Alicia Keys and the Indigenous rights movement in Canada honoured with top Amnesty International award

Celebrated global music artist and activist Alicia Keys and the inspirational movement of Indigenous Peoples fighting for their rights in Canada have been honoured with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2017. The award will be officially presented at a ceremony in Montréal, Canada, on 27 May. Accepting the award recognising the Indigenous rights …

Egypt: Authorities must address sectarian violence, not abuse emergency powers

Emergency measures included in a declaration of a state of emergency by President Abdelfattah al-Sissi in the aftermath of three deplorable church bombings in Egypt will do little to resolve the root causes of sectarian attacks against Copts in Egypt and are likely to lead to a further deterioration in human rights, Amnesty International said …

Death Penalty: China must come clean about ‘grotesque’ level of capital punishment

1,032 executions worldwide in 2016, down 37% from 2015 (1,634) Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan join China as world’s top five executioners USA not among top five for first time since 2006, with lowest number of executions since 1991 China investigation discredits claims of openness Vietnam state killing spree revealed China’s horrifying use of …

Judith Neilson joins Amnesty International’s Global Council

The prominent philanthropist is the first Australian to join Amnesty’s council of leaders from the arts, business and philanthropic world. Amnesty International is pleased to announce that philanthropist and arts patron Judith Neilson, AM will join the organisation’s prestigious Global Council. Judith Neilson, founder of the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, Australia, will be the …

Syria: UN Security Council must take decisive action after Idleb chemical attack

Evidence gathered is suggesting a nerve agent was used in an air-launched chemical attack which killed more than 70 and injured hundreds of civilians in Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s northern province of Idleb, Amnesty International revealed as the UN Security Council met for an emergency meeting in New York. We are urging the Security Council …

Spanish corporate giant Ferrovial makes millions from Australia’s torture of refugees on Nauru

A major corporation responsible for running the Australian government’s refugee “processing” centre on Nauru is making millions of dollars from a system that amounts to torture of refugees and people seeking asylum. A new briefing, Treasure I$land, exposes how Spanish multinational Ferrovial and its Australian subsidiary Broadspectrum are complicit in, enabling, and reaping vast profits …

Victorian children report facing Don Dale-style abuse in adult prison

Warning: Strong content Victoria is often referred to as one of Australia’s most progressive states. However, with children as young as 15 being sent to Barwon adult prison – a maximum-security prison for Victoria’s most notorious adult offenders – and allegedly facing abuse, Victoria is failing some of its most vulnerable children. According to the …

Sri Lanka: Victims of disappearance cannot wait any longer for justice

Sri Lanka will not break with its violent past until it reckons with the cruel history of enforced disappearance and delivers justice to as many as 100,000 families who have spent years waiting for it, Amnesty International said today in a new report, revealing the enduring scars of a conflict that has been forgotten by …

Not just the NT: PM Turnbull needs new vision for youth justice

Prime Minister Turnbull must learn from the systemic failings in children’s prisons, outlined in today’s Northern Territory Royal Commission interim report, and commit to reforming broken justice systems across Australia, said Amnesty International. “The Commissioners found that children are being failed by a detention system that focuses on punishment rather than healing and rehabilitation, leaving …

Prime Minister: It’s time for national leadership on youth justice

Today as the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory hands down its interim report, Amnesty International Australia joins more than 100 organisations in an open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, calling on him to develop a national action plan on youth justice. Dear Prime Minister Turnbull, Today the Royal …