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Responding the Bangladeshi government's decision to introduce the death penalty as a punishment for rape, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher, Sultan Mohammed Zakaria, said:  

“This regressive step is a fig leaf that deflects attention from the lack of real action to address the appalling brutality faced by so many Bangladeshi women. Executions perpetuate violence, they don’t prevent it. Instead of seeking vengeance, the authorities must focus on ensuring justice for the victims of sexual violence including through delivering the long-term changes that would stop this epidemic of violence and prevent it from recurring. That means, for example, ensuring that Bangladeshi women and girls are protected and that they feel safe coming forward and reporting crimes. Perpetrators must be prosecuted and held accountable and the impunity for these horrific crimes must come to an end - but through fair proceedings and without resort to the death penalty.” 

Background

Amnesty International has gathered new evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Rakhine State, amid serious escalations in the ongoing armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA). 

This evidence is based on firsthand testimony, photographs and video obtained from inside Rakhine State, and analysis of satellite imagery as well as media reports and civil society sources. Witnesses’ names have been changed. 

“There are no signs of the conflict between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military abating – and civilians continue to bear the brunt,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns. 

“The Myanmar military’s utter disregard for civilian suffering grows more shocking and brazen by the day. The UN Security Council must urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the longstanding neglect of mental health services for refugees and migrants, Amnesty International said today. The organization said the international community had broken the promise, enshrined in international law, to ensure the highest attainable standard of mental health for everyone.

“A tiny fraction of the international health aid budget is devoted to mental health, and refugees and migrants are often cut off from even the scarce services available. It’s clear that the mental health of people seeking safety has never been a priority for the international community – this needs to change,” said Charlotte Phillips, Head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Team at Amnesty International.

“Asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, many of whom already face barriers to housing, employment and healthcare, have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 crisis. The longstanding failure of most governments to provide adequate mental health services for refugees and migrants means they are facing the uncertainty and isolation of the pandemic without support.”

Amnesty International has delivered more than one million signatures from around the world to US Attorney General William Barr demanding justice for George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2020.

The letter, which can be found here, conveys Amnesty International’s grave concerns about racist policing practices used disproportionately against Black people in the USA, and demands the police officers involved in the killing of George Floyd be held accountable.

Our communities are still reeling from the incident that took place this September 12, 2020. On that day, a member of the Canadian community, Mohamed-Aslim Zafis, was ruthlessly killed in front of the IMO Mosque in Toronto by an individual with apparent links to a disturbing brand of neo-Nazism. This attack did not occur in isolation.

Today, NCCM is joining leading civil rights, anti-racism, and civil liberties organizations in an open letter to the Prime Minister and to all opposition leaders. The open letter calls for bipartisan action in developing a national action strategy to dismantle and dissolve active and militarized white supremacist groups in Canada:

The complete freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India which it came to know on 10 September 2020, brings all the work being done by the organization to a grinding halt.  The organization has been compelled to let go of staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is the latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations, Amnesty International India said today.

Today, 26 September, is the deadline for countries to sign the Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (Escazú Agreement). For it to come into force, at least eleven countries must ratify it, therefore only one more is needed in addition to the ten countries that have already done so.

"This agreement emerged from the need to urgently address the climate emergency that we are facing. When the treaty was opened for signatures exactly two years ago, hope also emerged that Latin America and the Caribbean could make history with a groundbreaking norm that could contribute to the protection of the environment and those who defend it. Countries in the region must not miss this important opportunity," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.