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Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada from Duékoué, Côte d’Ivoire, 2 March 2013

"Nature is growing back, making it look like nothing ever happened here."

Those were the sad words of a tenacious local human rights defender as we drove past the ruins of the Nahibly displaced persons camp just outside the town of Duékoué in western Côte d’Ivoire.

The Nahibly Camp, which was home to about 5,000 people, was totally destroyed on July 20, 2012, in a massive attack by a mob estimated at 1,000, led by local Dozo militias and including members of the national army (FRCI). 

At least 14 people – almost certainly more – were killed during the attack. Hundreds more were injured.  Many more were rounded up and ‘disappeared’ as they fled the camp.  Six bodies have since been found in a nearby well but many others are still missing.

by Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada (English branch) from Geneva

Last May was by no means a high-point for individual Canadians and organizations working to protect human rights domestically and globally.  In fact, many of us hung our heads in embarrassment.

The UN human rights expert who focuses on food security, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, had just wrapped up a ten day visit to Canada.  It had been a busy visit as he made considerable effort to reach out to and engage with Canadian food security and human rights groups everywhere he went.

Such visits are a common occurrence.  UN Special Rapporteurs regularly visit countries around the world and offer recommendations for improving human rights protection in their areas of specialty.  There have been similar visits from several other UN experts in past years. And the visits are always at the agreement of the country concerned.

As Mexico's president Peña Nieto marks his 100th day in office on March 10, 2013, Amnesty International is calling for action on Miriam Lopez who was tortured by security officials.
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by Conor Fortune

Syrian activist Bassam Ahmed Al-Ahmed recalls his time as a detainee alongside his friend, doctor Ayham Mustafa Ghazoul, whose family was recently informed of his death while in the custody of Syrian security forces in November 2012. Both men were among a group of people detained in a raid on the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression on 16 February 2012.

What more can I say about Ayham than that he was a human being before anything else?

What was most striking to me about him was that he was so self-sacrificing and strongly believed that every person should give up what’s most precious to them – their work, their studies, or even a lover or family members – for this revolution.

He was a very peaceful person who would always say, “Don’t carry a weapon, just go protest and if you die, you die a martyr”.

When they arrested us last February and brought us to the Air Force Intelligence we were all too scared to get off the bus.

They called out for Mazen Darwish, the director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression.