Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Amnesty International –

The Egyptian authorities must release dozens of people detained for their association with a Gen Z online group calling for political change and publishing content critical of the government, Amnesty International said today. 

Since late May, officers from the National Security Agency (NSA) arrested at least 50 people, including nine women, for being part of the “Gen Z002” group on the social media platform, Discord, which called in October 2025 for toppling President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Amnesty International investigated how NSA officers arrested six men from their homes or workplaces across three governorates and subjected them to enforced disappearance for periods ranging from six to 40 days. At least one was subjected to torture or other ill-treatment. 

The 50 people arrested are now being investigated in two separate cases before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) under terrorism-related and publishing false news charges. 

Exercising the right to freedom of expression online and offline, should never be grounds for arrest or prosecution.

Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International

“It is outrageous that people in Egypt can end up arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared and at risk of torture and other ill-treatment simply for being part of an online group. Everyone has the right to join online groups and express criticism of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government. Exercising the right to freedom of expression online and offline, should never be grounds for arrest or prosecution,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Regional Researcher at Amnesty International.   

“The Egyptian authorities must immediately end the vicious cycle of abusive detention and release all those detained solely for being part of the online group or for criticizing fuel or electricity price increases or commenting on social media about their daily struggles. Authorities must immediately stop using terrorism-related charges to prosecute people for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”  

The “Gen Z002” group was created in October 2025 by exiled activist Anas Habib, around the same time that youth-led protests took place in Nepal and Morocco. In January 2026, the group launched an online poll to vote on toppling President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and received over 330,000 responses, according to Al Manassa, an independent news website.  

The group hosted a wide range of online discussions, including thread-based conversations and, at times, live voice chats about current political developments and topics trending in the Egyptian media. It also featured live discussions on football, a book club, online first aid courses, and fitness sessions.  

This is not the first time that the authorities have arrested individuals in connection with “Gen Z002” group. For example, on 25 January 2026, authorities arrested an individual for being part of the Discord group and investigated him on charges of “publishing false news” and “using a website to promote ideas calling for the commission of terrorist acts”. They ordered his pretrial detention, which has since been repeatedly renewed. 

According to the fact-checking platform Matsda2sh, NSA investigation records submitted to the SSSP state that the administrators of the Discord group used pseudonymous accounts and servers located outside Egypt, including in the USA, making it more difficult for the security services to identify participants. 

The six detained individuals whose cases Amnesty International documented come from diverse backgrounds and age groups (19 to 46). They are school and university students, tradespeople, and public sector employees.   

Following their arrest, NSA officers took the six men to NSA facilities where officers concealed their fate and whereabouts for periods ranging between six and 40 days, which amounts to enforced disappearance. Later, authorities transferred the six men to the SSSP. 

Prosecutors questioned all six men about when and how they joined the “Gen Z002” Discord group. They also questioned at least two about their Facebook posts criticizing the government, including posts about electricity and fuel price increases, as well as reposts from accounts critical of the government, including those of Anas Habib. Prosecutors ordered the six men held in pretrial detention for 15 days, which has since been renewed. 

A 19-year-old student told prosecutors that while he was forcibly disappeared in an NSA facility, officers questioned him on three occasions, and each time subjected him to electric shocks while hanging him in a stress position blindfolded, which would amount to torture or other ill-treatment. Prosecutors ignored his allegations and failed to refer him to forensic examination. 

“Torture and enforced disappearance allegations cannot be simply brushed aside. Egyptian authorities must immediately launch an independent and transparent investigation into the student’s and other detainees’ allegations of being subjected to enforced disappearance and torture and other ill-treatment” said Mahmoud Shalaby.   

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to the crackdown on protestors in New Delhi demanding accountability in the Indian education system, Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board, said,

“The images and reports emerging from the protest at Jantar Mantar show how peaceful dissent is being suppressed in India. The police reportedly used unnecessary and excessive force against peaceful protesters and installed barricades to prevent them from reaching parliament. Authorities also suspended metro services and mobile internet, further restricting the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly.

“The role of the authorities is to protect and facilitate peaceful protests, not to suppress them. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly is recognized under international human rights law and the Indian constitution.

“The Delhi Police’s actions raise serious questions about whether their response met the requirements of legality, necessity, and proportionality under international human rights standards. We call on the Delhi Police to exercise restraint and immediately cease the use of unlawful force against peaceful protesters. Authorities must ensure that all allegations of unlawful conduct, including the reported excessive use of batons, tear gas, and stone-throwing by police personnel, are promptly, independently, and impartially investigated.”

Background

The protesters, led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a youth-led movement, are demanding accountability over alleged examination paper leaks that affected millions of students. 

While on hunger strike in support of the protest, activist Sonam Wangchuk was forcefully shifted by the Delhi police to a hospital on 18 July. He was on his 21st day of hunger strike when he was admitted to hospital against his wishes.

On 20 July, protesters marched to the Parliament of India to demand the resignation of Union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan.

Social media users have shared videos and accounts alleging that Delhi Police threw stones at protesters, used excessive force by beating demonstrators with batons, and fired tear gas grenades at peaceful protesters.

In May 2026, allegations of a question paper leak in the NEET-UG examination (India’s medical school entrance test) led the testing agency to cancel the exam results, requiring more than two million students to retake the test. The decision sparked widespread protests, and local media reported that several students died by suicide amid the intense stress and uncertainty.

The protesters are also seeking INR 1 crore (USD 104,050) in compensation for each of the families of students who died by suicide allegedly following examination related distress linked to the leaks.

Source: Amnesty International –

Six months on from a possible US strike against the Ecuadorian vessel Fiorella, Amnesty International recalls that the US policy of carrying out air strikes against boats at sea, under the pretext that they are transporting drugs to the United States, constitutes a practice of extrajudicial executions and other violations of human rights that must cease immediately. 

On 20 January 2026, the fishing vessel Fiorella disappeared in international waters, having set sail from the port of Jaramijó in Ecuador seven days earlier. Since then, the whereabouts of eight of its ten crew members are unknown. The indications are that the United States may have assaulted the boat as part of its latest “Southern Spear” counter narcotics operation, in which more than 60 boats have been attacked in the region and over 200 people have been killed since September 2025. 

Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab has reconstructed the route covered by the fishing vessel using VMS (vessel monitoring system) data available on the Global Fishing Watch platform, confirming that the Fiorella left the port of Jaramijó, in the province of Manabí, and sailed through Ecuadorian waters towards the Galapagos Islands, which belong to Ecuador.  

Amnesty International travelled to the towns of Manta and Jaramijó, where it met with relatives of the eight disappeared fishermen – Gabriel Aladino Mero Delgado, Jefferson Ariel Mero Cueva, Bryan Alfredo Arcentales Mero, Juan Alfredo Arcentales Anchundia, Joel Steven Valencia Mero, José Norberto Mero Quijije, Juan Carlos Valencia Mero and Carlos Adrián Mendoza Macías –, who have been searching for their loved ones and demanding answers from the Ecuadorian authorities since January. In addition, the organization met with various officials and analysed statements contained in the administrative file prepared by the Manta Port Authority (which falls under the Ecuadorian Navy). 

After analysing and contrasting these sources, Amnesty International was able to reconstruct the route of the Fiorella and the possible events that occurred during its voyage, as detailed below. 

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Lately, I’ve been seeing a phrase on TikTok and across social media that says, “Inconvenience is the cost of community.” The more I sit with it, the more I realize how profoundly true it is. It has also made me reflect on how much of our world is organized around the promise of convenience.

Reflecting on this makes me think about the political economy of convenience. Nearly every service today promises to make life easier, albeit for a price. We pay to skip waiting, avoid interruptions, and reduce dependence on other people. The notion of convenience has become so deeply embedded in the way we organize our lives that we rarely stop to ask what it is costing us. Think about it. If everything we need can be purchased or done solitarily, our relationships risk becoming increasingly transactional thus gradually reducing our need to rely on one another. Ultimately, a society organized primarily around convenience may ultimately struggle to sustain the very relationships that allow communities to thrive.

While convenience may solve immediate problems, it may also reshape the way we relate to one another. Our constant need for personal ease encourages habits of efficiency, speed, and individualism that are difficult to sustain socially, emotionally, and even environmentally. Perhaps the question is no longer whether convenience makes life easier, but whether a society built around maximizing convenience can still nurture the relationships that make life worth living.

The things that matter most have never been convenient. Love requires patience. Friendship requires time. Family asks for sacrifice. Community demands all of these and more. To be in a community is to accept that people will sometimes disappoint you, misunderstand you, or hurt you. And if we are honest, we will inevitably do the same to others. We all carry our histories, our fears, our flaws, and our unfinished healing into every relationship we enter. Conflict is not evidence that a community has failed; it is evidence that people are living closely enough for their lives to affect one another.

The goal of community, then, is not to eliminate conflict or pretend that harm never happens. The goal is to learn how to respond when it does—with accountability instead of defensiveness, mending instead of avoidance, and healing instead of abandonment. Communities endure not because no one makes mistakes but because people choose, again and again, to listen, apologize, make amends, forgive when possible, and continue growing together.

I’ve experienced this kind of inconvenience many times. During college, my weekly allowance would often be not enough to join my friends for meals or activities. But before I could even think of making an excuse not to go, someone would already say, “libre ka na lang namin.” They never made me feel guilty or indebted. They simply made sure I still had a place at the table. At the time, asking for help felt deeply uncomfortable because I used to believe doing so makes me  a burden. Looking back, I realize that those moments were not examples of dependence but of community. Their generosity cost them something, and my willingness to accept it required vulnerability. Both were acts of trust.

More recently, I experienced another form of inconvenience. There was a season when I was emotionally overwhelmed and unable to complete the work I was responsible for. I was anxious about telling my teammates because I felt that I was letting everyone down. Yet when I finally shared what I was going through, they simply told me, “We understand. It’s okay to park it for now.” Their compassion came at a cost. Someone else carried work that I could not finish. Timelines shifted, responsibilities were redistributed, and plans had to be adjusted. Community, I then realized, also looks like people willingly absorbing inconveniences for one another —not just because doing so is efficient, but because they choose to care.

At the same time, being part of a community means accepting another uncomfortable truth: if we stay long enough, we will eventually become the inconvenience. We will disappoint people. We will fail to meet expectations. We will misunderstand others. We will make mistakes that require remedy. No friendship, family, workplace, organization, or social movement is free from conflict. The strength of a community is not measured by the absence of harm but by its capacity to respond to harm with honesty, humility, and accountability. Making amends asks us to apologize without making excuses, to listen without rushing to defend ourselves, and to believe that people are capable of growth. Accountability does not stand in opposition to compassion. It is one of the ways compassion becomes meaningful by creating the conditions for healing rather than avoidance.

Community cannot be subscribed to. Care cannot be outsourced. Trust cannot be automated. Belonging cannot be purchased. These are created slowly through shared meals, borrowed money, difficult conversations, interrupted schedules, acts of generosity, moments of forgiveness, and the quiet decision to remain present for one another, especially when doing so is inconvenient.

Perhaps this is the kind of courage our time demands. We need the courage not only to inconvenience ourselves for others but also to allow ourselves to become an inconvenience to people who genuinely care about us. Many of us are comfortable offering help yet deeply uncomfortable receiving it. We hesitate to ask for favors because we fear becoming a burden. Yet refusing to need others can quietly weaken the very communities we hope to build. Sometimes allowing someone to care for us is itself an act of trust because it invites them into the mutual responsibility that makes community possible.

Inconvenience, however, is not enough on its own. It must be accompanied by empathy, accountability, healing, and a genuine commitment to make amends. These are the practices that transform inconvMiguel Louie de Guzman/GreenpeaceMiguel Louie de Guzman/Greenpeaceenience from a burden into an expression of love. If inconvenience is the price we pay for belonging, then mending is the practice that ensures belonging can endure. Inconvenience is the cost of community. Mending is the practice that keeps it alive.

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Bill is a youth activist from Tabaco City, Albay, passionate about movement-building, community organizing, and people-powered campaigns for a more just society. He currently serves as the Community Outreach Associate Coordinator of Greenpeace Philippines and as the National Convenor of the Rising Alliance of Youth for Transformation (RAYT), where he works alongside young leaders and communities to advance climate justice, civic participation, and collective action.

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Water firms in England and Wales are wasting around five times more water through leaky pipes than a nationwide hosepipe ban could save, a Greenpeace UK analysis of official figures reveals. 

The findings come as millions of households face new restrictions on their water use following a prolonged spell of hot and dry weather. 

The most recent Ofwat data shows that water companies are still wasting a staggering 2.87 billion litres of water every day through leaky pipes, enough to fill 1,150 Olympic-sized swimming pools. A fifth of all the water pumped into the network is lost in this way. By comparison, a nationwide hosepipe ban is estimated to save about 4% of the water distributed (577 million litres per day) – an amount five times smaller than that wasted through leaks.

Following a very dry and hot end of June and start of July, all regions in England are experiencing drier-than-average soils, with river flows and groundwater levels declining at nearly all sites and reservoir storage below the long-term average for this time of year. [1] 

The water industry, which was privatised in the 1980s, has faced widespread criticism for prioritising shareholders’ dividends over investing in critical infrastructure. While leakage has fallen in recent years, the scale of the waste remains huge and the infrastructure inadequate. 

Aside from the well-known issue of underinvestment in sewage treatment, not a single major new reservoir has been built in England and Wales over the last 30 years, although several projects are now planned. Until recently, the rate of replacement of old water pipes – where many of the leaks occur – meant that it would take 700 years to replace the entire network, according to the National Audit Office. [2] 

Meanwhile, the Climate Change Committee has warned that climate change will make droughts more frequent, intense and widespread, with England facing a potential water-supply shortfall of more than five billion litres a day by the mid-2050s. [3] 

Greenpeace UK is calling on the government to crack down on failing water companies once and for all, and set out how it plans to climate-proof the sector in its upcoming Water Bill.

Commenting on the findings, Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist Dr Doug Parr said:

“Of course people should use water carefully during prolonged hot and dry weather. But it’s galling to be told to put away the hose while water companies are losing nearly three billion litres every day through leaks. Fossil-fuelled climate change is making severe droughts more frequent and more dangerous, so ministers must not treat water security as tomorrow’s problem. The incoming Burnham government must force water companies to repair and renew the network and tackle the fossil-fuel pollution driving extreme heat and drought. Without this, people and nature will ultimately pay the price, not the company shareholders and execs.”

Notes to editors:

1. Environment Agency weekly update
2. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-24/it-will-take-700-years-to-replace-uk-water-grid-at-current-pace  
3. From the National Framework for Water Resources 2025

Methodology

Greenpeace UK researchers analysed the latest available Ofwat figures, published in January 2026. The determination forecast for water distribution by 17 water firms across England and Wales in 2024-25 is 14,428 million litres per day. The overall amount of water leaked over the same period is 2,869 million litres per day. According to industry research quoted by the Environment Agency, hosepipe bans and temporary use bans can reduce the amount of water companies put in their distribution network by 3 to 5%, so our researchers used the mean, 4%, for their calculations. 4% of 14,428 million is 577 million litres per day, meaning the water lost to leaks is about five times what a hosepipe ban would save. 

Source: Amnesty International –

Following the Portuguese Parliament’s approval of a law banning face coverings in public spaces, the Executive Director of Amnesty International – Portugal, João Godinho Martins, said:  

“This new law is discriminatory and is a threat to human rights. Despite having removed direct references to Islam, which were a part of previous versions of the text, this new law clearly violates the human rights of Muslim women who choose to cover their faces. It is a direct threat to their freedom of expression and freedom of religion. No one should dictate what a woman may or may not wear, and no woman should be penalized for practising her faith, cultural identity or beliefs.  

“Far from promoting women’s rights as claimed, this blanket ban is likely to have the opposite effect. Women who choose to wear full-face veils may face greater exclusion from public life, social isolation or increased difficulties in accessing education, employment and public services.  

Far from promoting women’s rights as claimed, this blanket ban is likely to have the opposite effect

João Godinho Martins, Amnesty International Portugal

“The law also has implications for the right to privacy and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, as it specifically prohibits the concealment of one’s face during demonstrations. This directly contradicts international law, which permits their use to ensure the possibility of participating anonymously and to prevent reprisals.  

“By disproportionately restricting women’s freedom of religion, freedom of expression and personal autonomy, and posing a threat to the right to protest, this ban is not compatible with Portugal’s obligations under international human rights. Simultaneously, it seriously compromises several rights protected by the Portuguese constitution. We call on the President not to sign this legislation into law and for it to undergo a Constitutional review.”    

Background 

The Bill was passed today with a two thirds majority by the Portuguese parliament. 

On 17 October 2025, Parliament approved a first version of the draft bill by the far-right Chega party to ban the wearing of burqas and other veils that conceal the face in public spaces, citing women’s rights and security concerns.

Portuguese law already provides for specific restrictions on the wearing of veils that fully cover the face in clearly defined high-risk locations, such as border controls. Individuals may also be required to reveal their faces when it is objectively necessary, for example, for identity verification. 

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

New evidence from Jackdaw developer Adura’s own Environmental Impact Assessment casts serious doubt on repeated claims that the controversial North Sea oil and gas project will create hundreds of new long-term jobs, Greenpeace UK has found. 

On page 88 of the Environmental Impact Assessment, Adura states:

“The 300 jobs on Shearwater are comprised of the current 273 jobs for operating the Shearwater host installation, plus 27 new Full Time Equivalent (FTE) roles required for the Jackdaw-specific activities.”

This means the project would create just 27 new full-time equivalent jobs, with the remaining roles already existing as part of the Shearwater platform’s operations. To put that into context, that’s not enough people to fill the top deck of a double-decker bus and fewer than the players who were on the field during the England vs Argentina World Cup semifinal.

The finding contradicts years of political and industry messaging used to justify approval of new oil and gas developments on employment grounds.

Conservative Shadow Scottish Secretary Andrew Bowie has described Jackdaw as a project that would “help shape the lives of thousands of North Sea workers for years to come”, adding that it would “create 3,500 jobs during construction, with 880 high-quality, well-paid jobs sustained throughout production.” However, Adura’s own assessment indicates that the number of genuinely new permanent jobs associated with Jackdaw specifically is only 27.

Campaigners say the disclosure further weakens the case for approving new fossil fuel developments on employment grounds.

Angharad Hopkinson, political campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said:

Adura has scored an own goal with its Environmental Impact Assessment. After years of claims that projects like Jackdaw are essential for protecting jobs, the company’s own figures show the project won’t create enough full-time roles to fill the top deck of a London bus.

“It’s never been workers who stand to gain most from projects like Jackdaw – it’s oil and gas companies and their shareholders. After a record-breaking summer of extreme heat driven largely by fossil fuels, this isn’t the time for Andy Burnham to cave in to the demands of the polluters’ lobby. If he’s looking for job creation, the clean economy is where he’ll find it.

ENDS

Contact: Greenpeace UK press team at press.uk@greenpeace.org and on 020 7865 8255

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Greenpeace UK has appointed Kathryn Tomlinson as the new chair of its board of directors. 

Kathryn, who is the Deputy Secretary General at Amnesty International, brings many years of director-level experience in international development and human rights to the role.

Before joining Amnesty, she held high-profile posts at International Alert, the global peace-building organisation, and Conciliation Resources, an international organisation committed to stopping violent conflict, where she was responsible for programme delivery across 15 countries, including Latin America and Africa.

Kathryn also spent six years as Asia Regional Director for the BBC Media Action, reaching more than 100 million people a year in some of the world’s poorest countries, and establishing new offices in Indonesia and Myanmar. 

Her career spans bringing about change for both people and planet. Her previous role as chair was with Walworth Garden, a charity providing learning and horticultural therapy through an award-winning community garden. At BBC Media Action, she oversaw the world’s largest survey of the impact of climate change.

Commenting on her appointment, Kathryn Tomlinson said:

I’m incredibly excited to take on this role at Greenpeace UK, an organisation I’ve admired for decades. Ever since joining my parents on marches against nuclear weapons as a child, I have seen that what changes the world for the better is people taking action together. And not a day has gone by without a stark reminder of why we need Greenpeace, whether it’s fossil-fuelled heatwaves or the latest report on nature’s collapse. As campaigners face threats from government crackdowns on protest rights to intimidation lawsuits by big polluters, I’m looking forward to putting my expertise at Greenpeace UK’s service. Boards play a crucial role in providing the right structure and backing that allow a campaign group to aim high and take risks. I can’t wait to work with the great talent on this board to support Greenpeace in its vital mission.

Kathryn joins a diverse, highly-skilled board of directors encompassing many crucial areas of expertise from climate studies and humanitarian law to movement building and charity finance.

She is taking over as chair from Andrew McParland, whose eight-year term at the head of the board ended earlier this year. 

Commenting on Kathryn’s appointment and the end of his tenure as chair, Andrew McParland said: 

It’s been an honour and a privilege to serve on the Greenpeace UK board for 16 years, half of them as chair. During that time, I’ve witnessed some of our biggest victories alongside our moments of greatest jeopardy – and how both have added to the organisation’s incredible strength. I’m very glad to pass on the baton to someone of Kathryn’s talent and experience, and to a brilliant team of passionate and capable board members.

ENDS

Contact: Greenpeace UK news team at press.uk@greenpeace.org and on 020 7865 8255

Source: Amnesty International –

On 22 June 2026, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs adopted the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules granting the Indian government sweeping new powers to police the activities, operation, management and leadership of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving foreign funding.

The amendments significantly expand an already restrictive legal framework established under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, which regulates the receipt and use of foreign contributions by individuals and organizations in India. It prohibits contributions for activities deemed to be detrimental to the “national interest,” an overbroad term open to misuse. Since 2010, successive governments have amended the Act three times, most significantly in 2020, when the law was expanded to ban the transfer of foreign funds between organizations, to cap administrative expenditure and to require funds to be routed through a single designated bank account. In 2016, three United Nations Special Rapporteurs jointly urged the Indian government to repeal the FCRA, warning that it was being used to silence organizations whose priorities did not align with those of the government.

In 2011, the Indian government notified rules to the FCRA, and has amended them 10 times since then. The latest amendments further perpetuate the Indian authorities’ use of the FCRA over the last decade as a tool to silence peaceful dissent and the exercise of fundamental freedoms and obstruct independent human rights work in the country. Such misuse has been repeatedly noted by various UN mechanisms, most recently by the UN Human Rights Committee in 2024 in its concluding observations on the fourth periodic review of India’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The new rules apply to nearly 14,500 organizations that currently hold a FCRA license, and to all non-profits who may want to apply in the future. Existing non-profit organizations now face a one-year deadline to bring their registration in line with a far more limiting framework, or risk losing the ability to carry out their work altogether.

Under international human rights law, the right to freedom of association includes the right of associations to seek, receive and use resources, including funding from foreign sources. This is protected by Article 22 of the ICCPR, to which India is a state party, as well as by Article 13 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly. Any restriction is permissible only if it is prescribed by law with precision and is not overbroad, is strictly necessary to meet only a legitimate aim provided for under article 22 namely, national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, and adopts a proportionate means to meet that aim. This test also applies to restrictions on the right to freedom of expression protected by Article 19 of the ICCPR. The new amendments place multiple undue restrictions on NGOs and in doing so, fail this test in several respects.

Source: Amnesty International –

African Union (AU) member states must ensure full political, legal and financial support for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court), to enable it to effectively carry out its mandate to protect human rights, Amnesty International said today as it launched a new report marking the Court’s 20th anniversary.

Released on World Day for International Justice, the report, ‘20 years of the African Court – Protect the Court, Protect the People’, examines the successes achieved and the challenges faced in two decades by the Court, which serves as an important regional judicial avenue for individuals and civil society organizations.

Yet despite the African Court’s crucial role in delivering justice, only 34 of the AU’s 55 member states have ratified the protocol establishing the regional human rights court. And as of July 2026, only seven allow individuals and NGOs to directly submit complaints to the Court.

We join with civil society organizations, bar associations, academic institutions, and people across the continent in calling for AU member states to enable the African Court to fully live up to its promise.

Japhet Biegon, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa at Amnesty International

“The African Court is an essential judicial avenue for individuals and civil society organizations who cannot obtain prompt, effective and adequate remedy for human rights violations in their own countries. Despite its challenges, the African Court has demonstrated dynamism and agility in examining the cases brought to it, developing strong jurisprudence and expanding the protection of human rights in Africa,” said Japhet Biegon, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa at Amnesty International.  

“It is vital that every AU member state ratifies the African Court Protocol and makes the declaration that would allow individuals and NGOs to directly access the Court, so that the African Court is able to continue to protect human rights in a meaningful way for decades to come.”