Amnesty International Australia today welcomed Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne leading the joint Human Rights Council statement condemning its persecution and intimidation of human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, journalists and dissidents. “As Amnesty International has been advocating, Australia led the global statement urging Saudi Arabia to allow the UN investigators to visit in order …
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Hong Kong: Government must investigate police violations and push back against Beijing’s “red line”
The proposed Extradition Bill was the latest manifestation of a steady erosion of human rights in Hong Kong, Amnesty International said today, as it released a report detailing how the creeping influence of Beijing’s policies and rhetoric on “national security” has resulted in growing numbers of local activists and journalists being censored, prosecuted and harassed …
Hong Kong: Arbitrary arrests, brutal beatings and torture in police detention revealed
A new Amnesty International field investigation has documented an alarming pattern of the Hong Kong Police Force deploying reckless and indiscriminate tactics, including while arresting people at protests, as well as exclusive evidence of torture and other ill-treatment in detention. After interviewing nearly two dozen arrested persons and gathering corroborating evidence and testimonies from lawyers, …
Australia must aid Rohingya people, not Myanmar military
Two years after a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign forced more than 740,000 Rohingya men, women and children to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh, the majority remain trapped in unbearable conditions in overcrowded camps, denied security and education. Amnesty International Australia campaigner Nikita White said: “So long as Rohingya people cannot return to safety and with citizenship …
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Iran: response to reports of foreign nationals detained
Responding to media reports that two British-Australian women and an Australian man have been detained in Iran, with one of the women said to have been sentenced to ten years in jail, Eilidh Macpherson, Amnesty International UK’s Individuals at Risk Campaigns Manager, said: “The pattern of arresting foreign nationals in Iran is becoming increasingly alarming. …
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Amnesty chief urges schools to let children take part in climate strikes
Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Kumi Naidoo, has written a personal plea to more than 30,000 schools around the world today urging them to allow children to take part in the unprecedented wave of global climate strikes planned for 20 and 27 September. In a letter sent to school-heads and school-boards by Amnesty International’s national offices …
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Outsourcing responsibility: companies supplying arms to unlawful conflicts secure lucrative Australian Government contracts
A new report from Amnesty International has found that key global companies who have lucrative Australian government contracts also supply arms to the Saudi Arabia/UAE led coalition responsible for likely war crimes in the conflict in Yemen. All of the companies examined in the report, Outsourcing Responsibility, have or have recently had multi-million dollar contracts …
Victorian Ombudsman calls for solitary confinement to be banned; the nation should listen
The Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass has recommended the state government prohibit solitary confinement. She said the practices were damaging, rather than rehabilitating, the children in the facilities. In response, Amnesty International Indigenous Rights Manager Tammy Solonec said: “Locking kids up in a cell by themselves without human contact, without support, and without hope is irreparably …
Federal Court decision welcome; now Minister Dutton must act to allow Tamil family to settle in Bilolea for good
Commenting on the decision of the Federal Court to extend an injunction to the Tamil family seeking to remain in their community, Amnesty International Australia’s Tim O’Connor said: “We welcome the Federal Court granting an injunction to prevent Tharunicaa, and consequently her family receiving a short reprieve from their ongoing torment. “The outpouring of support …
Indonesia: Drop charges against lawyer for Papuan political activists
Responding to the East Java police’s decision to bring charges against human rights lawyer Veronica Koman, Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director Usman Hamid said: “Veronica Koman is a human rights defender who has provided legal aid to many Papuan political activists and documented human rights violations in Papua. She is now being persecuted for tweeting about a violent attack …
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