Counting Bodies in the Central African Republic

February 14, 2014 at 11:15 AM

Eleven-year-old Fati suffered deep machete wounds to her head and arm in an attack by anti-balaka militia in Boali. Six people were killed and 20 others were injured in the same attack (Photo Credit: Amnesty International).

By Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International

The body of a 10-year-old boy, shot dead, whose hand had been cut off with a machete.

The remains of the sons of a 76-year-old man who narrowly escaped death after anti-balaka fighters shot him three times and left him for dead.

The lifeless body of a six-month-old baby, brutally murdered alongside 12 of her relatives in front of her cousin, who was forced to witness her father being decapitated.

“They killed my children heartlessly. They were slaughtered in front of our eyes,” cried a Muslim woman whose four sons were killed by anti-balaka fighters in late January.

Welcome to life in the Central African Republic.

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Leonard Peltier, 38 Years A Detainee: How Did We Get Here?

By Justin Mazzola

February 12, 2014 at 11:00 AM

Amnesty has serious concerns about the fairness of Leonard Peltier’s (above) trial (Photo Credit: Taro Yamasaki).

February 6th marked the 38th anniversary of the arrest of Anishinabe-Lokota Native American, Leonard Peltier. Amnesty International marked this date, as did many others in the U.S. and around the world.

Leonard Peltier was arrested 38 years ago in connection with the murders of two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, during a confrontation involving American Indian Movement (AIM) members on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in June 1975. While he admits to having been present during the incident, Leonard Peltier, who in 1977 was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the murders, has always denied killing the agents as alleged by the prosecution at his trial.

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What It’s Like on the Ground in the Central African Republic

By Guest Writer

December 6, 2013 at 2:12 PM

A man holds a rifle as he walks in a street of Bangui, Central African Republic (Photo Credit: Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty Images).

By Susanna Flood, Amnesty International’s Director of Media

On the surface, everything is quiet in Bangui, the tiny capital city of the Central African Republic. Strangely quiet. But behind this silence, stories of devastation are emerging. The city is calm, but people are afraid.

There are virtually no cars on the road and an eerie silence is hanging over the city. And then you hear a short burst of gunfire coming from one of the various quartiers which have been beset by fighting since early yesterday or French fighter jets do a sudden and unexpected fly-pass, making their presence in the city known.

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These Images Don’t Lie: Exposing North Korea’s Dirty Little Secret

By Christoph Koettl

December 5, 2013 at 2:34 PM

Click to explore the new satellite images. (c) Google Earth. Image (c) DigitalGlobe2013.

“After a night of ‘servicing’ the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps.” – Mr. Lee, a former security official who has never spoken publicly before, in an interview with Amnesty International in November 2013

New satellite images further expose North Korea’s vast system of political prison camps – which I previously dubbed “The forgotten prisons” – whose very existence authorities continue to deny categorically. Contrary to heeding the growing international calls to close the camps, authorities continue to invest in the infrastructure of repression, perpetuating the systematic, widespread and grave violation of human rights.

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Have You Seen What’s Happening in the Central African Republic?

By Guest Writer

December 4, 2013 at 1:16 PM

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the violence gripping Central African Republic (Photo Credit: Matthew Alexandre/AFP/GettyImages).

By Natalia Taylor Bowdoin, Amnesty USA Country Specialist on the Central African Republic

If we were warned that a disaster, including the mass slaughter of civilians, was brewing, wouldn’t most of us want to do whatever we could to stop it? Or would we rather live with the knowledge that, despite all our promises to never see another human tragedy on a grand scale, the global community let it happen again?

That is the question before world leaders this week as the United Nations Security Council decides on intervention options in the Central African Republic (CAR), a country at the heart of Africa that has been largely ignored by the world for decades, yet a country whose people now are crying out for assistance from unconscionable acts of violence. But will the world respond this time?

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Avoid Mass Slaughter: U.N. Peacekeepers Needed To Protect Civilians During #CARCrisis @AmbassadorPower @StateDept

By Christoph Koettl

December 3, 2013 at 8:00 AM

This week could be the tipping point for the human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic, which continues to spin out of control. With the situation worsening on a daily basis, including extrajudicial killings and rape, the U.N. Security Council will meet Thursday to vote on a resolution related to the deployment of peacekeeping forces to the country.

This vote presents a unique opportunity to start pulling the country back from the brink. However, public pressure is needed over the following days to demand a robust peacekeeping force with a strong human rights mandate to protect civilians, including many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees. We are thus calling on the decision makers in France, the UK and the U.S. to support our demands. You can participate in this campaigning push through our global Twitter action that accompanies our media, lobby and field work.

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HAPPENING NOW: Number of Darfur Refugees Reaches 6-Year High

By Guest Writer

November 20, 2013 at 3:30 PM

At least 50,000 refugees have arrived in Chad in 2013, joining 250,000 who have already been here for the past decade © Amnesty International.

By Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada

Fighting is raging between various ethnic groups on the Darfur side of the border of the Chad/Sudan border, particularly between two Arab tribes, the Salamat and Misseriya, who have been allies in the past. More villages are being attacked and left in ruins. That means more people killed and injured. It also means more women and girls being raped, though it is as of yet impossible to get a clear read on how widespread that has become. Homes and businesses are being set on fire and destroyed. Looting and theft, of livestock and personal property, is pervasive.

And tens of thousands of people are on the move. More than 30,000 have left Darfur and crossed over into Chad as refugees since the beginning of the year, the highest number to flee in years. Some have settled in refugee camps, others remain dispersed near the border.

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What I’ll Tell Congress About Violence Against Women

By Cristina Finch

November 19, 2013 at 11:24 AM

On Wednesday I will testify on behalf of Amnesty International USA before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on gender-based violence. I’ll use the opportunity to talk about how gender-based violence affects everyone but also how it disproportionately affects women and girls.

I’ll tell Congress that violence against women takes many forms, including rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, child and forced marriage and acid attacks, to name a few. It’s a global human rights crisis that exacerbates instability and insecurity around the world.

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Why the Narrative You’ve Heard About Syria is Wrong

By Geoffrey Mock

October 31, 2013 at 11:12 AM

A Syrian refugee woman and children walk near their makeshift tents in central Ankara (Photo Credit: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images).

In the Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan, Syrian women are afraid to go to the restrooms at night, using the desert-like conditions around their homes rather than risk sexual assault.

In neighboring Lebanon, since August, numerous Syrians have been turned back from the border, forcing them to return to dangerous conditions where their lives are at risk.

In Egypt, many Syrian refugees face growing anti-Syrian sentiment among the populace and open hostility from Egyptian armed forces. Hundreds have been detained, and at least 66 have been deported back to Syria where they face arrest, violating international law.

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It’s Official! United States Signs U.N. Arms Trade Treaty

By Guest Writer

September 25, 2013 at 2:36 PM

Secretary of State John Kerry signing the Arms Trade Treaty (Photo Credit: Adotei Akwei).

By Nate Smith, Amnesty International USA MSP Thematic Specialist

In an important step forward for human rights and international law, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on behalf of the United States earlier today.

Coming in the midst of concerns about the supply of weapons to Syrian government and Syrian rebels, Kerry’s signature signals the intention of the U.S., the world’s largest arms exporter, to abide by the terms of the treaty.

The treaty unequivocally bans arms transfers that are in violation of a U.N. arms embargo or that exporters have reason to know will be used to commit genocide and other grievous war crimes. Under the treaty, all exporting states have a new obligation to assess the risk that the weapons they provide will be used in human rights abuse and to halt such transfers where that risk is overwhelming.

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Human Rights Now Blog

Tag Archives: United Nations

Counting Bodies in the Central African Republic

Leonard Peltier, 38 Years A Detainee: How Did We Get Here?

What It’s Like on the Ground in the Central African Republic

It’s Official! United States Signs U.N. Arms Trade Treaty