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2008 (247)
Nov 26 2008 11:58AM
Picture this: Congo without war

To paraphrase John Lennon, you may call me a dreamer but I can imagine the Democratic Republic of Congo without war. Just. Shockingly, after a decade or more of continuous violence it’s actually now difficult to envisage a peaceful...

Nov 25 2008 2:51PM
Jam today, an end to sex trafficking tomorrow

Empty gesture from “jam makers”, or an important move to help tackle sexual slavery? Today’s news that those former barrackers of Tony Blair the Women’s Institute are going to start monitoring the local press for classified ads...

Nov 24 2008 5:57PM
Tasers: A Shock to the Policing System

I was surfing the TV channels last night and found myself watching one of those dreadful programmes that follow police around a town centre on a Friday night. It elicited a mixture of depression and terror: scores of boozed-up Brits...

Nov 21 2008 4:22PM
Counting down to the end of Guantanamo...

Looking forward to Obama sweeping into office and making his first action the closure of Guantanamo? Well maybe the courts will get there first. Yesterday a judge in Washington yesterday ruled that five Algerian men who have been held...

Nov 20 2008 1:11PM
The Congo: getting impatient

I caught the end of The Today Programme’s interview with Lord Malloch-Brown from Rwanda this morning, in which he talked about the ‘beginnings of a strategy’ forming on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It did make me wonder...

Nov 19 2008 4:59PM
Birkenhead made a buffer zone between warring factions

Occasionally in the Amnesty press office we get random calls asking ‘what’s the worst crisis right now that no one’s reporting?’ (and another favourite, ‘do you know where any war criminals are hiding? can I have their addresses?’)...

Nov 18 2008 12:27PM
Georgia/Russia: an inspector should call

What were you doing on Friday 8 August? As it happens, I can remember because that’s when I was working for Amnesty at the Edinburgh Festival. Why do I ask? Because this was when the astonishing news broke that Georgia and Russia were...

Nov 17 2008 5:09PM
I went to an Obama celebration party and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

I understand there was also quite a bit on planning for the presidential pooch, but Barack Obama’s big US television interview commitment to close Guantánamo, end torture and “regain America's moral stature in the world" has definitely...

Nov 14 2008 12:27PM
Supporting journalists at risk

I was at the British Film Institute on London’s South Bank yesterday evening. Not to see a movie but for the Rory Peck Awards , which recognise the work of freelance cameramen and camerawomen in TV newsgathering and current affairs...

Nov 13 2008 4:51PM
A woman is like wool; the more you beat her, the softer she'll be

The title is a popular saying in Armenia, subject of a new Amnesty report on violence against women, released today. Our researcher and my international press office colleague Lydia were in the capital Yeravan this morning to launch...

Nov 12 2008 5:00PM
Free speech and its limitations

There’s a lively debate about free speech going on at the moment, spearheaded it seems by the unlikely bedfellows of the Independent and the Daily Mail. The Indie’s beef is about new proposals that could give the government greater...

Nov 11 2008 5:12PM
Burmas response to blogging: imprison and be damned

"…a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!" Lewis Carroll might have revelled in the bizarre, through the looking glass world that is modern-day Burma. After all, how many other topsy-turvy places...

Nov 10 2008 1:00PM
A weekend with students

So there you have it, Student Conference over for another year. And well, what can I say? It was a blast. It was one of those times when you remember why you belong to Amnesty International. Firstly there was the unrepentant enthusiasm...

Nov 7 2008 1:16PM
Jailed for her religion, forced to work 19-hour days making cotton buds: the story of Chen Zhenping

Ever wondered where your cotton buds come from? (that’s Q-tips for American readers – the things you clean your ears out with but aren’t really meant to). No, me neither. Maybe we should. Amnesty’s just heard about the case of Chen...

Nov 6 2008 5:55PM
Aid workers and rights defenders under attack in Somalia

Stories from Somalia seem to be the hot topic for Amnesty this week. We began the week by flagging up the tragic story of the 13-year-old girl who was stoned to death, and today’s blog once again throws the escalating crisis in Somalia...

Nov 5 2008 11:31AM
Obama: a new dawn for human rights?

So it’s Barack! Resisting the (slightly obsessive?) need-to-know-as-it-happens-ness of staying up all night, I only heard the result at 7.30 this morning on the news. (Though well done to ChrisChris for posting at 2.49am!) In times...

Nov 4 2008 3:16PM
Today's youth defy the critics

Some people have got it into their heads that youth activism is on the decline and the days of the young changing the world have passed. Over the last few days I’ve witnessed first hand what complete nonsense that is. Yesterday I was...

Nov 3 2008 4:23PM
Somalia stoning: A story that left me reeling in shock and sadness

Although I work on human rights issues every day at Amnesty, there are some cases which leave me with pure sadness. And this latest story from Somalia is one such incident. You may have seen reports last week that a woman was stoned to...

Oct 30 2008 1:23PM
Theres only one Barcelona: the case of Yassine Bellasal

As anyone who’s visited our office in east London will know, Amnesty UK HQ is located in an untidy area of Shoreditch. But I like it. It’s hip, it’s happening and it’s got a lot of messy – and sometimes quite attractive – graffiti all...

Oct 29 2008 5:24PM
Crisis in Congo

The conflict bubbling across the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo between rebel groups and the government’s armed forces is dominating much of the international news agenda. Channel Four News opened last night's...

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