Latest news with #AgnèsCallamard
Middle East Eye
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Amnesty urges probe into US air strike on migrant detention centre in Yemen that left dozens dead
Amnesty International (AI) on Monday urged a probe into a US air strike on a migrant detention centre in Saada, north-western Yemen, on 28 April that killed and injured dozens of migrants. The air strike was one of many undertaken by the US since March that led to hundreds of people being killed and injured in what human rights groups are calling a violation of international humanitarian law. 'The US attacked a well-known detention facility where the Houthis have been detaining migrants who had no means to take shelter. The major loss of civilian life in this attack raises serious concerns about whether the US complied with its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the rules on distinction and precautions,' said Agnès Callamard, AI's secretary general. AI spoke with two individuals who work with African migrant and refugee communities in Yemen, and who had visited two nearby hospitals and their morgues in the aftermath of the air strike, confirmed witnessing evidence of a high number of casualties. The organisation also analysed satellite imagery and video footage of horrific scenes showing migrants' bodies strewn across rubble and rescuers trying to pull badly wounded survivors from the debris.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Amnesty International vows to continue its work after Russia ban
Amnesty International has said it will not halt its work after Russia declared the rights group an 'undesirable organisation', in effect banning its operations in the country and exposing supporters to prosecution. 'This decision is part of the Russian government's broader effort to silence dissent and isolate civil society,' Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general, said. 'We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia's egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad.' The decision by the Russian prosecutor general's office, announced in an online statement on Monday, is the latest in the unrelenting crackdown on Kremlin critics, journalists and activists that has intensified to unprecedented levels since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The designation means Amnesty must stop any work in Russia. It subjects those who cooperate with the rights group or support it to prosecution, including if anyone shares Amnesty's reports on social media. Russia's list of 'undesirable organisations' covers 223 entities, including prominent independent news outlets and rights groups. Among them: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the independent Russian news outlet Meduza; thinktanks including Chatham House; the anti-corruption group Transparency International; and Open Russia, an opposition group founded by the exiled tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Amnesty International was launched in 1961, documenting and reporting human rights violations around the world and campaigning for the release of those it deems unjustly imprisoned. It has released reports on Russia's war in Ukraine, accusing Moscow of crimes against humanity, and has spoken out against the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent that has swept up thousands of people in recent years. Amnesty's recent statements on Russia included decrying a prison sentence handed to the prominent election monitoring activist Grigory Melkonyants as a 'brazen and politically motivated clampdown on peaceful activism'. It also spoke out against a series of arrests of publishing professionals in Russia last week over alleged 'LGBTQ+ propaganda' in books. In its statement, the prosecutor general's office accused Amnesty International of running 'Russophobic projects' and activities aimed at Russia's 'political and economic isolation'. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report
The Star
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Russia bans Amnesty International, which vows to redouble work on rights abuses
The logo of Amnesty International is seen during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jass/File Photo MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia banned Amnesty International on Monday by classing it as an "undesirable organisation" for backing Ukraine against Russia, drawing a rebuke from the group which said it would redouble efforts to expose Russian human rights abuses. Founded in 1961 and headquartered in London, Amnesty International campaigns for human rights across the world, including on behalf of those it designates prisoners of conscience. Russia's prosecutor general said that Amnesty International Limited's London office was a "centre for the preparation of global Russophobic projects", and accused it of advocating on behalf of Ukraine, with which Russia is at war. The Russian prosecutor said Amnesty International had done "everything possible to intensify the military confrontation in the region" while justifying the alleged crimes of Ukraine and seeking the isolation of Russia. "You must be doing something right if the Kremlin bans you," Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement. "This decision is part of the Russian government's broader effort to silence dissent and isolate civil society." "We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia's egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad," Callamard said. "Amnesty will never give up or back down in its fight for upholding human rights in Russia and beyond." Russia regularly designates organisations it says undermine its national security as "undesirable". The designation mandates penalties of up to five years in prison for Russian citizens working with or funding designated groups. Organisations previously banned as undesirable include U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and international environmental organisation Greenpeace. Amnesty said that the Russian law under which the designation was made itself violates international law, and said the move came three years after Moscow blocked access to Amnesty International's websites in Russia and effectively closed down its office in Moscow. Russia says its laws have legal primacy. Russia says that Western human rights groups give biased and factually inaccurate assessments of Russia, ignore abuses in the West, and are essentially pawns in a wider Western information war being waged against Moscow. Rights groups say such accusations are absurd and that the hopes for liberty which accompanied the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union have been smashed under Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rose to power in 1999. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Felix Light in Tbilisi; editing by Aidan Lewis)
Saba Yemen
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Amnesty International: Situation in Gaza is extremely tragic
London - Saba: The Secretary-General of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, stated that the situation in Gaza is "extremely tragic" and that "genocide is being broadcast live." In a post on the platform "X" on Friday, she added, "Influential governments are failing to use their leverage to effectively prevent and address genocide," as the Israeli occupation continues to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza for over two months. Callamard pointed out that "there are tools and means to respond, including the EU-Israel Association Agreement." She noted that, coinciding with the meeting of EU foreign ministers, the Netherlands has requested a review of the Israeli occupation's compliance with the agreement, referencing Article 2 concerning its obligations under humanitarian law. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
CBC
06-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Amnesty International chief on the fight for human rights
Dr. Agnès Callamard has been a leader in the human rights sector for decades, and since 2021 has worked in the role of Secretary General for Amnesty International. She joins the show to discuss doing human rights work at this difficult historical moment, the future of international law, Canada's role on the world stage, the question of genocide, and some of the lessons that can be drawn from the world's most precarious frontiers.
