Today is my last day in the office for 2008 and it’s eerily quiet. The phones have rung only once all morning, and it’s pretty obvious that much of the media has packed up for the Christmas break. But as the wheels of politics and...

The One Shows special feature on the use of Tasers in the UK kickstarted a lively discussion both online and in the studio. Bette Midler thinks that theyre terrible and doesnt think that British police officers should be carrying them...

Ever been to a party where one guest is determined to pour cold water on the fun and frolics? Well the Daily Mail has certainly sought to do that by attacking the Human Rights Act – on the week the world gears up to celebrate the 60th...

Clearly 2008 has not been a good year for the people of Zimbabwe. Intense hunger for millions, instability, violence and serious human rights abuses have ravaged much of the country this year. And now with an outbreak of cholera...

The Mumbai attacks and Thailand’s state of emergency on its airports are definitely the stories catching today’s media glare. Meanwhile, life for thousands of people in eastern Congo remains turbulent, volatile and pretty desperate...

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...

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...

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...

Although I’ve worked at Amnesty for nearly three years, I never stop being shocked at some of the reports we receive about the dreadfully cruel and inhumane way people are treated around the world. And today’s report about life for men...

What’s the first thing you think of when you think of General Pinochet? Dictator? Military junta? Chile? Well for us at Amnesty, we would probably agree with most of that, but we would defnitely have to add one other element: the...

Today marks 40 years since one of the worst cases of mass killing took place in Mexico City’s history – the Tlatelolco massacre. As Al-Jazeera English reports, the massacre occurred when hundreds of students took to the main square in...

Some of you may have heard Amnesty’s Democratic Republic of Congo researcher on the Today programme at 6.50 this morning. He spoke movingly of the dreadful impact that the conflict in eastern DRC is having on the general population in...

Amid the reports that Burma’s decided to release 9,000 prisoners for good conduct, Amnesty has learned that U Win Tin – Burma’s longest serving prisoner of conscience who’s been in prison for 19 years – is free at last. At 78, U Win...

Amnesty’s released a major new report on the global arms trade today. Some of you may have spotted the story on ft.com or in the Guardian today. Essentially Blood at the Crossroads outlines how weapons transfers to already volatile...

So – the deal has been done. The papers have been signed. President Robert Mugabe has signed the historic power-sharing deal on stage with Zimbabwe’s new Prime Minister – Morgan Tsvangirai and leader of the breakaway opposition party...

Unusual for Google , there’s no birthday cake or symbol of any sort on its home page to suggest that Google’s reached its 10th birthday today. Ten, eh? Normally this is the point where we say, ‘my, hasn’t time gone quickly?’ But on...

It’s on days like this when us London-based folk take our hats off to our colleagues north of the border: if ever there were a group of people who knew how to multi-task, it’s Amnesty’s Scotland office. While maintaining Amnesty’s high...

It seems as if no amount of high-level international pressure from celebrities or state leaders, mass demonstrations in the world’s capitals or even a petition for an international arrest warrant will stop the Sudanese government’s...

That old horse chestnut has cropped up again: you know the one – ‘ isn’t the woman partly to blame for being raped if she’s drunk?’ The topic was kick-started yesterday after authorities overturned the decision to reduce the amount of...

The Home Office released its latest figures on the amount of times police officers have used or drawn the Taser over the past 12 months yesterday. This came as no surprise because there are now not only more officers carrying this...