2 mins read

Kazakhstan Draft ‘Morality’ Laws Threaten Rights

Click to expand Image Kazakhstan Senate. © 2018 SenateKz/Wikimedia Kazakhstan’s Senate adopted two rights-violating laws on December 18, both of them threatening freedom of expression.  The first is a discriminatory draft law banning so-called propaganda of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) expression, which would make it illegal to publicly support LGBT rights. The clear intention […]

6 mins read

Tunisia: Authorities must immediately drop charges against humanitarian workers facing bogus criminal trial 

Tunisian authorities must drop charges against six staff members of the Tunisian branch of the French NGO, France Terre d’Asile, who are facing a bogus criminal trial for their humanitarian work with refugees and migrants, and cease the relentless criminalization of civil society, Amnesty International said ahead of the opening of their trial on 15 […]

2 mins read

Belarus: Long overdue release of Maryia Kalesnikava, Ales Bialiatski and others must not mask the scale of repression

Reacting to the release by the Belarusian authorities of 123 individuals, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and Maryia Kalesnikava, prisoner of conscience and subject of Amnesty International’s Write for Rights 2024, Marie Struthers, Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, said: “We welcome reports that Maryia Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski […]

4 mins read

Hong Kong: Conviction of Jimmy Lai sounds death knell for press freedom

Responding to today’s conviction of Hong Kong newspaper founder Jimmy Lai on national security charges, Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks said: “The predictability of today’s verdict does not make it any less dismaying – the conviction of Jimmy Lai feels like the death knell for press freedom in Hong Kong, where the essential work […]

19 mins read

Stories of hope and humanity to end the year

Despite the stark challenges currently facing humanity, Amnesty International continues to witness how people from all over the world are demonstrating the importance of activism and the life-changing power of solidarity. From holding governments to account and pursuing justice for survivors of gender-based violence, to freeing human rights defenders, here are some inspiring stories of hope and humanity from the […]

1 min read

Angola: Authorities must provide urgent medical care to detained UNTRA leader and release him immediately

Responding to news that the leader of the National Union for Total Revolution of Angola (UNTRA) Serrote José de Oliveria – whose health has been deteriorating since being held in arbitrary detention since 28 July – has begun a hunger strike to protest his unlawful detention, Amnesty International’s Deputy-Director for East and Southern Africa, Flavia […]

5 mins read

More than 1,000 Belarusians Remain in Prison for Exercising Their Rights

Click to expand Image Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of released Belarusian prisoners, smiles as he arrives at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on December 13, 2025. © 2025 Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo On December 13, Belarusian authorities released 123 prisoners following negotiations led by the US administration, which had agreed to lift […]

2 mins read

Another Blow to Media Freedom in Ethiopia

Click to expand Image Local newspapers at a street stall in downtown Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 3, 2021. © 2021 Eduardo Soteras In the latest crackdown on media freedom in Ethiopia, Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international public broadcaster, said in a December 12 statement that the Ethiopian Media Authority had permanently suspended two of its journalists. […]