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  • News
  • China
  • LGBTI Rights

The Chinese transgender individuals forced to take treatment into their own hands

Huiming* (not photographed) was in her early twenties when she decided to remove her male genitalia. But living in China, her options were limited. For one, gender-affirming surgery in the country is only available to individuals diagnosed as mentally ill, which Huiming was not. It also requires the permission of an individual’s family – something Huiming felt certain she would not obtain. Going overseas for the operation was another option, but one Huiming simply could not afford.

Date:
10 May 2019
  • News
  • China
  • LGBTI Rights

China: Transgender people 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.

Date:
10 May 2019
  • News
  • Turkey
  • LGBTI Rights

Turkey: ‘Appalling’ violence used against students holding Pride march

Reacting to the news that a Pride march organized by students at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara has been violently broken up by police and 25 students arrested, Fotis Filippou, Campaigns Director for Europe at Amnesty International, said: “It is heartbreaking to hear that today’s Pride march, which should have been a celebration of love and solidarity, was so violently broken up by police using pepper spray, plastic bullets and tear gas, and that at least 25 people have reportedly been unlawfully detained.

Date:
10 May 2019
  • News
  • Sudan
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Sudan: 10 human rights priorities for the transition

The Sudanese people have been protesting since December 2018 when they took to the streets to express their anger over rising costs of living and the decline of political freedom. Their pressure worked and on 11 April, Sudan’s military overthrew the National Congress Party (NCP) government, arresting President Omar al-Bashir and other senior party leaders. But while al-Bashir’s 30-year rule has come to an end, the human rights situation in Sudan, which has deteriorated dramatically since the beginning of the protests, continues to worsen.

Date:
10 May 2019
  • News
  • Thailand

Thailand: Confirm safety and whereabouts of three Thai citizens

Following reports that Vietnamese authorities may have transferred three Thai citizens – Chucheep Chiwasut, Siam Theerawut and Kritsana Tupthai – to Thailand, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Global Operations, Minar Pimple, said: “We call on Thai authorities to acknowledge whether they are in military or police custody and establish their whereabouts. If they are in state custody, we urge authorities to ensure that the three men are held in an official place of detention and have immediate access to independent lawyers, doctors and family members.

Date:
10 May 2019
  • News
  • Gambia
  • Death Penalty

GAMBIA: 22 death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, a welcome step towards abolition

Responding to the news that Gambia’s President Adama Barrow has commuted the death sentences of 22 prisoners to life imprisonment, Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry, Amnesty International West and Central Africa Regional Director-who met with the Gambian President last week- said: “The President’s commutation of these death sentences to life imprisonment is an important milestone for Gambia which is slowly and steadily moving away from the death penalty.

Date:
9 May 2019
  • News
  • Asia and The Pacific

Singapore: Chilling fake news law will ‘rule the news feed’

The Singaporean authorities must drop plans to enact a ‘fake news’ law that would dramatically curtail freedom of expression in the country and beyond, Amnesty International said today. With Singapore’s parliament beginning a new session on Monday 6 May, parliamentarians are currently debating the Protection of Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill and it may be passed imminently. The government introduced the text last month, on 1 April, to “protect society from damage by online falsehoods created by ‘malicious actors.

Date:
8 May 2019
  • News
  • Asia and The Pacific
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Pakistan: Government of Pakistan must repeal its blasphemy laws

Responding to the reports that Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman freed from death row in 2018, has left Pakistan and arrived in Canada, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director Omar Waraich said: “If the news is true, it’s a great relief that Asia Bibi and her family are safe. She should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone faced the death penalty. That she then had to endure the repeated threats to her life, even after being acquitted, only compounds the injustice.

Date:
8 May 2019
  • News
  • Americas
  • Discrimination

Photo gallery: Risk of bloodshed in the Brazilian Amazon

Photojournalist Gabriel Uchida collaborated with Amnesty International to document the impact of illegal land seizures and logging on Indigenous peoples in Brazil's Amazon region. The organization warned of bloodshed unless the Brazilian authorities step in to protect Indigenous territories from further armed intrusions. Amnesty International recently visited three different Indigenous territories in northern Brazil where illegal intruders had begun or expanded efforts to seize land and/or cut down trees.

Date:
8 May 2019
  • News
  • Americas
  • Refugees

Venezuela: Amnesty International launches campaign to protect those fleeing the human rights crisis

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean must not impose barriers that hinder the entry of people fleeing the human rights crisis in Venezuela, nor return anyone to that country given the risk they run of suffering human rights violations, said Amnesty International today on the launch of its Welcome Venezuela campaign. “When denouncing the very serious crisis afflicting Venezuela, the states of our region must be consistent in their words and guarantee to protect all those fleeing the country.

Date:
8 May 2019
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Turkey: Banned Pride march must be allowed to take place

Following news that the planned student Pride march at the Middle East Technical University will not be allowed to take place by the university’s rectorate Fotis Filippou, Amnesty International’s Campaigns Director for Europe said: “For the last eight years students at this university have marched through their campus to celebrate pride and demand equality and dignity for LGBTI people. It is celebration of love which sends a message of hope to all those struggling to uphold fundamental rights in Turkey and beyond.

Date:
7 May 2019
  • News
  • Myanmar
  • War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

Myanmar: Genuine press freedom must follow release of Reuters journalists

Responding to news of the amnesty and release of Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s East and Southeast Asia Director said: “Today marks an important victory for press freedom in Myanmar. The case against Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo was a travesty of justice from start to finish and they should never have spent a day in prison. “While all those who campaigned for their release welcome the government’s decision, the reality is the country retains a range of repressive laws used to detain journalists, activists and any perceived critic of the authorities.

Date:
7 May 2019
  • News
  • Americas
  • Armed Groups

Brazil: Risk of bloodshed in the Amazon unless government protects Indigenous peoples from illegal land seizures and logging

Illegal land seizures and logging on the rise in Indigenous territories in Brazil’s Amazon  Recent reductions in government monitoring aggravate the risk of conflict Looming dry season set to intensify pressure on traditional lands  There is an imminent risk of violent clashes in Brazil’s Amazon region unless the government protects Indigenous peoples’ traditional lands from increasing illegal land seizures and logging by armed intruders, Amnesty International warned today.

Date:
7 May 2019
  • News
  • Poland
  • Human Rights Defenders and Activists

Poland: Activist arrested and house raided after Amnesty International meeting

Responding to news that the Polish authorities detained an activist, Elżbieta Podlesna for several hours, on suspicion of offending religious beliefs, Amnesty International’s Regional Europe Researcher, Barbora Cernusakova, said: Elżbieta is suspected of "offending religious beliefs", after the police claimed that they found copies of a posters depicting the Virgin Mary with a halo around head and shoulders in the colours of the LGBTQ flag in her house when they raided it.

Date:
6 May 2019
  • News
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Death Penalty

Brunei Darussalam: Sultan’s speech a first step to repealing ‘heinous’ laws

Responding to news that the Brunei authorities have announced they will continue to refrain from implementing the death sentence, including under the newly enacted Syariah Penal Code Order, and would ratify the UN Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Brunei Researcher, said: “While the announcement that the death penalty will not be implemented is a welcome first step, the Brunei authorities are still defending the new penal code and its heinous laws.

Date:
6 May 2019
  • News
  • Americas
  • Unfair Trials

Cuba: Amnesty International says Dr Eduardo Cardet is still a prisoner of conscience

In response to the news that Dr Eduardo Cardet Concepción was released on probation on 4 May 2019, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: “We welcome the news that Dr Eduardo Cardet has been released on probation and can be reunited with his family. However, as long as his freedom is conditional, Eduardo Cardet is still a prisoner of conscience. He should never have been arrested in the first place.

Date:
6 May 2019