Canada incarcerates thousands of people on administrative immigration-related grounds every year, including people who are fleeing persecution, those seeking employment and a better life, and people who have lived in Canada since childhood.

People in immigration detention are subjected to solitary confinement, indefinite detention, maximum security jails, and handcuffs and shackles.

A joint report by Amnesty International and Human Rights watch found that people with mental health conditions experience discrimination in immigration detention, and racialized people are disproportionately impacted by this system. 

The Canada Border Services Agency incarcerates people in immigration detention in provincial jails, which is a violation of international human rights standards. Our #WelcomeToCanada campaign went coast to coast, calling for an immediate end to the use of jails.  

The provinces listened! All 10 provinces have committed to ending their immigration detention agreements or arrangements with the federal government. This was an incredible human rights victory.  

However, the fight is not over yet!

Instead of following the provinces’ lead and working to end immigration detention, the federal government plans to use federal prisons for immigration detention, and wants to codify this rights-violating practice into legislation.  

We are urging the government to cancel these plans! Please join us in calling on the government to permanently end the use of jails and prisons for immigration detention by passing a policy directive or legislative amendment, and ultimately end immigration detention in Canada.  

LEARN MORE 

Read Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s report: “I Didn’t Feel Like a Human in There”: Immigration Detention in Canada and its Impact on Mental Health 

Hear directly from people who have experienced immigration detention:  

#WelcomeToCanada: Amina’s Story 
#WelcomeToCanada: Abdelrahman’s Story
#WelcomeToCanada: Sara’s Story 

As Gaza faces a potential genocide and famine, states must stop fueling the crisis in Gaza and prevent further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life.

Israel’s military campaign has destroyed a substantial portion of Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, water infrastructure, shelters, and refugee camps. 

More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s relentless bombardment and at least 31 have starved to death, 28 of them children. Almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced, many repeatedly. Over two million people in the occupied Gaza Strip remain at risk of genocide and famine. Nowhere is safe.

In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel is committing a potential genocide in Gaza. There is a clear risk that weapons and military equipment directly or indirectly exported to Israel will be used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza. Any state continuing to transfer military equipment violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and a plausible genocide. 

In February, UN experts warned that any sale and supply of weapons to Israel that risk being used in Gaza would violate international humanitarian law and must be stopped immediately. In early April, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling on states to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.

Over 250 humanitarian and human rights organisations have called on states to stop arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups.

Although Canada reportedly stopped issuing new permits for military exports to Israel as of January 8, 2024, transfers continue on existing permits. Between October 7 and December 6, 2023, $28.5 million of new military exports to Israel were approved – more than the value all export permits issued in 2022. Canadian parts, components and other military materials are also exported to the USA, which in turn are integrated into US military equipment such as F-35 aircraft supplied to the Israel Defense Force.

Learn More

For additional actions and an overview of the current crisis and Amnesty’s work on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, visit the toolkit on our website.

PHOTO CREDT A view of the debris from destroyed buildings in the al-Zahra neighborhood in the Gaza Strip on October 19, 2023, following Israeli airstrikes (Photo by MOHAMED MASRI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images).

The ongoing conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left over 14,600 people killed nationwide and over 8 million people displaced including nearly 2 million of them seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

The people of Sudan feel forgotten amidst the spiraling violence across the country, where parties to the conflict are causing untold death and destruction.

Caught in the middle of fighting, they have no food, water, or access to medical services, and with limited internet, civilians have no access to information about safe passage or where to find medicine.

The warring parties have fought their war for a year with little regard for human rights and international humanitarian law.

People are being killed inside their homes, or while desperately searching for food, water, and medicine. They are caught in crossfire while fleeing and shot deliberately in targeted attacks. Women and girls, some as young as 12, have been raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence by members of the warring sides.

Nowhere is safe. With every minute that passes countless lives are ruined. We need to act now and demand the United Nations Security Council to extend the existing arms embargo to the whole country and not only to Darfur region and ensure it is fully implemented. This will disrupt the flow of weapons and contribute to reduce civilian suffering.

Learn More

Sudan: One year since conflict began, response from international community remains woefully inadequate

Header image: Sudanese Refugees fleeing the conflict in the Darfur region sheltering in Adre, across the border in Eastern Chad, where conditions are dire and the rainy season is in full swing. More than 150,000 have arrived since April 2023. © Amnesty International

Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising, Iranian authorities have doubled down on their brutal use of the death penalty as a tool of oppression to terrorize the public and tighten their grip on power. Prisons have become sites of mass state-sanctioned killings. In 2023, executions soared with over 853 people executed, a 48% increase from 2022 and the highest number for eight years. This arbitrary deprivation of people’s lives must stop.

The spike in executions is largely attributed to the return of a lethal anti-narcotics policy since 2021. Authorities carried out over 481 drug-related executions in 2023, marking a ‎89% increase from 2022 and 264% increase from 2021. 

The death penalty is also used to target oppressed minority groups. Iran’s oppressed Baluchi ethnic minority, who constitute only about 5% of Iran’s population, accounted for 20% of all executions. Individuals were also executed for their social media posts and for sexual relations between consenting adults.  

Iranian authorities are using the death penalty as a tool of political oppression to sow fear among the public and deter further nationwide protests. In 2023, they executed 7 people in connection to protests after grossly unfair sham trials.

Iran’s killing spree is continuing into 2024, with at least 95 recorded executions by March 20. Execution numbers recorded by Amnesty International are minimum figures and the organization believes the real number is higher.

Learn More

Iran executes 853 people in eight-year high amid relentless repression and renewed ‘war on drugs’ (April 4, 2024)

Iran: Prisons turned into killing fields as drug-related executions almost triple this year (June 2, 2023)

Iran: Executions of tortured protesters must trigger a robust reaction from the international community (May 19, 2023)

What else you can do

Write a personal letter to Iranian authorities based on the April 4, 2024 Urgent Action: Drug-related executions surging in Iran.

Top image © Signs criticising the Iranian Islamic Regime’s use of the death penalty are seen in Trafalgar Square on September 16, 2023 in London, England. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images.

“We, the Amazonian Women of Ecuador, Defenders of the Amazon Rainforest have organized to defend our human rights, and to protect the Amazon from irreversible tipping points, which would have implications for the entire planet. We are very concerned about the free-trade agreement negotiations between Ecuador and Canada, because increased investments in extractive projects in the Amazon could push it past a tipping point, violate our human rights, and lead to increased violence against Indigenous women and girls.”

Amid a dire human rights situation in Ecuador, its government and the government of Canada are rushing to negotiate a trade agreement with huge risks to people and the environment. Representatives of both countries have stated their goal is to attract and protect more Canadian mines in Ecuador. 

Indigenous peoples and rural communities – already suffering destructive impacts and violence linked to Canadian mines – continue to be ignored and even attacked. They have not been informed or consulted about the trade deal, a violation of both the Ecuadorian constitution and both countries’ obligations under international treaties.

What’s more, Canada has said it wants to include investor protections that UN experts have urged against because they pose “catastrophic consequences” for human rights and the environment. According to Global Affairs Canada, the mining industry has pushed for such protections.

Learn More

Amnesty International Canada shares concerns at parliamentary study of free trade negotiations with Ecuador

Investor-State dispute settlements have catastrophic consequences for the environment and human rights: UN expert

What’s at stake in Canada’s negotiations with Ecuador? Investor protections vs the rights of communities and nature

Why the Ecuador trade deal Canada wants hinges on a misleading referendum question

Violence Surrounds Canadian Mining Projects in Ecuador

Ecuador: Authorities and companies threaten the Amazon and its Indigenous Peoples

Top image: Danger reads the yellow tape during a protest outside Canada’s Embassy in Quito on March 4. Free Trade Agreement with Canada = More extractivism. Canadian mining out, reads the banner. Photo: Acción Ecológica @AcEcologic

Fourteen-year-old Leonela Moncayo is a hope-inspiring environment defender. Together with eight other Amazonian girls, Leonela went to court to call for a stop to gas flaring in Ecuador—an oil extraction process that releases large amounts of methane, with dire environmental and health repercussions.

The activism of Leonela and the Amazonian girls led to a landmark court ruling that gas flaring must end. But the government has failed to act on the court ruling and the number of gas flares has increased.

On February 21, Leonela confronted Ecuador’s Energy Minister with the facts in the National Assembly. The Minister responded by dismissing Leonela’s concerns and admonished her for being manipulated by others. Days later, an improvised explosive device detonated outside Leonela’s home. 

Thankfully, no one was hurt in the explosion. But there are huge concerns for the safety of Leonela, the other eight Amazonian girls, and their families. Their lives are endangered by belittling, stigmatizing accusations by government leaders that can incite hostility. Other land and water defenders who have spoken out against oil operations in Ecuador have been threatened, attacked, and killed with impunity.

Watch a short video on the issue

Learn More

Read the original Urgent Action Ecuador: Young climate activist faces intimidation at home

The climate crisis means that the world must quickly move away from fossil fuels and find new sources of energy. We need batteries to drive this transition. But this global shift must not sacrifice people or nature.

The DRC supplies most of the copper and cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries. These batteries power our smartphones, laptops, electric cars and bicycles, and play a major role in the energy transition away from fossil fuels. This transition is urgent and necessary.

However, mineral-rich regions of the DRC are sacrificed to mining development, leading to a shocking series of abuses in the region. Thousands of people have lost their homes, schools, hospitals, and communities due to the expansion of copper and cobalt mines in the DRC, especially in Kolwezi, which sits above rich copper and cobalt deposits.

These abuses take place in a country still recovering from colonial brutality, during which millions died and countless raw materials were mined and sold on international markets with little benefit to local people. In the global race to secure minerals for the energy transition, corporations and governments are once again putting profit above human rights.

President Tshisekedi describes the DRC as a “climate solution country”. Now he has the chance to become a global leader in climate justice and prove that in the DRC protecting human rights is an integral part of a just energy transition.

Learn more

Amnesty International Annual Report 2022/23 entry on the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Top image: House awaiting eviction by energy transition mine, Kolwezi, DRC, September 2022. © Amnesty International/Jean-Mobert Senga

Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith released a video outlining the provincial government’s plan for a sweeping attack on the rights of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Alberta. 

The suite of policy changes will severely limit 2SLGBTQQIA+ youths’ access to gender affirming medical care, social support, and education.

In the education sphere, in cases where students are 15 or younger, Alberta’s teachers will be banned from using trans and non-binary students’ preferred pronouns and gender-affirming names without the consent of their parents or guardians. For students who are 16 and 17, parents or guardians will be notified when a name or pronoun change is formally requested. In addition, Alberta will require parent or guardian consent for students to participate in any formal classroom instruction involving gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual diversity. While all third-party resource materials related to gender identity, sexual orientation or sexuality in the K-12 school system will need to be pre-approved by the Ministry of Education.

The plan further includes a prohibition of gender affirming medical care for children and youth under age 17. Hormone therapy will now only be accessible with parental consent and the approval of healthcare professionals. 

It is also deeply troubling that the government did not engage with existing evidence-based research or had meaningful consultations with 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities, advocates, community organizations and education and health care experts, prior to making these policy changes.

Learn More

Read our full statement here: Amnesty International Canada condemns ‘appalling’ anti-trans policy changes in Alberta.

Top image @YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images

During his visit to Canada in March 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur of Indigenous Peoples, Francisco Calí-Tzay also expressed his deep concern over the countless reports and testimonies he heard about missing and murdered Indigenous women, Two Spirit and gender diverse people across Canada (MMIWG2S+). Cali-Tzay specifically highlighted the Winnipeg MMIWG2S+ families urgent calls for government and community-based support toward recovering the remains of Harris, Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe from the landfills. 

We are calling on the Governments of Canada and Manitoba to listen to the urgent calls of MMIWG2S+ families, community members and advocates by immediately searching and bringing home the remains of Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris.

The tragic murders of these First Nation women are yet another source of grief and trauma for impacted families and community members who have been tirelessly working to end colonial violence, hetero-patriarchal misogyny and systemic and institutionalized racism experienced by Indigenous women, girls, Two Spirit and gender diverse people. 

Learn More

Read Amnesty’s joint statement with grass roots Indigenous organization Families of Sisters in Spirit where we collectively call on the Governments of Canada and and former Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson to search the landfills for the remains of Marcedes Myran, Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe and Morgan Harris  – Canada: Search the landfills and and return Indigenous women’s remains home. 

Read Amnesty’s Indigenous History Month blog post to learn more about the violence experienced by Indigenous women, gender diverse and Two Spirit land and water defenders in Canada: Honouring National Indigenous History Month- Celebrating Indigenous Women and 2SLGBTQIA+ Defenders. 

Canada has a long history of harm and human rights abuses against Indigenous land and water defenders who are opposing colonial expropriation and protecting their lands and waters from extractive and resource development industry projects. 

Indigenous women, Two Spirit and gender diverse defenders not only experience criminalization and surveillance but also state-sanctioned sexual and gender-based violence in their attempts to preserve their lands and waters and heal their communities.  
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), provincial and municipal police and private security services hired by industries, have been known to routinely harass, assault and intimidate women, girls, Two-Spirit, gender diverse people and community members. Resource extraction projects are also directly tied to the expansion of ‘man camps,’ temporary extractive industry labour camps that bring an influx of transient male workers to Indigenous territories. These ‘man camps’ are associated with high rates of sexual and gender-based violence and trafficking experienced by Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people 

What else you can do to help

Listen to land and water defender Kanahus Manuel talk about the impact of ‘man-camps’ on Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people and support the Tiny House Warriors’ Mutual Aid Fund. 

Support the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s land and water defense Solidarity Fund. 

Support the Creation of A Red Dress Alert. 

Learn More

Read the Braided Warriors full media statement (2021) “Indigenous Youth Condemn VPD Brutality and Charged Laid for Peaceful Sit-in: Call on Canada to End Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion.”  

Read the Assembly of First Nation’s New Report final report from the MMIWG2S+ National Gathering. This report is based on engagements with Indigenous survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people, that took place in February 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia: “Connecting Hearts and Making Change.” 

Top image: Land and water defender, Kukpi7 Judy Wilson (Secwépemc Nation) at a prayer circle in Blue River, British Columbia. Photo credit: Billie Jean Photography

Water defender Oquelí Domínguez was killed in the community of Guapinol (department of Colón, northern Honduras) on June 15, 2023.

His assassination comes five months after the fatal shooting of his brother Aly Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla Ayala.

All three murdered men were involved in a grassroots environmental defence movement that has peacefully organized against an iron ore operation, owned by one of the country’s most powerful families, and its impact on the Guapinol River, their source of water.

Other water defenders in Guapinol and other communities of Tocoa have received death threats because of their efforts that question the legality of the Inversiones Los Pinares mining project in the Carlos Escaleras National Park, a conservation area. They are at grave risk of harm.

Over the last five years, Amnesty International has issued numerous alerts following killings and other attacks in Honduras, which is one of the deadliest countries in the world to be a human rights defender.

Learn More

Honduras: Xiomara Castro’s government must firmly deliver on human rights agenda

What else you can do

For further background on this case including letter writing, please read the original Urgent Action.

Top image: An iron ore processing plant being built next to the Guapinol river, Colon, Honduras. Photo by Sean Hawkey.

“It’s troubling to see so many dead fish all year round. That’s why I want to ensure those responsible for contamination are held accountable. It’s not easy. I’ve been shot at. But despite the attacks and the threats, more women have joined our cause.”

These are the words of Yuly Velásquez, an inspiring defender of water and human rights in Colombia’s beautiful Magdalena River basin. Yuly and other community leaders literally risk their lives to protect land and water that is vital to all of us, given the climate crisis.

Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to do this work. Approximately every two days, a defender is assassinated.

In 2022, Colombians elected a reform government made up of many former human rights defenders. This government has a historic opportunity to ensure that land and water defenders can continue their important work without fear of violent reprisals.

Learn More

Keep hope alive: get involved in our new campaign to support defenders in Colombia who protect land and water vital to us all (Activism Blog)

Land and water defenders face a new wave of deadly threats in Colombia (Blog)

We continue to risk our lives defending Colombia’s rivers and wetlands (Guest Blog by Colombian defender Yuly Velásquez)

Stories of Water (Guest Blog by Colombian defender Yuvelis Morales)

Colombia: Human rights defenders remain at risk; government must guarantee their protection (news release)

Colombia: Hope at risk: The lack of a safe space to defend human rights in Colombia continues (report)

Top image: A collage of defenders and the environment they seek to protect.

Thousands of Colombians claimed their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, during months of demonstrations for justice and peace in 2021. Women, youth, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendent communities and LGBTIQ+ people played a prominent role in the hope-inspiring protests, calling on the government to address gaping inequality, racism and lack of security. 

Instead of listening to them, the previous government of President Ivan Duque responded with brutal repression. As they have countless times before and since, police and members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) used excessive violence to disperse protests, spread fear, and punish those who dared to call for a fairer society. 

Scores of people were killed or injured when they were fired at, including protesters who were blinded from shots aimed at their eyes. Others were subjected to arbitrary detention and torture. As women and LGBTIQ+ protesters fled police gunfire and tear gas, they were subjected to gender-based violence, assaults and rape. Indigenous people and Afro-Colombians were also a target of brutal police repression.

Learn More about Police Violence in Colombia

Colombia: The National Police must be comprehensively reformed

Colombia: Guaranteeing justice in cases of gender-based violence during repression of National Strike must be central to any police reform

Colombia: Reconstruction reveals how security forces intentionally attacked peaceful protesters in Cali on 3 May

Cali: In the epicenter of repression: Human rights violations during the 2021 national strike

Colombia: Shoots on sight: Eye trauma in the context of the National Strike

Colombia: The police does not care for me: Violence and other gender-based violence in the 2021 National Strike

Top image: A Colombian police officer in riot gear points a tear gas cannon at protesters © DANIEL MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images.

A prominent human rights lawyer, Pablo Fajardo Mendoza, was falsely accused in front of the National Assembly on April 26 of being an “international criminal” by the Ecuadorian Minister of Energy and Mines. In an earlier interview with local news outlet, La Barra Espaciadora, the Minister alleged that Pablo’s climate justice work “has made Ecuador look bad”.

These public statements contribute to heightened hostility that put Pablo and other members of his organization at increased risk of physical attacks.

Pablo and his litigation team at the Union of People Affected by Texaco (UDAPT), are involved in legal proceedings against the environmental impacts of oil extraction in Lago Agrio. They represent  Indigenous and peasant leaders, and over 33,000 people whose rights are being negatively impacted by the operations of oil companies in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

This human rights work has led to repeated threats and intimidation, prompting Amazon Watch to list Pablo Fajardo Mendoza as an “individual at risk”. The Ecuadorian government has an obligation to ensure a safe environment for the defense of environmental rights. This is vitally important amid the climate crisis.

Learn More

For further background on this case including letter writing, please read the original Urgent Action.

Top image: Pablo Fajardo Mendoza. Photo by PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images.

The government of El Salvador’s President Bukele has suspended constitutional guarantees and unjustly put more than 60,000 people behind bars. Tell the President to stop violating human rights.

Salvadoran authorities imposed a state of exception in March 2022, claiming it was necessary to deal with gang violence. Since then, officials continue to have special powers and have committed massive human rights violations, including a staggering number of unjust detentions.

Two cousins, aged 14 and 15, were arrested while playing outside their home in Ilopango. Their families reported that police officers accused the youths of “looking like criminals” and said they would spend 30 years in jail. 

This is no isolated case. People are being detained for having tattoos or for living in marginalized neighborhoods where gangs operate. Detainees have no access to effective legal defense, face torture and ill-treatment, and are held in overcrowded, inhumane conditions. Deaths in custody are increasing every day. Meanwhile, families often do not know where their loved ones were taken or what proceedings they face.

True security in El Salvador requires efforts that tackle the root causes of gang violence, while prioritizing human rights. Your signature can make a difference. President Nayib Bukele needs to know that the world is watching and is horrified by his massive assault on the rights of his people.

Learn More about human rights in El Salvador

El Salvador: One year into state of emergency, authorities are systematically committing human rights violations (April 3, 2023)

Eviscerating human rights is not the answer to El Salvador’s gang problem (September 7, 2022)

El Salvador: President Bukele engulfs the country in a human rights crisis after three years in government (June 2,2022)

Top image: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – MAY 02: A soldier looks on while lining up before patrolling on May 2, 2022 in San Salvador, El Salvador. The Legislative Assembly approved President Nayib Bekele’s request to extend the suspension of constitutional guarantees until May 27. Photo by Kellys Portillo/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images.

Recent changes by the government are hindering efforts to find missing and disappeared people in Mexico.  

More than 114,000 people have been registered as missing and forcibly disappeared since 1962. Last May, the federal government launched a questionable strategy to respond to this crisis. 

On December 14, 2023, Mexico’s President and Interior Ministry shared a new registry that considerably decreased the number of disappeared people. The officials acknowledged that searches would not be conducted for 80,000 people, considered in August 2023 as disappeared and missing, who have now been reclassified in ambiguous categories.

On December 18, collectives of family members of the disappeared denounced lack of transparency and possible manipulation of data. Civil society organizations and activists fear that lowering the official number of the disappeared is being done to hide the failure of federal public security policies.  

In 2023 alone, over 12,000 new cases of missing or disappeared people were reported. Families looking for their missing loved ones continue to face serious risks, including threats, violence or enforced disappearance themselves. 

Learn More

For further background on this case including letter writing, please read the original Urgent Action.

Top image: Mothers of the disappeared take part in a public demonstration in Mexico City, with masks that say: “Where are they?”. Photo: Ricardo Ramírez Arriola for Amnesty International.

On November 1, 2023, eighty-four people from the El Bosque community in Southern Mexico were evacuated. They were forced to leave their homes due to rising sea levels eroding vast areas of the fishing community that has been their home for years. Barely two weeks after their evacuation to nearby Frontera, the Mexican government evicted everyone from the temporary shelters it had provided them. This is in spite of the fact that many of the families have been rendered homeless with little or no resources to buy food, medicines or to pay rent.

Since 2019, the coastline of El Bosque has lost 200 meters (about 656.17 ft) of land due to constant tidal waves and extreme weather conditions. As a result, many homes and community infrastructure have been destroyed. Schools have also been affected, forcing children to attend classes in inadequate makeshift structures. The community has also been battling several challenges including the infiltration of its wells by seawater, poor and inconsistent healthcare services, and intermittent electricity supply. 

In April 2023, Mexican authorities promised to relocate the community to mitigate the impact of the climate crisis on families there, but that is yet to happen.

The situation in El Bosque and in Acapulco,  a well-known resort town that was hit on October 25 by the strongest storm ever to hit Mexico’s Pacific Coast, point to the failure of the Mexican government to protect marginalized people who are most affected by the climate crisis.

Learn More about the impact of climate change

Blog by Guadalupe Cobos Pacheco, a member of the El Bosque community in Tabasco, Mexico: We may be the first people displaced by climate change in Mexico, but we won’t be the last

For further background on this case including letter writing, please read the original Urgent Action.

Top image: A photo of the extent of destruction caused by tidal waves. Image credit: Comunidad el Bosque

Thousands of people took to the streets across Peru between December 2022 and February 2023 following the arrest and replacement of then-president Pedro Castillo. Even though the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, the police and army responded by opening fire with live ammunition, as well as shooting tear gas cannisters and metal pellets at close range – with predictably lethal consequences.

At least, 49 people were killed and more than a thousand were injured, including bystanders and people seeking to help the wounded. Amnesty’s investigation concludes that the repression was not only unlawful. It was racist because it disproportionately targeted Indigenous people and campesinos (rural farm workers), who have historically suffered discrimination, unequal access to political participation and the denial of their human rights.

Learn More

Peru: Investigations into lethal repression must not put justice for victims at risk (December 6, 2023)

Peru: Senior officials should be investigated over lethal repression of widespread protests (May 25, 2023)

Canada must stop arms exports to Peru amid deadly repression of protests (May 3)

Peru protests: 100 days later, racist repression and slow investigations continue (March 18, 2023)

Deadly repression of Peru protests shows ‘systematic racism’ (February 16, 2023)

Top image: Riot police fires tear gas at demonstrators during a protest against the government of President Dina Boluarte, in Lima on January 20, 2023. Photo by ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP via Getty Images.

Lilia Hemedzhy is a human rights defender and lawyer. She is one of the few lawyers working to defend the rights of Crimean Tatars, an Indigenous group that has faced intensified persecution from the Russian government since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Lilia was disbarred from the Bar Association of the Chechen Republic on July 15, 2022, mainly for her activism work in Russian-occupied Crimea. The decision was reversed, but then challenged in a Crimean court by the Bar Association of Crimea on March 30, 2023. Previously, Lilia’s request to be transferred to the Bar Association of Crimea had been arbitrarily declined.

Her disbarment has left her clients, who are mostly Muslims, without effective legal representation. This has deprived them of their human rights including the right to a fair trial and the right to practice their religion freely.

The decision to disbar Lilia could also discourage legal professionals and activists in the Russian Federation as well as Crimea at a time when politically motivated reprisals against activists are on the rise.

Learn More

Russia/Ukraine: Crimean Tatar human rights defender’s sentence upheld in mockery of international law

What else you can do to help

Send a personal letter to the President of Bar Association of the Chechen Republic. Details and addresses for letters are here.

Top image © STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Since November 1, 2023, at least 300,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan have been deported to Afghanistan. Others have been subjected to arbitrary arrests and unlawful detentions, with many families being separated as a result of the crackdown. Those being kept in newly established detention centres have been denied access to their families, lawyers and the media.

Many of the affected refugees have also had their homes demolished and properties seized since the government announced plans to forcibly remove unregistered Afghan refugees from the country. Several cases have been documented of Afghan refugees with proper documentation being deported as well.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that that there are presently more than 3.7 million Afghans living in Pakistan, the largest population of Afghan refugees in the world. This number includes 600,000 – human rights defenders, journalists, women activists and protesters – who fled Afghanistan due to fear of Taliban’s reprisal after the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021. Some people facing deportation from Pakistan could be applicants under Canada’s immigration programs, including the Special Immigration Measures Program for Afghans and the Human Rights Defenders stream.

Learn More

Pakistan: Halt mass detentions and deportations of Afghan refugees (10 Nov 2023)

What else you can do to help

Send a personal letter to the authorities in Pakistan. Details and addresses for letters are here.

Top image: NANGARHAR, AFGHANISTAN – NOVEMBER 06: Crowds continue to gather at Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossings following the Pakistani government’s decision to send back irregular Afghan migrants, at Torkham border crossing in Nangarhar, Afghanistan on November 06, 2023. (Photo by Hussain Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images)

On January 26th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) warned that people in Gaza face a real and imminent risk of genocide. The court issued six provisional measures ordering Israel to take specific steps to stop this including to provide urgent help like food, water, and medicine to the people there. Despite this, Israel has increased its attacks, making it very hard for help to reach Gaza.

The situation in Gaza is unprecedented. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), more than two million people are on the brink of starvation. The healthcare system is overwhelmed, with most hospitals struggling to function under the strain of too many patients and not enough supplies. The lack of electricity and fuel has plunged the area into even deeper crisis, hindering efforts to provide lifesaving services and complicating the already dire humanitarian situation.

Learn More

Israel defying ICJ ruling to prevent genocide by failing to allow adequate humanitarian aid to reach Gaza

Top image: Palestinians hold out their empty containers to be filled with food, distributed by charity organizations, behind bars since they are unable to obtain basic food supplies due to the embargo imposed by Israeli forces in Rafah, Gaza on February 25, 2024. Photo by Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images.

In Russia, merely speaking out against the war in Ukraine is an act of protest. A week after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the Russian authorities introduced a special set of laws, the so-called war censorship laws, that made opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine a crime.

These laws introduced prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading “fake news” and up to seven years for “discrediting” the Russian army. Many in Russia are now serving unjust prison sentences because of these laws.

Peaceful protest and freedom of expression are human rights. Sign our petition calling on the Russian authorities to repeal these laws and release all those imprisoned under them immediately and unconditionally.

Learn More

Russia: Arbitrary detention of RFE/RL editor signals new level of war-time censorship

Watch a short video on the right to protest in Russia

Top image: Anti war protester being arrested at the center of Moscow, in Moscow, Russia, on February 28, 2022 during a demonstration against the war on Ukraine. Photo by Daniil Danchenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

The Sri Lankan authorities have fiercely clamped down on protests and demonized protesters during a period of economic crisis and hardship in the country.

The government responded to largely peaceful protests with excessive and unnecessary force and emergency laws giving sweeping powers to the police and the armed forces, in an effort to curb further demonstrations. Since widespread protests began in March 2022, the police and armed forces have routinely misused tear gas and water cannons against largely peaceful protesters. On two occasions, security forces fired live ammunition at protesters, killing at least one person on April 19.

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Sri Lanka: Unlawful use of weapons in policing of protests (10 April 2024)

Sri Lanka: Online Safety Act major blow to freedom of expression (24 Jan 2024)

Sri Lanka: Authorities must exercise restraint in use of force and facilitate the right to peaceful assembly (27 Feb 2023)

Watch a short video about protest in Sri Lanka

Top image: policeman fires a tear gas canister to disperse protesters during the 50th day of anti-government protests demanding the resignation of Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the country’s crippling economic crisis, in Colombo on May 28, 2022. Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images.

The death in detention of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini on September 16, 2022, following her violent arrest by Iran’s “morality” police sparked an unprecedented popular uprising. The crackdown was swift and brutal: hundreds of protesters were killed, thousands injured, and over 20,000 arrested. The first protesters were executed in December 2022 after fast-tracked trials and forced confessions.

As women and girls led the call for change in Iran, challenging decades of gender-based discrimination and violence, they became targets for arrest and retaliation.

Iranian authorities are desperately trying to reassert their dominance and power over those who dared to stand up against decades of oppression and inequality during the ‘Woman. Life. Freedom.’ Uprising.

READ MORE​

Iran: International community must stand with women and girls defying compulsory veiling

Protect the Protest in Iran: the legacy of Mahsa Amini

Watch a short video on the impact of forced veiling

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO​

Sign and share the online action Stop the Execution Spree in Iran

Sign and share the online action Stop Schoolgirl Poisonings

Top image: Protester in Iran holds up a photo of Mahsa Amini

Progress happens when we come together to demand change. We should be able to do this without fear of being harmed, hurt, or even killed by the misuse of policing equipment.

Across the world, peaceful protesters face waves of repression from police and military forces in deliberate attempts to crush dissent. While less lethal weapons like tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and batons are promoted as safer alternatives to firearms, all too often these weapons are used unlawfully to harass, intimidate, punish, or drive away protesters, undermining their right to peaceful assembly.

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Amnesty International signs declaration calling for international controls to combat trade in tools of torture (20 Jan 2023)

Less lethal weapons: Unfettered trade in law enforcement equipment fuelling protest violations – new investigation (12 Oct 2023)

Read up on the Essential elements of the Torture-Free Trade Treaty

Read the campaign briefing Protect the Protest! Why we must save our right to protest

Watch a 6 minute video about How Police Are Using Tools of Torture Against Protesters

Top image: Demonstrators gather on 29 November 2019 in the center of the Santiago de Chile, Chile to protest against the abuses of the security forces, including eye injuries from misuse of weapons. Photo by Federico Rotter/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

In India, shops and homes of Muslims are being demolished by state authorities using bulldozers as a collective form of punishment. JCB bulldozers have become synonymous with the oppression of Muslims as leaders and supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) use JCB bulldozers to spread their hate narrative.

Indian authorities have been enforcing arbitrary and punitive demolition of Muslim properties. The demolitions carried out without any due process have left many Muslims homeless or deprived of their livelihoods. 

What survivors told Amnesty International

“It was around afternoon. Everyone was sleeping in my house. We were fatigued after fasting for Ramzan. Suddenly we heard a lot of commotion outside. We came out and saw four or five JCB machines coming towards our house. The machines directly attacked our house. We were not given any notice, nothing.”
Hasina Bi, in Khargone town of Madhya Pradesh

“[The authorities] used the JCB machines to compel me to surrender. They have wrongfully accused me of orchestrating the Ram Navami violence in Sendhwa. On the day of the demolition, the JCB machines were lined up outside my father’s house. They forced everyone out and started demolishing everything without any notice. When my father asked them to stop, the authorities said they would only stop the JCB machines when I surrender.”
Samer Khan, in Sendhwa town of Madhya Pradesh

“The state authorities demolished the house of Javed Mohammed in front of hundreds of cameramen. They used the JCB bulldozers to create an atmosphere of fear and terror.”
KK Roy, lawyer representing Javed Mohammed

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India: Authorities must immediately stop unjust targeted demolition of Muslim properties (7 Feb 2024)

Top image: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is participating in a roadshow aboard a bulldozer in support of BJP candidate Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore from the Jhotwara constituency ahead of the Rajasthan Assembly elections in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, on November 23, 2023. Photo by Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

The war in Ukraine has now lasted for ten years, beginning with the Russian occupation of Crimea in February 2014. Countless atrocities have been committed against people in Ukraine over the last decade. The international community must unite to defend human rights in Ukraine. Those responsible for gross violations and crimes under international law must be brought to justice. Stand with the survivors and demand justice for Ukraine!

Learn more:

Justice for Ukraine means accountability for all crimes committed by Russia since 2014 (22 Feb 2024)

Ukraine/Russia: Children’s futures under attack as Russian aggression in Ukraine continues to restrict schooling (11 Dec 2023)

Ukraine: Russian invasion has forced older people with disabilities to endure isolation and neglect – new report (1 Dec 2023)

Ukraine/Russia: New history textbook is a blatant attempt to unlawfully indoctrinate school children in Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories (1 Sept 2023)

Watch the one minute video on 10 years of Russian war on Ukraine

Top image: Mariupol, Ukraine: The rear entrance of the Mariupol drama theatre shortly after the attack © Amnesty International.