Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
The Sri Lankan authorities must respect human rights under the state of emergency, says Amnesty International. A state of emergency was declared in Sri Lanka after two incidents of serious violence against members of the country’s Muslim minority. On 5 March, a mob set homes, shops and a mosque ablaze in the Digana area of …
Continue reading “Sri Lanka state of emergency must respect human rights”
In 2017 we saw hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees flee ethnic cleansing in Myanmar and the formal closure of the Manus Island detention centre. We were all left with the question: where to from here? Amnesty Australia’s new Refugee Campaign Coordinator, Shankar Kasynathan, explains how Australians can do their bit to solve the world’s …
Continue reading “How Australian communities can help solve the global refugee crisis”
Acknowledging the Northern Territory Government’s response to the The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, Roxanne Moore, Amnesty International Indigenous Rights Campaigner said: “The NT Government has today led the way for Australia by agreeing in principle to #RaiseTheAge of criminal responsibility. “Right now, the Northern Territory, and …
Continue reading “NT leads the way but it’s not enough: Australia must now raise criminal age to 14”
Reacting to a New York Times article alleging that an unpublished United Nations report reveals that from 2012 to 2017 North Korea secretly shipped supplies to Syria that could be used to produce internationally banned chemical weapons, Lynn Malouf, Director of Research for the Middle East at Amnesty International, said: “Supplying any state with the …
Responding to the news that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) finally voted on a much-delayed resolution calling for humanitarian aid into Eastern Ghouta and a partial ceasefire, Sherine Tadros, Head of Amnesty International’s UN Office said: “It shouldn’t require a Security Council resolution or a ceasefire for starving civilians to be allowed life-saving assistance …
Tuesday 13 February marked the 10th anniversary of the National Apology to Australia’s First Peoples. A momentous day in history, this felt for many like a start towards National Reconciliation. But a decade on, we’ve made only marginal outward progress. Many of the challenges recognised in the apology are still affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait …
Amnesty International publishes its latest State of the World’s Human Rights report in Washington, ahead of PM Malcolm Turnbull’s meeting tomorrow with US President Donald Trump. President Trump is one of the world leaders offering us a nightmarish vision of a society blinded by hatred and fear. PM Turnbull and President Trump must renounce the …
Continue reading “PM Turnbull must turn the tide on hateful rhetoric and policies”
You said no to hate. You said no to fear. You said no to a world without human rights. Over the past year, leaders have pushed hate, fought against rights, ignored crimes against humanity, and blithely let inequality and suffering spin out of control. This provoked mass protests, showing that while our challenges may never …
Two Cambodian environmental activists and prisoners of conscience Hun Vannak and Doem Kundy, were released on a seven-month suspended sentence on 13 February 2018. What happened? On 11 September 2017, two environmental activists – Hun Vannak and Doem Kundy – were arrested by police while filming two sand-bearing vessels anchored off the coast of Cambodia. They suspected the vessels …
Continue reading “Good news: Cambodian environmental activists released!”
The sentencing of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab to five years in prison today for peacefully expressing his opinions online illustrates the Bahraini authorities’ utter contempt for freedom of expression, said Amnesty International. The sentence relates to posts on his Twitter account in 2015 as well as retweets about alleged torture in Bahrain’s Jaw …