News

9,401 results

My filters

Refine your search

Content Type

Topic

Region / Country

Resource Type

  • News
  • Arms Trade

UN: Nuclear powers must join historic treaty making nuclear weapons illegal

Today is an historic milestone in the campaign to rid the world of nuclear weapons, Amnesty International said, as the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) enters into force. The treaty makes it illegal under international law to develop, test, possess, host, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons, and has been adopted by two-thirds of UN member states. None of the world’s nuclear powers have signed the treaty, and Amnesty International is urging these states and others to join the movement to eliminate the most inhumane and destructive weapons ever created.

Date:
22 January 2021
  • News
  • Ukraine
  • Detention

Ukraine: ECHR ruling on EuroMaydan protesters is a crucial step towards justice

Reacting to the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) ruling that the Ukrainian state bore responsibility for unlawful detentions, ill-treatment, abductions and in one instance killing of protesters during the violent crackdown on EuroMaydan protests in winter 2013-2014, Oksana Pokalchuk, Amnesty International Ukraine’s Director, said: “The European Court of Human Rights’ ruling reflects what Amnesty International and Ukrainian human rights activists have reported for many years:  the Ukrainian authorities under President Viktor Yanukovych unleashed a vicious crackdown on protesters during EuroMaydan.

Date:
21 January 2021
  • News
  • Bangladesh
  • Refugees

“We wish to overcome the decades of marginalization that brought us here”

I used to be a teacher in my village and now I teach in the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar. It was never easy in Myanmar. Throughout my academic years, I had to endure so many forms of racial slurs for being a Rohingya. They would call us names that were humiliating. The Rohingya students were not given the attention that their peers from the mainstream Rakhine community would receive from teachers. In March 2017, while I was still in Myanmar, my friends and I formed an organization called Rohingya Community Development Campaign, which sought to empower Rohingya children through education.

Date:
21 January 2021
  • News
  • Uganda
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Uganda: End politically motivated detention of Robert Kyagulanyi and his wife

The Ugandan authorities must immediately lift the police and military siege of opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi’s home and release him and his wife Barbara Itungo Kyagulanyi. This is an arbitrary detention, said Amnesty International as the post-election blockade entered its 7th day. Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, was declared runner-up by the Electoral Commission in last week’s presidential election, with 34.

Date:
20 January 2021
  • News
  • Bahrain
  • Torture and other ill-treatment

Bahrain: Investigate cleric’s report of torture

Responding to the report of torture and other ill-treatment committed against Shi’a cleric Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Abbas, held in solitary confinement at Bahrain’s Jaw prison and denied communication with his family since late August 2020, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Lynn Maalouf, said:  “We are extremely concerned by these claims of torture and the vulnerability that Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Abbas, or any other detainee, is exposed to as a direct consequence of being held incommunicado and in prolonged solitary confinement, in complete isolation from the outside world.

Date:
20 January 2021
  • News
  • Viet Nam
  • Prisoners of Conscience

Viet Nam: New leadership must seize opportunity to reverse human rights decline

Party congress starting 25 January likely to nominate new prime minister and state president for coming five years Recognized prisoners of conscience have doubled from 84 to 170 since the previous CPV congress in 2016 Viet Nam imprisoning a record number of prisoners of conscience as repression heightens ahead of congress  The Vietnamese authorities must end their relentless assault on human rights defenders and individuals exercising their human rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, said Amnesty International today ahead of the 13th party congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), scheduled to take place between 25 January and 2 February.

Date:
20 January 2021
  • News
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

DRC: Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release 10 youth activists

Democratic Republic of Congo’s authorities must immediately and unconditionally release 10 youth activists who are facing malicious charges solely for participating in a peaceful protest to demand the protection of civilians in Beni Town, Amnesty International said today ahead of their sentencing by a military court on 20 January. Eight of the 10 activists, belonging to the youth movement, Lutte pour le Changement (LUCHA), were arrested in Beni on 19 December after they staged a protest to denounce what they see as the UN peacekeeping force’s failure to protect civilians in the area.

Date:
19 January 2021
  • News
  • Thailand
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Thailand: 87-year prison sentence handed in harshest lèse majesté conviction

Responding to the record prison sentence handed to Anchan P. by a Thai court today after conviction for lèse majesté and computer-related crimes,  Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director, Yamini Mishra, said: “This shocking case is yet another serious assault on Thailand’s vanishing space for freedom of expression. “The fast-rising number of individuals facing charges and being detained under the lèse majesté law demonstrates the Thai authorities’ relentless drive to silence dissent.

Date:
19 January 2021
  • News
  • Americas

We must give our sorrow words

Today, on the eve of his inauguration, Joe Biden will lead a service for the more than 400,000 people in the USA who have lost their lives to COVID-19. The lighting ceremony beside the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC will culminate with a “national moment of unity and remembrance” and bells will toll across the United States. “In the midst of a pandemic – when so many Americans are grieving the loss of family, friends, and neighbours – it is important that we honour those who have died,” Inauguration Committee spokesman Pili Tobar said in a statement.

Date:
19 January 2021
  • News
  • Americas
  • Detention

Venezuela: Amnesty International names five members of humanitarian NGO Azul Positivo prisoners of conscience

Following the arrest and charging of Johan León Reyes, Yordy Bermúdez, Layners Gutiérrez Díaz, Alejandro Gómez Di Maggio and Luis Ferrabuz of the Venezuelan NGO Azul Positivo, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: “Johan, Yordy, Layners, Alejandro and Luis are prisoners of conscience, detained solely because of the humanitarian work they carry out in Venezuela with Azul Positivo.

Date:
19 January 2021
  • News
  • Lebanon
  • Migrants

Lebanon must end impunity for human rights abuses following UN Human Rights Council review

The government of Lebanon must heed the recommendations of the international community and do much more to fulfil, respect and protect human rights, putting an end to impunity underpinning the drastic erosion of fundamental economic, social and civil rights, Amnesty International said today, following Lebanon’s Universal Periodical Review (UPR) before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday 18 January.

Date:
19 January 2021
  • News
  • Russian Federation
  • Detention

Russia: Authorities use farcical surprise “hearing” to keep Aleksei Navalny behind bars

Reacting to news that prominent Russian opposition activist Aleksei Navalny has been remanded in custody for 30 days, following an unprecedented court “hearing” at the police station where he has been held since being arrested on arrival from Berlin, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, said: “Today's ‘hearing’ makes a mockery of ​​justice. Not only did the authorities shamelessly bring a judge to the police station to rule on Aleksei Navalny’s detention, but they also denied him access to his lawyer until the last possible moment.

Date:
18 January 2021
  • News
  • Tunisia
  • Human Rights Defenders and Activists

Tunisia: Authorities must refrain from using unnecessary and excessive force against protesters

Tunisian security forces must immediately refrain from using unnecessary and excessive force to disperse protesters who have taken to the streets in the capital and several governorates, against marginalization, police violence, poverty and lack of job opportunities, Amnesty International said today. Since Friday 15 January, young protesters in popular neighborhoods have broken curfew and, in some instances, protests have escalated and acts of violence, looting and vandalism have occurred.

Date:
18 January 2021
  • News
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Russia: Aleksei Navalny becomes prisoner of conscience after arrest on arrival in Moscow

Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release prominent Kremlin critic, Aleksei Navalny, detained minutes after he arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport from Berlin, Amnesty International said today. Navalny had been recovering in the German capital after being poisoned in Siberia in August. “Aleksei Navalny’s arrest is further evidence that Russian authorities are seeking to silence him.

Date:
17 January 2021
  • News
  • Belarus
  • Unlawful Detention

Belarus: Leaked audio allegedly exposing top Interior Minister official ordering use of illegal force against peaceful protesters must be effectively investigated

Reacting to the publication of an audio recording, in which one of the most senior Interior Ministry officials in Belarus apparently gives criminal orders to police to use unlawful force against peaceful protesters and disregard international law, Amnesty International said: “Of the string of incriminating leaks showing that Belarusian authorities crushed peaceful protest through pre-meditated human rights violations, this recording – if authentic – is the most damning.

Date:
15 January 2021
  • News
  • Human Rights Defenders and Activists

Amnesty International and Advocacy Assembly launch new online courses on open source human rights investigations

Human rights researchers, activists and journalists are among those who will benefit from two new free online courses developed by Amnesty International and hosted by Advocacy Assembly to train people in how to carry out open source research for human rights investigations and advocacy. Based on the rigorous methodologies employed by Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps – an award-winning partnership with seven global universities – the courses will train people in investigative techniques used to verify digital content and tackle disinformation.

Date:
15 January 2021