Archive for the ‘activism’ Category

By Oliver Sprague, Programme Director Arms, Amnesty International UK, writing from the Arms Trade Treaty negotiations in New York
It is self evident that to control the arms trade you have to control the things that kill, maim and brutalize people. You also have to control the ways that different types of weapons are irresponsibly [...]

Marleen van Ruijven, Senior Policy Officer, Amnesty International Netherlands, and Vijay Rajendran, Chair of the Amnesty International Amsterdam Student Group

On 4 July, we visited the headquarters of Shell in The Hague together with three other student activists (Hans-Georg Eilenberger, Lisanne Peelen and Iris ten Teije) to present the company with a global petition signed [...]

Joe Westby, Demand Dignity Corporate Campaigner, Amnesty International

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By Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of refugee and migrants’ rights

When Amnesty International started more than 50 years ago, our weapon of choice was the pen. Members in their thousands would write letters to governments asking for the release of prisoners of conscience. This simple tool was more [...]

By Anne Sophie Bonefeld, Head of Communication of Amnesty Denmark,
On Saturday, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty, will be one of the key note speakers alongside Aryeh Neier who is the President of the Open Society Foundations. Together with other international experts they will map and discuss the implications of the wave [...]

I am a Bahraini activist, involved in the Bahrain Revolution that started on 14 February.
When the army demolished the Pearl Roundabout and began arresting people, I was terrified. I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong – but they were crazy.

One night my house was raided by scores of officers. I was pulled out of [...]

By Jeremy Bloom and Vittorio Infante from the Central American team,

Thanks so much to all the people that have created their butterflies online and on paper! If you haven’t already please show your support. You can create your own butterfly here: bit.ly/butterfly50
In July, we delivered the first butterflies to girls that have survived sexual violence. [...]

By Nicki Lees International youth advisory and action body,
Over the course of two days at the end of last month, numerous governments stood up in the UN General Assembly in New York and proclaimed their lasting commitment to furthering the development of young people in their countries. They did this in celebration of 2011 – [...]

By Miranda Nicholas, U2 360º Tour embed, Art for Amnesty
North America has heated up to well over 100 degrees in every city we visit on the U2 360° tour. The passion of Amnesty International volunteers burns just as bright as the unrelenting sun as they continue to achieve record highs for signature collections at [...]

By Salil Shetty, Secretary General, Amnesty International
For those working in human rights, the events of the last week have led to some interesting but challenging debates.
We have heard government officials and pundits argue that torture led to the discovery of Osama Bin Laden. Somewhere, they claim, in a secret detention centre in Poland or [...]

By Andrea Huber, Head of Amnesty International’s delegation in Belgrade
The media centre was packed with journalists and representatives of NGOs today for the launch of Amnesty International’s report Home is more than a roof over your head, which details cases of Roma who are being denied adequate housing in Serbia.
We arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday, [...]

By Lucy Macnamara, Communications Manager  – Art for Amnesty
The concerts here in Buenos Aires have proved to be pretty exciting! Some fantastic campaigning by Amnesty Argentina volunteers meant that we have smashed through our target of 100,000 signatures for the Demand Dignity campaign since we started on the European leg of the U2 360° tour [...]

Lucy Macnamara, Communications Manager, Art for Amnesty
I’m back with Amnesty International on the U2 360 tour, kicking off the first concert of the Latin America leg here at the Estadio Nacioal in Santiago, Chile.  It’s an infamous stadium with a dark past.  I have to admit a shiver went down my spine as I first [...]

By Rachel Campbell, Amnesty International Campaigner for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Today, the UN Human Rights Council will meet to begin debating a crucial report on seriously flawed Israeli and Palestinian investigations into grave violations of international law committed during the 2008-2009 conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel.
By the end of [...]

By Max Tucker, Amnesty International’s campaigner for South Caucasus and Central Asia, reporting from Baku
Around 30 people were arrested in Baku today when part of a virtual protest against the government in Azerbaijan became reality.
Small groups of people gathered spontaneously in different areas of central Baku, responding to an 11 March Facebook event that over [...]