Behrouz Boochani arrives in New Zealand

Award-winning author, journalist and poet, Behrouz Boochani tonight arrived in New Zealand and is out of Australia’s brutal offshore detention regime. Dr Graham Thom, Amnesty International Australia’s Refugee Adviser said: We are delighted to see Behrouz able to travel outside of Papua New Guinea after years trapped in Australia’s offshore detention regime. We will keep campaigning for all those …

Good news: Alejandra is free!

Alejandra, a transgender Salvadorian activist held in immigration detention in the United States, was released on 6 September 2019. What happened? Alejandra fought for transgender rights for more than a decade in El Salvador. She was forced to flee to the United States after repeated attacks by a criminal gang, as well as abuses by …

Good news: attacks on Colombian human rights defender investigated!

On 28 August, Colombia’s National Prosecutor announced an investigation into attacks against human rights defender Danelly Estupiñan. Following national and international pressure, the Prosecutor agreed to appoint a special prosecutor to lead the investigation. Danelly will also have direct access to the work of the investigation. What happened? Danelly stands up for the rights of …

Good news: Evelyn Hernández declared innocent!

On 19 August 2019, El Salvador’s authorities declared Evelyn Hernández innocent of ‘homicide’, after losing her pregnancy in 2016. Evelyn had been imprisoned under El Salvador’s draconian anti-abortion laws and sentenced to 30 years in prison for the obstetric emergency. This is the first time such a sentence has been overruled in a re-trial. What …

Nearly 6 million messages of support for brave women around the world

Each year, the world’s biggest human rights event just gets bigger. Write for Rights 2018 was no exception, with people writing millions of messages that transformed the lives of women activists worldwide. They came in their dozens, hundreds, even thousands. They were students, parents, teachers, friends – ordinary people who took a moment to tweet, …

Good News: Queensland to better protect kids in the justice system

After thousands of human rights supporters spoke out, the Queensland Parliament has now reformed the Youth Justice Act to ensure that children spend as little time as possible in detention centres and harmful police watch houses. On 22 August Queensland’s Parliament debated and passed Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. In passing the …

30 human rights wins worth celebrating

Thanks to a combination of fierce campaigning and people power, 2019 has seen some major human rights wins so far! January As a tribute to Julián Carrillo, an environmental rights defender killed in October 2018, we launched Caught between bullets and neglect, a digest on Mexico’s failure to protect environmental human rights defenders. Just a few hours …