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2013 (38)
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 5 2013 11:23AM
Music with meaning – A Symphony of Support for Afghan women

Guest blog by Stephen Sacco A full orchestra comprised of Edinburgh’s classical musicians filled Reid Concert Hall in Bistro Square with the sounds of Tchaikovsky, Walton and Wagner on a recent Sunday evening. The concert was a tribute...

Jul 2 2013 4:32PM
Adventures in the corridors of power - my evening at the Arms Trade Treaty celebration

GUEST POST by Amnesty Scotland's new media volunteer Katie Cunningham I have recently joined Amnesty in Edinburgh as a media volunteer. One of my first “official duties” was to attend an event at the Scottish Parliament to thank MSPs...

Jun 21 2013 12:28PM
Turkey: standing still is not a crime

An update from Andrew Gardner, Amnesty’s Turkey researcher in Istanbul. On Monday night, one person went to Taksim Square and just stood still in a silent and symbolic protest against the recent violence there. The same evening, lots...

Jun 20 2013 2:55PM
What a tangled web we weave – Freedom of expression on the Internet

Rea Cris is the Parliamentary Office Administrator at Scottish Environmental LINK and Communication Co-ordinator at the International Union for Conservation of Nature. You can find her on the Me Eco You Eco corner of the blogosphere or...

Jun 16 2013 12:23PM
A hospital in Amnesty's Turkey office

Murat Çekiç, Director of Amnesty Turkey, on a sleepless week in Istanbul. As I write this, there are at least 10,000 people in Taksim Square, all protesting for 10,000 reasons. But here in our office, everything is calm. We had a...

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 22 2013 2:20PM
How to turn a mobile phone into an alert system for activists

As a student activist speaking out against the government, Hassan is at constant threat of being arrested. The Sudanese government tracks and harasses members of the student movement he belongs to. Reports of his friends and contacts...

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 10 2013 11:11AM
Set free from death row

Kirk Bloodsworth is the first person in the US to be exonerated from death row by DNA evidence. Kirk is now Advocacy Director at Witness to Innonence, and was a key part of the campaign to abolish the death penalty in Maryland. This is...

Mar 23 2013 2:16PM
Are states getting cold feet as Arms Trade Treaty talks hot up?

Widney Brown, our Senior Director of International Law and Policy is with the Amnesty delegation at the UN, where states are negotiating the first ever Arms Trade Treaty. As the first week draws to a close at the Arms Trade Treaty...

Mar 22 2013 5:35PM
Alcohol free me - going dry for human rights

Julia Hardy is giving up alcohol for a year and has already raised over £1,200 for us - thank you, Julia! Find out why she chose Amnesty and what she plans to do to keep up her year-long challenge. The number one question you get asked...

Mar 19 2013 10:11AM
The story behind our first Urgent Action, forty years ago

It’s hard to believe that it’s forty years since I issued Amnesty’s first ‘Urgent Action’. It was for Professor Luis Basilio Rossi, labour lawyer, academic and political activist at the University of Sao Paulo, who “disappeared” after...

Mar 8 2013 2:32PM
A letter to my mother

Salaam Mother Jaan, How are you doing? I hope you’re fine and healthy. Everyone at home misses you, as ever; whenever we sit around the lunch table, your empty seat stares back at us and all we wish is for you to be here with us always...

Mar 8 2013 10:55AM
Putting women at the heart of an Arms Trade Treaty

Jasmin Galace is from the Centre for Peace Education in the Philippines. Last July, her campaigning was fundamental to ensuring that the prevention of Gender Based Violence was included in the first draft of an Arms Trade Treaty. With...

Mar 3 2013 1:08PM
'The time is now' for girls and women

You are reading this at a vitally important moment for women's rights and gender equality. We are on the eve of the 57th meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York – the principle global policy making...

Feb 25 2013 12:16PM
The time is now to prevent weapons getting into the hands of human rights abusers

As we launch a new action calling on MPs to endorse a robust Arms Trade Treaty, Labour & Co-operative MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun Cathy Jamieson pledges her support. At least one person dies every minute as a result of armed violence...

Feb 8 2013 3:48PM
My sister, on death row for fighting back

Li Dehuai is the brother of Li Yan, who is on death row in China. After years of violent abuse from her husband, she finally snapped in November 2010 and repeatedly hit him over the head with a gun, to stop him beating her. This is his...

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