Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
“In prison they would hit us often,” said Ousman, who spent five months in a Tripoli, Libya detention centre in 2016. “They killed many boys. I saw many people dying in prison, either because they fell sick or were beaten.” Ousman is just one of hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants who have braved …
Continue reading “The EU’s complicity in migrant abuse in Libya”
Images and video of refugees using smartphones sparked a wave of criticism on social media, with some arguing that being able to afford a (relatively cheap) piece of technology should disqualify them from receiving help. While anyone can point out the obvious flaw in this argument – that personal wealth or lack thereof has no …
Continue reading “When smartphones are a lifeline, not a luxury”
At times the world seems so filled with devastation that it’s possible to lose faith in our own ability to make it a better place. But the reality is that we can. Change can happen. So, if you feel a bit powerless against the enormity of the world’s problems, here are five ways you can …
Continue reading “Five ways to change the world without leaving your city”
On Human Rights Day, Amnesty’s Jessie Mawson shares her actionable and hard-won advice for protecting, defending, and promoting human rights in contested online spaces. “Don’t read the comments”. “Don’t feed the trolls”. Erm, okay. Good advice, I guess. But what if talking to people in comment threads (about contentious human rights issues, no less) is …
Since we launched our Community is Everything campaign, more than 115,000 people in our Amnesty community have taken action to end the over-representation and abuse of Indigenous kids in prison. Together, we’ve achieved so much – with wins across the country. We know when people stand together and speak out, we can create change. So, …
Whistleblowers expose unlawful or immoral activities conducted by people, organisations, corporations or governments. Too often, they risk their own safety to bring human rights abusers to account and to achieve justice for the abused. Chelsea Manning, whistleblower and human rights activist, jeopardised her freedom in order to raise public awareness of human rights abuses in the …
Continue reading “How to protect yourself as a whistleblower”
In the face of discrimination, violence and imprisonment, these extraordinary women are refusing to back down. Claire Yinguinza, Central African Republic In 2013 Claire Yinguinza and her her 19-year-old daughter Nadia were raped in their home in the Central African Republic (CAR) by a group armed men. Nadia became pregnant as a result of the …
Continue reading “Five women defending human rights that you need to know about”
Since August, security forces in Myanmar have waged a devastating campaign of violence against the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State. An unknown number have been killed, women and girls have been raped, at times in front of their families, and entire villages have been burned to the ground. As a result, more than 600,000 Rohingya …
Continue reading ““Caged without a roof”: Apartheid in Myanmar’s Rakhine State”
Our children need to be strong in culture and have opportunities to thrive, not be locked up and bashed, says Amnesty Indigenous Rights Campaigner Roxanne Moore. Barbaric injustice system “Systemic and shocking failures”; “regular, repeated and distressing mistreatment”; “ignored at the highest levels”: these are the findings of the royal commission into the protection and …
Continue reading “Abuse of children in Don Dale and other prisons is a national shame”
It started in Poland with a young man trying to impress a young woman. He met her at a festival and she told him about 24-hour events she’d been to in Africa, where people wrote letters of protest to governments. Inspired by her story – and wanting to see her again – he invited her to …
