Remembering Mhelody Polan Bruno: Transgender Day of Remembrance

Amnesty International Queensland LGBTQI Network  commemorated Transgender Day of Remembrance with a candlelight vigil in memory of Mhelody Polan Bruno, transgender woman of colour who was recently murdered in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Mhelody was just twenty five years old, worked hard as the sole breadwinner of her family, and was the celebrated beauty …

Nearly 6 million messages of support for brave women around the world

Each year, the world’s biggest human rights event just gets bigger. Write for Rights 2018 was no exception, with people writing millions of messages that transformed the lives of women activists worldwide. They came in their dozens, hundreds, even thousands. They were students, parents, teachers, friends – ordinary people who took a moment to tweet, …

Not good enough: Home Affairs systemic failure, not just ‘human error’, could easily happen again

Responding to comments by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton today that “human error” was to blame for his department putting Hakeem al-Araibi’s life at risk, Amnesty International Australia campaigner Tim O’Connor said: “It’s simply not good enough to scapegoat a single person for what is a systemic failure. The fact is that a person’s life …

Lessons in welcoming: community-led sponsorship of refugees

By Anna Shea, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Refugee and Migrants Rights Working on refugee rights, I have had the privilege of meeting people seeking asylum in many countries around the world. Time and again I have been struck by the unfailing generosity and hospitality of people who have had to give up everything they know …

Science and raising the age of criminal responsibility

By Dr Meg Perkins, PhD MAPS Most experts in the world agree that 10 years old is far too young to be held criminally responsible, and certainly far too young to be in prison. This is my view as a psychologist, having studied the neurological issues related to children in prison. In short: if you …

Welcoming refugees through sponsorship

Over the past few years, Amnesty International offices on four continents have been working to support refugees in a way and on a scale never seen before. The goal? To increase the number of people who can start their lives in a safe country. The method? Community sponsorship. At its heart, community sponsorship is a …

30 human rights wins worth celebrating

Thanks to a combination of fierce campaigning and people power, 2019 has seen some major human rights wins so far! January As a tribute to Julián Carrillo, an environmental rights defender killed in October 2018, we launched Caught between bullets and neglect, a digest on Mexico’s failure to protect environmental human rights defenders. Just a few hours …