What If Your Home Was Turned into a Military Firing Zone?

November 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM

The Israeli army wants to forcibly evict the roughly 1,000 residents of eight Palestinian villages southeast of Hebron in the occupied West Bank © Google Earth. Image © Landsat 2013.

This article originally appeared on The Hill’s Congress Blog. Edith Garwood, Amnesty International USA’s Country Specialist on Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Palestinian Authority contributed to this piece.

Despite talk of a peace process, the Israeli army has ordered the eviction of some 1,000 Palestinians – men, women and children – from their homes in the occupied West Bank. Why? Because the military wants to turn eight Palestinian villages into a “firing zone” for military training. Even as President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry speak in favor of a peace agreement, the U.S.-subsidized Israeli military is subjecting Palestinians to ongoing human rights abuses.

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Maternal Health: When Will America Wake Up?

By Guest Writer

September 17, 2013 at 1:50 PM

NCBH was regarded as a national model for its innovative and compassionate care practices (Photo By BSIP/UIG via Getty Images).

By Nan Strauss, Former Amnesty International USA Researcher

With just three days notice, the North Central Bronx Hospital (NCBH)’s Labor and Delivery service was shuttered after thirty-six years providing quality maternity care to 1500 women and babies a year. The award-winning midwife-led program at NCBH was regarded as a national model for its innovative and compassionate care practices, meeting the needs of at-risk women in an under-served community.

Eliminating NCBH’s successful program will reduce the quality of care and options available in this under-served community. The woman-centered, midwifery model of care practiced at NCHB is especially effective in addressing the health disparities faced by women of color and low-income women, but will no longer be an option in the area.

The closure will make it more difficult for low-income women to access care, increasing travel time and costs, and will end community-based care in the area. Surrounding hospitals that will be forced to absorb the additional 1500 births each year are already stretched thin.

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The Other Side of the Olympics: Rio de Janeiro’s Pacification Program

By Guest Writer

August 6, 2013 at 2:12 PM

Officers with a special operations force known as BOPE patrol the streets of the violence-plagued Mare complex. Brazilian authorities have stepped up a pacification drive, in part to prepare for Rio de Janeiro to host the World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics (Photo Credit: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images).

By Salil Shetty, Secretary General at Amnesty International

When listening to the people of Maré discuss what is soon going to happen in their communities, their fear is palpable. Partly spurred by the upcoming role of Rio de Janerio as host to both the World Cup and the Olympics, the police are undertaking a program of “pacification.”

One of several community leaders I met with today said it best, “Impunity is the mother of all violence.” I was listening to people from Maré speak about their experiences living in Rio de Janerio’s largest favela. They spoke of intertwined communities that have been established in Rio as long as their more famed sisters – Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon.

But their stories were not of beautiful beaches, famed dance clubs or glamorous bars and restaurants. Their stories were of working class Brazilians trying to survive the twin threats of violence at the hands of criminals, and indifference or violence by the police.

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Pull Up a Chair! Tell Congress You Want Women at the Peacemaking Table

By Julia Drost

August 1, 2013 at 2:54 PM

An Afghan woman displays her voter registration card at a voter registration center (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images).

When did it become cliché to say that you want “world peace”? Probably for as long as anyone can remember.

But why should this be such a farfetched and unattainable objective? Perhaps we don’t believe peace will ever be sustainable because half of all peace agreements around the world fail within the first five years? Or perhaps because the way governments approach peace processes hasn’t changed despite such an abysmal record of success?

Perhaps it’s time to try something new. Something that can change this record and help build lasting and sustainable peace. Yesterday, several Members of the U.S. Congress agreed and laid down a marker for change.

Through the reintroduction of the Women, Peace and Security Act (WPS) of 2013 (H.R 2874), Members of Congress said loud and clear that the essential yet overwhelmingly absent component to both lasting peace and the prevention of recurring conflict is the inclusion of women.

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Amnesty Celebrates Mandela’s Birthday, Lifetime of Activism

By Adotei Akwei

July 18, 2013 at 11:28 AM

Nelson Mandela poses after receiving the Amnesty International “Ambassador of Conscience” Award in Johannesburg on November 1, 2006 (Photo Credit: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images).

To the world, he is known as Nelson, an English name given to him by a teacher on his first day of school. To many South Africans, he is known by his Xhosa clan name: Madiba. And there is another name Nelson Mandela is known by, one that reflects the place he holds in the hearts of South Africans: “tata” or “father.”

Today, the former South African President and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, father of South African democracy and role model for human rights defenders everywhere, turns 95. It would be a notable milestone for anyone, but all the more incredible for Madiba because of the human rights issues he has helped advance during his lifetime.

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Immigration Reform Must Not Fall Short of Human Rights

By Justin Mazzola

June 28, 2013 at 1:01 PM

Border fence near Sasabe, Arizona (Photo Courtesy of Tasya van Ree).

On June 27, 2013, the full Senate passed the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act” (S. 744). When initially introduced in April, I was cautiously optimistic that this piece of legislation would finally begin to address many of the human rights violations in the immigration enforcement, detention and deportation process which are documented in Amnesty International reports such as Jailed Without Justice: Immigration detention in the USA and In Hostile Terrain: Human rights violations in immigration enforcement in the U.S. Southwest.

S. 744 as introduced by the “Gang of Eight” had its problems – such as bolstering flawed immigration enforcement, detention and deportation programs – but there were also many provisions which took concrete steps towards addressing human rights violations.

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Obama, Africa and LGBT Rights

By Sarah Hager

June 27, 2013 at 5:00 PM

On April 24, EPOC (Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee) held a commemorative event in KwaThema to mark the 2nd anniversary of the murder of Noxolo Nogwaza. At the spot where her body was found, a memorial was erected, with messages and balloons. Amnesty International participated in the local event (Photo Credit: Amnesty International).

Since January 2009, the US State Department requires a comprehensive and holistic human rights agenda including pressuring for the recognition and protection of the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. In light of yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling regarding the unconstitutionality of DOMA, it was great to see President Obama raise the issue in Senegal yesterday. I hope he continues to push the issue as he moves on to South Africa and Tanzania later this week.

In four African countries, homosexuality is punishable by death. But being killed by your government is often the least of the concerns of the LGBT community. In 2011, Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was murdered. That same year, Noxolo Nogwaza was raped, stabbed and beaten in South Africa-apparently based on her sexual orientation. Noxolo was a gay rights activist in her community. Her killer(s) have not been caught despite our pressure for a proper investigation of her murder. Currently, two men are in prison in Zambia facing criminal penalties, subjected to forcible anal examination by the government, on allegations of homosexuality.

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Where Are All the Students From Gaza?

By Jasmine Heiss

June 18, 2013 at 11:03 AM

Palestinian students celebrate during their graduation ceremony at Birzeit University. Birzeit is the university of choice for Azza, Suhair and Loujain. However, like many Palestinian students, they are restricted from attending because the university is in the West Bank and they live in Gaza (Photo Credit: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images).

As I write this, an Israeli checkpoint is fading into the distance behind me. In the past three days, I’ve been traveling between Israel and the occupied West Bank, learning about human rights conditions on the ground.

When I fly back to the United States, it will be with deeper insight into the experience of human rights defenders and activists in Israel and the occupied West Bank. Yet before I leave, there are three people who I know I won’t get a chance to meet: Azza, Suhair and Loujain.

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Cartoon Candidate Only One Addressing Human Rights in Iranian Election

By Elise Auerbach

May 31, 2013 at 9:49 AM

Zahra (Courtesy of Amir Soltani, creator of Zahra).

Only one candidate is seriously addressing the issue of human rights in the lead-up to Iran’s presidential election on June 14. She is a mother, devoutly religious (albeit with an irreverence for authority), she has a well-thought out platform and a plan to initiate widespread reforms to guarantee human rights in Iran. Her name is Zahra and – oh, by the way – she is not real.

Zahra would not be allowed to run anyway as women are precluded from being the president of Iran. But that minor detail does not discourage Zahra. Undaunted, she is out there on the campaign trail, courageously speaking truth to power and confronting the authorities over their rampant human rights violations, calling for an end to the death penalty and for the release of all political prisoners.

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220,00 Children: Creating A Lost Generation in Zimbabwe

By Sarah Hager

October 11, 2011 at 1:49 PM

On October 10th, Zimbabwe went before the United Nations Human Rights Council to answer concerns about the country’s human rights record. One issue Amnesty raised in its submission to the Council is the lingering effects of Operation Murambatsvina.

In 2005, the government of Zimbabwe destroyed homes and businesses in informal settlements, displacing an estimated 700,000 people. This is the same as wiping out the entire city of Columbus, Ohio. Since then, the government has failed to address the needs of these people in any meaningful fashion.

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