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2013 (58)
Aug 8 2013 4:26PM
Zimbabwe: human rights concerns despite a peaceful election

It’s one week on from the Zimbabwean election and it’s been quite a week for the country… I’ll try to give a quick summary of the past week’s events, and our concerns following reports of human rights violations in some districts. Urge...

Aug 7 2013 3:38PM
A snapshot of Aleppo's devastation

"Yousef (7), Mohammed (5), Ali (2), Hamza (12), Zahra (10), Husna (8), Fatima (10), Ahmad (7), Abdel Karim (2), Hassan (18 months)… Why did they bomb here? … There were only civilians here. Our quarter was full of life, children...

Jul 31 2013 4:42PM
Zimbabwe goes to the polls peacefully – but will it stay that way?

Zimbabweans have gone to the polls today for the first time since the violent elections of 2008, when 200 people were killed and thousands more were injured and displaced from their homes. The majority of the global media is focussing...

Jul 25 2013 3:33PM
Lessons in the Laws of War - A New Syrian Group takes on the Challenge

Indiscriminate attacks and reckless use of weapons, use of children, torture and ill-treatment of captives, sectarian threats and attacks, abductions and hostage taking, killings of civilians, including journalists and members of...

Jul 18 2013 4:16PM
A visit to the Za’atri refugee camp Jordan: ‘I wish I could invite you into the beautiful house we had back home’

By Neil Sammonds, Syria Researcher at Amnesty International Twelve kilometres south of the border with Syria lies the Za’atri refugee camp in Jordan. Over 130,000 refugees, who have fled the conflict in Syria, live here in a 7km-wide...

Jul 17 2013 12:12PM
18,000 voices call for violence free elections in Zimbabwe

Today, Amnesty colleagues and I will present 7,000 action cards to the South African High Commission and an 11,000 strong petition to the Tanzanian High Commission in London, calling for violence-free elections in Zimbabwe . What have...

Jul 4 2013 6:29PM
Roma rights now: 93,000 thank yous

Over the past few months Amnesty groups all around Europe have been gathering signatures, calling on the EU to intervene where governments are breaching anti-dscirmination laws by abusing Romani people's rights. Many thousand of you...

Jul 2 2013 12:02AM
A Map of Non-Violent Activism in Syria

Non violent resistance in Syria? Don’t make me laugh. Those trying to topple Assad are all cannibals and head choppers….or so the likes of the academic “Angry Arab”, Asad Abu Khalil would, it would seem at times, try to convince you...

Jun 26 2013 11:59AM
Beatrice Mtetwa and the rule of law in Zimbabwe

Last week a group of us from the office went to the premier of a documentary at the LSE called Beatrice Mtetwa and The Rule Of Law. Having already seen a short preview of the film the day before we knew we were in for a treat. Since...

Jun 22 2013 11:35PM
A thousand Bassel Shehadeh's blossom

On June 18 at Amnesty International UK, the Bassel Shehadeh Foundation was officially announced at a special screening of the documentary Syria through a Lens - The life and works of the film maker Bassel Shehadeh. Syria is probably...

Jun 21 2013 4:58PM
Syrian activists building the new Syria

Amnesty International UK recently hosted 16 leading activists from the Syrian Non Violence Movement (SNVM). They came for an intensive 2 day training session in our Human Rights Action Centre . The all day sessions were on “campaign...

Jun 20 2013 5:32PM
Syria’s internally displaced – ‘The world has forgotten us’

On a recent visit to a camp near Atmeh, just inside Syria near the Turkish border, some 21,000 people were sheltering amid hellish conditions. Heavy rain leaked into the tents and had turned the clay soil into thick slippery mud, raw...

Jun 14 2013 4:58PM
Election date set for Zimbabwe, but will it hold?

Update 17June: Following the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Mozambique on Saturday, SADC recommended that the Zimbabwean government push the election date back to 14 August. Zimbabwe's constitutional court now...

May 28 2013 12:01PM
Zimbabwe: What price justice?

This blog post is by Frances Webber, human rights lawyer, author of Borderline justice: the fight for refugee and migrant rights (Pluto, 2012), an honorary vice-president of the Haldane Society and vice-chair of the Institute of Race...

May 24 2013 4:27PM
Zimbabwe: A new constitution, a new way?

It’s been a historic week for Zimbabwe as President Mugabe signed a new constitution into law, a positive development that has the potential to increase ordinary Zimbabwean's enjoyment of their basic rights. The constitution paves the...

May 3 2013 2:42AM
Targeting media activists in Syria: The case of Mus'ab al-Hamadi

Mus’ab al-Hamadi, aged 32, is a well-known media activist and member of the Local Coordination Committee (LCC) in Hama. He has been heavily involved in collating information and posting videos of abuses committed by Syrian government...

Apr 30 2013 3:57PM
Tackling rape as a weapon of war

Human rights breakthroughs are like buses, you wait ages for one… We’d barely recovered from the excitement of the Arms Trade Treaty vote at the United Nations on 2 April, when on 11 April, Foreign Secretary William Hague and the 7...

Apr 19 2013 5:02PM
Good news! Indian Supreme Court hands decision on Vedanta mine to Indigenous community

Our Business and Human Rights Advisor Paul Eagle reflects on a landmark ruling by the India Supreme Court which puts the decision about whether or not Vedanta can open a mine into the hands of the local Indigenous community. After many...

Apr 2 2013 4:50PM
Congratulations, you've made history

I am pinching myself because I can hardly believe it is finally time to write these words, but for the first time ever (excuse the shouting): THE WORLD HAS GOT AN ARMS TRADE TREATY!! [cue lots of jumping around, yelping and hugging]...

Mar 28 2013 6:35PM
Albert's tomorrow - seeking justice after 41 years

Today will be much the same as yesterday for Albert Woodfox. And yesterday will have been much the same as thousands of days before that. At least 23 hours of Albert’s day will be spent alone, in a cell measuring 2 x 3 metres. For the...

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