Loghman Sawari, the 21 year-old Iranian refugee who fled Manus Island to escape Australia’s cruel detention regime, has been forcibly returned to Papua New Guinea. Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator at Amnesty International said: “Upon arrival, this young man must be immediately provided with medical care and trauma services. He must not be arrested, mistreated or …
Author Archives: Amnesty International
Urgent change needed as youth justice reaches tipping point in Victoria
Urgent action is needed by the Victorian Government as youth justice reaches a tipping point following months of tension mounting from children detained in adult and youth justice detention. Amnesty International is calling on the Victorian Government to respond to the disturbing report on the ABC’s 7.30 program. “Revelations that a 16-year-old boy has a …
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Celebrating Human Rights Day in Northcote
The Amnesty Northcote local action group celebrated World Human Rights Day on 10 December in Melbourne style with arts, music and great food. The evening featured works on human rights issues by poets, rappers and songwriters. Jane Hunt, former CEO of Women Fitted for Work, was one of the judges in the performance competition on the …
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Community is Everything: what’s on and coming up
In brief… The Australian Government has extended the Royal Commission into Youth Detention in the Northern Territory by four months. The Commission will now report in August. December’s COAG meeting saw some promising words on Indigenous kids in prison. However we’re yet to see any concrete action from our pollies. Before the next COAG: remind …
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Global refugee protection under threat if world leaders emulate Trump travel ban
World leaders must repudiate US President Trump’s blatantly discriminatory travel ban and step up efforts to resettle the most vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution globally. “The chaos and global condemnation unleashed by President Trump’s travel ban should be a warning to any government tempted to follow suit. Amnesty International continues to condemn in the …
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Australia must speak up about the Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’
Warning: This video contains footage some viewers may find distressing. A longstanding relationship between two countries means being able to stand up for what’s right. Australia has to be prepared to deliver difficult messages, not becoming indulgent of, or indifferent to, murder on a mass scale, like what we’re seeing in the Philippines. Ever since …
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The US War on Muslim refugees
By Salil Shetty, Secretary General at Amnesty International The gloves are off. With the Executive Order on “Protecting the Nation from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign Nationals,” President Donald J. Trump has declared war on Muslim refugees around the world. With the stroke of a pen, the President has – among other actions – banned Syrian …
Cuban graffiti artist El Sexto released from maximum-security prison
On 21 January Danilo Maldonado Machado (also known as ‘El Sexto’) was released from El Combinado del Este, a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Havana. Danilo Maldonado was arrested at his home in Havana the morning of 26 November 2016, hours after the announcement of Fidel Castro’s death. That same day, a Cuba-based newspaper …
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3.4 million actions in Write for Rights 2016
Every year write for rights gets bigger and better, and in 2016, Amnesty activists across the globe collected an astounding 3.4 million actions (and counting). Here in Australia, we gathered a phenomenal 125,000 actions! A massive thank you to all of you who helped us reach this staggering figure. We’d like to give a big …
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What is NAIDOC Week?
NAIDOC Week is one of the best opportunities to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture, talent and resilience. NAIDOC week, which is celebrated annually in the full first week of July, stands for ‘National Aboriginal and Islanders Day of Observance Committee’. The week began in the 1957 when Aboriginal organisations, state and federal governments …