Schlagwort: Amnesty International

Bangladesh’s interim government must restore public trust by guaranteeing full respect for human rights and the rule of law in the fortnight ahead of next month’s national elections, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnes Callamard, said in an open letter to Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, the country’s acting leader.

The letter, sent ahead of the 12 February polls, raises concerns about the authorities’ continued misuse of anti-terror legislation against journalists, and their failure to adequately safeguard the rights to life, security of persons, and freedom of expression, and association. It calls on the interim government to “ensure that laws, policies, and practices fully protect” these rights in the lead up to the elections.

“Bangladesh’s interim government had a mandate to restore human rights, in line with the nation’s obligations under international law. The coming weeks will be a decisive test of whether it will honour those responsibilities,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“The authorities must uphold the rights of individuals and groups to speak freely – including during an election. Chief Advisor Yunus’s government must show genuine leadership by ensuring that all Bangladeshis can participate fully and safely in deciding their country’s future. They must ensure that the right to life is protected. No one should fear for their life for peacefully speaking their minds and sharing their views. ”

Chief Advisor Yunus’s government must show genuine leadership by ensuring that all Bangladeshis can participate fully and safely in deciding their country’s future

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

Despite Bangladesh being a signatory to many of the core international human rights instruments, the interim administration has failed to give effect to these obligations. This includes the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which enshrines the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of association that must be upheld, including during an election period.

In the letter, Agnès Callamard said: “Unlawful restrictions on these fundamental freedoms undermine public debate and participation in the electoral process, and weaken public trust in institutions.”

Since assuming power in 2024, the interim authorities have misused the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) against journalists and other perceived critics. The letter cites the examples of Monjurul Alam Panna, who was arrested under the ATA in August 2025 for allegedly “attempting to overthrow the interim government,” and Anis Alamgir, who was detained under the ATA in December 2025, for allegedly “spreading propaganda for the Awami League.” Both journalists’ arbitrary arrests violate their rights to freedom of expression and association.

The letter also cites the interim authorities’ inadequate response to the violence that followed the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi on 18 December 2025, when the offices of media outlets The Daily Star and Prothom Alo were set alight, and the editor of the New Age newspaper, Nurul Kabir, was harassed. On the same day, Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu man, was lynched following allegations of blasphemy.

Background

Ahead of the elections, Amnesty International has published a human rights charter outlining the core human rights priorities that any incoming government must address. The charter, available here, lays out concrete steps across eight key areas that the next government should take to bring Bangladesh closer to its obligations under international human rights law.

Agnès Callamard is an international human rights expert. A leading advocate for freedom of expression, a feminist, and an anti-racism activist, Dr. Callamard has been at the forefront of international efforts to combat some of the greatest human rights challenges of our time. She was appointed Secretary General of Amnesty International in 2021.

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Content warning: This story contains graphic stories of violence against women who give birth.

Annick Nonohou Agani, 51, from Benin, is a midwife, jurist, and human rights activist. She founded the Network of Patient-Friendly Caregivers (Réseau des Soignants Amis des Patients) and coordinates an initiative to reduce obstetric and gynecological violence in French-speaking Africa.

She is an award-winning midwife and has delivered around 3,000 babies. She is campaigning for childbirth practices that respect human rights in collaboration with Amnesty International.

Amnesty International Benin and its partners are working to educate public and healthcare professionals about patients’ rights, gynecological and obstetric violence, as well as access to healthcare for prisoners.

“My mother suffered obstetric violence. I was five or six years old at the time, and we were living in Niger. My father and I took my mother to the health center to give birth, but they wouldn’t let him in, so I stayed alone with my mother.

She was in a lot of pain and tried to call the health workers by raising her upper body on the delivery table, which was not wide. Unfortunately, she fell off the table. She wasn’t responding, so I called the health workers, who, without properly checking her breathing, declared her dead. An hour later, she started moving and talking again so I ran to get the health workers… They laughed at me and insulted me, saying that a dead body doesn’t talk! So, I went outside to call for help. In the end, my mother gave birth to my brother and they both survived. But her mistreatment by the clinic workers had a lasting impact on me… I told myself that whatever I became later in life, I would defend the rights of women who give birth.

Defending women’s rights

During my midwifery studies, I was already defending women’s rights. I didn’t want them to be mistreated. I started practicing in 2000, and began working with Amnesty International, conducting awareness-raising sessions with communities in northern Benin. In 2005, I decided to enroll in my first year of law school and completed my master’s degree in public law on the right to health.

Being both a midwife and a jurist allowed me to better assert myself in defending women. I was an activist, but I realized it was difficult to do it alone. I started working with women’s groups I knew through awareness raising sessions. I realized that we could bring about behavioral change through setting up women’s networks. I did internships in Morocco and Japan, where I learned how to deliver babies without violence. In 2013, I founded the Network of Patient-Friendly Caregivers, and today I am an activist at a regional level.  

Even today, in some delivery rooms in Benin, there are straps to whip those who are not pushing properly.

Annick Nonohou Agani

Obstetric violence is widespread

Obstetric violence occurs in almost every country in the world. The first form of violence is denying the father access to the delivery room. It also includes not allowing the woman to choose the position in which she gives birth. There is what is known as abdominal pressure, where staff continue to climb on women’s stomachs and thus bring the baby out. Childbirth is highly medicalized. Unnecessary C-sections are sometimes imposed. Naked women are also subjected to repeated touches by numerous students, and no one asks for their consent. On several occasions, I have supported women victims of obstetric violence who had been left alone on very narrow delivery tables without mattresses, as was the case for my mother.

There is normalized violence because it is part of our care protocols. This is institutional violence, such as episiotomy, the overuse of vacuum extraction and forceps to deliver the baby… Violent deliveries are normalized and women are objectified.

In our countries, it is believed that during childbirth, women must remain silent and not scream. Pain is denied. People say that a woman who cannot bear pain will not be able to give birth to a living child. There is also verbal abuse, with insults related to sexuality. We often hear phrases such as: “While you were enjoying sex, didn’t you think you might get pregnant, and that giving birth would hurt?”

Women are also beaten during childbirth, they are slapped. Even today, in some delivery rooms in Benin, there are straps to whip those who are not pushing properly. Sometimes, when you have a relative with you during childbirth and the midwife hits you, your relative may hit you and slap you in turn.

Protecting patients is paramount

One case that struck me was that of a woman who lost her baby during childbirth. The health workers refused to give her the body because they wanted to extort money from her. The government is fighting against these racketeering practices, as well as the illegal sale of medicines, but it continues.

We need to review midwifery training curricula. They must include human rights-based obstetric practices. It is also essential to update care protocols and make available all the tools and equipment necessary for non-violent childbirth. However, due to the patriarchy that prevails in our health centers, midwives who would like to practice non-violent childbirth face opposition from doctors.

People ask why we, as midwives, would talk about human rights. But we have a vision, we have a goal.

Annick Nonohou Agani

Previously, in Benin, there was no legislation to protect patients. Then, in 2021, the law on the protection of human health was passed, which states that the patient’s consent must be sought and renewed during care. But no law mentions obstetric violence.

The 2012 law on the prevention and punishment of violence against women did cover childbirth, but everything else was missing. There is no mention of the specific cases of pregnant women, women in labour, and women in the postpartum period, even though women must be protected at each of these stages. There are no criminal provisions to punish obstetric violence.

Specific legislation is needed for the prevention and punishment of gynecological and obstetric violence.

Beninese activist Annick Nonohou Agani during a community awareness session about gynecological and obstetric violence. © Amnesty International Benin

Bringing about change

Amnesty International’s campaign on the right to health has brought about change. We launched the Charter of Patients’ Rights and Responsibilities in September 2025 in collaboration with the Health Sector Regulatory Authority. We produced radio programs and conducted community awareness campaigns in all departments throughout Benin. This is the first time that gynecological and obstetric violence has been discussed in this way, and across the whole country.

We have detractors. People ask why we, as midwives, would talk about human rights. In their minds, we have nothing to do with that. But we have a vision, we have a goal. A paradigm shift is needed.

Most women do not know their rights, including those who have been to school. With social media today, some are beginning to be informed. An informed woman will not let herself be pushed around! Violence is beginning to decline, but we are not yet seeing public denunciations or complaints being filed… As a midwife, jurist, and activist, I am speaking out. Violence persists. It must be eliminated.”

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• Thousands of stranded foreign nationals in dire need of consular assistance
• Pregnant survivors report rape by compound bosses
• ‘We had to force our way out’ – survivor

Thousands of people who recently escaped or were released from scamming compounds in Cambodia where they were subjected to grave abuses including rape and torture are now stranded and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, Amnesty International said after gathering harrowing testimony from survivors.

Interviews with recently enslaved people – almost all foreign nationals – revealed a chaotic and dangerous situation for those who have been left without passports, money, medical care or any pathway to safety after leaving compounds run by criminal gangs. Amnesty spoke to 35 survivors, all of whom were released or had escaped within the past six weeks, including at least 11 released within the past week.

Survivors reported horrendous abuse. Several people told Amnesty of sexual assault by compound bosses, including at least two women who became pregnant as a result of attacks, while other gruesome punishments described included of a man who had his finger chopped off and another who had his throat cut.

 “This mass exodus from scamming compounds has created a humanitarian crisis on the streets that is being ignored by the Cambodian government. Amid scenes of chaos and suffering, thousands of traumatized survivors are being left to fend for themselves with no state support,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director.

“This is an international crisis on Cambodian soil. Our researchers have met people from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. They are in urgent need of consular assistance in order to help get them home and out of harm’s way.”

‘Many people died’

Amnesty International estimates that thousands of people have been released or escaped from at least 17 scamming compounds across Cambodia in recent weeks. The testimony gathered appears to confirm mass escapes and releases from compounds observed in more than 25 videos geolocated by Amnesty International earlier this month. Many of those leaving compounds are stranded in the capital Phnom Penh and desperate for help.  Amnesty spoke to survivors from countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, India, Philippines and Madagascar. 

Those interviewed reported no police or military presence during or since their escape/release, suggesting a lack of involvement from Cambodian authorities in the mass exodus from compounds. Some said they were met with beatings from guards when they tried to leave, while others were able to leave freely.

Amnesty spoke to two pregnant women who said they were raped by compound managers, while several other survivors reported sexual assault by managers. Many reported witnessing deaths in compounds, principally due to a lack of medical support blocked by compound managers. Others described witnessing torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including of a man who had his finger cut off as a punishment.

The people we have spoken to are deeply afraid. They urgently need their own governments to step in and help.

Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director

One survivor told Amnesty International he witnessed the murder of a man who had his throat cut by a compound manager after he was caught trying to escape. Ten other survivors said police visited their compounds regularly, including to remove dead bodies, but without taking any action against the managers.

Another survivor *Delilah*, who escaped from a compound near Phnom Penh in Prey Veng, told Amnesty: “Many people died. We even try to put together money to help repatriate the bodies. People got sick but they don’t help us. I told them I couldn’t breathe.  When we forced our way out one guard shot his gun in the air. We had to force our way out because one guy is sick and he doesn’t want to die.”

In other cases, testimony suggested that compound managers had abandoned compounds leaving people free to leave.

Survivor *Mehi* said: “I had been in the compound for 12 months, fearing for my life. But one day several of us woke up and realized the compound managers had left the site and the security guards were gone. The doors and gates were left open and we walked out.”

Anti-trafficking groups in the area told Amnesty International the Cambodian government is not protecting or properly identifying victims of human trafficking, leaving them without support and vulnerable to exploitation by organized criminal groups operating in the area.

“The people we have spoken to are deeply afraid. They want to return home, but many have no passports or no money, let alone enough to purchase a flight out of the country,” Montse Ferrer said.

“The Cambodian authorities appear to be doing nothing to help, and NGO support is insufficient, especially in the wake of widespread aid funding cuts over the past year. These people urgently need their own governments to step in and help.”

Background

Amnesty International has previously interviewed more than 100 victims of the scamming industry who are often trafficked into compounds from outside of Cambodia where they are then enslaved, forced to scam or recruit others, deprived of their liberty and tortured if they do not comply with the orders of their bosses.

In July 2025, the Cambodian government announced a nationwide crackdown on scamming compounds in the country. The government later said it had freed more than 3,000 victims of human trafficking.

In June 2025, an Amnesty International report found that more than 50 scamming compounds across Cambodia were sites of widespread slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, torture and other human rights abuses, operating as prison‑like facilities controlled by organized criminal groups. The report concluded that Cambodian authorities had failed to prevent or address these violations, with evidence pointing towards state complicity or deliberate inaction that had allowed the industry to flourish.

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Responding to the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Paris Climate Agreement, Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s Programme Director for Climate, ESJ and Corporate Accountability, said:

“The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement sets a disturbing precedent that seeks to instigate a race to the bottom, and, along with its withdrawal from other major global climate pacts, aims to dismantle the global system of cooperation on climate action.  The US is one of several powerful anti-climate actors but as an influential superpower, this decision, along with acts of coercion and bullying of other countries and powerful actors to double down on fossil fuels, causes particular harm and threatens to reverse more than a decade of global climate progress under the agreement.

“While the US may no longer be a party to the Paris Agreement, it still has legal obligations to protect humanity from the worsening impacts of climate change as confirmed by the International Court of Justice in its landmark 2025 Advisory Opinion.

“US-based climate advocates and activists now find themselves on the frontlines of a fight with implications for current and future generations everywhere. Global solidarity and support to ensure accelerating momentum to address climate change has never been more urgent. Those who witness the harms caused by climate change and who can speak safely – must speak up. Other governments too must push back against all coercive efforts by the US. Ceding ground now risks losing it for years. Neither the planet nor the people living on the frontlines of proliferating unnatural disasters have that much time.”

While the US may no longer be a party to the Paris Agreement, it still has legal obligations to protect humanity from the worsening impacts of climate change as confirmed by the ICJ in its landmark 2025 advisory opinion.

Marta Schaaf, Amnesty International’s Programme Director for Climate, ESJ and Corporate Accountability

Background

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty adopted more than a decade ago by 196 parties aimed at combating climate change by pursuing efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C – a threshold that the world is rapidly surpassing.

The US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement comes into effect tomorrow, 27 January, following an executive order signed by US President Trump in January 2025. Just earlier this month, the US also declared it will withdraw from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Green Climate Fund (GCF).

President Trump has also called for US withdrawal from over 60 other international organizations, including many others related to climate change, biodiversity and clean energy, calling them ‘wasteful, ineffective, or harmful’.

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Reacting to media reports that states such as Russia, Türkiye and Tajikistan are extensively misusing Interpol red notices to target political dissidents and to repress human rights defenders, Erika Guevara Rosas Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns of Amnesty International said:

“Media reports that Interpol red notices are being extensively misused, without internal scrutiny, to target dissidents, critics and activists are deeply concerning. Amnesty International, UN experts and other organizations have raised concerns about states’ misuse of international policing mechanisms for political purposes, and has documented instances of governments engaging in transnational repression of human rights defenders.

“Red notices should never be used for political purposes and Interpol must be willing to suspend states who misuse their processes. These reports must be urgently and independently investigated.

“Interpol’s failure to sanction or even challenge the states repeatedly involved in these practices casts doubt over its credibility as an institution. Interpol must strive for far greater transparency. The fact that these failures only came to light through a whistleblower is a damning indictment of its organizational culture. It is time for Interpol to clean up its act and to stop serving states’ political interests.”

Background

On 26 January 2026 BBC World Service and Disclose revealed the extent of states’ apparent abuse of Interpol’s wanted lists to target dissidents, critics and activists abroad. According to the media outlets’ analysis of thousands of files provided by a whistleblower, Interpol’s own independent complaints unit received more complaints about Russia than any other state. These complaints, generally coming from people who were targeted, led to more Russian cases being overturned than for any other country.

Interpol red notices are requests to worldwide law enforcement bodies to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. Interpol’s constitution expressly states that the organization cannot be used ‘to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character’.

Amnesty has documented the misuse of these notices for political purposes and called on states and Interpol to apply greater scrutiny to politically motivated requests. Amnesty International will continue to campaign against the misuse of international policing mechanisms and for the protection of people at risk of human rights violations.

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