The Sierra Leonean authorities must repeal vagrancy laws without delay, following a landmark ruling by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court that the colonial-era legislation discriminates against poor people and other marginalized groups, Amnesty International said. The ruling, made on 7 November, found that Sierra Leone’s vagrancy laws – which criminalize anyone…
The Danish welfare authority, Udbetaling Danmark (UDK), risks discriminating against people with disabilities, low-income individuals, migrants, refugees, and marginalized racial groups through its use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to flag individuals for social benefits fraud investigations, Amnesty International said today in a new report. The report, Coded Injustice: Surveillance and Discrimination in Denmark’s Automated…
People from civil society, academia and the arts, from the African continent and its global diasporas, are gathering in Berlin, Germany, at the Dekoloniale Berlin Conference 2024, to mark the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Africa Conference of 1884/5. The Dekoloniale Berlin Conference 2024 will run from 14-16 November. It will bring together representatives from…
Responding to an announcement by Libya’s Tripoli-based Minister of Interior in the Government of National Unity (GNU), Emad al-Trabulsi, of sweeping measures that would further entrench discrimination against women and girls and violate the rights to freedom of expression, religion, belief and bodily autonomy, including plans for “morality police” to enforce compulsory veiling, Bassam Al…
Authorities in Yemen are failing to address gender-based online blackmail and harassment on Facebook, to protect women’s right to privacy in online spaces and to provide redress to survivors said Amnesty International. The organization added that these assaults are taking place in the context of Meta’s lack of sufficient preventative action around online protection. Amnesty…
With millions of people already displaced by climate change disasters in Africa, the richer countries most responsible for global warming must agree at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan to fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods taking place across the continent, Amnesty International said. They must also fully…
In response to today’s Tokyo High Court ruling recognizing the unconstitutionality of Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher Boram Jang said: “This decision marks a critical step towards marriage equality in Japan and offers renewed hope to same-sex couples across the country. “This case is also a reminder of the lengthy…
Online attacks against Uganda’s LGBTQ communities have drastically increased, owing to overly broad laws that criminalize various aspects of the lives of LGBTQ people and entrench discrimination, Amnesty International said in a new report today. The report, “Everybody Here Is Having Two Lives or Phones”: The Devastating Impact of Criminalization on Digital Spaces for LGBTQ…