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  • News
  • Belarus
  • Detention

Belarus: Law Faculty student arrested over graduation speech must be immediately released

Reacting to the news that Katsyaryna Vinnikava, a student of the Law Faculty of the Belarusian State University, has been sentenced to 15 days’ arrest by the Belarusian authorities after giving a graduation speech in which she honoured past staff members and graduates who have faced reprisals for their support of peaceful protesters and opposition to political repression, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “The Belarusian authorities have once again shown their determination to stifle all dissent.

Date:
2 July 2021
  • News
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • Detention

UAE: Nearly a decade of unjust imprisonment for ‘UAE-94’ dissidents

The UAE must end its arbitrary detention of 60 individuals – including activists, lawyers, students and teachers – convicted on trumped-up charges following an unfair mass trial known as the “UAE-94” case, Amnesty International said today, marking the eight-year anniversary since the trial’s verdict in July 2013 and the ninth year in prison for the detainees, who were arrested in 2012. Amnesty International interviewed family members of six “UAE-94” prisoners who described how they and their imprisoned loves ones have suffered over the past nine years, with some of the prisoners held incommunicado for years and relatives subjected to acts of reprisal.

Date:
2 July 2021
  • News
  • Thailand

Thailand: Police violence and harmful chemical irritants routinely unleashed on young protesters - exclusive research

Thai authorities have repeatedly deployed reckless and violent tactics to quell the country’s burgeoning youth protest movement including beating demonstrators, firing chemicals from water cannons and shooting rubber bullets at close range, new research from Amnesty International reveals today. The report, My face burned as if on fire, provides exhaustive documentation and analysis of the past year of Thai protests, painting a detailed picture of the excessive and unlawful use of force against largely peaceful protesters.

Date:
2 July 2021
  • News
  • Africa
  • Human Rights Defenders and Activists

Burundi: Release of Germain Rukuki a victory for human rights

Reacting to news that Burundian human rights defender Germain Rukuki has been released after serving more than four years in prison, Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said: “It is terrific news that Germain is finally free. He should never have been jailed in the first place - as he was arrested, prosecuted and convicted simply for his human rights work.

Date:
1 July 2021
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Sexual Violence

Turkey takes centre stage in the fight for women’s rights  

In March, a man was filmed brutally beating his ex-wife on a street in Samsun, Turkey, while their 5-year-old daughter stood sobbing beside them. Viral footage of the man punching and slapping the woman, 24 year-old Emriye Metegül in the face, and slamming her head repeatedly against the pavement, shocked Turkey. Weeks later, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a decree announcing that Turkey would withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, a landmark international treaty designed to fight violence against women and domestic violence.

Date:
1 July 2021
  • News
  • Austria

Austria: Women migrant care workers demand rights

Austria: Women migrant care workers demand rights New research by Amnesty International has revealed exploitation of women migrant care workers in Austria, with shockingly poor pay, discrimination and excessively long hours, pushing some to the brink of collapse. The vast majority of those who work as live-in carers for older people are women migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe, who are often subjected to various intersecting forms of discrimination and abuse.

Date:
1 July 2021
  • News
  • Europe and Central Asia
  • Discrimination

Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention rallies the fight for women’s rights across the world

Turkey’s shameful withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention today will put millions of women and girls at greater risk of violence, Amnesty International said. President Erdoğan’s announcement of the decision to quit the landmark treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence will go down in history as the first time a Council of Europe member has withdrawn from an international human rights convention.

Date:
30 June 2021
  • News
  • Dominican Republic
  • Maternal Health and Reproductive Rights

Dominican Republic: Chamber of Deputies puts life and health of millions of women and girls at risk

In reaction to the results of the debate held today in the Chamber of Deputies on the decriminalization of abortion on three grounds in the Penal Code, Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International's director for the Americas, said: "With this vote, the majority of deputies in the Dominican Republic have demonstrated that the life and health of women and girls in the country are not part of their legislative priorities.

Date:
30 June 2021
  • News
  • Hong Kong

Hong Kong: National Security Law has created a human rights emergency

Hong Kong’s National Security Law (NSL) has decimated the city’s freedoms and created a landscape increasingly devoid of human rights protections, Amnesty International said in a new research briefing released today, exactly one year after the Beijing-imposed legislation took effect. ‘In the Name of National Security’ details how the law enacted on 30 June 2020 has given the authorities free rein to illegitimately criminalize dissent while stripping away the rights of those it targets.

Date:
30 June 2021
  • News
  • Eswatini
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Eswatini: Right to protest must be respected

With pro-democracy protests intensifying, seven people have critically been injured and one person reportedly killed after police fired teargas and live ammunition at protesters last night. Amnesty International is urging the Eswatini authorities to respect the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa, said: “The protests unfolding across Eswatini are a result of years of denial of political, economic and social right to the people, including young people, and recent escalation of suppression of dissent by the authorities.

Date:
29 June 2021
  • News
  • Africa
  • Armed Conflict

Ethiopia: As Mekelle changes hands, civilians remain in urgent need of protection

Commenting after regional forces took control of Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, from Ethiopian government forces yesterday, Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said: “Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the safety of civilians in Tigray, who have endured months of fighting and serious human rights abuses, including war crimes, by all sides.

Date:
29 June 2021
  • News
  • Russian Federation
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Russia: Home searches of Proekt.Media journalists a shameless attack on media freedom

Reacting to the searches this morning of the homes of three journalists from the independent Russian investigative media outlet Proekt. Media, including its Editor-in-Chief Roman Badanin, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Moscow Office Director, said: “The Russian authorities respond to reports of top-level corruption with impressive severity and lightning speed – except that they persecute those who expose it.

Date:
29 June 2021
  • News
  • Middle East and North Africa
  • COVID-19

Egypt: Haphazard and flawed Covid-19 vaccine rollout fails to prioritize most at-risk

The Egyptian authorities’ haphazard handling of the country’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout and failure to outline a clear national strategy has meant that at risk and marginalized people have not been prioritized for vaccination and continue to face barriers undermining their right to health, said Amnesty International today. Among those affected are people living in informal urban settlements or remote rural areas, prisoners, refugees and migrants, The organization is calling on the authorities to rectify ongoing flaws and eliminate all practical barriers hampering at-risk people and those in vulnerable situations from accessing the vaccine.

Date:
29 June 2021
  • News
  • Kosovo
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Kosovo: Defamation lawsuits seeking to silence environmental activists must be withdrawn

Kosovo: Defamation lawsuits seeking to silence environmental activists must be withdrawn Two environmental activists in Kosovo are facing baseless defamation lawsuits which are designed to intimidate and silence them, Amnesty International said today. The organization is calling on Kelkos Energy, which operates hydropower plants in a protected natural area in western Kosovo, to withdraw two lawsuits against Shpresa Loshaj and Adriatik Gacaferi, activists who have publicly spoken out against the environmental impact of the projects.

Date:
28 June 2021
  • News
  • Asia and The Pacific
  • Discrimination

UN: Growing international concern must translate into concrete action over China’s crimes against humanity in Xinjiang

UPDATE (28 June 2021): Following the initial statement being shared by Canada at the UN Human Rights Council on 22 June, two additional states (Nauru and Ukraine) signed on, bringing the total to 45. The original text has been updated to reflect this. *** A statement delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva by a cross-regional group of 45 states who are “gravely concerned” about China’s serious human rights violations in Xinjiang must pave the way for concrete action, Amnesty International said today, repeating its call for an independent, international investigation into grave human rights violations there.

Date:
22 June 2021
  • News
  • Zambia
  • Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Zambia: Killings and brutal crackdown against dissent set the tone for August election

Years of intensifying repression have pushed Zambia to the brink of a human rights crisis ahead of August’s presidential elections, Amnesty International said today. In a new report, “Ruling by fear and repression”, the organization details how the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly have come under increasing attack particularly over the past five years, with opposition leaders and activists jailed, independent media outlets shut down, and at least five people killed by police since 2016.

Date:
28 June 2021