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  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The long road to a consent-based rape law in Denmark

As a human rights activist there are moments where we feel things shift. One of those moments came last year during a meeting with Denmark’s then Justice Minister, Søren Pape Poulsen. I was there to discuss with him our Amnesty International’s Let’s Talk About Yes campaign to urge the government to change Denmark’s antiquated rape laws. These laws have left thousands of women unable to access justice – women like the two survivor activists who were with me at the meeting.

Date:
17 December 2020
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia

Turkey: Authorities urged: “Do the right thing and free Osman Kavala”

Ahead of the start of the trial tomorrow of imprisoned civil society leader Osman Kavala, Amnesty International have called for his immediate and unconditional release and for all charges against him to be dropped. More than three years after he was jailed and a year after the European Court of Human Rights ruled he should be released, the organisation is reminding the Turkish authorities that it is not too late to do the right thing.

Date:
17 December 2020
  • News
  • Unlawful Killings

How (not) to police a pandemic

Now more than ever, it’s important to know our rights when it comes to the police. Police violence has been a defining feature of 2020 - from the brutal killing of George Floyd in the US, to violent crackdowns on protests in Belarus, Hong Kong and Nigeria. The COVID-19 pandemic has also fuelled police abuses around the world. As Amnesty International documents in a new report, law enforcement has often played far too prominent a role in what is fundamentally a public health issue.

Date:
17 December 2020
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Denmark: Historic victory for women as law changes to recognise that sex without consent is rape

Responding to the passing of a bill in Denmark’s Parliament today that, once law, will finally recognise that sex without consent is rape, Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Researcher, Anna Błuś, said: “This is a great day for women in Denmark as it consigns outdated and dangerous rape laws to the dustbin of history and helps to end pervasive stigma and endemic impunity for this crime. “The new law falls short on being crystal clear in its commentary that passivity cannot be taken to mean consent but despite this weakness, it is nevertheless a huge step for Denmark”.

Date:
17 December 2020
  • News
  • Demonstrations

Governments and police must stop using pandemic as pretext for abuse

Abusive policing and excessive reliance on law enforcement to implement COVID-19 response measures have violated human rights and in some instances made the health crisis worse, Amnesty International said today. In a new briefing, COVID-19 Crackdowns: Police Abuse and the Global Pandemic, the organization documented cases in 60 countries where law enforcement agencies committed human rights abuses in the name of tackling the virus.

Date:
17 December 2020
  • News
  • Death Penalty

UN: Opposition to the death penalty continues to grow

The number of states voting for UN resolutions on halting executions worldwide continues to grow, signalling that consensus is building towards ending the death penalty once and for all, Amnesty International said today. The plenary session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) today adopted a resolution on a moratorium on executions, with a view to fully abolishing the death penalty, after 123 states voted in favour.

Date:
16 December 2020
  • News
  • Americas
  • Migrants

Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela: Policies from both governments put lives at risk

As initial information emerges of a new shipwreck on Venezuela’s coast, Louise Tillotson, Caribbean Researcher at Amnesty International, writes about governments’ obligations to provide international protection for refugees. It’s February 2020 and on the Savannah, in Port of Spain, Trinidad a coconut vendor talks about “the virus” emerging in China. He’s worried that the island’s world-famous carnival is just around the corner and that cases will be imported.

Date:
16 December 2020
  • News
  • Pakistan
  • Torture and other ill-treatment

Pakistan: Cruel and inhuman chemical castration punishment will not fix flawed system

Responding to the introduction of new anti-rape ordinance measures that include the legalization of chemical castration as a form of punishment for repeat offenders, Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia Campaigner at Amnesty International, said:  “Forced chemical castrations would violate Pakistan’s international and constitutional obligations to prohibit torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Date:
16 December 2020
  • News
  • Belarus

Belarus: Witness in police killing of protester faces life sentence

Belarusian authorities are attempting to cover up the killing of a peaceful protester by police by bringing serious criminal charges against a key witness, Amnesty International said today. Alyaksandr Kardyukou was with his friend and fellow protester Henadz Shutau until moments before the latter was shot by plain clothes police on 11 August, after a peaceful rally in the western city of Brest. Now Alyaksandr is charged with the attempted murder of a police officer, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Date:
16 December 2020
  • News
  • COVID-19

This year has demonstrated what human rights are for

By Rajat Khosla, Senior Director of Research, Advocacy and Policy at Amnesty International  As of 15 December, at least 71 million people have been infected with COVID-19 and over 1. 6 million people have died. Many more have been denied their health, livelihoods, and their basic means of existence. This unnecessary suffering was not caused by the virus alone; it has been exacerbated by leaders (mostly men) around the world, who exploited the pandemic to further advance their political agendas.

Date:
15 December 2020
  • News
  • Americas
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Cuba: San Isidro movement and allies under frightening levels of surveillance

Members of the San Isidro Movement – the group of Cuban artists, academics, and other alternative thinkers who garnered global attention by staging a rare protest outside the Ministry of Culture on 27 November – as well as independent journalists covering their story, are under frightening levels of surveillance and face arrest by police and state security officials if they leave their houses, which amounts to house arrest, said Amnesty International today.

Date:
15 December 2020
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Discrimination

Hungary: Dark day for LGBTI community as homophobic discriminatory bill and constitutional amendments are passed

Reacting to the Hungarian parliament’s decision to adopt a law that will strip non-married couples of the right to adoption and two constitutional amendments which further restrict the rights of LGBTQ people, leading human rights organisations have come together to condemn the decision. David Vig, Director of Amnesty Hungary, said: “This is a dark day for Hungary’s LGBTQ community and a dark day for human rights.

Date:
15 December 2020
  • News
  • Guinea
  • Unlawful Detention

Guinea: Defense and security forces killed people in pro-opposition neighbourhoods after presidential election

• Re-elected President Alpha Condé is sworn in today • At least 16 shot dead in October • A 62-year-old man tortured The use of excessive force by Guinean security force in the weeks following the country’s presidential election, has led to more than a dozen killed including a 62-year-old man presumably from torture, and the arrest of hundreds during protests or police operations in pro-opposition neighborhoods,  Amnesty International said today.

Date:
15 December 2020
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Hungary: Homophobic adoption bill is part of an ongoing attack on LGBTQ community

Ahead of the vote on Tuesday in the Hungarian parliament on amendments that will strip non-married couples of the right to adoption and further restrict the rights of LGBTQ people, David Vig, Director of Amnesty Hungary, said: “This attempt to rush through these discriminatory, homophobic and transphobic new laws are part of an ongoing attack on LGBTQ people by Hungarian authorities. “The government is planning to adopt legislative changes that would further restrict LGBTQ rights just as they did in May when they rushed through a bill that banned legal gender recognition for transgender people.

Date:
14 December 2020
  • News
  • Ukraine
  • International Justice

Ukraine: ICC investigation a crucial element for comprehensive international justice

On Friday 11 December, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor announced that she has concluded her preliminary examination in Ukraine and will seek a full investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. These include murder and torture committed during the ‘EuroMaidan’ protests in 2013 - 2014, and war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all sides to the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014, and in Crimea after the peninsula’s Russian occupation and illegal annexation in 2014.

Date:
14 December 2020
  • News
  • Uganda
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Uganda: Stop killings and human rights violations ahead of election day

The Ugandan authorities must take measures to immediately end the wave of human rights violations and abuses in the context of the ongoing election campaigns, said Amnesty International today with a month left to election day. Voters in the East African country are due to go to the polls on 14 January 2021 to elect a president, members of parliament and local government representatives, in what is proving to be the most violent election period in the country’s history.

Date:
14 December 2020