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    A rainbow coloured thread
    June 26, 2020

    Nadia Rahman, Researcher and Policy Advisor in Amnesty International’s Gender, Sexuality and Identity Team

    “You held my hand. Promised me a revolution. How did you forget me? How?” These lyrics by Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila echoed at a Cairo concert on a September evening in 2017. They are perhaps more devastatingly relevant today than they were three years ago. 

    Sarah Hegazy, a queer feminist in the audience, probably felt a fleeting sense of freedom while watching a popular Arab band with an openly gay frontman sing to a packed audience in a conservative country, and she dared to raise the rainbow flag. Those brief moments of hope where she decided to unapologetically celebrate who she was, changed her life. And three years later, snatched it away too.  

    "To my siblings - I tried to find redemption and failed, forgive me. To my friends - the experience [journey] was harsh and I am too weak to resist it, forgive me. To the world - you were cruel, to a great extent, but I forgive."

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    Posted in: Human Rights
    Turkey: Convictions of human rights defenders in the Büyükada case
    July 09, 2020
    The verdict

    On 3 July 2020 the first instance court issued its verdict on the Büyükada case. It convicted Taner Kılıç of ‘membership of the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)’ under Article 314/2 of the Penal Code, sentencing him to six years and three months’ imprisonment. The court convicted İdil Eser, Günal Kursun and Özlem Dalkıran for ‘knowingly and willingly supporting FETÖ’ under Article 220/7 of the Penal Code, sentencing each of them to 25 months’ imprisonment. The remaining seven human rights defenders were acquitted.

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    Posted in: Human Rights Defenders, Turkey
    Rohingya refugees need protection of their rights now more than ever
    July 08, 2020

    By Saad Hammadi, South Asia Campaigner, Amnesty International. Follow Saad on Twitter @saadhammadi

    Rahima Khatun*, a Rohingya woman, was dragged by the authorities to an isolation facility soon after someone with the same name as hers tested positive for COVID-19 in one of the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Rahima said to caregivers that she had never given a swab in her life, but to no avail. The healthcare facility, where she was brought for isolation, carried out a test on her as she protested.

    She had to be in an isolation facility for two days. Once she tested negative the healthcare facility let her go back to her shelter in the camp. Her traumatic experience scared others in the camp. Now people are afraid of testing.

    Read More
    Posted in: Refugees and Migrants, Bangladesh, Myanmar
    TripAdvisor must check out of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
    July 06, 2020

    As Israel steps up construction of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), in brazen defiance of international law, Amnesty International is calling on TripAdvisor to urgently remove its listings in settlements and send a clear message that it will no longer contribute to human rights violations.

    On June 25, Amnesty International submitted a petition to TripAdvisor’s CEO Stephen Kaufer, signed by more than 300,000 people from around the world, calling on the company to pull out of illegal settlements. The company has not responded to Amnesty International’s requests for comment.

    “Israeli settlements violate international law and amount to war crimes. Companies which operate in the settlements are contributing to human rights violations and tacitly supporting Israel’s policy of forcing Palestinians out of their homes and crushing their basic rights,” said Saleh Higazi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

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    Posted in: Business and Human Rights, Canada, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, UK, USA
    War is Not Essential: Take Action to Tell Canada to #StopArmingSaudi
    June 30, 2020

    The first ever national Day of Action to stop the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia took place on June 11, 2020. Hundreds of people came together from across Canada – both virtually and in-person – to show their support for an immediate end to the Saudi arms deal and to raise this issue yet again with the government. The coalition that came together to make this important day a reality is broad and includes human rights activists, arms control advocates, labour groups, and feminist and humanitarian organizations. 

    If you missed it, you can watch the recording of the virtual protest here>>

    Our work can't stop there. There are more ways for you to take action and share your concerns with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne, asking them to #StopArmingSaudi. 

    1. Take Action Now 

    Sign the petitions from organizations in our coalition: 

    Amnesty International>>

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    Posted in: Activism Guide
    Pride 2020: taking the protest online
    June 29, 2020

    Here’s how you can learn more and take action in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and two-spirit rights while practicing social distancing.

    Check out what’s happening in your community

    With public events being cancelled around the world, most Pride organizing committees are cancelling in-person activities, but many are taking the protest for equality and LGBTQ2S liberation online!

    Join Amnesty International in marking Pride 2020 by attending an online protest or organizing a watch party or your own online protest for your community. Find or register an event in your community >>> 

    Check out the website or Facebook page for your local Pride organizing committee to see if they are moving any of their activities online. Fierte Pride Canada has a list of cancelled or postponed Pride festivals.

    Read More
    Posted in: Activism Guide, LGBTI Rights
    The Right to a Healthy Environment: An Update on the #JusticeforMountPolley Campaign
    June 28, 2020
    The Right to a Healthy Environment: An Update on Quesnel Lake and the Mount Polley Disaster

    Many of us are looking forward to the late summer when physical distancing measures may ease and we can begin to venture out again to our favorite campsites, cabins, and fishing spots. Last August, I spent a week in British Columbia’s Cariboo region when I led a caravan of kids and adults from Vancouver’s lower mainland to the shores of Quesnel Lake in Secwepemc traditional territory.

    Over that August long weekend, we joined dozens of residents and their supporters to celebrate the community’s resilience over the five long years since the Mount Polley mine disaster of August 2014. 

    Read More
    Posted in: Activism Guide, Business and Human Rights, Canada
    Prisoner of conscience released in Bahrain
    June 26, 2020

    Prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab is finally free!

    If that name is familiar to you, it’s because the prisoner of conscience and co-founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights was repeatedly targeted for his human rights work and peaceful criticism over the past two decades. Before his release from this latest four-year detention, Nabeel Rajab was repeatedly imprisoned and released in 2012, 2014, and 2015.

    Some of the activism for which he was persecuted include giving television interviews and tweeting about the killing of civilians in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition and allegations of torture in Jaw prison. In addition to imprisonment, he endured nine months in solitary confinement.

    Responding to his release, Amnesty International’s Middle East Research Director Lynn Maalouf said: 

    Read More
    Posted in: Good News, Bahrain
    LGBTI Rights and COVID-19
    June 24, 2020

    A human rights response to COVID-19 must include an intersectional approach which recognizes the specific impacts of the pandemic on LGBTI people, and the need for specific actions to ensure that the pandemic response doesn't lead to discrimination and further inequalities.

    Everyone is impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic. But we aren’t all impacted in the same ways or to the same extent. Multiple and intersecting identities including gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, disability, age, family status, employment status, and immigration status, all shape how a person experiences the pandemic.

    LGBTI people face significant discrimination which leads to barriers to accessing healthcare services; high rates of homelessness, poverty, and social isolation; and high rates of harassment and violence. The pandemic has further exacerbated these inequalities.

    Read More
    Posted in: Latest COVID-19 updates, LGBTI Rights, Canada
    Colombia’s social leaders are still being killed during the quarantine
    June 23, 2020

    By Danelly Estupiñán, a human rights defender with the Process of Black Communities (PCN) in Buenaventura, Colombia

    For many people, the quarantine is the first time their in lives that they have had their movement restricted. But for four years now I haven’t been able to walk to the store in my neighbourhood alone because if I do I fear they will kill me. I can’t go to the countryside or go out to have fun, because that would mean risking my life.

    For the social leaders living under threat in Colombia, this has been our reality for years. Because of our dedication to defending the lives of all people, we cannot enjoy our own. We are locked inside, moving from house to house to hide and only going out for basic necessities. However, in the current context, being at home 24 hours a day is a death sentence because the gunmen know where to find us. We are now an even easier target for those who want to silence us.

    Read More

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