As Mayor Zohran Mamdani takes office, New York City stands at a crossroads. For decades, “public safety” in this city has been synonymous with policing, punishment, and incarceration. But New Yorkers know better: real safety isn’t achieved through handcuffs or jail cells—it’s built through stable access to affordable housing, food, health...

Tina was 16 years old when she says she was forced to get married. She describes what followed as decades of "relentless" abuse, including being "punched in the face a few times...[and] an incident where my head was smashed into a wall". It culminated in divorce - after which her...

New Zealand likes to present itself as the South Pacific’s moral leader. Abroad, its politicians speak fluently of bicultural partnership, equity, and human rights, invoking the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi as a progressive guiding principle. Yet at home, its prisons tell another story. Māori and Pacific peoples, though less than a fifth...

Across the world, incarcerated pregnant women are often held in deplorable conditions, leading some to miscarry or give birth alone inside a cell, say campaigners Dina Hernández was 35 weeks pregnant when she was arrested near her home in San Salvador in March 2024. The 28-year-old human rights activist, who was with...

In this second episode of our special series, ' Equal Under the Law?', we explore whether the law serves as a barrier or a tool for marginalized communities striving for equality, with a little help our expert panel of 11 inspiring activist leaders from Scotland. Throughout the episode, we confront...

A Clear Breakdown of Key Terms to Help the Public Speak Up, Push for Housing Solutions, and Move Past Harmful Misconceptions Invisible People: It’s happened to most of us at least once. We’ve walked past someone who didn’t have a home and wished we could help, but the fear of...

Amnesty International: Responding to the cancellation of bail of lawyers and human rights defenders Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha and an order to immediately arrest them in a bogus case relating to “anti-state” tweets, Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, said:  “This baseless trial of Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha is a blatant abuse of the justice system. Pakistani authorities must end the judicial harassment and coercive tactics used to silence dissent and...

British Columbia, Canada will not be continuing its drug decriminalization project, Health Minister Josie Osborne announced in Victoria Wednesday. The three-year pilot project, which allowed people to be in possession of small amounts of illicit drugs, began on Jan. 31, 2023, and will expire at the end of this month....

Unprecedented Mass Prosecution of Xinjiang Protesters (London, January 15, 2026) – Kazakh authorities should drop charges against 18 Kazakh activists who peacefully protested against Chinese government abuses in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said today. The activists, from the Nagyz Atajurt Volunteers group, face up to 10 years in prison for exercising their freedom of...

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR) are seriously concerned that a criminal case brought in Kazakhstan against activists protesting China’s repression of ethnic minorities is inconsistent with international human rights standards protecting freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and...

Amnesty International: Ugandan security forces have unlawfully targeted opposition rallies with unnecessary and excessive force and arbitrary arrests, and subjected some attendees to torture or other ill-treatment, Amnesty International said today. The organization has documented incidents in which security officers launched tear gas at peaceful crowds in Kawempe and Iganga,...

Common-Sense Protections Soon to Be Enshrined in State Law Invisible People: Pennsylvanian lawmakers are taking steps to preserve the protections that homeless people lost after the Grants Pass decision. A new bill soon to be introduced in the state legislature will restore the requirement for municipalities to provide alternate shelter...

Amnesty International: Civil disobedience is increasingly criminalized worldwide, despite its vital role in confronting government and corporate abuses, especially amid the climate crisis and other human rights emergencies. This post identifies three legal strategies that can counter punitive state responses and protect activists: invoking the necessity defence, asserting freedom of expression,...

Experts Warn That Punitive Laws Push Unhoused People into Danger While Worsening Stigma, Isolation, and Harm Invisible People: The growing criminalization of homelessness is contributing to increasing incidences of violence against people who are homeless, according to experts. Nearly every city across the country has quality-of-life ordinances that restrict or...

Amnesty International: Following the release of a small number of persons arbitrarily detained in Venezuela on 8 January 2026 out of a total of around one thousand politically-motivated arbitrary detainees (according to local civil society organizations), which included prisoner of conscience Rocío San Miguel and Spanish nationals like Jose María Basoa and Andrés Martínez, as well as political...

National Homelessness Law Center: The annual Homeless Persons' Memorial Day is this weekend. This year, like every year, people will gather across the country to mourn those who died without a safe place to call home. In a country as wealthy and as powerful as ours, it is shameful that...

From the Daily Times, Malawi: Persons with disabilities in Malawi continue to face harsh realities on the streets. This is happening as the Constitutional Court spends eight years on a case in which they are challenging Section 180 (b) of the Penal Code. The section in question criminalises begging. The...

While fewer women than men are incarcerated, their numbers are rising faster and most often for non-violent offences. More than 733,000 women and girls are held in penal institutions globally, according to the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research, either as pre-trial detainees or remand prisoners, or having been convicted and...

In an era when digital infrastructures have a strong hold on everything from civic participation to surveillance, human rights interventions must reckon with cyber politics on a broader spectrum. But cyber politics is not just about digital rights, it is deeply embedded in the ecosystems of power, identity politics and...

Incarceration should be a last resort, yet this broken and brutal system punishes marginalised women, most of whom are inside for non-violent crimes When you imprison a woman, you imprison a family,” a young woman in Sierra Leone told me, cradling her small baby in a damp cell. My mind...

FIACAT: In September-October 2025, ahead of the AU-EU human rights dialogue on 7 October, twenty civil society experts convened to discuss the current far-reaching and unprecedented changes taking place in the global human rights landscape and what meaningful actions the two institutions, their member states and their partnership can take...

Amnesty International: For too long, citizens, especially older women, have been victimized by witchcraft accusations in Ghana. This deeply rooted practice has led to untold suffering, discrimination, and violence. Act now to urge the President  John Mahama to sign the Anti-Witchcraft Bill into law to protect these vulnerable individuals. What’s...

To counter the increasing criminalization of human rights defenders, activists and journalists across the world, Amnesty International, the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) will publish a briefing on 27 November, outlining a series of legal and advocacy strategies to protect critical voices from discrimination,...

Sonke Gender Justice: As the world approaches the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), African feminist movements, youth advocates, policymakers, and grassroots organisations are coming together for a historic convening to accelerate progress on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and gender equality across the continent. The...

Amnesty International: Kenyan authorities systematically deployed technology-facilitated violence as part of a coordinated and sustained campaign to suppress Generation Z-led protests between June 2024 and July 2025 against corruption and the introduction of new tax legislation, a new Amnesty International report shows.  The report, “This fear, everyone is feeling it”: Tech-facilitated...

A nonprofit human rights organization in Nigeria, Lawyers Alert has launched a campaign tagged “HealthNotHarm”, a strategic initiative aimed at reshaping national discourse on safe termination of pregnancy and advancing reproductive justice in Nigeria.  The President of Lawyers Alert, Rommy Mom said the campaign is about justice, dignity, and the...

Tunisian authorities have increasingly escalated their crackdown on human rights defenders and independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through arbitrary arrests, detention, asset freezes, bank restrictions and court-ordered suspensions, all under the pretext of fighting “suspicious” foreign funding and shielding “national interests,” Amnesty International said today. In an unprecedented step six NGO...

Women Beyond Walls: Women are the fastest-growing prison population worldwide, often locked up for low-level drug offenses tied to poverty, coercion, or survival. In this minisode, Marie Nougier from the International Drug Policy Consortium talks about moving beyond punitive drug laws that harm women and what  compassionate, evidence-based alternatives could...

Language used maybe offensive to some readers  Thousands of NYPD records secured by the rights groups detail expansive and unlawful surveillance of protesters, and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities.  Records obtained by Amnesty International and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy and civil rights...

On a Tuesday afternoon in July, a magistrate sits inside a local prison in Malawi. A remandee stands before him and begins to share his story: he was arrested for stealing goods valued at 50 000 kwacha (30 USD), but the complainant never appeared in court. The prisoner has spent...

Various human rights organisations came together to sound the alarm on the inadequacies of the recent UN Convention Againct Cybercrime. The joint statement begins with: "We, the undersigned organizations, remain deeply concerned that the UN Convention Against Cybercrime (UNCC) will facilitate human rights abuses across borders. As some states head...

In the Sahel, repression is intensifying. Human rights defenders and journalists are being silenced under the pretext of national security. A region of hope and resilience The Sahel, a vast region connecting West and Central Africa, is a land of hope and solidarity. Its committed youth, resilient communities, and human...

World Cities Day 2025 celebrates “People-centred Smart Cities”—a vision worth pursuing and one that requires that we explore what it means to truly center people in our vision of the future.   The smart city narrative promises elegant solutions: sensors, algorithms, and data analytics making cities more efficient, sustainable, and livable....

In light of the prolonged arbitrary detention of Luis Pacheco and Héctor Chaclán, Indigenous representatives of the 48 cantons of Totonicapán, who will today have been deprived of their liberty for six months, Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:  “Today marks six months since Luis Pacheco and Héctor...

The sentencing of three land defenders criminalized by Canada sends a chilling message about the threats facing people and Nations on the front lines of the struggle for Indigenous rights and environmental justice.  On Friday, a British Columbia judge handed down sentences for three Indigenous land defenders who were arrested...

INTERVIEW Fighting for human rights in silence S. is a lawyer. She works to defend the rights of women and children, notably through her work in the Association of Women Lawyers of Burundi and the Burundian Coalition of Human Rights Defenders. She is incarcerated from February 2023 to April 2024...

Prison might be part of her story — but it is never the whole story. Proving what we’ve long known: with the right post-prison support, women don’t go back. They rebuild. Find out how From Now works and why it needs to grow. We’re proud to launch a new WAGEC report that proves what...

OTTAWA, Canada – October 28, 2025 – The Global Centre for Pluralism is pleased to announce the three winners of the 2025 Global Pluralism Award, recognizing their extraordinary work to bridge profound divides and build more inclusive societies in regions grappling with conflict and discrimination. The winners are part of a...

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) has today written to His Excellency Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika, Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, raising urgent concerns about the deteriorating democratic space in Tanzania as the country approaches its general elections on 29 October 2025. In the letter, authored...

The United States still incarcerates 614 people for every 100,000 residents, more than almost any other country in the world. Women in particular are incarcerated in the U.S. at a rate of 112 per 100,000. This may seem relatively minor, but it’s a scale of women’s incarceration that remains higher than...

This essay reflects on the brutal realities of incarceration, particularly for Indigenous women in Australia. It begins with the tragic death of Selesa Tafaifa, who was killed in custody, highlighting the inhumanity of the prison system. The authors, both formerly incarcerated, discuss how their personal experiences in prison fuel their...

Advocates, ministers and lawyers gathered in Sydney this week to back reforms that keep women out of prison and families together.  At Parliament House this week, the Keeping Women Out of Prison (KWOOP) Coalition launched a new strategy to cut the number of women in NSW prisons by addressing the systemic factors...

Chinese courts are systematically weaponizing vague national security and public order laws to silence human rights defenders, Amnesty International said today in a new report exposing the judiciary’s central role in sustaining the Beijing authorities’ crackdown on fundamental freedoms. “China’s leaders like to play up a message of international cooperation and commitment...

There’s a hidden side to our justice system — one that punishes people not for what they did, but for what they don’t have. Across the country, states are using their courts to squeeze revenue from the people least able to provide it. This isn’t a glitch in the system....

Joint Statement by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). Press freedom in Southern Africa is increasingly under threat, and one way it is undermined is through Strategic Litigation against Public Participation (SLAPP). Although freedom of expression is not an absolute right and can...

A new criminal justice wave has formed in Hawaii and California. Where will it go next? Ending prison for teens might seem like a pipe dream in the age of Donald Trump. But when it comes to girls, who are less likely than boys to commit violence, this fantasy could...

Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF): In Morocco, as in many countries, criminal laws continue to punish behaviours often linked to poverty, marginalisation or activism. In collaboration with the Observatoire Marocain des Prison (OMP), Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) conducted a groundbreaking national survey in 2024 on perceptions of minor offences and alternative...