Sign and share Amnesty’s online petitions
You can help stop human rights violations by participating in Amnesty International’s priority online actions. Our actions are sent directly to decision-makers and create results. You can also create momentum for change after signing our actions by participating in our social media messages and responding to our invitations to get more involved.
- Disappearances in Mexico: Protect Women Searchers
Forty people disappear every day in Mexico. This is a crisis.
At the forefront of the search for the missing and disappeared are the women searchers. With their own hands, using picks and shovels, they locate clandestine graves and gather evidence.
Thousands of women take on the work the state refuses to do, without protection, rest or guarantees. For daring to search, they are stigmatized and revictimized.
The Mexican government must ensure that women searchers can continue their work without fear of reprisals and with dignity.
- Release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan hospital and a prominent voice of Gaza’s decimated healthcare sector, is still being arbitrarily detained by Israeli authorities since his arrest on 27 December. A lawyer who visited him and other detainees, recently reported that he has been subjected to abuse and other ill-treatment. Join us in demanding his immediate and unconditional release.
- Lift the Blockade on Gaza. Stop the Genocide.
Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families.
Two months on from the launch of the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, massacres at food distribution sites are happening almost every day. According to the United Nations, over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed while seeking food, including on aid routes and at distribution points. Thousands more have been injured.
The blockade of Gaza must end. UN-led humanitarian aid must be immediately restored.
- Break the Silence. End Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan.
Three years into the Taliban rule, the country remains a hotbed of unchecked and unabated human rights abuses – gender persecution, torture, arbitrary detentions, and censorship – all with zero accountability. The world’s response? Tepid at best.
Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, Afghanistan has been in a downward spiral of human rights violations. Women are banned from all aspects of life, abuses like torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, censorship, among others, continue with absolute impunity. Severe restrictions on right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and political participation of women have gone unchecked. The return of corporal punishment and absence of an independent judiciary further exacerbates these issues, leaving victims without any recourse to justice.
Even as the people of Afghanistan remain stuck in this endless nightmare, the international community has failed to take any meaningful action.
Strong words won’t stop this repression; strong action will. Governments around the world must step up to put an end to this cycle of repression.
- Tell President Trump: No Mass Deportations!
Within hours of his inauguration on January 20, 2025, US President Donald Trump declared an emergency at the southern border, suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program, and reiterated a mass deportation plan targeting millions of immigrants and people seeking safety. This cruel campaign is spreading fear, throwing people into arbitrary detention, returning people to harm, separating families and tearing apart communities.
- Stop the Execution Spree in Iran
Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising, Iranian authorities have doubled down on their brutal use of the death penalty.
thousands at risk of execution
Urge the international community to press Iran establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to fully abolishing the death penalty
Since the Woman Life Freedom uprising, Iranian authorities have doubled down on their brutal use of the death penalty as a tool of oppression to terrorize the public and tighten their grip on power. Prisons have become sites of mass state-sanctioned killings. In 2023, executions soared with over 853 people executed, a 48% increase from 2022 and the highest number for eight years. This arbitrary deprivation of people’s lives must stop.
The spike in executions is largely attributed to the return of a lethal anti-narcotics policy since 2021. Authorities carried out over 481 drug-related executions in 2023, marking a 89% increase from 2022 and 264% increase from 2021.
The death penalty is also used to target oppressed minority groups. Iran’s oppressed Baluchi ethnic minority, who constitute only about 5% of Iran’s population, accounted for 20% of all executions. Individuals were also executed for their social media posts and for sexual relations between consenting adults.Iranian authorities are using the death penalty as a tool of political oppression to sow fear among the public and deter further nationwide protests. In 2023, they executed 7 people in connection to protests after grossly unfair sham trials.
Iran’s killing spree is continuing into 2024, with at least 95 recorded executions by March 20. Execution numbers recorded by Amnesty International are minimum figures and the organization believes the real number is higher.
On July 27, 2025, political dissidents, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were executed in secret without notice to them or their families in Ghezel Hesar prison in Karaj, Alborz province. The executions took place after a grossly unfair trial by a Revolutionary Court. They were denied access to their lawyers for nearly two years before a trial that lasted only five minutes and during which they were not allowed to speak in their own defense. Forced ‘confessions’ extracted through beatings, prolonged solitary confinement and threats to further harm them and their families were used as evidence to convict them.
Learn More
Iran executes 853 people in eight-year high amid relentless repression and renewed ‘war on drugs’ (April 4, 2024)
Iran: Prisons turned into killing fields as drug-related executions almost triple this year (June 2, 2023)
Iran: Executions of tortured protesters must trigger a robust reaction from the international community (May 19, 2023)What else you can do
Write a personal letter to Iranian authorities based on the April 4, 2024 Urgent Action: Drug-related executions surging in Iran.
Top image © Signs criticising the Iranian Islamic Regime’s use of the death penalty are seen in Trafalgar Square on September 16, 2023 in London, England. Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images.
- Ecuador: Stop Climate-Destroying Gas Flares
The government of Ecuador is not complying with a court decision that orders the elimination of climate-destroying gas flares operated in the Amazon by state-owned and private oil companies.
The flares emit huge quantities of gases that contribute to global warming, causing serious consequences for human rights – right now and in the future. The failure of Ecuadorian authorities to stop harmful flaring has also created sacrifice zones for the oil industry where people breathe toxic gases daily.
Nine courageous girls, from Amazonian communities devastated by cancer and contamination, filed a lawsuit to defend the right to a healthy environment. With support from the Union of People Affected by Texaco’s Operations, the girls WON their case! The court ruled that Ecuador must stop gas flaring. Yet the number of flares has increased, and some of them operate less than 5 kilometres from populated areas.
The Ecuadorian Amazon and the rights of its inhabitants are burning. With each gas flare lit, the future burns for everybody, especially young people.
- Immigration Detention: STOP jailing people for seeking safety or a better life in Canada
Under Canadian law, a non-citizen can be incarcerated indefinitely in immigration detention, based solely on administrative grounds.
Call on the Prime Minister, Minister of Public Safety and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to permanently end the use of jails and prisons for immigration detention.
Canada incarcerates thousands of people on administrative immigration-related grounds every year, including people who are fleeing persecution, those seeking employment and a better life, and people who have lived in Canada since childhood.
People in immigration detention are subjected to solitary confinement, indefinite detention, maximum security jails, and handcuffs and shackles.
A joint report by Amnesty International and Human Rights watch found that people with mental health conditions experience discrimination in immigration detention, and racialized people are disproportionately impacted by this system.
The Canada Border Services Agency incarcerates people in immigration detention in provincial jails, which is a violation of international human rights standards. Our #WelcomeToCanada campaign went coast to coast, calling for an immediate end to the use of jails.
The provinces listened! All 10 provinces have committed to ending their immigration detention agreements or arrangements with the federal government. This was an incredible human rights victory.
However, the fight is not over yet!
Instead of following the provinces’ lead and working to end immigration detention, the federal government plans to use federal prisons for immigration detention, and wants to codify this rights-violating practice into legislation.
We are urging the government to cancel these plans! Please join us in calling on the government to permanently end the use of jails and prisons for immigration detention by passing a policy directive or legislative amendment, and ultimately end immigration detention in Canada.
LEARN MORE
Read Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s report: “I Didn’t Feel Like a Human in There”: Immigration Detention in Canada and its Impact on Mental Health
Hear directly from people who have experienced immigration detention:
#WelcomeToCanada: Amina’s Story
#WelcomeToCanada: Abdelrahman’s Story
#WelcomeToCanada: Sara’s Story - Stop All Arms Sales to Israel
Any state continuing to transfer military equipment violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and a plausible genocide in Gaza.
Call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to stop all direct or indirect transfers of military equipment to Israel.
As Gaza faces a potential genocide and famine, states must stop fueling the crisis in Gaza and prevent further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life.
Israel’s military campaign has destroyed a substantial portion of Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, water infrastructure, shelters, and refugee camps.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s relentless bombardment and at least 31 have starved to death, 28 of them children. Almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced, many repeatedly. Over two million people in the occupied Gaza Strip remain at risk of genocide and famine. Nowhere is safe.
In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel is committing a potential genocide in Gaza. There is a clear risk that weapons and military equipment directly or indirectly exported to Israel will be used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza. Any state continuing to transfer military equipment violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and a plausible genocide.
In February, UN experts warned that any sale and supply of weapons to Israel that risk being used in Gaza would violate international humanitarian law and must be stopped immediately. In early April, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling on states to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.
Over 250 humanitarian and human rights organisations have called on states to stop arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
Although Canada reportedly stopped issuing new permits for military exports to Israel as of January 8, 2024, transfers continue on existing permits. Between October 7 and December 6, 2023, $28.5 million of new military exports to Israel were approved – more than the value all export permits issued in 2022. Canadian parts, components and other military materials are also exported to the USA, which in turn are integrated into US military equipment such as F-35 aircraft supplied to the Israel Defense Force.
Learn More
For additional actions and an overview of the current crisis and Amnesty’s work on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, visit the toolkit on our website.
PHOTO CREDT An Israeli army soldier adjusts the tip to a 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images.
- Demand an arms embargo in Sudan
Demand an arms embargo to stop the flow of weapons now.
The people of Sudan feel forgotten amidst spiralling violence.
Call on the United Nations Security Council to extend the existing arms embargo to the whole country and not only to Darfur region.
The ongoing conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left over 16,650 people killed nationwide and over 7.3 million people internally displaced. A further 2.1 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries where they live in dire conditions.
The people of Sudan feel forgotten amidst the spiraling violence across the country, where parties to the conflict are causing untold death and destruction.
Caught in the middle of fighting, they have no food, water, or access to medical services, and with limited internet, civilians have no access to information about safe passage or where to find medicine.
The warring parties have fought their war for a year with little regard for human rights and international humanitarian law.
People are being killed inside their homes, or while desperately searching for food, water, and medicine. They are caught in crossfire while fleeing and shot deliberately in targeted attacks. Women and girls, some as young as 12, have been raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence by members of the warring sides.
Nowhere is safe. With every minute that passes countless lives are ruined. We need to act now and demand the United Nations Security Council to extend the existing arms embargo to the whole country and not only to Darfur region and ensure it is fully implemented. This will disrupt the flow of weapons and contribute to reduce civilian suffering.
Learn More
Header image: Sudanese Refugees fleeing the conflict in the Darfur region sheltering in Adre, across the border in Eastern Chad, where conditions are dire and the rainy season is in full swing. More than 150,000 have arrived since April 2023. © Amnesty International
- Canada: No Ecuador trade deal without human rights and consent
Human rights and the environment must not be sacrificed for resource extraction profits.
Send a message to Minister Maninder Sidhu telling Canada to put human rights and the environment first.
“We, the Amazonian Women of Ecuador, Defenders of the Amazon Rainforest have organized to defend our human rights, and to protect the Amazon from irreversible tipping points, which would have implications for the entire planet. We are very concerned about the free-trade agreement negotiations between Ecuador and Canada, because increased investments in extractive projects in the Amazon could push it past a tipping point, violate our human rights, and lead to increased violence against Indigenous women and girls.”
Amid a dire human rights situation in Ecuador, its government and the government of Canada are rushing to negotiate a trade agreement with huge risks to people and the environment. Representatives of both countries have stated their goal is to attract and protect more Canadian mines in Ecuador.
Indigenous Peoples and rural communities – already suffering destructive impacts and violence linked to Canadian mines – continue to be ignored and even attacked. They have not been informed or consulted about the trade deal, a violation of both the Ecuadorian constitution and both countries’ obligations under international treaties.
What’s more, Canada has said it wants investor protections that UN experts have urged against because they pose “catastrophic consequences” for human rights and the environment. According to Global Affairs Canada, the mining industry has pushed for such protections.
Learn More
Indigenous women from Ecuador bring concerns on mining abuses, free trade to Parliament Hill
Why the Ecuador trade deal Canada wants hinges on a misleading referendum question
Violence Surrounds Canadian Mining Projects in Ecuador
Ecuador: Authorities and companies threaten the Amazon and its Indigenous Peoples
Top image: Danger reads the yellow tape during a protest outside Canada’s Embassy in Quito on March 4. Free Trade Agreement with Canada = More extractivism. Canadian mining out, reads the banner. Photo: Acción Ecológica @AcEcologic
- DRC: end forced evictions in Kolwezi
People of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) pay a high price to supply the world with copper and cobalt: forced evictions, illegal destruction of their homes, and physical violence.
TELL THE DRC GOVERNMENT TO STOP PUTTING PROFITS BEFORE PEOPLE!
The climate crisis means that the world must quickly move away from fossil fuels and find new sources of energy. We need batteries to drive this transition. But this global shift must not sacrifice people or nature.
The DRC supplies most of the copper and cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries. These batteries power our smartphones, laptops, electric cars and bicycles, and play a major role in the energy transition away from fossil fuels. This transition is urgent and necessary.
However, mineral-rich regions of the DRC are sacrificed to mining development, leading to a shocking series of abuses in the region. Thousands of people have lost their homes, schools, hospitals, and communities due to the expansion of copper and cobalt mines in the DRC, especially in Kolwezi, which sits above rich copper and cobalt deposits.
These abuses take place in a country still recovering from colonial brutality, during which millions died and countless raw materials were mined and sold on international markets with little benefit to local people. In the global race to secure minerals for the energy transition, corporations and governments are once again putting profit above human rights.
President Tshisekedi describes the DRC as a “climate solution country”. Now he has the chance to become a global leader in climate justice and prove that in the DRC protecting human rights is an integral part of a just energy transition.
Learn more
Amnesty International Annual Report 2022/23 entry on the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Top image: House awaiting eviction by energy transition mine, Kolwezi, DRC, September 2022. © Amnesty International/Jean-Mobert Senga
- Alberta: Halt anti-2SLGBTQQIA+ policy measures
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s proposed new policy changes to 2SLGBTQQIA+ health care, social services, public education and sports are an alarming affront to the rights of trans and gender-diverse people.
TELL ALBERTA THAT THIS ATTACK ON 2SLGBTQQIA+ RIGHTS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith released a video outlining the provincial government’s plan for a sweeping attack on the rights of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people in Alberta.
The suite of policy changes will severely limit 2SLGBTQQIA+ youths’ access to gender affirming medical care, social support, and education.
In the education sphere, in cases where students are 15 or younger, Alberta’s teachers will be banned from using trans and non-binary students’ preferred pronouns and gender-affirming names without the consent of their parents or guardians. For students who are 16 and 17, parents or guardians will be notified when a name or pronoun change is formally requested. In addition, Alberta will require parent or guardian consent for students to participate in any formal classroom instruction involving gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual diversity. While all third-party resource materials related to gender identity, sexual orientation or sexuality in the K-12 school system will need to be pre-approved by the Ministry of Education.
The plan further includes a prohibition of gender affirming medical care for children and youth under age 17. Hormone therapy will now only be accessible with parental consent and the approval of healthcare professionals.
It is also deeply troubling that the government did not engage with existing evidence-based research or had meaningful consultations with 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities, advocates, community organizations and education and health care experts, prior to making these policy changes.
Learn More
Read our full statement here: Amnesty International Canada condemns ‘appalling’ anti-trans policy changes in Alberta.
Top image @YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images
- End violence against Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQIA+ land and water defenders in Canada
Canada has a long history of harm and human rights abuses against Indigenous land and water defenders who are opposing colonial expropriation and protecting their lands and waters.
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND 2SLGBTQIA+ LAND AND WATER DEFENDERS.
Canada has a long history of harm and human rights abuses against Indigenous land and water defenders who are opposing colonial expropriation and protecting their lands and waters from extractive and resource development industry projects.
Indigenous women, Two Spirit and gender diverse defenders not only experience criminalization and surveillance but also state-sanctioned sexual and gender-based violence in their attempts to preserve their lands and waters and heal their communities.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), provincial and municipal police and private security services hired by industries, have been known to routinely harass, assault and intimidate women, girls, Two-Spirit, gender diverse people and community members. Resource extraction projects are also directly tied to the expansion of ‘man camps,’ temporary extractive industry labour camps that bring an influx of transient male workers to Indigenous territories. These ‘man camps’ are associated with high rates of sexual and gender-based violence and trafficking experienced by Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ peopleWhat else you can do to help
Listen to land and water defender Kanahus Manuel talk about the impact of ‘man-camps’ on Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people and support the Tiny House Warriors’ Mutual Aid Fund.
Support the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s land and water defense Solidarity Fund.
Support the Creation of A Red Dress Alert.
Learn More
Read the Braided Warriors full media statement (2021) “Indigenous Youth Condemn VPD Brutality and Charged Laid for Peaceful Sit-in: Call on Canada to End Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion.”
Read the Assembly of First Nation’s New Report final report from the MMIWG2S+ National Gathering. This report is based on engagements with Indigenous survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls and gender diverse people, that took place in February 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia: “Connecting Hearts and Making Change.”
Top image: Land and water defender, Kukpi7 Judy Wilson (Secwépemc Nation) at a prayer circle in Blue River, British Columbia. Photo credit: Billie Jean Photography
- Keep Hope Alive in Colombia
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a water and human rights defender.
CALL ON COLOMBIA TO COORDINATE WITH DEFENDERS AND PROTECT THEM FROM HARM
“It’s troubling to see so many dead fish all year round. That’s why I want to ensure those responsible for contamination are held accountable. It’s not easy. I’ve been shot at. But despite the attacks and the threats, more women have joined our cause.”
These are the words of Yuly Velásquez, an inspiring defender of water and human rights in Colombia’s beautiful Magdalena River basin. Yuly and other community leaders literally risk their lives to protect land and water that is vital to all of us, given the climate crisis.
Colombia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to do this work. Approximately every two days, a defender is assassinated.
In 2022, Colombians elected a reform government made up of many former human rights defenders. This government has a historic opportunity to ensure that land and water defenders can continue their important work without fear of violent reprisals.
Learn More
Keep hope alive: get involved in our new campaign to support defenders in Colombia who protect land and water vital to us all (Activism Blog)
Land and water defenders face a new wave of deadly threats in Colombia (Blog)
We continue to risk our lives defending Colombia’s rivers and wetlands (Guest Blog by Colombian defender Yuly Velásquez)
Stories of Water (Guest Blog by Colombian defender Yuvelis Morales)
Colombia: Human rights defenders remain at risk; government must guarantee their protection (news release)
Colombia: Hope at risk: The lack of a safe space to defend human rights in Colombia continues (report)
Top image: A collage of defenders and the environment they seek to protect.
- Colombia: Protect Peaceful Protest
Police and members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad have used excessive violence to disperse protests, spread fear, and punish those who dared to call for a fairer society.
SUPPORT AMNESTY’S CALL FOR URGENT ACTION TO PREVENT MORE POLICE VIOLENCE!
Thousands of Colombians claimed their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, during months of demonstrations for justice and peace in 2021. Women, youth, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendent communities and LGBTIQ+ people played a prominent role in the hope-inspiring protests, calling on the government to address gaping inequality, racism and lack of security.
Instead of listening to them, the previous government of President Ivan Duque responded with brutal repression. As they have countless times before and since, police and members of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD) used excessive violence to disperse protests, spread fear, and punish those who dared to call for a fairer society.
Scores of people were killed or injured when they were fired at, including protesters who were blinded from shots aimed at their eyes. Others were subjected to arbitrary detention and torture. As women and LGBTIQ+ protesters fled police gunfire and tear gas, they were subjected to gender-based violence, assaults and rape. Indigenous people and Afro-Colombians were also a target of brutal police repression.
Learn More about Police Violence in Colombia
Colombia: The National Police must be comprehensively reformed
Cali: In the epicenter of repression: Human rights violations during the 2021 national strike
Colombia: Shoots on sight: Eye trauma in the context of the National Strike
Top image: A Colombian police officer in riot gear points a tear gas cannon at protesters © DANIEL MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images.
- Massive Unjust Detentions in El Salvador
Emergency powers used to roll back human rights.
Call on El Salvador’s President to stop violating human rights in the name of public security.
The government of El Salvador’s President Bukele has suspended constitutional guarantees and unjustly put more than 60,000 people behind bars. Tell the President to stop violating human rights.
Salvadoran authorities imposed a state of exception in March 2022, claiming it was necessary to deal with gang violence. Since then, officials continue to have special powers and have committed massive human rights violations, including a staggering number of unjust detentions.
Two cousins, aged 14 and 15, were arrested while playing outside their home in Ilopango. Their families reported that police officers accused the youths of “looking like criminals” and said they would spend 30 years in jail.
This is no isolated case. People are being detained for having tattoos or for living in marginalized neighborhoods where gangs operate. Detainees have no access to effective legal defense, face torture and ill-treatment, and are held in overcrowded, inhumane conditions. Deaths in custody are increasing every day. Meanwhile, families often do not know where their loved ones were taken or what proceedings they face.
True security in El Salvador requires efforts that tackle the root causes of gang violence, while prioritizing human rights. Your signature can make a difference. President Nayib Bukele needs to know that the world is watching and is horrified by his massive assault on the rights of his people.
Learn More about human rights in El Salvador
El Salvador: One year into state of emergency, authorities are systematically committing human rights violations (April 3, 2023)
Eviscerating human rights is not the answer to El Salvador’s gang problem (September 7, 2022)
El Salvador: President Bukele engulfs the country in a human rights crisis after three years in government (June 2,2022)
Top image: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – MAY 02: A soldier looks on while lining up before patrolling on May 2, 2022 in San Salvador, El Salvador. The Legislative Assembly approved President Nayib Bekele’s request to extend the suspension of constitutional guarantees until May 27. Photo by Kellys Portillo/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images.
- Russia War Censorship Laws Must Go
Protect Freedom of Assembly and Expression
Act in solidarity with people in Russia who dare to protest its war against Ukraine. Tell Russia to repeal the war censorship laws.
In Russia, merely speaking out against the war in Ukraine is an act of protest. A week after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the Russian authorities introduced a special set of laws, the so-called war censorship laws, that made opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine a crime.
These laws introduced prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading “fake news” and up to seven years for “discrediting” the Russian army. Many in Russia are now serving unjust prison sentences because of these laws.
Peaceful protest and freedom of expression are human rights. Sign our petition calling on the Russian authorities to repeal these laws and release all those imprisoned under them immediately and unconditionally.
Learn More
Russia: Arbitrary detention of RFE/RL editor signals new level of war-time censorship
Watch a short video on the right to protest in Russia
Top image: Anti war protester being arrested at the center of Moscow, in Moscow, Russia, on February 28, 2022 during a demonstration against the war on Ukraine. Photo by Daniil Danchenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
- Protect the Protest in Iran
Women. Life Freedom.
Call on Canada to support survivors and victims of human rights violations in Iran.
The death in detention of 22-year-old Mahsa (Zhina) Amini on September 16, 2022, following her violent arrest by Iran’s “morality” police sparked an unprecedented popular uprising. The crackdown was swift and brutal: hundreds of protesters were killed, thousands injured, and over 20,000 arrested. The first protesters were executed in December 2022 after fast-tracked trials and forced confessions.
As women and girls led the call for change in Iran, challenging decades of gender-based discrimination and violence, they became targets for arrest and retaliation.
Iranian authorities are desperately trying to reassert their dominance and power over those who dared to stand up against decades of oppression and inequality during the ‘Woman. Life. Freedom.’ Uprising.
READ MORE
Iran: International community must stand with women and girls defying compulsory veiling
Protect the Protest in Iran: the legacy of Mahsa Amini
Watch a short video on the impact of forced veiling
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO
Sign and share the online action Stop the Execution Spree in Iran
Sign and share the online action Stop Schoolgirl PoisoningsTop image: Protester in Iran holds up a photo of Mahsa Amini
- Take the Torture out of Protest! Regulate the Trade in Policing Equipment
Protect the Protest
We need governments all over the world to vote yes on a Torture-Free Trade Treaty at the United Nations.
Progress happens when we come together to demand change. We should be able to do this without fear of being harmed, hurt, or even killed by the misuse of policing equipment.
Across the world, peaceful protesters face waves of repression from police and military forces in deliberate attempts to crush dissent. While less lethal weapons like tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and batons are promoted as safer alternatives to firearms, all too often these weapons are used unlawfully to harass, intimidate, punish, or drive away protesters, undermining their right to peaceful assembly.
Learn More
Amnesty International signs declaration calling for international controls to combat trade in tools of torture (20 Jan 2023)
Less lethal weapons: Unfettered trade in law enforcement equipment fuelling protest violations – new investigation (12 Oct 2023)
Read up on the Essential elements of the Torture-Free Trade Treaty
Read the campaign briefing Protect the Protest! Why we must save our right to protest
Watch a 6 minute video about How Police Are Using Tools of Torture Against Protesters
Top image: Demonstrators gather on 29 November 2019 in the center of the Santiago de Chile, Chile to protest against the abuses of the security forces, including eye injuries from misuse of weapons. Photo by Federico Rotter/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
- Demand Justice for Ukraine
Stand with the Survivors of Russian Aggression in Ukraine
Those responsible for gross violations and crimes under international law must be brought to justice.
The war in Ukraine has now lasted for ten years, beginning with the Russian occupation of Crimea in February 2014. Countless atrocities have been committed against people in Ukraine over the last decade. The international community must unite to defend human rights in Ukraine. Those responsible for gross violations and crimes under international law must be brought to justice. Stand with the survivors and demand justice for Ukraine!
Learn more:
Justice for Ukraine means accountability for all crimes committed by Russia since 2014 (22 Feb 2024)
Ukraine/Russia: Children’s futures under attack as Russian aggression in Ukraine continues to restrict schooling (11 Dec 2023)
Ukraine: Russian invasion has forced older people with disabilities to endure isolation and neglect – new report (1 Dec 2023)
Watch the one minute video on 10 years of Russian war on Ukraine
Top image: Mariupol, Ukraine: The rear entrance of the Mariupol drama theatre shortly after the attack © Amnesty International.
- China: Free Huseyin Celil
Canadians Detained Abroad
Amnesty International is calling on Li Qiang, the Premier of the People’s Republic of China, to release Huseyin Celil and allow him to be reunited with his family in Canada.
Huseyin Celil is a member of China’s Uyghur minority and a human rights activist. In 2001, he fled China after being in jail for supporting the religious and political rights of the Uyighur people. The United Nations recognized him as a refugee.
The Chinese authorities falsely accused Huseyin of serious offences because of his activities in support of Uyghur rights. They held Huseyin in a secret place. He was not given access to a lawyer, his family, or Canadian officials. The Chinese authorities threatened and tortured him and forced him to sign a confession. They refused to recognize Huseyin’s status as a Canadian citizen, and they did not allow Canadian officials to attend his trial. The trial was not conducted fairly, and he was sentenced to life in prison, later reduced to 20 years in February 2016.
Learn More
Amnesty International Canada activists persevere in demanding justice for Huseyin Celi
What else you can do
Visit the Huseyin Celil campaign page for additional actions you can take.
Amnesty’s Free Xinjiang Detainees campaign profiles over 100 individuals who are among the perhaps one million or more people in arbitrary detention in internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang
- Chow Hang-tung Locked Away for Defending the Right to Remember
Protect Human Rights Defenders
Human rights lawyer and labour rights advocate Chow Hang-tung faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Chow Hang-tung, a young human rights lawyer, is imprisoned in Hong Kong for holding vigils to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Hundreds – possibly thousands – of people were killed in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 when Chinese troops opened fire on students and workers who had been peacefully calling for political and economic reforms as well as an end to corruption. Tens of thousands were arrested across China in the suppression that followed. Many were charged with counter-revolutionary crimes and served very long prison sentences following unfair trials.
Chow is now serving 22 months in jail for peacefully remembering the victims of a horrific crackdown. She is also facing further imprisonment for allegedly endangering national security through her entirely peaceful actions. In the face of all this, Chow’s bravery shines through. “To say I’m not afraid would be a lie, but I’m not so afraid I dare do nothing”, she says.
Learn More
Chow Hang-tung wins 2023 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights (2 June 2023)
Remembering Tiananmen Square: the hidden history of China’s protest movement (1 June 2023)
Hong Kong: Tiananmen anniversary arrests highlight deepening repression (4 June 2023)
Watch a short video
Top image: Human rights lawyer and China’s labour rights advocate Chow Hang-tung, currently imprisoned, was charged for “inciting subversion” under the new National Security Law on 9 September 2021 and faces potential 10 years’ imprisonment. Photo by Alex Chan.
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