Campaigns Blog

This is a guest post from Ellie Clayton and Gordon Bennett, who've both worked for our Supporter Care team, currently under house arrest in Tel Aviv We’re writing this from a flat in a Tel Aviv high-rise apartment block. We’ve been...

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s conditional moratorium on executions of death row prisoners leaves at least 38 people still at great risk of execution, Amnesty International said today. Last Friday evening (14 September), President...

It’s dark. You’re in a cell. You’re not alone: there are bodies slumped around you. Some of them are asleep on piles of clothes – at least, you hope they’re just sleeping. Some of them have their arms and legs chained. The smell from...

When reading statements by important political figures concerning the human rights & humanitarian crisis in Syria I often try, as much as is reasonably possible, to put myself in the position of those living in fear, those exiled...

The whereabouts of the 22 Syrians below are unknown. Their families don't know if they're alive or dead. The authorities refuse to disclose any information about their whereabouts or their well-being. Today is the International Day of...

Update Wednesday 19 September Donatella has just returned from Syria where, in parts of the Idlib and North Hama regions, she again witnessed indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas with no apparent military target. As this video from...

It is true that one can say they want a new Syria where all people's human rights are respected AND cheer the brutal extrajudicial execution of members of the notorious Berri clan in Aleppo. This is possible but let’s be clear; it...

Update 7 November 2012 - An Arms Trade Treaty one step closer after resounding UN vote The 2012 UN General Assembly has seen the biggest showing of support for the Treaty yet - 157 governments have voted in favour of a final...

Update, 28 July: Despite a fantastic response from all of you and the UK government pulling out the stops in strengthening the treaty, the US showed stunning cowardice last night to stop the negotiations , opening the door for others...

Chair says "let's tango". China says "let's abandon our efforts". It is the day we have been waiting for. The day civil society has been working towards for decades, and many governments for six years. For some of us, with the way...

Update - thanks for adding your questions to the #AskFCO Q&A. Alistair Burt maintained throughout that the UK government is determined to get the strongest treaty they can, read the full transcript of the Q&A . It's our job now to keep...

Horrific footage has emerged of a woman being killed in Afghanistan. The Guardian and others are reporting that she had been accused of adultery , and that her murder seems to be in retribution for this alleged ‘crime’. The attack...

‘These three activists have now been behind bars for months, awaiting a trial that should not be taking place’ - John Dalhuisen Amnesty International has reiterated its call for the release of three members of the female punk group...

Arms Trade Treaty negotiations are at a crucial point. I can hardly believe that we’re already half way through. So much has happened and yet in terms of concrete decisions, Moritan (the president of the conference) sums it up nicely:...

‘[T]hey took me and five other women into a room. It was in the morning. There were three of them. They told us to undress. I refused. One of them hit me with his knife. I told him it was not human. He said: ‘We will see about that’...

Cesar Marin from Amnesty Venezuela offers our round up from the first week of Arms Trade Treaty negotiations in New York. Keep up-to-date on facebook

Time at the UN is a precious commodity. Being told by Chair Ambassador Moritan that there are just 99 hours of negotiation left for the Arms Trade Treaty was a sobering moment. The sceptics, countries like Syria, Egypt, Iran and others...

I have fireworks on the mind. I love fireworks. I love other people's reactions to them. Let’s see if that's still the case by the time these talks end on 27 July... Experiencing them here in NYC is a happy by-product of being part of...

Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news is that a procedural stumbling block related to Palestine’s status at the UN laid waste to the first day of this 19 day long negotiation. The good news is that Foreign Office...

As part of a blog-swap with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Paul Arkwright, the UK Ambassador to the Netherlands , blogs on the start of the Arms Trade Treaty negotiations. Today marks the start of important negotiations in New York...