Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
Amnesty International welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement today that it will finally ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), which it signed in 2009 but had not committed to implementing until today. Ratification is an important step towards ensuring respect for the rights and dignity of all people held in detention under …
Continue reading “Government commits to prevent future #DonDale”
After President Vladimir Putin signed a legal reform that decriminalizes some forms of domestic violence, Anna Kirey, Deputy Director for Campaigns for Russia and Eurasia at Amnesty International, said: “While the Russian government claims this reform will ‘protect family values’, in reality it rides roughshod over women’s rights. It is a sickening attempt to further …
The killing of six employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in northern Afghanistan is a horrific crime, Amnesty International said. “By targeting the ICRC, who devote their lives to helping people in desperate need, the perpetrators have demonstrated a horrific contempt for human life,” said Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International’s South Asia …
Continue reading “Afghanistan: Attack on ICRC a horrific crime”
Saydnaya Prison is where the Syrian state quietly slaughters its own people. Every week, between 20 and 100 people are taken from their cells, to be hanged, in the middle of the night. As many as 13,000 people have been killed in Saydnaya since 2011, in the utmost secrecy. Many other people at Saydnaya have been …
Continue reading “Saydnaya Prison: Where Syria slaughters its own people”
A chilling new report by Amnesty International exposes the Syrian government’s calculated campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison. Read the report Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five …
Since taking over at the White House, US President Donald Trump has wasted little time putting into action his poisonous campaign rhetoric. In his first couple of weeks in office, he pushed through a series of repressive executive orders that threaten the human rights of millions of people in the US and abroad. Here are seven …
Continue reading “Trump’s first seven steps to sabotage human rights”
On 23rd January 2017 Amnesty gave evidence at the Senate Committee inquiry into the government’s draft Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill. If passed by the Parliament this Bill would change the definition of marriage from being a union of a man and a woman, to “a union of 2 people”. This supplementary submission responds to …
As our nation’s politicians head back to Canberra Amnesty International is calling for immediate action to solve the horrific mess that is Australia’s offshore detention regime. “Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten must stop gambling with 2,200 people’s lives. Now is the time to put people before politics and come up with …
Continue reading “Immediate solution to offshore chaos must be found as parliament resumes”
We, as a coalition of organisations and community groups from around Australia, are writing to express our concern regarding the humanitarian crisis that Australia has created. Successive Australian governments have managed and funded offshore detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru. The people detained there are clearly Australia’s responsibility. This situation has reached crisis point, …
Continue reading “Open statement calling for immediate action on offshore detention”
Responding to comments from the Philippines’ Senate on Amnesty International’s latest report, “If you are poor, you are killed”: Extrajudicial executions in the Philippines’ “War on Drugs”, Champa Patel, Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific said: “Amnesty International continues to call on the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights to re-open its enquiry on …
Continue reading “Philippines: Credible investigations needed”
