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2008 (247)
Aug 1 2008 1:47PM
Sending in Big John

OK so it’s like that is it! The Chinese authorities may have relented and unblocked our website , but as an organisation we have been banned from China for years, and frankly anyone brave enough to speak out about human rights in the...

Jul 31 2008 5:49PM
What a difference a year makes? Very little actually for the people of Darfur

It really doesn’t feel like a year to me. And I’m living in the UK. I bet that the people of Darfur are really struggling to believe that it was a year – a whole year, since the UN Security Council agreed to deploy the world’s largest...

Jul 30 2008 4:47PM
This blog is censored: by order of the Chinese government

So, the countdown to the Games is now in single figures, the athletes are arriving at Beijing’s glossy new airport, and China is ratcheting up yet another broken promise to its ever-increasing list . Today it’s been revealed that the...

Jul 29 2008 2:15PM
Chinas broken Olympic promises

Today marks the start of the ten-day countdown to the Olympic Games in Beijing and Amnesty has been studying the Chinese authorities’ human rights performance very carefully since they won the right to host the Games back in 2001. We...

Jul 28 2008 12:46PM
Baha Mousa changed my weekend

This weekend the sun was out, the sky was blue, and your Amnesty press officer was dashing round like a mad thing. The reason? Baha Mousa, the Joint Committee on Human Rights , and a little dash of Iran. For those who don’t remember...

Jul 25 2008 3:05PM
The US on torture: change we can believe in?

They went barmy in Berlin. It was delirium in Deutschland. Ok, so Barack Obama is looking like the world’s “hottest” politician. Or at least the most popular foreign one in Germany. The “JFK in ’63” comparisons are everywhere. This is...

Jul 24 2008 3:54PM
Beijing: Protests parked

The Chinese authorities announced yesterday that Beijing will set up specially designated zones for protesters during next month's Olympics . This then became a massive media story, with many seeing it as a sign that China's government...

Jul 23 2008 11:18AM
Missing, presumed alive in Pakistan

I always think those posters of missing dogs or cats on lampposts are unbearably sad. Someone loves those animals. The owners are heartbroken and desperate. They go to the trouble of putting up posters. They offer rewards. And then...

Jul 22 2008 4:13PM
Karadic Arrested what now?

After more than twelve years on the run, Radovan Karadzic – who stands accused of crimes against humanity and genocide for his role in the appalling abuses in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early nineties – has been arrested. The...

Jul 21 2008 1:33PM
FAC me, can we believe a word they say?

I think it would be fair to say that the nation is rarely riveted to the Parliament Channel. Aside from the very punchiest Punch and Judy moments of PMQs, it doesn’t really have too many watercooler moments. Or any. But human rights...

Jul 18 2008 4:48PM
Seeking closure

Supporters of the death penalty often claim that it’s a way of achieving “closure” for relatives of the victims of the crimes concerned. I know, “closure” is a terrible Americanism but let’s not get into that right now.Of course, there...

Jul 17 2008 2:57PM
Female discrimination still a major problem at home and abroad

The ability, or failure to protect women from all violence is on the news agenda today. China’s patting itself on the back as a new law has recently resulted in the first successful prosecution in a sexual harassment case. This is...

Jul 16 2008 5:35PM
We've signed up to Blogcatalog

I signed up to Blogcatalog today, to try to get more people to see us. They require us to include a link from our blog to their site, so here it is: http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/politics Interestingly, Amnesty USA is already...

Jul 16 2008 2:39PM
Oh, Guantánamo

Im old enough to remember the first pop video. Or at least the first really popular one. Vienna, Ultravoxs ice-cold classic (This means nothing to me / Ohhhh, Vienna!) might not be quite as a cool as it was in 1981 ok, it hasnt been...

Jul 15 2008 5:36PM
Your right to protest!

Issues around freedom of expression and the right to protest have been in the news more and more recently, from the brutal clamp-down in Burma witnessed by the world to the erosion of civil liberties in the UK, with the right to...

Jul 14 2008 5:30PM
Darfur crimes investigated

It can’t be denied that the International Criminal Court’s move to accuse Sudan’s President of committing war crimes in Darfur is a very bold step as it's the first time the ICC has issued charges against a sitting serving head of...

Jul 11 2008 6:28PM
Ask the PM on YouTube but do you get a straight answer?

Gordon Brown recently asked members of the public to pose questions tohim on Youtube, which he’s then responded to in a Youtube clip. Rathera nice idea. One of those selected was a colleague of mine who askedabout 42 days pre-charge...

Jul 10 2008 7:06PM
Two cheerless topics for Thursday: rape and racism

Two things today, neither nice. Rape and racism. Yesterday the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police John Yates (“Yates of the Yard”!) called for all police forces to set up a specialist unit to investigate rape allegations...

Jul 9 2008 3:44PM
42 days under fire from the Lords and the masses

It seems that the “people want 42 days pre-charge detention” argument may have been punctured somewhat by the Rowntree Reform Trust’s survey , released today, showing 60% against 42 days. Sky News kindly reprinted the poll results...

Jul 8 2008 1:56PM
China chokes on its promises (and 42 days in the Lords)

Beijing is failing to honour the promises it made when bidding for the Olympics in 2001, says the BBC , that air quality would meet World Health Organisation standards. The beeb has done its own (scientific?) tests using a hand-held...

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