The figures exclude some countries that are thought to carry out executions but where figures are unavailable because data on the death penalty is classified.

The rights group was also able to confirm that executions were carried out in North Korea, Vietnam, Syria and Afghanistan, but said there was insufficient information to provide credible minimum figures.

Of the countries with known figures, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt alone carried out 90% of 883 known executions.

These figures, however, exclude China, which is thought to execute thousands each year.

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Amnesty told Gizmodo it used an AI generator to depict human rights abuses so as to preserve the anonymity of vulnerable protestors.

Experts fear, however, that the use of the tech could undermine the credibility of advocacy groups already besieged by authoritarian governments that cast doubt on the authenticity of real footage.

Amnesty International's Norway regional account posted three images in a tweet thread over the weekend acknowledging the two-year anniversary of a major protest in Colombia where police brutalised protestors and committed "grave human rights violations," the organization wrote.

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The money was donated to help Amnesty's "My Body My Rights" campaign to overturn the Eighth Amendment that protects the unborn child's right to life.

Ireland's Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) has ordered Amnesty to pay back the €137,000 given to them by Soros's Open Societies Foundation.

The grant contravenes electoral law.

The 1997 Electoral Act forbids donations of over €100 from overseas groups for "electoral purposes".

Amnesty says it had been transparent about receiving the donation, and Sipo originally told them the payment did not break the law, and later reversed the decision.

Colm O'Gorman, who is the executive director of Amnesty in Ireland, says Amnesty will not return the money.

"We will consider every opportunity to challenge this decision. I have repeatedly made it clear that we will challenge this. We are really clear about this.

"This amounts to the targeting of organisations purely for their work on human rights and equality issues," he says.

O'Gorman says the ruling "overlooks the fact that Amnesty International is completely independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion".

He says he thinks Sipo is being manipulated by pro-life activists.

Amnesty is taking legal advice on the matter, and says the Soros grant accounted for nearly 2.5 per cent of its total annual income.

Returning it would set "a dangerous precedent," Amnesty claims.

Cora Sherlock of the Irish Pro-Life Campaign does not agree with O'Gorman's views on the matter.

"Today's statement from Amnesty is nothing more than a public relations exercise to disguise the fact that they have been receiving vast sums of money from abroad to fund their campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment.

"Amnesty are behaving like they are above the law and are hiding behind the term ‘human rights' as a justification for everything they do."

Sherlock says when it gave Amnesty the money, the Open Society Foundation said "it was to assist the coordination of groups in Ireland with a view to repealing the 8th Amendment and taking away legal protection for the baby in the womb,".

She says the Open Society Foundation's involvement "represents a gross interference in our democracy and in safeguarding the right to life.

"Amnesty should immediately return the money and stop trying to portray itself as a victim in all of this."

Source

• Irish Times
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Fact Rider

In a new report titled "Libya's Dark Web of Collusion", Amnesty International says the EU finances the Libyan coastguard and officials running the country's detention camps to carry out torture and exploitation.

At present, the human rights group says about 20,000 people are detained in detention centers in Libya.

The aim is to stem the flow of people across the Mediterranean to Europe "... with little thought, or seeming care for the consequences for those trapped in Libya as a result."

Irregular entry, stay and exit are criminal offences in Libya.

"The lack of any judicial oversight of the detention process and the near total impunity with which officials operate has facilitated the institutionalisation of torture and other ill-treatment in detention [centers]," the Amnesty report says.

The organisation further reports the EU "routinely acts in collusion with militia groups and people traffickers to 'make money from human suffering'".

After ships, training and funding from the EU and Italy were provided to the Libyan coastguard, Amnesty says the number of arrivals in Italy fell by 67% between July and November compared with the same period in 2016.

Deaths at sea have correspondingly reduced.

Furthermore, Amnesty says the coastguard and those to whom they hand over refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, are often acting with criminal gangs and militia.

Amnesty claims the coastguard and smugglers sometimes mark boats to allow vessels to pass through Libyan waters without interception.

At the same time, the coastguard sometimes escorts boats out to international waters.

Refugees and migrants intercepted on their way to Europe are sent to camps run by the Libyan general directorate for combating illegal migration.

They are then routinely tortured for money, Amnesty reports.

Source

• The Guardian
• National Public Radio,Inc
• Aljazeera
• Image: Thomson Reuters Foundation News

It is the top priority for the human rights charity and accounts for more than half of Amnesty's war chest.

The Irish Sun reports that by contrast, the human rights group spent €89,370 on stopping torture, €55,537 on anti-discrimination, €34,983 on the abolition of the death penalty and €59,074 on individuals at risk including prisoners of conscience.

The Catholic Herald reports the Irish abortion rate, even allowing for the roughly 3,500 Irish women who travel to Britain each year to have an abortion, is about one in 18 pregnancies.

The Catholic Herald contrasts this figure to the one in five UK pregnancies ending in abortion and one in four Sweedish pregnancies ending in abortion.

Amnesty wants Irish voters to erase from their constitution the Eighth Amendment, giving the unborn child the same right to life as every other human being.

Head of Amnesty in Ireland, Colm O'Gorman released a statement Friday, reading: "Women and girls have a human right to have access to safe and legal abortion services.

"For anyone opposed to women being granted this right, I can understand why they are not happy that we campaign on this issue. However, it is the gravity of human rights violations that determines Amnesty International's position."

Abortion is only permitted in Ireland when the life of the mother is at real and substantial risk. This amendment was inserted into the constitution following a referendum in 1983 which passed by a two-to-one margin.

This condition was inserted by way of an amendment, into the constitution, following a referendum in 1983 which passed by a two-to-one margin.

Even with this constitutional change, the Irish maternal death rate is somewhat lower than the British one.

Sources

• The Irish Sun
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Citizen Go

This is the opinion expressed by the Methodist Church in its submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights last Thursday.

The Bill was introduced in Parliament by the Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum last year.

It was sent to the Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights in June after the second reading.

Under the heading "Defamation", clause 24 of the Bill says that "Any person whose words or actions defame, demean or undermine the sanctity of Parliament, the Speaker or a committee commits an offence and is liable on conviction."

Methodist Church vice president Apisalome Tudreu said the proposed provisions would make it an offence for the electorate to hold their elected representatives and their leaders accountable and this was a basic requirement of democracy and good governance.

Tudreu said the church participated because of its role and that was to serve the needs of the society.

"What is considered thre­a­tening and defamatory sho­uld be left to the laws that apply to others," he said.

The chair of the committee hearing submissions, the MP Ashneel Sudhakar, said the clause would only protect the institution.

"It doesn't mention anywhere that you cannot criticise the government or cannot crticise the members of parliament," Sudhakar said.

"The words of clause 24 are clear and all it's saying is that you cannot criticise wrongly the institution of parliament, the speaker and the committees. That's all that the clause mentions."

The Citizens Constitutional Forum wants clause 24 removed. "Section 24 will further dissuade people from exercising their rights to critique Parliamentarians' role and their performances for fear of being sued for defamation by Parliament," said its Chief Executive Officer

Source

• fijitimes.com
• newswire.com
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: newswire.com.

Amnesty International is calling on New Zealand to take a lead in exerting international pressure on Australia over its detention centre on Nauru.

Amnesty has condemned Australia's offshore detention regime on Nauru as an "open-air prison" and akin to "torture".

New Zealand has offered to take 150 of the asylum seekers, but Australia says it must deal directly with Nauru, and the offer is stalled.

Amnesty's senior crisis director Anna Neistat said New Zealand had a crucial role as one of Australia's key partners.

"International pressure should start from the region where New Zealand is undoubtedly the most serious player who could challenge Australia's policy and, to a certain extent, show to Australia that things can be done differently."

Amnesty says refugees and and asylum seekers are attacked with impunity, healthcare is inadequate or non-existent, and suicide attempts, including among children, are common.

Neistat, who interviewed dozens of the 410 detainees in July, says asylum seekers are undergoing extreme suffering which amounts to torture.

On her visit to Nauru she found:

• A seven-month pregnant Iranian refugee attempted to hang herself,
• Suicide attempts by children were commonplace, including by a 13-year-old boy who had attempted to kill himself multiple times - with a knife, with petrol and by drowning himself in the ocean -
• A 15-year-old girl who had tried to kill herself twice, saying "I'm tired of my life".
• A refugee family who moved into the Nauruan community were repeatedly attacked in their home and their property destroyed.
• Guards in the processing centre have assaulted, abused and threatened refugee children.
• A young girl who was prescribed adult antidepressive medication that has a "black box warning" against its use by children, because it causes suicidal thinking.
• Staff on the island reporting that people are discharged from hospital even when they are "still sick, sometimes half-conscious

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• theguardian.com
• Image: thebloggersden.com

Most of them have been held there for three years. They routinely face neglect by health workers and other service providers who have been hired by the Australian government.

And, as well they suffer frequent unpunished assaults by local Nauruans.

They endure unnecessary delays and at times denial of medical care, even for life-threatening conditions. Many have dire mental health problems and suffer overwhelming despair—self-harm and suicide attempts are frequent. All face prolonged uncertainty about their future.

Refugees and asylum seekers interviewed said they have developed severe anxiety, inability to sleep, mood swings, prolonged depression, and short-term memory loss on the island.

Children have begun to wet their beds, suffered from nightmares, and engaged in disruptive and other troubling behaviour.

"Australia's policy of exiling asylum seekers who arrive by boat is cruel in the extreme," said Anna Neistat, Senior Director for Research at Amnesty International, who conducted the investigation on the island for the organization.

"Few other countries go to such lengths to deliberately inflict suffering on people seeking safety and freedom."

Michael Bochenek, Senior Counsel on Children's Rights at Human Rights Watch, conducted the investigation on the island for this organisation.

"Driving adult and even child refugees to the breaking point with sustained abuse appears to be one of Australia's aims on Nauru," he said

Amnesty International says Australian authorities are well aware of the abuses on Nauru.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a Senate Select Committee, and a government-appointed independent expert have each highlighted many of these practices, and called on the government to change them.

The Australian government's persistent failure to address abuses committed under its authority on Nauru strongly suggests that they are adopted or condoned as a matter of policy.

Source

• pacific.scoop.co.nz
• Image: michelleparsons.com

Amnesty has been a public supporter of repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which puts "right to life of the unborn" on an equal footing with the right to life of the pregnant woman.

Abortion is permitted in Ireland only when there is a risk to the life of a pregnant woman.

Amnesty International has visited a number of schools in Dublin archdiocese recently.

Speaking to the Irish Catholic about Amnesty visiting Catholic schools, Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin said the issue is wider than this one organisation.

"When we invite groups into our schools we need to make sure that what they stand for is consistent with our ethos," the bishop said.

"The school board has clear responsibility that any group that comes into the school to make a presentation is coming from a point of view that is consistent with the ethos of the school," he added.

Pro-life voices in Ireland have also been critical of the Amnesty visits to Catholic schools.

Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute said that Catholic schools had to "draw a line in the sand".

Claiming that Amnesty International had "upended their mission" in recent years by supporting abortion, Ms Uí Bhriain said the organisation were being "entirely hypocritical by trying to use Catholic schools to gain support".

"They have no right to vigorously campaign for abortion and at the same time approach Catholic schools looking for support."

"They can't have it both ways," she insisted.

Last week, the United Nation's human rights committee called on the Irish government to reform its abortion legislation.

The UN body ruled that Ireland's government subjected one woman seeking an abortion, Amanda Mellet, to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and violated her human rights.

Colm O'Gorman, the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, called on the Irish government to act promptly.

"Ireland's constitution is no excuse. It must be changed to allow the reforms required by this ruling," Mr O'Gorman said.

Sources

• Irish Catholic
• The Guardian
• Image: Ali Express

The campaign features a short film made by "Father Ted" creator Graham Lineham and his wife.

The film called 'Chains' criticises the Eighth Amendment to Ireland's constitution, which makes it almost impossible for a woman to have an abortion legally in the country.

Abortion is only permissible if there is a "real or substantial risk of death".

The film features black and white shots of graves, crosses and church ruins.

Neeson does a voice-over these images, saying: "A ghost haunts Ireland. A cruel ghost of the last century . . . It blindly brings suffering, even death, to the women whose lives it touches. Feared by politicians, this is a ghost of paper and ink . . . A constitution written for a different time. It is the shadow of the country we'd left behind . . . Ireland doesn't have to be chained to its past. It's time to lay this ghost of rest."

Pro-life campaigners have criticised the film as being predominantly anti-Catholic.

Matthew Archibold of the US National Catholic Register slammed the ad saying: "I expect this from Amnesty International but not from the guy who voiced Aslan"

Neeson was raised as Catholic and was named after his local parish priest.

Pro-life campaigners said Amnesty International is very quiet about the thousands of people alive in Ireland today thanks to the current law.

Lineham's wife Helen had an abortion in England after a diagnosis of serious foetal abnormality. The procedure would have been illegal in Ireland.

Women who have illegal abortions in Ireland could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.

Polls indicate significant support in Ireland for decriminalisation of the act of abortion.

Sources

• Irish Central
• Belfast Telegraph
• Daily Life
• Image: Variety

Students wore signs and collected donations while remaining silent for three hours during the first part of the day.

Lead teacher Makerita Loto says the girls found it a challenge to stay silent for so long but "feeling a sense of accomplishment as well as making a difference is really important".

Student leader Iundia Puloka says the school takes part in 'Pledge of Silence' every year "so the tradition lives on".

"It is very important for New Zealand to double the refugee quota because our country would be able to make a big difference if we expand the number."

Amnesty's If I were a refugee, I'd want it for me: Double the Quota! campaign is aimed at doubling the number of refugees New Zealand accepts each year.

"With nearly 60 million people displaced around the world, New Zealand can and should do more."

"For this year's Freedom Challenge we are encouraging New Zealand to save lives by doubling our annual refugee quota."

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• amnesty.org.nz
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

It has rejected of the recommendation made by the United Nations Human Rights Council to rule out the transfer of asylum seekers to detention centers in third countries.

This is one of the 34 recommendations that have been rejected, out the total of 121 made by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after the UN States' Universal Periodic Review's (UPR).

Intelligence supplied to the Government confirms New Zealand is increasingly being talked up by people smugglers as a destination for asylum seekers.

New Zealand's Prime Minister, John Key, recently said said revelations about desperate asylum seekers paying thousands of dollars to reach New Zealand by boat were no surprise.

Listen to interview with John Key.

Last year New Zealand's parliament passed legislation late on a Thursday allowing it to detain groups of more than 30 asylum seekers for up to six months.

At that time Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said, "This legislation is about ensuring our system can handle a mass arrival should one occur and sending a clear message to potential people-smuggling ventures that New Zealand is not a soft touch."

When they met in Wellington at the beginning of June, the bishops of Oceania upheld their solidarity "boat people," urging a "more humane approach" to their situation.

Stressing that "boat people are real people," Bishop Eugene Hurley of Darwin, Australia, remarked that "the giving of sanctuary has always been one of the noblest of human endeavors."

He warned of the use of language to dehumanize those seeking asylum, noting that while they are called "queue jumpers," there is no discussion of how to form orderly lines when one is fleeing war-torn Sri Lanka and Syria.

The bishop went on to call the offshore detention centers "factories for mental illness," saying their use is "devoid of logic, fairness, and compassion."

"The UN Human Rights Council adopted the outcome of New Zealand's second review of New Zealand's human rights record on Thursday 19 June in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a relatively new UN mechanism that aims at reviewing a country's human rights performance every 4-5 years. New Zealand was under review for the first time in 2009 and was again reviewed in January 2014.

Source

• The Sunday Times
• Pacific Scoop
• news.24.com
• CNA
• Image: cdn.24.co.za

Vanuatu's Minister for Justice and Community Services, Silas Yatan, says the government may bring in the death penalty.

This follows several recent killings, including the murder of two women.

In May this year the Papua New Guinea Parliament adopted a series of amendments to provide stronger punishments for major crimes.

In particular it re-activated the death penalty. This decision prompted a number of vigorous international reactions.

Amnesty International expressed the belief that the death penalty is a "barbaric" act and would not be effective in deterring violent crimes.

Yatan did not deny the influence Papua New Guinea's decision was having on the thinking in Vanuatu.

Unlike Papua New Guinea, the death penalty has never been part of Vanuatu's the Criminal Code.

Source

• Newspad.Pacific.info
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Fuman.org

In Lae last Wednesday Komape Lap, 54, claimed that he fought with their torturers and escaped to the Morobean capital to reveal what happened. Although these claims could not be corroborated with Mendi police, Komape showed scars on his face and buttocks as proof of his torture. Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident.

"The priority must be to find out the fate of the six women. The perpetrators must also be brought to justice for the abduction and crimes of sexual and other violence, if confirmed", said Kate Schuetze, Amnesty International's Pacific researcher.

"The government must take urgent action to prevent any further "sorcery" - related violence and must also provide the survivors with support and full access to health and other services", said Kate Schuetze.

Source

• The National
• Amnesty International
• Image: fotoevidence.com

In a new report, ostensibly on medical care for maternal health, Amnesty International calls on governments to repeal abortion laws and the protection of conscientious objection for medical workers, according to the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute.

It also calls for public health systems to train and equip health care providers to perform abortions.

Continue reading

A spokesperson, Margaret Taylor, says although it's not been practised in the Pacific in the past 30 years, the death penalty remains law in Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Fiji.

Earlier this year five Papua New Guinea men were sentenced to death for murder.

Ms Taylor says it shows a level of justice that the penalty hasn't been applied but the PNG sentencing demonstrates it can be at any time.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: Amnesty International

The report claims

• Thousands of people in the Pacific are being denied social and economic opportunity
• Human rights defenders have been threatened, imprisoned and tortured, and gender based violence is still a major issue in the region.
• A report published by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community said that 68 percent of women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 had experienced physical and or sexual violence by their partners or family members.
• In Fiji, the interim government's continued crackdown on its critics, and its repressive Public Emergency Regulations, which have just been extended until June.
• The Papua New Guinea government has done little to address violence against women and sorcery-related killings.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• Image: Magznetwork

The 2011 report, "The State of the World's Human Rights," examines human rights in 157 countries, and Amnesty International criticises the Vatican for failing to honour its obligations under the United nations Charter on the Rights of the Child, to which it is a signatory.

The Amnesty report noted the "Increasing evidence of widespread child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy over the past decades, and of the enduring failure of the Catholic Church to address these crimes properly, continued to emerge in various countries. Such failures included not removing alleged perpetrators from their posts pending proper investigations, not co-operating with judicial authorities to bring them to justice and not ensuring proper reparation to victims".

The National Secular Society (NSS), whose Executive Director has been pursuing the Vatican at the United Nations Human Rights Council over its consistent failure to file reports as it is required to do under the terms of the Charter, congratulated Amnesty for drawing attention once more to this reluctance by the Vatican to face up to its responsibilities and admit its failures.

Keith Wood, Executive Director of NSS said: "That scandal is almost equalled by the failure, so far, of international bodies to bring the Vatican to account."

In 2007 the Vatican broke off its alliance with Amnesty International after its pro-abortion about-turn and ceased giving donations to Amnesty. The President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, cardinal Renato Martino also urged Catholic donors to reconsider gifts to the organisation.

Martino said the Vatican's decision was an "inevitable consequence" of Amnesty's new policy and a betrayal of the original mission of the human rights organisation.

Australia and Asia-Pacific

The Vatican is not alone in being criticised by Amnesty. Australia has taken many backwards steps on human rights in the last year.

Mandatory detention, coupled with poor conditions in some detention facilities, continues to put a large number of asylum seekers at risk of mental illness and self harm, the reports says.

Amnesty's Australian director, Claire Mallinson, says refugee policy continues to be dominated by short-term solutions.

"Australia should be showing real leadership on protecting and defending human rights in the region," she said.

The report also criticises the government for failing to introduce a Human Rights Act.

But it does praise Australia for committing to a national plan to reduce voilence against women and children.

Of the wider Asia-Pacific region, Amnesty says too many governments still respond to critics with intimidation, imprisonment and even death.

Sources

• Catholic Culture
• National Secular Society
• Amnesty International
• Irish Times
• NZ Herald

• In August, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp confirmed there was a risk the NZSAS had been involved in the transfer of detainees to torture in Afghanistan and that he had launched an investigation. Nine months later, and despite mounting fresh evidence and allegations, the Government has not released the findings of its investigation, despite promising to do so, and has refused to agree to an independent investigation.

• Amnesty welcomed the Government's support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in April and the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act in 2011, but concerns remain that its replacement has largely the same discriminatory impact.

• In November the Immigration Act came into effect, allowing for the extension of the detention period of refugees and asylum-seekers without warrant, lacking an explicit guarantee against the detention of children and preventing asylum applicants from access to judicial review.

• The Government has failed to formally safeguard human rights for all New Zealanders by continuing to refuse to legally entrench the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, allowing for the possible enactment of legislation that could be inconsistent with its provisions. The Act also fails to give legal recognition to economic, social and cultural rights.

Holmes also criticises Pacific nations: "Away from the international headlines, thousands of people in the Pacific are being denied social and economic opportunity, and human rights defenders have been threatened, imprisoned and tortured." He singles out Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea for particular attention.

Source

• Amnesty International report on New Zealand
• Amnesty International report on Pacific
• Image: Scoop