FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sixties Scoop Network launches innovative mapping project for 60s Scoop survivors
(Ottawa/Unceded Algonquin Territory – June 22 2020) This morning, the Sixties Scoop Network (formerly the National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network) launched a ground-breaking interactive map to visualize the displacement of Sixties Scoop survivors and share their stories.
Lagos/London/Brussels/Amsterdam, 18 June 2020 – Nearly 10 years after a clean-up was urged for areas polluted by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta, work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by four NGOs.
In 2011 the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report documenting the devastating impact of the oil industry in Ogoniland, and set out urgent recommendations for clean-up. But the new investigation highlights that “emergency measures” proposed by UNEP have not been properly implemented and that the billion-dollar clean-up project launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 has been ineffective.
Earlier today, Canada lost its bid to be elected to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council. Despite this loss, Canada can and must still advance its global goals through its Feminist Foreign Policy.
Canada must play a constructive global role through continuing to support efforts to advance gender equality and the rights of women, girls and gender-diverse people across all areas of its foreign policy.
Amnesty International is calling on Canada to urgently intervene to secure the release from prison of Yasser Albaz, a Canadian citizen who has been arbitrarily detained by Egypt since February 2019. Amnesty International is calling on Egyptian authorities to release Yasser Albaz immediately, as the organization considers his ongoing detention to be arbitrary based on information received from his family, including the absence of formal charges and judicial oversight of pre-trial detention.
Responding to Zoom’s compliance with a Chinese government request to end meetings related to the Tiananmen crackdown and suspend the accounts of a group of US-based activists hosting meetings, Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights Analyst William Nee said:
“The Chinese government goes to great lengths to ensure that no one in China commemorates or even mentions those killed on 3-4 June 1989. By complying with Beijing’s request to end meetings on the Tiananmen crackdown, Zoom risks contributing to this assault of freedom of expression.
“Zoom has said it will take steps to ensure users ‘outside mainland China’ are not targeted by such interventions in the future, but in so doing it seemingly turns a blind eye to the repression of users on the mainland.
“Tech firms such as Zoom must put principles before profit and defend internet freedom, rather than bowing to repressive governments’ demands to stifle it.
“Zoom must respect human rights throughout all its business operations and not become a tool in China's powerful censorship system."
Background
Rio de Janeiro 10.06.2020 – Today, the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro State executed a series of search and seizure warrants in relation to the investigation into the brutal killing of human rights defender Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes. The operation culminated in the arrest of firefighter Maxwell Simões Corrêa, who is accused of hiding the weapons used in the assassination and being the close accomplice of Ronnie Lessa who fired the shots. Simões Corrêa's arrest is an important step towards getting to the bottom of this crime and we hope it helps clear up the main questions that remain unanswered: who ordered Marielle’s killing and why?
Marielle Franco was killed in an ambush that had been thoroughly planned over a number of months. The investigations of the Civil Police and Public Prosecution Service of Rio de Janeiro State identified two people suspected of carrying out the criminal act, Elcio de Queiroz and Ronnie Lessa, who are currently facing criminal proceedings. It was also discovered that other people were indirectly involved in the act, concealing weapons and obstructing the investigations.
The shadowy and poorly regulated global trade of tear gas is fuelling police human rights violations against peaceful protesters on a global scale, Amnesty International said today as it launched a new resource analyzing the misuse of the riot control agent around the world.
Tear Gas: An investigation is the organization’s interactive, multimedia site looking into what tear gas is, how it is used and documenting scores of cases of its misuse by security forces worldwide, often resulting in severe injuries or death.
As protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing spur a ripple effect of change around the country, and around the world, Amnesty International is calling for a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by police for mass surveillance purposes, to address racially discriminatory policing and racial profiling of Black people.
June 11, 2020
CANADA MUST PUT AN END TO SAUDI ARMS EXPORTS
A broad coalition of civil society organizations, human rights organizations, labour organizations and concerned individuals are calling for the Canadian government to end arms transfers to Saudi Arabia. A vigil will be held on 11 June 2020 in London, Ontario, outside of General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada beginning at 1 pm, alongside demonstrations that will take place in cities across Canada and virtually.
With ever-growing numbers of infections and deaths from COVID-19, the removal of cumulative data on COVID-19 from Ministry of Health announcements is extremely serious, points out Amnesty International Brazil. Since the start of the pandemic, we have been warning about the lack of adequate measures by the federal government to tackle the crisis. We do not consider concealing data and facts an appropriate response to get through this difficult time.
In May, Amnesty International Brazil, together with 35 other rights organizations and social movements, launched the Our Lives Matter campaign. The objective of the campaign is for the Brazilian authorities to provide adequate and inclusive responses to address the COVID-19 pandemic without leaving vulnerable segments of the population behind.
Responding to news of a Rohingya boat intercepted off the coast of Langkawi and the subsequent detention of the 269 refugees on board, Preethi Bhardwaj, Interim Executive Director of Amnesty International Malaysia, said:
“Allowing the Rohingya to disembark was a humane step in upholding their human rights. Boats carrying people in distress must always be allowed to land safely. They must not be pushed away, threatened or intimidated.
“It is terrible that a woman’s body was found on board – it’s clear this boat was adrift and failing to find a safe shore until then. For one person, this rescue came too late.
“Authorities must also respect the refugees’ right to health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The Malaysian government has been detaining migrants and refugees in immigration detention centres that have seen outbreaks of COVID-19. We are concerned that this latest group of refugees will also be moved to these centres, placing them at a high risk of contracting the virus and keeping the pandemic alive.
OTTAWA – As COVID-19 restrictions begin to relax across Canada, remote and Indigenous communities are developing their own solutions specific to their needs and concerns.
As Amnesty International highlights in a new interactive project, Building Immunity in Community, different communities face different threats and challenges and they are developing effective solutions based on the needs of the people and the resources at hand. Many communities need better healthcare equipment and services, many have concerns about over-crowded housing, and other people are checking in with elders, sharing food and traditional medicines, and creating emergency plans.
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2
June 3, 2020
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing this Open Letter, on behalf of Amnesty International’s supporters across Canada and also reflective of the concerns of the entire global movement of Amnesty International, to urge you to take a much stronger position of unequivocal opposition to Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex a large part of the West Bank, land that is part of Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is expected to finalize this in the coming weeks. Such a step would violate the UN Charter, jus cogens norms of international law, and international humanitarian legal obligations. It would certainly stand as well to deepen and exacerbate decades of severe and entrenched human rights violations against Palestinians living in the West Bank. It is urgent and vital for Canada to express firm, explicit and public condemnation of this move.
Responding to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passing a law that makes it illegal to insult China’s national anthem, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia, Joshua Rosenzweig, said:
“People who ‘insult’ China’s national anthem could now be jailed for up to three years. But today the Hong Kong authorities have again insulted the right to freedom of expression in their latest attempt to criminalize peaceful dissent.
“People’s right to express their different feelings about national anthems and other state symbols is well protected by international human rights law. This law’s broad and subjective provisions leave it open to wide interpretation and abuse.
“The passing of this odious bill is an ominous sign for the future of human rights in Hong Kong. With China’s ruthless national security law looming, the city’s rights and freedoms are under greater threat than ever before.”
Background
Sex workers around the world have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and governments are not doing enough to protect them.
On International Sex Workers’ Day we spoke to Kate McGrew, an artist, activist and sex worker living in Ireland, about what lockdown has been like. Kate is the Director of SWAI (Sex Workers’ Alliance Ireland), which has set up a hardship fund to support sex workers during the pandemic. She is also a co-convener of ICRSE (International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe).
What are Ireland’s laws around sex work?
In 2017 Ireland introduced a law which criminalised the purchase of sex. Legislation which criminalises the buyer rather than the seller is sometimes called the “Nordic Model”. There are other laws in Ireland containing provisions which put sex workers at risk; for example, it is illegal to work in pairs or in groups.
Join the global movement for human rights.
