Newsroom

Update

Today is twenthieth anniversary of the first World AIDS Day, established to commemorate those who have died of the disease and marshal attention to address the epidemic.   The World AIDS Campaign has declared "Lead-Empower-Deliver" to be the theme for this year.  For the last several years, AI has been zeroing in on the message that AIDS is a human rights issue.   Human rights abuses place people at greater risk of contracting HIV, and, all too often, those living with HIV and AIDS are subjected to human rights abuses.  Check out Amnesty's special web feature in honor of World AIDS Day. Nowhere is the link between human rights…

December 1, 2008

Update

Rallying in front of the White House on November 23, I joined over 100 activists in expressing our concern for Congolese civilians, as armed groups turn their homes into a battlefield. Three messages continue to stand out in my mind: Protect the People! Stop Violence against Women! and No Child Soldiers! Amnesty International USA organized this event in response to the humanitarian and human rights emergency in the Democratic Republic of Congo, calling on the United States to follow through with their support of a new UN Security Council Resolution  by delivering the needed troops and equipment. The resolution passed unanimously,…

November 26, 2008

Update

Two separate courts (a County Superior court and a Federal District court) have issued stays of execution for Darold Stenson, who was scheduled to be put to death by the state of Washington on December 3.   According to media reports, these stays will be appealed by state and county officials who are still hopeful that the execution can take place. The Federal court’s decision was based on a lethal injection challenge, while the County court has ordered new DNA testing which might shed light on Stenson’s claims that he is innocent.  The question of the utter arbitrariness of the death penalty…

November 26, 2008

Update

Laurent Nkunda considers himself a man of diplomacy and politics. Unfortunately, whether we agree or not has become academic. This war criminal has a following that is growing and will continue to: aside from his Tutsi advocates there is suspicion that he is allied with ethnic Tutsi Paul Kagame (Rwanda's President), and furthermore it has been speculated that he has the support of the Christian American right. This is a powerful foundation from which to wage a war of unthinkable proportions. Surely the question to ask at this stage is: What does Nkunda want? We know the UN Security Council…

November 25, 2008

Update

The death penalty isn’t as popular out West as it is down South. For example, there hasn’t been an execution in Washington since 2001, and there have been only four total in the 30+ years since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Not that there are never any serious crimes in The Evergreen State.  Gary Ridgway was convicted of 48 murders … but he avoided the death penalty.  This has led many to recognize that capital punishment in Washington is extremely arbitrary, which in turn led to an important Washington Supreme Court decision in 2006.  Four Washington Supreme Court…

November 24, 2008

Update

This week, Human Rights First (HRF) issued a report, "How to End Impunity for Private Security and Other Contractors: Blueprint for the Next Administration". The report helpfully encapsulates many of the calls for better oversight, monitoring and accountability that HRF, Amnesty International and others have been calling for with regard to companies, like Blackwater, Titan, KBR..., whose personnel have engaged in human rights abuses from rape and torture to killing, with impunity. It also posits some fresh ideas into the conversation, such as extending the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to these companies and reforming state secret and other privileges…

November 21, 2008

Update

Yesterday, the Associated Press ran the headline US Contractors Lose Immunity in Iraq Security Deal. But, if what comes to your mind when you think of US contractors operating in Iraq with immunity is, for example, the indiscriminate shooting and killing of civilians by Blackwater personnel, read the fine print -- the new assertion of joint Iraqi-US jurisdiction doesn't apply to companies contracted by anyone other than the Defense Department. This means Blackwater personnel working on a contract with the State Department -- the same one under which Nisoor Sq killings occurred -- are good to go with Iraqi immunity. There are murmurings that US State Department…

November 21, 2008

Update

Not persecution of the Church by the State. Unfortunately for Patriarch "Abune" Antonios of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the government of Eritrea doesn't think that way. Considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty, he has been under house arrest since January 2006 after continually resisting government interference in religious affairs. Minority faith groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and over 35 evangelical Christian churches are banned in Eritrea. An estimated 2,000 members of minority evangelical churches which have been outlawed since 2002 are in detention in harsh conditions. Amnesty International has received reports that some detainees have been repeatedly beaten…

November 21, 2008

Update

Now, the outgoing Bush administration’s plans for celebrating Human Rights Day ’08 can finally be revealed!  On December 10, they are going to carry out the first U.S. Military execution in 47 years, when they put Ronald Gray to death by lethal injection.  According to CNN and several other media sources, Private Ronald Gray, a former soldier from North Carolina, is set to be executed at a federal prison in Terra Haute, Indiana by Army personnel.  His execution was approved by President Bush in July. While there is a possibility that a federal appeals court could stay the execution, the military…

November 21, 2008

Update

The tide of American politics is changing. That much is clear. Barack Obama has inspired Americans to renew their faith in their country and has repeatedly stated that he will act to renew the moral standing of the United States in the world. “I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.” -President-elect Barack Obama on CBS’s 60 Minutes…

November 21, 2008

Update

The DRC, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Sudan and Nicaragua--all these countries are in crisis right now. How do I know (beyond working at Amnesty International)? I can read about it in the news. But there is at least one developing humanitarian crisis you won't find in the New York Times: More than 300,000 people have been displaced in Sri Lanka by fighting between the Tamil Tigers and government forces. And not only do they lack access to basic food and shelter, but the government is not allowing U.N. aid convoys to bring in desperately needed supplies. The entire population of Birkenhead has…

November 20, 2008

Update

Can someone please explain this to me? How is it OK to arrest someone, send them to Guantánamo, keep them there a couple years, clear them for release, and then not let them leave? Among all the things that confuse and upset me about the way the US government has dealt with the detainees at Guantánamo, the situation of Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini is one of the most baffling. A Yemeni national, he was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan, where he had gone to study Islamic law. In 2005, US authorities declared him suitable for release, and Yemeni authorities indicated that they…

November 20, 2008