Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
Dylan Voller, a boy who was tortured at Don Dale detention centre, has been released on bail from prison eight months early, to participate in a youth rehabilitation program. What happened? Dylan Voller shot to national attention as one of the young boys abused and tortured by NT juvenile detention centre guards, as exposed by …
Continue reading “Good news: Dylan Voller released early on bail”
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”
Want more proof that dogs really are humans’ best friends? Check out these pups who want nothing more than equality, refugee rights and perhaps a belly scratch or two. 1. This fluffy fellow likes long walks in the park, the beach and having people seeking asylum treated fairly. Olly the Activist Dog is a bit of …
Continue reading “The cutest human rights defenders: And they’re not even human!”
At 8 am on 3 February 1967, Australia held its last execution. Ronald Ryan was led to the gallows and hung to death at Pentridge Prison, Melbourne. He was charged with killing a prison guard during an escape attempt. The emotion and anger over the execution contributed to Australia become an abolitionist county 18 years …
Continue reading “50 years ago Australia held its last legal execution”
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 …
Continue reading “Australia must speak up about the Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’”
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “Cuban graffiti artist El Sexto released from maximum-security prison”
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 …
Sir Mo Farah perhaps worded it best when he said: “The Queen made me a knight, Donald Trump made me an alien,” in response to a US ban on refugees from predominantly-Muslim countries. In a move President Trump claimed was “extreme vetting” to “keep terrorists out”, the new US President signed an executive order to …
Continue reading “Australian government to support Trump’s “extreme vetting””
Here at Amnesty International Australia, we’re outraged on a daily basis by countless cases of men and women being arrested for doing things that we take for granted – like tweeting about the government or sharing thoughts about a human rights issue. Our human rights are universal and when they’re blatantly violated, we’ve got something …
Continue reading “5 things you won’t believe could get you locked up around the world”
