June 2000

Abduction, rape and sexual slavery of girls and women in Sierra Leone must be stopped, says Amnesty International in a new report released today. These practices have been among the most abhorrent and distressing features of the nine-year internal armed conflict in Sierra Leone. Posted: 30 Jun 2000

Amnesty International is calling on Home Secretary Jack Straw to raise the issue of numerous miscarriages of justice and serious human rights abuses in the Saudi Arabian judicial system when he meets the Governor of the Riyadh region, Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, on Monday 3 July during the Prince's visit to the UK. Posted: 30 Jun 2000

Politically motivated violence and intimidation of individuals and local communities must stop, Amnesty International said today as political pressure intensifies in the run-up to the elections of 2 July. Posted: 29 Jun 2000

Until the government of Pakistan takes decisive action to end the harassment and political intimidation of Afghan intellectuals living as refugees in Pakistan, dozens of prominent Afghans will remain at risk of deportation and human rights abuses, Amnesty International warned today. Posted: 29 Jun 2000

BBC television producer Caroline Pare is amongst ten people arrested in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who have been named in an Amnesty International urgent action circular. Posted: 29 Jun 2000

Amnesty International wrote today to the Turkish Prime Minister, on the first anniversary of Abdullah Ocalan's death sentence, to raise concern over his solitary confinement in a prison on the Turkish island of Imrali. Posted: 29 Jun 2000

Now that the elections are over in Zimbabwe, the government must move the country forward by fully investigating the human rights violations in the run up to the elections and bringing the perpetrators to justice, Amnesty International said. Posted: 28 Jun 2000

While firm measures are necessary to quell sectarian violence in the Moluccas, Indonesia, a state of emergency is not a licence for the security forces to commit further human rights violations, Amnesty International warned today. Posted: 28 Jun 2000

Amnesty International is writing today urging Bashar al-Asad, the Syrian President-elect, and the new Syrian leadership to put human rights high on its agenda by releasing political prisoners in Syria, unless they are retried fairly, and instituting a program of judicial and legislative reform. Posted: 27 Jun 2000

President Kim Dae-jung and his government must either abolish or amend the National Security Law in South Korea in accordance with international human rights standards, Amnesty International said today following the unprecedented inter-Korean summit from 13-15 June 2000. Posted: 27 Jun 2000

State killing is not an answer to crime, Amnesty International said today calling on the Guatemalan authorities to stop the planned executions. Posted: 26 Jun 2000

State killing is not an answer to crime, Amnesty International said today calling on the Guatemalan authorities to stop the planned executions. Posted: 26 Jun 2000

Indian government and parliamentary representatives must ensure that if new anti-terrorist legislation is to be passed, it does not repeat the mistakes of previous legislation and provides safeguards for human rights, Amnesty International said today in a new report. Posted: 26 Jun 2000

Any court to try perpetrators of human rights abuses in Sierra Leone must provide real and credible justice, Amnesty International said today. Posted: 23 Jun 2000

Greater protection and promotion of all the rights enshrined in the American Convention on Human Rights should be central to the OAS Secretary General's forthcoming visit to Peru in the wake of Presidential elections marred by fraud, Amnesty International said today. Posted: 23 Jun 2000

Amnesty International is pleased to announce the winners of this years Media Awards. The ninth annual ceremony was hosted by Michael Mansfield QC at BAFTA, in London on Thursday 22 June 2000. Posted: 23 Jun 2000

Amnesty International criticised today the summary trials of more than 2,000 former South Lebanon Army militia members and those said to have "collaborated" with Israel as "travesties" of justice. Posted: 23 Jun 2000

Journalist and Senator Obie Wilchcombe, imprisoned yesterday, 21 June 2000, for refusing to disclose confidential information, must be immediately and unconditionally released, Amnesty International said today, declaring him a prisoner of conscience. Posted: 23 Jun 2000

Journalists are under siege from all actors of the increasingly brutal Colombian armed conflict, Amnesty International said today as the organisation's UK Section presents Colombian journalist Ignacio Gómez with its annual international media award. Posted: 23 Jun 2000

Human rights must be central to anyone intending to monitor the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe, Maina Kiai, Amnesty International's Africa Director, said in the light of the Zimbabwean government's refusal to accredit certain electoral observers. Posted: 23 Jun 2000