Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
In December 2017 Australia ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Australia must now establish an independent body to monitor all places of detention around the country. What happened? On 15 December, eight years after signing the treaty, the Government announced it had ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture – agreeing …
Continue reading “Good news: Australia ratifies UN protocol against torture”
In reaction to the Australian Parliament passing into law the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, Amnesty International Australia’s NSW LGBTQI Network Convenor Lizzi Price said: “Marriage Equality is a human right and human rights should never be subject to popular vote. While we celebrate this amazing moment, we will continue to stand …
Continue reading “Marriage Equality: Great result, horrendous process”
Diana Sayed is the Crisis Response and Tactical Campaigner at Amnesty. She gives us an update on the long-standing crisis in Myanmar, where over 620,000 Rohingya people have been forced to flee for their lives to neighbouring Bangladesh. What has happened over last three months? In late August, a Rohingya armed group launched a series of …
Continue reading “Australia’s silence on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is deafening”
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, …
We watched in disbelief on Thursday the 23rd of November as authorities in Papua New Guinea sent immigration officials into Lombrum detention centre, demanding the men move to the new centre at Hillside Haus. There has been footage and reports of officials entering armed with sticks and knives, destroying personal belongings as they dragged men …
Our National Director Claire Mallinson has just spent a week in Greece and Italy — two countries that have become the gateways to Europe for refugees and people seeking asylum. This is her second update. Catch up on her first update here. Lampedusa and Sicily Lampedusa is roughly halfway between Libya and Sicily, and over …
Continue reading “Bearing witness to the refugee crisis at the gateway to Europe”
Write for Rights runs from 25 November to 10 December, and we’ve got even more resources to help you gear up for your events. Already getting out there! Amnesty activists handed out the Write for Rights Activity Book and shared photos outside the Floriade Dogs Day Out in Canberra last weekend. This was a fantastic choice …
In the early morning of Friday 25 August, a Rohingya armed group — the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — launched a series of coordinated attacks on several dozen security force posts in the north of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Since then, Myanmar’s security forces have engaged in an unlawful and disproportionate campaign of violence against …
Dear friends, We held our September board meeting last weekend, with Branch Presidents joining on Friday to have a combined meeting. The Board approved an indicative list of our critical priority projects for Amnesty International Australia for 2018. We will continue to prioritise our Community is Everything campaign and campaign for a “better plan” for …
Continue reading “National President’s update: September 2017”
Last week Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples delivered her assessment of the Australian Government’s treatment of Indigenous people at the UN in Geneva. Amnesty International Australia and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) attended to make statements and hear the Australian Government’s response. …
Continue reading “The Australian Government answers to the UN on its treatment of Indigenous People”