Livewire - Amnesty International blogging for human rights

Amnesty International’s section in Burkina Faso organised a press conference for the Gambia Day of Action on 22 July. During this event, we denounced arbitrary arrests, impunity, migrant’s rights abuses, political harassment, and the lack of freedom of the press and urged Gambian authorities to respect human rights.

There were 12 media correspondents present at the press conference. These included Editions le Pays (newspaper), l’Evênement (newspaper), Radio Ouaga FM,Canal 3 (TV), and Sidwaya (state run newspaper).
Continuar leyendo ‘Burkina Faso – Calling for more justice and freedom in Gambia’ »

The press conference in Abuja was held at the premises of the National Human Rights Commission and was well attended by Civil Society members and journalists. The delegation was represented by me (Amnesty International), Ndey Tapha Sosseh (Gambia Press Union) and Winfred Nii-Boye (Media Foundation).

The press conference started with a short video clip of the interview of the Gambian President that led to this recent repression. I read the press statement, followed by a presentation by Ndey and Winfred spoke about their media alert. The Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Journalists gave a solidarity message.

Continuar leyendo ‘Well attended press conference on Gambia in Nigeria’ »

Massive street demonstrations were met with waves of arrests, reported killings and, it is now becoming clear that human rights activists are now also being targeted.

On 16 June, lawyer human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested at his office. His case has been taken up by Amnesty International and its global membership is campaigning for his release.

Continuar leyendo ‘And now the human rights defenders…’ »

Amnesty International’s Secretary General will be taking part in two interviews today where people will have the opportunity to send in their questions.

Irene Khan will first be taking part in the BBC’s World, Have Your Say programme at 1700GMT. Visit http://worldhaveyoursay…amnesty-international/ to submit questions or comment via the show’s blog or try http://worldhaveyoursay…about/ to get in touch with the programme in another way.

Then, at 1900GMT, she will be taking part in a Spanish interview with Mexican website Reforma.com. To find out how to get in touch, visit http://www.reforma…1000184/, to listen to to http://gruporeforma.reforma….com/.

Five o’clock this morning has come and gone and this year’s Amnesty International report on the state of the world’s human rights is now available to the world. Some of the team stayed up all night to make sure it was all there.

The site contains the usual mix of materials, including the A-Z list of countries detailing the issues in 2008, the Foreword by Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan presenting the organization’s case to the world and a range of video and audio materials and images.

Continuar leyendo ‘Amnesty International report launched’ »