Schlagwort: human rights

Iranian authorities are using the cover of what they call “wartime conditions” to intensify their repression of dissent through mass arbitrary arrests, accelerated grossly unfair judicial proceedings, politically motivated executions, harsh prison sentences, and asset confiscations, Amnesty International said today.

Since the unlawful military attack launched by the USA and Israel against Iran on 28 February 2026, Iranian authorities have arbitrarily arrested more than 6,000 people, including protesters, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders, dissidents, and members of ethnic and religious minorities. Senior judicial officials have ordered expedited prosecutions against those arrested, including on capital charges, amid widespread concerns of enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, and the use of forced “confessions” in grossly unfair sham trials. During the same period, authorities have imposed decades-long prison sentences against individuals and carried out at least 39 political executions.

Authorities systematically isolated more than 90 million people through an internet shutdown, violating their right to freedom of information, through the longest and most suffocating internet shutdown on record lasting 88 days, while criminalizing online activity as “espionage,” which is punishable by death. The internet was restored, with restrictions, on 26 May 2026.

“Iranian authorities are exploiting the crisis to further erode the human rights of people in Iran who are already suffering from the devastating consequences of unlawful air strikes by US and Israeli forces, as well as decades of crimes under international law at the hands of the Islamic Republic,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director of Research, Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.

“To maintain their grip on power, the authorities have unleashed an all-out assault on people in Iran, targeting anyone who dares to criticize the Islamic Republic, share information about the US or Israeli air strikes or human rights violations with the outside world, or simply attempt to break through what became the longest recorded internet shutdown to communicate with loved ones or access independent information.

“Iranian authorities must lift all remaining restrictions on internet access and stop imposing internet shutdowns on Iran’s population. They must release anyone arbitrarily detained, protect all detainees from torture and other ill-treatment, disclose the fate and whereabouts of those subjected to enforced disappearance, and immediately halt all executions, with a view to establishing an official moratorium on the death penalty.”

Authorities have also openly threatened to commit further mass killings of anyone expressing dissent or advocating for the downfall of the Islamic Republic system and vilified critics as “traitors” and “enemy collaborators”.

The internet blackout imposed by the authorities since 28 February 2026 severely obstructed in-depth documentation of human rights violations. For this press release, Amnesty International spoke to 10 informed sources outside Iran, including victims’ relatives, human rights defenders and journalists with information about violations. The organization also analysed videos published online, reviewed official text messages sent by the authorities, examined official statements and state media reports, and reviewed reports from independent media and human rights organizations based outside Iran.

Internet use criminalized

The sweeping repression has taken place amid an unprecedented nationwide shutdown of access to the global internet, which lasted for 88 days.

On 25 May 2026, President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to restore global internet access. Internet access began to be restored the next day, amid reports of ongoing restrictions, including in accessing social media applications and filtering in place. It remains unclear whether internet connectivity will be sustained, amid conflicting announcements by official bodies, including the judiciary’s media centre, appearing to question the legality of the presidential order restoring the internet. Concerns also remain over censorship, surveillance and the prosecution of individuals seeking to circumvent restrictions through the use of VPNs.

The internet blackout functioned as a central pillar of the authorities’ repression strategy, creating conditions in which widespread crimes under international law can be carried out with impunity.

A discriminatory system of tiered internet access was introduced by the authorities allowing only a small number of pre-approved users, including those linked to state institutions and some approved professional sectors, to access less restricted global internet through “Internet Pro” services while denying the wider population access to the internet and connection to each other and the outside world. Given that access through Internet Pro was tied to users’ registered SIM cards and identity verification systems, many people expressed concerns that it was not secure from state monitoring.

The authorities have actively criminalized efforts by the public to access the internet.  

To maintain their grip on power, the authorities have unleashed an all-out assault on people in Iran.

Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International

Iran’s police force, known by its acronym FARAJA, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) issued direct warnings to the public via text messages, framing ordinary online activity as a matter of national security and threatening those accessing the global internet through VPNs or satellite connections with arrest, prosecution, asset seizures, and other punishments under the Espionage Law, which provides for the death penalty.

Text messages reviewed by Amnesty International indicate that the authorities have sent coercive messages to individuals, identified through their digital activity, who circumvent internet restrictions. These messages explicitly accused recipients of committing criminal offences, referencing IP addresses, VPN or satellite internet use. They threatened measures including blocking cell phone services and SIM cards, and referral to judicial authorities, while warning that any alleged link to “hostile states” or the “Zionist regime” would result in prosecution under the Espionage Law.

One such message sent by FARAJA, reviewed by Amnesty International, warned the individual that their line will be blocked if they continue to access the internet. Two messages to other individuals warned that their “unauthorized” and “unlawful” use of the internet through VPNs and proxies “is a crime” and that all their communication services will be blocked. All three messages threatened referral to the judicial authorities which would entail criminal prosecutions risking heavy prison sentences or the death penalty.

Amnesty International reviewed a further eight text messages sent by the authorities warning that photographing areas damaged in air strikes and sharing such content with media or online platforms are deemed as “collaborating with the enemy” will incur legal consequences. The messages also instructed people to inform on one another in the case of “suspicious activity”.

The authorities have framed the use of alternative internet technologies that seek to circumvent the internet shutdown, particularly Starlink satellite systems, as a form of espionage or “collaboration with hostile states”. In a statement on 17 March 2026, the Ministry of Intelligence announced that “hundreds” of Starlink devices had been seized and warned that acquiring or using such systems is a criminal offence punishable by death.

The prolonged internet shutdown had devastated livelihoods across Iran, collapsing small businesses and wiping out income for millions of people who are dependent on digital connectivity, according to state-affiliated media inside Iran.

Mass arbitrary arrests, prosecutions and asset freezes

The authorities have arbitrarily arrested thousands of people, including children, across the country under the pretext of national security, including for peaceful acts protected under international human rights law.

On 17 May 2026 Iran’s police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, announced that more than 6,500 “traitors and spies” have been arrested since 28 February 2026. Mass arrests have taken place in provinces across the country, according to Iranian officials and state media, including Alborz, Ardebil, Esfahan, Fars, Gilan, Golestan, Hamedan, Ilam, Kerman, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi, North Khorasan, Qazvin, Qom, Semnan, Tehran, West Azerbaijan, and Yazd.

Officials and state media have systematically vilified those arrested, labelling them as “traitors”, “terrorists,” “mercenaries,” “counterrevolutionary groups,” “agents of foreign powers” and “enemy collaborators.

Accusations against those detained, as announced by the authorities and reported on state media, include alleged collaboration with Israel and/or the US; possessing, selling or using Starlink equipment; sharing content about the conflict on social media; expressing views supportive of air strikes against the Islamic Republic and/or welcoming the death of senior officials; sending images of sites hit by Israeli-US air strikes to “hostile” media including Persian-language media outside Iran; spreading false news and rumours in order to disturb public opinion; writing slogans in public places; cooperating with “terrorist” media outlets; “insulting the independence and freedom of Iran and Islamic sanctities”; and “carrying out propaganda activities against the country, the flag, and national and religious symbols.”

Official statements, information gathered by Amnesty International from victims’ families and human rights defenders, as well as reports from media and human rights organizations outside Iran, indicate that the authorities have also exploited the cover of war to further crush civil society. Authorities have  arbitrarily arrested, threatened and/or summoned hundreds of protesters; human rights defenders; lawyers; journalists and other media workers; civil society activists; labour rights’ activists; students; teachers; justice-seeking families of protesters and bystanders unlawfully killed or arbitrarily executed; ethnic minorities, including Ahwazi Arabs, Baluchis, and Kurds; and religious minorities, including Baha’is and Christians.

The international community must not allow the Iranian authorities to use the conflict as a smokescreen to deepen their machinery of repression and carry out crimes under international law with impunity.

Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International

Lawyers representing individuals charged in politically motivated cases are among those targeted. For instance, according to human rights groups, the office of the prosecutor in Tehran summoned both Amir Raisian and Milad Panahipour on 29 April 2026 and charged them with “spreading lies” and “spreading propaganda against the system” for publicly raising due process concerns in the case of their client, Ehsan Hosseinipour Hesarloo, 18, who is at risk of execution in relation to the January 2026 protests.

As part of the crackdown on dissent, judicial authorities have also issued sweeping orders to identify, freeze and seize assets, including bank accounts, properties and other financial holdings, targeting individuals accused of cooperating with “enemy states” or “hostile media.”

In March 2026, the judiciary announced the deployment of a digital system called “Saham” to enable the rapid identification and seizure of assets of people it called “terrorist and mercenary agents affiliated with the Zionist enemy and other hostile countries.” Since then, the authorities have announced the seizure of the assets of more than 750 people whom they refer to as “traitors” and “enemy agents” living inside and outside Iran, including journalists in the diaspora.

Enforced disappearances, torture and forced ‘confessions’

The authorities have subjected individuals detained to incommunicado detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, coerced “confessions” and denial of access to a lawyer.

Among those subjected to enforced disappearance was prominent lawyer and human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh who was arbitrarily arrested in Tehran on 1 April 2026 and disappeared for around six weeks. According to an informed source, authorities denied the family any information about Nasrin Sotoudeh’s fate and whereabouts following her arrest. She was released on bail on 13 May 2026.

Two other human rights lawyers, Astareh (Maryam) Ansari and Elham Zera’atpisheh, have also been subjected to enforced disappearance since their arrests in Fars province on 3 and 4 May 2026, respectively.

Journalist and human rights defender, Mary Mohammadi, a Christian convert, has been subjected to enforced disappearance since late February 2026. According to an informed source, she had travelled from Tehran to Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, and was in contact with her family until around 26 February 2026 before communication ceased. The authorities have refused to disclose her fate or whereabouts to her family but, according to information gathered by Amnesty International, she was initially held in a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Ahvaz before being transferred to an undisclosed location on 2 April 2026.

In another case documented by Amnesty International, the authorities subjected the sibling of a human rights defender and media worker based abroad to enforced disappearance for several weeks to pressure the individual to cease reporting on human rights violations in Iran.

Amnesty International fears that these and other detainees are at grave risk, particularly amid reports of torture and other ill-treatment in detention and deaths in custody in suspicious circumstances.

Amnesty International has documented torture and other ill-treatment against detainees since 28 February 2026, including mock executions through simulated hangings and putting a gun in the mouth, beatings, suspension from hands and feet, prolonged solitary confinement, and denial of food and medical care.

Authorities have also used forced “confessions” as a propaganda tool, broadcasting videos on state media prior to judicial proceedings. Amnesty International reviewed 18 videos showing dozens of forced “confessions” featuring individuals in visible states of distress “confessing” to peaceful activities such as sharing videos of air strikes with foreign media. Several videos were broadcast on the days that individuals were executed.

Several deaths in custody have also been reported. In one case reported to Amnesty International, Hesam Alaeddin died in suspicious circumstances in detention. According to an informed source, he was arrested in Tehran in April 2026 while seeking information about his brother who had been detained weeks earlier in connection with alleged possession of a Starlink device. The source said the authorities phoned his family several weeks after his arrest, instructing them to collect his body. The exact timing and circumstances of his death remain unclear to Amnesty International.

In another case, Hossein Ghavi (Silavi), from Iran’s oppressed Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, died in custody after arrest by the Intelligence Organization of the IRGC in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, in late March 2026. According to reports from human rights organizations outside Iran, authorities had accused him of filming bombed areas and sending footage to media outside Iran. On 2 April 2026, the authorities phoned his family and said he had died but provided no cause of death.

Expedited trials, executions and harsh prison sentences

Authorities have escalated their use of the death penalty as a tool of political oppression, openly signalling expedited judicial proceedings on capital charges of those accused of alleged collaboration with Israel and/or the USA.

Iran’s highest judicial official, the head of the judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, has repeatedly invoked national security and “wartime conditions” to threaten people with harsh punishments. In one instance, in the first week of the US and Israeli attacks on 4 March 2026, he warned that individuals who “act in line with the wishes and illegitimate interests of the aggressor enemy will be dealt with decisively and severely”.

Even after the fragile ceasefire was announced, on 19 April 2026, in a meeting with members of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and provincial prosecutors, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei instructed officials to fast-track prosecutions against “foot soldiers and accomplices of the aggressor enemy”, underscoring the need for extreme speed.

Other judicial officials from across the country, including prosecutors from Hamedan, Khuzestan, Qazvin, Razavi Khorasan, Semnan and other provinces have made similar threats.

Since 28 February 2026, the authorities have arbitrarily executed at least 39 individuals on politically motivated charges following torture-tainted grossly unfair trials. They comprise of 16 protesters, nine dissidents, 10 individuals accused of espionage for the USA and/or Israel, and four accused of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi). Scores of others remain at risk.

Authorities have also imposed harsh prison sentences. For instance, on 23 May 2026, the head of the justice department in Semnan province, Mohammad Sadegh Akbari, announced that two women were sentenced to 26 and 27 years in prison, respectively, for “establishing contact with hostile networks and sending visual content and information needed by the enemy to direct harassing actions against the honourable people of Iran.” He added that the harsh prison terms would serve as a “lesson” to others.

“The international community must not allow the Iranian authorities to use the conflict as a smokescreen to deepen their machinery of repression and carry out crimes under international law with impunity. Iran’s human rights and impunity crisis requires urgent and sustained diplomatic international action to prevent further atrocity crimes by the authorities, as well as establishing pathways for international justice including through the UN Security Council’s referral of Iran’s situation to the International Criminal Court,” said Erika Guevara Rosas.”

The post Iran: Mass arbitrary arrests and political executions mark intensifying repression appeared first on Amnesty International.

Companies are extracting vast troves of online data through unlawful web scraping to build their generative artificial intelligence (AI) products in a way that is enabling a mass invasion of privacy, making these systems unlawful by design, Amnesty International said in a new briefing today. 

Unlawful by Design: Exposing the Human Rights Costs of Generative AI documents serious risks in the large-scale data scraping and processing being used to build and train these systems, including violations of the right to privacy by design and adverse consequences for the environment and historically marginalized communities. 

“Companies across the world are supplying generative AI products under the veneer of efficiency and sophistication, but in reality, these systems perpetuate mass invasions of privacy through unlawful web scraping: an automated process for extracting data from websites, including personal data, such as images and social media activity, to train AI models,” said Likhita Banerji, Head of the Algorithmic Accountability Lab, Amnesty International.   

“The extractive data pipeline, inherent design choices made by tech companies and exploitative supply chains, to build generative AI systems have enabled a paradigm of technology development that opens up a risk of mass abuse of human rights.” 

Amnesty International researched the models powering some of the most popular publicly available standalone generative AI tools, including GPT 3 by Open AI, Google’s Gemini, Meta’s Llama, DeepSeek and tools by Midjourney and Stable Diffusion.  

Such systems rely on extracting information from billions of public online posts and images often without the explicit consent of the individuals appearing in or creating them. Not only does this infringe on privacy by design but as datasets powering AI models scale up, the presence of hateful and discriminatory content in their outputs also gets amplified, along with negative stereotypes and prejudices, especially along racial and gendered lines.  

“These choices are not inevitable. We must challenge the design choices adopted by companies who build generative AI systems by relying on training data, including personal data, that is extracted non-consensually and on a grand scale.”

Likhita Banerji, Head of the Algorithmic Accountability Lab, Amnesty International

Racial, gender and cultural biases are consistent features of generative AI systems, a product of the training data that is largely pulled from the web and therefore polluted with real-world biases which harm historically marginalized communities. Additionally, generative AI systems pose risks to the right to freedom of thought as they are capable of influencing users’ thoughts and shaping their personal beliefs through predictive suggestions. This is especially true for larger models reliant on expansive training data. 

“These choices are not inevitable. We must challenge the design choices adopted by companies who build generative AI systems by relying on training data, including personal data, that is extracted non-consensually and on a grand scale,” said Likhita Banerji. 

“This is one of the most egregious practices among AI companies operating with disregard for human rights and must urgently be addressed. A different trajectory of technology development is possible if authorities act urgently to course correct.” 

Heavy environmental costs

As the scale and speed of development has picked up at generative AI companies, so have the infrastructure requirements and associated environmental costs. 

The higher processing needs of larger models require more energy-intensive chips, larger data centres, and consequently, more energy and water for its operationalisation. Generative AI production often results in a negative impact on communities that are historically marginalized as the lands and resources that belong to these communities are exploited to build data centres and fulfill processing requirements. 

Google’s own sustainability report from 2024 noted a staggering 48 per cent increase in the company’s greenhouse gas emissions since 2019, attributable to data centre and supply chain emissions. Similarly, Microsoft’s emissions increased by 29 per cent between 2020 and 2024, attributable to data centres carrying out AI-supporting processes.  

The intensive use of resources in generative AI production has led to communities from Cerrillos in Chile, and Querétaro in Mexico, to Arizona in the United States of America, resisting data centres in areas that are already heavily affected by droughts and shortages in electricity. 

As part of its research process, Amnesty International wrote to Google, OpenAI, Meta, Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeepSeek giving them an opportunity to respond to the findings of the research briefing which states that their models are reliant on unlawful web scraping, among many other related human rights concerns.  

Amnesty International also wrote to Intel and VMware specifically regarding the risks of discrimination, and to Google, Microsoft and Amazon  about the environmental harms associated with their generative AI systems and related infrastructures. At the time of publication, only Microsoft, Amazon, Intel, OpenAI and Meta responded to Amnesty International. A summary of their responses is included in the briefing.  

Amnesty International is calling on states to prohibit standalone generative AI systems that have been built using unlawful web scraping, defined as the bulk and mass collection of training data through the web. Companies must immediately cease the practice of unlawful non-consensual web scraping of personal data for AI training purposes, and states must hold companies to account for their involvement in any human rights abuses linked to their design and business choices. 

Background

The briefing provides a human rights analysis of the ‘data pipeline’ that powers generative AI products, including the stages of data capture, analysis, and processing that are critical to the overall functioning of these systems. Specifically, this involves zooming in on the parameters and implications of design choices made in relation to the training data of generative AI models, with a focus on methods and sources of data collection, data processing, model scaling and data outputs. 

Amnesty International defines standalone generative AI tools as products that are developed, deployed and marketed for their generative AI capabilities solely and specifically, such as AI chatbots, image/video/audio/text generators, and so on. This does not include products where generative AI is an added feature or function in a larger suite of products, for example, word processing software with optional generative AI features. 

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Natalia Lishchyshena is a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war who now works as a specialist, supporting military personnel and veterans to address legal and social issues, after she was injured by the body armour she was wearing on the way to a warzone.  

Despite facing constant setbacks, Natalia has become the first woman in Ukraine to prove the harm standard-issue body armour, designed for men, can cause to the female body, after receiving official recognition from the medical commission. In this story, she shares why protective equipment needs to be adapted for women in the military.

“I was born into a military family. My father was a serviceman, and I always wanted to be like him. After he finished his service, our family settled in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine. When Russia started hostilities in our region in 2014, I decided to stay in Luhansk region because my father was ill and needed care. 

I dreamt of becoming a lawyer. At the age of 38, I started studying law. Later, I volunteered for military service. My husband supported my decision. In 2021, I signed a contract with the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade. I was 40 years old. We did not believe that a full-scale war would start. But on February 24, 2022, at 4am, we were woken up by an alarm: the first explosions, airborne troops, confusion. We did not understand who was ours and who was the enemy. The beginning of the full-scale invasion found us in the south, in the Mykolaiv region.

Our commander told us: “There are no women in the army, there are only military.” 

In the army, I performed different tasks assigned by the command: logistics, supply, and other duties. I cannot say that there is gender equality in the army, even though more than 70,000 women are currently serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the training center, during preparation, our commander told us: “There are no women in the army, there are only military. No one will help you. You knew where you were going. You can rely only on yourself.”

As for equipment, there was no proper uniform for women soldiers until 2024. Now uniforms are provided, but there is still no body armour adapted to female anatomy.

Injury, diagnosis and consequences 

Once, when we were travelling through a war zone, there was an air raid alert. As per the safety protocol, we dropped to the ground. At that moment, I was injured by my body armour. I had a large bruise on one breast, but I did not pay attention to it.

Later, I got sick, had a strong cough, and was sent to the hospital. After long treatment, I had to pass a medical commission to confirm my ability for further service. During a breast examination, I was diagnosed with breast intraductal papillomas. It is not cancer, but in many cases it can become malignant. Officially, it is a precancerous condition. The doctor explained that there wasn’t any treatment and recommended surgery.

I went through several surgeries because of complications. As a result, I had my mammary glands fully removed. Before the operation, the doctor spoke with my husband and explained the consequences. My husband said his priority was for me to stay alive.

After the surgeries and treatment, I had to fight to obtain disability status.

Step by step, I achieved justice

At first, the medical commission refused to grant me disability status, even though my illness had officially been recognized as related to military service, since the injury was caused by standard body armour. One doctor even said the decision to remove breasts was mine and there were no medical reasons for that. It was outrageous. But step by step, I achieved justice. That doctor no longer works there.

I have a lifelong disability now. There are still limitations: I cannot, stay in the sun for a long time, raise my arms high, or overwork. I also need constant medical check-ups and health monitoring.

©Oleksandr Khomenko/Amnesty International

I want real changes, not just on paper 

However, I could not sit at home and feel sorry for myself for long. After a few months of rehabilitation, I returned to work and became a veteran support specialist in my community.

I use my law degree to help veterans, families of the fallen and missing military. This includes restoring lost documents, communicating with military units, and arranging legal payments. I want to help people because I have been through this myself. I understand the challenges that veterans and active military face today. Many of them simply do not know how to deal with bureaucracy.

Alongside my work as a specialist, I also help people re-integrate into everyday life through a programme called TRIBE, run by Amnesty International Ukraine and Amnesty International Denmark. TRIBE helps veterans build a supportive community, learn to advocate for their rights, and helps bridge the gap between civilians and people with combat experience.

I use my law degree to help veterans, families of the fallen and missing military

I share my experience with project participants, particularly on legal matters. I also provide individual consultations, including on issues such as obtaining disability status. I write media columns, speak publicly, and advocate for the rights of women in the military and for adequate conditions and support after discharge.

Moving forward 

At the moment, I am advocating for proper body armour for women and for a state programme for breast implants. Thanks to my advocacy work, which lasted at least four months, a state programme on reconstructive surgery and breast endoprosthetics for servicewomen and women veterans was approved in April 2026. Its official launch is currently expected. According to the doctors, for every 10 women from the military who come in for general check-ups, nine of them will have problems. It is a very sad statistic. For now, though, I tell all my friends, especially military women: “Girls, please get regular check-ups. You may not even feel that you are being injured.” 

Now that my story has become public, the issue has reached the state level and it is an ongoing process with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Health. 

For me, the most important thing is that real changes happen, not just empty words on paper.  

The post “I was injured on my way through a warzone. Now I am advocating for proper body armour for women” – Ukrainian war veteran Natalia Lishchyshena on fighting for recognition and change appeared first on Amnesty International.

Malaiyaha Tamils working on private tea estates and smallholdings in Sri Lanka are being subjected to abuses that meet many of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) indicators of forced labour, while being denied access to the country’s strict labour protections, Amnesty International said in a new report.

The research, which documents the plight of workers in Sri Lanka’s Southern Province, found that members of the marginalized Malaiyaha Tamil community suffered multiple and widespread forms of abuse including intimidation and threats, physical violence and harassment, debt bondage, restrictions on movement, and poor working and living conditions.

The report found that, in addition to its failure to address these labour abuses, the state is failing in its duty to ensure workers’ rights to social security, unionization, and access to justice. As an ILO member and party to 44 of its conventions, as well as UN human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Sri Lanka is obliged to ensure that workers are protected from discrimination and labour and human rights abuses.

“Private tea estates in Sri Lanka are systematically violating labour laws in their treatment of Malaiyaha Tamil workers with no accountability. Across the sites we visited, workers reported a consistent pattern of discrimination and abuse, including violence, debt bondage, withheld wages, and poor living and working conditions, raising serious concerns about forced labour. The persistence of these abuses despite existing legal safeguards reflects a serious failure of the state to enforce labour protections and safeguard workers’ rights,” said Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia.

Private tea estates in Sri Lanka are systematically violating labour laws in their treatment of Malaiyaha Tamil workers

Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia

“Sri Lanka’s obligation to eradicate the use of forced labour is clear – both under domestic and international law including as a member of the ILO. The authorities must urgently prioritize inspecting these estates to determine the extent of labour rights abuses. This should be followed by thorough investigations, prosecutions of those responsible and meaningful remedies for workers.”

The report is based on research conducted by Amnesty International between January 2024 and January 2026. Amnesty International visited 45 estates in Galle and Matara districts in the Southern part of Sri Lanka and conducted 159 interviews with workers along with interviews of two estate managers and three supervisors. Fifteen focus group discussions were also held with 65 workers.

Longstanding concerns over forced labour and other abuses continue

Malaiyaha Tamils – descendants from workers brought to Sri Lanka from the southern part of India by British colonizers in the early 19th century to work on tea plantations – have long experienced systemic and structural racial discrimination and exclusion, which have made them vulnerable to forced labour. 

To date, they are heavily dependent on their employers for their livelihoods, accommodation and welfare, which leaves them unable to challenge poor living and working conditions and labour law abuses.

On all 45 estates visited, workers said that they relied on their employer for housing and lived in fear of forced eviction.

Workers on 15 estates told Amnesty International that they had been subjected to or had witnessed verbal and/or physical abuse by estate managers for being late for work, enquiring about unpaid salary and other issues.

One worker said: “If you don’t work [and meet the targets], they tend to beat you… They’ll hit with their hands and legs, and with sticks. They’ve hit some people so badly you can’t bear to look. It’s still happening.”

The research found that estate managers often cited spurious reasons for withholding pay based often on unrealistic targets, forcing workers to rely on wage advances and loans to meet basic needs, putting them in even more debt.

Out of the 45 estates visited, 27 reportedly demanded that workers pick over 25kg of tea per day. Failure to meet these unrealistic targets would result in wages of as little as LKR 1,000 (US$3.10) per day, being docked or delayed.

One worker, Subramaniam, said: “If we do not finish the assigned work, they count three days of work as one day’s work. If we finish the work, they pay LKR 1,000 (US$3.10).”

Such tactics result in a cycle of increasing debt to estate owners that may amount to debt bondage – a form of forced labour that can result in workers being tied to employers across generations.

Workers on at least 22 estates described restrictions on their freedom of movement, including curfews and requiring approval to travel. Their living conditions also failed to meet key elements constituting the right to adequate housing, including lack of security of tenure, sufficient space and adequate sanitation.

Labour protections denied

These abuses are compounded by the fact that that the labour protections enshrined in domestic laware not being enforced by the state and cannot be accessed by Malaiyaha Tamil tea estate workers.

The exploitation of Malaiyaha Tamil workers is being enabled by entrenched discrimination, extreme marginalization, and systematic mischaracterization of their status

Smriti Singh

Employers on private estates and smallholdings exploitatively misclassify Malaiyaha Tamil workers as “casual workers”, denying them all labour-related legal entitlements and basic statutory benefits. Few receive maternity benefits, pension and sickness leave. 

Malaiyaha Tamil workers face challenges to accessing justice, particularly remedies for abuses and poor working conditions. These include a language gap as state authorities that could offer protection do not typically speak Malaiyaha Tamil, discriminatory treatment by state officials, and lack access to employment documentation. Trade union representation is often entirely absent or prohibited by their employers – the estates visited during the research did not have unions operating.

The research also found significant failings in labour inspections and enforcement of employment standards at tea estates in the Matara and Galle districts. 

“The exploitation of Malaiyaha Tamil workers is being enabled by entrenched discrimination, extreme marginalization, and systematic mischaracterization of their status that deprives them of the protection of the law,” said Smriti Singh. “We urge the authorities to fully enforce the law, dismantle the barriers preventing the Malaiyaha Tamil community from accessing their rights, and strengthen labour protections and accountability across private tea estates.”

The post Sri Lanka: Malaiyaha Tamil workers in private tea estates suffer serious labour abuses – new report appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to the charges brought against detained Ekattor Television journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), reportedly in relation to a ‘misleading’ report on the deadly crackdown on protesters at the Shapla Square in May 2013, Smriti Singh, South Asia Regional Director of Amnesty International said:

“Freedom of expression extends to information which some may find offensive, shocking or disturbing. Respect for this right is essential to ensuring healthy public discourse in a rights respecting society. Journalists must not be targeted for opinions which are disagreeable, or their perceived links to political parties.

“Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque, who are already in detention, now face vague new charges relating to a story that was aired more than a decade ago. Their arrest in a case related to crimes against humanity is an afront to fundamental principles of press freedom and sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the right of all journalists to report without fear of retaliation.

Their arrest in a case related to crimes against humanity is an afront to fundamental principles of press freedom

Smriti Singh, South Asia Regional Director of Amnesty International

“Moreover, the Tribunal has been blighted by serious fair trial and due process concerns, as well as for meting out the death penalty, which Amnesty International opposes in all cases.

“Bangladeshi authorities must drop all charges against them related to their work as journalists and ensure the respect and protection of the right to freedom of expression including media freedom, in line with their international human rights obligations.”

Background

Farzana Rupa is Ekattor Television’s chief reporter and Mozammel Haque is its managing director. According to media reports, the charges against the two, brought on 7 March, relate to their reporting of the deadly crackdown during the Saphala Square protests in May 2013 on members of Hefazat-e-Islam, a conservative religious movement in Bangladesh. Media reports stated the prosecutor alleged the TV channel aired a ‘misleading’ report, implying there were no casualties, to distract the public from the actual death toll.

On 5 May 2013, approximately 200,000 Hefazaat protesters were met with brutal repression by security forces. The Shapla Square death toll has long been contested. Both journalists were already in pretrial detention on charges relating to the 2024 July protests. Farzana Rupa has been in pretrial detention since August 2024 and faces nine murder charges. Mozammel Haque has been in pretrial detention since September 2024 and faces five charges – four for murder and one for extortion. All of the murder cases contain multiple accused named in the First Information Report (FIR), with some cases having over 200 alleged perpetrators.

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