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Press Release

Asylum Seekers Being Illegally Detained in New EU-Funded Camp in Greece

Asylum-seekers staying in a new EU-funded refugee camp on the island of Samos are being detained illegally by Greek authorities following a yet unpublished decision from the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, based…

December 1, 2021

Sheet of paper Report

NGO Letter to Secretary Austin on Civilian Harm

We write to express our grave concerns about the Department of Defense’s civilian harm policies and practices and their impact,…

December 1, 2021

Press Release

Cameroon Advocacy Network to Congress and Biden Administration: Why is TPS for Cameroon Taking So Long?

Yesterday, the Cameroon Advocacy Network (CAN), in collaboration with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), held a Congressional briefing on the…

December 1, 2021

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Press Release

“Exceptional Measures” Normalize Dehumanization of Asylum Seekers in Europe

In response to today’s proposals from the European Commission which would allow Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to derogate from EU…

December 1, 2021

Residential building destroyed by an airstrike by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition on 25 August in Faj Attan, Sana’a, killing 16 civilians and injuring 17 more. This photo was taken on 25 August. On 25 August, an air strike by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition hit a cluster of houses in Sana’a, severely damaging three of them, and killing seven children including all five of Buthaina’s brothers and sisters. The bomb that destroyed a residential building in Yemen's capital last month, killing 16 civilians and injuring 17 more - including five-year-old Buthaina who lost her entire family in the attack - was made in the USA.

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Joint Letter: Congress Must Block Biden Administration’s Wrongful $650 Million Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia or Risk Fueling Further U.S. Complicity in Rights Violations and Yemeni Civilian Suffering

In a joint letter released today signed by 50 international, Yemeni-led, and U.S. human rights and advocacy organizations, Amnesty International…

November 29, 2021

A woman walks past the entrance of a closed vaccination centre that was shut due to stock shortage of Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Mumbai on July 9, 2021. (Photo by Punit PARANJPE / AFP) (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)

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Joint Statement: U.S. Civil Society Letter to President Biden on WTO TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19 Products

On November 19, 2021, Amnesty International USA and 14 U.S. civil society organizations wrote to President Biden requesting his personal…

November 29, 2021

Press Release

Biden Must Deliver COVID-19 WTO TRIPS Waiver at WTO Ministerial, Say Members of Congress, Health, Labor, Human Rights and Faith Leaders at Press Conference as Dozens of Civil Society Groups Deliver Three Million Petitions to Biden Administration

Today members of Congress joined health, labor, faith and development leaders in a press conference urging President Joe Biden to…

November 23, 2021

Press Release

Afghanistan Must Have Access to Funds to Avoid Humanitarian Disaster

The international community must urgently ease existing financial restrictions on Afghanistan that are blocking the provision of healthcare, food and…

November 23, 2021

NEW JERSEY, USA - JULY 30: Mohamed Soltan, an Egyptian-American human rights Advocate who was a political prisoner in Egypt from August, 2013 to May, 2015 is seen in New Jersey, United States on July 30, 2017. Mohamed was shot, imprisoned, tortured, and sentenced to life in prison on trumped-up and politically motivated charges. The U.S. government intervened at the highest levels and successfully facilitated his release and return to the United States on 31 May 2015. He stated that I tried forgetting the feeling of guilt that I was taking up the time and effort of the doctors in the makeshift hospital for a minor bullet wound when others, who are critically injured, needed their attention. I tried forgetting the pain I walked around with after getting the wound stitched up or the sound of bullets for 11 straight hours. I tried forgetting the smell of death, the rusty iron smell of blood and the smoky sharp smell of gunpowder as I laid on the floor unable to move, feeling debilitated, hopeless and helpless unable to scream or even utter a cry for help, just waiting for the bullet that missed my head to take me far away from that bloody war zone. I tried forgetting being shot at while running back to the hospital hours later to try and take refuge in a place that is suppose to have some sanctity. I tried forgetting the feeling of suffocation as a ton of people like me got shoved into the hospital. I tried forgetting the broken smile on little Ali's face as he sat next to me on his injured dad's lap, gasping for air. I tried forgetting Ali's dad twisting his wrist holding the makeshift paper fan he was using to air his suffocating son so he could do the same for me. I tried forgetting drifting in and out of consciousness as tear gas was shot inside crowded room full of injured people. I tried forgetting being in excruciating pain and suffocating at the same time. I tried forgetting being told that a safe exit was negotiated 11 hours later, but it was every man/woman f

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Biden Administration’s U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue Was a Human Rights Failure – Joint Statement from International, Egyptian Human Rights Groups

In a joint statement released today signed by 12 international and Egyptian human rights organizations, Amnesty International USA and other…

November 23, 2021

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Press Release

Amnesty International USA Condemns Racist Vigilantism and White Supremacy in the US Criminal Justice System

In response to today’s not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Paul O’Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA,…

November 19, 2021

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Press Release

Only a Robust and Coordinated State Response Will Resolve the Situation of Grave Risk Faced by Human Rights Defenders in Colombia

Colombia has failed to comply with its international obligation to guarantee a safe and enabling space for the defense of…

November 19, 2021

Guns sold in a Walmart in Louisiana. Photographs taken during research missions to Louisiana in 2018 and 2019. Amnesty has been conducting research on gun-related domestic violence and its impact on women, and in particular women with intersectional identities. The research examines the laws on gun ownership in situations of domestic violence and the gaps in the legal framework, but it focuses on implementation and its discriminatory impact. The main focus of this work is on how inadequacies in the criminal justice system, including policing and prosecution, fail to ensure protection of survivors of violence as well as, in some cases, actively harming them. In particular, the research focuses on negative impacts on survivors with intersectional aspects of their identity such as Black women, undocumented women, Indigenous women, women living in poverty, LBTI women, etc. The research also seeks to examine how gender stereotypes and patriarchal attitudes shape agencies’ response to domestic violence.

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Vote Recommendation: Amnesty International USA Recommends a YES Vote on the Build Back Better Act and Supports Funding for Community Violence Intervention Programs

On November 18, 2021, Amnesty International USA wrote to members of the House of Representatives to urge them to vote…

November 18, 2021