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On September 16, 2007, private contractors working for the U.S.-based company Blackwater Worldwide shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in the streets near Nisour Square, Baghdad. When the State Department investigated Blackwater, it gave contractors protection from prosecution in exchange for providing information about the occurrence. Call for a suspension of the contract until it is clear that proper vetting mechanisms are in place to prevent further abuses.
Ask your Representative to support H.R. 275, the Global Online Freedom Act of 2007, which would prevent U.S. companies from carrying out or facilitating the suppression of online speech in repressive countries.
Over three years ago, the Justice Department (DOJ) required that all cases of detainee abuse by private military and security contractors be handled by one US Attorney’s Office. As of today, that office has declined to prosecute almost all of the cases referred to it, with little explanation. Urge your representatives in Congress to pressure the DOJ to prosecute human rights violations committed by private military and security contractors.
Amnesty International USA and a coalition of socially responsible shareholders have filed resolutions with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, requesting that they use their investor power to press for the speedy deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers in Darfur.
The people of Darfur need the full deployment of UN-AU peacekeepers now. The UN urgently needs two things to make this happen: (1) Ground and air transport equipment (including 24 helicopters), and (2) An end to Khartoum’s obstruction of deployment.
On September 16, at least 17 Iraqis were killed after personnel of Blackwater Worldwide, a contractor of the U.S. State Department, reportedly shot several rounds from their armored vehicles in Baghdad. This is neither the first time nor an isolated incident of Blackwater personnel using lethal force against Iraqi civilians. Call on Blackwater to take their human rights responsibilities seriously.
To ensure the speedy and full deployment of a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) in Darfur, Khartoum must hear from key economic interests, including the oil companies that they depend on for revenue. Urge 10 of the top investors in Sudan’s oil industry to take a stand for the people of Darfur.
Migrant workers in South Korea face discrimination in the work place and abuse by employers and state officials. They are vulnerable to human rights abuses including withholding of payment, confiscation of identity documents, including passports, visa papers and identity cards, verbal and physical abuse and denial of access to health insurance and medical attention. PDF format
Employees and individual contractors of US government contracted companies are alleged to have abused, tortured and killed people in areas including Iraq and Afghanistan, but not a single one has been brought to justice. Tell Congress to demand accountability of contractors in the "war on terror."
Jamie Leigh Jones was reportedly drugged, gang-raped and imprisoned in a container by fellow KBR co-workers in 2005 while working in Iraq on a U.S. Defense Department contract. Like the Abu Ghraib torture victims who still have not seen justice after more than four years, the abuse Jones says she suffered at the hands of private contractors over two years ago has not seen the light of a criminal trial.
Amnesty International is concerned about the ways Microsoft may be aiding the repression of freedom to information and expression in China. According to recent reports, Microsoft's search engine blocks searches under key words such as "freedom", "democracy", "human rights", "Falun Gong", and "demonstration", among others. Users of Microsoft Spaces are also prohibited from using these and other words on the weblogs they create.
Early in 2006 Google launched a self-censoring Chinese search engine, google.cn, that blocks search results for topics such as human rights, political reform, Tiananmen Square and Falun Gong, among others. Amnesty International is concerned about the ways Google is aiding the repression of freedom to information and expression in China, and the implications this may have for the way the company operates everywhere in the world.
Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the U.S. Yahoo! helped put him there. They provided information to the Chinese Government, which led to his unjust imprisonment. Yahoo! needs to hear from people like you and me in droves. And they need to hear from us today. Tell Yahoo! that we won't stand for violating privacy and ask them to use their influence to secure Shi Tao's release.
Leading up to the Beijing Olympics, a major question for China will be how it chooses to define its Olympic legacy. Will it be one where freedom of expression is respected and protected? Not if journalists like Shi Tao continue to be unjustly oppressed, sentenced and imprisoned. PDF format | MS Word format
On February 4, 2005 Nigerian troops responsible for Chevron's security, fired on 200 demonstrators protesting the lack of jobs and development in the oil-rich Niger delta. One was killed and 30 others were injured. It took several hours for the injured to be taken by boat to a hospital. Neither Chevron, nor the security forces provided adequate assistance or transport to the injured. They have also not carried out any investigation into the incident.
For over four decades, Indigenous communities have witnessed multinational oil companies cut through their ancestral lands in search of the country's vast petroleum resources. According to the report "Amazon Crude", Texaco alone was responsible for dumping 19 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the region contaminating the drinking water of Ecuador's Amazon communities.
For over four decades, Indigenous communities have witnessed multinational oil companies cut through their ancestral lands in search of the country's vast petroleum resources. According to the report "Amazon Crude", Texaco alone was responsible for dumping 19 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the region contaminating the drinking water of Ecuador's Amazon communities.
Twenty-two years on in Bhopal, India the lives of thousands are still seriously affected as a result of the exposure to the MIC gas. Since then, many have died or have developed chronic and debilitating illnesses. On January 6, 2005 Dow Chemical was summoned before an Indian criminal court seeking to bring to justice those responsible for the 1984 gas leak. Write to Mr Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical. You can base your letters on the sample below.
More than 7,000 people died within a matter of days when toxic gases leaked from a chemical plant in Bhopal, India on the night of 2/3 December 1984. Over the last 22 years exposure to the toxins has resulted in the deaths of a further 15,000 people as well as chronic and debilitating illnesses for thousands of others for which treatment is largely ineffective. Call on Dow Chemical to clean up the factory site and remove the stockpiles of chemical abandoned by the company.
Recent allegations of torture and ill-treatment by Coalition forces and by civilians employed by private contractors in Iraqi prisons echo the frequent reports of human rights violations that Amnesty International has received over the past year. According to the Washington Post, an Army investigation has found that at least one of Titan's translators may have been involved in abuses of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
