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Flags of the NGO Amnesty International
Image: Alain Pitton/NurPhoto/picture allianceImage: Alain Pitton/NurPhoto/picture alliance

Amnesty International

Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty and AI) is a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights. It was founded in London in 1961.

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Logo of the Amnesty International organization

Amnesty warns of crackdown on free speech during pandemic

Amnesty said that many governments had used the pandemic as an opportunity to further restrict freedom of expression.
Freedom of SpeechOctober 19, 2021
A Taliban fighter stands guard as the sun sets in Kabul, Afghanistan

Rights group accuses Taliban of 'extrajudicial executions'

Amnesty said extrajudicial killings of over a dozen ethnic Harazas by Taliban fighters "appear to be war crimes."
ConflictsOctober 5, 2021
Armed Polish soldiers and Afghan refugees who have fled the Taliban are seen near the village of Usnarz Gorny

Poland pushed Afghan migrants back into Belarus: Amnesty

Amnesty has said Poland carried out an unlawful pushback of a group of migrants camped out on its border with Belarus.
PoliticsSeptember 30, 2021
A soldier stands guard at sunset

​​​​​​Living in fear of terrorists in Niger

Niger's Tillaberi region is being ravaged by terrorist attacks. Now, the attackers are increasingly targeting children.
PoliticsSeptember 14, 2021
DW Shift Spezial Sendungslogo englisch

Shift - Living in the Digital Age

How governments used the surveillance software Pegasus to spy on opposition figures and journalists.
LifestyleAugust 20, 202112:31 min
An opposition rally in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow

No place for peaceful protest in Russia: Amnesty

A new report says protesters in Russia face a growing number of restrictions and use of excessive force by authorities.
Human RightsAugust 12, 2021
Deera Square, Riyadh, the former site for public executions.

Amnesty warns of Saudi Arabia's 'relentless crackdown'

The NGO says Riyadh is targeting dissidents now that it is no longer chairing the G20 group of leading world economies.
Human RightsAugust 3, 2021
Pegasus Project symbol picture

Amnesty 'categorically' backs Pegasus findings

An Indian minister has slammed the leaked surveillance list as "fake news" but Amnesty International has hit back.
Human RightsJuly 23, 2021
A woman reacts after riot police fired tear gas to disperse protesters taking part in a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong

Amnesty: Hong Kong on course to becoming 'police state'

The city's national security law has created a "human rights emergency," Amnesty says.
PoliticsJune 30, 2021
Kenia Nairobi | Besuch Samia Suluhu Hassan, Präsidentin Tansania

AfricaLink On Air - 28 June 2021

Samia Suluhu's first 100 days in office+++Concerned ahead of Zambia election+++Green transport in Rwanda++
PoliticsJune 28, 202130:00 min
Security officers in protective suits stand at a reception area at the visitors' hall at the Urumqi No. 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Amnesty: China committing 'crimes against humanity'

A new report by Amnesty International details China's systematic persecution of the Uyghur minority. It shows how Beijing has carried out a campaign of repression against the predominantly Muslim minority, incarcerating millions in so-called "reeducation" camps. Will this report finally make the international community act? Phil Gayle asked Joanne Mariner from Amnesty International.
June 10, 202104:44 min
A suspected prison with a Chinese flag above it

New Amnesty report outlines Chinese 'abuse' of Uyghurs

Amnesty International has demanded that Uyghur Muslims be released from internment camps
Human RightsJune 10, 2021
Children walking among tents in the Kara Tepe refugee camp in Greece

Charities call on Germany to take more refugees from Greece

A group of charity and NGOs has said Germany needs to take in more people from Greek refugee camps.
MigrationJune 8, 2021
Amnesty International protest against the arms trade in Saudi Arabia

60 years of Amnesty International

Here is how a lawyer's initiative grew into Amnesty International, one of the world's leading rights groups.
Human RightsMay 28, 20217 images
Amnesty International activists dressed as Guantanamo hooded prisoners

Amnesty International: The good, the bad and the ugly?

Amnesty International has put its finger in the wound of human rights abuses, but there's also criticism.
PoliticsMay 28, 2021
A Myanmar journalist with his mouth sealed with tape, symbolizing the government's recent crackdown on media

Myanmar jails journalist for coup protest reports

A human rights observer said journalism has been made effectively illegal in Myanmar.
Press FreedomMay 13, 2021
Algerien Said Djabelkhir

Algerian scholar handed jail term for 'offending Islam'

Amnesty International has condemned the Algier court's sentence as a "scandalous" violation of academic inquiry.
PoliticsApril 22, 2021
An execution bed in San Quentin's death lethal injection facility

Global death penalties at lowest in a decade: Amnesty

A report from the group also said some countries carried out more executions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Human RightsApril 21, 2021
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears on a screen set up at a hall of the Moscow Regional Court via a video link from Moscow's penal detention center Number 1

Free Navalny, Amnesty International's chief says

The new head of the NGO said Amnesty's recent removal of Navalny's "prisoner of conscience" status would be reviewed.
Human RightsApril 7, 2021
Ruanda Symbolbild Völkermord

AfricaLink on Air - 07 April 2021

Rwanda marks 27 years since its genocide+++Amnesty International says conflicts were worsened by the COVID pandemic.
PoliticsApril 7, 202130:00 min
Myanmar protester

Human rights under attack amid COVID pandemic: report

The global state of human rights was already grave. And then came COVID.
PoliticsApril 7, 2021
Abducted by Islamists: 16-year-old Muanarabo Oliveira in a family photo with father and sister

Kidnapping and murder in Mozambique

Islamist militants have been rampaging in northern Mozambique. DW correspondent Adrian Kriesch got some rare insights.
PoliticsMarch 2, 2021
Ethiopian refugees in eastern Sudan

Tigray: War behind a 'steel wall'

While Ethiopia denies reports about the crisis in Tigray, it tries to keep international journalists out of the region.
PoliticsMarch 1, 2021
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny

Amnesty strips Navalny of 'prisoner of conscience' status

The rights group said Navalny's past "advocacy of hatred" was the reason behind its decision.
PoliticsFebruary 24, 2021
China Verurteilung von Lai Xiaomin zum Tode

China executes former top assets banker

Until his dismissal in 2018, Lai Xiaomin headed Huarong, one of China's largest state-controlled asset management firms
PoliticsJanuary 29, 2021
Belarusian riot police block the road to stop demonstrators during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk

Amnesty accuses Belarus security forces of torture

The NGO says it has photos, video recordings and testimony that can be used as evidence of rights violations.
PoliticsJanuary 27, 2021
Amnesty International's logo

Egypt: Amnesty slams 'inhumane' prison conditions

Ten years after the Arab Spring, prisons in Egypt are just as bad as ever, Amnesty has reported.
SocietyJanuary 25, 2021
A Syrian refugee covering their face while holding a sign which reads '#SyriaNotSafe'

Why Syrian refugees in Germany fear deportation

Germany has decided to lift a ban on deporting Syrians convicted of crimes. What are the consequences?
Human RightsJanuary 18, 202109:44 min
Pham Chi Dung (R), Le Huu Minh Tuan (C) and Nguyen Tuong Thuy (L) stand between police during their trial at a court in Ho Chi Minh city

Vietnam jails 3 dissident journalists

Pro-democracy voices are being imprisoned by the government — including one of its own former staff
PoliticsJanuary 5, 2021
Three nooses and a stop sign advocating for an end to the death penalty.

Botswana urged to abolish the death penalty

Following a steep rise in executions, rights activists are calling on Botswana to ban capital punishment.
Human RightsNovember 19, 2020
Nigeria's #EndSARS protests | Demonstranten

Police brutality protests expose Nigeria's fault lines

Protests against police brutality in Nigeria continue, but are more concentrated in the south than in the north.
PoliticsOctober 20, 2020
Amnesty International workers hold a copy of a human rights report

Why is India cracking down on human rights groups?

Activists say the Indian government is trying to sideline independent investigations into human rights abuses.
SocietyOctober 1, 2020
An Amnesty International office in India

Amnesty International halts operations in India

Amnesty said its bank accounts were frozen as part of a government "witch hunt" targeting human rights organizations.
SocietySeptember 29, 2020
GMF Digital Session - Screenshot

GMF digital session: The power of influencers

Influencers worldwide are using their huge reach on social media to act as a force for social and political change.
MediaSeptember 22, 2020
Iranian security forces arrest or kidnap protesters

Amnesty: Iran security forces abused dozens in 2019 protests

Dozens of demonstrators were arbitrarily arrested and abused, according to the Amnesty International report.
Human RightsSeptember 2, 2020
Protest against CAA, February 24 (Picture Alliance)

India: Amnesty accuses police of abuses at February riots

Amnesty International has accused police in Delhi of carrying out abuses at February riots.
Human RightsAugust 28, 2020
Peter Steudtner

German rights activist Peter Steudtner acquitted in Turkey

The verdict came three years after Peter Steudtner and 10 other rights activists were arrested on terrorism charges.
Human RightsJuly 3, 2020
olice officers wearing protective masks control people during an anti-drug operation in the "Cite des Oliviers, a northern neighbourhood of Marseille

Coronavirus lockdowns expose police racial bias: Amnesty

Amnesty International has said police in Europe demonstrated racial discrimination when implementing lockdowns.
Law and JusticeJune 24, 2020
A close-up shot of a court hammer

Will Africa's human rights court survive?

The African Human Rights Court risks falling apart as more and more countries neglect it.
PoliticsJune 11, 2020
Construction work at the site of the future Education City Stadium in Doha

Qatar World Cup workers went 'unpaid for months'

Laborers from Southeast Asia and Africa working on a prestigious stadium project are still awaiting pay, Amnesty says.
Human RightsJune 11, 2020
Troops of the Malian army patrol the ancient town of Djenne in central Mali

Amnesty accuses West African forces of human rights abuses

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso's security forces have been accused of unlawful killings and disappearances.
Human RightsJune 10, 2020
Boys holding school books walk home from school

Children left behind in conflict-torn West Africa

Human rights groups say children in conflict regions aren't receiving enough support as extremist attacks grow.
PoliticsMay 27, 2020
A building lies in ruins after being hit by a barrel bomb

'War crimes' committed in northwestern Syria

Amnesty says unlawful methods included barrel bombing and airstrikes by the Syrian regime and allied Russian forces.
ConflictsMay 11, 2020
Thai police officers wearing protective masks stop a man on a motorcycle at a checkpoint

Amnesty slams Thai laws to crackdown on COVID-19 critics

Amnesty accused Thailand of using repressive laws to target government critics for its handling of the pandemic.
PoliticsApril 23, 2020
A syringe prepared for a lethal injection

Amnesty International records fewer executions

The numbers are the lowest in ten years - but the human rights group estimates that thousands went unreported.
Human RightsApril 21, 2020
Mourning relatives of victims of attack by Somali forces, supported by US

Amnesty: US in denial over killing civilians in Somalia

The number of operations against al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab has risen sharply since 2016.
Human RightsApril 1, 2020
German rights activist Peter Steudtner

Turkish court postpones verdict for German rights activist

The verdict was initially expected to be delivered on Wednesday.
Human RightsFebruary 19, 2020
A journalist holds a camera, recording an interview

Somali journalists suffer killings, attacks and threats

Somali media are hounded by parties on all sides of the conflict, finds a new Amnesty International report.
ConflictsFebruary 13, 2020
Hilfsorganisation "Iuventa Jugend Rettet"

Amnesty: Human rights prize for luventa10

Amnesty International Germany has awarded its human rights award to the luventa10, crew members of a sea rescue ship.
SocietyFebruary 11, 2020
Iran protests

More than 300 killed in Iran protest crackdown: Amnesty

The rights group described a brutal campaign to kill protesters and mass arrests to intimidate.
Human RightsDecember 16, 2019