Schlagwort: Amnesty International

We are excited to introduce the Human Rights Education (HRE) Network Advisory Group (NAG), a new collective of HRE practitioners from across Amnesty International who will be working together to strengthen our global HRE network and support HRE as a core capacity within our movement. This group brings together diverse experiences, local knowledge, and creative methodologies to help shape the future of HRE across the organisation. Its role is to support the Global HRE Network by offering ideas, insights, and practical suggestions that reflect the richness of our global community. After initially meeting online, members of the HRE NAG recently gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for an important strategic moment to:

• Build relationships in a face-to-face environment.
• Share experiences of HRE implementation across all regions.
• Define the role of the Advisory Group moving forward.
• Plan key actions to help strengthen connections and capacity across the HRE Network.

For most attendees, this amazing opportunity meant a lot of travel (Alonso from Chile won ‘Most Hours/Days in Transit!’). For others, it also meant enormous amounts of preparation, both in the months leading up to the event and on the ground in the Nairobi office itself…but it was worth it! Numerous deep-dive sessions were run with and by participants to explore the untapped potential of our HRE Network and brainstorm how best to support its ongoing evolution.

Here are the top 3 takeaways of this unique intensive:

1. HRE is more vital than ever

As we currently witness a normalization of authoritarian practices and narratives around the world, Human Rights Education plays an increasingly critical role in empowering activists with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to recognize and challenge such practices. Which makes this opportunity to revitalize Amnesty’s global network of HRE practitioners especially timely…and exciting! So, make sure you contribute your own insights and ideas to the future of our Network by completing the survey coming soon.

2. Quality time is a game-changer

Meeting ‘in real life’ was the highlight for everybody in Nairobi, which is why building stronger connections across the entire HRE Network, and particularly within geographical regions, forms a big part of the long-term vision. Online interactions like webinars are incredibly helpful (and practical!), and the commitment is always to make as many of these as possible, but it’s also true that something special happens when colleagues have the chance to work together in more sustained and meaningful ways. As a network of diverse people having a wide range of experiences in our far-flung corners of the earth we are one thing (i.e. near strangers with HRE in common); but as a group of people who have laughed, listened and learned with one another on a deeper level we are quite another (i.e. unified collaborators with all sorts of things in common!).

3. There is no such thing as a ‘silly question’

It turns out everybody has felt self-conscious about their level of knowledge or experience in an HRE space at one time or another, and this can limit all our learning. As the bonds of our HRE Network strengthen, increased camaraderie will help everyone to feel safe in speaking up – but, in the meantime, this is a very friendly reminder: we’re all feeling the same way in the same boat!

Meet the Members

Let’s get to know the members of the HRE Network Advisory Group, each bringing their own unique experience and energy to this collective effort. Their mandate runs for 18 months, during which they’ll be actively contributing to key processes and supporting the wider network.

What Next?

The Advisory Group is now working to turn these insights into action. You’ll soon receive a short survey to share your own experiences, needs, and ideas for the future of the HRE Network. Your input will help shape how we support capacity building, resource sharing, and collaboration going forward.

Gratitude

So many people went above and beyond to make the Kenya workshop such a resounding success, but special thanks go to Kate Moriarty, Ruth Zaldibar Garcia, Emily Maranga, Philcollins Omondi, and the entire Amnesty Kenya community. Finally, our sincere gratitude also goes to Sophia Scherer and the extraordinary team of four interpreters who worked tirelessly throughout to translate participants’ every word. The level of selflessness, skill, and patience was exemplary!

Let’s keep building a strong, inclusive, and impactful HRE Network together!!!

The post Strengthening Human Rights Education Together: Meet the HRE Network Advisory Group appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to the news of the conditional royal pardon granted on 5 November 2025 to former member of parliament, Mthandeni Dube, resulting in his supervised release, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Vongai Chikwanda, said:

“Mthandeni Dube’s release may bring relief to his family, but justice remains incomplete while his human rights are restricted by sweeping conditions and Bacede Mabuza who was arrested together with Dube, is still in prison. Both Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza should never have been imprisoned in the first place solely the peaceful exercise of their human rights. The Eswatini authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Bacede Mabuza and quash both MPs’ unfair convictions.

Mthandeni Dube’s release may bring relief to his family, but justice remains incomplete while his human rights are restricted by sweeping conditions

Vongai Chikwanda, Deputy Regional Director, Amnesty International, ESARO

“Mthandeni Dube’s release is subject to far-reaching limitations on his human rights, including prohibitions on political activity, public speaking and media engagement, as well as restrictions on travel and residence. These conditions, imposed under the supervision of His Majesty’s Correctional Services, unduly restrict human rights and effectively extend punishment beyond the prison walls.

The continued criminalization of Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza underscores Eswatini’s ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent.

Vongai Chikwanda

“The continued criminalization of Mthandeni Dube and Bacede Mabuza underscores Eswatini’s ongoing crackdown on peaceful dissent. Eswatini authorities must take immediate and effective steps to protect civic space ensure and uphold the human rights of everyone including to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

Background

MPs Bacede Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were arrested on 25 July 2021 after supporting calls for constitutional and democratic reform in Eswatini. On 31 July 2024, they were sentenced to 85 years and 58 years respectively under the Suppression of Terrorism Act (2008) and Sedition and Subversive Activities Act (1938). On 25 July 2025, Amnesty International designated both men as prisoners of conscience.

On 5 November 2025, His Majesty’s Correctional Services announced Dube’s conditional royal pardon, imposing strict limitations on his political engagement, public communication and movement. Bacede Mabuza remains in prison, serving an 85-year sentence imposed under repressive laws after proceedings that failed to meet international fair trial standards.

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The Dominican Republic has among the lowest levels of public investment in health in Latin America and the Caribbean. But instead of strengthening its system, the government has blamed the population perceived as Haitian and has introduced a protocol in public hospitals that ties care to migratory status and puts these people at risk of being arrested and deported, Amnesty International warned today in the report Health without stigma: How the Dominican Republic’s migration policies affect the right to health.

“This protocol is a smokescreen used by President Luis Abinader to try to hide the fact that his administration and the ones before it have not invested enough to guarantee the right to health”, said Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International. “Dominican hospitals should be places of care and protection, not spaces of fear and surveillance. The government must invest sufficient resources in health and immediately roll back all measures that scare people away from getting medical care because of their nationality or migratory status“, she added.

This protocol is a smokescreen used by President Luis Abinader to try to hide the fact that his administration and the ones before it have not invested enough to guarantee the right to health 

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

On 6 April 2025, President Luis Abinader implemented a set of migration-related measures, including the “Procedure for the management of health services for foreign patients.” This protocol requires foreigners to present identification, a passport with a valid visa, a work card issued by the Directorate of Migration, and proof of home address as requirements for hospital admission. Foreigners who do not present these documents face being arrested and deported after receiving care. According to the president, these measures aim to “control the surge of patients in public hospitals” and guarantee the rights of Dominicans. 

Amnesty International has analysed this issue using data from Dominican National Health Service facilities and household surveys, as well as from interviews with experts and health service users. According to the information the organization examined, health care access and availability issues in the country are not caused by Haitian refugees overwhelming the services. Rather, they can be explained by the state’s gradual failure to invest in health, in spite of its international obligations to use the maximum available resources possible to guarantee the right to health.

Amnesty International also finds that implementing the protocol impedes Haitians’ right to health, increasing inequality in access to health and limiting public health efforts for the country’s entire population.

The public health system has deteriorated because of the limited availability of health services  

In February 2025, President Luis Abinader announced that his administration would prioritize investing in the health system to benefit Dominican nationals. However, historically the underlying problems in access to public health have not been related to the demand for health services by Haitians living in the country, but to insufficient funding and low availability of resources. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Dominican Republic has the second lowest public spending on health as a percentage of its GDP in the region, allocating less than half (2.7% of GDP) of the WHO recommendation (6%). Although the budget for health spending has grown by 5% from 2022 to 2024, these increases are not substantial or sufficient to reach the internationally established target. 

The number of beds and nurses available in the Dominican Republic’s health system is also below the regional average, according to data from the WHO and the Pan American Health Organization. 

The Dominican health system is not overburdened by Haitians 

Amnesty International’s research and official data show that Haitians make up only a small fraction of public health service users nationwide. Based on secondary care figures from the Dominican National Health Service up to the first quarter of 2025, Haitians only accounted for 7.9% of all consultations and 14.8% of all hospitalizations. Although the share of Haitian patients is higher and exceeds 30% in some provinces – such as Independencia, Elías Piña, Pedernales and Seibo – the total patients in these areas only represented 2% of the countrywide total in 2025.

Amnesty International’s statistical analysis of Dominican National Health Service data reveals that bed occupancy and overcrowding in critical contexts is not caused by increases in hospitalizations, emergencies or surgeries for Haitian patients, but by an overall increase in demand for health services.

The health services are not being overwhelmed by Haitian women giving birth

Authorities, national media and public figures say that an increasing proportion of deliveries are by Haitian women, drawing a racist and misogynistic connection to what they call an “invasion of wombs” in the country. However, Amnesty International’s research and official data show that, between 2023 and 2025, the proportions in registered births remained constant, while the number of births registered in the National Health Service – to both Haitian and Dominican women – has gone down. With seasonally adjusted figures, the percentage of births to Haitian mothers went from 36% in the first quarter of 2023 to 37% in the first quarter of 2025.

The increased share of births to Haitian women is explained by a marked decrease in births among Dominican women, not by a higher number of Haitian women giving birth. Consequently, this change in composition does not put additional pressure on hospital capacity or compromise the availability of health services in the country. 

But it is true that the protocol and the practices it leads to, such as identifying, arresting and deporting pregnant women after they are treated in hospitals, do endanger the lives and health of women and newborns. Fear of deportation deters women from using public health services. 

This policy also feeds into the reproductive violence that Haitian women had already been experiencing at public facilities. Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent interviewed by Amnesty International reported being rejected by hospitals or enduring racist remarks when seeking prenatal or emergency care. Several reported having no choice but to give birth in their homes without adequate medical assistance or in informal spaces for fear of being arrested, despite serious risks to their health, their pregnancies, and their babies.

The government’s decisions are discriminatory and deepen inequality in access to health for Haitians

The migration protocol in public hospitals disproportionately affects Haitians and people of Haitian descent. It is implemented in a context of racial profiling and xenophobia against people of Haitian origin, aggravating racial discrimination and perpetuating an official discourse that associates being Haitian with illness, poverty or illegal status. The measure hinders access to health and violates international human rights obligations – including the rights to health, equality and non-discrimination – guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Statistics from a UNICEF survey reviewed by Amnesty International show that Haitians have less access to drinking water, proper sanitation and water inside the home – all determinants of health in their households. Additionally, health insurance and vaccination coverage for children under five is very low, and Haitian children have higher levels of malnutrition. Similarly, pregnant Haitian women have higher neonatal mortality rates, less access to health insurance and less access to follow-up consultations.

The health protocol threatens the health of everyone in the Dominican Republic

Under the international human rights framework, Amnesty International finds that the migration protocol in public hospitalscould affect prevention and health care actions in the Dominican Republic. General Recommendation 37 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination states that “racial discrimination … produces and exacerbates health inequities, leading to, or increasing the incidence of, cases of preventable disease and death.” 

Public health and international cooperation experts consulted by Amnesty International say the protocol may undermine the broader public health response, potentially putting the health of everyone in the country at risk. They indicated that the barriers to health care access created by the protocol, which push Haitians living in the country away from health services, could increase maternal mortality and weaken the national response to HIV and other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. 

According to the experts interviewed, many Haitians were previously receiving HIV treatment through programmes supported by international aid, which has been greatly reduced or cut back. However, since the health protocol took effect, many Haitians could be left without access to life-saving treatments because of fear, mistrust, and even the legal risk of being deported. This in turn affects HIV prevention efforts nationwide. Amnesty International concludes that the migration protocol in public hospitals has a discriminatory and racist effect on access to health care for Haitians and Black people, and, more generally, undermines public health.

Appeals to the Dominican government 

The authorities argue that registering “foreigners” in hospitals and notifying the authorities of their immigration status is a “security” and “law enforcement” measure. However, forcing health personnel to report their patients creates an environment of fear that discourages people from seeking medical care, including for chronic health conditions. It increases unassisted births and preventable deaths. 

“The migration protocol in public hospitals is not built on evidence or respect for human rights.It puts up obstacles for Haitians trying to get health services and institutionalizes discriminatory treatment against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. But it also jeopardizes the health of everyone living in the country,” said Diego Vázquez, researcher at Amnesty International. “The Dominican government must ensure that all people have access to acceptable and quality health care without discrimination.”

The migration protocol in public hospitals is not built on evidence or respect for human rights.It puts up obstacles for Haitians trying to get health services and institutionalizes discriminatory treatment against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. But it also jeopardizes the health of everyone living in the country”.

Diego Vázquez, researcher at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International urges President Luis Abinader and all Dominican authorities to guarantee the right to health of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, to stop deporting these people when they go to hospitals and to immediately revoke the migratory protocol that forces public hospitals to register and report the migratory status of those it treats. It calls on the administration to take all possible administrative, political and legal measures to guarantee the right to health in the Dominican Republic without discrimination based on race, gender, national origin, migratory status or any other aspect.

Background

Since October 2024, the Dominican authorities have deported over 300,000 Haitians, including pregnant women and children, despite the grave humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti and in spite of UNHCR’s urging since 2022 to stop forcible returns. The findings are part of Amnesty International’s #AntiracistDR campaign, which documents structural racial discrimination in the Dominican Republic’s migration and nationality policies. The campaign calls on people to demand that Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic, end the collective expulsions and racial discrimination of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent, guarantee access to health without discrimination and respect and protect those who defend equality and non-discrimination, racial justice and the rights of migrants.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact press@amnesty.org

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Moldova’s diverse and multi-lingual media face multiple challenges, including restrictions based on vague national legislation, penalties that are unwarranted and fail to follow due process, harassment, as well as direct reporting restrictions in Russian-occupied Transnistria, Amnesty International said in a new report published today.

The report, Media freedom in Moldova: Fragility, undue restrictions and self-censorship in the face of polarized politics, documents the risks to media due to measures taken by the Moldovan authorities, including the introduction and abuse of emergency powers, particularly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It shows how the authorities have resorted to the suspension of broadcasting licenses without transparency or judicial oversight to counter the spread of Russia-originated disinformation and misinformation and alleged Russian attempts to illegally sway Moldova’s politics, underlined by the Russian war of aggression in neighbouring Ukraine.

“The Moldovan authorities argue that such measures are a necessary response to the country’s security needs. Yet, this response to external threats fails to comply with the requirements of legality, necessity and proportionality. It puts independent journalism and freedom of expression itself at risk,” said Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova.

“In government-controlled Moldova, these emergency measures alongside a lack of protection against harassment and vague legislation, have led to self-censorship even among some pro-European media. Elsewhere, the situation is plainly dire. The authorities must not put fundamental freedoms at risk.

“Moldova’s authorities must protect media freedom and develop media regulations in consultation with media and civil society, not seek to control the country’s information space through controversial legislation and extrajudicial punitive measures.”

Moldova’s authorities must protect media freedom and develop media regulations in consultation with media and civil society, not seek to control the country’s information space through controversial legislation and extrajudicial punitive measures

Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova

Introduction of new controversial legislation and sanctions for media

Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moldova’s parliament imposed a new state of emergency which granted the Commission for Exceptional Situations (CES), a non-judicial authority, the powers to introduce new media regulations and impose sanctions on media for breaking them. Before the state of emergency expired, the CES suspended the broadcasting licenses of 12 TV channels, and blocked access to dozens of websites, in response to alleged media-related threats from Russia.

The CES’s non-judicial powers expired at the same time as the state of emergency, on 30 December 2023, only to be transferred to the Council for the Promotion of Investment Projects of National Importance (CPIPNI), under swiftly passed legislation which, absurdly, purported to ensure “integrity and functionality of the electricity market.” The CPIPNI has de-licensed without due process guarantees, permanently or temporarily, at least 18 TV and radio channels, for either belonging to physical and legal persons of interest to the security services or merely suspected of belonging to such persons due to opaque ownership arrangements.

Apart from swiftly passing controversial new laws, the government continues to rely on earlier, overly restrictive and vaguely worded legislation, which prohibits dissemination of disinformation, without clearly defining the term, and retransmission of “audiovisual television and radio programmes with informative, informative-analytical, military and political content” produced outside of a limited list of countries, which manifestly excludes Russia.

Journalists from the affected media outlets complained to Amnesty International that the authorities disallowed coverage of certain topics, like the Russian authorities’ position on the Russian war against Ukraine, from an alternative – that the authorities would understand as pro-Russian – point of view.

A high-ranking Moldovan official argued that de-licensing media outlets outside of a judicial process was a “war-time measure” needed in response to media-related threats posed by Russia, compounded by the challenges posed by the “dysfunctionality” and slowness of the courts in Moldova.

For affected media, the only option is to challenge the penalties after they are applied. Six of the TV channels delicensed by the CES challenged the decision in court. The judge upheld the penalty in a ruling based solely on a review of procedural compliance, and not the lawfulness of the CES’s decision with regards to its compliance with Moldova’s international human rights obligations.

“When the government decides it can bypass judicial oversight when applying penalties as severe as media de-licensing, and rushes through legislation which ‘legalizes’ this approach, it harms all Moldova’s media and undermines human rights. It leads to self-censorship, stifles free expression and obstructs access to legal remedies. Such measures directly contravene international human rights law, and must be promptly reversed,” said Veaceslav Tofan.

When the government decides it can bypass judicial oversight when applying penalties as severe as media de-licensing, and rushes through legislation which ‘legalizes’ this approach, it harms all Moldova’s media and undermines human rights

Veaceslav Tofan, Executive Director of Amnesty International Moldova

Harassment of journalists in Gagauzia and suppression of freedom of expression in Transnistria

The challenges faced by media are even more visible in Moldova’s regions. In the autonomous region of Gagauzia, journalists from media outlets that criticize regional authorities complain of harassment and obstruction. A journalist who worked for the regional public broadcaster felt compelled to resign from her job after publishing an article presenting an alternative view to that of local leaders on gas supplies from Russia.

In the Russian-occupied region of Transnistria, freedom of expression is virtually non-existent, with local legislation criminalizing the “insult” of officials, criticism or “distortion” of “the positive peacekeeping role” of Russian troops, as well as “rehabilitation of Nazism” and “dissemination of deliberately false information” about the USSR’s activities during World War II. Journalists from the government-controlled territory of Moldova are regarded as “foreign,” and cannot work freely in Transnistria.

Amnesty International calls on the Moldovan authorities to revise all media-related legislation in line with international standards, end the misuse of legislation against journalists and broadcasters, and ensure that all restrictions and sanctions against media are subject to independent judicial review. The organisation also urges the authorities to protect journalists from harassment and violence, including online threats, and to guarantee the human right to freedom of expression across the entire territory of Moldova, including Gagauzia and Transnistria.

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Military courts continue to investigate possible human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by members of the Colombian security forces, despite express prohibitions in national and international standards, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

The report Insist, persist, resist and never give up? Impact of the use of military criminal justice on impunity for human rights violations in Colombia shows that use of the military criminal justice system (JPM) prevents access to justice, violates the rights of victims and exacerbates the damage caused by impunity.

“The use of military criminal justice in possible human rights violations is not a technical error: it is a structural obstacle that contributes to impunity,” said Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

The use of military criminal justice in possible human rights violations is not a technical error: it is a structural obstacle that contributes to impunity.” 

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Undue intervention

According to international human rights standards, military judges should never preside over trials involving civilians, possible human rights violations or crimes under international law. The report points out the contradiction inherent in the fact that the National Police in Colombia is defined as a civilian body, yet its members are investigated and subjected to trial by the JPM. Amnesty International believes that this issue can only be permanently resolved through constitutional reform.

Despite two decades of legal and constitutional reforms to criminal law and military jurisdiction, plus a wealth of case law from the Constitutional Court and international position statements, military justice continues to act in cases involving possible human rights violations and crimes under international law committed by members of the military and police forces, especially crimes against life and personal integrity. “This prevents Colombia from adequately guaranteeing access to justice for the victims,” said Ana Piquer.

A decades-old problem

The report analyses the enforced disappearances in the 1980s of Luis Fernando Lalinde and Nydia Erika Bautista at the hands of the Colombian military; at the time, investigation into these cases was taken on by courts comprised by these same military forces, with impunity prevailing to this day, four decades on.

The situation of protesters injured or killed by members of the National Police in the context of protests occurring over the last two decades is also analysed. Although Colombian case law is consistent in pointing out that these cases must be subject to the ordinary courts, judges and prosecutors from both military and ordinary courts continue to wrongly assign them to the JPM, hindering the judicial process.

The report is based on information provided to Amnesty International by the Attorney General’s Office, the JPM and the Constitutional Court, and includes a systematic review of 398 cases of conflicts of jurisdiction referred to the Constitutional Court for resolution between February 2021 and October 2024.

Demanding justice for human rights violations or crimes under international law allegedly committed by members of the military or the National Police usually takes years and is a process that requires addressing institutional barriers that favour impunity. “The jurisdiction of the military criminal justice system must be strictly limited to crimes committed by active duty military personnel. It cannot be extended to human rights violations or civilians, in accordance with international standards,” concluded Ana Piquer.

The jurisdiction of the military criminal justice system must be strictly limited to crimes committed by active duty military personnel. It cannot be extended to human rights violations or civilians, in accordance with international standards”.

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Amnesty International recommendations

Amnesty International calls on the Colombian state to: 

• Constitutionally exclude the National Police from the scope of jurisdiction of the JPM.
• Approve legislative reforms to specify that the jurisdiction of the JPM does not extend to possible human rights violations or crimes under international law.
• Adopt preventive measures to ensure that investigations into such crimes cannot be opened under the JPM, and that any that may already have been opened are transferred to the ordinary criminal justice system.
• Provide mandatory and comprehensive training to JPM and ordinary justice operators on applicable international standards and constitutional jurisprudence.

For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact press@amnesty.org

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