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Trump Labels Fentanyl ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’

Click to expand Image US President Donald Trump shows a signed executive order classifying fentanyl as ‘weapon of mass destruction’ during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, December 15, 2025. © 2025 Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters A new executive order seeking to designate “illicit fentanyl” a “weapon […]

2 mins read

In Uzbekistan, Motor Sports Body Misses the Mark on Rights

Click to expand Image The F1 Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 20, 2025. © 2025 Qian Jun/Paddocker via AP Photo The International Automobile Federation (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA), the international body governing motor sports, including Formula1, held its annual General Assemblies last week in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  At the General […]

6 mins read

US: Masked Federal Agents Undermine Rule of Law

Click to expand Image Masked US federal agents outside the immigration court in Manhattan’s 26 Federal Plaza, New York City, October 31, 2025. © 2025 Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/AP Photo (Washington, DC, December 18, 2025) – United States federal immigration enforcement agents now commonly operate masked and without visible identification, compounding the abusive and unaccountable nature of […]

2 mins read

Growing Support for Treaty to Guarantee Free Education for Every Child

Click to expand Image Children at a free government pre-primary school, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, November 2022.  © 2022 Bede Sheppard / Human Rights Watch Discussions are advancing at the United Nations on a new global treaty to guarantee every child’s right to a free education. Last week, countries gathered at the UN in Geneva to explore […]

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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 […]

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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 […]