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Category: NGOs

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Egypt: Military trials of fishermen an affront to justice

    Source: Amnesty International –

    gyptian authorities must stop trying civilians in military courts, said Amnesty International and the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, ahead of an expected verdict on 12 February in the military trials of five civilians in relation to fishing in a lake in North Sinai controlled by a development agency operating under the ministry of defence.

    On 6 and 7 January, a military police unit from the Egypt’s Future Sustainable Development Agency (EFSDA) arrested five fishermen at Lake Bardawil.  Military prosecutors investigated the men on charges of fishing during “prohibited periods” as well as being in a military area without permission. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had placed the lake, a fishing spot for around 3,500 fishermen, under military jurisdiction in 2019, according to presidential Decree No. 294 of 2019.

    “It is a travesty that a group of fishermen have found themselves facing military trial for fishing in a lake without authorization. Trying civilians in military courts is a flagrant violation of Egypt’s international human rights obligations. Military authorities must immediately drop the charges against the five men and release them. They must be tried by independent and impartial civilian courts in proceedings meeting international standards of due process and fair trial,” said Ahmed Salem, Executive Director of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR).

    It is a travesty that a group of fishermen have found themselves facing military trial for fishing in a lake without authorization.

    Ahmed Salem, Executive Director of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights

    “Egypt’s military courts have a notorious history of handing down unjust convictions and sentences, including death sentences, following grossly unfair trials. The authorities must overhaul legislation to ensure that military courts have no jurisdiction over civilians in any case,” said Sara Hashash, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

    The fishermen, who are in their twenties, are facing two separate military trials. Amnesty International and the SFHR reviewed copies of the arrest reports, prosecution reports, and charge sheets for both trials. The organizations also spoke with a lawyer who attended the hearings, two employees of an official body responsible for lake management, and relatives of detainees.

    The trials were marred by violations of fair trial guarantees. According to a lawyer who attended hearings for both cases on 28 January the defendants’ lawyers made a request to cross-examine the prosecution witnesses, but the court ignored their request. The court also held two hearings on 5 and 6 February without any of the defendants present.

    All five detainees are currently held by Central Security Forces, operating under the ministry of interior, in Ismailia Security Forces Camp, which is not officially recognized as a detention facility.

    The five defendants are tried under Law No. 146 of 2021 on the Protection and Development of Lakes and Fisheries, which stipulates that Lake Protection and Fish Wealth Development Authority (LPFWDA), affiliated with the cabinet, is responsible for determining areas in or periods during which fishing is banned. According to the law, fishing during prohibited periods or in banned areas is a crime punishable by six months to two years imprisonment and/or a fine between 10,000 EGP to 100,000 EGP.

    In 2022, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi established the EFSDA by a decree No. 591 of 2022, which was never made public. Since then, the government has assigned several large projects to the agency including development projects in South Egypt and North Sinai, according to local media.

    On 31 October 2024, the spokesman of the government announced that the EFSDA will begin development works in Lake Bardawil aiming at achieving

    “the economic development of the lake”, according to an official statement by the Council of Ministers. The lake was previously under the supervision of LPFWDA, which by law supervises lakes across the country. Two employees at the LPFWDA told Amnesty International and SFHR that, since the government’s announcement EFSDA has taken full control of the lake supervision.

    Military trials of civilians in Egypt are inherently unfair because all personnel in military courts, from judges to prosecutors, are serving members of the military who report to the Minister of Defence and do not have the necessary training on rule of law or fair trial standards. Verdicts by military courts are subject to appeal before higher military courts as well, and ratification by the President.

    On 28 January 2024, the Egyptian parliament approved new amendments to Law No. 25 of 1966 on the Military Code of Justice that further expand the jurisdiction of military courts to prosecute civilians. The new amendments added to the military jurisdiction include “crimes committed against public and vital facilities and public properties, and other comparable things, that are protected by the armed forces”. Presidential ratification of the amendments was never published in the official gazette.

    These amendments coincided with the enactment of Law No. 3 of 2024, ratified by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on 5 February 2024, which expanded military jurisdiction over civilians for even more crimes than in the parliament’s previously mentioned amendments to the Military Code of Justice. The law authorizes the military to assist the police in safeguarding public and vital facilities and “services,” as well as addressing crimes committed against them, including crimes that “undermine the basic needs of society, including food commodities and essential products.”

    Background

    Egypt has a long track record of trying civilians before military courts. Most recently, in December 2024 a military court sentenced 62 residents of North Sinai governorate to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years on charges of damaging military vehicles and using force against public officials.

    The trial followed a sit-in in October 2023 by residents of Sheikh Zuwayed city, who had been forcibly evicted by the authorities demanding to return to their homes. The sit-in was forcibly dispersed by the military. On 24 December 2024, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a presidential pardon for 54 of them. 

    For over a decade, Egyptian armed and security forces have engaged in military operations against armed groups in North Sinai. In April 2023, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared the end of ongoing military operations in North Sinai. However, the region remains as a de facto military zone, with the Egyptian authorities continuing to maintain a strict media blackout on the security situation in North Sinai. They have for years prevented media, human rights organizations and independent observers from accessing the region. Several presidential decrees, including Decree No. 444 of 2014 and Decree No. 420 of 2021, have placed large areas of North Sinai under military jurisdiction, further militarizing the region and hampering independent reporting.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: India: Authorities must uphold human rights and end violence in Manipur following Biren Singh’s resignation

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to the resignation of N Biren Singh as the Chief Minister of the state of Manipur in India yesterday, Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India, said:

    “Biren Singh’s resignation presents in Manipur the opportunity for the authorities to uphold and ensure human rights for everyone, break with the violence and impunity of the past and work towards ending the ethnic violence in the state which has claimed the lives of more than 250 people in the last two years.  The (BJP)-led governments at both state and central level have utterly failed to end the violence in Manipur, impunity of vigilante groups, and the divisive rhetoric that has flamed the ethnic violence. Their actions have led to repression of dissenting voices and an abject humanitarian crisis in the state.

    “By the continued failure to hold to account those suspected to be responsible for serious human rights violations, the government risks sending the message that the impunity for these violations will continue. This in turn will fuel further violations.  Unlike the emblematic cases taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation, like the case of the gang-rape of two Kuki women in May 2023 that found the Manipur police complicit – many lesser-known ones continue to struggle for attention of the state and central governments. This must change.”

    Biren Singh’s resignation presents in Manipur the opportunity for the authorities to uphold and ensure human rights for everyone, break with the violence and impunity of the past…

    Aakar Patel, chair of the board at Amnesty International India

    Background:

    Since May 2023, more than 60,000 people have been displaced in Manipur due to the ongoing violence between the dominant ethnic community, the Meities and the other minority ethnic communities including the Kukis. Homes, business, villages and places of worship have been burnt down, attacked, looted and vandalised.

    The resignation of Biren Singh comes after the Supreme Court of India earlier this month ordered for a sealed-cover report from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory into audio tapes that allegedly had him saying that the ethnic violence in the state had been instigated at his insistence.

    In July 2024, Amnesty International documented the ongoing violence and impunity in Manipur state.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Trump’s unnecessary stand on plastic straws ignores American Health Crisis

    Source: Greenpeace Statement –

    Washington, D.C. (February 10, 2025)—In response to President Trump’s plan to revoke the Biden Administration’s directive to phase out plastic straw use across the federal government, Lisa Ramsden, Greenpeace USA’s senior plastics campaigner said: “Donald Trump’s Executive Order on plastic straws is a distraction from his administration’s efforts to prevent the EPA, the FDA and the NIH from protecting Americans from microplastics and dangerous chemicals. Once again, President Trump is pretending to be a populist while siding with his Big Oil buddies over the public interest. The majority of Americans – Democrats and Republicans – want action to cut plastic pollution and protect our health.

    “Plastics contain more than 16,000 chemicals, with over 3,200 known to cause cancer, disrupt hormones, contribute to obesity, or trigger early puberty in children. These chemicals have also been linked to reproductive health problems and declining fertility. So while the administration feigns concerns for Americans’ health and the declining birth rate, policies like this are exacerbating a public health crisis that drains over $250 billion from our economy annually.”

    Contact: Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected]  

    Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Saudi Arabia: Leeds student jailed in Saudi for tweeting in support women’s rights released

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two was arrested in January 2021

    ‘For more than four years she has been subjected to one gross injustice after another’ – Dana Ahmed

    Responding to the release of Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi Arabian woman who has spent more than four years imprisoned on terrorism-related charges for posting tweets in support of women’s rights, Dana Ahmed, Amnesty International’s Middle East Researcher, said:

    “Salma al-Shehab’s ordeal in prison is finally over. For more than four years she has been subjected to one gross injustice after another including at one point being handed an egregious 34-year prison sentence for her social media posts.

    “Salma spent almost 300 days in prolonged solitary confinement, was denied legal representation, and was then repeatedly convicted on terrorism charges and handed a decades-long sentence. All because she tweeted in support of women’s rights. Saudi Arabia’s authorities must now ensure she is not subjected to a travel ban or any further punitive measures.

    “While today is a day to celebrate Salma’s release, it’s also an opportunity to reflect on the many others serving similarly lengthy sentences in Saudi Arabia for their activities online. This includes other women such as such as Manahel al-Otaibi, and Noura al-Qahtani, jailed for speaking out for women’s rights and Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, jailed for 20 years for satirical tweets. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and end their relentless crackdown on the right to freedom of expression once and for all.

    “Salma’s release would not have been possible without the tireless campaigning of human rights activists around the world.”

    Leeds uni student

    Salma al-Shehab, 36, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two was arrested on 15 January 2021 for tweeting and retweeting Saudi women’s rights activists on Twitter. Based on these tweets, she was charged, amongst other things, with “disturb[ing] public order, [and] destabilis[ing] the security of society and the stability of the state.”

    In March 2022, the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced Salma al-Shehab to six years in prison. At her appeal trial in August 2022, the prosecution demanded a harsher punishment, and the SCC drastically increased her prison sentence to 34 years. Salma appealed that judgement and in January 2023 the Supreme Court referred her case back to the SCC’s appeals chamber. The court reduced her sentence to 27 years’ imprisonment. In September 2024, after the Supreme Court sent her case back to the SCC’s appeals chamber again, her prison sentence was reduced from 27 years to four years in prison with an additional four years suspended. Her four-year prison term ended in December 2024, and she was subsequently released this month.

    For more information on her case, see here.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Saudi woman imprisoned for tweeting in support of women’s rights released after four-year ordeal

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to the release of Salma al-Shehab, a Saudi Arabian woman, who has spent more than four years imprisoned on terrorism-related charges for posting tweets in support of women’s rights, Amnesty International’s Middle East Researcher, Dana Ahmed, said:

    “Salma al-Shehab’s ordeal in prison is finally over. For more than four years she has been subjected to one gross injustice after another including at one point being handed an egregious 34-year prison sentence for her social media posts. She spent almost 300 days in prolonged solitary confinement, was denied legal representation, and was then repeatedly convicted on terrorism charges and handed a decades-long sentence. All just because she tweeted in support of women’s rights and retweeted Saudi women’s rights activists. Saudi Arabia’s authorities must now ensure she is not subjected to a travel ban or any further punitive measures.

    “While today is a day to celebrate Salma’s release, it’s also an opportunity to reflect on the many others serving similarly lengthy sentences in Saudi Arabia for their activities online” – Dana Ahmed, Middle East Researcher

    “While today is a day to celebrate Salma’s release, it’s also an opportunity to reflect on the many others serving similarly lengthy sentences in Saudi Arabia for their activities online. This includes other women such as such as Manahel al-Otaibi, and Noura al-Qahtani, jailed for speaking out for women’s rights and Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, jailed for 20 years for satirical tweets. We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and end their relentless crackdown on the right to freedom of expression once and for all.

    “Salma’s release would not have been possible without the tireless campaigning of human rights activists around the world.”

    Background

    Salma al-Shehab, 36, a Leeds University PhD student and mother of two, was arrested on 15 January 2021 for tweeting and retweeting Saudi women’s rights activists on Twitter. Based on these tweets, she was charged, amongst other things, with “disturb[ing] public order, [and] destabiliz[ing] the security of society and the stability of the state.”

    In March 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) sentenced Salma al-Shehab to six years in prison. At her appeal trial in August 2022, the prosecution demanded a harsher punishment, and the SCC drastically increased her prison sentence to 34 years. Salma appealed that judgement and in January 2023 the Supreme Court referred her case back to the SCC’s appeals chamber. The court reduced her sentence to 27 years’ imprisonment. In September 2024, after the Supreme Court sent her case back to the SCC’s appeals chamber again, her prison sentence was reduced from 27 years to 4 years in prison with an additional four years suspended. Her four-year prison term ended in December 2024, and she was subsequently released this month.

    For more information on her case, see here.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Increased militarisation has life-threatening consequences for people trapped at the Poland-Belarus border

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    • MSF spoke at the Polish parliament on 4 February 2025, outlining what our teams have seen in two years of providing medical care to migrants at the Poland-Belarus border.
    • We have witnessed how Poland’s legislation has turned into violence against people seeking safety.
    • Poland and all EU member states must seek to safeguard the right to asylum.

    Since 2021, Poland’s legislative shifts have progressively infringed on people’s rights to seek asylum, culminating in the proposal to entirely suspend this fundamental right for certain groups. Since November 2022, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has witnessed the steady increase of militarisation and violence employed against people seeking safety in Poland. On 4 February, MSF spoke in the Polish parliament, outlining what our medical staff have witnessed in over two years at the border. 

    MSF calls on Poland and all European Union (EU) member states to urgently change course to safeguard the right to seek territorial asylum, and to stop endangering the lives and wellbeing of people seeking sanctuary in the European Union. For too long, legislation has translated into physical violence against vulnerable people seeking safety.

    From November 2022 to November 2024, MSF treated 442 people stranded in the wild forests at the Poland-Belarus border. Some 50 per cent of whom were suffering from physical trauma related to violence. They had sustained injuries from beatings, dog bites and rubber bullets.

    Apart from violence, over half of all patients were suffering from frostbite, trench foot or hypothermia due to prolonged exposure to harsh conditions. Other conditions included infections, dehydration, exhaustion, and psychological trauma, as well as deep cuts and fractures related to climbing or falling from the border fence.

    A Paramedic stitches deep wounds caused by barbed wire. Located in the middle of the forest, the injured person had been hiding from the uniformed services for several days. Poland, April 2024.
    Jakub Jasiukiewicz/MSF

    Bills passed in 2021 and 2024 have granted additional powers to border guards and soldiers, allowing them near-absolute discretion in denying people asylum without due process. In some cases this has led to family separation. Despite claims that there is humanitarian assistance for migrants and refugees, MSF and other organisations face restrictions from Polish authorities.

    Humanitarian workers and civil society volunteers, who play a key role in providing humanitarian assistance at the border, do not have access to the buffer zone and are at increasing risk of criminalisation.  As result, a large portion of the area remains inaccessible for humanitarian and medical interventions, including those by MSF.

    However, far from improving these policies and practices, the Polish government is proposing even harsher legislation, with the freedom to suspend the right to seek asylum for certain groups.

    “The new and sweeping proposals to suspend asylum rights are unconscionable. The Polish government and the Belarusian authorities must acknowledge that these are human beings, not pawns to be exploited for political gain,” says Uriel Mazzoli, MSF’s head of mission in Poland. “The system as it stands today, forces those seeking sanctuary into a prolonged cycle of violence, without recourse to aid and absolutely nowhere to turn.”

    Today, Poland holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, and the country’s recent asylum legislation has been endorsed in public statements by the EU Commission. Since the so-called ‘migration crisis’ began in Europe in 2015, EU institutions and members states have steadily eroded the foundations of asylum in the EU, instead opting for containment policies in third countries, pushbacks, and outright violence at borders.

    Dehumanising rhetoric that characterises migrants and refugees as threats has been key in furthering these policies. The concept of ‘hybrid warfare’ as referred to by Polish and EU officials, in reference to people crossing from Belarus to Poland, is one of the clearer examples of this.

    With the Presidency of the EU Council, Poland has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership in putting human life and humane asylum obligations before political currency. Since 2015, MSF teams have borne witness to the colossal failure of EU member states and institutions in addressing the needs of migrants and refugees, consistently opting for violence and containment over humane asylum policies. Poland must ensure that people have access to fair asylum procedures and humanitarian assistance as required.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global: Nigerian residents take Shell to UK High court following 10-year fight for justice

    Source: Amnesty International –

    After a decade-long fight for justice, the Preliminary Issues Trial of Nigerian Law for Shell vs Ogale and Bille communities is set to take place at the UK High Court from 13 February to 10 March 2025.

    Ten years ago, residents from the Bille and Ogale communities in Nigeria claimed their livelihoods had been destroyed and homes damaged by hundreds of oil spills caused by Shell. The pollution caused widespread devastation to the local environment, killing fish and plant life, leaving thousands of people without access to clean drinking water.

    The communities brought their claims in the UK courts however Shell repeatedly delayed the case arguing it had no legal responsibility for any of the pollution. The delay has had a devastating effect on people’s lives.

    On 6 December 2024, the UK Court of Appeal gave the green light for the case finally to go ahead. Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Country Director for Nigeria, said:

    “The Bille and Ogale communities of Nigeria’s Niger Delta oil-producing region have been living with the devastating impact of oil pollution for so long. Oil companies, particularly Shell, exposed them to multiple oil spills that have done permanent damage to farmlands, waterways, and drinking water – leaving them unable to farm or fish.

    “Water contamination and other impacts affect even babies that are in some cases born with deformities. These communities have been deprived of a good standard of living. They deserve justice and effective remediation, and I hope this long-overdue trial goes someway to providing it.”

    Amnesty International has published numerous reports, documenting the detrimental impact Shell’s operations are having on Nigerian communities. Going forward, Amnesty International is calling for Shell to conduct meaningful consultation with affected communities about its plans for disengagement. Shell must also provide a full remediation plan including details of all completed and ongoing clean-ups across its areas of operation, as well as adequate compensation for the severe and sustained harm affected communities have faced as a result of Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta.

    Background

    The two communities from Nigeria will be represented by Leigh Day. The Shell Preliminary Issues Trial of Nigerian Law will aim to resolve a number of Nigerian private and constitutional law questions, with a view to confirming the legal framework to be applied to the subsequent trial between Shell and the Ogale and Bille communities.

    The Court of Appeal heard the Shell Nigeria oil spill appeal on 8 October 2024. On 11 October 2024, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Nigerian communities over alleged pollution by oil giant Shell. On 6 December 2024, a full trial of Nigerian communities’ claims against Shell was given the go ahead.

    Over the past 20 years, Amnesty International has conducted extensive research and documented the human rights and environmental impact of Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta. In Amnesty’s 2023 report, Nigeria: Tainted Sale?, the organization recommended a series of safeguards to protect the rights of people potentially affected by Shell’s planned disposal of its oil interests in Nigeria.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global/France: AI Action Summit must meaningfully center binding and enforceable regulation to curb AI-driven harms  

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Ahead of the AI Action Summit, which begins on February 10, Amnesty International’s Director of the technology and human rights programme, Damini Satija, said: 

    “With global leaders and tech executives gathering to attend the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit in Paris, the French government must not miss a crucial opportunity to make meaningful progress towards achieving human rights respecting AI regulation globally. Governments at the summit must not be swayed by corporate interests at the expense of those experiencing the sharpest human rights impacts of AI systems today.  

    “While France undertook a significant task in hosting the summit, the participation of civil society and human rights activists in the main summit agenda is wholly inadequate. The allocation of resources necessary to ensure a collaborative dialogue with representatives from the global majority, impacted communities, and human rights activists has not been prioritized.  

    “Lack of support by the summit organizers for human right advocates and community representatives in need of visas to enter France, exemplifies a lack of true commitment to engage in an equal dialogue with civil society particularly from Global Majority countries.  

    “If states are serious about an open, multi-stakeholder and inclusive approach around development, deployment and regulation of AI technologies, they must elevate and centre voices and priorities of impacted communities. 

    We are now living in a world that feels increasingly terrifying. The omnipresence of predictive algorithms, coupled with rising global backlash against civil liberties risks giving a carte blanche to tech companies, to operate without rules or guidelines. 

    Damini Satija, Programme Director, Amnesty Tech

    “State actors must also not be swayed by false ‘innovation vs regulation dichotomy’ parroted by tech companies and their executives to stifle human rights centric regulatory efforts. Governments must not ignore underlying systemic human rights issues heightened due to automation of our lives and roll-out of AI technologies. 

    “We are now living in a world that feels increasingly terrifying. The omnipresence of predictive algorithms, coupled with rising global backlash against civil liberties risks giving a carte blanche to tech companies, to operate without rules or guidelines. 

    “While governments present these announcements as ‘efficiency solutions’, they increasingly go hand in hand with austerity policies and the deployment of data-intensive AI technologies. Additionally, these systems also amplify pre-existing discrimination in society, ultimately leading to exclusion, inequalities, and the entrenchment of corporate power. 

    “There is ample evidence, along with investigations by civil society and journalists, exposing the grave consequences of AI technologies operating unchecked. From lethal autonomous weapons systems to facial recognition used for mass surveillance, and risk-scoring algorithms being used in the context of migration and the public sector for welfare distribution, it has become abundantly clear that the deployment and use of such technologies are incompatible with our rights and disregard human dignity.   

    “We must also acknowledge that the harms perpetuated by AI technologies have far-reaching consequences beyond the technologies themselves. The exploitative supply chains that fuel them, relying on inhumane labor practices and causing serious environmental damage, have created a disproportionate impact on people, particularly in the Global Majority. Given such devastating lasting effects of AI technologies, it is essential the impact of technologies is not just tackled within state boundaries, but also beyond. 

    “All AI regulation must also be free of loopholes and exemptions which risk violation of human rights. All public and private actors, including law enforcement, border management and national security bodies, must adhere to human rights standards throughout the whole lifecycle of AI technologies, including during research, development and testing phases of AI technologies.   

    “More importantly, people and communities impacted by AI must be empowered to seek redress and remedy. As prerequisite to effective remedy, impacted people should be guaranteed the right to information and explanation of AI-supported decision-making, including about the use and functioning of AI in the system.” 

    Damini Satija will be attending the AI Action Summit in Paris throughout its duration from 10 February to 11 February. She will be available for interviews on range of tech issues including: 

    a) Artificial Intelligence and algorithmic accountability 

    b) Artificial Intelligence regulation 

    c) Big Tech and policy 

    d) Spyware and surveillance 

    e) Children and Young people’s digital rights 

    Information for journalists: 

    Damini Satija is a technology, human rights and public policy expert. She is the Director of Amnesty Tech, the global human rights movement’s technology and human right’s programme which she originally joined to set up the Algorithmic Accountability Lab (an interdisciplinary unit investigating the impact of Artificial Intelligence technologies on human rights). Amnesty Tech works across a range of areas, most notably spyware and cyberattacks, surveillance, state use of AI and automation, big tech and social media accountability and children and young people’s rights in digital environments. Prior to her time at Amnesty International, Damini worked in a number of tech policy roles. She was most recently Senior Policy Advisor in the Center for Date Ethics & Innovation, the UK government’s independent expert body on data and AI policy and the UK’s policy expert at the Council of Europe’s committee on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights.  

    For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Amnesty International’s press office: [email protected] 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: El Salvador: Ratification of the constitutional reform deepens the risk of human rights abuses

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The consolidation in El Salvador of a form of executive power without checks and balances is advancing rapidly. Ratification of the amendment of Article 248 of the country’s Constitution on 29 January 2025 constitutes a serious threat to the protection of human rights by drastically reducing space for debate and civic engagement in decisions of fundamental importance for the country. In this regard, Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, stated:

    “Ratification of this constitutional reform poses a worrying risk of further erosion of human rights in El Salvador. By removing the requirement for constitutional amendments to be approved by two separate legislative assemblies, the ruling party guarantees a fast-track path to constitutional change without due deliberation processes or public participation. In a context where the independence of the judiciary and the right to a fair trial have been systematically eroded, this measure could pave the way for the implementation of reforms that further undermine the human rights of the population.”

    “Ratification of this constitutional reform poses a worrying risk of further erosion of human rights in El Salvador. (…) In a context where the independence of the judiciary and the right to a fair trial have been systematically eroded, this measure could pave the way for the implementation of reforms that further undermine the human rights of the population”

    -Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International

    From May 2021, with its absolute control over the legislative branch of government, the ruling party has pushed through legal reforms that have weakened access to justice, removed accountability mechanisms and suspended human rights for over 1000 days, such as the right to a fair trial and other guarantees of due process, under a state of emergency that included disproportionate measures and a series of criminal reforms that have resulted in the arbitrary detention of more than 84 000 persons.

    The removal of the requirement of two legislatures to reform the Constitution excludes the population from key processes in the formulation of the country’s legal framework and other measures that affect them. This amendment opens the way for future reforms that could continue to violate human rights and facilitates structural changes that could perpetuate impunity.

    “Constitutional reform must be based on broad consensus and guarantee control mechanisms that allow the people to exercise their right to meaningful participation in public affairs. This reform creates the conditions for future amendments to respond only to the interests of those in power, without a rigorous and broad debate and without any consideration for the rights of the population,” added Piquer.

    “Constitutional reform must be based on broad consensus and guarantee control mechanisms that allow the people to exercise their right to meaningful participation in public affairs. This reform creates the conditions for future amendments to respond only to the interests of those in power, without a rigorous and broad debate and without any consideration for the rights of the population”

    -Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International

    In view of this scenario, it is crucial that the international community continues to monitor the situation in El Salvador and demands that the Salvadoran state refrain from taking any measures that could jeopardize the human rights of the population or undermine the institutions that are responsible for guaranteeing and protecting these rights.

    See also: El Salvador: Constitution “à la carte” could deepen human rights crisis in coming years.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/OPT: Release of Palestinian aid worker after nearly nine years of unjust imprisonment ends appalling miscarriage of justice

    Source: Amnesty International –

    The long overdue release of Palestinian aid worker and prisoner of conscience, Mohammed al-Halabi, as part of the prisoner-hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, brings to an end his agonizing ordeal and a flagrant miscarriage of justice, said Amnesty International today, reiterating calls for the immediate release of all civilian hostages in Gaza and Palestinians arbitrarily detained in Israel.

    Al-Halabi, the former Gaza director of humanitarian aid and development organization World Vision, was arrested by the Israeli security agency at the Erez crossing between Israel and occupied Gaza on 15 June 2016. He was interrogated without a lawyer, tortured, tried in secret hearings and convicted after a grossly unfair trial based on undisclosed evidence that he had allegedly diverted  funds to Hamas. In August 2022, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Beersheba District Court.

    Upon his release on 1 February 2025, al-Halabi showed visible signs of torture and starvation, including an alarming loss of weight.

    “Mohammed al-Halabi was unjustly targeted by Israeli authorities for his humanitarian work. He never should have been arrested in the first place, let alone been forced to spend almost nine years unlawfully imprisoned. The Kafkaesque proceedings against him, including his prolonged pretrial detention, the multiple postponements of his trial which lasted six years, and wrongful conviction, which heavily relied on a statement by a prisoner informant, were an appalling miscarriage of justice,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.

    Mohammed al-Halabi was unjustly targeted by Israeli authorities for his humanitarian work. He never should have been arrested in the first place, let alone been forced to spend almost nine years unlawfully imprisoned.

    Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty International

    “Mohammed al-Halabi’s wrongful conviction must be quashed. The torture and other ill-treatment to which he was subjected both during interrogation and while in prison must be independently investigated and those responsible held accountable.” 

    “His horrifying ordeal behind bars demonstrates how Israel’s discriminatory justice system helps to maintain the cruel system of apartheid against Palestinians. It also underscores the urgent need for Israeli authorities to release all Palestinians who are arbitrarily detained in Israeli prisons.”

    Throughout the proceedings against him, the Israeli prosecution failed to substantiate allegations that al-Halabi was guilty of diverting funds to Hamas and the charges against him relied on “secret” evidence and a coerced statement by a prisoner informant. Despite enormous pressure, al-Halabi repeatedly refused to enter in any plea bargain which would have given him a significantly reduced sentence in exchange for “confessing” to charges that he vehemently denied.

    Speaking to Amnesty International after his release and return to his severely damaged home in Gaza City, al-Halabi said: “They [Israeli authorities] tortured me but never broke my spirit. I maintain my innocence of any of the charges levelled against me and I remain adamant to prove that in court even after my release.”

    He described how after 7 October 2023 he was transferred to Nafha prison in southern Israel where prisoners’ radios were confiscated, and most lawyer visits, were denied, as was any contact with family members or independent monitors. Throughout the 15 months of conflict, he was only able to receive scraps of news about his loved ones in Gaza on the one occasion he was able to meet with his lawyer.

    “That was the worst: not knowing whether my wife and children are alive, not knowing how they were coping? Have they been displaced? Have they been bombed? Will I ever see them again?  That was even worse than the starvation and torture that we were subjected to [in prison].”

    That was the worst: not knowing whether my wife and children are alive, not knowing how they were coping? Have they been displaced? Have they been bombed? Will I ever see them again? 

    Mohammed al-Halabi, Palestinian aid worker

    Al-Halabi also told Amnesty International that he is keen to resume his humanitarian work:

    “The need for humanitarian relief, the type of work I used to do before my arrest, is greater than ever. In previous wars, we used to divide damaged buildings into fully and partially destroyed, but when I went back to Jabalia refugee camp, [in North Gaza governorate] I found out that the category ‘partially destroyed’ is virtually nonexistent. Almost every building is flattened.”

    Al-Halabi expressed his gratitude for the public support he has received from all over the world since his arrest: “Even during my darkest hours, I knew that many people believed in my innocence, that supporters of justice were campaigning for my release. Their solidarity will always be engraved in my heart.”

    Background:

    On 30 August 2022, Mohammed al-Halabi was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Beersheba District Court. He filed an appeal before the Israeli Supreme Court, acting as the High Court of Appeals, against his conviction and the appeal remained pending until his release on 1 February during the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience in May 2023 concluding that Israeli authorities were targeting him to intimidate other human rights defenders and to shrink the space of humanitarian work in Gaza at the time.

    Mohammed al-Halabi was released in the fourth batch of a prisoner-hostage swap between Israel and Hamas. Amnesty International also reiterates its call on Hamas and other armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all civilians held hostage in Gaza and for Israel to free all arbitrarily detained Palestinians, including those who have been forcibly disappeared or held incommunicado.

    For more information see: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/6714/2023/en/

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Sudan: Civilians at imminent risk of reprisal attacks as fighting rages in Khartoum and Darfur 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    As the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalate their fighting in Khartoum, Amnesty International has received alarming information, including reports of lists of potential targets, indicating that civilian activists, human rights defenders, medical workers and humanitarian workers are at imminent risk of deadly reprisal attacks.

    All parties to the conflict must not carry out reprisals on civilians or prisoners of war. Furthermore, both sides must cease targeting civilians and civilian areas with airstrikes or shelling.

    “Again and again in Sudan’s ongoing war, when the frontlines change, civilians have faced brutal reprisal attacks. This has included summary executions of accused collaborators by whichever side gains the upper hand. In Khartoum state, the SAF, RSF and their allies must protect civilians. Leadership of both sides must immediately and publicly order their troops and allies not to commit reprisals, and to allow safe passage for civilians to leave,” said Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah.

    “Sudan’s international and regional partners including the UN, AU and others must apply pressure to ensure the two sides respect the rights of civilians and prisoners of war.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Sudan: Civilians at imminent risk of ‘deadly reprisals’ as forces escalate fighting in Khartoum

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Target lists reported to be circulating with activists, human rights and medical workers’ names on them

    All parties must stop attacking civilians and civilian areas

    ‘Leadership of both sides must immediately and publicly order their troops and allies not to commit reprisals, and to allow safe passage for civilians to leave’ – Tigere Chagutah

    Amnesty International has received reports of lists of potential targets indicating that civilian activists, human rights defenders, medical workers and humanitarian workers are at imminent risk of deadly reprisals as the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces escalate their fighting in Khartoum.

    A Sudanese Armed Forces offensive has pushed the Rapid Support Forces out of some parts of Khartoum, Khartoum Bahri and Omdurman – the three cities where most people in Sudan’s Khartoum state live.

    Residents of Khartoum state fear retaliation following mass reprisals in the Gezira state capital Wad Madani by the Sudanese Armed Forces and allied forces after their capture of the city from the Rapid Support Forces in early January.

    The Rapid Support Forces must also stop targeting civilians and civilian areas. On 1 February it bombed a market in Omdurman, killing 54 people, according to the Ministry of Health and the Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières, who was there at the time.

    Targeting civilians and human rights defenders

    On 31 January, the UN Human Rights Office reported that at least 18 people, including one woman, were killed in incidents attributed to Sudanese Armed Forces-affiliated fighters and militia since Sudanese Armed Forces regained control of parts of Khartoum Bahri in late January and early February.

    Members of local Emergency Response Rooms, which are part of a nationwide network of youth humanitarian volunteers, told Amnesty that they were worried for the safety of their members given the recent pattern of violence against civilians and the inclusion of some of their members in some of the circulated lists. 

    Amnesty also received worrying reports of lists being circulated of people to be targeted as alleged “partners of the Rapid Support Forces”. The lists include the names of politicians, activists, medical workers, public prosecutors and members of protest groups.

    Although Amnesty is still working to verify the authenticity of the lists, given the fast-moving situation and repeated past violations by Sudanese Armed Forces and allied forces after gaining ground over the Rapid Support Forces, the organisation reiterates that all sides must not target civilians.

    All parties to the conflict must not carry out reprisals on civilians or prisoners of war and must cease targeting civilians and civilian areas with airstrikes or shelling.

    Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said:

    “Again and again in Sudan’s ongoing war, when the frontlines change, civilians have faced brutal reprisal attacks. This has included summary executions of accused collaborators by whichever side gains the upper hand.

    “In Khartoum state, Sudanese Armed Forces, Rapid Support Forces, and their allies must protect civilians. Leadership of both sides must immediately and publicly order their troops and allies not to commit reprisals, and to allow safe passage for civilians to leave.

    “Sudan’s international and regional partners including the UN, African Union and others must apply pressure to ensure the two sides respect the rights of civilians and prisoners of war.

    “We have seen in the past how the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied militia have killed or arrested anyone labeled as Rapid Support Forces collaborators, including small business owners or volunteers in humanitarian Emergency Response Rooms and other activists and civilians. These deadly reprisals must not take place again as Sudanese Armed Forces advances in Khartoum state.

    “Conflating medical workers, legal workers, politicians, political parties, civil society and humanitarians with members of an armed group is extremely dangerous. Sudanese Armed Forces and its allies must immediately order their troops not to conduct any reprisals against civilians, including human rights defenders, humanitarians and prisoners of war.

    “No matter who is in control of an area, civilians are the ones targeted, and the risk spikes whenever territory changes hands. As the frontlines rapidly shift throughout Khartoum state, both sides have an absolute legal obligation to protect civilians. The leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces may be criminally responsible if they fail to ensure their troops and allies do not harm civilians.”

    Both sides must also cease targeting of civilians, civilian areas and infrastructure amid increased fighting and airstrikes in Darfur around the cities of El Fasher, Nyala and elsewhere.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: USA: Trump’s sanctions on ICC are ‘vindictive and aggressive’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    ‘The sanctions constitute another betrayal of our common humanity’ – Agnès Callamard

    In response to the executive order announced by President Trump imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

    “This reckless action sends the message that Israel is above the law and the universal principles of international justice. It suggests that President Trump endorses the Israeli government’s crimes and is embracing impunity. 

    “This executive order is vindictive. It is aggressive. It is a brutal step that seeks to undermine and destroy what the international community has painstakingly constructed over decades, if not centuries: global rules that are applicable to everyone and aim to deliver justice for all. The sanctions constitute another betrayal of our common humanity. 

    “The United States is ready to punish an institution that ensures the individuals most responsible for committing atrocities cannot escape justice. No one responsible for crimes under international law should be protected or aided in their attempts to escape individual accountability, least of all with the assistance of the US government based on President Trump’s political alliances.

    “At an historic moment when we are witnessing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and the global rule of law coming under threat from multiple fronts, institutions like the Court are needed more than ever to advance human rights protections, prevent future atrocities and secure justice for victims.

    “This attack against the ICC seeks to damage the Court’s independent pursuit of international justice. The sanctions issued will harm accountability, a crucial ingredient to global and long-term security. They will embolden perpetrators, present and future. They will negatively impact the interests of all victims globally and those who look to the Court for justice in all the countries where it’s conducting investigations, including Darfur, Libya, the Philippines, Palestine, Ukraine and Venezuela.

    “The ICC performs a vital role by investigating crimes under international law, often committed by the most powerful individuals, in situations where – without its involvement – the perpetrators would benefit from perpetual impunity.

    “The sanctions are also an affront to 125 member states who have collectively resolved that the Court must be able to effectively pursue justice – which means it must be able to undertake independent judicial functions, such as issuing arrest warrants, for example, against Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin. 

    “Governments around the world and regional organisations must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of President Trump’s sanctions. Through collective and concerted actions, ICC member states can protect the Court and its staff. Urgent action is needed, like never before.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: USA: Sanctions against International Criminal Court betray international justice system 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    In response to the executive order announced today by President Trump imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

    “This reckless action sends the message that Israel is above the law and the universal principles of international justice. It suggests that President Trump endorses the Israeli government’s crimes and is embracing impunity.  

    “Today’s executive order is vindictive. It is aggressive. It is a brutal step that seeks to undermine and destroy what the international community has painstakingly constructed over decades, if not centuries: global rules that are applicable to everyone and aim to deliver justice for all. The sanctions constitute another betrayal of our common humanity.  

    “The United States is ready to punish an institution that ensures the individuals most responsible for committing atrocities cannot escape justice. No one responsible for crimes under international law should be protected or aided in their attempts to escape individual accountability, least of all with the assistance of the US government based on President Trump’s political alliances.”

    “At an historic moment when we are witnessing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and the global rule of law coming under threat from multiple fronts, institutions like the Court are needed more than ever to advance human rights protections, prevent future atrocities and secure justice for victims.

    No one responsible for crimes under international law should be protected or aided in their attempts to escape individual accountability, least of all with the assistance of the US government based on President Trump’s political alliances.

    Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

    “This attack against the ICC seeks to damage the Court’s independent pursuit of international justice. The sanctions issued will harm accountability, a crucial ingredient to global and long-term security. They will embolden perpetrators, present and future. They will negatively impact the interests of all victims globally and those who look to the Court for justice in all the countries where it’s conducting investigations, including Darfur, Libya, the Philippines, Palestine, Ukraine and Venezuela.

    “The ICC performs a vital role by investigating crimes under international law, often committed by the most powerful individuals, in situations where – without its involvement – the perpetrators would benefit from perpetual impunity. The sanctions are also an affront to 125 member states who have collectively resolved that the Court must be able to effectively pursue justice – which means it must be able to undertake independent judicial functions, such as issuing arrest warrants, for example, against Benjamin Netanyahu or Vladimir Putin.  

    “Governments around the world and regional organizations must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of President Trump’s sanctions. Through collective and concerted actions, ICC member states can protect the Court and its staff. Urgent action is needed, like never before.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: DR Congo: Summit must stop atrocities of war and hold criminals to account

    Source: Amnesty International –

    ‘Failure to seize this moment will only embolden the perpetrators and increase the likelihood of further atrocities’ – Agnès Callamard

    A joint summit on 7 and 8 February will be held for the heads of state and government of the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community on the escalation of fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

    “This special summit on the grave situation in the DRC is well overdue. The catastrophic human rights consequences of the country’s armed conflicts have gone on for far too long. Now hundreds of thousands of women, children and men have once again been forced to flee the fighting, enduring dire conditions and desperately trying to stay alive.

    “States and intergovernmental organisations including the East African Community, Southern African Development Community, African Union, United Nations and European Union should intensify their engagement at this watershed moment, expose enablers of the current attacks in Goma and beyond, and make it clear that all those suspected of criminal responsibility for the ongoing atrocities will be held to account in fair trials.

    “It is time to ensure accountability for nearly 30 years of crimes under international law committed in the DRC. Failure to seize this moment will only embolden the perpetrators and increase the likelihood of further atrocities.”

    Renewed onslaught of violence

    On 18 January, the M23 armed group, backed by Rwandan forces, launched a military operation to expand its territory, violating a ceasefire agreement between Rwanda and the DRC established through the Luanda Peace Process. Since then, the M23 and the Rwandan Defence Force have captured several towns and cities, including the North Kivu capital of Goma. 

    On 27 January, Amnesty called on the DRC’s regional and international partners to exert pressure on all warring parties in the east of the country – including the Rwandan-backed M23 fighters, the Rwandan and Congolese armies, and their allies – to prioritise the protection of civilians in the aftermath of the recent fighting in Goma.

    Amnesty report into explosive weapon use

    Between January and July 2024 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group and the Congolese army launched explosive weapons, with wide area effects, into densely populated areas more than 150 times over a seven-month period.

    The attacks, which killed more than 100 civilians and wounded hundreds, violated international humanitarian law and are likely constitute war crimes.

    Amnesty interviewed 60 people, visited several strike sites and analysed dozens of verified photos, videos and statements from the warring parties and others. They documented the M23 and Congolese army repeatedly using ground-launched unguided rockets, including 122mm Grad rockets. These weapons systems are inherently inaccurate and their use in populated areas poses an extremely high risk of civilian casualties.   

    The report can be found here.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Iran: Kurdish humanitarian worker at risk of execution ‘at any moment’ – urgent action

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Urgent global action needed to halt imminent execution of Pakhshan Azizi

    Take action here: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-actions/kurdish-woman-activist-sentenced-death

    Responding to reports that Iran’s Supreme Court rejected the request for judicial review of the conviction and death sentence of humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, 40, from Iran’s oppressed Kurdish ethnic minority, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

    “The international community must immediately urge the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of arbitrarily detained humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, who was sentenced to death following a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court last year.

    “Pakhshan Azizi was detained solely in relation to her peaceful human rights and humanitarian activities, including providing humanitarian support to women and children in northeast Syria who were displaced following attacks by the Islamic State armed group. Instead of facing imminent execution she should be immediately and unconditionally released.

    “The Supreme Court’s decision to reject her request for judicial review highlights yet again how the Iranian authorities remain adamantly resolved to use the death penalty as a tool of political repression to instil fear among the population.

    “The death penalty is abhorrent in all circumstances, but imposing it after a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court, in which Pakhshan Azizi’s allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including gender-based violence, have gone uninvestigated.

    “Yet again the Iranian authorities’ show shameless disregard for the right to life. Governments worldwide must speak out loudly now against this injustice to halt Pakshan Azizi’s execution before it is too late.”

    Execution could be carried out at any moment

    In a media interview one of Azizi’s lawyers, Amir Raesian, said he was notified of the decision on 5 February, adding that her execution could now be carried out at any moment. He also noted that shocking errors made in the case by the lower court were repeated in the Supreme Court’s verdict.

    Sentenced to death

    Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Pakshan Azizi to death in July 2024. She was convicted of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi) solely in relation to her peaceful human rights and humanitarian activities. For instance, between 2014 and 2022 she was involved in providing humanitarian support to women and children displaced following attacks by the Islamic State armed group and sheltering in camps in northeast Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In early January 2025, the Supreme Court upheld her conviction and death sentence. Her request for judicial review was subsequently rejected by Branch Nine of the Supreme Court.

    Held at Evin Prison

    On 4 August 2023, Ministry of Intelligence agents arbitrarily arrested Pakhshan Azizi in Tehran and transferred her to section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence and held her in prolonged solitary confinement for five months without access to a lawyer and her family. According to informed sources, during this time Pakhshan Azizi was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during interrogations. Agents repeatedly told her that she had no right to live and threatened to execute her. They also subjected her to gender-based violence in order to compel her to make forced “confessions” of having ties to Kurdish opposition groups, which she repeatedly denied. In early December 2023, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison, where she continues to be held.

    Amnesty opposes the death penalty unconditionally, in all cases and under any circumstances.

    Take action here: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-actions/kurdish-woman-activist-sentenced-death

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Global: Google’s shameful decision to reverse its ban on AI for weapons and surveillance is a blow for human rights 

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to Google’s decision to remove its prohibition on artificial intelligence (AI) being used for developing weapons and surveillance tools, Matt Mahmoudi, Researcher and Adviser on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, said: 

    “It’s a shame that Google has chosen to set this dangerous precedent, after years of recognizing that their AI programme should not be used in ways that could contribute to human rights violations. Amnesty has got a long history of documenting the possible human rights violations posed by AI when it is used as a means of societal control, mass surveillance and discrimination. 

    “AI-powered technologies could fuel surveillance and lethal killing systems at a vast scale, potentially leading to mass violations and infringing on the fundamental right to privacy. Google’s decision to reverse its ban on AI weapons enables the company to sell products that power technologies including mass surveillance, drones developed for semi-automated signature strikes, and target generation software that is designed to speed up the decision to kill. 

    It’s a shame that Google has to chosen to set this dangerous precedent, after years of recognizing that their AI programme should not be used in ways that could contribute to human rights violations. Amnesty has got a long history of documenting the possible human rights violations posed by AI when it is used as a means of societal control, mass surveillance and discrimination. 

    Matt Mahmoudi, Researcher and Adviser on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights

    “Google must urgently reverse recent changes in AI principles and recommit to refraining from developing or selling systems that could enable serious human rights violations.  

    “It is also essential that state actors establish binding regulations governing the deployment of these technologies grounded in human rights principles. The facade of self-regulation perpetuated by tech companies must not distract us from urgent need to create robust legislation that protects human rights.” 

    Background 

    On Tuesday, Google removed from their website the pledge promising not to pursue technologies that “cause overall harm” including weapons and surveillance systems and “technologies whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights.” Google defended the change, outlining that businesses and governments needed to work together on AI that “supports national security.” 

    Amnesty International’s research has documented how facial recognition systems amplify racially discriminatory policing and threatens the right to protest.   

    In 2019, Amnesty International’s research revealed how Google’s surveillance-based business model is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and poses a threat to a range of other rights including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of thought, and the right to equality and non-discrimination. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Iran: Urgent global action needed to halt imminent execution of Kurdish humanitarian worker

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Responding to reports that Iran’s Supreme Court rejected the request for judicial review of the conviction and death sentence of humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, 40, from Iran’s oppressed Kurdish ethnic minority, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

    “The international community must immediately urge the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of arbitrarily detained humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, who was sentenced to death following a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court last year.

    “Pakhshan Azizi was detained solely in relation to her peaceful human rights and humanitarian activities, including providing humanitarian support to women and children in northeast Syria who were displaced following attacks by the Islamic State armed group. Instead of facing imminent execution she should be immediately and unconditionally released.

    The international community must immediately urge the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of arbitrarily detained humanitarian aid worker Pakhshan Azizi, who was sentenced to death following a grossly unfair trial 

    Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International

    “The Supreme Court’s decision to reject her request for judicial review highlights yet again how the Iranian authorities remain adamantly resolved to use death penalty as a tool of political repression to instil fear among the population. In a media interview one of her lawyers, Amir Raesian, said he was notified of the decision on 5 February, adding that her execution could now be carried out at any moment. He also noted that shocking errors made in the case by the lower court were repeated in the Supreme Court’s verdict.

    “The death penalty is abhorrent in all circumstances; but imposing it after a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court, in which Pakhshan Azizi’s allegations of torture and other ill-treatment, including gender-based violence, have gone uninvestigated, renders its use arbitrary and illustrates yet again the Iranian authorities’ shameless disregard for the right to life. Governments worldwide must speak out loudly now against this injustice to halt Pakshan Azizi’s execution before it is too late.”

    Background

    Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Pakshan Azizi to death in July 2024. She was convicted of “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi) solely in relation to her peaceful human rights and humanitarian activities. For instance, between 2014 and 2022 she was involved in providing humanitarian support to women and children displaced following attacks by the Islamic State armed group (IS) and sheltering in camps in northeast Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In early January 2025, the Supreme Court upheld her conviction and death sentence. Her request for judicial review was subsequently rejected by Branch Nine of the Supreme Court.

    On 4 August 2023, Ministry of Intelligence agents arbitrarily arrested Pakhshan Azizi in Tehran and transferred her to section 209 of Tehran’s Evin prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence and held her in prolonged solitary confinement for five months without access to a lawyer and her family. According to informed sources, during this time Pakhshan Azizi was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment during interrogations. Agents repeatedly told her that she had no right to live and threatened to execute her. They also subjected her to gender-based violence in order to compel her to make forced “confessions” of having ties to Kurdish opposition groups, which she repeatedly denied. In early December 2023, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison, where she remains held.

    Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally, in all cases and under any circumstances.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Tunisia: Authorities step up crackdown on LGBTI individuals with wave of arrests

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Authorities in Tunisia have stepped up their crackdown on LGBTI individuals, carrying out dozens of arrests over recent months, said Amnesty International today.

    Between 26 September 2024 and 31 January 2025 at least 84 people in the cities of Tunis, Hammamet, Sousse and El Kef – mainly gay men and trans women – were arrested, arbitrarily detained and unjustly prosecuted solely based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the Tunisian NGO Damj Association for Justice and Equality.

    “The recent spike in arrests targeting LGBTI people is an alarming setback for human rights in Tunisia. No one should face arrest, prosecution or imprisonment based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Instead of harassing individuals based on gender stereotypes and deeply entrenched homophobic attitudes, the Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release anyone detained because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and introduce safeguards to protect the rights of LGBTI people,” said Diana Eltahawy, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

    Amnesty International interviewed four LGBTI rights activists and three lawyers representing individuals arrested between September and December 2024 for their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The organization also reviewed legal documents, and official statements.

    The recent spike in arrests targeting LGBTI people is an alarming setback for human rights in Tunisia. No one should face arrest, prosecution or imprisonment based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

    Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International

    Wave of arrests

    The wave of arrests followed a large-scale online campaign that began on 13 September 2024, which saw homophobic and transphobic hate speech and discriminatory rhetoric against LGBTI activists and organizations spreading across hundreds of social media pages, including those espousing support for the Tunisian President Kais Said. Traditional media outlets also broadcast inflammatory messages by popular TV and radio hosts attacking LGBTI organizations, calling for their dissolution and for the arrests of LGBTI activists.

    Saif Ayadi, queer activist and head of programs at Damj, fears that the actual number of LGBTI people arrested and prosecuted is higher than the numbers Damj was able to document. He explained: “Our numbers are based on the direct assistance we provide to members of the community including legal assistance; it is not exhaustive. We estimate the real number to be at least three times higher because when we used to have access to official numbers of prosecutions a few years ago, we found that the on average our documentation only covers at most a third of the people affected.”

    Gay men and transgender people in Tunisia are often arrested based on gender stereotypes, behaviour or physical appearance. According to lawyers who represent LGBTI individuals, frequently digital evidence unlawfully seized from their devices after the arrests is used to prosecute them. Most of those arrested, report to their lawyers having their phones confiscated and illegally searched by police officers.

    The criminalization of consensual same-sex relations makes LGBTI people vulnerable to violence and abuse by the police, who often exploit their fear of arrest and prosecution and subject them to blackmail, extortion and, at times, sexual abuse. In some cases, those arrested were victims of entrapment and phishing on social media and dating applications by security officers. Some individuals reported to Damj being entrapped by security forces impersonating LGBTI people on social media and same-sex dating applications, to extort and blackmail them including through threats of outing, doxxing or arrest including for “soliciting prostitution online”. Lawyers have also reported on an increase in police raids without warrants on homes of LGBTI people during 2024.

    Abusive prosecutions on “morality” and “indecency” grounds

    Those arrested have been detained and prosecuted under Article 230, which criminalizes same-sex relations (for “sodomy and lesbianism”), and/or Articles 226 and 226 bis of the Penal Code, which criminalize “indecency” and acts deemed to be offensive to “public morals”. Article 230 provides for up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine while Articles 226 and 226 bis provide for up to six months’ imprisonment.

    “Articles in the penal code that criminalize ‘public indecency’ or acts deemed to be ‘against good morals or public morality’ are particularly dangerous as they are overly broad, vague and do not meet the principle of legality, allowing for a wide scope of interpretation and inconsistency. These overbroad provisions and their subjective and discretionary application allow law enforcement to carry out sweeping arrests of individuals simply for failing to adhere to gender norms or having a non-conforming gender appearance or expression,” said Diana Eltahawy.

    On 27 October 2024, the justice ministry issued a statement condemning the increasing use of social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to spread content “contrary to public morals”, urging prosecutors to “take necessary judicial measures and launch investigations against anyone producing, displaying or publishing data, images and video clips with content that undermines moral values”. According to Damj, the ministry’s statement sparked a campaign against LGBTI individuals.

    A few days after this statement, five content creators, including Khoubaib, who is gender non-conforming, were arrested and charged with “public indecency, dissemination of content contrary to good morals” among other charges. They were convicted and sentenced on 31 October 2024 to prison terms of up to four and a half years. Upon their appeal, on 5 February, the convictions were upheld and four were released after their sentences were reduced. The fifth defendant who is gender non-confirming remains imprisoned as he was sentenced to a two-year prison term and a 1,000 dinar fine under Article 234 of the penal code for “violating morals by inciting minors to debauchery ” over videos that he created and posted on social media.

    Forced anal ‘examinations’ amounting to torture

    Men accused of engaging in same-sex relations are routinely subjected to forced anal “examinations” by medical doctors. Amnesty International considers forced anal examinations a form of torture. The Tunisian authorities must halt all such examinations immediately.

    On 3 December 2024, the El Kef Court of First Instance sentenced two men to one year imprisonment under Article 230. Both were subjected to forced anal examinations to obtain “proof” of same-sex sexual activity.

    Targeting to LGBTI activists

    LGBTI activists and associations have also faced increasing harassment by authorities. Queer activists Saif Ayadi, Assala Madoukhi and Mira Ben Salah were summoned for questioning several times, most recently in October and November 2024.  Police interrogated them about their activism, their work with civil society organizations and their participation in protests. Mira Ben Salah, who is a trans activist and the coordinator of Damj’s office in Sfax, was subject to repeated interrogation in relation to the organization’s work, including with migrants and refugees. Mira is facing multiple charges in connection with her work with Damj and is awaiting the outcome of the investigation.

    In July 2023 and February 2024, Mira Ben Salah filed complaints with the Public Prosecutor at the Court of First Instance in Sfax over her repeated harassment by police. She told Amnesty international: “I have been summoned and questioned so many times because of my work and my activism but when I filed complaints for harassment, threats and violence that I faced they don’t call me to testify nor take my complaints seriously.”  She added that while the authorities’ investigation against her was progressing swiftly, the investigation into her own complaints has not made any progress.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: sched pub test 2

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Access Campaign

    We set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond.

    GO TO SITE

    CRASH

    Based in Paris, CRASH conducts and directs studies and analysis of MSF actions. They participate in internal training sessions and assessment missions in the field.

    GO TO SITE

    UREPH

    Based in Geneva, UREPH (or Research Unit) aims to improve the way MSF projects are implemented in the field and to participate in critical thinking on humanitarian and medical action.

    GO TO SITE

    ARHP

    Based in Barcelona, ARHP documents and reflects on the operational challenges and dilemmas faced by the MSF field teams.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Analysis

    Based in Brussels, MSF Analysis intends to stimulate reflection and debate on humanitarian topics organised around the themes of migration, refugees, aid access, health policy and the environment in which aid operates.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Supply

    This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Logistique

    This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

    GO TO SITE

    Amsterdam Procurement Unit

    This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.

    GO TO SITE

    Brazilian Medical Unit

    BRAMU specialises in neglected tropical diseases, such as dengue and Chagas, and other infectious diseases. This medical unit is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Medical Guidelines

    Our medical guidelines are based on scientific data collected from MSF’s experiences, the World Health Organization (WHO), other renowned international medical institutions, and medical and scientific journals.

    GO TO SITE

    Epicentre

    Providing epidemiological expertise to underpin our operations, conducting research and training to support our goal of providing medical aid in areas where people are affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or excluded from health care.

    GO TO SITE

    Evaluation Units

    Evaluation Units have been established in Vienna, Stockholm, and Paris, assessing the potential and limitations of medical humanitarian action, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our medical humanitarian work.

    GO TO SITE

    LGBTQI+ Inclusion in Health Settings

    MSF works with LGBTQI+ populations in many settings over the last 25-30 years. LGBTQI+ people face healthcare disparities with limited access to care and higher disease rates than the general population.

    GO TO SITE

    LUXOR

    The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.

    GO TO SITE

    Intersectional Benchmarking Unit

    The Intersectional Benchmarking Unit collects and analyses data about local labour markets in all locations where MSF employs people.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Academy for Healthcare

    To upskill and provide training to locally-hired MSF staff in several countries, MSF has created the MSF Academy for Healthcare.

    GO TO SITE

    Humanitarian Law

    This Guide explains the terms, concepts, and rules of humanitarian law in accessible and reader-friendly alphabetical entries.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Paediatric Days

    The MSF Paediatric Days is an event for paediatric field staff, policy makers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research to advance urgent paediatric issues of direct concern for the humanitarian field.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Foundation

    The MSF Foundation aims to create a fertile arena for logistics and medical knowledge-sharing to meet the needs of MSF and the humanitarian sector as a whole.

    GO TO SITE

    DNDi

    A collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development organisation that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases, founded in 2003 by seven organisations from around the world.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Science Portal

    Our digital portal dedicated to sharing the latest medical evidence from our humanitarian activities around the globe.

    GO TO SITE

    Noma

    Noma is a preventable and treatable neglected disease, but 90 per cent of people will die within the first two weeks of infection if they do not receive treatment.

    GO TO SITE

    TIC

    The TIC is aiming to change how MSF works to better meet the evolving needs of our patients.

    GO TO SITE

    Telemedicine

    MSF’s telemedicine hub aims to overcome geographic barriers for equitable, accessible, and quality patient care.

    GO TO SITE

    Sweden Innovation Unit

    Launched in 2012, the MSF Sweden Innovation Unit deploys a human-centered approach for promoting a culture of innovation within MSF.

    GO TO SITE

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: MSF mobile clinics bring care to neglected region of east Ghouta in Syria

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    “Going to east Ghouta and seeing it with my own eyes was heartbreaking,” says Patrick Wieland, Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF’s) head of mission in Syria. “The scale of destruction is huge, people are trapped in extreme poverty, barely holding on, and in urgent need of medical care.”

    After years of neglect, east Ghouta, a region located only 10 kilometres from Damascus, shows little signs of normalcy, the streets lined with the ruins of buildings are empty of the signs of life. The people here are struggling under the strain of overwhelming economic hardship. Years of health facility closures have left huge needs for medical care, and the available services are incredibly limited. East Ghouta’s suffering is far from over and urgent support is needed now.

    Following the fall of Bashar al Assad’s 24-year rule, MSF has gained access to Damascus for the first time in over a decade. We began operating mobile clinics on 21 January, offering basic healthcare, like consultations for gastrointestinal infections. In this short time, we have seen 576 patients, including 77 children under the age of five.

    Families living in the shells of buildings

    East Ghouta was once a lush and green 110 square kilometres, filled with fruit trees and farms. After years of relentless airstrikes by the former Syrian government forces it now stands in ruins. What’s left behind of this major food producing region is destroyed land dotted with grey buildings that have been stripped of rooftops, windows, and life. Still, families are here and struggling to make do.

    “Entire families are living in the rubble of destroyed buildings that look as if they have come from the Middle Ages,” says Bilal Alsarakibi, MSF’s medical referent in Syria. “The level of negligence is unimaginable; the medical needs are huge and for people to find healthcare is a desperate race against time.”

    People are living in difficult conditions. They lack clean water, proper food, sanitation infrastructure, and heating for their homes, exposing them to many health hazards.

    A new chapter of hope

    Since January 2025, MSF has sent several teams to cities in east Ghouta, including Douma, Harasta, Zamlka, Hamoria, Ain Tarma, and Kafr Batna. Our teams are providing basic healthcare, like medical consultations and mental health support, through mobile clinics.

    We attempted to reach east Ghouta many times during the rule of Bashar al Assad. Our teams were repeatedly denied entry, which ensured that people had less access to healthcare than they desperately needed.

    “When people get sick or injured, getting healthcare is really hard, there are no ambulances and medicine is too expensive,” says Mohammed Riad, who attended a mobile clinic. “Mobile clinics are a great idea. If they were covering all the areas, it can save people a lot of trouble.” 

    Our teams are helping people suffering from different conditions, with the most common being respiratory infections, asthma, and gastroenteritis due to food contamination. We are also seeing people for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases.

    Our teams are also assessing the overall medical and humanitarian situation in these cities. The work is currently underway to understand the depth of people’s needs after our years of absence. 

    Besieged and bombarded

    When the opposition forces gained control of the east Ghouta in 2012, the Syrian armed forces then imposed a severe siege on the area. Relentless ground and aerial bombardments targeted homes, markets and hospitals, while food, water and medicines were deliberately denied as a method of warfare. 

    A UN report shows the devastating toll on people. Between 18 February and 11 March 2018, attacks by the former government forces killed 1,100 people and injured 4,000. During the same period, shelling on Damascus city by different armed groups killed and injured hundreds more people. 

    Saving lives was everyone’s struggle

    “Due to the siege in 2013, a lot of people were injured and lost their limbs in daily airstrikes,” says Othman Al-Rifai, a resident of east Ghouta. “The doctors travelled abroad because salaries were low and until today you can see the impact.”

    Between 2013 to 2018, MSF provided remote support to Syrian medics in east Ghouta. Our teams sent medical supplies, offered financial support and provided technical guidance. Since MSF could not work in east Ghouta directly, this was the only way to help the medical teams there. 

    We supported 20 clinics and hospitals in 2013. Over the years of escalating violence, the number went down to just one clinic by 2018. The other 19 facilities were either closed or abandoned after former government forces took over the area. At a certain point, there was nothing left that we could support.

    “Today, the mobile clinics give a small sense of relief to the people who endured a lot in east Ghouta over the past years,” adds Bilal Alsarakibi. “Despite what they have seen, people are still able to smile. They have been through a lot of suffering, and they urgently need support to regain their lives.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: These bones will rise again: a defiant quest for justice for Thulani Maseko

    Source: Amnesty International –

    21 January marked two years since the unlawful killing of Eswatini human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko. Amnesty International Campaigner Nkanyiso Mtolo attended a vigil in his memory.

    By Nkanyiso Mtolo

    On Tuesday 21 January, I gathered with a group of activists at the home of Tanele Maseko in Pretoria to share memories, laughter and solemn reflection. It had been two years since Tanele’s late husband Thulani Maseko, a fearless defender of justice in Eswatini*, was shot and killed at his home. With quiet grace, Tanele and her children welcomed us to their living room for a dinner and vigil. We lit candles in Thulani’s memory and resolved that his legacy would not be buried with him.

    As I sat with Thulani’s family and friends, I was struck by the way their defiance mirrored his own. The stories they shared carried the weight of loss but also the strength of determination.

    Tanele’s close friend Bonolo Makgale set the tone for the evening. She stood up, and with a voice quivering but not cowed, said: “We are here today with heavy hearts because someone we loved was taken away from us. And yet, we are here, reminded by the value of community and solidarity.”

    Others remembered Thulani’s courage. One comrade described how during a particularly repressive time in Eswatini, fellow lawyers, afraid to risk the retribution of the state, would prepare cases, but bring them to Thulani to file under his name. Put simply, he was fearless.

    The face of Thulani’s killer

    When Tanele spoke, she described how much she missed her “sweetie”, as she calls him to this day. She recalled their many conversations, often over a glass of Thulani’s favourite whisky, in which they discussed politics and human rights, their debates stretching across whole afternoons.

    It was during one such conversation in their living room that he was shot dead in 2023. On Tuesday, Tanele told us that she still vividly remembers the face of his killer, who remains unknown and at large. She vowed that when there is a real investigation into Thulani’s killing — which the Eswatini government has yet to conduct — she will provide a description of the killer and identify them before a court.

    Tanele’s defiance has become the heartbeat of the movement for justice for Thulani. Simphiwe Sidu, the couple’s friend and human rights lawyer, said that, after the killing, we would gather at Tanele’s house to offer solidarity and support. But now it is the opposite: when we gather at their home, it is Tanele and her children, with their unending resolve, who give us the strength to keep fighting for justice.

    His killing was intended to silence a voice that had become too powerful, too fearless. Yet, as Zimbabwean author Panashe Chigumadzi wrote in These Bones Will Rise Again, the struggles of people who resist cannot be buried. Their ideals and spirit rise again, carried forward by those who refuse to forget.

    Not in vain

    Indeed, despite the weight of an absolute monarchy that criminalizes dissent, bans political parties and violently silences critics, Thulani’s ideals — “justice, truth and democracy” — cannot be extinguished, as reflected in the work of activists and his supporters, who will not allow his sacrifice to be in vain.

    Local organizations and activists are calling out for justice, leading a quiet but growing movement. For instance, the Swaziland Massacre Victims and Survivors’ Association works tirelessly to document state violence. Not only does their work provide a platform for accountability and redress, but they ensure that victims of unlawful killings, such as Thulani,  torture and repression are not forgotten.

    Grassroots groups like the Foundation for Socio-Economic Justice empower workers to fight for fair wages in industries dominated by exploitation, while the Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly mobilizes rural women to demand water rights and protection of their land. Meanwhile, Eswatini Sexual and Gender Minorities fights for the inclusion and protection of LGBTI people in a country where they face intense discrimination, including criminalization.

    Thulani’s spirit lives on in the courage of these Eswatini activists, the boldness of trade unions, the resilience of rural women and the growing calls for accountability online and in the streets.

    “Justice, truth and democracy” — cannot be extinguished.

    A personal fight

    For me, this fight is personal. I am honoured to be a close friend of Tanele and now an uncle to Thulani’s boys, and I carry cherished memories of us cooking together in the Maseko kitchen — meals seasoned with laughter, fierce debates and a shared determination to build strategies for justice and accountability.

    As the Country Campaigner in Amnesty International’s East and Southern Africa office, I lead campaigns in Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini. I had the privilege of leading the 500 Days Campaign, marking 500 days since Thulani’s death. Through this campaign, we demanded justice, mobilized global pressure on the Eswatini government, and amplified the voices of those risking everything to speak out.

    More broadly, at Amnesty International we have exposed the crackdown on activists, the misuse of repressive laws and the lack of justice for human rights violations. We have supported independent forensic investigations, provided emergency relief for at-risk activists, campaigned for the release of arbitrarily detained members of parliament, and backed legal challenges against the criminalization of LGBTI people.

    We also continue to pressure the Southern African Development Community to act on its own recommendations to ensure that Thulani’s case and human rights in Eswatini remain central to the pursuit of justice and accountability.

    A legacy to inspire

    After everyone had shared their memories of Thulani, we blew out the candles and packed them away. Although the light had faded, the flame within us had only grown stronger. In the quiet that followed, there was no sense of finality — only the unspoken promise to carry Thulani’s fight forward, to keep his memory alive not just in ritual, but in action.

    A movement for justice and accountability is emboldening — in living rooms, online and in the picket line. People are refusing to forget. They are refusing to let fear prevail. They are rising to ensure that Thulani’s ideals — of a freer, fairer Eswatini — are realized.

    Thulani’s bones will rise again — not as a distant promise but as a living testament to the unyielding fight for justice. For Thulani. For Eswatini. For us all.

    *In 2018, King Mswati III unilaterally changed the name of the country from Swaziland to Eswatini, a decision which Thulani challenged. However, many activists and human rights defenders, including Tanele Maseko, continue to use the name Swaziland.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: “I was cut when I was 13. Now I campaign against female genital mutilation in Senegal”

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Fatoumata Diallo, 50, has seven children and earns her living from farming and livestock rearing. In her village near Koussanar, in eastern Senegal, she is known for fighting against female genital mutilation (FGM). A survivor herself and member of an alert committee set up by Amnesty International to combat gender-based violence, she raises awareness about the harm caused by FGM and helps girls at risk of being cut. 

    According to the United Nations Population Fund’s latest figures, 85 per cent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 in Senegal’s Tambacounda region have undergone some form of FGM. Like Fatoumata, almost 14 per cent of them have undergone the most severe form which consists of sewing shut the labia, leaving a small opening for urination and menstruation. 

    “I have been fighting against FGM for 20 years because I’ve experienced it myself. I was put in a group of 10 to 20 girls, and we were taken by women into the bush to be cut. One of the girls died because she was cut in a savage way. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop the bleeding. They took her to the health centre on a donkey. But she died on the way. It left an indelible mark on me.

    I was cut when I was around 10. With this type of excision, they cut you and then perform another operation. So, when you go into the bedroom with your husband on your wedding day, they have to cut you again before giving you to your husband. I got married, and this is what happened to me. I felt excruciating pain, and was in a state of shock for several days. I was 13.

    So, I was subjected to both an early marriage and mutilation. That is what led me to join the fight. My husband supports me in everything I do. I have daughters and they have daughters themselves, but they haven’t been cut. I didn’t do it to any member of my family.

    I have saved a lot of young girls, I can’t say how many.

    Fatoumata Diallo

    Koussanar, the city next to my village, is at a crossroads with neighbouring countries. Mali has no law against FGM and Gambia has one but does not apply it. Women travel to these countries to have their babies mutilated. When I hear a baby girl has been born, I go to the family just after the naming ceremony to tell them, ‘I know that there’s a newborn in your home and that it’s a girl, but you must not have her cut because there is a law against that.’ I show them pamphlets on the consequences of excision, explaining what it does to the child. I tell them that if they do it, I will report them. 

    There was a recent case of five girls whose grandmother and mother wanted to take them to another place to have them cut. When I heard about this, I got together with some other women, and we went to talk to the grandmother and mother, without directly broaching the subject of excision. I told them that the girls were in the middle of a school year, they would miss lessons, and it would be detrimental to them. I advised the mother not to take her daughters. I also said, ‘I don’t know what you were going to do, but I will report you, and you know what that will happen’. The mother said that she was not going to do it.

    Fatoumata Diallo (left) with three other members of the alert committee set up by Amnesty International to combat gender-based violence in Tambacounda region, eastern Senegal

    As part of my fight against FGM, I present programmes on FGM and gender-based violence on Koussanar community radio with Amnesty’s alert committee and in collaboration with the commune. For these programmes, I invite religious leaders to talk about excision. Other times, I call in specialists such as midwives to talk about the consequences of excision.

    During the programmes, some listeners call in to say, ‘’It happened to me too’. And even after the programme has finished, women come to my home and say, ‘What you said on the radio is my story.’

    In the long run, I am confident women will abandon this practice.

    Fatoumata Diallo

    During community awareness-raising sessions, I talk about the law [that banned cutting in 1999] and also the health consequences of FGM. We need to keep raising awareness so that the practice of excision decreases even further. It’s a cultural thing, it is deeply rooted, so it’s a long-term battle. In the long run, I am confident women will abandon this practice.

    People are divided about my fight. Everyone knows about my activism. Some are for it, others are against. I sometimes bump into people, both men and women, and say hello but they don’t reply. That doesn’t stop me from continuing my work. I am committed to the fight, so I feel obliged to do this. I have saved a lot of young girls, I can’t say how many. I know that what I’m doing is a good thing.”

    Through a human rights education programme implemented since 2017 in Burkina Faso, Senegal and Sierra Leone, Amnesty International is working to combat gender-based violence (GBV) through education, awareness-raising and advocacy, with a view to changing attitudes and behaviours and helping to reform legislation in these countries.

    Amnesty International Senegal is setting up community alert committees to report cases of GBV, including FGM, to the relevant authorities.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Cron sched pub test

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Access Campaign

    We set up the MSF Access Campaign in 1999 to push for access to, and the development of, life-saving and life-prolonging medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for people in our programmes and beyond.

    GO TO SITE

    CRASH

    Based in Paris, CRASH conducts and directs studies and analysis of MSF actions. They participate in internal training sessions and assessment missions in the field.

    GO TO SITE

    UREPH

    Based in Geneva, UREPH (or Research Unit) aims to improve the way MSF projects are implemented in the field and to participate in critical thinking on humanitarian and medical action.

    GO TO SITE

    ARHP

    Based in Barcelona, ARHP documents and reflects on the operational challenges and dilemmas faced by the MSF field teams.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Analysis

    Based in Brussels, MSF Analysis intends to stimulate reflection and debate on humanitarian topics organised around the themes of migration, refugees, aid access, health policy and the environment in which aid operates.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Supply

    This logistical and supply centre in Brussels provides storage of and delivers medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Logistique

    This supply and logistics centre in Bordeaux, France, provides warehousing and delivery of medical equipment, logistics and drugs for international purchases for MSF missions.

    GO TO SITE

    Amsterdam Procurement Unit

    This logistical centre in Amsterdam purchases, tests, and stores equipment including vehicles, communications material, power supplies, water-processing facilities and nutritional supplements.

    GO TO SITE

    Brazilian Medical Unit

    BRAMU specialises in neglected tropical diseases, such as dengue and Chagas, and other infectious diseases. This medical unit is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Medical Guidelines

    Our medical guidelines are based on scientific data collected from MSF’s experiences, the World Health Organization (WHO), other renowned international medical institutions, and medical and scientific journals.

    GO TO SITE

    Epicentre

    Providing epidemiological expertise to underpin our operations, conducting research and training to support our goal of providing medical aid in areas where people are affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or excluded from health care.

    GO TO SITE

    Evaluation Units

    Evaluation Units have been established in Vienna, Stockholm, and Paris, assessing the potential and limitations of medical humanitarian action, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our medical humanitarian work.

    GO TO SITE

    LGBTQI+ Inclusion in Health Settings

    MSF works with LGBTQI+ populations in many settings over the last 25-30 years. LGBTQI+ people face healthcare disparities with limited access to care and higher disease rates than the general population.

    GO TO SITE

    LUXOR

    The Luxembourg Operational Research (LuxOR) unit coordinates field research projects and operational research training, and provides support for documentation activities and routine data collection.

    GO TO SITE

    Intersectional Benchmarking Unit

    The Intersectional Benchmarking Unit collects and analyses data about local labour markets in all locations where MSF employs people.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Academy for Healthcare

    To upskill and provide training to locally-hired MSF staff in several countries, MSF has created the MSF Academy for Healthcare.

    GO TO SITE

    Humanitarian Law

    This Guide explains the terms, concepts, and rules of humanitarian law in accessible and reader-friendly alphabetical entries.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Paediatric Days

    The MSF Paediatric Days is an event for paediatric field staff, policy makers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research to advance urgent paediatric issues of direct concern for the humanitarian field.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Foundation

    The MSF Foundation aims to create a fertile arena for logistics and medical knowledge-sharing to meet the needs of MSF and the humanitarian sector as a whole.

    GO TO SITE

    DNDi

    A collaborative, patients’ needs-driven, non-profit drug research and development organisation that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases, founded in 2003 by seven organisations from around the world.

    GO TO SITE

    MSF Science Portal

    Our digital portal dedicated to sharing the latest medical evidence from our humanitarian activities around the globe.

    GO TO SITE

    Noma

    Noma is a preventable and treatable neglected disease, but 90 per cent of people will die within the first two weeks of infection if they do not receive treatment.

    GO TO SITE

    TIC

    The TIC is aiming to change how MSF works to better meet the evolving needs of our patients.

    GO TO SITE

    Telemedicine

    MSF’s telemedicine hub aims to overcome geographic barriers for equitable, accessible, and quality patient care.

    GO TO SITE

    Sweden Innovation Unit

    Launched in 2012, the MSF Sweden Innovation Unit deploys a human-centered approach for promoting a culture of innovation within MSF.

    GO TO SITE

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Inflicting harm and denying care in the West Bank report

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Israeli forces and settlers have increased the use of extreme physical violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the all-out war on Gaza began in October 2023, according to a new report by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). In total, at least 870 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,100 injured between October 2023 and January 2025.

    According to our new report, “Inflicting harm and denying care”, the escalation of violence in the West Bank has severely hindered access to healthcare and is part of a pattern of systemic oppression by Israel which has been described by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as amounting to racial segregation and apartheid.

    “Inflicting harm and denying care” in the West Bank pdf — 13.7 MB Download

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: “Inflicting harm and denying care” in the West Bank: MSF report on escalation of attacks and obstructions of healthcare

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    Jerusalem – Israeli forces and settlers have increased the use of extreme physical violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the all-out war on Gaza began in October 2023, according to a new report by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). In total, at least 870 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,100 injured between October 2023 and January 2025. 

    According to the MSF report, “Inflicting harm and denying care”, the escalation of violence in the West Bank has severely hindered access to healthcare and is part of a pattern of systemic oppression by Israel which has been described by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as amounting to racial segregation and apartheid.

    “Inflicting harm and denying care” in the West Bank pdf — 13.7 MB Download

    The report which covers a one-year period from October 2023 and 2024, provides in-depth interviews from 38 MSF patients and personnel, hospital staff paramedics and volunteers supported by MSF who report prolonged and violent Israeli military incursions and stricter movement restrictions, all of which have severely hindered access to essential services, particularly healthcare.  The situation has further deteriorated since the ceasefire in Gaza and has exacerbated dire living conditions for many Palestinians who are paying an immense physical and psychological toll.

    “Palestinian patients are dying because they simply cannot reach hospitals,” says Brice de le Vingne, MSF emergency coordinator. “We’re seeing ambulances blocked by Israeli forces at checkpoints while carrying critical patients, medical facilities surrounded and raided during active operations, and healthcare workers subjected to physical violence while trying to save lives.”

    Every volunteer paramedic risks their life to provide life-saving treatment to the people living in the camp. Palestine, September 2024.
    Alexandre Marcou/MSF

    An increased number of attacks on medical personnel and facilities have been reported to MSF teams, including attacks on hospitals, destruction of makeshift medical sites in refugee camps, as well as the harassment, detention, injury, and killing of first responders and medical workers by Israeli forces.

    Between October 2023 and December 2024, WHO has recorded 694 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank, with hospitals and healthcare structures often besieged by military force. Healthcare workers express a feeling of insecurity as they are frequently harassed, detained, injured and even killed.

    “Israeli forces surrounded the stabilisation point [in Tubas], closing both its entrances, even though it was very clear that this was a medical building,” says a medic from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, supported by MSF. “They ordered all the paramedics to exit the stabilisation point. There were around 22 of us paramedics there. Israeli soldiers shot inside and outside the building, damaging our supplies and the stabilisation point.”

    In case of medical emergency, restrictions of movement can have deadly consequences. Access to healthcare in this context has been severely impeded by the obstruction and targeting of ambulance movements and the escalation of violent military raids resulting in injuries, fatalities and the destruction of vital civilian infrastructure, including roads, healthcare, water pipelines and electrical systems, particularly in Tulkarem and Jenin refugee camps. In remote areas and outskirts of cities like Jenin or Nablus, the situation is especially dire, as patients with chronic conditions, such as those who need regular dialysis treatment, are forced to stay home due to the untenable obstacles to reaching healthcare.

    On top of the frequent Israeli military incursions, settler violence and the ever-increasing expansion of settlements has left many Palestinians vulnerable to violence and afraid to move across the West Bank. In total, 1,500 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have been reported by OCHA between October 2023 and 2024.

    As the occupying power, Israel has legal obligations under international law to ensure access to healthcare and protect medical personnel. The healthcare system in the West Bank is under immense strain and forced into a state of perpetual emergency.

    MSF calls Israel to stop the violence against healthcare workers, patients and health facilities and to stop obstructing medical personnel from performing lifesaving duties.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Egypt: Immediately release Badr Mohamed who has served his unjust protest-related sentence

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Ahead of an appeal hearing at the Court of Cassation against Badr Mohamed’s unjust conviction and five-year prison sentence in connection to the Ramsis Square protests on 16 August 2013, when he was 17 years old, Amnesty International’s Egypt Campaigner, Souleimene Benghazi, said:

    “Amnesty International has long called on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release Badr Mohamed and quash his unjust conviction and five-year prison sentence, which was handed down following a grossly unfair mass trial in which he was denied the right to an adequate defence. By 11 February, Badr Mohamed would have already spent a total of five years behind bars. It is high time for the Egyptian authorities to end this injustice and allow him to reunite with his family, including his wife Elena, an Austrian national, and his four-year-old daughter, Amina, whose birth he missed.

    “Conditions in Badr 1 prison where Badr Mohamed is being held are notoriously inhumane. Not only is he held with other prisoners in a small, cramped cell but he also has no bed, heating or access to clean water or adequate healthcare.

    “His ordeal is emblematic of the Egyptian authorities’ unrelenting reprisals against actual or perceived government critics, and their vicious crackdown on any form of dissent” – Amnesty International’s Egypt Campaigner, Souleimene Benghazi

    “Badr Mohamed was a 17-year-old child when he was swept up in mass arrests of protesters and bystanders over a decade ago. His ordeal is emblematic of the Egyptian authorities’ unrelenting reprisals against actual or perceived government critics, and their vicious crackdown on any form of dissent. As well as releasing Badr Mohamed, Egyptian authorities must also release thousands of other individuals including peaceful protesters, opposition politicians, journalists and human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their human rights or following grossly unfair trials.”

    Background

    Badr Mohamed was released on bail three months after his initial arrest on 16 August 2013 in connection to the Ramsis Square protests. Amnesty International documented the unlawful force used by security forces against protesters and bystanders during the protests, resulting in the death of 97 protesters. Badr Mohamed was later convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in absentia in a grossly unfair mass trial in August 2017 on charges of participation in an illegal gathering and engaging in violence.

    He was re-arrested in May 2020, and retried on the same charges as per Egyptian law for those tried in their absence. On 12 January 2023, Badr Mohamed was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison following a grossly unfair retrial in front of a terrorism circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court.

    On 28 January 2025, the United Nation’s Human Rights Council carried out its Universal Periodic Review of Egypt’s human rights record. Several states such as Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have called on the Egyptian authorities to release all those arbitrarily detained for exercising their human rights or for politically motivated reasons.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/OPT: Trump’s claim that US will take over Gaza and forcibly deport Palestinians ‘outrageous and shameful’

    Source: Amnesty International –

    In response to President Trump’s comments that the USA will “take over the Gaza Strip”, advocating again for the forcible transfer of around two million Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

    “President Trump’s remarks calling for the forcible transfer of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip must be unequivocally and widely condemned. His language is inflammatory, outrageous and shameful, and his proposal amounts to a flagrant violation of international law. 

    “Any plan to forcibly deport Palestinians outside the occupied territory against their will is a war crime, and when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population, it would constitute a crime against humanity.

    “President Trump’s comments dangerously dehumanises Palestinians, who for the last 16-months have been victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and for decades have been living under illegal occupation and apartheid. Most of Gaza’s Palestinians are descendants and survivors of the 1948 Nakba, they have already been repeatedly uprooted and dispossessed by Israel and denied their right of return yet have continued to struggle to remain on their lands and defend their human rights.

    “Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including through unlawful killings, injuries and the deliberate infliction of conditions of life that are calculated to bring about their physical destruction, has been accompanied by an alarming rise in unlawful killings in the occupied West Bank, state-backed settler violence, mass land confiscation and arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

    “President Trump repeatedly referenced the destruction, killing and unlivable conditions in Gaza calling it a ‘demolition site’ while seated next to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, yet he completely failed to mention the Israeli government’s responsibility for causing this devastation. Nor did he acknowledge the US government’s role in providing arms that have repeatedly been used to carry out deadly, unlawful attacks in Gaza.

    “In the face of President Trump’s dangerous threats, it’s more important than ever for the rest of the international community to categorically reject these proposals and expedite diplomatic efforts, in line with international law, to end Israel’s unlawful occupation, dismantle apartheid and uphold human rights for Palestinians and Israelis. History has abundantly demonstrated that sidelining international law for political expediency is a recipe for the perpetuation of violations.

    “Amnesty International also warns against the misuse of desperately needed humanitarian aid and reconstruction as a bargaining chip or as a means to coerce Palestinians in Gaza into leaving. No state is entitled to treat a protected population living under occupation as pawns in a geopolitical chess game.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Israel/ OPT: President Trump’s claim that US will take over Gaza and forcibly deport Palestinians appalling and unlawful

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Reacting to President Donald Trump’s comments that the USA will “take over the Gaza Strip”, advocating again for the forcible transfer of around 2 million Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:

    “President Trump’s remarks calling for the forcible transfer of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip must be unequivocally and widely condemned. His language is inflammatory, outrageous and shameful, and his proposal amounts to a flagrant violation of international law. 

    “Any plan to forcibly deport Palestinians outside the occupied territory against their will is a war crime, and when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population, it would constitute a crime against humanity.

    “Any plan to forcibly deport Palestinians outside the occupied territory against their will is a war crime, and when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population, it would constitute a crime against humanity” – Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard

    “President Trump’s comments dangerously dehumanizes Palestinians, who for the last 16-months have been victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and for decades have been living under illegal occupation and apartheid. Most of Gaza’s Palestinians are descendants and survivors of the 1948 Nakba, they have already been repeatedly uprooted and dispossessed by Israel and denied their right of return yet have continued to struggle to remain on their lands and defend their human rights.

    “Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including through unlawful killings, injuries and the deliberate infliction of conditions of life that are calculated to bring about their physical destruction, has been accompanied by an alarming rise in unlawful killings in the occupied West Bank, state-backed settler violence, mass land confiscation and arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

    “President Trump’s comments dangerously dehumanizes Palestinians, who for the last 16-months have been victims of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and for decades have been living under illegal occupation and apartheid” – Agnès Callamard

    “President Trump repeatedly referenced the destruction, killing and unlivable conditions in Gaza calling it a ‘demolition site’ while seated next to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, yet he completely failed to mention the Israeli government’s responsibility for causing this devastation. Nor did he acknowledge the US government’s role in providing arms that have repeatedly been used to carry out deadly, unlawful attacks in Gaza.

    “In the face of President Trump’s dangerous threats, it’s more important than ever for the rest of the international community to categorically reject these proposals and expedite diplomatic efforts, in line with international law, to end Israel’s unlawful occupation, dismantle apartheid and uphold human rights for Palestinians and Israelis. History has abundantly demonstrated that sidelining international law for political expediency is a recipe for the perpetuation of violations.

    “Amnesty International also warns against the misuse of desperately needed humanitarian aid and reconstruction as a bargaining chip or as a means to coerce Palestinians in Gaza into leaving. No state is entitled to treat a protected population living under occupation as pawns in a geopolitical chess game.”

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Mass influxes of wounded patients arrive at hospitals across Sudan as “war on people” continues

    Source: Médecins Sans Frontières –

    • MSF teams have responded to mass casualty events in three areas in Sudan in the last few days.
    • These deplorable attacks on people show how little respect is being given towards civilian life.
    • We are urging the warring parties to protect civilian life.

    Port Sudan – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams in three different parts of Sudan – Khartoum, North Darfur, and South Darfur states – treated mass influxes of war-wounded patients in the last few days. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues, with little respect shown for civilian life.

    On 4 February in Nyala, South Darfur, 21 injured patients were brought to the MSF-supported Nyala Teaching hospital after airstrikes by the SAF hit a peanut oil factory, with reports of 25 people killed. On 3 February, airstrikes hit residential areas of Nyala, destroying civilian houses. The airstrikes took place in the afternoon when many people were around. Thirty-two people were reportedly killed and dozens injured, with many patients brought to the Nyala Teaching hospital.

    An MSF doctor was working in the hospital when the airstrikes took place.

    “The bombing was near the hospital. We felt the building shaking. Once I went to the emergency room the situation was horrible,” they say. “Blood was everywhere, some patients were suffering from fractures, some had limbs amputated. While I was going around the ER, I saw two children. One was four years old; the other was two years old. Their aunt told us that this child had lost three of her siblings and her mother had died, and only her older brother and father survived because they were at work.”

    Civilians have also been killed in El Fasher, North Darfur state, the scene of fierce clashes in recent months. Over the last few days MSF teams have been treating wounded civilians in Zamzam camp after escalating heavy fighting between the RSF and SAF and their Joint Forces allies resulted in scores of casualties. On 2 February, the MSF field hospital in Zamzam camp received 21 wounded patients, more than half of whom were children, who had been injured while fleeing Shagra, a village in El Fasher locality.

    MSF’s field hospital in Zamzam is for paediatric and maternal healthcare and not equipped to handle trauma injuries requiring surgery. The only remaining surgical services were a few kilometres away, yet people were unable to use the road between Zamzam and El Fasher due to the ongoing fighting and shifting frontlines.

    Patients in critical condition were trapped in Zamzam camp with no access to lifesaving care. Four patients were among the wounded who passed away, five patients were successfully referred to El Fasher on 3 February, where Saudi hospital remains somewhat functional despite relentless attacks, with a recent bombing of the facility on 24 January reportedly killing 70 people.

    Thousands of people fleeing from Shagra have arrived in Zamzam in recent days, leaving everything behind in desperate search of safety. They have told our teams of horrific violence in the area. About 60 families from Shagra also reached Tawila, where MSF runs an emergency programme providing emergency, nutritional, paediatric, and maternal healthcare. They told MSF teams that people were robbed and attacked as they fled along the road.  

    Violence has also intensified in Khartoum state since the beginning of February. On 4 February, during RSF shelling of Omdurman there were explosions within 100 metres of the MSF-supported Al Nao hospital. The Ministry of Health reported that 38 people were injured and six people were killed, including a volunteer from the Al Nao initiative, in which people volunteer to assist in running the hospital.

    This is the second time medics working at the hospital have responded to a mass influx of wounded patients in recent days. On 1 February, an RSF attack on a market on killed 54 people, according to the Ministry of Health. Since the war in Sudan started Al Nao hospital has been hit by explosions three times; in August 2023, October 2023 and June 2024.

    “The violence that the Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese Armed Forces are inflicting on civilians right across Sudan is tragic and appalling,” says Ozan Agbas, MSF’s emergency manager. “The violence continues ruining lives, making it harder for people to access healthcare and putting healthcare workers at risk. We urge the warring parties to protect civilian life and spare them from this war on people.”

    MIL OSI NGO –