Coronavirus and human rights

'Before Our Eyes' is a short film by Amnesty International UK with Olivia Colman and Adrian Lester to engage and educate the public on the very real threat to human rights in the UK.

Amnesty issues key human rights calls on asylum, Northern Ireland, arms to Israel, homelessness, and protests

We spoke to people in Scotland, Wales, and England to learn more about everyday rights violations in the UK. Our findings show how the social safety net is crumbling, leaving many people without their rights. Read the voices from the frontline of the fight for everyday rights for a more in-depth look at the reality of everyday rights violations in the UK.

Giant Westminster station posters feature yellow-and-black hazard tape with ‘a lot needs fixing’ message

Call for ‘rights renaissance’, with to-do list including an immediate suspension of arms to Israel, scrapping of Rwanda Act, Troubles Act and anti-protest measures, and tackling homelessness crisis 

Homelessness has worsened significantly since the last election. So why have most of the parties vying for power appear to dedicate much less word count and made far fewer concrete commitments in manifestos to tackling homelessness?

Read our analysis and what people experiencing homelessness tell us THEY want to see.

The deepening conditions of poverty in the UK are a human rights violation. Now, people living through it have presented a powerful reality check directly to the United Nations.

Economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR) are for individuals' well-being and dignity; and they are about the rights we need to live our lives on a daily basis, the food we eat, the homes we live in, the education we can offer to our kids.

This course covers the global scope of specific ESCR, including social security, housing, work, water, food, education and health. Take our course on how ESCR generally provide a basis to fight poverty and inequality, and receive an Amnesty International certificate.

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) affect all of us in our everyday lives. They influence our quality of life including our education, our work, our health, our homes, the food on our tables and how the state will step in if things go wrong, and we need financial or other help.

5 human rights organisations, Just Fair, Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch, René Cassin & Liberty join the Guarantee our Essentials campaign, calling for Universal Credit to be legally required to cover a minimum that allows people to realise their rights.

11,000 joined Amnesty International UK to call on the UK Government to make access to safe and affordable housing a human right for all in England - with this right enshrined in law - in a petition that Amnesty has handed to Michael Gove at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

In the height of Covid-19, 375 trans and gender diverse people reported to have been killed globally in one year

For too long, homelessness in England has been explained as the failure of the individual to cope with the stresses and strains of life. Explore our 2022 Report on homelessness assistance and the right to housing in England, and read our recommendations.

Report reveals ‘a grossly disproportionate effect on those who already faced systematic discrimination’

Responding to North Korean state media declaring a “maximum national emergency” after the country’s first officially reported Covid-19 outbreak, Amnesty International’s East Asia Researcher Boram Jang said:

“There is no evidence to show that North Korea has access to enough vaccines to protect its population from Covid-19. Yet, it has rejected millions of doses of AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines offered by the WHO-led COVAX programme, a global Covid-19 vaccine distribution mechanism which requires transparent distribution and monitoring."

In 2021, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna projected revenues of up to £40 billion, yet supplied less than 2% of their vaccines to low-income countries

Pledging to provide one billion doses is a drop in the ocean and wouldn’t come close to covering the population of India, let alone vaccinating the world’s population.