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Press Release

Two strikes that killed 23 civilians during Somali military operations supported by Turkish drones must be investigated as war crimes.

May 7, 2024

Press Release

Authorities across East and Southern Africa continued to impose severe restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and media freedom.

May 3, 2024

Press Release

The US military must not wash its hands of international legal obligations towards civilian victims of US air strikes in Somalia, Amnesty International said, following a Pentagon announcement that troops will be removed by January 2021. Following weeks of speculation about the change in policy, the US Department of Defense issued a press release on December 4, saying US Africa Command (AFRICOM) would “reposition the majority of personnel and assets out of Somalia by early 2021”. Withdrawal of ground troops does not necessarily mean an end to US military action in Somalia, which has included dozens of air strikes each year,…

December 7, 2020

Press Release

For a second consecutive year, Amnesty International has documented how African governments are grossly undermining regional human rights bodies by failing to comply with their decisions, ignoring their urgent appeals, neglecting to report to them on national human rights situations and starving them of resources they desperately need for operations. Governments also neglected the rights of people with disabilities and older persons by failing to ratify treaties relating to their protection. In the second edition of The State of African Regional Human Rights Bodies and Mechanisms 2019-2020, released on the African Human Rights Day, Amnesty International said the mechanisms established to safeguard…

October 20, 2020

Press Release

In response to a quarterly civilian casualty assessment report issued today by U.S. Africa Command, Brian Castner, the Senior Crisis Advisor for arms and military operations at Amnesty International said: “Today’s report is the first time AFRICOM has substantiated a report of civilian casualties in Somalia investigated by Amnesty International. This admission is the third case they have substantiated in 13 years of air strikes in the country. Now that there has been an acknowledgment of their actions, there must be accountability and reparations for the victims and their families “While AFRICOM has made tentative progress in acknowledging civilian casualties,…

July 28, 2020

Press Release

Responding to the Pentagon’s report on U.S. civilian casualties to Congress, Daphne Eviatar, the director of the Security with Human Rights program at Amnesty International USA stated: “The Department of Defense’s submission of this year’s report marks some progress in terms of transparency of U.S. military operations. The content of the report, however, suggests that the Pentagon is still undercounting civilian casualties. It still fails to acknowledge hundreds of civilian casualties that Amnesty International’s researchers investigated on the ground in Raqqa, Syria, and assessed from the U.S.-led military operation in 2017. “The Defense Department appears to have dismissed out of hand many of the…

May 6, 2020

Press Release

Reacting to the publication today of US Africa Command’s (AFRICOM) first quarterly assessment of civilian casualties resulting from its operations in Africa, which acknowledges that two Somali civilians were killed and three injured in an air strike, Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Eastern Africa, said: “This first regular public report acknowledging AFRICOM’s role in civilian casualties is a welcome glimmer of transparency in more than a decade of deadly military operations that until now have been shrouded in secrecy. Now there must be accountability and reparation for the victims and their families – the U.S. military has…

April 27, 2020

Press Release

HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA: Protesters across sub-Saharan Africa have braved bullets and beatings to defend their rights in the face of continuing conflict and state repression, Amnesty International said today as it published its annual review of human rights in the region. The organization highlighted the bravery and defiance of people who took to the streets to demand change, but warned that they are being let down by governments who continue to perpetrate human rights violations across the region. The report analyzes major developments from the past year including the deposition of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the Zimbabwean government’s response…

April 7, 2020

Press Release

Civilian casualties continue to mount from the U.S. military’s secret air war in Somalia, with no justice or reparation for the victims of possible violations of international humanitarian law, Amnesty International warned as it released details of two more deadly air strikes so far this year. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) has conducted hundreds of air strikes in the decade-long fight against the armed group Al-Shabaab, but has only admitted to killing civilians in a single strike that took place exactly two years ago today. This lone admission was prompted by Amnesty International’s research and advocacy. “The evidence is stacking up…

March 30, 2020

Press Release

A surge in violent attacks, threats, harassment and intimidation of media workers is entrenching Somalia as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist, Amnesty International said today.

February 12, 2020

Press Release

An investigation by Amnesty International has revealed that three men killed in a U.S. military air strike in March after being targeted as “Al-Shabaab terrorists” were in fact civilian farmers with no evidence of links to the armed group.

September 30, 2019

Press Release

The UN Security Council must mark the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions this year by ending its catastrophic failure to protect millions of civilians around the world whose lives and livelihoods are routinely ravaged by violations of the laws of war, Amnesty International said today.

May 22, 2019