Actions
The state of Ohio has announced new lethal injection procedures and plans to execute Kenneth Biros on December 8. Five other male prisoners in Ohio are scheduled for execution in the coming months.
Maternal mortality claims the life of one woman every minute – more than half a million women every year. This is a human rights scandal. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a crucial guarantee of the right to maternal health. The United States is one of only eight countries not to have ratified CEDAW. While Secretary Clinton's State Department supports ratification, the Senate needs to act now. Urge the Senate to ratify CEDAW! Download the action Ratify the Treaty for the Rights of Women! in PDF format | Download the action Ratify the Treaty for the Rights of Women! in RTF format
The State of Ohio has announced new lethal injection procedures and is looking to resume executions. It is seeking to execute Kenneth Biros on December 8. Six executions are scheduled for the first 6 months of 2010. But the death penalty can never be humane, regardless of the method of execution. Call on Governor Strickland to esstablish a moratorium on ALL executions in Ohio.
Troy Davis has been scheduled for execution three times without ever having a hearing on evidence that he may be innocent. On August 17, the US Supreme Court finally granted him that hearing. While this is welcome news, we must continue to let Georgia authorities know that we support full justice for Troy Davis. Sign the petition today!
President Obama and a number of members of Congress have resisted full accountability for torture, and have endorsed indefinite detention and unfair military commissions. There is an alternative: call on President Obama and Congress to respect human rights. Download the action President Obama and Congress: Respect Human Rights and Counter Terror With Justice in PDF format | Download the action President Obama and Congress: Respect Human Rights and Counter Terror With Justice in RTF format
Across the United States, thousands of people, including U.S. citizens, immigrants and asylum seekers, languish needlessly in detention facilities every day without even the right to a hearing to determine whether their detention is necessary. While detained, they are often held in poor conditions with limited access to family, medical care, or attorneys. Download the action Protect the human rights of US citizens and immigrants locked up in jails across the U.S. in PDF format | Download the action Protect the human rights of US citizens and immigrants locked up in jails across the U.S. in RTF format
Read the "10 Against Torture" letters and forward your favorite to President Obama
President Obama reads 10 hand-picked letters every day to get a glimpse of what's on people's minds and in their hearts. Amnesty International has compiled powerful letters written by 10 influential thinkers ? from an exiled poet to a former military interrogator to an esteemed actor and activist ? that boldly make the case for accountability for torture. Read the Ten Against Torture letters and send the one you find most moving to President Obama.
President Obama reads 10 hand-picked letters every day to get a glimpse of what's on people's minds and in their hearts. Amnesty International has compiled powerful letters written by 10 influential thinkers ? from an exiled poet to a former military interrogator to an esteemed actor and activist ? that boldly make the case for accountability for torture. Read the Ten Against Torture letters and send the one you find most moving to President Obama.
Call President Obama & Urge Him to Reject Impunity for Torture, Indefinite Detention & Unfair trials
President Obama recently rejected an independent commission into torture and endorsed indefinite detention and revised, yet still unfair, military commissions. Call the White House comment line now using our script and join Americans nationwide who are speaking in one voice to change his mind.
President Obama recently rejected an independent commission into torture and endorsed indefinite detention and revised, yet still unfair, military commissions. Call the White House comment line now using our script and join Americans nationwide who are speaking in one voice to change his mind.
Tell your Representative and Senators and President Obama to expose abuse and hold perpetrators accountable. Momentum for an independent investigation into torture is growing. However, without your help, we may not achieve a strong, independent commission with the force of law that can expose the torture and abuse committed in our name and that can help prevent the U.S. from torturing in the future.
Health Care is a Human Right!
Health care is a human right petition.
Health care is a human right petition.
Write letters on behalf of people at risk of torture worldwide
Torture is inflicted upon detainees in a shocking number of the world's nations. Some governments seek to justify their use of this brutal practice, while others don't even bother to try. But torture can never be justified. Torture can never be condoned.
Torture is inflicted upon detainees in a shocking number of the world's nations. Some governments seek to justify their use of this brutal practice, while others don't even bother to try. But torture can never be justified. Torture can never be condoned.
Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini remains detained in Guantanamo despite being cleared for release over 2 years ago. Odaini was detained in March 2002 along with several other Yemeni nationals, and sent to the detention camp at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In June 2005 he was deemed suitable for release from Guantanamo, yet he continues to be unjustly detained. He has not been interrogated for nearly two years and the reason for his continued detention is unclear.
Write letters on behalf of people illegally detained at Guantanamo and other US facilities
The U.S. government's "war on terror" does not justify violations of international law. Illegal detention must end. Detainees at Guantanamo must promptly be either given a fair trial or released.
The U.S. government's "war on terror" does not justify violations of international law. Illegal detention must end. Detainees at Guantanamo must promptly be either given a fair trial or released.
Tell your Representatives and Senators to amend the Stafford Act to bring it in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles for Internally Displaced Persons. Although the IDP Guidelines are not binding, they are based on existing instruments of international human rights and humanitarian law and should be recognized by the U.S. government as the appropriate framework for helping internally displaced persons within its borders. Download the action Urge Congress to amend the Stafford Act in PDF format | Download the action Urge Congress to amend the Stafford Act in RTF format
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.
Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen McPhail; a murder he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. Since the trial most of the witnesses have recanted their testimony, many alleging they were pressured or coerced by police.
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. Download the action Investigate and prosecute military contractors who torture, kill in PDF format | Download the action Investigate and prosecute military contractors who torture, kill in RTF format
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.
Children can and do commit terrible crimes, however, when they do, they should be held accountable in a manner that reflects both their culpability and their special capacity for rehabilitation.
