Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
While Budget talk has dominated news channels this week, the back-and-forth funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services is a much longer story. Amnesty’s Indigenous Rights campaigner Julian Cleary sums up the latest and what it means for Indigenous Australians. What are Indigenous legal services? The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services …
Continue reading “Why are Indigenous legal services so important?”
In the early hours of Wednesday 29 April Indonesian authorities carried out the executions of eight men, including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. We take a look at what happened and why. Indonesia and the death penalty The Indonesian authorities have taken a hardline stance against drug offenders. In December 2014, it was reported …
Continue reading “Indonesia and the death penalty: the two-minute version”
Amnesty volunteer Laura James tells us how motherhood motivated her to campaign for refugee rights. Passion for human rights My involvement with Amnesty International began in high school, at All Hallows’, an inner city Catholic girls school. Every year the entire school would come together to hold a fundraiser for Amnesty and at the very …
A letter from Samar Badawi to her imprisoned husband, the Saudi Arabian human rights lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair. Samar is also the sister of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi. ‘History will exalt those who fought for freedom’ Words are not enough for me to express how proud I am of my husband. How deeply proud I …
Eighty-eight children are detained at Australia’s detention centre on Nauru. More than 60 asylum seeker children and their families are detained in Australia and are expected to be sent back to Nauru. Media are denied access, but evidence shows that: the children live in swelteringly hot, cramped conditions with little privacy and poor sanitation crucial …
Eight-eight children are detained on Nauru and more are detained in Australia, awaiting their return to Nauru. How you can help We’re asking people to share their favourite childhood memories by posting them on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr with the hashtag #ShareAMemory. Your memories will be delivered to the Australian government along with the call to release all …
Amnesty International’s new report Death Sentences and Executions 2014 reveals that an alarming number of countries used the death penalty to tackle real or perceived threats to state security linked to terrorism, crime or internal instability last year. Here we give a snapshot of the death penalty around the world today. How widespread is the …
Continue reading “The ultimate punishment: A beginner’s guide to the death penalty”
Raif Badawi has made headlines around the world. But his case is just the tip of the iceberg for Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. It has been over two months since the Saudi Arabian authorities publicly flogged the blogger and activist Raif Badawi, sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for “insulting Islam” …
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia: 10 brutal facts beyond the Raif Badawi case”
In less than 40 years, 124 countries have abolished the death penalty – and here’s why the rest should end it too. Chan and Sukumaran Marched in handcuffs across the tarmac by a group of heavily armed officers wearing balaclavas and thick helmets, the bare faces of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran appeared even more …
Continue reading “Death penalty: No matter the method, never humane”
In the run up to the release of our death penalty report for 2014, Amnesty International Intern Samantha Bartlett dispels 10 myths surrounding executions worldwide. Myth 1: Only evil people who have committed horrific crimes are executed FACT: The death penalty applies to a number of different crimes worldwide, not all of which are horrific. …
