Revelations of right-wing extremist activities among police and security forces raised concerns about the protection of minorities’ human rights. The authorities were urged by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance to investigate police racial profiling. The authorities failed to...

In this submission Amnesty International evaluates the implementation of recommendations made to Germany in its previous UPR, assesses the national human rights framework with regard to national legislation on privacy, police and assembly laws and on sexual and reproductive rights. Amnesty...

Discrimination against Muslims in the counterterrorism context in Europe is a longstanding human rights concern. In the last two decades in particular, Muslims’ lawful religious, cultural, and political activities and affiliations have been construed as “dangerous” enough to justify significant...

The reach of the US lethal drone programme is extensive and the USA relies heavily on assistance from many States. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has reportedly made changes to US policy on the use of force outside areas of conflict. Combined with the current administration’s reported...

In this submission, prepared for the Universal Periodic Review of Germany in May 2018, Amnesty International expresses concern about national legislation on privacy and on counter-terrorism breaching human rights standards, and the risk of refoulement of rejected asylum-seekers. Amnesty...

Amnesty International conducted research into the cobalt due diligence policies and practices of many well-known consumer electronics companies, electric vehicle manufacturers and the companies in their supply chains. As part of the research, Amnesty International contacted these companies and...

This report builds on This is What We Die For (AFR 62/3183/2016), first published by Amnesty International and Afrewatch in 2016, which showed how cobalt mined by children and adults in hazardous conditions in the DRC entered the supply chains of many of the world’s biggest brands. This report...

Every year, children are born with sex characteristics – genitals, gonads, hormones, chromosomes or reproductive organs – which vary from the established norms for ‘male’ and ‘female’. In this report, Amnesty International documents the specific human rights violations faced by children with...

Hundreds of people were killed and wounded in a spate of violent attacks in European Union (EU) states between January 2015 and December 2016. They were shot by armed men, blown up in suicide bomb attacks and deliberately run over as they walked in the street. These callous crimes did not just...

Hundreds of people were killed and wounded in violent attacks in the European Union in 2015 and 2016. The need to protect people from such wanton violence is obvious and urgent. This report gives a bird’s eye view of the national security landscape and shows just how widespread and deep the...

Hate crimes have soared in Germany in the last few years, with an 87% increase in violent racist crimes between 2013 and 2015 and a sixteen-fold increase in the crimes targeting shelters for asylum-seekers. Long-standing shortcomings in the response to hate crimes have not been addressed by German...

At an event organised and held in New York on 15 July 2015 by Amnesty International and the International Service for Human Rights together with Botswana, Brazil and the Netherlands, eight candidates to the Human Rights Council discussed their aspirations and vision of membership on the UN’s main...

The German Constitutional Court ruling striking down a blanket prohibition for teachers to wear religious and cultural symbols or dress in North-Rhine Westphalia, the most populous German state, is an important step towards combating discrimination based on religion or belief.