Below you’ll find breaking news as well as reports, updates on our campaigns, and victories.
If you are a member of the press, please reach out to [email protected]
Update
Anyone have any Doubts about al Bashir?
As Alertnet is reporting, relief efforts in Sudan are “plunging into Chaos” after Sudanese president Omar al Bashir ordered 16 relief organizations to pack up shop and leave. As one aid worker described it: “Everything is crazy. Most of the agencies thrown out don't think they're going to get back so they're trying to work out how to transfer everything to agencies still in Sudan.” Or in plain UN language: These 16 organizations employ nearly 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur – 6,500 national and international workers. The total number of humanitarian staff affected by the Government decision…
March 13, 2009
Update
The Gift that keeps on Giving
The appointment of Daniel Fried, a career diplomat who has formerly been both Ambassador to Poland and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, as the new Special Envoy on the Guantanamo Bay detention facility suggests that the Obama administration is stepping up its efforts to persuade European states to accept detainees who have been cleared for release. As things stand, there are approximately 40 detainees still held in Guantanamo who could leave tomorrow if a suitable home for them could be found. These individuals cannot return to their country of origin because they would face persecution, torture or worse…
March 13, 2009
Update
Why Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! need to be reined in
(Originally posted on Daily Kos) Reporters without Borders (RWB) today issued its "Enemies of the Internet" report, exposing state censorship of free speech and expression around the world. Topping the group's list were Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. While the United States is not on the list, RWB and Amnesty International earlier in the week highlighted the role of U.S. companies in internet censorship by calling on Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google to uncensor their search engines and blogging portals, even if just for a day, on the World Day Against…
March 12, 2009
Update
One in Three
Native American and Alaska Native women face a 1 in 3 chance of being raped in their lifetime. The numbers are shocking. In our report, Maze of Injustice, Amnesty uncovered the staggering statistic that Native American and Alaska Native women are more than two and a half times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the USA in general. This has to change! Non-Native men who rape Native American and Alaska Native women can often do so with impunity, because of a lack of tribal authority to prosecute non-Native people who commit crimes of sexual violence…
March 12, 2009
Update
Putting a Face to Internet Censorship
I wasn't going to post again today, but I was just reading Erica's post, and I went to Daily Kos to check out the comments. One commenter was of the opinion that free speech is just an American construct, and others responded that freedom of expression and information are acutally guaranteed in Article 19 of the UDHR and also in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which China is a signatory. That's good to know, but that level of discussion can make it easy to forget about the actual human cost of governments not respecting those human rights,…
March 12, 2009
Update
The Canary in the Coalmine
As the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility prepares to release its long awaited report on former Office of Legal Counsel deputy John Yoo’s alleged abuse of his office, there has been a renewed interest amongst political commentators in prosecuting human rights abuses committed as part of the Bush administration's war on terror. Writing for The Daily Beast Scott Horton, a law professor and commentator who has consistently led calls for such prosecutions, noted: “It is widely suspected that the memos were requested as after-the-fact legal cover for draconian policies that were already in place… If the Justice Department internal probe…
March 11, 2009
Update
Palestinian Refugees: Kyl Retreats
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) yesterday withdrew his controversial amendment that would have discriminated against Palestinian refugees from Gaza. The amendment was reportedly based on internet rumors and triggered strong opposition both on the hill and from human rights organizations and activists, led by Amnesty International USA. Thanks to everyone who took action!
March 10, 2009
Update
One More Step Forward
Yesterday, the New Mexico Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-5 in support of HB 285, the bill that repeals New Mexico’s death penalty. This is the committee that, in the past, has killed death penalty abolition, so in advancing to the full Senate, this bill has gone farther than it ever has before. It now only remains for the full Senate to vote (possibly this week) and then for New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to sign the legislation into law. Governor Richardson has expressed at least a willingness to sign the bill, but he could always use your encouragement. New Mexico’s…
March 10, 2009
Update
Finality
The Saturday New York Times story on Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Justice Sharon Keller contains this gem: "We can’t give new trials to everyone who establishes, after conviction, that they might be innocent,” she later told the television news program Frontline. "We would have no finality in the criminal justice system, and finality is important." Judge Keller is now in big trouble in Texas, not for this callous attitude towards innocent people, but for her role in shutting her court down promptly at 5 pm despite knowing that an appeal in the death penalty case of Michael Richard…
March 9, 2009
Update
Palestinians: Keep out?
Should Palestinians from Gaza be treated differently under US refugee law? According to Senator Jon Kyl (R – AZ), the answer is yes. Last Friday, Senator Kyl introduced an amendment to the Omnibus Appropriations bill, which adds the following line to page 942: "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be made available to resettle Palestinians from Gaza into the United States." This amendment comes after a time of conflict, which sharply deteriorated the existing humanitarian situation in Gaza. Contrary to a policy of 30 years, which extends protection to refugees on the basis…
March 9, 2009
Update
The Difference Between Justice and Impunity is Action
I just got back from an amazing week in Chicago, and I was trying to decide whether I should use the above as the title for this post, or if I should call it "Solidarity Means Hope," because those were really the two main themes of the past week. I was there to take part in a series of events in support of the Women of Atenco, including a forum at DePaul University, a rally outside the Mexican consulate, and a meeting with the Consul General. The events, planned by Amnesty International in conjunction with a wonderful coalition of Chicago-area…
March 9, 2009
Update
Internet Co's: How about one day without censorship?
Reporters Without Borders (RWB) and Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) yesterday called on U.S. Internet companies Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! to give the world a day of censorship-free Internet search and blogging, in recognition of World Day Against Cyber Censorship, March 12. In other words, we’re seeing if Internet companies are willing to give the world a free trial of freedom of expression. Like free trials of software downloads, the hope is that if these Internet mammoths can find it within themselves to stand up to censorship requests for just one day, they, we, the world, might like it enough to…
March 7, 2009