Dozens of civilians in South Sudan were killed and tens of thousands displaced amid fighting between armed groups in Western Equatoria state from June to October this year, Amnesty International said today, after carrying out an in-person investigation and interviewing dozens of survivors.

In response to today’s news that U.S. government officials would not attend the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Joanne Lin, National Director for Advocacy and Government Relations at Amnesty International USA, said: "The Biden administration’s announcement of a diplomatic boycott of the Olympic games is a blow to the impunity of the Chinese authorities. The Chinese government’s perpetuation and condoning of human rights abuses, from the dismantling of free expression in Hong Kong to the repression of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other minorities, to blatant attempts to silence survivors of sexual abuse, must be met with unequivocal condemnation and demands for justice.

In response to the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns Ming Yu Hah said: “The harsh sentences handed down to Aung San Suu Kyi on these bogus charges are the latest example of the military’s determination to eliminate all opposition and suffocate freedoms in Myanmar. The court’s farcical and corrupt decision is part of a devastating pattern of arbitrary punishment that has seen more than 1,300 people killed and thousands arrested since the military coup in February.