The Italian Navy frigate, the Virginio Fasan, docked in the port of Augusta, Sicily, before heading back to sea to search for people in danger, 10 August 2014. © Amnesty International This is the first of two blogs by Amnesty’s Italy campaigner, Matteo de Bellis, who spent the last week on a search...

The human cost of building fences While the EU spends millions on keeping people out, a quiet tragedy is unfolding at the gates of ‘Fortress Europe’. Europe is a continent shaped by warfare, with a history of people moving around seeking sanctuary and a better life. Thousands fleeing war and...

“We must speak about the past to prevent it from happening again”: 1,000 young people commemorate the Roma Genocide On 2 August 1944, 2,897 Roma and Sinti, men, women, and children from the Zigeunerlager, the “Gypsy camp”, in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were loaded onto trucks,...

05/08/2014 – Ahead of Burundi’s 2015 presidential, legislative and communal elections, Amnesty International’s report, ‘Burundi: Locked down: A shrinking of political space’, documents increasing violations of individuals’ rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly,...

Photo by Giuseppe Matese. Property of End FGM European Network. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE 31 July 2014 Governments across Europe and the European Union (EU) must swiftly sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention, a new continent-wide tool to prevent and combat violence against women and...

Current regulations ban countries in the European Union from exporting goods such as restrain chairs. © Eric Tadsen, courtesy of The Progressive magazine The range of already banned items comprises a veritable chamber of horrors: thumb-cuffs, restraint chairs, metal batons and even injection...

Credit: Demotix AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE 24 July 2014 The Irish authorities must take urgent action to bring the country’s flawed abortion laws in line with its international human rights obligations, Amnesty International said following the UN Human Rights Committee’s...

A watch tower overlooks the area near the Polish secret prison site just outside of Stare Kiejkuty, Poland.© AP Today’s historic rulings finally unlock the truth about a dark period of Poland’s recent history and mark a milestone against impunity. Poland knowingly became part of...

Abdul-Hakim Belhaj has been pursuing a claim that British officials has been pursuing a claim that British officials were complicit is his alleged abduction, illegal transfer to Libya and torture.© EPA/SABRI ELMHEDW This makes a mockery of the law. How are courts ever to investigate...

European member states are building their walls higher and higher. This is at the expense of the rights and lives of refugees and migrants. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Amnesty International protests against abuses at Europe's borders in surprise Sofia action (Sofia, 18 July 2014) Today,...

Push-backs across the border – The ‘dirty work’ of keeping refugees out of Bulgaria By Barbora Černušáková, Amnesty International‘s Researcher on Bulgaria We met Hassan on a rainy day in a reception centre for refugees and asylum-seekers in Harmanli, Bulgaria, about an hour’s drive from the Turkish...

With this deeply disappointing and unjust ruling, the European Court of Human Rights is condoning Finland’s repressive laws affecting transgender people and reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE Wednesday 16 July 2014 Finland: European Court ruling a blow...