By Sam Dubberley, Manager of Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps
There are photographs and videos of so many of them. Talmenes, Al-lataminah, Kafr Zita, Khan Sheikhoun; all chemical weapons attacks in Syria. They have been documented and verified, but rarely have they been so central to how states publicly justify their policies.
More than 35,000 people are now reported disappeared in Mexico! It’s a staggering number that continues to climb every day.
One of the most notorious cases involves 43 students who were taken away by police in September 2014 and never seen again. The government’s “investigation” has failed to find the students, and is widely accused of covering up an extensive web of complicity involving authorities at all levels of the Mexican state.
Hilda Legideño continues to search for her son Jorge Antonio, forcibly disappeared with other students of Ayotzinapa on September 26, 2014 Photo by Scott Brennan
As the space for civil society to peacefully advocate in support of human rights shrinks, being a human rights defender is getting increasingly dangerous. Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) are experiencing harassment and violence—both on and offline—because of what they’re advocating for AND because of their gender. The space for WHRDs to safely advocate for human rights, is getting even smaller. And the space for women of colour, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and other marginalized women to advocate in support for human rights is even smaller still.
Whether you identify as LGBTI or as an ally, you can help bring Amnesty’s human rights message to a Pride festival near you this Summer. Pride is an excellent opportunity to show your solidarity with LGBTI communities in Canada and around the world, and take action towards creating a world where people of all sexual orientations and gender identities can live in dignity and safety.
Here are just a few ways to get involved in Pride activities in your community this Summer.
MARCH WITH AMNESTY IN YOUR LOCAL PRIDE PARADEReach out to other Amnesty supporters in your community and organize a Pride marching contingent. Contact Amnesty’s LGBTI coordinators for information on swag to distribute, resources to use, and support in registering to march. To have maximum impact, try to have at least 5 people march with you.
In the midst of a global crackdown on LGBTI rights, your action is needed more than ever this Pride season to help ensure the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in Canada and around the world are respected, protected, and fulfilled.
Pride festivals are held in communities large and small across Canada from May through September, and Pride season unofficially starts on May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOT). The Pride movement traces its origins to a riot at New York City’s Stonewall Inn in response to years of police harassment, raids, and violence against members of the LGBTI community. Pride remains a call to action to ensure that LGBTI people can live free from violence and discrimination.
Take action with Amnesty at Pride festivals across Canada this summer.
My sister in struggle Marielle Franco was shot to death on March 14.
I was abroad, working alongside other brave women who campaign against police killings of black youth in Brazil, Jamaica and the U.S. We had joined forces and were planning to make our voices heard in order to stop the constant stream of killings committed by some of those who are supposed to protect us.
The news hit me hard. I suddenly felt dizzy and could not stop shaking. I could barely contain my anger and my sadness.
Click here to read the rest of the article at the Huffington Post.
This is part 6 of 6 of the blog series: 25 years working for human rights in the Niger Delta
Written by Amnesty's Businses and Human Rights volunteer, Ian Heide
Amnesty International is urging the Governments of Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to launch investigations into the role of Shell Oil regarding the horrific crimes committed in Ogoniland by the Nigerian military during the 1990s.
To recap: in 1995, nine men from Ogoniland were executed. The executions of the Ogoni Nine, after an unfair trial, were the culmination of a much broader crackdown on the Ogoni people by the Nigerian military government.
Amnesty`s latest report examines he widespread human rights violations including unlawful killings, torture, rape and the destruction of homes and property, carried out by the military in the years leading up to the executions in 1995.
In recent days, several governments, including the UK’s, the USA’s and France’s, have signalled their intention to take military action against the Syrian government, which they hold responsible for the recent suspected chemical weapons attacks in Douma.
It’s important to remember the context here. For the past seven years, the international community’s catastrophic failure to take meaningful action to protect the people of Syria has allowed various parties to this terrible conflict, most notably pro-Assad forces, to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity with complete impunity, often with the assistance of outside powers, particularly Russia.
Complying with international lawUN Security Council resolutions have been repeatedly flouted and ignored by both Bashar al-Assad’s government and other belligerents. Widespread frustration with the ineffectiveness and failure of this international body’s inability to protect Syrian civilians is totally understandable.
Yesterday Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the US Senate, after admitting that up to 87 million people may have had their data improperly shared with the company Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica’s ties to the Trump campaign have made data harvesting headline news, but this story is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
The scandal engulfing Facebook has forced many of us to face up to the reality of how our personal data is collected and shared online, and highlighted new human rights challenges that have arisen in the digital age.
So if you’re concerned about how your personal data is being used, what can you do about it?
Sadly, it’s virtually impossible to avoid data harvesting completely. Many of us depend on social media and even if you have been outraged by Facebook’s failure to safeguard your data you may not want to delete it.
But it is possible to limit how much companies can track you. Here’s our three-step guide to the basics.
1. Understand the risksFirstly, it’s important to understand who is collecting your data and why.
This is part 5 of 6 of the blog series: 25 years working for human rights in the Niger Delta
Written by Amnesty's Businses and Human Rights volunteer, Ian Heide
Confronting Shell Oil … Again!
Three years after the ground-breaking report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on oil pollution in Ogoniland, the people of Ogoniland continued to suffer the effects of fifty years of an oil industry that has polluted their land, air and water. The oil company Shell and the Nigerian Government both failed to implement recommendations made in the UNEP report and put an end to the abuse of the communities’ rights to food, water and a life free of pollution.
The 2011 UNEP Report made 27 recommendations, including the establishment of a $1 billion fund for the clean-up and compensation. In August 2014, Amnesty issued a report titled “No Progress”, with Amnesty's assessment that NONE of the recommendations had been completed. The Government of Nigeria and Shell had taken almost no meaningful action to implement any of the recommendations.
Join the global movement for human rights.
