The COVID-19 pandemic exposed chronic under-resourcing in health care. The authorities used the pandemic as a pretext to continue the crackdown on all dissent, including through amendments to a vaguely worded law on “fake news” and tightening restrictions on public gatherings. Peaceful protesters,...

Reacting to the news that Russian State Duma passed the legislation imposing a blanket ban on “sex change” procedures, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, said: “The adoption of this abominable transphobic legislation shows an utter disregard for the human rights of...

Responding to news that the US is to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine, Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Military, Security and Policing issues said: “Amnesty International has long stressed that cluster munitions are inherently indiscriminate weapons which have caused...

Responding to the vicious beating of Elena Milashina, a journalist working with Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, and Aleksandr Nemov, a human rights lawyer, that took place this morning in Chechnya, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director,...

Reacting to the news that Russian migrants’ rights defender Tatyana Kotlyar has been convicted and fined with 650,000 roubles (US$7,500), Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, said: “Tatyana Kotlyar is being punished simply for helping hundreds of people, including migrants and...

As the consequences of the Kakhovka dam destruction continue to unfold, the occupying Russian forces have been endangering lives in flood-afflicted areas following the destruction of the dam, while upstream water shortages and an upheaval  of livelihoods point to an impending ecological and...

Responding to the start of a trial in Moscow against Oleg Orlov, a prominent human rights defender, who is charged with the newly instituted “crime” of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces and risks up to three years in a penal colony, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia...

Responding to warnings that the smoke from more than 400 wildfires burning across Canada poses risks to the health of tens of millions of people in North America, Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s Director of Climate, Economic and Social Justice, and Corporate Accountability Programme, said:...

In response to Russian missile attacks that reportedly killed seven people, including a mother and her child, and injured many more, Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Regional Director, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said: “As Ukraine and other countries in the region mark International Children’s Day, it...

Reacting to news that Vladimir Kara-Murza, a political activist and journalist, has been sentenced to 25 years in jail by a Russian court for “high treason” and other politically motivated charges for speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Amnesty International’s Russia Director Natalia...

Reacting to the news that Russian law enforcement officers have searched the homes of members of Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights organization and Nobel Peace Prize awardee, Natalia Zviagina, Amnesty International’s Russia Director, said: “By raiding the homes of members of Memorial, the...

Responding to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of...

In response to the Investigative Committee of Russia’s announcement that three Ukrainian prisoners of war, including human rights defender Maksym Butkevych, have been “convicted” of war crimes by “supreme courts” in Russia-occupied Luhansk and Donetsk and given long prison sentences, Denis...