 2020
Press Release
Iraq Must End ‘Campaign of Terror’ Targeting Protestors
The Iraqi authorities must step up to their responsibilities and take immediate and effective action to put an end to a growing lethal campaign of harassment, intimidation, abductions and deliberate killings of activists and protesters in Baghdad and other cities, said Amnesty International today.
December 13, 2019
Press Release
Gruesome String Of Fatalities in Iraq As New Tear Gas Grenades Pierce Protester’s Skulls
The Iraqi authorities must ensure anti-riot police and other security forces in Baghdad immediately stop using two previously unseen types of tear gas grenade to kill rather than disperse protesters, Amnesty International urged today after its investigation found they caused at least five protester deaths in as many days.
October 31, 2019
Press Release
U.S.-led Coalition admission of 1,300 civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria
Responding to today’s announcement by the U.S.-led Coalition that at least 1,302 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes in Syria and Iraq between August 2014 and the end of April 2019, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said: “While all admissions of responsibility by the U.S.-led Coalition for civilian casualties are welcome, the Coalition remains deeply in denial about the devastating scale of the civilian casualties caused by their operations in both Iraq and Syria. “A comprehensive investigation by Amnesty International in partnership with Airwars, launched last month, revealed that more than 1,600 civilians were killed…
May 31, 2019
Press Release
Trump Administration Makes Shameful Decision to Shroud Civilian Casualties in Secrecy
Reacting to news that the Trump administration has revoked a part of an Obama executive order requiring reporting on civilian casualties, Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty International USA's Director of Security with Human Rights stated: “This is a shameful decision that will shroud this administration’s actions in even more secrecy with little accountability for its victims. “The public deserves to know how many civilians are killed by U.S. actions. This is an unconscionable decision and in complete disregard of fundamental human rights. “It is incomprehensible that this vital work will be left only to human rights organizations such as ours.” Background In 2016, Amnesty International USA spoke out on the Obama-era policy…
March 6, 2019