A state of emergency remained in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authorities continued to restrict the right to freedom of expression and intimidate journalists. Dozens of people were killed in inter-communal violence. Women continued to experience high rates of gender-based violence.

Reacting to a UN General Assembly decision requesting that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) provide an authoritative opinion on states’ obligations and responsibilities surrounding climate change, Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s Director of Climate, Economic and Social Justice, and...

Responding to reports that Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape has declared a critical ‘red stage’ in the country due to a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Amnesty International’s Pacific Researcher Kate Schuetze said: “Papua New Guinea’s health crisis has now reached the level we feared...

Amnesty Indonesia and Amnesty Australia welcome the decision of Indonesian authorities to release 30,000 prisoners to minimise the risk of infection with COVID-19. Overcrowding and unsanitary facilities have been posing a health threat to Indonesia’s prison population of more than 250.000...

Cressida Kuala is a women’s human rights defender of the Ipili Indigenous people, and an environmental activist from a gold mining town in the highlands of Porgera, Enga Province, in Papua New Guinea (PNG). She told Amnesty International that her interest in protecting human rights was motivated by...

Emmanuel Peni, aka Manu, is an LGBTI and environmental activist from Sepik, in the coastal region of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Manu is the president of Kapul Champions, the only national LGBTI network in Papua New Guinea. He told Amnesty International that his work is complicated by the fact that...

Amnesty International has profiled five human rights defenders from across the Pacific to highlight their critical work and the immense challenges they face every day. These profiles were being launched today in Suva, Fiji. “By researching and promoting these powerful stories, we want to create...

By Charmain Mohamed, Head of Refugee and Migrants Rights Since 2013 Australia has been sending refugees who attempt to reach its shores by boat to be ‘processed’ on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. On this remote island thousands of people have endured years of detention and abuse while their...

The misery of indefinite detention in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is pushing increasing numbers of refugees and people seeking asylum to suicide attempts and self-harm, a new report by the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) and Amnesty International finds today. In the report, Until when? The forgotten...

A grisly video showing a heinous act of violence quickly went viral after it was posted on 10 July 2018. Men dressed in army fatigues and wielding military-grade rifles brutally marched women and young children – including a baby strapped to his mother’s back – to a rural location before...

The Australian government must urgently evacuate the 107 refugee children and their families trapped in appalling conditions in Nauru, or else accept New Zealand’s offer to provide safe haven, said Amnesty International, as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) comes to a close in Nauru today. The...

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Australia must take a strong stand against ongoing crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya in Myanmar as they meet this weekend, Amnesty International said. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s State Counsellor and de facto political...

New facilities unsafe and do not meet refugees’ basic needs Refugees say they live with constant fear of violence Australia must end policy of cruelty and neglect The Australian government has abandoned hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers, leaving them in a situation that more closely resembles...