From China to Syria, Kenya to Egypt, girls and women are rising up and risking their lives to stand up for what they believe in. Activists, lawyers, sisters and students, these women have put their lives on the line, fought for lost loved ones and stood up for strangers. Now it’s their time to shine. Meet the inspiring women defending human rights around the world…

Wu Rongrong, China

On 2 March 2016, Berta Cáceres, a defender of the environment and indigenous rights, was shot dead by gunmen who entered her home in Intibucá, Honduras. Berta and the Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), were campaigning against the construction of a hydroelectric dam project called Agua Zarca and the impact it would have on the territory of the Lenca People. This struggle placed Berta at great risk and continues to threaten the lives of other members of COPINH.

In the two years since Berta was shot dead, Amnesty International has documented a pattern of threats…

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty launched our Annual Report 2017/18, covering 159 countries, in Washington DC this week. Here are his opening remarks…

One year ago, millions of people across the world were watching anxiously to see what a Trump presidency would yield, after an election campaign of hateful and xenophobic and sexist rhetoric.

They were also looking with trepidation across Europe, where electoral races in France, Netherlands, Austria and Germany were showcasing similar rhetoric and the cynical use of fear and hatred. Combined with already harsh crackdowns and identity-based violence in many countries, it was a bleak outlook.

…

Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was detained in June 2012 and sentenced in 2014 for setting up a website focused on social and political debate. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. When Saudi Arabian authorities first flogged him on 9 January 2015, our supporters around the world rose up as one, driving global condemnation of the authorities and demanding the release of Raif Badawi and all other prisoners of conscience. He has not been flogged again since then.

On November 8 activists around the world celebrated Intersex Day of Solidarity. The date marks an important opportunity to do precisely what it says: raise awareness of what it means to be intersex, show solidarity, and recognise that intersex rights are human rights.

Intersex is a term applied to people born with variations of reproductive or sexual characteristics. Biological sex can’t neatly be divided into binary categories of “male” and “female,” and every year an estimated 1.7% of children in the world are born with variations in their sex characteristics. …

Change is possible, especially when people come together and take action. From writing letters of support and campaigning outside corporate headquarters, to welcoming refugees into our homes and changing laws for the better, hope overcame fear time and time again in 2017 — and it was all thanks to you.

Here are 30 incredible moments Amnesty International’s supporters
made happen…

JANUARY

We campaigned for the release of prominent Gambian prisoners

Opposition party members, Amadou Sanneh, Malang Fatty and his brother Alhagie Sambou Fatty were finally freed in Gambia following more than three years of campaigning by Amnesty supporters. “Amnesty’s work has an impact on people,” Amadou Sanneh said. “Without Amnesty’s…

At a press conference in Paris, Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty calls out politicians like Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte and Victor Orban for their “toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people”, and says that the need to stand up for human rights everywhere has never been clearer.

Amnesty International today launched its annual report on the state of the world’s human rights. This is the first time we launch this global report in Paris. And the reason for doing that is closely linked to the message of the report.

There are few countries in the…

It was once known as the City of Lakes. But Bhopal has since gone down in history as the site of one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

In 1984, a toxic gas leak in the central Indian city killed and maimed tens of thousands of people. Thirty years later, that tragedy has turned into an ongoing human rights travesty, with survivors and activists leading a relentless fight for justice.

The players in this battle have taken on mythical overtones — David and Goliath come to mind. On the one side are thousands of survivors of the gas leak; on…