Responding to a UK Supreme Court decision refusing to grant Julian Assange permission to appeal against the previous High Court ruling permitting his extradition, Amnesty International’s Deputy Research Director for Europe Julia Hall, said: “Today’s decision is a blow to Julian Assange and to justice. The Supreme Court has missed an opportunity to clarify the …
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China: UN visit to Xinjiang must be unhindered to be credible
In response to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet announcing an agreement with the Chinese government for a visit to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in May, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director Joanne Mariner said: “Access to Xinjiang for human rights monitors is an absolutely vital step towards accountability for human rights …
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Plight of rainbow refugees highlighted at Mardi Gras: humanitarian intake must increase urgently
Amnesty International Australia will highlight the situation of LGBTQIA+ refugees at its annual float at Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade on Saturday evening. As the crisis unfolds in Ukraine, the float will draw attention to the challenges members of the rainbow community face when fleeing persecution. Co-founder of Forcibly Displaced People Network, Renee Dixson, said: “During …
Tasmania should focus on diversion and rehabilitation not new youth prisons
A submission by Amnesty International Australia on the Tasmanian Government’s Discussion Paper to Reform Tasmania’s Youth Justice System has expressed serious concerns about the overrepresentation of First Nations youth in detention and the urgent need to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14. Amnesty also expressed concerns regarding Youth and Education Minister …
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Russia/Ukraine: Invasion of Ukraine is an act of aggression and human rights catastrophe
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a manifest violation of the United Nations Charter and an act of aggression that is a crime under international law, said Amnesty International, as it called for all those involved in this crime to be held accountable for those violations. Their personal, individual, and collective liability should be invoked for …
Kremlin censors media and disperses protesters opposed to Ukraine invasion
Responding to the news that the Kremlin has censored domestic media as it disperses anti-war protests and persecutes those who publicly oppose Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said: “As thousands of protesters take to the streets across Russia to denounce the war, the Kremlin remains hellbent …
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Ukraine: Cluster munitions kill child and two other civilians taking shelter at a preschool
A preschool in north-eastern Ukraine was hit on the morning of 25 February with widely-banned cluster munitions while civilians took shelter inside, killing three of them, including a child, and wounding another child, Amnesty International said today. The attack appears to have been carried out by Russian forces, which were operating nearby, and which have …
National Plan lacks detail on key areas for gender-based violence
Amnesty International Australia today expressed serious concerns about the draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children, including its failure to address gender-based violence as an abuse of women’s human rights, as recognised in the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. Submissions on the draft plan closed on Friday. …
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Use of spit hoods can amount to torture in youth detention or anywhere else
Amnesty International Australia today joined calls from Aboriginal health and rights groups to end the use of spit hoods in detention. “We have written to Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner to ask him to respect the recommendations of the 2017 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT and end …
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Amnesty launches emergency fund for Ukraine
Responding to the crisis emerging in Ukraine, Amnesty International Australia today launched a Global Emergency Fund to assist in protecting and defending human rights. “Right now, brutal war is breaking out in the centre of Europe. Russian soldiers have crossed the border into Ukraine. Cities are being bombed, and lives have already been lost,” Amnesty …
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