Amnesty International Australia
Defending Human Rights
In the wake of a swathe of human rights abuses at Queensland youth detention centres, the Queensland government has announced it will adopt all 83 recommendations from the Independent Review into Youth Detention. What happened? Last year, Amnesty exposed human rights abuses in Queensland’s youth detention centres after receiving over 1000 pages of evidence through a …
Continue reading “Win for Queensland kids: Government adopts Youth Detention Review recommendations”
Salar Shadizadi, who was sentenced to death for a crime he committed when a child, was released after 10 years from Rasht prison in northern Iran. Salar, now 25, had faced imminent execution several times in connection with a murder that took place when he was just 15 years old. In a letter from prison …
Continue reading “Young Iranian man walks free from death row”
An independent investigation into Queensland’s youth justice system has recommended an overhaul of the old, broken approach of punishing vulnerable children, and instead working with communities to help young people. The Queensland Independent Review of Youth Detention was announced last August, the day after Amnesty International exposed images and allegations of abuse in detention on …
Continue reading “Independent Review must usher in new era for Queensland kids”
Today Attorney-General George Brandis announced that scheduled funding cuts to community legal services, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, won’t go ahead. This means that $55 million will be allocated to maintaining community legal services over the next three years, including $16.7 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services. This decision …
Continue reading “Good news: Funding cuts to legal services reversed”
Update 01/11/17: Even more good news! The Thai authorities have announced that all charges against the three activists will be dropped. In early March 2017, the Thai military dropped the criminal case against an Amnesty International chairperson and two other human rights activists who were facing prosecution for reporting on torture. Somchai Homla-or, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet …
Continue reading “Good News: Thailand drops case against human rights activists”
Bucking the trend of rising racial hatred around the world, the Australian Senate tonight took a stand against racism in Australia by voting down proposed harmful changes to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. “This vote shows that Australia is ready to move on from this divisive debate. It follows last month’s decision by …
Continue reading “Senate stands against racial hatred – now PM Turnbull must do the same”
On 27 March 2017, the Supreme Court of the Province of Tucuman in northern Argentina unanimously decided to acquit Belén, a 27-year-old woman who was sentenced to 8 years in prison after suffering a miscarriage in a public hospital. What happened? In March 2014, Belén went to the public hospital in her province complaining of abdominal …
Continue reading “Good news: Belén acquitted of all charges”
Sara Beltran Hernandez, a mother who fled violence in El Salvador only to be detained in the United States for 15 months, has been released from detention to be with her family and to seek treatment for a brain tumor. What happened? Sara is a 26-year-old mother of two who fled to the US to …
Continue reading “Good news: Mother to be released from US immigration detention”
Good news has come through from our Amnesty colleagues in Malaysia today – Shahrul Izani Suparman, who was sentenced to death in 2009 for drug trafficking, has been officially pardoned. Shahrul was found in possession of cannabis in 2003, when he was just 19 years old. After spending more than six years in detention awaiting …
Continue reading “Good news: Death row prisoner Shahrul Izani Suparman pardoned”
At a time when racist attacks and hateful speech are on the rise around the world, Amnesty International strongly welcomes the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights’ decision not to water down the Racial Discrimination Act. Late last year, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had announced that the Federal Government had set up a parliamentary inquiry to determine …
