February 2003

As the government published new statistics showing that Iraqi nationals comprised the highest number (14,940) of those who sought asylum in the UK during 2002, Amnesty International UK is calling on the government to protect vulnerable groups reaching this country from dangerous places like Iraq. Posted: 28 Feb 2003

Amnesty International UK is supporting the UK release of the powerful new film Lilya 4-Ever as part of its campaign work on women's rights and its 'Justice For All In Russia' campaign. Posted: 28 Feb 2003

As the International Contact Group on Liberia meets today in New York, it should give priority to tackling the human rights crisis in Liberia, Amnesty International said. Posted: 28 Feb 2003

Amnesty International today issued a public document requesting the immediate and unconditional release of a number of Cuban individuals on the grounds that they are prisoners of conscience detained solely for the peaceful exercise of fundamental freedoms. Posted: 27 Feb 2003

Human rights delegation visit An Amnesty International delegation to Algeria has today announced its grave concerns over human rights even as planned government reforms hold out the promise of greater human rights protection in the country. Posted: 27 Feb 2003

On the first anniversary of the Godhra and post Godhra massacres in Gujarat state, Amnesty International today (27 February) made a renewed call on the Indian authorities for justice for all the Hindu and Muslim victims and survivors and their families. Posted: 27 Feb 2003

Amnesty International is calling on the UK's House of Commons to press for human rights monitors to be sent into Iraq, and to discuss the human rights and humanitarian impact of conflict in Iraq during its debate on Wednesday 26 February. Posted: 26 Feb 2003

Women in custody in Turkey risk being subjected to sexual violence by members of the state security forces, Amnesty International warned today as it released the report Turkey: End sexual violence against women in custody Posted: 26 Feb 2003

Amnesty International welcomes President Omar al-Beshir's recent decree ordering the appointment of a committee to bring Sudanese laws in line with international humanitarian law and to set up implementation mechanisms. Posted: 26 Feb 2003

Amnesty International today called on the Spanish authorities to act promptly to clarify and substantiate the grounds on which a Basque-language newspaper was shut down, and a number of persons arrested. Posted: 25 Feb 2003

Although the UK government's long-awaited ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict is to be welcomed, it falls short of stopping children being sent into battle, according to the UK Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. Posted: 25 Feb 2003

The Honduran government must urgently investigate the murders and extrajudicial executions of 1,500 children and youths, said Amnesty International today, as it released a new 48-page report, 'Zero Tolerance' ... for Impunity: extrajudicial executions of children and youths since 1998. Posted: 25 Feb 2003

Amnesty International condemns in the strongest terms the failure of the Burundian justice system to bring to justice members of the Burundian armedforces responsible for the massacre of between 173 and 267 unarmed civilians, many of them women, children and the elderly, who were deliberately and unlawfully killed in Itaba commune, Gitega province on 9 September 2002. Posted: 24 Feb 2003

Amnesty International today expressed its support for calls by Moroccan human rights organisations and activists who protested before the Moroccan parliament yesterday against the government's draft "anti-terrorism-law". Posted: 21 Feb 2003

After an armed attack on government forces and the attack, apparently by bandits, on the manager of the Jebel Marra Development Project, Amnesty International is urging the Government of Sudan to set up an independent Commission of Inquiry into the situation in Darfur in the West of Sudan. Posted: 21 Feb 2003

One day before further demonstrations against a war in Iraq are scheduled to take place in Egypt, Amnesty International urged the Egyptian authorities to respect people's rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Posted: 21 Feb 2003

As the four-month-long Somali Peace and Reconciliation Conference resumes at a new Kenyan venue and with a new chairperson, Somali human rights activists have issued an important declaration founded on their many years of mostly unacknowledged and risk-fraught human rights defence work. Posted: 21 Feb 2003

Amnesty International today expressed grave concern that this week's events in Venezuela - including the detention of a prominent opposition figure and the killing of army dissidents - could lead to a further deterioration of the human rights situation in the country. Posted: 21 Feb 2003

As President Mugabe visits Paris to participate in the Franco-African Summit, Amnesty International is urging French and African heads of state to seize the opportunity to publicly state that they will not tolerate human rights violations in Zimbabwe. Posted: 20 Feb 2003

Amnesty International today expressed grave concern about hundreds of reported killings of drug trafficking suspects by the Thai security forces since 1 February 2003 - the day when Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced a "war on drugs". Posted: 20 Feb 2003