Tag Archives: Amnesty International

US Among Nations ‘Brazenly’ Flouting Arms Trade Treaty, 10 Years On: Amnesty

As a treaty conference began, the human rights group called for an end to arms transfers to Israel and said that unlawful deals have led to “devastating loss of life” in Gaza, Sudan, and Myanmar.

By Edward Carver. Published 8-19-2024 by Common Dreams

*Control Arms At Occupy Wall Street 2011. Photo: Control Arms/flickr/CC*

Amnesty International on Monday called for an end to arms transfers to countries including Israel, Sudan, and Myanmar, saying they cause “devastating loss of life” and contravene the Arms Trade Treaty, the parties to which are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland this week.

The United Nations treaty was signed by well over 100 countries in 2013 and went into effect in 2014, though 27 signatories, including the United States, the world’s largest arms exporter, still haven’t ratified the deal, which regulates the trade of conventional weapons including non-nuclear bombs, shells, and missiles.

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Indigenous Land Defender Named Amnesty’s First ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ in Canada

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“This fight has been going on for 240 years,” said Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. “Now, we are all ‘prisoners of conscience’ because of what the colonizers have done to us.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-1-2024 by Common Dreams

Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, shown here in an undated photo, has been named Amnesty International’s first-ever prisoner of conscience in Canada. (Photo: Chief Dsta’hyl’s family/Amnesty International/X)

Amnesty International on Wednesday made what it called the “unprecedented decision” to designate as Canada’s first-ever “prisoner of conscience” an Indigenous leader convicted for actions taken while defending his people’s land against a fracked gas pipeline.

Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl of the Wet’suwet’en Nation was arrested in 2021 for violating a court order to not obstruct the construction of TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline. The hereditary chief is currently under house arrest for contempt of court.

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Pentagon Announces ‘Long-Overdue’ Plea Deals With Tortured 9/11 Defendants

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“This should be the beginning of the end of the Guantánamo Bay detention center,” said one Amnesty International campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 7-31-2024 by Common Dreams

Amnesty International activsits demostrate for the closure of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay outisde the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. in this undated photograph. (Photo: Amnesty International/Twitter)

Forced into a legal corner due to the torture of men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the Pentagon on Wednesday announced it has reached plea agreements with three top 9/11 suspects.

The U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement that Brig. Gen. Susan Escallier, the convening authority for the legally dubious Guantánamo Bay military commissions, “has entered into pre-trial agreements” with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

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‘Love Wins’: Thailand Set to Be First Southeast Asian Nation to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

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“While there is no doubt that the legalization of marriage for LGBTI couples is a key milestone for Thailand, much more must be done to guarantee full protection,” said one campaigner.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 6-18-2024 by Common Dreams

*LGBTQ+ activists celebrate the Thai Senate’s passage of a bill legalizing marriage equality outside the Government House in Bangkok on June 24, 2024. (Photo: Irish Embassy Thailand)*

LGBTQ+ advocates around the world on Tuesday cheered the Thai Senate’s passage of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, a move that—if approved by the country’s king as expected—would make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to do so.

The Bangkok Post reported Thai senators voted 130-4, with 18 abstentions, in favor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriages in the country of 72 million people. The Thai House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the legislation in March. The legislation would become law if it passes further review by the Senate and the Constitutional Court and is approved by King Rama X. Royal assent is a formality that will almost certainly be granted.

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Is Shell’s exit from Nigeria a front to dodge legal responsibilities?

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The oil giant is selling its Niger Delta subsidiary – but lending the new owners the money for the purchase

By Andy Rowell and James Marriot Published 6-6-2024 by openDemocracy

*Damaged trees in the Niger Delta following the 2008 Bodo oil spill. Photo: Sosialistisk Ungdom (SU)/flickr/CC*

Nigerian activists believe Shell’s apparent end to its 87-year operation in the country is an effort to avoid its legal responsibilities while holding onto the potentially profitable side of the business.

In January, the oil giant revealed it had “reached an agreement to sell its Nigerian onshore subsidiary” to Renaissance, a consortium of four Nigerian oil firms and one based in Switzerland.

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United States and Iran Help China Push Global Executions to 10-Year High

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Lawmakers in southern U.S. states accused of demonstrating “a chilling commitment” to state-sponsored murder alongside “a callous intent to invest resources in the taking of human life.”

By Jon Queally. Published 5-29-2024 by Common Dreams

The number of executions worldwide hit a nearly 10-year high in 2023 thanks to a surge in state killings by Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, and the United States.

A new global report published by Amnesty International documents that the death penalty was imposed on 1,153 people last year, though the total is believed to be significantly higher due to the secrecy surrounding China’s penal system. The international human rights group believes “thousands” of people were executed by the Chinese government, but the exact figure is not known.

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World Leaders Urged to Protect Syrian Refugees Amid Lebanon’s Crackdown

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“Lebanon’s authorities must stop summarily deporting refugees to a place where they are at risk of violations, lift restrictions, and end their vitriolic campaign against refugees,” said one Amnesty campaigner.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 5-27-2024 by Common Dreams

*Syrian refugee children in the Ketermaya refugee camp, outside Beirut, Lebanon on June 1, 2014. Photo: World Bank Photo Collection/flickr/CC*

Amnesty International on Monday reiterated human rights groups’ rising concerns about a Lebanese crackdown on Syrian refugees as the European Union hosted a conference in Brussels focused on “supporting the future of Syria and the region.”

The conference comes at right-wing leaders in the E.U. campaign as anti-migrant ahead of the bloc’s June elections and after European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen in early May announced a three-year, €1 billion ($1.06 billion) assistance package to support “the most vulnerable people in Lebanon, including refugees, internally displaced persons, and host communities,” as well as “urgent domestic reforms” and “border and migration management.”

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Israel’s war on Gaza could spark protests that shape entire region

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While media focus is on pro-Palestine protests in the US, anger in North Africa and Western Asia could boil over

By Paul Rogers. Published 5-8-2024 by openDemocracy

*Iraqi cleric Sadr mobilizes thousands at Baghdad pro-Palestinian rally. Screenshot: YouTube*

Though many analysts feared an uncontrolled military escalation between Israel and Iran last month, this seems to have been avoided for now at least. Many states across the world are, however, witnessing a political escalation – not least those in North Africa and West Asia, which are often overlooked in conversations about protest.

The United States is the most obvious example of state-level controversy. Pro-Palestine protests and occupations are taking place at university campuses across the country – many of which have been met by violent police-led actions – as people take issue with Joe Biden’s enabling Israel in its horrific seven-month assault on Gaza.

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Steven Donziger, Lawyer Targeted by Chevron, Appeals to Biden for Pardon

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“A pardon would bring a measure of justice to a prosecution that has been widely criticized as a violation of international law… and as a grave threat to free speech,” said 14 attorneys backing the climate justice lawyer’s request.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 3-20-2024 by Common Dreams

*Steven Donziger at sentencing hearing in 2021 Photo: Marisam77/Wikimedia Commons/CC*

After exhausting his options in the judicial system, American attorney Steven Donziger on Wednesday launched a campaign seeking a pardon from U.S. President Joe Biden for his misdemeanor conviction—the result of a process that experts worldwide have condemned as retaliatory for his climate justice work and an abuse of the nation’s judiciary.

“No matter where one stands on the political spectrum, we should all be able to agree that what happened to me in the United States should not happen to anybody in any country that adheres to the rule of law,” Donziger said in a statement announcing a letter to Biden signed by 14 prominent lawyers and a leader at the advocacy group Amazon Watch.

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Instead of Holocaust Museum, Detour Signs Direct Israel’s Herzog to The Hague

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“How is it possible that such a sacred space is being used to normalize genocide today?” asked one Dutch Jewish organizer behind the protest.

By Common Dreams. Published 3-10-24

Human rights activists of Amnesty International hold traffic boards showing the way to the International Criminal Court for the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog on March 10, 2024 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The President of Israel is in Amsterdam to open the Holocaust Museum. Photo: Trita Parsi/X

Human rights activists in The Netherlands greeted Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Sunday with large protests and directed him towards the International Criminal Court at The Hague over his nation’s alleged war crimes against the Palestinian people in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Herzog was in Amsterdam to attend the opening of the new National Holocaust Museum, but demonstrators said Herzog’s presence needed to be challenged given the large scale death and destruction that Israel’s military has unleashed in Gaza over the last five months.

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The Movement Continues – Globally

Tag Archives: Amnesty International