Employees urge charity to consider using donations to fund jobs as management say job losses are unavoidable
Staff at Amnesty International are to vote on whether to strike over a dispute about redundancies.
The trade union Unite will ballot its 300 members at the human rights organisation next week.
Continue reading...UN official issues last-minute appeal amid reports pair may be executed in next 24 hours
A last-minute appeal to stop the imminent execution of two men in Bahrain has been issued by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Agnès Callamard, as pressure mounts on the country’s king to revoke the death sentences.
Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab and Ahmed Isa Ahmed Isa al-Malali may be executed in the next 24 hours, according to human rights groups.
Continue reading...Government caves in after protests from rights groups and senior judicial officials
Greece’s government has rushed to revise legislation that redefines rape after unprecedented criticism from activists, human rights groups and senior judicial officials.
The law, part of a new penal code submitted to parliament by Alexis Tsipras’ administration only weeks before snap elections, had raised fears of convicted rapists being treated more leniently.
Continue reading...‘Overspending by organisation’s senior leadership team’ blamed for £17m budget deficit
Amnesty International is to cut almost 100 jobs as part of urgent restructuring to tackle a “serious budget deficit”, the human rights organisation has confirmed.
Amnesty, labelled a “toxic” workplace in a February review, said in a statement that it expected to make 93 “painful and difficult” redundancies. Last week, it emerged that five members of the charity’s senior leadership team, all of whom offered their resignations following the damning review, will be made redundant by October.
Continue reading...Police are investigating suspected misconduct involving millions of dollars of funds from donors
Amnesty International has shut down its Zimbabwe branch over alleged abuse of donor funds and fraud by staff.
The human rights group says it has launched further investigations with the help of police into suspected graft and misconduct involving millions of dollars and Amnesty Zimbabwe has indefinitely been placed under administration.
Continue reading...Group of MEPs writes to Electoral Commission over reports of ballot paper delays
The Electoral Commission has been asked to permit late postal votes for the European parliament elections to be counted as reports continue of many British nationals living abroad receiving their ballot papers too late to return on time.
A group of 10 MEPs has written to the regulator to say that it should consider any postal vote that arrives by Sunday when the polls close across Europe. “We cannot permit lousy disenfranchisement like this,” said the Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder, who wrote the letter to the commission.
Continue reading...Amnesty International fears its staff may be ‘surveilled via NSO Pegasus software’
The Israeli firm linked to this week’s WhatsApp hack is facing a lawsuit backed by Amnesty International, which says it fears its staff may be under surveillance from spyware installed via the messaging service.
Related: WhatsApp urges users to update app after discovering spyware vulnerability
Continue reading...Up to 70 jobs will go amid concerns that cuts will marginalise Amnesty causes such as torture and the arms trade
Human rights workers at Amnesty International are braced for scores of redundancies after the management admitted to a hole in its budget of up to £17m to the end of 2020.
Up to 70 jobs will go in voluntary and compulsory layoffs amid a slump in donations and a multi-million pound increase in spending on fundraising, the Guardian has learned. Staff have been told the organisation will be reshaped in line with the vision of recently appointed secretary general, Kumi Naidoo, who wants to increase Amnesty’s work on climate change and economic rights. There are concerns that cuts will marginalise in depth research on totemic Amnesty causes such as the death penalty, torture and the arms trade.
Continue reading...Amnesty says social media firm must do more to support users who report harassment
Human rights campaigners have called for action after a survey revealed that more than half of the reports that women lodge about harassment on Facebook are met with no action from the social media company.
The Survation poll, commissioned by the feminist campaign group Level Up, found that 29% of the 1,000 women who took part had been harassed on Facebook.
Continue reading...Letter from seven staff admits mistakes after report warns of ‘toxic’ work environment
Amnesty International’s seven-member senior leadership team has offered to resign after a damning report warned of a “toxic” working environment and widespread bullying.
A letter, signed jointly by the human rights group’s leadership team, acknowledged mistakes had been made, adding that the seven senior leaders took shared responsibility for the “climate of tension and mistrust” across the organisation.
Continue reading...Campaigners demand external investigation after human rights organisation dismisses their claims
Prominent Indian rights activists have withdrawn their support for Amnesty India amid allegations of caste discrimination and harassment within the organisation, the Guardian has learned.
The allegations include claims that staff were humiliated, ill-treated and discriminated against because of their caste, a system of social hierarchy among Hindus.
Continue reading...Journalists, lawyers, minority rights activists and anti-hijab protesters among those held
Iranian authorities arrested more than 7,000 dissidents last year in a sweeping crackdown that led to hundreds being jailed or flogged, at least 26 protesters being killed, and nine people dying in custody amid suspicious circumstances, according to Amnesty International.
Those rounded up during violent dispersals of peaceful protests in what Amnesty called “a year of shame for Iran” included journalists, lawyers, minority rights activists and women who protested against being forced to wear headscarves.
Continue reading...Amnesty International calls US naval prison a symbol of Islamophobia and xenophobia
Guantánamo Bay remains a “stain on the human rights record” of the US and the scene of ongoing human rights violations, said Amnesty International in advance of a rally in Washington to mark the 17th anniversary of its opening.
The US naval prison at Guantánamo in Cuba – opened on 11 January 2002 – still holds 40 Muslim men, many of whom have been tortured. Many of the detainees have been cleared for transfer for years.
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