Rights Groups Call on ASEAN to Implement New Declaration on Eliminating Violence Against Women and Children in Accordance with International Standards

Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists called on members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to increase efforts to protect the rights of women and children in light of the newly adopted Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Elimination […]

Myanmar: Release of Prisoners of Conscience Positive But Many Still Locked Up

The release of several prisoners of conscience in Myanmar today is a positive step, but time is running out for the government to keep its promise to release everyone imprisoned for peaceful activism by the year’s end, Amnesty International said […]

Dispatches: The Political Prisoner Endgame in Burma?

The release of 69 political prisoners in Burma today is cause for optimism that the drawn-out persecution of peaceful activists, which reached its apex just a few years ago when up to 2,000 peoplewere locked up, is drawing to a close. Today’s amnesty includes the prominent rights activist Naw Ohn Hla […]

Myanmar: Arrests Continue Amid Promise to Release all Prisoners of Conscience

Amnesty International has called into question President Thein Sein’s recent commitment to clear Myanmar’s jails of prisoners of conscience by the end of the year. On the same day he made this promise to delegates at a conference in London, police in Myanmar’s Rakhine state arbitrarily detained a 74-year-old Rohingya human rights defender […]

Thailand: Ensure Access to Justice and Protection for Rohingya Asylum-Seekers

Thai authorities must ensure the investigation into the alleged rape of a Rohingya asylum-seeker from Myanmar is impartial and that all those involved, including the police, are held accountable in a trial that meets international standards of fairness. Thailand has a responsibility to ensure effective protection, both in law and practice, of asylum-seekers and migrants arriving at its shores and living within its borders […]

Myanmar: Dismiss Charges Against Scores of Human Rights Defenders and Peaceful Protesters

The continuing arrest, detention, and threats against human rights defenders and peaceful protesters in Myanmar are stark reminders that basic freedoms remain at risk in the country. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release and dismiss charges against scores of activists and others who are detained or threatened with arrest for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association. Amnesty International considers individuals who are imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights to be prisoners of conscience. Laws in Myanmar that are used to criminalize individuals exercising their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association must be amended and brought in line with international human rights standards […]

Open Letter on the Treatment of Rohingya Asylum-Seekers and Migrants

Dear Minister,

I am writing on behalf of Amnesty International to express concerns about the treatment of asylum-seekers and migrants, in particular those from  Myanmar ’s Rohingya minority community, who have arrived or made attempts to arrive in Thailand by sea in recent months […]

Annual Report 2013: Myanmar

Amid ongoing political, legal and economic reforms, the authorities released hundreds of prisoners of conscience; however, many remained behind bars. Security forces and other state agents continued to commit human rights violations, including unlawful killings, excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment, and unlawful confiscation […]

Myanmar Must Avert Further Humanitarian Disaster as Cyclone Approaches

Heavy monsoon rains and a tropical cyclone threaten the lives of tens of thousands of displaced persons in western Myanmar unless the authorities immediately step up efforts to protect them, Amnesty International said. More than 140,000 individuals – mostly from the Rohingya Muslim minority […]

Myanmar Must Look Beyond ‘Flawed’ Report to Stop Cycle of Buddhist-Muslim Violence

Recommendations in a government-backed report investigating last year’s devastating violence in Myanmar fail to effectively tackle discrimination against Rohingya Muslims and could trigger more human rights abuses, Amnesty International said.

The government-appointed Rakhine Commission this week issued a briefing on its investigation into violence between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Rakhine state, western Myanmar, which first erupted in June 2012 […]