Human Rights

In response to the shooting of a protester by police in Hong Kong during demonstrations marking China’s National Day, leaving him in a critical condition in hospital, the Director of Amnesty International Hong Kong Man-Kei Tam said:

“The shooting of a protester marks an alarming development in the Hong Kong police’s response to protests. The Hong Kong authorities must launch a prompt and effective investigation into the sequence of events that left a teenager fighting for his life in hospital. Police should only use lethal force in response to an imminent threat of death or serious injury and only as a last resort. 

“We are urging the Hong Kong authorities to urgently review their approach in policing the protests in order to de-escalate the situation and prevent more lives being put at risk.” 

Amnesty International analyzed videos of the shooting and pinpointed the location as Hau Tei Square in Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan area. In a short video statement the Hong Kong Police Force defended the shooting by stating that the officer felt his life was under threat: 

The measures taken by the government of President López Obrador to uncover the truth and ensure justice in the case of the 43 Ayotzinapa students who were forcibly disappeared five years ago must soon translate into positive results, Amnesty International said today. Such measures also need to be replicated in the cases of the thousands of other disappearances in the country.

“During the first four years of struggle, Amnesty International continually denounced the cover-up by the authorities in the Ayotzinapa case. Today we have seen initial efforts by the new government to resolve the case and we welcome this, although much remains to be done,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

A new Amnesty International field investigation has documented an alarming pattern of the Hong Kong Police Force deploying reckless and indiscriminate tactics, including while arresting people at protests, as well as exclusive evidence of torture and other ill-treatment in detention.

After interviewing nearly two dozen arrested persons and gathering corroborating evidence and testimonies from lawyers, health workers and others, the organization is demanding a prompt and independent investigation into the violations, which appear to have escalated in severity since the mass protests began in June. 

“The Hong Kong police’s heavy-handed crowd-control response on the streets has been livestreamed for the world to see. Much less visible is the plethora of police abuses against protesters that take place out of sight,” said Nicholas Bequelin, East Asia Director at Amnesty International.

NEW YORK, 18 September 2019 – In an unprecedented move, more than 200 representatives of Indigenous Peoples, workers, academia, environmental and human rights groups adopted a landmark declaration calling on governments and corporations to urgently tackle the climate emergency in order to ensure the survival of humanity. 

Gathered for the Peoples’ Summit on Climate, Rights and Human Survival, their goal is to unleash new power, energy, and resources to supercharge a connected, diverse, and action-oriented mass movement to overcome the climate crisis, by putting people and human rights at the core of  its solutions.

This summer, university and high school students in Hong Kong took to the streets in huge numbers. Braving arrest, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, they have marched day after day to claim their rights.

On 4 September, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced her government’s formal withdrawal of the Extradition Bill that had sparked the protests. But this was only one of the “five demands” that have propelled the movement.

Protesters also want the government to retract its characterization of protests as “riots”; an independent investigation into use of force by police; and the unconditional release of everyone arrested in the context of protests. They also want political reform to ensure genuine universal suffrage - the ability to choose Hong Kong’s leaders themselves - as set under the city’s mini-Constitution, the Basic Law.

Here three students tell Amnesty International why they’re not backing down now.

Joey

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement of school-children have been honoured with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2019, the human rights organization announced today.

The awards ceremony took place in Washington D.C., USA, while further events were held in cities around the world, honouring Fridays for Future activists who represent the movement.

Upon receiving the award, Greta Thunberg said:

“This award is for all of those millions of people, young people, around the world who together make up the movement called Fridays for Future. All these fearless youth, fighting for their future. A future they should be able to take for granted. But as it looks now, they cannot.

“We, who together are the movement Fridays for Future, we are fighting for our lives. But not only that, we are also fighting for our future children and grandchildren, for future generations, for every single living being on earth, whose biosphere we share, whose biosphere we are stealing, whose biosphere we are ruining. We are fighting for everyone.”

(La version française suit)

September 12, 2019

Canadian organizations call on political leaders to respect dignity of refugees and migrants during federal election campaign

Organizations and community leaders across Canada are calling on the leaders of federal political parties to respect the dignity of refugees and vulnerable migrants during the upcoming election campaign. Over 150 Canadian organizations from diverse sectors have signed an open letter.

Sent to all federal parties in June, the letter was drafted by the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and The Canadian Council of Churches as an expression of the organizations’ concern about how refugees and migrants in Canada may be characterized during the 2019 federal election campaign. The letter calls on leaders to engage in discussions about migration in ways that recognize: