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  • News
  • China
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Pho noodles and pandas: How China’s social media users created a new language to beat government censorship on COVID-19

To fully appreciate conversations on China’s social media platforms, merely knowing Chinese is not enough. To evade the most extensive internet censorship system in the world, netizens have no option but to create their own vocabulary to discuss “sensitive issues”. This language keeps evolving as the government constantly adds new topics and terms that are prohibited. And there’s no better example of this linguistic cat-and-mouse game between China’s social media users and the country’s legions of online censors than the current COVID-19 epidemic.

Date:
6 March 2020
  • News
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Women and Girls

UAE: UK High Court decision on Dubai ruler's detention of daughter a 'step towards justice'

Responding to the UK High Court finding that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Emir of Dubai, detained and ill-treated his daughter Sheikha Latifa, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said: “This ruling is a long-overdue step towards justice for Sheikha Latifa, who has been held incommunicado for two years now. Dubai and the UAE must now allow her to speak and travel freely, including seeking asylum abroad, if she wishes to do so.

Date:
6 March 2020
  • News
  • South Africa
  • Armed Conflict

OPED South Sudan: Time for justice and reform; no celebrations just yet

On 22 February 2020, hours before the deadline for rival South Sudanese political groups to form another unity government, Chief Justice Chan Reec Madut swore in five vice presidents to deputize President Salva Kiir, including the president’s arch-rival Riek Machar. This step was an important one in efforts towards ending the conflict that has for the last six years been characterized by mass atrocities.

Date:
6 March 2020
  • News
  • Americas
  • Right to Water

Ecuador: Amnesty International announces mission to demand protection for defenders

Amnesty International will carry out a visit to Ecuador from 8-12 March to demand a genuine commitment from the government to guarantee justice and protection for human rights defenders. “An Amnesty International delegation will be in Ecuador in response to the serious situation of threats and impunity that human rights defenders are facing. We want to support the efforts of defenders so that, one day, carrying out this work in Ecuador does not mean risking your life,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Date:
6 March 2020
  • News
  • Algeria
  • Unfair Trials

Algeria: Peaceful protesters detained arbitrarily must be released

The Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all peaceful protesters who have been detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International said today. The organization will be monitoring the expected protests today and is calling for the authorities to allow people to freely exercise their human rights and not to target peaceful protesters.

Date:
6 March 2020
  • News
  • Greece
  • Refugees

Explained: The situation at Greece's borders

What’s happening at Greece's borders with Turkey? On 27 February 2020, Turkey announced that it would no longer stop refugees trying to cross its borders into Europe, which have been closed since 2016. Turkey hosts 3. 6 million Syrian refugees - more than any other country. And since December 2019, hundreds of thousands more people have fled towards the closed Turkish border in Syria’s Idlib Province, where the Syrian government is bombarding civilians with airstrikes.

Date:
5 March 2020
  • News
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Detention

Bahrain: Release of Hajer Mansoor ‘long overdue’, others must now follow

Responding to today’s release of Hajer Mansoor, a prisoner of conscience who served a three-year prison sentence after a grossly unfair trial in Bahrain, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said: “Hajer was imprisoned for three years on absurd ‘terrorism’ charges, solely because of her family relationship with Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, a human rights activist who now lives in the United Kingdom.

Date:
5 March 2020
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Children

Why the language we use to talk about refugees matters

George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, opens with Winston Smith writing in his diary about a film he has seen. “One very good one of a ship full of refugees being bombed somewhere in the Mediterranean,” he writes. “Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him, first you saw him wallowing along in the water like a porpoise, then you saw him through the helicopters gunsights, then he was full of holes and the sea round him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the holes had let in the water.

Date:
5 March 2020
  • News
  • Afghanistan
  • International Justice

Afghanistan: ICC authorizes historic investigation

Responding to the International Criminal Court’s decision to open an investigation into international crimes in Afghanistan, Amnesty International’s Head of International Justice, Solomon Sacco, said: “This is an historic moment where the International Criminal Court has reversed a terrible mistake and decided to stand by the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all sides to the conflict in Afghanistan.

Date:
5 March 2020
  • News
  • Russian Federation
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Crimea: Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to six years in a penal colony

The Russian authorities today sentenced a man in Russian-occupied Crimea to six years in prison simply for expressing his religious belief. The sentence handed down to Sergei Filatov by the Dzhankoi District Court is also the first of its kind in Russian-occupied Crimea. “Sergei Filatov is a prisoner of conscience, facing years in a penal colony solely for expressing his faith. Across Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses are being sent to jail, tortured and harassed under vague counter-extremism legislation,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director.

Date:
5 March 2020
  • News
  • Hong Kong
  • Torture and other ill-treatment

Hong Kong: Lack of accountability for police violence could fuel unrest

An independent investigation into police violence during the Hong Kong protests is essential to preventing unrest from reigniting in the city and rebuilding public trust, Amnesty International said in a new briefing released today. “Missing truth, missing justice” examines the insurmountable defects of the Hong Kong police’s accountability mechanisms. The briefing sets out the need for establishing an independent commission of inquiry to investigate widespread human rights violations that occurred during the mass protests which erupted last year.

Date:
5 March 2020
  • News

Syria: Moscow summit must prioritize ending renewed attacks on civilians in Idlib

Ahead of a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Moscow tomorrow (Thursday 5 March) to discuss the escalating military conflict in Idlib in Syria, Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director, said: “The Moscow summit represents an opportunity for Russia and Turkey to prioritize the safety of civilians. “The fate of almost one million people forced from their homes now hangs in the balance as this meeting goes ahead.

Date:
4 March 2020
  • News
  • Hong Kong
  • LGBTI Rights

Hong Kong: Court victory for same-sex couple denied housing is a triumph for LGBTI rights

In response to a Hong Kong High Court ruling that the government’s refusal to provide public housing to a legally married same-sex couple is “unconstitutional”, Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong Man-Kei Tam said: “This ruling is a triumph for equality and LGBTI rights, and a significant step forward in the fight against discrimination at the highest levels of Hong Kong society. “The Hong Kong government’s refusal to provide public housing to two married men based purely on their sexual orientation is a despicable affront to their human rights.

Date:
4 March 2020
  • News
  • Malaysia

Malaysia: Raft of police investigations a blatant attempt to intimidate peaceful protesters

The investigation of more than 20 peaceful protesters after they held two demonstrations in Malaysia over the weekend is an alarming sign of the new government’s attitude towards human rights, Amnesty International said today. Police have summoned at least 20 human rights defenders and political activists to give statements or undergo questioning later today. Among them is lawyer Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, one of the protest organizers.

Date:
4 March 2020
  • News
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Children

Iran: At least 23 children killed by security forces in November protests – new evidence

An investigation by Amnesty International has uncovered evidence that at least 23 children were killed by Iranian security forces in the nationwide protests in November last year. At least 22 of the children were shot dead by Iranian security forces unlawfully firing live ammunition at unarmed protesters and bystanders, according to the findings. The children killed include 22 boys, aged between 12 and 17, and a girl reportedly aged between eight and 12.

Date:
4 March 2020
  • News
  • Spain

Europe: Spain to become tenth country in Europe to define rape as sex without consent

Following the announcement by the Spanish government today of a new bill on comprehensive responses to sexual violence, including a reform of the legal definition of rape, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner on Gender Monica Costa Riba said: “We welcome the step taken by the government to improve the State’s responses to sexual violence in Spain. This is a victory for survivors of rape and for the countless women, campaigners and activists who raised so much awareness of the need for reforms in law, policy and practice through their protests and street actions.

Date:
3 March 2020