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  • Belarus
  • Torture and other ill-treatment

Belarus: Raman Pratasevich forced televised ‘confession’ amounts to ill-treatment

Following the 3 June broadcast of a forced ‘confession’ by jailed Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said: “Raman Pratasevich’s forced ‘confession’ on Belarusian state TV was devastating to watch. He was plainly on the edge of breaking down, in tears and with visible wounds on his wrists, as he was forced to incriminate himself and praise his captors.

Date:
4 June 2021
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Women and Girls

Slovenia: Recognition that sex without consent is rape is a “historic victory for women”

Responding to the adoption by the Slovenian Parliament of amendments to the country’s Criminal Code that will recognise that sex without consent is rape, Amnesty International’s Europe Director, Nils Muižnieks, said: “This is a historic victory for women in Slovenia and an important step along the road to changing culture, attitudes and behaviour. It is also a testament to years of campaigning by survivors who have helped to ensure that other women do not have to go through what they endured.

Date:
4 June 2021
  • News
  • Cambodia
  • Disappearances

Cambodia/Thailand: One year on, still no justice for Wanchalearm

Cambodia’s investigation has been negligent and failed to establish Wanchalearm Satsaksit’s fate and whereabouts Thailand, ASEAN urged to undertake independent investigations of their own   The Cambodian authorities have failed in their legal obligation to properly investigate the enforced disappearance of Thai dissident Wanchalearm Satsaksit, said Amnesty International today, one year after he was last seen in Phnom Penh.

Date:
4 June 2021
  • News
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Detention

Iraq: Reveal whereabouts of 643 men and boys disappeared five years ago

On the fifth anniversary of the enforced disappearance of at least 643 Iraqi men and boys by Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militias during military operations to retake control of Fallujah from the so-called Islamic State group, Lynn Maalouf, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International said: "For five years, the families of these men and boys have been living in anguish, not knowing the fate of their loved ones, or whether they are even alive.

Date:
3 June 2021
  • News
  • Pakistan
  • Death Penalty

Pakistan: Acquittal of couple on death row for sending ‘blasphemous’ texts delivers long-awaited justice

Responding to the Lahore High Court’s decision to acquit Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel, a Christian couple who were sentenced to death in 2014 for ‘sending blasphemous texts’, Amnesty International’s South Asia Deputy Director Dinushika Dissanayake said: "Today’s decision puts an end to the seven-year long ordeal of a couple who should not have been convicted nor faced a death sentence in the first place.

Date:
3 June 2021
  • News
  • Pakistan
  • Press Freedom

Pakistan: Escalating Attacks on Journalists

A recent series of attacks and growing pressure on journalists who criticize the Pakistan government is a cause for serious concern, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists said today. Those suspected of criminal responsibility should be promptly and fairly prosecuted. The Pakistan government should conduct prompt, impartial and effective investigations into the recent number  of attacks on journalists.

Date:
3 June 2021
  • News
  • United States of America
  • Technology and Human Rights

Surveillance city: NYPD can use more than 15,000 cameras to track people using facial recognition in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has the ability to track people in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx by running images from 15,280 surveillance cameras into invasive and discriminatory facial recognition software, a new Amnesty International investigation reveals. Thousands of volunteers from around the world participated in the investigation, tagging 15,280 surveillance cameras at intersections across Manhattan (3,590), Brooklyn (8,220) and the Bronx (3,470).

Date:
3 June 2021
  • News
  • Hong Kong

Hong Kong: People must not be punished for peacefully marking Tiananmen anniversary

The Hong Kong authorities must allow people to peacefully pay their respects to those killed in the Tiananmen crackdown, Amnesty International said ahead of Friday’s anniversary of the 1989 atrocity. Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigil on 4 June has been banned on Covid-19 grounds for the second year running, but thousands are still expected to mark the event. Twenty-four activists who participated in last year’s peaceful vigil have since been arrested, and some have been jailed.

Date:
3 June 2021
  • News
  • Africa
  • Demonstrations

Sudan: Speed up investigations into 2019 Khartoum massacre

Sudanese authorities must speed up investigations into the killing of at least 100 protesters outside the military headquarters in the days following the military overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir, said Amnesty International today on the second anniversary of the massacre. Thousands of peaceful protesters had camped outside the military headquarters in the capital Khartoum demanding transition to a civilian government when they were attacked using live bullets, whips, sticks and teargas by a combination of security forces  from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and the police.

Date:
3 June 2021
  • News
  • Japan

Japan: Government must deliver an LGBTI bill that ensures zero tolerance of discrimination

Ahead of the Japanese parliament’s discussion on a cross-party bill to promote public awareness of sexual orientation and gender identity, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Director Yamini Mishra said: “This is a historic opportunity for Japan to send a message to the world that discrimination has no place in the country. The only way to achieve this is for discrimination to be explicitly prohibited in this bill.

Date:
1 June 2021
  • News
  • Russian Federation
  • Detention

Russia: Immediately release Open Russia leader detained after being hauled off flight

Reacting to the news that Andrei Pivovarov, Executive Director of the recently disbanded Open Russia, a Russian pro-democracy and human rights movement, was taken off a flight in Saint Petersburg and arbitrarily detained, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, said: “This is an audacious move by the Kremlin in its continued use of the law on ‘undesirable’ organizations to target and shut down critics.

Date:
1 June 2021
  • News
  • Chad
  • Impunity

Chad: Announcement of investigation following death of protesters must lead to prosecutions

The announcement of an investigation into the use of firearms by security forces during the last two months of protests in Chad must lead to prosecutions through fair trials of those suspected of unlawful killings, Amnesty International said today. Based on testimonies from victims, their close relatives, and human rights associations, Amnesty International can confirm that at least 16 people were killed in the capital N'Djamena and the southern town of Moundou during protests which took place between 27 April and 19 May.

Date:
1 June 2021
  • News
  • Africa

Nigeria: #TalkYourTruth - a campaign to secure the Right to Freedom of Expression

Amnesty International Nigeria today launches #TalkYourTruth- a campaign to protect freedom of expression in Nigeria, as critics, journalists and individuals who express dissenting views face intimidation, threats and sometimes arrest by security forces. On many occasions, Nigerian authorities have continued to respond with violence and threats to individuals and groups who express dissenting opinions.

Date:
31 May 2021
  • News
  • China

China: ‘Three-child policy’ still a violation of sexual and reproductive rights

Responding to reports that the Chinese government is set to allow married couples to have up to three children, raising it from the current limit of two, the head of Amnesty International’s China Team, Joshua Rosenzweig, said: “Governments have no business regulating how many children people have. Rather than ‘optimizing’ its birth policy, China should instead respect people’s life choices and end any invasive and punitive controls over people’s family planning decisions.

Date:
31 May 2021
  • News
  • Americas
  • Human Rights Defenders and Activists

Colombia: OAS member states must not remain silent in the face of the human rights crisis

Member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) should condemn the human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by members of the Colombian security forces, Amnesty International said today in an open letter. “The international community cannot be a mere spectator to the grave human rights crisis in Colombia. The principle of shared responsibility for guaranteeing human rights requires member states of the OAS to take action,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Date:
31 May 2021
  • News
  • Americas
  • Detention

The challenge of a generation that cries ‘future!’

Cali, the ‘branch of heaven’ as it was baptised in a popular salsa song in the eighties, has reached the end of one month of hell. What began with a day of national strike to reject a tax reform led to a social outburst unprecedented in the recent history of this city, the most important in the southwest of Colombia. The blockades in some of its main roads, as well as in the accesses and exits, the incinerated vehicles, the sticks and stones that cover its streets, illustrate the chaos.

Date:
31 May 2021