Tag Archives: Europe

Turkey Could Be Taking A Big Step Backwards In Human Rights

July 22, 2016 at 1:48 PM
AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris

Please note this article first appeared on Time.com here.

By Katy Pownall, News Writer at Amnesty International

It’s rush hour on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge. Queues of cars jostle for position, the noise of horns fills the air, a young man selling Turkish flags weaves through the traffic carrying dozens of fluttering pieces of fabric; red and emblazoned with the country’s striking crescent and star.

Looking at the bustling scene, it’s difficult to believe that just a week ago, this same bridge was the scene of bloody carnage. The place where heavily armed soldiers and tanks first stationed themselves, and Istanbul’s inhabitants realized that a military coup was underway. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

16 Years of Silence: Enforced Disappearances in Belarus Must Be Investigated

September 18, 2015 at 11:54 AM

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By Viachaslau “Slava” Bortnik, Belarus Country Specialist, Amnesty International USA

The legal term may be clunky – “enforced disappearance” – but the human story is simple: People literally disappear, from their loved ones and their community, when state officials (or someone acting with state consent) grab them from the street or from their homes and then deny it, or refuse to say where they are. It is a crime under international law.

September 16 marked the 16 anniversary of enforced disappearance of prominent Belarusian opposition politician Viktar Hanchar and his business associate Anatol Krasouski. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Poland: It’s Time to Take Hate Crimes Seriously

September 18, 2015 at 11:16 AM

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In January 2014, a 24-year-old Polish gay man was murdered shortly after leaving a club in Szczecin. His body was found on a nearby construction site, his face covered in bruises and his pants pulled down. Medical examiners found that he had drowned, as his face had been pushed into a puddle repeatedly. Authorities ignored the possibility that homophobia motivated the murder, and the court treated this attack as a common crime when it convicted the two men responsible.

Poland’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community faces widespread and ingrained discrimination. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

What Can Europe Do to Welcome Refugees?

September 11, 2015 at 12:40 PM

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By Kristin Hulaas Sunde

Now is the time to put pressure on Europe’s leaders to give refugees the welcome and support they’re entitled to. Here’s what Amnesty is asking for, and how you can help.

Right now, EU leaders are gearing up for emergency talks about how to deal with Europe’s refugee crisis. They are responding to a global groundswell of protests and outpouring of compassion after three-year-old Aylan Kurdi’s little body was pictured so tragically on a Turkish beach.

So far this year, more than 350,000 people – mostly refugees – have tried to reach safety in Europe. Almost 2,800 have died. Others have been beaten, abused, forced to walk for days in the searing heat, and given little or no help – even a bottle of water – if they do make it to the EU. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Time to End the Refugee Shame

September 3, 2015 at 12:26 PM

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By Gauri van Gulik, Deputy Europe Director at Amnesty International

A solemn moment of silence. The world over, this is the traditional response when lives are cut short by tragedy.

It has also been a common response to tragedies in Europe and off its shores which have ended the lives of thousands of refugees and migrants. Not killed by bombs in Syria, but killed while making terrifying journeys in search of safety and better lives in Europe.

But the scale and rapid succession of these tragedies calls for breaking the silence.

In the space of a week, along with people across the world, I recoiled in horror as four new tragedies added to a growing list of events that have already brought a record number of refugees and migrants to untimely deaths this year. According to UNHCR, 2,500 have already perished en route to Europe since 1 January 2015. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

LGBT Rights Are Human Rights: Pride Under Threat in Ukraine

June 4, 2015 at 1:38 PM

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By Midushi Pandey, Intern Identity and Discrimination Unit Amnesty International USA

The month of June brings about many changes in the year: spring transitions to summer, schools let out for vacation, and LGBT Pride Month begins.

For many of us in the United States, Pride Month is a time of joy and celebration. We attend Pride parades in our big cities and small towns, decked in our finest rainbow Mardi Gras beads and waving our Pride Flags. Here in the nation’s capital, the Washington Nationals baseball team and the Smithsonian Museums hold free Pride events. And this Pride Month, we await a landmark Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality now just a few weeks away. You’ll also see (and can join!) Amnesty members working for LGBT human rights at Pride events around the country. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

The State of LGBT Human Rights Worldwide

May 21, 2015 at 2:58 AM
LGBT activists take part in a Gay Pride event in St. Petersburg, Russia, 29 June 2013. (EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV)

LGBT activists take part in a Gay Pride event in St. Petersburg, Russia, 29 June 2013. (EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV)

Across the globe, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people (LGBT) continue to face endemic violence, legal discrimination, and other human rights violations on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As we move from International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia this week to Pride month in the United States, Amnesty International stands with everyone working to guarantee the fundamental human rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Declare Your Solidarity with Belgrade Pride 2014!

September 8, 2014 at 8:54 PM
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(ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images)


By Andy Graan, Amnesty International USA Country Specialist for Serbia, Macedonia, and Western Europe

LGBT activists and supporters in Serbia have been working tirelessly to prepare for Belgrade Pride, scheduled for September 28. Despite annual efforts to celebrate Belgrade Pride, the 2014 parade, if held successfully, will mark only the third time in more than a decade that the event has actually occurred.

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Turkey’s Dreadful Response to the Soma Mining Disaster

May 21, 2014 at 4:29 PM
Relatives of a miner mourn beside his grave following the Soma mining disaster, on May 17, 2014 in Soma, Turkey (Photo Credit: Halit Onur Sandal/Getty Images).

Relatives of a miner mourn beside his grave following the Soma mining disaster, on May 17, 2014 in Soma, Turkey (Photo Credit: Halit Onur Sandal/Getty Images).

Last week’s mining disaster in Turkey represented more than simply an industrial accident, but raised very real human rights concerns. The government’s response in the last week, however, have only heightened these concerns.

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3 Reasons Amnesty is Concerned About Turkey’s Mining Disaster

May 14, 2014 at 4:18 PM
Relatives of the victims of the coal mine fire in Turkey check lists of the dead miners. An explosion and fire followed an electrical fault killed at least 232 miners and injured many others (Photo Credit: Cem Oksuz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images).

Relatives of the victims of the coal mine fire in Turkey check lists of the dead miners. An explosion and fire followed an electrical fault killed at least 232 miners and injured many others (Photo Credit: Cem Oksuz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images).

The mining disaster in Soma, a small town in Western Turkey, is, by any standards, a shocking tragedy. Amnesty International, in a statement issued today, makes clear, however, that this tragedy could have been averted.

Although the total number killed is unlikely to be determined for some time, at least two hundred are confirmed dead already.

SEE THE REST OF THIS POST